Cherry Blossoms

 Welcome to Sparkle N Sprinkle's

 Dec 1 Blog Hop!

This month the Designers were given a Surprise Package full of products found at the SNS Shoppe and were asked to create projects with these products.  So sit back, enjoy the Hop and get ready to have those creative juices flowing!

On Dec 3rd, ONE GRAND PRIZE WINNER will be selected from the comments left on the Designers' blogs listed below. Please leave a comment with each Designer in order to be eligible for the Grand Prize.  You never know who the Mystery Designer will be that has the winning comment.

The Grand Prize Winner, which will be announced on the SNS Facebook page and on the SNS Blog, will receive a $20 gift certificate to go shopping at the SNS Shoppe.

The Blog Hop order this month is:

Anne (you are here)
Shona
Jess
Belinda
Marie
Eret
Irit

(*Tip: if you have difficulty with a particular link, try clicking on the Designer's blog title to send you to their Home page.)

We would also like to thank all the Guest Designers who joined us this year: Diane, Ashley, Ani, Chris, Irit, and Jess.  It was a pleasure having each of you on the team as Guest Designers!

We hope you enjoy the Surprise Blog Hop as much as we do.  Thanks for joining us and remember to comment on each of the Designers' blogs to be eligible for the Grand Prize.  

 Wonder who the Mystery Host will be this month????

The Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenge also begins today.  There are lots of prizes and recognition badges.  Come check out how you can become a SNS Featured Artist as well.  The theme is always Anything Goes using Loose Glitter, Embossing Powder, and/or Flock.


Have you checked out the SNS YouTube Channel featuring Demo Donna?  If not, then you are in for a real treat.  Subscribe today to get all the latest Demo Donna tips and techniques!



Now a little about my project.

Some of the items I received in my Surprise package were the Dreamweaver Cherry Blossom stencil, Clear Embossable Acetate, Mon Ami Gabby flat backed Pearl Mesh, Want 2 Scrap chipboard and self adhesive bling, plus a few other things as well.

I knew I wanted to incorporate acetate and the stencil, so I set out to experiment on a couple of things.  First off, the embossing paste I had was white and I wanted pink.  So I added a little Nuance powder (Scarlet and a small bit of Turquoise) to the white and mixed it together on my craft mat.  The Nuance colored the paste beautifully.  I also wasn't sure how the paste would look on the clear acetate since you can see both sides.  As you see in the photo below, it looks good.  The darker spots on the flowers are where the powders were still concentrated in certain areas.  If you don't like these concentrated areas, spend a little more time combining the Nuance powders into the embossing paste.  Once the embossing paste was dry, I added some Mon Ami Gabby flat backed pearls to the centers with a dab of Brushable glue.

inside

The acetate was framed using a Simon Says Stamp die (Stitched Rectangles) and then some Mon Ami Gabby pull ribbon was adhered along the edges.  I also added a thin line of glue around the frame's outside edge using a Sakura glue pen and covering it with Sparkling Snow glitter.  The sentiment is another die from Taylored Expressions that I die cut from fun foam and added more Sparkling Snow glitter to the letters.

The card base was created from watercolor paper so that I could watercolor the inside panel of the card.  I used Nuance powders (Turquoise) to create my sky background.  The birch trees are a die from Taylored Expressions and I highlighted certain areas of the trunks with a Sakura glue pen and Sparkling Snow glitter.

I'm first on the blog hop today, so your next stop is Shona.  Be sure to visit each of the Designers for your chance to win the $20 gift certificate to the SNS Shoppe.