InKollage

Pastel Filigree Egg

Here's another embossed egg - our new Filigree Egg, with more colors from the Cat's Eyes Swell Queues inkpad set. Blended shades of Shabby Pink, Lettuce and Sweet Melon make the embossed filigree pattern stand out. It's surrounded by a combination of Sweet Melon and Banana Custard. 

I've enjoyed designing Easter cards to share with you.  It's my favorite holiday - with its soft, pretty colors, spring flowers and pastel-wrapped chocolate eggs. 

Now it's time to start using up the remaining bits and pieces of the Gossamer, Frond and Spearmint 6x6's and 12x12's we've enjoyed so far this year.  

Be sure your favorite Retailer has ordered the next new release, Enchanted Butterfly, so you can create along with us - Dave, Laura, Patter and the entire Design Team -  as we present the next collection of stamps and papers.

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Garden Easter Egg

Sometimes it's fun to discover great ink color combinations. At other times, it's better to have someone else do that for us - like having the perfect array of colors in the ColorBox Swell Queue set.  It's a collection of six Cat's Eye inkpads in spring pastels - Shabby Pink, Sweet Melon, Banana Custard, Lettuce, Cape Cod and Plum Berry.   Here's a variation of a color-blending technique featured on some of the beautiful Easter Suite cards Dave created.

Lettuce, Cape Cod and Plum Berry were just the colors I needed for the Nature Print Egg - and because the inks have an extended "open-time," I could blend them for a soft muted look.  Sky Blue Jewel Stickers added extra sparkle to accent the single leaf on the right.

Maybe your Easter cards (unlike mine!) are already signed, sealed and sent?  Then make smaller versions of this card and convert this design into a set of pretty placecards, perfect for your Easter brunch, luncheon or dinner table.  If you're planning a buffet, they'd be elegant menu cards, with the name of each special dish you're serving.

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Ducks in a Row

I love the Woodland Basket from our Easter Suite Collection - you can do so many things with it.  Here's an idea - combine it with a section of the Nesting Birds stamp and create a very twiggy basket to gather eggs punched from prints in our Frond 6x6 Set.  Suzanne's card - from our Outside the Box blog - shows you another great option using the Ivy Border stamp.

I got the cute ducks punch at Impress - it includes the big and little duck, and some wavy lines resembling water.  It would be a great punch for a baby card - or a summer card, with them duck-surfing the waves...perfect with the cool, refreshing blues and greens of the Frond Set.

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Simple Butterfly Collage

 "Simple" is rarely used as an adjective with "collage" - but I think it applies here - because Dave's already done most of the work for us.  The Create Art background stamp, Magnolia 12x12 paper and Frond 6x6 paper have an artsy soft-vintage look - all you need to do is add a few Memory Box Mint Pearl Stickers. The total effect is one of gathering old papers and layering them, as you would in a shadow box -  or under glass on an old end-table.

Hope you have a chance to see the great samples from the Impress Go Green event.  Old papers, packaging materials, beverage cans and junkmail are transformed into works of art.  You can even vote for your favorite on their Facebook page (Impress Rubber Stamps/Facebook).  Here's an example of three cards I made from old magazines, ribbons and recycled papers.

  

Join our Greet Green classes at Impress at Bellevue Square (11:00-1:00 on March 27th - phone  425 453.2748)  and University Village  (11:30-1:30 on March 28th  - phone:  206 526.5818).   Learn to select the right recycled papers and fold this cute little origami dress for unique cards.  We'll also make cards featuring a dimensional butterfly from magazine pages -  and stamp a flower with a surprise, recycled item that you'd never expect to use on a card.  Of course, the latest Memory Box stamps will be featured too!

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Something Old, Something New

Working with glitter is like baking cookies or trimming the hedges - once you get everything set up, it just makes sense to do more than just one card, batch or section. Here's another glittered Design Adhesives Flourish motif designed by Dave -  it's glittered in a shade called Ocean Spray.  The background is from our Magnolia 12x12 sheet of swirly flourishes, fresh new leaves and cool collagey motifs

I thought it'd be fun to layer the different elements and mix the contemporary dots, scribbley lines, classic topiary and distressed Frond print covering the flowerpot. Spellcheck is questioning "collagey" and "scribbley" - but you know what I mean!

