Oh, Canada for Pals Paper Arts

I can't believe how far along we are in June already!  In a couple of weeks it will be July 1st, and here in Canada that means it will be our National Holiday which is only a few days away from our American neighbours' 4th of July! We call our July 1st holiday, Canada Day and we celebrate with barbecues, trips to the beach, parades and, especially with fireworks!!

When Pals Paper Arts published their challenge this week, the red,white and blue colour palette looked very patriotic and it would have been perfect for an American card maker to come up with a July 4th card.  If you took out the blue it would have been a perfect Canada Day colour combination, but that wouldn't meet the requirements of the challenge then would it?  But I was determined to come up with a project for the challenge and so I just kept the blue to a minimum.

It has been awhile since I made a card-in-a-box so I decided to do one with this challenge.  Just a word to the wise here.  This is NOT a quick and easy card.  It turned out to be darned complicated, but in the end, it did what I wanted it to do!

• I was just worried that my Canada Day promotion might look a little too American with the Night of Navy, but I'm sure all those maple leaves off-set that element! (Not that American is bad or anything, just not as appropriate in this case!  I don't want to hurt any feelings here, because I love my American readers!!  Just to be clear.)  There are three different maple leaves on this project.  
• One is the stamp from last year's Best of 25 Years collection, Best of Autumn.  Unfortunately, you can't order them any more, but it was the best maple leaf stamp I had a round, so I just had to use it.  Also, unfortunately, there is no die or punch that coordinates, so I had to fussy cut all of them.  Like I said, not a quick card to make.

• I wanted to make a Canadian flag, but I needed a small maple leaf and there are no stamps that would work, so I got out my new Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack and used the little star.  After I punched it out of Real Red cardstock, I trimmed of the bottom two points and added a stem and I got a reasonable facsimile of a maple leaf for the middle of my flag.
• I also die cut a maple leaf from Red Glimmer Paper.  The die is Autumn Accents Bigz die and the leaves it cut added some sparkle and pizzazz to my card-in-a-box.
• I spritzed some creped filter paper with alcohol and Real Red Reinker and then used the Fringe Scissors to cut a fringe in it and also in some white Creped Filter Paper.  I rolled each of them up on little pieces of wooden skewers to form, well...either cheerleader pompoms or a representation of bursting fireworks.  You pick.

• The back panel has the sentiments, one from Regarding Dahlias (hi) and the other (Hip Hip Hooray) from Hip Notes.  I was trying to come up with something one would say on a Canada Day card.
• You can see a little more of the Night of Navy here.

• The cool thing about cards-in-a-box is that they fold flat and fit in a regular envelope.  This one....is a bit bulky because of the "fireworks", but you could still probably squeeze it in and use extra postage if you're mailing it.  Better yet, make one and take it to the host of your barbecue or party.  It won't cost you extra postage and your host will love it!

Here are this week's Weekly Deals:

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today!

Product List

Best Of Autumn Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134390]	Regarding Dahlias Wood-mount Stamp Set [130324]	Regarding Dahlias Clear-mount Stamp Set [130327]	Project Life Point Click Photopolymer Stamp Set [135787]	Hip Notes [wood] [133501]
Hip Notes [clear] [133504]	Maritime Designer Series Paper [133696]	Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100730]	Night Of Navy 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100867]	Real Red 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [102482]
Red Glimmer Paper [121790]	Creped Filter Paper [129393]	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126949]	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [126970]	Real Red Classic Ink Refill [103287]
Paper Snips [103579]	Sticky Strip [104294]	Autumn Accents Bigz Die [127812]	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine [113439]

Thanksgiving Weekend

Welcome to the weekend, stampers!  And here in Canada, it's a long weekend where we celebrate Thanksgiving!  My girls and their families are coming home and we're going to play with the babies, shop, cook delicious food and just enjoy each others company.  I hope the weather is nice so we can get some good walks in as well. (We're going to need them!!)




I love the colour challenge from the Pals Paper Arts this week:

The Design Team came up with some amazing samples.  Click on the link and check out Brian King's card. He created an amazing background and I admit to being totally influenced by it.  All the DT samples are a hard act to follow, but here's my interpretation:

• I really, really like this colour combination of So Saffron, Cajun Craze and Always Artichoke!  It is such a perfect look for fall.
• My stamp sets are Best of Fall and Harvest Blessings.  I love the leaf stamp from Best of Fall and the sentiment is from the same set.
• The Deco Label Framelits are a perfect focal point for this card.

