CeeCee's Creations

my fraggie friend and a change of direction for the old blog-o!

lately, i've been getting a lot more commissioned work (thanks to my friends helena and michelle) and that suits me just fine. i love doing that and getting to know the people i work for. today's project is one i made for someone who's a long way from home (england). she wanted something special for her best friend, who she calls her "fraggie friend". she submitted a photo and asked me to frame and embellish it.

this shadow box was quite an adventure in itself. i bought it in toronto last fall and it was black. lately i've discovered the fun time you can have playing with inka gold from viva decor. it's a paint but has the texture of a paste. problem is it doesn't adhere well to sleek surfaces (but it's great on chipboard!). since my frame had a nice smooth finish you can image the trials i went through to get it to look like that. i sanded the sucker down to the wood! anyways, after that stage was done i had quite a lot of fun dying my flowers and arranging them in the frame. i also had fun making the frame and text around the photo with photoshop.

that little box will house a nice gift michelle has for her friend. i just added a ribbon, some flowers and pearls to it.

and now on to some serious business: i've decided to devote more time to my other blog Card à la Carte which is a joint venture with my friend Gen. this means i won't be posting here every day. from now on, this blog will be reserved to show my commissionned work and talk about stampin' up!'s promotions and news. however, i will continue to post 3 times a week (and Gen will post twice a week) on Card à la Carte and come up with new tutorials... some free as well! and you might want to check out today's post here because i have a video showing a fun technique that's both easy and goooooooooooooorgeous.... bling... need i say more?!

i also suggest you subscribe to Card à la Carte's newsletter (by typing your email addy in the top right corner box of the blog) to get exclusive content and a free bonus tutorial by the same token! oooof, that was a long post.

ceeya soon! CeeCee

black friday... black tea for me!

i hope that all who celebrated thanksgiving yesterday had a good time, surrounded by the ones they love! although i am not american and our thanksgiving is celebrated in october, i took a few minutes to be thankful for the people i love and to be appreciative of things i have.

then i went right back to work :-) here's my project of the day --

using Card à la Carte's Gift Companion and one of the bonus themed templates, i made myself a Tea Connoisseur Companion to keep track of all the teas i taste.

anyone who knows me personally know that i'm a huge fan of teas and herbal teas and i've been experimenting with a lot of them these days. i find i lose some useful info about them though so this great tool allows me to keep a record of things i need to know about each one of them.

 

here's the inside of my companion. see the cards in the box? they're part of the bonus template pack added to the Gift Companion Tutorial for Black Friday Weekend. you can get the details here. plus, every single products is offered at a reduced price, from 15% to 50% discounts!!! Go check it out!

i used Stampin' Up!'s Morning Cup stamp set and the Take a Sip wheel stamp to decorate my book. the color scheme is Early Espresso, soft Suede, Marina Mist and Tangerine Tango.

of course... i added some glitter with some dazzling diamonds.

yup, on the cover too!

have yourself a very happy black friday! CeeCee

 

 

mini polar bear wishes

what a weekend! on saturday, i spent the day at my LSS making a whole bunch of cards with jennifer mcguire... me and the other 39 people that is. it was an amazing day. we almost finished 24 cards!!! i will start posting them this week. 

but yesterday, i took it easy -- besides managing the orders that came in for Card à la Carte's latest tutorial. if you haven't seen this new gift idea, it's a must. you can view all the details here.

so, like i said, i took it easy yesterday. i stayed in my jammies , ate leftovers and watched the last F1 race of the season (booo...) while I colored. it's my favorite activity to unwind.

this card is a 3" X 3" mini. i used leftovers from a project i made for Card à la Carte last week. i love this image from an old cube stamp i bought by a canadian company called the stamp barn. so cute and so fun to color. the backgroup dsp pieces are from stampin' up!'s elegant soirée -- one of them i glittered myself with versamark, heat & stick powder and dazzling diamonds glitter.

the image was stamped with memento's rich cocoa ink and colored entirely with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. i wanted a more subdued tone. i also added a rhinestone jewel in the middle of the star and dots of quickie glue with some dazzling diamonds for the background and on the bear. also notice the hat on the bear and the earmuffs on the snowman? i applied this fantastic product from ranger called enamel accents in white. it's a dimensional paint that maintains its shape and puffiness when it's dry. it's fantastic. it's one of the products that jennifer mcguire demoed during the class and ... i bought it!