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Spring's First Flowers

Laura's "glitter post" reminded me about my stash of glitter -  and the Flourish Design Adhesives from a Memory Box/Clearsnap collaboration.  The Vintage Notes stamp creates a nice backdrop for the flowers punched from a Frond 6x6 print - and the Spring/Sings Combo stamp adds a quick little message.  And, of course, we can't forget my new favorite...Dove Gray Notecards.

Starting to sound like an infomercial here...but wait, there's more!  

Impress had a great Go Green celebration yesterday - sharing artsy projects their talented team created from recycled bits and pieces otherwise bound for a landfill.  On a similar theme, here's a preview of a card from my Greet Green class at Tukwila on Saturday the 20th, and again at Bellevue (March 27th) and University Village (March 28th). 

 

It's Vintage Notes again - with an origami dress made from a magazine page.  We're using recycled magazines and newspapers - the actual papers will be unique on every card. We'll add flowers punched from scraps of Soiree Shimmer cardstock, leftover ribbons, and a "faux-barcode."  If you save colorful magazine and catalog pages and bits of pretty "stuff,"  I'll provide ideas for using those treasures to accent cards that go green.

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It's Your Bird-day!

Celebrate a spring birthday with Dotty Tree Birds from our Easter Suite Collection - three little birds perched on a whimsical tree. ColorBox Chestnut ink - embossed with detail clear powder - looks like rich chocolate ganache.  It's a little hard to see here, but the deep glossy brown stands out against the bright Lagoon Cardstock that it's stamped on.

It's great to heat-emboss  when you're painting with Smooch Accent Inks - like the Surf, Green Apple and Sundance used here.  The heat-embossing "seals" the ink and helps me stay inside the lines  - most of the time!  The embossed lines are like little speedbumps that tell me to slow down because I'm approaching the edges.

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It's Spring!

The Big and Little Squirrels  welcome Spring on fresh green prints from the Frond 6x6 Set. The "tree trunk" here is actually the Log Home - a horizontal stamp - but it creates a pretty comfy hideaway for the little squirrel when it's standing upright.  It's stamped on the striped sheet from the Butterfield 6x6 Set. An oval punch makes it the perfect lookout.

The leaves, attached to the side of the log stamp, look great when hand-cut.  Or, even easier, circle-punch and Smooch them with Luscious Lime.  Some Canary Yellow Jewel Stickers and a quick little message complete the card.

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An Irish Celebration

Here's another version of our St. Patrick's Penguin - now appearing in an outfit from our Glitterati 6x6 Set, with a shamrock paper-pieced from the same great set.  It's his wild side.

Try mixing the splashy-bright Glitterati colors with the soothing greens of the Frond 6x6 Set on your other cards too...you'll discover some great combinations.

Speaking of greens...Impress is really going green on Wednesday, March 17th.  They're celebrating St. Patrick's Day with special green ideas from their talented team, green-colored treats and a green Stampers Project. 

I think it's great that Impress - who can easily sell you just about any new papercrafting product you need (and a few you didn't even know you needed!!) - supports recycling in such a meaningful way.  

  

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Eggs for Easter

Welcome spring with our new Woodland Basket - filled to the brim with an assortment of eggs in fresh pastels.  Tiny patterns and the stripes from the Spearmint 6x6 Set create an instant-gratification version of hand-painted eggs - piled high for a special Easter celebration.

It's a great basket for any time of the year.  Its rustic twiggy-ness  also makes it a natural backdrop for seashells, miniature pumpkins, pinecones, gingerbread people or cupcakes.  Or fill it with pretty hearts punched from flowery prints for a summer wedding.  Or tiny chicks and bunnies for a new baby.

Here are two designs from my first Spring Forward class  - at the University Village Impress  - this Saturday.  We'll cut and fold a simple little basket - perfect for jellybeans, chocolate eggs or Peeps. Then, we'll make Easter and Spring cards featuring our new Easter Suite Collection and the beautiful Frond and Spearmint 6x6 Sets.  

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