IT'S A CULTURAL THING!

Hi there!  I'm so glad you are joining the Sparkle N Sprinkle Team for another Blog Hop - this time round "It's a Cultural Thing".  Today we are celebrating all of America's customs and cultures, so you're bound to find something that appeals to you among the many designers' blogs.  We have a few newbie designers, which I'm looking forward to viewing and of course our Golden Oldies are with us for one more round!

If you got here by way of one of our new designers, Amanda Reed, then you are in the correct place, but if you didn't, then you really need to go back to the start of the blog hop at the Sparkle N Sprinkle home page in order to be eligible for the Grand Prize.  You also need to leave comments on all of the designers' blogs to be able to pick up one of the three other possible prizes.  Good luck and now let's get going!

We had a few options for our Blog Hop theme this time round, to celebrate American diversity.  Being Scottish, I felt it would be appropriate for me to embrace one of the many other countries that join me in sharing your great America, so I chose to make my two cards from Asian Set 300.  Of course, as always, the stamps that we are highlighting this month are on sale.

For my first card, I used Umbrella Geisha, and colored her with Copics.  For the background I stamped the willow branch, several times, using the thumping technique.  You can see full instructions on how to make this card right here.

For my second card, I decided to have a try at another fun fold, this time it is the "Side Spring Card".  Here is how it came out!  It has 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" dimensions, although it appears smaller when completed.  This was definitely one of the more fun fold cards to put together!  You have to give it a try!  Click here, to get the full instructions.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Remember to leave a much appreciated comment here, so that you have a chance to pick up one of the three extra prizes as well as the Grand prize.  Once you've done that, you should jump on over to  Angie Blasingame, who is another talented newbie for our Design Team, to see what she has in store for you.

Have a great day!

Double Z-Fold Card

Today I am sharing a birthday card that I made yesterday.  My good friend, Donna Ellis, forwarded some card ideas including this Double Z-Fold card, which immediately caught my attention!  The tutorial, by Beate Johns, is very easy to follow and I can just tell you that you'll be seeing a few more of these types of cards coming from me!

I needed a birthday card for a special family friend, Nathan.  He's the kids' old Choir Director, so it had to be music-related.  I recently picked up the Sissix Sizzlits Sheet Music Decorative Strip and so I decided to incorporate that into my card.  After die cutting, I placed it along a strip of Sparkle N Sprinkle's 2 1/2" Tear-ific Tape (SAT11) and then I applied Fantasy Gold Glitter (G1001).  That became the border along the top of the card.

I made my own music note out of the brown background card  and covered the stem in Versamark and then heat embossed with Sparkle embossing powder (EP107).  The sentiments are both from Set 416 - Happy Birthday and were stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with Detail Gold embossing powder (EP168).  The little notes are from Set 175 - Music, which are also embossed with Gold Detail.  I cut out the saying with Spellbinders Lacey Circles and applied Versamark and heat embossed with Sparkle again.

Here is the end result:

You have to give this a try - it really is much easier than it looks!  For any of the fine products used in this card just pop on over to Sparkle N Sprinkle!   Thanks for stopping by.

WORLD ANIMAL DAY

W(OOF)ELCOME to our Sparkle and Sprinkle World Animal Day Blog Hop!  I'm so glad you've taken time out of your busy day to come see what we are doing with our products over at Sparkle N Sprinkle.  Today we are honoring all our two and four-legged friends (oh, I guess there are six, eight and one hundreds too - hopefully they are not that smart - so they won't sue me!!)) that share the planet earth with us.

Here is the in-order-list of the Blog Hop this month:

SNS Home Blog

Patti White 

Sandy Meier 

Barbara Bruder

Dawn Thomas

Judy Rozema

Julie Zippel 

Karalee Ingram

Karin Martin

Marie Berquist

You're here

Linda Loew 

So, you're on the final stretch, and should have galloped over from Marie Berquist's  blog to get to here.  If you have come here without seeing all the other blogs, you will want to go back to the SNS Home Page to be eligible for one of the two prizes this month - a stamp set of your choice.  Winners will be announced on Wednesday, the 5th of October (between 11 am and 3 pm) on the SNS Blog.

For this Blog Hop, the Design Team had an in-house challenge to use Spellbinders in our animal cards.  I was in!!   I don't really know how I made a card pre-Spellbinders!!  I just love my Grand Calibur!  So I just went wild (animal) - I love to use the Grand Spellbinders as a base of a card and my first card today is no exception!

I had so much fun creating this.  I had used the Mirror Stamp in my last blog and was thinking "What could I fit in that heart shape Tent Topper?".  I just think the giraffes fit quite nicely into the space - don't you?  To find complete directions on how to do this card, just click here.   

I felt that I had to give our two-legged friends some love too!  So for my second card I used a few other images from the Set 275 - Critters, along with the Oval Spellbinders.  Oh and don't forget - my embossing painting.  Yes, I know I really need to get that Tutorial up.  After doing a rather mono-chromatic card - I really wanted the next to be super colorful.  I hope that I succeeded!

 

I wish the Blog Hops weren't so close together this time - as I could go on forever with animal cards!  I do have a big month of birthdays coming up.  Two brothers and umpteen friends!  So maybe I'll just go let my animal instincts go wild in my stamping room - after all - it already looks like a stampede just ran through it!!  LOL

Well that's all for now folks!  Remember to leave a comment for me here now, and at the SNS home blog, after you have visited the incredibly talented Linda Loew.  Thanks again for stopping by!