i'll be back tomorrow with my "jennie" projects.

happy monday! CeeCee

hello, little sunflower!

before i show you today's project, i'd like to let you know that this year's 12 Weeks of Christmas Newsletters will be presented by Card à la Carte, a joint venture with my friend Gen. you can find all the details here but i encourage you to sign-up for Card à la Carte's newsletter... you won't regret it. lots of awesome projects and tips and techniques will come your way!

avant de vous présenter le projet d'aujourd'hui, j'aimerais vous annoncer que mes communiqués "12 semaines de Noël" de cette année seront envoyés par Card à la Carte, un projet conjoint avec ma copine Gen. vous pourrez trouver tous les détails ici mais je vous encourage à vous inscrire aux communiqués électronique de Card à la Carte... vous ne le regretterez pas!

so let's move on to today's card that i made using leftovers and an embellishment from my stash.

the sunflower was made using Stampin' Up!'s Two-Step Bird Punch and 1 1/4" Circle Punch. each petal of the flower is actually the bird's wing! this punch is so versatil and tomorrow, i'll show you another project i made using the wing.

les pétales du tournesol ont été découpées avec la perforatrice Passereau deux étapes extra-grand. il est vraiment versatile; d'ailleurs demain j'aurai un autre exemple utilisant la même perforatrice .

i've stamped the hello from the Chic Boutique stamp set in the middle of the flower with Whisper White Craft Ink and embossed in white. the small yellow oval below was put there to hide the SU logo on the polka-dot olive DSP + it ties everything together i think.

le petit oval jaune en dessous de l'oeillet ci-bas a été ajouté pour cacher le logo de SU sur ma retaille de papiers à pois vert olive. un petit moyen détourné de cacher des défauts -- de plus il fait un rappel au jaune de la fleur!

bonne journée! CeeCee

a shameless plug for Card à la Carte and a contest!!!

i can't lie to you when i say that Card à la Carte has taken most of time recently, due to our newest tutorials, and Gen and I would like to thank our customers. 

 

so if you're in need of a little "picker-upper" and would like to win one of the Cute 'n Cubbies made with Stampin' Up! products. all you have to do is sign-up for our FREE monthly newsletter to be eligible by CLICKING HERE. 

it's THAT simple!

have a fantastic thursday, everyone. CeeCee

 

fabric flower card... carte avec fleur en tissu

(message bilingue *** bilingual post)

oh, it's good to be back in the studio creating!  

this project uses up fabric remnants of a tutorial that gen and i developed for Card à la Carte (you can click here to view the Cute 'n Cubby project). i'm always loathe to throw away remnants of paper and now that we've added fabric to the plethora of things we can cut with the Big Shot die-cutting system, i find myself hoarding gorgeous leftovers and THAT gets my creative juices flowing. there's nothing more satisfying that using up things you thought you would have thrown away... kinda like a freebie deal :-)

 

ça fait donc du bien de se retrouver enfin à créer dans le studio. il me semble que ça fait un peu trop longtemps! la carte que je vous présente aujourd'hui est partie du désir d'utiliser les retailles de tissu que Gen et moi avons utilisé pour un tutoriel qui vient tout juste de sortir sur le site de Card à la Carte (vous pouvez cliquer ici pour les détails sur le Cute 'n Cubby). une chose est certaine: je retire toujours une très grande satisfaction d'utiliser mes p'tits bouts de papier et de tissu pour un second projet. c'est comme un bonus quand on pense qu'on accomplit quelque chose avec du matériel qu'on aurait peut-être jeté!

the fabric was die-cut using Stampin' Up!'s Circles, Scallop #2 Bigz die (#113464) for the Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine (#113439) and i know i'm repeating myself when i say this but "what would i do without my Big Shot?!". i just love it and there's not a week that goes by that i don't use it.

other tools i've used here are the Two-Step Bird Extra Large punch (#117191) for the leaves and the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Extra-Large punch (#118874) for the base of the flower. the sentiment from the Just Believe stamp set (#120453) was stamped with Whisper White Craft ink (#101731) and embossed with White EP (#109132). a white line with uni-ball Signo Gen Pen (#105021) around the Crumb Cake (#120953) card base ties everything together and makes a nice frame for the flower. note the use of a white seam binding ribbon... not saying else about it for now (hint, hint).

