Hey friends,

Thanks for stopping by, hoping to bring a little sunshine and cheer your way! I'm playing along with the As You See It Challenge #223, Somewhere Over the Rainbow! You can check out the challenge and be inspired by some gorgeous creations here

For my card, I used the lovely Poppy Moments Dies from Stampin' Up!'s Mini Catalogue, I just LOVE these dies. The card was inspired by one I had made years ago using another favourite set of dies, Botanical Blooms. Those have since retired, but I thought the Poppy Dies were a great option for recreating the essence of the card. Here's my card:

I used two different shades of cardstock for each flower: Melon Mambo and Flirty Flamingo, Bermuda Bay and Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight and So Saffron, Gorgeous Grape and Highland Heather. The leaves were done with Granny Apple Green and Pear Pizzazz. I used black cardstock for the centres and card base. I love how the bright flowers pop on the striped background 😍

For the sentiment, I heat embossed the 'hello' from the Well Said stamp set and die cut the 'friend' from the coordinating Well Written dies using gold foil. 

There was ALOT of die cutting and gluing for this card, it was definitely a labour of love for me, considering I mostly make simpler cards. It'll definitely be a hard one to part with, if that ever happens. In fact, I still have the original Botanical Blooms on my card display from years ago...here it is:

Hope you love the cards as much as I do and that they bring happiness, the way that rainbows often do!

Thanks so much for stopping by, please leave me a comment below to let me know what you think of the cards!

Hugs, Zahra

Stampin' Up! products used for this project

Poppy Moments Dies [151594]	Well Said Cling Stamp Set [148796]	Well Written Dies [151816]	Melon Mambo 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [115320]	Flirty Flamingo 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [141416]
Daffodil Delight 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [119683]	So Saffron 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [105118]	Bermuda Bay 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [131197]	Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [131297]	Gorgeous Grape 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146987]
Highland Heather 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146986]	Granny Apple Green 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146990]	Pear Pizzazz 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [131201]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [121045]	Gold Foil Sheets [132622]
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder [109129]	Heat Tool (Us And Canada) [129053]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Multipurpose Liquid Glue [110755]	Metallic Pearls [146282]
Stitched So Sweetly Dies [151690]

A fond farewell to some favourites...

Hello friends and happy Monday!

Did you enjoy your weekend? I find work and homeschooling the kids keeps me pretty busy during the weekdays, so I'm often looking forward to weekends to relax, connect with friends and family (virtually, of course), catch up on some cleaning and tidying and do some crafting!

I carved out some time yesterday in my craft cave and really enjoyed the peace and comfort of making cards, it's such a great outlet, so therapeutic. I have recently been trying to send out a lot of happy mail to friends, family members and customers to spread some sunshine. It occurred to me that my husband and kids could also use some happy mail! So I decided to make cards for them, which I'll be popping in the mail today :) You'll see those in a later blog post.

I wanted to share with you some cards I made with our retiring In Colours. What are In Colours, you ask? They're a group of 5 colours that Stampin' Up! releases every year that are considered on trend. Stampin' Up! carries them for 2 years and then retires them to make room for 5 new colours. The 2018-2020 In Colours are Lovely Lipstick, Pineapple Punch, Call me Clover, Grapefruit Grove and Blueberry Bushel. You can see them below...

Aren't they just so bright and cheery? They remind me of a box of Crayola crayons...

Here are the cards I made using these colours...

And here they are individually:

 Grapefruit Grove

Call Me Clover

Pineapple Punch

Lovely Lipstick

Blueberry Bushel

Do you have a favourite colour? For me, it's a toss up between Grapefruit Grove and Lovely Lipstick...please tell me in the comments below which is your favourite!

