Sweet Little Stockings Suite has Pets and Patterns (and a whole lot more!)

 

In the July-December Holiday catalogue, Stampin'Up! has introduced a sweet suite indeed! 

This was one of my first sets I got. I couldn't resist when the puppy had the same markings as our sweet dog, Robie!  And versatile, too for other seasons and occasions! The presents can be used for birthdays all year, the sweet pets can be put in bouquets of  flowers ~ or amongst a pile of leaves!

 You'll find festive bright colours and patterns in felt, enamel dots, the patterned paper and ribbon. The stamps and dies complete the suite to send holiday cheer (and happiness all year!) 

I'll let Stampin'Up! share details from the full Suite with you in this video. Be sure to order yours today!

Sweet Stockings Bundle                    I want it all! Sweet Suite

 

smiles, 

Laurie

I've worked with the Designer series patterned paper, it's so cheery, perfect for the Christmas! Images can be cut out for focal points on your cards, and the wonderful patterns on the 'backsides' are beautiful and versatile. A good introduction to the bundle and more!

                                                                Designer Series Paper

Love of Leaves Stamp set and be sure to grab the dies to coordinate, they have the wonderful stitched lines to make these leaves really 'shazaam'!

and the dies from this bundle completes the card.

Mental Health Awareness Connecting with Creativity

 

October 10 is World Mental Health day.

The Day has created awareness. It has started conversations amongst average people in many areas of Mental Health, working to dispel the stigma of mental health and changing thinking patterns beyond outdated perceptions. As the understanding of mental health grows, funding increases resulting in assessment and treatment improving.

 Through the conversations, people are telling their stories, sharing their struggles. Others recognize they are not alone, there are others facing hard times. Stories of people that have faced hard times and made it through can be uplifting.

  

 Self care is important. Taking care of yourself is important to your Mental Health. 

Experts are saying practicing mindfulness can help you become aware of your thoughts and feelings. Mindfulness is giving your full attention to the present moment. There are many ways to incorporate mindfulness activities into your daily life. Breathing exercises, connecting with nature, hobbies or doing a creative activity are some suggested methods. 

I've always thought of stamping cards and crafting as my ‘happy hobby’, turns out I may have been on the right track. I enjoy sharing my creations and creative ideas with others. It seems to help with my feelings of isolation. 

Reaching out to others to help them discover the joy of stamping also makes me very happy!

smiles,

Laurie

Autumn Love of Leaves

I was out hiking yesterday in the Rocky Mountains, so stunningly pretty, right from the outset! Alberta may not have the Maple Reds, but we are blessed with the amazing Golds of poplars and larch amongst our evergreens! And our underbrush has lots of colours; the junipers with their beautiful blue berries, silver wolf willow and rosehips in ruby reds! I wanted to do something from nature's inspiration.

I had seen a couple cards last week while surfing that I wanted to pull some ideas from. The beautiful Fall colours from Katie's card below and the striking accent of black and white from Joy's card pulled together with my ideas with leaves created my latest Love of Leaves card.

My card uses the amazing Simply Elegant DSP (155761 includes copper, gold and silver foiling with Basic Black and Very Vanilla) I stamped the Love of Leaves on Very Vanilla cardstock using Cherry Cobbler, Crushed Curry I dressed up the project with the gorgeous gold textured brushed metallic specialty paper (156844) for a layer and die cutting a favourite wreath swirl of mine from the Sparkle of the Season bundle (156765) I love the colours of Fall. These stamps and dies for leaves are so stunning and simple to work with. You have all the variations you can dream up to create and customize your cards and projects, it really is a must have, why not get it ordered today. (153567 and 153452) smiles, Laurie

Peaceful Christmas Paper Pumpkin

https://www.paperpumpkin.com/en-ca/sign-up/?demoid=1000271

This looks fabulous for pulling together a group of Christmas cards in a fun session of crafting. It has 10 cards (2 designs/ 5 of each) and promising to coordinate with the beautiful Peaceful Place Suite. This is a beautiful calm bundle including beautiful papers with silver accents and Black and white images, snowy velvet sheets of paper etc. I'm excited. This is a great time to give Paper Pumpkin a try (maybe, again!) No commitment, you can suspend any single month or your whole account whenever you want. A whole lot of craftiness and happiness in a box! Let me know if you have questions! (subscribe early, just in case this one sells out by subscription deadline of October 10th !)

Sweet Farewell ~ Travelling images for Sailing Home Dies

I challenge myself each weeknight on my LIve@9 to create something. Using a variety of things to give me all my ideas through the year. I've rounding into my first full year of making ove 250 cards! I'm just adding the picture taking and blog posting to this. So I don't recall wha the exact starting point was for this card, but my love of this new Annual Catalogue stamp set, Sweet Farewell might have been all it took? I checked out the dies that go with Sailing Home stamps and they worked perfect with this very different image of sailboat! I thought I'd further twist things by using Fresh Freesia in the Maritimes mix of Blues and whites! Do you know which dies the shapes are from? A favourite group of dies of mine is the hint, I'll give you on that! Thank you for stopping by! I'm planning for continual content, stop by again to check it out. smiles, Laurie

Celebrating Rosh Hashanah with a Honey Bee card

Many Jewish Canadians will observe Rosh Hashanah, known as the New Year in the Jewish calendar, September 6-8, 2021. This is a time of family gatherings, shared meals and prayers among loved ones. A time to reflect on the past and make a fresh start for the New Year. Rosh Hashanah greeting cards are also sent. I created this special card to wish anyone celebrating, a "Happy New Year"! 

  L'shanah tovah (say “le- sha-NAH to-VAH”) 

 is how to say “Happy New Year” to someone who is observing the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. 

Jewish Canadians traditionally eat challah bread, pomegranates, and apples dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah. The challah bread, symbolizes the continuity of life. The apples that are dipped in honey symbolize sweetness and good health throughout the New Year. Pomegranates symbolize an abundance of goodness and happiness. People wish for blessings in the New Year as plentiful as the seeds of a pomegranate. I found several examples of cards using any of these symbols for these greeting cards.

  smiles,

 Laurie

Flowers of Friendship for my Mom's Birthday

To help celebrate Mom's birthday, I chose these pretty little flowers and added the spray of leaves from Forever Flourishing Dies. I get a feeling that these are kind of peeking out from a tree with the Bark Embossing folder...

One of my favourite fonts of the new catalogue is from the Sweet Ice Cream stamp set.

I put this card together 'just in time' in a special Live at a weird time over on my facebook Business page If you click, you can scroll and find a couple hundred videos you can peruse. I started doing Live@9 last fall each weeknight to connect with fellow stampers during this crazy year.
I've had so much fun sharing some stories as I create on the spur of the minute. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, it's all part of the process of creativity, though! : D

Most sad is my rural internet, but I am forever hopeful that we'll get connectivity one day!

Thank you for stopping by!

Smiles,

Laurie

Facebook link to Live https://fb.watch/7XZyQWFUxJ/