le tissu a été coupé à l'aide du poinçon Bigz Cercles festonnés #2 (#113464) pour l'appareil de coupe à la forme Big Shot(#113439) et je sais que je me répète mais j'adoooooore ma Big Shot! Il ne se passe pas une semaine sans que j'y touche. C'est un vrai p'tit bijou!

d'autres outils que j'ai utilisé: le poinçon Passereau deux étapes Extra-grand (#117191) pour les feuilles et le poinçon Cercle festonné 2-3/8" Extra-grand (#118874) pour la base de la fleur. le sentiment estampé avec l'encre Craft Murmure bland (#101731) vient du jeu d'étapes Just Believe (#120453) et a été gaufré avec la poudre Stampin' Emboss blanche (#109132). une petite ligne blanche faite avec le Stylo uni-ball Signo blanc (#105021) tout autour de la carte de couleur Brune dune (#120953) fait un petit rappel avec l'attache parisienne blanche et encadre bien la fleur. 

notez également l'utilisation d'un ruban très populaire ces jours-ci qu'on appele en anglais "seam binding"... je n'en dis pas plus sur ce sujet! indice?! c'est ce que vous verrez peut-être bientôt!

Bon dimanche et n'oubliez pas que si certains des produits utilisés vous intéressent, vous n'avez qu'à cliquer ici pour commander.

CeeCee 

are you ready for the new Stampin' Up!'s color renovation? êtes-vous prêtes?

i am!!! i put together my new and improved Color Inventory Notebook with THIS TUTORIAL. Go check it out -- it's simple to make and will save you a lot of time.

*****

moi, je suis prête!!! J'ai confectionné un petit carnet pratico-pratique à l'aide de CE TUTORIEL. Allez jeter un coup d'oeil -- ça en vaut la peine.

 

 

Have a great day! CeeCee
 

meeting an idol

Gen and I are back from the Stampin' Girls convention that Josée Smuck, our sweet fairy godmother, put together for us Stampin' Up! demonstrators and oh-boy what fun we had! the event took place over a 2-day period where we had a chance to meet with fellow demonstrators and exchange ideas and discuss business tips and. 

Once again, Josée put together an amazing event. From demonstrator theater, to wow swaps, to prizes galore, to an awesome catered lunch and a candy bar. Oh, and Card à la Carte (that's Gen and I!) won the Wow Swap Prize. Woohoo! Our project was the coffee cup cozies which we handed out from a vendor-type tray that Gen had attached to... yup, me! Unfortunately, i was so busy all day that i didn't have time to snap pictures, except for the one below taken at the very end of the event.

but i think the biggest event for both of us was meeting Andrea Walford, who was the guest speaker at the convention. if you're a SU demo and have never heard of her... your head must have been in the sand for a long while because she puts together those amazing class and workshop tutorials to help us grow our businesses. if you haven't checked her out yet, click here.

here's Gen and I with Andrea. Her Friday night speech was both inspiring and informative. More importantly, she's an awesome lady who's very sweet and patient -- we had lots of questions for her.  

thank you, Josée, for giving us once again the opportunity to appreciate the SU Demonstrator experience and spoiling us rotten. You're one of a kind! 

so, for those of you out there in the stamping world that are sitting on the fence, trying to decide whether becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is a fit for them... don't hesitate. i've been one for 4 years now and i'm still lovin' it! Email me or call me for more info.

CeeCee

remember this... updated***

***this post was updated to include the link at the bottom... sorry, about that :-(***

 

remember this picture? remember the tease? 

GO CHECK THIS OUT!

CeeCee

remember this ?

remember this picture? remember the tease? 

GO CHECK THIS OUT!

CeeCee

using the flower fold sizzix die on a card

today's card is inspired by... well, my card. my other card on Card à la Carte. 

instead of using a felt flower as an accent, i took out my Flower Fold Bigz Die for the Big Shot and created a beautiful and quick accent. i love working with big-size embellishments. and i'm so happy Baja Breeze is coming back (big sigh of contentment here)...

