Blog Hop Winners Announced - Autumn Inspirations Hop

Winners from the Sparkle N Sprinkle "Autumn Inspiratons" Blog Hop have been announced.  Just wanted to pass those along in case you didn't get to see them yet.

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The Grand Prize was awarded to Aileen Freeman!

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Secondary winners (extra prizes)
1. From Donna Ellis's Blog: 2 glitter tinsels of your choice! – Karen A. Jones 
2. From Dawn Thomas's Blog: 3 embossing powders of your choice! - Linda Craig
3. From Linda Loew's Blog: 3 glitters of your choice! - Denise B
4. From Shona Erlenborn's Blog: 2 Sparkle N Soft colors of your choice! - Barb P
5. From Patti White's Blog: 2 Flocking colors of your choice! - Anita Braddock

More details (including details on what to do if you're a winner) are on the "home blog" - Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog.  And we've said before on previous hops & I'd like to repeat again myself because it's so absolutely true.....we truly enjoy & appreciate every comment   It encourages & inspires us more than you know!  Thank you so much for joining us & spending a little part of your day with us.  We're so glad you did!

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For an extra treat, I have another SNS (Sparkle N Sprinkle) fall card to share with you today.  This is another of my "Pre-Blog" designs that I wanted to share now.  This one may or may not appeal to everyone because it's a bit unusual; but it IS a completely fun card that is near and dear to my heart!

You see, for a similar SNS design request last fall; we were also asked to do cards with a fall theme - much like this recent project for the Autumn Inspirations hop.  Well, at that time, I was working with the really cute Brooke & Bailey baby sets from SNS.  Those two sets are a lot of fun & have so many great images & sayings - here's a peek at the two of them:

 

Click any photo or image for a larger view

So again...I'm working with these two sets when the fall themed request comes in & the request includes a suggestion to "re-purpose" everyday stamps into fall themed designs.  Well there it was, right in front of me....since I, like many people, create from their own life experiences or that which is personal to them - the answer was right in front of me.  Two of the four grandchildren in my immediate family (my daughter & my niece) were both born within a week of Thanksgiving.  Many people call them "turkey babies".  And since I have one and know one - I just had to create one for this design call.  Plus, the Bailey in Diapers stamp was perfect for this idea!  I just loved this card - cute, a little funny, and really unique.  What do you think?

The feathers can be done lots of different ways.  I used a Cricut to cut these, but they could easily be made out of a lot of different dies, punches, or even free hand. These ones are actually
flower petals!  They just happened to be the shape I was looking for - so let your creativity flow - think outside the box!  The saying was part stamped (the "Congratulations" from the same set as Bailey) and part done on the computer ("on your New Little Gobbler").  With cling stamps it's so easy to see through the acrylic blocks to make lining up with the computer text a breeze! And don't forget that the saying could easily be changed so that you could have a birth announcement, a shower card, or even one congratulating parents that found out they're expecting in the fall.  To finish the piece, the card and the saying piece were both accented with SNS Autumn Medley glitter for that extra "pop".

If you know anyone expecting in November; I'd bet they'd just love to receive a Baby Bailey Gobbler!  Or for that matter, Bailey would look great "dressed up" for a bunch of other holidays & events too!  Once again, let that creativity flow!!  If you do a "Bailey" card, be sure to let me know; I'd love to see yours!  Hope you enjoyed the card & congrats again to the Autumn Inspirations blog hop winners!!

"The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy; 

                                                                      I mean that if you are happy you will be good."              Bertrand Russell

Until next time,

** Julie**

Supplies used:                                        

Stamps - Sparkle N Sprinkle

Glitter - Sparkle N Sprinkle

Die cut "feathers" - Cricut

Die cut label - Spellbinders Nestabilities

Embossing Folder - Sizzix

Dew Drops - The Robin's Nest

Markers - Copic                                      Full instructions for this card can be found HERE.

Sparkle N Sprinkle "Autumn Inspirations" Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Autumn Inspirations Blog Hop.  Autumn is my favorite season - the sights, the sounds, the smells!  I'm so glad you're here!  If you've arrived here from  Jill's awesome blog; you're in the right place.  If not, you may want to go back to the Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog to start from the beginning & find out about all the great prizes for this hop.  Plus, that way you won't miss any of the great "Autumn Inspirations" we have for you!

Click any photo for larger view

For my card today I chose to do a general card instead of one specifically for the season, but instead used all those beautiful fall colors as it's focus.  Perfect for a special friend, family member, spouse- anyone close to your heart.  And for a little extra fun; I did it as a waterfall card - these are so much fun to receive and play with.  I wish you could hold it in your hands - it's so much more fun to see "in action" than in photos.  But alas, I just haven't gotten into making videos just yet; so you're going to have to accept plain old photo's for now.

