The Speckled Sparrow

Saturday, 23 April 2016

Baby Bear Sneak Peek - Male Vs Female

I love being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. Not only do I get to craft with amazing products but I also get to attend Onstage, an event twice a year where we get to see & bring home some awesome new products. Stampin' Up! are very generous & give away prizes at these events in the form of stamp sets, embellishments, inks & even the New catalogue to take home. The best part about Onstage is everyone wins a prize!

Today I am sharing a very cute new stamp set called Baby Bear. It will be very popular once the new 2016-2017 Annual Catalogue goes live on June 1st! I was having a play with some retiring products & figured a great way to welcome the NEW is to say goodbye to some great retiring products at the same time.

I have made both a female & male version of this cute little bear, both using current & retiring products. This stamp is a 3 step stamp & requires a keen eye to line up. These ones are not perfectly lined up, but still look great. I have used Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake & Early Espresso as the 3 layers of inks on the girl bear below. I gave this bear a bit of extra dimension by cutting an extra head & raising it up on dimensionals.

Girl Baby Bear

I have used the Itty Bitty Accents Punch pack & blushing Bride cotton ribbon (both retiring) for the bow & flower on the bear's ear. The good news is the frame for the sentiment & the flower, both from the Rose Garden thinlit dies, from the Occasions Catalogue. The DSP is Blushing Bride from the Subtles DSP paper stack.

For the boy bear, I have used Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake & Chocolate Chip as the ink layers. I prefer the Chocolate chip for a softer fur feel.

Boy Baby Bear

The boy bear needs less embellishment, just his cute little bow which is included in the stamp set. I stamped his bow in Marina Mist & Night Of Navy. I have used the Go Wild DSP stack for the background, Night Of Navy Seam Binding ribbon & the Curvy Corner Trio punch - ALL retiring!

I can tell this little Baby Bear is going to be very very popular come June 1st. I have already fallen in love with his cuteness! I have provided the links to the retiring products I have mentioned in my shop list below. I urge you to buy what you love before it goes as these retiring products are selling out very fast, & with only a month to go, they won't last that long as they are all while stocks last!

Thanks for stopping by

Tricia

Product List

Tuesday, 19 April 2016

It's Time To Say Goodbye

Things to know:

Some items are discounted up to 50% off
Many items are only available "while supplies last" - so shop early
The Washi Label Punch is already "out of stock" as are ink refills for Blackberry Bliss, Lost Lagoon & Tangelo Twist.
Even though the host/stampin' rewards items are listed as retiring, you'll still need to qualify for them with a $250 or more order (then select them as your Stampin' Rewards).
The list may seem longer than in past years, but remember...the list includes both the Annual AND Occasions Catalogs (new for this year)
Shop early to ensure you get your favorites before they are gone!

Here is the link for the PDF version

Click on the pictures below to take you direct to the products in my online store.

Remember to use Hostess code: FUMQAJ6X for your orders under $250. Anything above that you accrue your own hostess dollars to spend.

Sunday, 27 March 2016

CTC72 - Life is A Beautiful Ride

Welcome back to CASE-ing the Catty Sunday Blog Hop & HAPPY EASTER! I am sure you will be sick of chocolate by now & ready for our blog hop. We are sharing one last Sale-A-Bration project with you before it all ends. There are only a few days left to get your free Sale-A-Bration (SAB) items so you had better be quick! Remember, here in Australia, you need to order $90 worth of product to select those freebies!

I have chosen to case this card on the left from the additional SAB flyer:

I loved this little bike when I first saw it & haven't had the chance to make anything with it until now. The Pedal Pusher stamp set has lots of little additions for the bike & different sentiments as well, making it a great choice for a free SAB item.

I have been missing my bright colour palette so I have pulled out my favourite paper stack, Its My Party DSP stack. It has so many bright fun patterns & I just couldn't go past adding some coordinating products.

I added a strip of the Crushed Curry spotty Washi Tape & the Melon Mambo Enamel Dots to the wheels. All the other DSP is part of the It's My Party paper stack, which comes in a 12" x 12" size - perfect for scrapbookers!

This is a great stamp to colour in with the Stampin Write Markers. Colouring in is fun don't you think? You could also water colour it like the sample I cased. I used Beautiful Ride stamp set for the sentiment as I thought it went perfectly with the bike.

Would you like to earn Pedal Pusher for free? You have until the end of March to get that qualifying order in. You can click straight through to my store from the boxes below.

Next up is Kathryn, I wonder what she has made today as a goodbye to Sale-A-Bration?
You can always go backwards too! Just click on the previous blog to head backwards to Monique's blog

Would you like to join us for this challenge? you can add your link here:

Thanks for stopping by

Tricia

Product List

Sunday, 21 February 2016

CTC 67 Birthday Bouquet Calendar

Welcome again to another CTC Sunday Blog Hop. Today we are drawing inspiration from the Birthday Bouquet section of the Occasions catalogue pages 8-15. Right now, this is my most favourite section in the catalogue. I know when I opened my catalogue the 1st time, I totally gasped at all the pretty florals & soft colours.

Every year I make a calendar for my desk & this year I chose to use the gorgeous Birthday Bouquet DSP on page 9 of the catalogue. I also wanted to use the Number of Years framelit/stamp bundle on page 10-11. These all fit into the section we are working with today & I have used lots of the products from this section.

You can't tell from the picture but I have added Wink of Stella to the numbers to match the sparkly Pool Party ribbon. I just love that ribbon!

I chose the small flowers DSP from the pack & added some Bloomin Heart flowers I had left over from my last project. I got the little calendars off eBay in packs of 10 but they were a bit plain so I have stamped each month with some of the flower stamps from the Number of Years stamp set.

I had to make my easel quite big as I was having trouble finding a nice neutral pad to put on the base part of the easel. Why do they only sell the post it notes in yellow or fluoro colours?! After much searching, I managed to find a cube notepad that would work in a nice white. I keep my calendar on my desk by my phone & I use the pad for quick messages.

Here is a side view of the calendar. Some of you might remember the butterfly basics calendar I did last year, this one is the same basic design but larger. Instructions on how to make it are on that post.

Dimensions for this one:

Base: Pool Party card stock 12cm x 24cm, scored at 6cm & 12cm.

Top: 12 cm x 12cm square Pool Party (corners rounded)

Layers: Blushing Bride cardstock 11cm x 11cm & Birthday Bouquet DSP 10.5 x 10.5cm

The rest is embellishments of your choice. See it's super easy!

I enjoyed making this so much, my stamp club ladies made it this week too. This would make a lovely Birthday or Mother's day present too don't you think?

I hope you liked my project today. To continue the hop please click through to Judy I just know you will enjoy what she's made for us today.