 

simple and funky is how i would call them. so simple in fact that you can crank a few in no time!

have a fantastic sunny day! CeeCee 

a new CALC video tutorial and a poll

today was a very full day for me. i basically spent the day away from my office but one thing i managed to squeeze in was a crash course on iMovie so i could edit my video tutorials a tad faster. unfortunately, what i'd saved on my USB key at the Apple store was totally useless and i had to redo the darn thing. 

but i managed to put together a video on how to make flower embellishments using pipe cleaners. it's on Card à la Carte's YouTube channel here. 

since we're on the topic of video tutorials, here's a poll i put together for you to play with. i would love to give my readers what they actually are looking for in a tutorial. so go ahead and answer this poll. i'll post the results in a month.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Thanks for playing along and have a fantastic day! CeeCee

coffee cup cozy tutorial is up on Card à la Carte!

 

as many of you have requested it, Card à la Carte is happy to offer you a tutorial on how to make the Coffee Cup Cozies posted here, using Stampin' Up!'s Baskets and Blooms Bigz XL Die for the Big Shot. All you have to do is head on over to Card à la Carte and follow the simple instructions. 

And if you're pressed for time or are out of resources and supplies, you can also buy them from Card à la Carte's Etsy shop. 

As you can attest from the picture below, Gen and I have been really busy making a whole bunch of them for friends and family. 

 

But we've managed to put some aside for you. But they're going fast and we've got only 25 left, so don't wait!

 

i hope you enjoy the tutorial! if you have any questions, please send a comment either here or on Card à la Carte and i'll be happy to help you!

CeeCee 

i {heart} you - with lots of glitter

after i finished this other card for Card à la Carte's Inspiration Center, i was left with a second transparency card base and i didn't want to put it away for future use... we all know what happens when we do that. it gets put away and forgotten!

so in my eagerness to use it, i started using a rub-on and messed up - big time! i couldn't get rid of the bad rub-on so instead i chopped off the transparency part that was damaged and figured out a way to use the rest. as it turns out, i had a front and about an inch of the back so i salvaged it by glueing a piece of white C/S to the 1" part for the back and a piece of DSP to show through the front, kinda sandwiched between the white CS and the transparency. 

 

the DSP acts as a backdrop to my glittered i {Heart} you Sticky Cuts Letters (#111109) that i dusted with Red Fine Galaxy Stampin' Glitter (#114286) and Olive Fine Supernova Stampin' Glitter (#114287) from Stampin' Up! i also added a gorgeous Basic Black 5/8" Satin Ribbon (#117285) to the top of my card.

 

ooooh, she purdy! see how she shines?!  

 

the inside of the card is also a mistake i fixed. i had stamped the sentiment (from Kind & Caring Throughts #115234 -- hostess free gift) directly on the inside panel but it smudged. So i stamped it again on a scrap piece of Whisper White CS and lined with a piece of Real Red CS before adhering it over the smudged sentiment.

~~ a mistake is just an opportunity to get creative! ~~

happy saturday! CeeCee

masculine birthday card - part deux

here's the other card i made for Elena to give to her nephew. this one has a computer-geek motif (not that he is a geek, although i don't know him -- heh). 

i think the grommets add a real masculine touch. the main image was embossed with Black EP on Stampin' Up's Old Olive cardstock. the card base is Taken With Teal. speaking of Taken with Teal, i think it's one of the hardest color to photograph (besides Real Read). it always comes out as Tempting Turquoise and the tweaking of the color with Photoshop is sooooo tedius. if anyone has a tip they would like to share for this particular color, please put a comment at the end of this post.

on a different note, i will be adding a very very glittery project on Card à la Carte tomorrow (Friday) so be sure to check it out here. i'm quite proud of it and don't be shy to leave comments. i'd love to know what you think of it.

have a fantastic day! CeeCee 

get whale soon

today, i took my own advice. i CASEd... from myself! i'm in a hurry because we're going to see Eric Clapton at the Bell Center tonight so i needed a card quickly. and since Card à la Carte's new mandate is to become an inspiration center for cardmakers out there... well, i am a cardmaker and i needed a little inspiration. so, i took today's Quickie Mini Monday's baby card and turned it into a get well soon card:

i just changed the card base and the ribbon color for So Saffron, the sentiment on the image (from Pun Fun), and the brad for a button! Quickie Presto Magico!