While there was a lot of stamps & pieces to this card; it was so much fun to create (sensing a trend here?!)  It was a blast mixing & matching all the great Sparkle N Sprinkle stamps & sets.  And three of the sets are from the newest releases which makes them even more fun to design with!  The main element that ties everything together are the beautiful Copper embossed frames that surround every image.  These are from the new Thoughtful Frames - Set 436.  They make such a perfect accent for so many different things & there's two more great frames on this set as well as a bunch of lovely sayings as well.  A really useful & versatile set to own.
(click on any colored word(s) in the posts for links to more information)

Of course, the really fun thing about a waterfall card is the movement.  If you've never done one of these cards before; give yourself a treat & make one or two or three!  (Full instructions for this card can be found here in the art gallery at Sparkle N Sprinkle).  In order to flip through all the great "pages" of the waterfall, you pull on the pretty "pull tab" made with ribbon & a Spellbinders Parisian Accent die.  While doing that, you'll flip through fun sayings & images from the new Bird Swirl - Set 432,





new Fancy Butterflies - Set 437 & Thoughtful Frames - Set 436,

and many other favorite sets such as Nikki's Romance - Set 400 , Love Is Sweet - Set 401, and Solid Butterfly - Set 391.  It's so much fun to pull together all these different images & sayings to make a really special card for that special someone in your life.  As a matter of fact, this card was so much fun that I already have ideas for a bunch more waterfall cards from all the great stamp sets at Sparkle N Sprinkle.  Hopefully I'll have some more of those to share with you in the coming months; so be sure to stay tuned for those.  In the meantime, don't forget to check out the SNS Art Gallery for the full instructions to this card.  

Well, I sure hope you've enjoyed this card & I look forward to hearing your comments.  It's time to hop on over to the next stop on this hop - the Glitterific Patti!  Remember to leave a comment on each stop to qualify for all the great prizes!  And thanks a bunch for joining us on this warm & colorful autumn adventure!

Autumn has a beauty & color & warmth that lingers in our senses the whole year through.  Embrace it!

 Until next time, 

**Julie**

 PS - Don't forget, I'm still building this new blog; so if you like what you see consider becoming a follower so you can see the great things I'll be adding as this blog builds & grows.  Come along with me on my adventures in creativity & life!

Supplies:

Stamps - Sparkle N Sprinkle

Embossing Powders - Sparkle N Sprinkle

Die - Spellbinders Parisian Accents

Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug

Ribbon - Michaels

 

Finally Back......And Showcasing New SNS Stamps!

Wow, I'm finally "back on the blog"!  It seems I've hit one of those little spells where I've ended up being much busier than I expected and I haven't gotten to blogging for awhile.  While I really enjoy sharing things with you all, at times, things with higher priorities just take over.  And with two young school age kids, the end of summer seems to have "snuck" up on me.  Suddenly our days have been extra filled with everything from extra outings we wanted to go on during the summer to back to school shoppping to those doctor appts. that you just want to squeeze in before school starts.  It's amazing how fast the days can slip away with even the little "mundane" things!

Well, in any case, I definitely wanted to get back to blogging and share some more fun things with you.  And while I haven't been blogging for awhile; I definitely have been creating; so I've got some great things to share as we catch up.

Plus, this is the perfect time to start catching up because Sparkle N Sprinkle is getting ready for another great blog hop this Thursday & Friday - Autumn Inspirations - I have a really fun project to share with you for that too!  And of course, there will be some great prizes for those that leave comments along the hop; so make sure you check in for that on Thursday!!

Click any photo for a larger view

(Don't forget, click on any highlighted word(s) for further details/links).
Ok then, what I have for you today is from a new stamp release from Sparkle N Sprinkle.  This card uses a beautiful butterfly and saying from the new Fancy Butterflies - Set 437.  This stamp set coordinates with Spellbinders new summer release butterfly dies and can be purchased as individual stamps, as a money saving set, or in either of two combo's that include one or both of the two great Spellbinder die sets!  So you can get exactly what you want - so many options!  (Pics of the sets are further down in this post)

For my card, to add a little extra interest, creativity, and fun; the butterfly is stamped & embossed on metal!  This is such a fun medium to work with for this image because you can mold & shape the butterfly exactly how you want to make it really dimensional & lifelike.  There's a great little tutorial on the SNS Tips & Techniques section for Embossing on Metal & you'll find another example there where I embossed on metal.  If you haven't tried this yet; you have to try this.  It's so much fun & adds so much interest to your creations.  For this card, I did cut my butterfly out by hand to get the look I wanted; but the Spellbinders dies will cut the craft metal; so that's another great option you have too.  Here's a look at the stamp set & the coordinating dies from Spellbinders:

This card also takes on a fun feel by having the whole card cut out in an oval shape.  I used the Spellbinders new Grand Calibur and Grand Oval Nestabilities to cut out the main card base & layers.  While I chose a simple shape for this card, all the Grand Nestabilities make such great (& interesting) card bases!  If you'd like to see the full directions for this card; they can be found here in my gallery on the SNS site.

Fancy Butterflies set is just one of a bunch of new stamp releases from Sparkle N Sprinkle.  You might enjoy taking a look at 5 of the new sets in the newly released You Tube video showcasing some of the great new Spring & Summer sets.  I only have one card in this group, but I did another card that uses a bunch of the new sets (& some older ones too!) that isn't on the video because it's part of the up coming blog hop.  So you'll have to make sure you come back to check that out!!  In the meantime, here's a link to the YouTube video so you can check out the new sets -
  Sparkle N Sprinkle 5 New Sets (Spring/Summer 2011)

Be sure to come back Thursday for the Autumn Inspirations blog hop & I'll share the card I did with a bunch of these new sets!  Looking forward to seeing you then! 

     "Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."  

Theodore Roosevelt

 Until next time,

** Julie**

Supplies used:
Stamps & Embossing Powder - Sparkle N Sprinkle
Dies - Spellbinders Nestabilities
Embossing Folder - Quickutz
Craft Metal - Walnut Hollow