• I usually stamp the light colours first, but this time I started with the two darker colours, Always Artichoke and Cajun Craze, then I overlapped them with the So Saffron giving some varied colouring without muddling up the image, because the So Saffron is such a pastel.
• The Always Artichoke Seam Binding Ribbon cuts up the background a bit, keeping it from overpowering the focal point.

Hope your weekend goes well and you don't eat too much turkey and pumpkin pie!  Leave me a comment about your favourite Thanksgiving traditions.

Stamps:  Best of Autumn (c134390);  Harvest Blessings (w132016; c126452)

Paper:  Always Artichoke (105119), Cajun Craze (119684), So Saffron (105118) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Always Artichoke (126972), Cajun Craze (126965) and So Saffron (126957)

Accessories:  1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon in Always Artichoke* (retired)

Tools:  Deco Labels Collection Framelits (130102); Big Shot (113439); Stampin' Trimmer (126889)

Best of Autumn Stamp Set

Big Shot

Deco Labels Collection Framelits

Harvest Blessings Stamp Set

Stampin' Trimmer

Be Grateful and Blog Candy!!

More sad news today from Ottawa, Canada's capital city.  A horrific bus/train collision cost 6 lives.  And then there's the flooding in Colorado with more loss of life and so many unaccounted for.  Mexico is experiencing deadly floods with 57 fatalities!  Is it my imagination, or is there way more than the usual destruction and tragedy in the news this week?  It makes you realize that life is fragile.  You just never know what could happen as you go about your daily routines!

To counter all the sadness in the world these days, a good strategy is to count your blessings!  Be grateful for all that you have.  And give your family an extra hug and kiss on their way out the door today!

I have another sample for the As You See It Challenge 002 today.  I didn't use it because I thought it was too close to my example for the first AYSI challenge, but I really like the card and wanted to show you. (There's still time to enter, by the way!)

• I used the Best of Autumn leaf stamp and for the top leaf, I stamped it using the Baby Wipe technique.  You place a couple of baby wipes in a container and drip several colours of reinker where you want them, then you basically just use it a s a stamp pad.  I used Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip.
• More sweater weather plaid!!  I cut two slits in the Tangerine Tango card stock, after embossing with the Honeycomb embossing folder, and passed the Soft Suede panel right through it.  The sentiment is from the Best of Autumn stamp set as well.  it's stamped in Chocolate Chip ink.
• Good ole Gorgeous Grunge created the splatter marks in Crushed Curry on the Very Vanilla card base.

• Here's a closer look at those leaves, which were hand cut, by the way.  And the Naturals Designer Button threaded with Linen Thread, adds the final touch ( along with a couple of candy dots in Tangerine Tango!

I'm thankful that I have a job that I love and I'm thankful for you, my readers, who make it worth my while to write these posts every day!  In fact, I'm so thankful, that I think it is time for some 

BLOG CANDY!!

Leave a comment on this page telling me what you're thankful for and I will choose one lucky winner to give away the following:

• Blossom Builders Designer Printed Kit
• Cherry Cobbler Tulle Ribbon
• Gently used retired stamp sets: Toxic Treats, Make a Mitten and Frosty Friends 

You need to leave your comment here by Saturday, September 21 at 8 pm and I will do the draw then.  I can only ship product in Canada, so I will send a gift box of hand-stamped cards to a winner in any other country, instead.

Stamps:  Best of Autumn (c134390) ; Gorgeous Grunge (w130514; c130517)

Paper:  Sweater Weather DSP (132184); Very Vanilla (101650), Soft Suede (115318), Tangerine Tango (111349) and Chocolate Chip (102128) cardstock
Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Chocolate Chip (126979) and Crushed Curry (131173);  Classic Stampin' Refills in Crushed Curry (131158), Tangerine Tango (111841) and Chocolate Chip (101065)

Accessories:  Naturals Designer Buttons (127554); Linen Thread (104199); Brights Collection Candy Dots (130931)

Tools:  Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (129378); Big Shot (113439); Stampin' Trimmer (126889)