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Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday! A new series on my blog, where I'll be sharing quick, easy, and animated step-by-step instructions once a month! Today, I'm sharing these lacey, traditional tags, which are sure to dress up any gift!  This year, I'm using these sweet tags to tie brown paper packages of mulling spices for friends + family! What will you use yours for? STEPS 1. Start by die-cutting the floral cluster shape 2. Stamp the outline guide by using the large background stamp and lining it up with the die-cut shape 3. Stamp center of flower, buds, and berries 4. Stamp leaves 4. Die-cut a scalloped heart 5. Using a marker, color the scallops only (easiest to do with brush tip markers) 6. Die-cut sentiment 7. Adhere floral cluster, sentiment and pearls to heart base Once these are done, it's super easy to add sparkle, rhinestones, glitter, Nuvo drops, or any other little accents to dress them up even more!  It's also super easy to switch up the colors to more contem...

Hey everybody! Can you believe it's exactly one month until Christmas?! It's approaching quickly and I still have a heap of cards and oodles of ideas to share with you before then!  Today I'm sharing a little CAS duo - and a card that was inspired by  PTI's November Blog Hop . I've been working a lot on paring down the layers over the years. And while I'm not quite ready to give up the intricate cards just yet, I am trying to challenge myself to step outside the box a little. So far so good :)  For today's challenge, I wanted to focus on a single layer background. Plain cardstock seemed a little too vanilla, so I decided to make a dotted and festive one instead! I find this to be such a fun and relaxing technique. And the tools are so simple: just a stencil, an ink blender and some ink. I love the satisfaction I get when I peel back that stencil and reveal whats hiding beneath. It makes me smile every time! For this background, I used a polka dot stencil ( h...

Hi everyone! I hope you've all had a splendid Thanksgiving, enjoyed with family and friends, and all the turkey you can eat! Even though North of the border, our Thanksgiving tradition falls a lot earlier, we still partake in one of the biggest shopping days of the year, so I've compiled below a little list (it was hard , but I narrowed it down to ONLY 4 shoppes) of my favorite BFS happening through the weekend!  And I'm sure, just like me, after all the shopping frenzy, you might need some peace and quiet in your life, and what better than some alone time with Copics and this Beautiful Bouquet floral stamp!  I also thought it would be fun to start a new card series on the blog: Delicate.  I've been straying a little from this style. So this is my way of getting back to it and sharing a few soft + feminine cards with you all.  To start this card, I first stamped the beautiful floral and embossed it in silver. I knew I would eventually add silver glittered accents, s...

In light of the challenges this year has brought, we've been blessed with more comforting words, hugs, and small acts of kindness than we could have ever known was possible. From meals, to rides, to medical research, to thoughtful notes and and flowers...We've been showered with so much love.  For this, our hearts are grateful beyond measure. Sharing a little card today created with a full and thankful heart for the many blessings in our life.   To start this card, I used a variety of Archival inks ( Chrome Yellow , Bright Tangelo ,  Tea Rose, Violet , Leaf Green , Viridian, Sap Green) to stamp a floral design with 1canoe2's Twilight stamp set . I concentrated on the edges of the card for the stamping, and used an oval scallop to cut out the center of the card. At the top of the card, I added a tiny bloomer ribbon, and some sequins as well as iridescent rhinestones throughout. For the sentiment, I used PTI's  Limitless Layers: Hearts dies  to cut a vellum h...

Hello! Popping in quickly to share a little card for my wonderful dentist and his very special team of people who have been taking care of my smile for many years. From the first visit, to each subsequent one, I've had nothing but wonderful experiences. Aside from all of the laughs and an abundance of humor, my dentist is incredibly compassionate, knowledgeable and very skilled. His utmost goal is the comfort and joy of his patients and it really shows. You know you've got one splendid team when you can't wait for your next visit! There are no words that can capture the sheer gratitude I feel for all the wonderful care I've received over the years, but today's card is tiny way of saying thanks. To start this card, I used a few layers of patterned papers to create a soft, but colorful background. I know bicycles have nothing to do with teeth, except that they're fun, whimsical and usually make people smile! Just below the patterned papers, I added a velvet ribbo...

Morning! Today I have a very glittery, shimmery card to share.  I've been dipping into a few different mediums lately, and glitter has been at the top of my list! I was on the lookout for an ultra versatile sparkle that could work with a lot of different colors, and after heaps of searching, I found one I absolutely love. Today's card features sparkly bits with this new fave as well as favorite stamps from  Wplus9  and  Pinkfresh . To start this card, I used Wplus9's Southern Summer Florals 1 . I've seen piles and piles of gorgeous cards created with this lovely set - check out a few here . But I wanted to try something a little different, so I stamped a floral cluster onto my cardstock base, with PTI's water-based inks, using colors of Pinefeather, Hawaiian Shores, Tropical Teal, Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Lovely Lady, Blueberry Sky and Enchanted Evening.  And stamping all the bits, I used a water brush to gently go over all the designs, to give them a mut...

Hey Friends! Hope you're enjoying your week so far. Today's post is dedicated to friendship.  We are so blessed and grateful for the many dear friends in our life.  It has been so wonderful to see how our friendships have evolved, grown, changed, and brought so much joy to our life. We're still so fortunate to have many dear friends from our childhood and university years. These bonds will forever remain strong in our lives. But in addition to that, it has been so amazing for us to make friends that we, as a couple, have thoroughly enjoyed. To find soulmates (times two) is a special thing and I truly believe our lives are that much richer for it.  Among the wonderful people that fill our lives with joy everyday, I've also been so blessed to meet such an incredible, supportive, and creative group of women (and men) in this fabulous papercrafting community - both in person and via social media. I remember my first venture into blogland and my first-ever comment and how el...

Happy Friday, Friends! Today, I have double the reason to celebrate. Not only is the weekend here but we're also expecting temperatures in the mid 20's (that's about 75 F) throughout the weekend. That means Spring wardrobe, and if all goes well, time at the farmer's market and a stroll through beautiful Riversdale for all the foodie delights  and fabulous boutiques. I really ought to dedicate a post to our little city sometime soon. Perhaps even include a visitor's guide. For today, though, I'm just here to share a quick card.  I've been really drawn to playing with my dies in different ways lately. Trying to use more negative images, playing with paper piecing, and double matting some of my diecuts. Today's card features all of these little bits together. A patchwork of sorts, I guess you could say ;) I stared this card with a white card base. At the top of the card I stamped three layers of bitty hearts using PTI's Background Basics: Hearts stamp (...

I can't believe it's that time of year again. Our streets are still covered in snow, and the temps this week are freezing! But I am very much looking forward to Easter - it holds such a special place in my heart and I love everything it represents. I also love that everywhere you look, Spring colors pop up right about now, and it's the only time of year, when my favorite pastel palette can be found everywhere...From home decor shoppes, to craft stores. It's a feast for the eyes! This Easter, we are not coloring eggs in the traditional sense of the word, but I couldn't possibly go without coloring something ...So I was inspired by a few decorative pieces I found, to color a variety of small styrofoam eggs...A messy, but fun task! And I love how they turned out...imperfect speckles and all :)  They just happened to make the perfect addition for all the little Easter gift baggies I made.  To make the tag for the baggies, I stared with the Scene It: Basic Backer die , f...