Sparkle and Fizz

Happy Tuesday, Friends!  Can you believe that the end of January is nearly upon us?  Wow!  Time sure flies when we are all having fun!  Speaking of fun, you should pop over to Facebook and see what a blast we had on Sunday at the Seasonal Block Party!  It was a FULL HOUSE and everyone  had a great time!  Thank you to those who came and crafted with me on Sunday! Okay, so do you remember our last Tutorial Tuesday?  I showed you the Masking Technique.  I got a lot of positive feedback---many of you really enjoyed learning how to do this!  Today, I'm going to share with you the opposite technique; the Reverse Mask. This technique is perfect for your background stamps or the sponging technique (which I will teach at a later time---I can't be giving away all  the secrets in one day, you know!).  What's great about the Reverse Masking Technique is that it can highlight a specific area and then you can build outside of that spac...

As a mom with a three-year old little girl, we watch a lot of Sofia the First.  I actually enjoy Sofia.  I enjoy the quick, short, and teachable stories for toddlers as well as the catchy music.  I really like the music.  For those who don't know much about Sofia the First all you need to know for today is that Sofia has a sister named Amber, who is very  much your sterotypical spoiled Princess.  And she likes things "big"!  In fact, she sings a song in the first season that's called "Bigger is Better".  And for Transformation Tuesday , I'm singing it in my head as I write today's Blog Post. Saturday I shared with you my version of some mini valentines.  They were quick, easy, and used up some scraps that I can never bear to part with.  Today I decided to "upgrade" these little minis by making them a standard sized card.  Because of the larger size, you can incorporate a few additional elements and transform them into some pretty ...

Are you like me and trying to stay ahead of the game by preparing for whatever the next holiday is?  Well, I know it's fairly  early, but I have started thinking about Valentine's Day.  I also try to think of creative ways to use up some of my smaller scraps because throwing them away is just too tragic for my heart to handle.  Today's Simple Saturday takes care of both things.  Valentine's Day and scraps.  Whew! Here are some cute Mini Valentine's that utilizes the Painted With Love Designer Series Paper  and the Sure Do Love You Bundle .  All three cards are small in size (3"x3") and use up those itty-bitty scraps of DSP that you may have lying around.  Win-Win! They are SO easy to put together, too!  Strips of scrap DSP, a couple stamped, die-cut images, and some Stampin' Dimensionals  and you're set!  You could probably make a bunch of these for classroom valentines in lieu of buying them from the store in le...

There's this stamp set that has my heart...and it's retired.  I was fortunate enough to snag it from last year's Occasions Catalog and maybe you were to.  If you were---don't get rid of it!  Ever.  At least, I never will.  Not ever.  Seriously. The stamp set is called Sealed with Love  and it has coordinating Framelits ( Love Notes ).  This set goes so well with the trendy heart set that Stampin' Up! released in this year's Occasions Catalog, Sure Do Love You Stamp Set .  This set also has coordinating dies ( Lots to Love Box Framelits Dies ) that is available as a bundle option.  The trendy watercolor wash and larger heart shapes are awesome  to pair with last year's set.  It goes together so beautifully and it makes my heart happy!  (Yes, I said it!) Take a look at this simple valentine that I was able to make by combining these two sets and turning something that was more traditional ( Sealed with Love Stamp Set ) ...

Have you registered yet for my Coloring Club?  The first class is the 31st and Registration ends on the 15th!  You've only got a couple more days!!  What are you waiting for!?  As if you needed any more reason to sign up for this relaxing, colorful journey, today's Simple Saturday card uses some of the elements that I'll be teaching in this class!  Take a look: How sweet and simple is this lovely card!?  I kept all of the elements simple, coloring in (and then fussy-cutting) the stamped images from the Rose Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set  (which we will be using on the 31st!) with our amazing Stampin' Blends  (which is what my Coloring Club centers around!). You have  to join me ---I promise you'll have so much fun!  PLUS, it's a stress reliever!  You can't go wrong!!! That being said; I also used a Freebie Item from this year's Sale-A-Bration Catalog!  It was the Amazing You Stamp Set  and it is really amazin...

Happy Tuesday, Friends!!!  Can you believe that we are already NINE days into 2018!?  Wow!  Didn't I just gorge myself on pizza while ringing in the New Year?  It feels like it to me!  Well, anyhoo, here's the first Tutorial Tuesday of 2018!  Today, I'm going to show you how to use the Masking Technique! For our Newbie Stampers, you may be asking "What is the Masking Technique?" (You may have also been wondering this when I have used this technique in past tutorials, and I do apologize if I lost you somewhere in translation!)   The Masking Technique is a method which you overlap stamped images without the entire image being transferred a top each other.  In other words, it looks like you've layered images by cutting them out one by one and placing them on top of each other, when you really didn't! To show you how to create the Masking Technique, I am using one of my favorite stamp sets that I think "masks" images super well---the Pop of Para...

Happy Belated New Year, Everyone!  There's always so much I try to jam-pack into the beginning of a new year.  I usually try to throw a small and simple New Year's Bash, start a brand new planner for the year, create a business plan, start new goal setting, etc. etc.  Does this sound like you, too?  I finally needed to take a break from all the "new" and just take some time to do what I have always loved from the start---paper crafting.  So here it is!  My Simple Saturday is the first birthday card of 2018!  I'm trying to get a jump-start on birthday cards since that is the most popular type of greeting card sent.  Fun Fact for you: the average person sends 11 birthday cards per year! (according to Quora.com) I used a piece of Naturally Eclectic Designer Series Paper  as the primary background of my card.  I just love the watercolor look of this paper!  My husband even asked me how I made the background and was impressed that...