Starstruck! August 6, 2009

Well it was also my husband’s birthday in July and I dabbled with different colour combinations to come up with this card.

Its Basic Grey with Green Galore and made using the Starring You stamp set which hides almost at the back of the catalogue.  Its a great set that you will see I’ve used on another card in this blog.  This card is styled on that same card but just a little different.  I’ve used two Jumbo Stampin’ Around Wheels.  One, the Happy, Happy Birthday wheel using Basic Grey Classic Ink.  The other called Classic Stars.   I wheeled the stars in Green Galore Ink and punched them out with the Large Star Punch.  I punched the smaller stars from Basic Grey cardstock with the Small Star Punch.  The sentiments I stamped with White Craft Ink to add a bit of contrast.  The bottom strip is Designer Series Paper from the gorgeous Urban Oasis series.  

It comes together very nicely to make a nice male card that doesnt take too much time to make.

Bugs and Kisses August 6, 2009

Well I know it’s been a while and my apologies to any faithful followers out there.  July is a very busy (and expensive) month for me.  I have two daughters and a husband all born in July and so in between all the shopping and partying I have little time for anything else. 

The good news is I made them gorgeous cards which I can now show you.

Bugs and Kisses Stamp Set is my girls’ favourite.  I made them both cards using the set and they loved them.  I guess because they love all the bugs in the set I try to use them all.  This makes the cards very busy and less aesthetically pleasing than I usually try to produce but kids really dont care about that!

I also need to apologise for using Sahara Sand with Baja Breeze AGAIN!  (I can hear your groans)  Luckily I have redeemed myself by throwing in an old favourite of mine – Choc Chip.  Paired with Pink Pirouette and Baja Breeze, Choc Chip ants are a child’s delight.

I’ve used the new Wide Oval Punch with the Large Oval Punch on the pink card and the Scallop Circle punched out the ‘Celebrate You’ stamp perfectly on the other one.  The words on the Baja/Sahara card are all from the Party Hearty Stamp Set.  You can also see the two types of scallop edge punches we have.

The Designer Paper on the Baja/Sahara card is from the Sweet Slumber series.  Its textured, double sided and lovely and thick.

The felt flowers are a new product this year.  Called Flower Fusion, you can mount them on top of each other and use any type of brad to assemble them.  This pack comes with 14 designs in three colours – Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette and Choc Chip – hence the colour scheme of the card!  And so to top it all off, a bit of bling and some ribbon and I’ve made cards my daughters loved.  Most satisfying!

Kindred Spirits July 23, 2009

I got this lovely stamp set called Kindred Spirits when the new catalogue first came out.  I havent used it much lately but did pull it out to make a pretty birthday card for my friend.  I’d previously fiddled around and put the box together with a series of note cards.  I followed the same theme for the birthday card.

I know some may be getting sick of this colour combination because I’ve used it at a few workshops and fairs this year, but I just love the calming effect of Sahara Sand with Baja Breeze.

The Designer Paper is called Sweet Slumber and is textured and sturdy but not too much.  Perfect for gift pouches and boxes like the one shown.

On both projects I have stamped the Kindred Spirits background onto the Sahara Sand cardstock with the same ink.  The Kindred Spirits image is then stamped onto Whisper White cardstock with Baja Breeze ink and I had to painstakingly cut around it.  I love the effect but it did take patience.  The sentiments come from a set called Wonderful Favourites, a hostess set called Best Yet  and a set called Sincere Salutations.  The tafetta ribbon I added is a new product in the catalogue and the colour is Kraft.  I’ve chucked in the odd staple, scalloped edge and wide oval punch to add interest and to make all the note cards slightly different.

Finally I made 6 envelopes and slid an Ikea pencil in the side of the box.  I think it makes a nice gift for a hostess.  As for the card, well I’m sure my friend will love it.  She makes cards too!

From a Boy Card to a Girls’ – Easy! July 17, 2009

This design is one that converts from boy to girl simply by changing some of the red to pink ink and using a different embellishment to attach the tag.

Another easy idea to take to a workshop, this uses Bold Brights markers to colour in the stamps from the Party Hearty stamp set creating multi coloured high contrast images that kids love.