I can't take credit for the design, I was inspired by Angela Meiritz-Reid over at Stamping Beauty, you can see her blog post here. I stamped the flower from the Free as a Bird Stamp Set to create a tone on tone background. While I'm totally obsessed with really into florals, I decided to also include some butterflies on my cards, as I hadn't used the Butterfly Gala Stamp Set and coordinating punch in a loooong time! I love how they add dimension and detail to the card 😍 The sentiment "I can't thank you enough" and perfect fit die label are from the So Sentimental Bundle, definitely one of my all time faves!

The list of retiring products will be coming out on April 22nd. Once that list is posted, these in colours will fly off the shelves and sell out quickly! If you'd like to own any of the products in these colours, I'd highly suggest you get them as soon as possible. And if you already have the ink pads, make sure you get the ink refills to extend the life of your ink pads!

I hope you enjoy these bright and cheery cards and that they bring some happy to your day! I've included a supply list and with direct links to my online store, if you'd like to order any of the products.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Hope you're staying safe and healthy in your little bubble. Have a wonderful day and week!

Hugs,

Zahra

Product List

Free As A Bird Cling Stamp Set [149468]	So Sentimental Bundle (English) [153828]	Butterfly Gala Photopolymer Stamp Set [148580]	Butterfly Duet Punch [148523]	Classic Stampin' Pad Assortment In Color 2018-2020 [147153]
Lovely Lipstick 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146970]	Grapefruit Grove 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146972]	Pineapple Punch 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146971]	Call Me Clover 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146969]	Blueberry Bushel 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146968]
Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [100730]	Whisper White Solid Baker's Twine [124262]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]	Multipurpose Liquid Glue [110755]	Rhinestone Basic Jewels [144220]

Another Stamp Camp in the books!

Hi hi friends!

Thanks for dropping by today! Yes, my blog has been in hibernation for a loooooong time...I would love to find more time to blog actually, I do love to write and share with you. I'll definitely post more often than once a year, you have my word on that.

I wanted to share with you a recap of one of my most favourite (and popular) events - Stamp Camp! We had a huge snowstorm on the day of Stamp Camp - it was NOT ideal weather. Fortunately,  everyone made it there safely and home and had a great time while they were there.

Stamp Camp is a half-day event that gives people an opportunity to escape their busy lives and craft their little hearts out in the company of many others that want to do the same. Every time a new Stampin' Up! catalogue comes out, I order a ton of new product and design cards and projects that Stamp Camp attendees can make. In addition to having a fun and relaxing day out, it's a chance to test run and play with all the new amazing products. People also love that all the designing is done for them, as well as the cutting and prep work - they just stamp and assemble!

Here are all of the cards everyone made and took home:

Aren't they just so pretty?? I loved how all the cards turned out, can't stop looking at them 😍

We try to have a theme for Stamp Camp, based on a suite of products from the new catalogue. This time, it was the Bonanza Buddies suite - this suite of products has the CUTEST little animals (koala, lion, toucan) as well as fun and bright paper, ribbon and miniature pom poms. This suite of products is perfect for birthday cards, decor and gift packaging! I designed some cute cupcake toppers and tags for the bags everyone received when they arrived. My talented friend and team member, Sophie, created an incredible array of different projects using this suite.

The displays are a huge part of Stamp Camp and a great source of inspiration for those that attend. People love to take pics of the projects so they can create the same or similar projects. There were way more display boards than shown below, this is just a little snap shot 

My favourite part about Stamp Camp is seeing everyone happily stamping and smiling...people love to come as a chance to connect with friends and/or make new ones and just be among others that enjoy crafting and cardmaking...

We also have amazing raffle prizes to give away - all are brand new product from the new catalogues, it's so fun to see some lucky winners going home with all their loot!

So fun, right? I'm always on a high after Stamp Camp, it fills my heart to be able to offer such a fun day of crafting and see everyone's smiling faces! 

I'm taking registrations now for Stamp Camp in June - it's already half full! If you're local to the Toronto or York Region area, grab your spot before it fills up and join us! 

You can view the Facebook Event HERE. Send me a message or comment below if you'd like to register, you don't want to miss it!

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it! 

Hugs,

Zahra