A Brief Appearance!

I don't usually have time during the semester to play in the craft room but the semester has wound down and Christmas is looming!

Here is my first card in several months!!


I finally used my sequins!!

I am submitting this into the Paper Smooches Anything Goes challenge. :)



{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}
  • Cardstock: Stamper's Select White
  • Patterned Paper: Christmas Prints
  • Stamps: Joyful Greetings (Paper Smooches)
  • Ink: Pinefeather, Pure Poppy
  • Dies: Love Word (Paper Smooches)
  • Accessories: sequins (Simon Says Stamp)
  • Other Tools: Goosebumps Shimmer spray (Tsukineko)

My Graphic 45 Couture Came!

I was so excited when my Graphic 45 Couture paper came the other day. I've been waiting for what seemed like forever, and now it's finally here! It looks even more beautiful in real. I have several projects in mind for this line and immediately set out to prepare for one of the projects. I decided to tackle one of the larger projects for something that I can't tell you about just yet. But, I can tell you that it takes 34 sheets of the Couture paper as well as a whole pack of Bazzill Cardshoppe Licorice Twist, and 3 sheets of 12 x 12 black chipboard!

I cut up most of the paper in preparing to assemble it this big project. I decided however that I needed to get some different ribbon. So that means until I can get it, that project is on hold because I can't go any further. Rats! So, since I have all my Christmas cards completed, and more (made between teaching the Christmas Club classes all year long, as well as being on the DT for Christmas Card Challenges until last month), I was free to make a non-Christmas card for a change using the 8 x 8 version of Couture!

So without further ado, here it is.


As you can see, since the 5 x 7 card is thick with popped up layers, I decided to make a card box to encase the card and protect it. This would make a beautiful Valentine card too.

So let's have a closer look, shall we.


The box is 1/2" thick and has a belly band to keep it closed. I used 1 1/2 sheets of the 8 x 8 "Gorgeous". The Anniversary oval and hearts are popped up with black foam dimensionals. The Cream oval is from the 6 x 6 pad, while the medium sized oval is die cut from Bazzill Red Rock.

To create the hearts, I took a scrap after cutting what I needed for the card and box, and glued it onto 100# black cardstock. Before the glue dried, which would make it harder, I punched four hearts out with a Martha Stewart Heart punch and used a black marker around the edge to hide the white paper core. Then came the Glossy Accents, and I set it side to dry.


Once they were dry, I used my paper piercer to punch a hole through. The oval sentiment also has two holes pierced in it. The black floss is fed through the holes of the oval as one piece. The hanging ends are then used to attach the hearts onto, and then popped up with black dimensionals.


You'll see that the edges of the Couture paper is all edged in black to cover the white paper core. I did the same on the card.


 You can see that the oval sentiment and hearts are repeated on the card. Again I did one of my favorite things; fussy cutting! The fashionable woman, the rose, the lace and floral strip, hearts (from the back) and the roses are from one 8 x 8 sheet (Couture). The Red Rock cardstock is used again, both on the outside and the inside which you'll see in the next photo. The background pattern paper is the back of the 8 x 8 "Style" and both the Red Rock and the pattern paper I traced one of the Grand Labels Eleven and trimmed slightly less with each layer since the black card base was die cut using the same die.

Maybe I should mention that the woman is popped up with two layers of dimensionals, while the oval, hearts, and roses only have one layer.


Here is the inside of the card. Sorry that it may be a little on the blurry side.


These stamps that you see here are cut from the same sheet as the woman was cut from. I added Glossy Accents to the red balls of the ear ring at the top stamps, and Star Dust Stickles to the diamond hearts entwined brooch at the bottom stamps.

So I hope that you enjoyed your little walk through on the making of this card. I just love the beautiful colours of this line and the wonderful fashions depicted that are from my grandmother's time.

A Tip For You

Have you on occasion ripped a piece of paper as you tried to rip it out of a 12 x 12 or 8 x 8 pad? Even when you were very careful?

I have a tip for you that helps to keep that from happening, even if you want to rip out a page from the middle of the pad! It only takes about five minutes before you open the pad to view all the lovely paper inside.



Hope this helps from future papers ripping as you take them out of your paper pads.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Happy papercrafting!

Busy, Busy, Busy - Another set of instructions available


Great start to a new week! Everyone is busy getting ready for Christmas, and I have something for you, that you might be able to squeeze in, because it makes a great gift.

Remember this?

It's now available at Paper Architecture with Sabrina! And here is the link to view all the photos posted for that class project. You can use any paper you like, and you don't have to do all the fancy embellishing either. Up to you!

I have new ideas flowing into my head while preparing instructions for these older projects people wanted to know how to put together. So soon you will be seeing new things!

Thank you for checking in. Maybe I can participate in a challenge or two as well. See you soon!

Happy papercrafting!


12 Days of Christmas Explosion Box Instructions Available


Hi blog friends! Wondering where I've been?

Well there have been some changes in my life, and I will no longer be teaching so many classes for Scrapbook Parade, and there will be fewer posts from now on, and concentrating more on my "Paper Architecture with Sabrina" blog. And that brings me to today's post.

Remember the 12 Days of Christmas Explosion Box I posted a while back? Well, I've been working for days now to get it all typed out and created 7 video tutorials to accompany them. It is now available for your purchase if you would like to know how to create this explosion box.

Paper Architecture with Sabrina now has it all there for you to create your own.

If you haven't already checked out some of my other projects there, just look to the upper right of this blog and you'll see a link to Paper Architecture with Sabrina.