The colours are all bold brights and I’ve used my jumbo Happy Birthday wheel in Tempting Turquoise straight onto Only Orange, Gable Green and Tempting Turquoise cardstock.  A simple strip in a contrasting colour serves to hold the brad – whether it be a Star Designer Brad or a Rhinestone.

Double mounted on top of that is the row of party hats stamped using markers and the colour combination really doesnt matter.  I just made sure if I used the same colour twice they werent too near to each other.  The only difference in the boys card is I’ve used Rea l Red instead of Pink Passion.  Around the border I have used my mat pack to prick holes.

I dont yet have a small tag punch and had to cut mine out by hand but the punch would have been quicker.  I also cut out the cupcake and mounted both with Dimensionals.  The hemp twine is knotted around the brad and trimmed.

Just remember if you use markers to colour in stamps you need to breathe onto the whole lot before stamping to re-wet the ink evenly before stamping.

So there you have it.  A very easy card that with small adjustments, can be for a boy or a girl.

As you can see the colours can be changed and put anywhere.

 

5th Avenue Style July 17, 2009

In Baja Breeze with Basic Grey

I saw a card that used a flower from one of Stampin’ Up!s newest stamp sets called 5th Avenue Floral to create a background.

I wanted to design a card that was simple enough to show people at a workshop but still showcased the stylishness of the stamp set and I’ve used the idea in a similar way.

I came up with these two cards using a combination of the In Colours, Pink Pirouette with Basic Grey and Baja Breeze with Basic Grey.

Firstly I decided to use Whisper White ink to add a bit of contrast and stamped the flower on the background firstly in the same colour as the cardstock and then with the white/ grey ink overlapping them all slightly.  I always use the white ink last as it needs to dry and I didnt want to smudge it.  On the white end of the card I stamped the flowers again in Basic Grey and an alternate colour once again, overlapping the images slightly.  In the pictures  you may just be able to see the white ink on the Pink Pirouette cardstock.

I stamped the flowers onto separate pieces of cardstock, cut them out and stamped the sentiment from the 5th Avenue Floral set  I then mounted it onto grey and used embellishments for a bit of interest.  I didnt want it to look to busy or cluttered.  The gorgeous embellishment on the pink card are Filigree Flowers and come with silver brads.  I decided to use a pink brad from my Soft Subtle Brads.  The blue diamante is from Stampin’ Up!s gorgeous array of Rhinestone Brads – these colours are called Ice.

To hide the join in the cardstock I attached ribbon.  I didnt tie a bow in the Baja Breeze double stitched ribbon because it detracted from the simplicity I was after.  The pink ribbon is in fact Pretty in Pink 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon.

These are ten minute cards that I think are simple yet classy and stylish.  I took them to a workshop last week and I think the ladies really liked them.

In Pink Pirouette with Basic Grey

And finally……..A Boy Card for You!!! June 8, 2009

Boy cards!   I’m not so good at them.  Baby boy I can do but for a seven year old,  I find it hard.

I struggle to choose colour combinations and sometimes think that boys probably appreciate cards less than girls.  I try to find simple ideas but never really like what I produce.

Well, I think I’ve finally cracked it.

Jake’s party was yesterday.  I did a trial run of the same card for a friend’s newborn and refined the way I applied the Supernova to make it more dazzling.  This is what I made for Jake.  (I went to some effort with this because his mum is a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator!)

This was made using Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss cardstock (2009 In-Colours) as well as a tiny bit of Baja Breeze for the scalloped circle.  The Designer Paper is from the Urban Garden series.  The stamp set is a set of four called Starring You.  Firstly, I stamped the background with Whisper White Craft Ink as well as the centre star and the ‘Celebrate Today’ sentiment. 

The same stamp I used for the background I then stamped onto Kiwi Kiss and Pacific Point cardstock in the same ink colours as the card.  I cut them out, covered them with Two Way Glue Pen and sprinkled with Fine Supernova.  It’s a new glitter in five colours that is superfine and matches the In-Colours I chose perfectly.  Of course I had to wait for it all to dry before I could assemble it.

