Sunday's die-cutting demo by Marj and Dianne was the best! I only wish we had video-taped it because it would have been a good reference to have available for our customers. There was sooo much preparation work leading up to the demo day; Marj and Dianne deserve mucho kudos' from everyone for their hard work and dedication on behalf of the store for our customers.

And here are some of the gorgeous samples using various dies from Cheery Lynn, Memory Box and Spellbinders . . .

by Marj Marion
Cheery Lynn Fanciful Flourish (B117)
Memory Box Perched Bird (99160)
Asian Gold Paper Pack
Tungsten Candi 

by Marj Marion
(below is the inside of the card)

Memory Box Fanciful Flourish Die (B117)
Swiss Dots Embossing Folder
Martha Stewart Butterflies Paper Punch
Dotted Steel Metallique Candi

by Marj Marion
(backside of front . . . aka inside left)

Cheery Lynn Square Lace Frame (FRM 126)
Sweet William Flower Die (D137)

by Marj Marion
Cover page is framed acetate with tag attached; above is the
front of the card and below the card is opened up.

Cheery Lynn Stacker 2 Flower Die; Stacker Flower 6; Large Rose
Memory Box Museum Tag D (98145) & Museum Tag Stamp (E1771)
Famiy Treasure Punch
Bird (McGill Punch)
Penny Black:  Thinking of You stamp (2909E)
Rubbermoon:  Think Spring stamp
Paper:  Memory Box 6x6 Pad

by Marj Marion
Memory Box LaRue Heart Die (98255)
Paper:  single ply from paper napkin and glued to card stock

by Marj Marion
Memory Box LaRue Flourish Die (cut from paper; rotated cut piece
and glued back over the remaining paper from original cut out)
Arrows at top corners are remnants from the flourish cutting.
Stamp:  Magenta 07.640.G

Backside of cover; Marj had this trim covering the entire top edge of the inside (backside of cover)

by Marj Marion
Memory Box Crisp Bows Die (98197)
Hand-Cut Ribbon pieces from left-over pieces Marj had in her stash

by Marj Marion

and inside the card . . .

Memory Box Umbrella Die (98296)
Memory Box (Poppy) Flower Die (820
Spellbinder Grommet Tag Die (S4-322)
Memory Box Stamp (B1766)
Memory Box Viola 6x6 Paper Pad
Pearl Pens

by Marj Marion
Cheery Lynn Italian Flourish Die & Italian Flourish Angel Wing Die
Spellbinder Fancy Tag Die (Sr-235)
Quote Stamp:  Inkadinkado (8466-L -- oldish!)
Coin Stamp:  Judikins (2049-D)
Asian Paper glued to white card 

Jane Townsend stopped in for the demo and she was kind enough to show us 3 cards she had made with dies, saying she couldn't get over how easy and simple these cards were to make. She used paper from Paper Parachute. We were quite impressed with Jane's enthusiasm and thank her for sharing her beautiful cards with us . . . and you!

by Jane Townsend

by Jane Townsend

by Jane Townsend

And then Susie brought in another Magenta chipboard cat that she decorated with Basic Grey's Out of Print paper using the large flower designs and cutting them out. And of course, Susie had to include the new hand painted wooden buttons from fabScraps for the flower centers.

by Susie Tracy

From the blog over at Memory Box . . . Peonies are one of my all-time favorite flowers and I love how it's combined with the latest new paper from Memory Box. And with Easter around the corner, I think you'll more than like the beautiful Easter Eggs on the second card. And I love the colors in the third card.

Purple Peonies

I really enjoy the new Viola paper collection.  Okay, I am also partial to purple (say that three times fast), so that might have something to do with it. 

To make this card, I used the Adore Peony Collage (G1433) and added the Just a Note Combo saying(B1852) over the word "adore."  I then chose some Copic markers that matched my patterned paper to color the flowers.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Easter Egg Trio

What's not to love about the Filigree Easter Egg die??!!

I'll be teaching in Peoria, IL at the Scrapadoodle on March 24.  In planning for the class, the owner Lynne Demanes asked me to use this die.  She said its many of her customers' favorite!  And who could blame them.

So, here we are!  I hope they like it!

 I started out by die cutting three eggs out of papers from the Viola 6 X 6 paper pack using the Classic Egg die (98305).  It was hard to choose just three!  Next, I cut the Filigree Egg (98306) 3 times from the new Aloe paper.  I ran the Filigree Egg pieces through my Xyron "X" and attached them to the Classic Egg pieces. Sentiment is Easter Joy (B1763)

The card is made up of an Aloe Note Card, a white mat and the top mat is the new Sky paper.  My favorite.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mixed-Color Background

First, I want to welcome all of my new subscribers! I am glad to have you joining in the Memory Box fun! Welcome!

Today I thought it would be fun to create my own background using water-based markers, water, and an acrylic block. I have done this before on cards using distress inks and defining the area for certain colors. You can see an example by clicking here. Today I thought it would be fun to "mix up" the colors a bit.

First, I chose four colors to use. Next I took one color at a time, scribbled the color onto my acrylic block, misted with water, and then "colored" it onto my paper. To color onto the paper, I stamped and rubbed the acyrlic block directly onto my paper. While it was wet, I could play with where the colors went. I did this for each of the colors mixing it up as I went along. The colors didn't dry too fast so they were able to blend and bleed a bit. Here is what the color collage looked like after I mixed it up:

Messy huh? :) Next, I used the Memory Box Blank Ticket die {98213} to cut out the mixed-color paper. Then I stamped the paper with the Memory Box Mercer Rose Background stamp {G1842}. I then layered the new Memory Box sky notecard with vintage book paper, a doily, and some flowers to create the card. For the tag, I used a piece of the vintage book paper along with the Memory Box Just a Note stamp{B1053}. And here is how the card turned out:

Papers: Memory Box sky nc, X-Press It
Stamps: Memory Box Just a Note B1053, Memory Box Mercer Rose Background G1842
Stamp Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink black soot
Tim Holtz Distress Markers: barn door, broken china, peeled paint, spiced marmalade
Embellishments: Memory Box blank ticket die 98213, smaller flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, Prima flower (large), doily from Hobby Lobby, misc. vintage book paper, sewing machine

I hope you have enjoyed today's creation and technique! Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate all of you!

From Els at Elizabeth Craft Designs  . . . we just sent in a huge order, so be on the look-out for gorgeous new and favored peel-offs, Be Creative Tape, and Shimmer Sheetz! I just found out the order I placed for the Shimmer Sheetz before the Shimmer Sheetz class was mis-read; they took the '7' as a quantity 'one'! I'll never order 7 of anything again! LOL!

"So I had the oval with the hat laying around and an unfinished card with the Shimmer Sheetz patchwork. I thought they might work well together and I think they do:)! For the coloring of the hat I used the Tombow markers and the Shimmer Sheetz are mostly Iridescent colors I sanded or used alcohol inks on and sanded."

by Els for Elizabeth Craft Designs

We're in the last week of the Memory Box Make-n-Take's at the store . . . butterfly card and/or flower card. All it takes is a non-perishable food item for the Thurston County Food Bank per Make-n-Take or $1 each. The Food Bank emptied the barrel yesterday so we could fill it up again. Isn't it fun when you can do something for someone else at the same time you're having fun doing something for yourself? Totally!

Here's my FB posting earlier today; unfortunately, it appears what I'm asking will apply for the remainder of the week!

"Dear God, we need to change the light bulb colors in your South Sound living room. The gray color isn't working anymore; we need a better color, i.e., blue? Amen."