 

i love how my whale turned out. i was going to stamp it again but the faded look worked for me. it has sort of a denim look to it that i love. 

have you CASEd a card lately?! Go to Card à la Carte and get inspired! CeeCee

   

my glittery pink flamingo

because it's Sparkly Fun Friday at Card à la Carte, i decided to play here as well. 

i had so much fun with this... after my initial try. i ended up scrapping a whole sheet of paper because the glitter was all wrong and the overall feel of the card didn't appeal to me.

i love that little blue bird on the pink flamingo. it just makes me all happy and sunny! the sentiment is from Vintage Labels, a stamp set i got for free from Sell-a-Bration.

have a great friday! CeeCee 

 

handmade felt embellishments

 

the picture above is a just a little snapshot of what today's Card à la Carte's Sweet Treat Thursday is all about. So be sure to head on over there and view this post. 

i had such a fun creative day today. all the stars and planets were aligned! the following are remnants of felt i kept from die-cutting the above project on my Big Shot using the Baskets & Blooms Bigz XL Die. the cool thing about the Big Shot die-cutting machine is that it'll cut through 3 layers of felt easily. saves on time in a big way!

 

and darn it, you know me by now... i hate throwing anything away. i mean, look at all these perfectly good pieces of felt. we got flowers and circles and tags and leaves... hmmm! so i got busy and came up with these:

 

they're similar to the Sweet Pea Stitched Felt in Stampin' Up!'s Occasions Mini Catalogue. and don't get me wrong, i love the Sweet Pea's and bought several packages of them and use them often. BUT... i couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity to be creative with my leftovers. i hand-stitched them all. 

 

the cool thing about that shape of flower is that the little pieces from the inside can be used as leaves, like on the following:

 

the die even cuts labels so i embellished one just and will use it on an upcoming project...

 

eeee, look at those french knots! i was immediately transported back to a time when i cross-stitched as a hobby.

Go ahead and try your hand at some of those too! and don't forget to visit Card à la Carte. Gen and i would love to hear your comments.

have a great day! CeeCee

nichole heady's color couture challenge

i got a little bit tired of using the same kind of colors for the past week or so... when i saw Nichole Heady's new challenge over at PTI i knew i had the answer to my boredom.

 

then i found this amazing paper from the Stampin' Up!'s Sweet Pea DSP pack and was overjoyed! the Stampin' Up!'s colors to match the challenge are: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red and I added Whisper White. 

these cards were very easy to put together because the flowers are actually part of the paper. barely any stamping except for the sentiment which comes from the Well Scripted stamp set.

i really let the beautiful flowers speak and just added a Chocolate Chip corduroy button and a strip of the two-sided DSP. 

on this one, i decided for a Whisper White organza ribbon since it is of a more feminine nature. i also added another corduroy button inside one of the Pumpkin Pie flower within the pattern.

 

of course, no card is complete without glitter. here, i've used Dazzling Diamonds.

to cover up the brad prongs, i stuck more DSP in the inside flap and repeated the sentiment. i love how those colors coordinate together. Stampin' Up!'s products are great for that. If you're interested in any of the wonderful new products, don't hesitate to give me a call. i'll be placing an order on Friday. don't forget that it's Sale-a-Bration time and that you earn free products for every 65$ you order. can't beat that!!!

i quite enjoyed putting these 4 cards together which will probably end up in Card à la Carte's Etsy Shop one day so be sure to check that out.

happy thursday! CeeCee

 

mojo monday challenge 124

happiness is a splash of color. that's what i prescribed to myself today. at this time of year, i crave summer and colors. so here's my interpretation of the latest sketch

for Mojo Monday Challenge (#124):

and {gasp!} i put a "crooked" element on my card. i know Gen's going to lash out at me for that but i just felt like it. i kinda like it! i've used the Whimsical Words from Sale-a-bration, in both french and english, for this card and i love the whimsical font. the cute border was punched with the Scallop Trim Border Punch, a new one from the Occasions Mini Catalogue.

one more thing: if you are in need of a bit of inspiration, go check out Card à la Carte's blog . gen and i have been really busy these past few weeks. we're in the process of re-vamping the look of the blog, but the content is brand new and will be refreshed every week day! there's also a video of us but... we're not a serious duo so take it for what it is: too crazy gals havin' fun sharin' what they love!