Thank you for stopping by today, and hope your Christmas preparations are going well!

Happy Papercrafting!



Faith - My Last DT Inspiration for Christmas Card Challenges

Hello everyone!

It's time to post my DT inspirational card for the last time. My six months of designing a weekly Christmas card for Christmas Card Challenges has come to an end. The challenge for this week is to design a card using "Faith" as the theme. Designing a card based on the whole reason we celebrate Christmas is very special. I decided to go with mostly cream with a touch of gold and green.


This card is made entirely with scraps and I'm very happy with the outcome.

Dies for this project were Spellbinder's Fleur de Lis Squares and Circles, as well as Sprig With Berries by Elizabeth Craft Designs Dies. The stamp is an old JustRite stamp that I think is no longer available. The 1/4" organza ribbon in olive and pale gold work out wonderfully with the colours. I wondered about putting jingle bells on the card, but the card needed a little more gold than just the gold embossing, and they are thought of a part of Christmas.

The following photos are just different views of the 5 1/2" square card to show the layers and how it was constructed. I wanted to make a card box to go with it, but I didn't have the time. If I still get to it before Christmas, I'll post it and link it to this posting.





Thank you so much for checking in on me today and having a look at this week's challenge design. Stop by the Christmas Card Challenges blog to view this week's design team inspiration, or click below to visit their blog.

Alanna -  DT coordinator 
Sabrina - That's me!
Sparkle-- Owner
Happy Christmas card making!

Honeymoon Bay, BC Retreat - Four days of Scrapbooking and Relaxing

This isn't a craft post, but I want to share with you about time I spent at a four day scrapbooking retreat! MY FIRST SCARPPING RETREAT EVER. Those four days were wonderful! I actually had time to do a little scrapbooking for myself rather than preparing for classes!

Scrapbook Parade has two retreats every year. One in April, and one in November. The November one I was told was the best one to go to because it is all decorated for Christmas with three large beautiful trees, all decorated, throughout the facilities. And where is this retreat located? It' in Honeymoon Bay, BC. Click here if you want to read about the lodge/retreat.

We had 34 people in attendance, and had to use two rooms to fit us all in with our stuff. Here are some photos of everyone busily creating. These are photos from all four days in the large room where there were 24 working away. The first two are taken by me in the evening when some where in the hot tub and others getting their PJs on before continuing.



These are taken by Carol, owner of Scrapbook Parade.

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There was someone that brought their own little tree to put on the table were she worked. Loved it!


Then there is the room that I was in with 9 other women.



This next photo is of me along with a friend that has taken classes from me and has helped me so much with kitting for classes. She's been a great help to me. I'm the one further back.

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Here are the photos I took of the 3 trees.




And here is our chef Kevin. Great food!

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While there I took the opportunity to take a long walk every day. It is so beautiful there, I couldn't just sit and scrapbook the whole time! The first day I went for a walk with two other women and because it was out first day there we got off too late start and just walked around the Lodge and went to the creek to the lake. But the battery in my camera went dead so I didn't get any photos of the creek and lake on our first walk. It's so beautiful there, I wanted to take a ton of photos.

We started out to see the Aslan Garden.


The building behind me houses the hot tub. We then walked around the grounds.





Day two it ended up only being two of us that went for a walk and it was raining. Not hard, but after an hour and 15 mins we were starting to get wet. These are some of the summer cottages not far from the lake and lodge.


We learned from a local that in the winter there are about 600 people living there, but in the Summer, it's five times that many!

You can see in the photos that it was foggy as well.


This creek ends up at the lake.



We took a different route to the lake this day, and this is what it looked like in the rain and fog.


There's this tiny island in the lake at this beach, and it has a building of some sort on it. Not very clear in the fog, but interesting.



Our day three walk had four of us going, and we took a lot more pictures that day. Bear with me, I just want to share these photos for those that couldn't go to the retreat, and for those that might want to come for April or November 2014.


We saw a lot of birds that day, but we couldn't get pictures of them. But we did see a lot of grouping of trees like these.


And, some of them had a few different kind of mosses on them, like this tree.


We also found this tree memorial. Most of trees are in memory of someone or a couple that has passed on. It was very touching and lovely to walk there.


We went to the lake the same way as we did the day before to see it in clearer weather.



And we took pictures of each other. I'm in the middle.



We then walked the other direction, like we did the first day we walked. There is this cute little market (closed now until Spring) and one of the buildings is this tiny little church/ It actually has a pulpit, and two one person benches inside. A local informed us that they actually have had 2 or 3 weddings in there. I guess it is Honeymoon Bay!


Here is another of the buildings with a little pool or pond.


We then went off to the creek to follow it to the lake.







Now we arrive! And guess what, not only can we see the force of the creek running into the lake a fair bit, but there were a couple of men and their dogs fishing!



Isn't it just gorgeous scenery here!

The night before the 4 day people were to leave, Kevin the chef, took out a tall ladder and took this group photo of us all.

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Well for those of you that want to go to this four day or five day retreat in April...I wonder what it looks like in the spring? We had someone this time that came all the way from Saskatchewan! If you'd like to come contact Carol Volk at scrappix@scrapbookparade.ca. You'll love it! You can even book a one hour message, or a facial, pedicure & manicure. Use the hot tub and just relax, eat great food, and scrapbook all hours!

Hope you enjoyed seeing what I enjoyed at my very first retreat. I'd sure go again!

Thank you for stopping by.