To finish it off I used a Jumbo Eyelet and threaded a length of luxurious Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon.  I stamped a few stars inside the card in White Craft ink and there it is!

Olivia’s Christening Card June 3, 2009

Well you might have seen I made a gorgeous card for my niece Olivia back in February when she was born.

Sunday was her Christening Day and I made another very cute card for her with the new Circle Circus stamp set.

By the end of the year you may get sick of seeing Baja Breeze on this blog but I am hooked on it at the moment.  This time I have teamed it with Pink Pirouette for a very girly combination.  Of course I have added a bit of bling with Circle Rhinestones, new Filigree Designer Brads (in the sentiment) as well as some ribbon.  The double stitched ribbon is a generous 1″ wide and so nice to use. 

All in all this is a very quick card using a variety of punches including the new Wide Oval Punch for the sentiment – which is stamped  from a hostess set called Best Yet.  So far I have found it very versatile. (Definitely worth hosting a workshop for!)

I have used the same Pink Pirouette ink to random stamp a background from one of the circles in the Circle Circus set.  With a bit of tearing and dimensionals this card was fun to make.  I then also made one for a girlfriend who just had a baby girl.  Welcome Mattiah Grace! x x

Thanks for looking – hope you like them!

 

The Clarendon Stamping Day Projects May 5, 2009

A big Thank You! to all the ladies that ventured up to Clarendon for our stamping day.

We had fun showing the newest products from our latest catalogue.

Guests made projects presented by Tracie’s team consisting of Denise, Mandy and myself and immediately learned that we are all very different.

Our styles vary greatly but this brought our guests a broad range of techniques to use with our Stampin’ Up! products.

Here are my two projects inspired by other Demonstrators work I have found.

This idea turns plain whisper white card stock into a work of art!

The stamp set is Eastern Blooms and the inks are Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss.  The sentiment is from the Hostess Set called Best Yet.  A couple of holes punched with the cropodile and some satin ribbon and hemp twine and you have the perfect gift pouch for mum!

This card uses four different punches and the cropodile!

Although not essential I added the En Francais background stamp to soften the whole effect.  Any cardstock could be used for this ‘windmill’ design but I think designer papers work best.  It makes a very cute card in Ruby Red, So Saffron and Baja Breeze.   The main card is in Sahara Sand.  The great thing about using designer papers for this type of project is that each side has a different design that coordinates.

Punches used

Scallop Edge Punch

3/4″ Circle Punch

1″ Circle Punch

Large Tag Punch

Clarendon – My Display May 4, 2009

After the release of the new Stampin’ Up! catalogue our team, Tracie, Denise, Mandy and I made new displays for our demonstrations and fairs.

We all chose different colour schemes and stamp sets to feature.

I chose a gorgeous set of Designer Series Papers to make my display with called Urban Garden and themed it around the colours featured in them.

As long as there is green, I’m happy!  The green shown is the new In-Colour called Kiwi Kiss.  Very popular with the ladies at Clarendon yesterday!  It’s teamed up with Not Quite Navy and Baja Breeze.

 

Also big thank you Denise who helped plan out, prepare and stamp the backgrounds of our lovely display boards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pale blue is one of our new In-Colours called Baja Breeze.

 

For a look at some scrap pages in the same colours click on My Scrapbooking on the right hand side.

Pretty Princess April 24, 2009

Pretty Princess Stamp Set

This stamp set is now sadly deleted.  I’ve used it so much and it is one I think I will keep.  

I have decided to leave it on my blog because the colour combo is pretty and the style could be adapted to another girly stamp set.

I’ve used Whisper White Craft Ink for the floral background and Signo Pen in white for the fake stitching across the top and bottom.

The strip on the right hand sight is pricked with a mat pack to ensure perfect alignment.

One again little ribbon tabs are a good way to use those offcuts.

The colours are Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana and Lovely Lilac.  The princess is coloured with Stampin’ Pastels chalks and a blender pen and a touch of ‘Dazzling Diamonds’ glitter to make it sparkle.  It’s sure to capture any girl’s imagination.

Thanks to my friend Melissa for the inspiration on this one x x x