 

laterz, my friends! CeeCee

new workshop -- the technique club -- nouvel atelier

As most of my blog readers know Gen and I thought 20 different techniques to my team, the Glitter Sisters. Since the class was such a success --and fun to give-- we decided to offer it as a series of workshop to our customers.

Comme plusieurs d'entre-vous le savez déjà, Gen et moi avons eu le plaisir de montrer 20 différentes techniques d'estampage à plusieurs filles de mon équipe, les Glitter Sisters. Cette classe fut un tel succès que nous avons décidé de l'offrir à nos clientes.

So, starting in January, I will be hosting a technique club each 3rd Friday night of the month and this for 6 months. The classes will run from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. at my Studio (Dollard-des-Ormeaux) where each student will be putting together a gorgeous fully-decorated homemade album (courtesy of Gen's design) make 20 technique samples and 10 coordinating cards or projects, accompanied by class notes and supplies list. 

Donc, ces cours se donneront à raison de 6 sessions mensuelles chaque dernier vendredi du mois, de janvier  à juin. Chaque session aura lieu de 7:00 à 10:00 p.m. à mon Studio (Dollard-des-Ormeaux) où nous développerons 20 techniques et 10 cartes ou projets utilisant certaines techniques, le tout accompagné de notes de cours et liste de fournitures.

Here's a look at the album cover:

Voici la couverture de l'album que vous confectionnerez:

 

And a sample of the technique pages:

Un échantillon des pages de technique:

 

The cost of this club is 30$ per session and you have to subscribe to all 6 sessions. The cost includes all supplies to make and decorate the album, plastic page protectors, cards and projects, class notes and supplies list (adhesives not included). There are only 6 spots available so reserve as soon as possible by emailing me here. I will advise when the session is full.

Le coût de chaque session est 30$ et vous devez vous inscrire pour les 6 sessions. Le coût inclus toutes les fournitures pour confectionner et décorer l'album, les pages protectrices en plastique, les cartes et les projets, les notes de cours et listes de fournitures (les adhésifs ne sont pas inclus). Il n'y a que 6 places de disponibles alors réservez le plus tôt possible en m'envoyant un couriel ici. J'aviserai lorsque la session sera complète.

I'm really excited about this workshop since we had so much fun giving it! And if you've noticed, the album says "Techniques, vol. 1"... you can read between the lines :-) There was quite a bit of demand for a 2nd Session with 20 brand new techniques! Stay tuned!

Je suis vraiment emballée de vous présenter ces ateliers puisque nous avons eu beaucoup de plaisir à les donner! Et comme vous avez pu le remarquer, le titre indique "Techniques, vol. 1"... lisez entre les lignes :-) Nous avons eu une bonne demande pour une 2e session.

Bon dimanche à tous!

CeeCee

free tutorial from Card à la Carte *** tutoriel gratuit!

Isn't this picture yummy? Wanna know what it is? Better yet, wanna make one of these?

Quelles belles couleurs! Qu'est-ce que c'est? Mieux encore: vous voulez en faire du pareil?

 

Just hop on over to Card à la Carte and follow the free step-by-step guide! It's our gift to you, from Gen & I. Enjoy!

Allez faire un tour du côté de Card à la Carte et suivez les instructions pour confectionner votre propre Guide-couleurs. C'est un petit cadeau que Gen et moi vous offrons. Amusez-vous!

Have a fantastic Sunday! CeeCee

card couture and new card à la carte

Hey everyone! I'm back from the dark and happy about it. Just wanted to show a cute little project that I made using one of Lauren Meader's My Timeless Templates called Card Couture. This cute box can be used to store a whole bunch of stuff such as recipe cards, cards gift sets, etc. 

I made a matching card to go with that in my favorite format... a 3" X 6" from a 12X12 piece of cardstock. Love that format. 

And for our Card à la Carte customers, we have 2 new products out: our Year-Round Cards Tutorial as well as a Hostess Sets of Cards for SU Demo Display. You can check those out here and here!

Also, our Inventory Wallet Tutorial is still going strong and if you want to see what other people have done with it go check out Jackie Wright's blog. She decorated hers differently and it looks fantastic!!!

Recipe for card couture box and card (all supplies by Stampin' Up!) -- stamp set: Circle Circus; cardstock and paper: old olive, so saffron, whisper white, tall tales DSP; inks: rose red, old olive; ribbons: rose red 1/4" grosgrain, old olive 5/8" grosgrain; punches: scallop circle, 1 3/8" circle, 1 1/4" circle; other: paper piercer, stampin' dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, mini glue dots, Lauren Meader's card couture template

stamp reorg... and Card à la Carte teaser *** caution: lots of photos

Wow, I hadn't realized it's been a while since I posted and I apologize. Gen and I have been busy with new stuff for Card à la Carte and I guess I also wanted to take advantage of the nice weather we had this past week... the summer is not so great in our area this year.

I'm actually taking a 3-day break, without the family (I hope Stuuph and her Dad won't get on each other's case -- these 2, let me tell ya!!!)  I'm meeting my sis-in-law Sue in Kingston. Since it's halfway from where we both live (she in Toronto, I in Montreal), we figured it was a good place to park our behinds for a few days and catch up on things... or shopping... or eating chocolate and watch movies. WHATEVER we decide to do will be fun!!!

I wanted to leave you with some photos of my stamp reorganization I've been doing for the past 3 weeks. It all started with my friend Kathy Vinski, showing me those amazing 12" X 9" plastic cases. It was like she had shown me the keys to a Ferrari Diablo!!! I fell in love and I immediately wanted to re-organize my stamp collections. Here are some photos that will better illustrate the process. 

First of all, all of the stamps you'll see in the casings were either sitting all willie-nelly (sp?) in baskets on 3 shelves, some on top of my little white cabinets and some were even underneath the bar of our main room! And here's where they all reside now:

Just 2 shelves!!! First I have to mention that these are not my current SU stamp sets. The casings come in 3 different thicknesses: 1", 1/2" and 1/4". The 1" fit wood-mounted stamps, the 1/2" fit 2 stacks of EZ-mounted rubber stamps and the 1/4" fit the photopolymer stamps. 

Here are my wood-mounted stamps from non-SU manufacturers, as well as all my Bellas and my Magnolias:

I love it... my shelf space is not wasted! I organized them either by theme or company, depending on the use I make of them. Here's what the stamps look like in their casings. These are some of my florals and leaves category:

And these are my Bellas, all mounted on EZ-Mount ( took forever but I'm happy I did it!). And because the backing is clingy, they stick to the plastic case. I need to stamp all the images on a sheet of paper that I'll be sticking to the outside of the front and back of the case so I know what I have in each without having to open them.

And my right shelf with my retired SU stamp sets that I've combined by theme, as well as some of my photopolymer stamps. My PapertreyInk are the only exception -- they sit in CD cases since they come with them and they have their own special place in a different corner.

Some of my retired Christmas SU sets:

and Close To My Heart photopolymer:

I still have to label some of my casings, but I'll get to it. The urgency was to get them all aligned neatly. Next I have to attack the other shelves of those 2 wall units. Lots and lots of things are gonna go! I want everything neat and tidy so I don't have to look for things when I need them. I bought a whole bunch of Forget-me-not Keepers from SU to store the rest of the stuff.

Wanna see the orginal "houses" of all of these stamps?

The empty CTMH cases, the SU cases (that's just half... I gave the other half to Gen):

Those 7 wicker baskets, which will be put to better use on top of my cupboards (I'll have fun making cute little labels for them!). They now house my glitter, beads, fibers, etc.

And the top shelf of my SU unit was full of retired SU sets and baskets with photopolymer:

Almost clean now, with room to grow! Woohoo!!! So, thanks for sticking around for this loooooooong post. I do get exciting about reorganizing. It is my favorite thing to do :-) Can't help it, I'm a neat freak!

Before I leave, here's a little teaser on what Gen & I have been working on. We're releasing another Tutorial and a hostess kit of Cards for SU Demo Display at the end of this coming week. And we're busy with another kit for Display for the Holidays Mini Catalogue as well as another Tutorial for another neat tool!

So, I'm off to pack! I'll see you on Wednesday!

Take good care,

CeeCee

Card a la carte... a tutorial!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Last May, Gen and I participated in a WOW swap during the Stampin’ Girls convention in Ottawa. We came up with this wallet-size portfolio that let us keep track of all the cardstock, ink pads, re-inkers and markers that you have in your SU inventory. It was such a hit that we’ve decided to come up with a tutorial for it. The tutorial is easy to follow, with step-by-step instructions w/photos and printable templates.

We think it’s a great tool to have on hand, whether you’re a demonstrator or a customer. If you’re interested, just visit Card à la Carte's website (pour le site en français, cliquez ici) !

Have a great week! 

to glitter or not to gitter

Holy Moly, what a week! I gotta tell ya, folks... Gen and I are riding high on the success of a our latest Card a la Carte offering and we want to thank each and everyone who have purchased the kit. So this has kept busy beyond our wildest imagination but we had so much fun with it! So you can pretty much guess why this blog has been inactive up until now :-) There are a few more kits left, so come grab 'em while they're available.

OK, so I am in the phase of preparing for my upcoming workshops and while fiddling around a project, I was left with a whole punch of bits and pieces of textured cardstock and patterned paper. So I decided to make a whole bunch of cards. And in the process of doing that I found this awesome way to add glitter to large images without too much fuss or drying time. So I stamped a whole bunch of flower images from the Petal Pizzazz stamp set and here's how I added glitter to them. First, I cut them out:

Then I took out my "forgotten" Xyron 250 Create-a-Sticker machine and fed the image stamped side down:

Remove the backing sheet and you've got a nice even layer of adhesive right over the image...

Dump the image face down in Dazzling Diamonds...

Brush off the excess glitter with a soft brush and voilà! Instant glittering, no drying time, no falling glitter. The piece is ready to add to your project. I love it!!!!

Here are the cards I made with some of these flowers:

And I haven't even made a dent into my leftovers. It's quite amazing what you can accomplish with bits and pieces. I will be showing you more of these cards in the next few days. But here's a scoop for you: These cards will be part of the Grand Prize that I will draw at my Open House on July 11th from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. I will send out more details on that but you can reserve your spot right now by emailing me or calling me. It'll be such a fun event and I can't wait to share with you the colors and the new catalogue!

Talk to you soon!

CeeCee

new kit from Card à la Carte

I'm so excited to introduce to you the newest Cards for SU Demo Display from Card à la Carte featuring 3 of the new In Colors from the 2009-2010 Idea Book and Catalogue from Stampin' Up! as well as some of the new stamp sets and other products.

If you're a Demonstrator, you'll want to be ready for the release of the new products on July 1st. This kit offers you the perfect solution while saving you time and money. It'll make planning your future events a lot easier by not having to come up with ideas and samples and not buying all those supplies ... we've done all that for you!

Just hop on over to Card à la Carte to get more details.

Have a happy Saturday!

CeeCee

mother's day cards

 

They're here, as promised! A new set of Mother's Day cards, ready to offer to Mom.

 

To view the complete set, just click here for Card a la Carte's To Go.

 

I promise my next post will be all about different colors and format... I need a change :-)

Have a good day!

CeeCee

happy easter!

I'm not posting an Easter card since time eluded me. But I am taking a few minutes to wish you all a very Happy Easter. I hope you are stuffing your face with chocolate and other goodies, like I am! I really appreciate the enthusiasm you have shown in Card à la Carte's baby cards to go. And since our previous stock went really quickly, I got busy to offer you 2 new sets. Quantities are limited so act quickly by clicking on the Card To Go link here Take good care! CeeCee

baby cards

 

I'm all better but really busy! So glad all that sickness is behind me. Today, I thought I'd show the newest kit I made for Card a la Carte. They're baby cards and are available here.

 

Have a wonderful Saturday! CeeCee

 

there's a new catty in town ... new Card a la Carte offerings!

 

I am so excited about the new Occasions Mini Catalogue! The new products are amazing!!! I had a hard time containing myself. If you look at the banner above, you get a little glimpse of some of the new projects that Card a la Carte has put together to showcase these gorgeous new products.

If you are curious to see the new goodies, just click on the the picture in the right-hand sidebar. You can order the products via email here or call me at 514.830.9372. I ship anywhere in Canada!

I'll have more to show you in the next few days. My goal is to post one project a day for the whole month of April! But for now, I think I should go to bed :-) CeeCee