Birthday III

Yep, the birthday cards this month just keep on coming!!  I've just shared the card I made for my son, so today I want to share the card I made for my little girl Jess who just turned three.  I needed a super-girly card for this one!

So I found this stamped image of a little fairy sitting on toadstools that I had stamped & coloured last year with my Copics and never did anything with.  So when looking for inspiration, I started with my stash instead of Pinterest!!

Of course, I had to add to this little girl that I cut out and adhered to the background of Whisper White CS.  I cut some grass from the Subtles Pattern Paper Stacks and matching little clouds form Baja Breeze.  They looked so sweet!

I've also made birthday banners with matching colours of Melon Mambo & Pretty in Pink.  So sweet together and I've also stamped the little three in the corner too. 

So here's what I used (please note I've used non-SU products here, so if you need further details about them please contact me):

Stamps: Memorable Moments & So Happy For You
Inks: Early Espresso
Papers: Melon Mambo, Whisper White & Pretty in Pink CS, DSP - Patterned Paper Stacks
Other: Stapler, Big Shot & dies

Happy Birthday Jess, may you be as sweet as you are, always xx

Birthday Fun II

So in my birthday week of birthdays!!  I also made a birthday card for my son turning 10.  I'm not sure where those 10 years went, but it's been a great journey we've had!

So for my big boy Luke, I decided to make a card with lots of masculine colours and techniques, and so it didn't look too young either!

I've used two new stamp sets coming in the new catalogue (effective 2 July 2013).  You'll be so excited to see what's coming in that!!  So anyway, I've used the colours of Not Quite Navy, Pacific Point, Basic Grey & Whisper White, with a few other bits thrown in.  They all looked great together, so I just had to keep playing!!

I've cut the stars with dies I had borrowed from a friend.  I then over-stamped the stars with Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade & Midnight Muse ink with one of the splatter stamps from the new Gorgeous Grunge set.  I love it!! 

I've layered my stars together, including a silver bling one, over a background of Early Espresso Cored'inations cardstock embossed with the Honeycomb embossing folder.  A little brad holds some of the stars together.

I've also highlighted the fact this is a card for a ten year old, with my little banners up the top.  I've added a touch of washi tape & the date stamp from the This & That range, as well as a Happy Birthday banner from the new Sketched Birthday stamp set.    All held with another brad of course!!

So lots of details on this card but I thought it looked 'ace' in person and my son loved it too!

So here's what I used:

Stamps: Memorable Moments, Sketched Birthday & Gorgeous Grunge, Date stamp
Papers: Pacific Point, Night of Navy, Smoky Slate, Pool Party, Whisper White & Early Espresso CS
Inks: Early Espresso, Midnight Muse, Lucky Limeade & Pacific Point
Accessories: Vintage brads, Washi Tape, Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Big Shot & star dies.

Happy Birthday Luke - we love you to the stars and back xx

Birthday Fun

Well, in my family June has got to be the busiest month.  I think nearly all families have a cluster of birthdays in one month or so, well June has got to be my family's birthday month.  It all starts in the first week of June when my niece has her birthday.  This year she turned 9 and is so growing up now!

 

 So I wanted a card that was girly for a young girl but not too young-ish either!!  So I decided to make a card based on one I saw in my Pinterest feed!  The butterfly punch-outs are just the thing for girls, especially in the hot colours of pink and green!

I've used my favourite honeycomb embossing folder for the background.  I love it!  I've used Melon Mambo and Gumball Green as my highlight colours.  So funky too!

 I've used the butterfly & the flower punch (from the Itty Bitty punches set) to make the butterflies, adhered with glue dots and bling-ed with rhinestones gem.  So sweet!

Great card to make for the girls, young and not-so-young, in fun colours too!

These are my supplies for this card:

Stamps: So Happy for You
Inks: Early Espresso
Papers: Whisper White CS & Patterns DSP stacks
Other: Punches, gems & glue dots, Big Shot & Honeycomb embossing folder.

Enjoy!

Colour Blocking II

So the other day, I promised to come back and show you my second attempt at colour blocking.  I wasn't going to, as I really don't know if I liked this one, but I thought I better show that I have difficult card making days too!  Really :)

I think it might be my choices in colours used for the blocking technique.  I'm just not sure really, maybe the colours are too much of a contrast!

 

I've used a Night of Navy background for the card.  I love this colour, so useful for male cards too.  My colour blocking background colours are Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight & Calypso Coral.  All great colours, maybe just maybe, not in this combination!

I've used a few little embellishments to finish off this card, as the main feature was the white embossed stamping over the background.  Love embossing, so much fun when I'm not making a mess of it (lol)!!

So here's what I used:
Stamps: Just Believe & Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Inks: Whisper White craft ink & Early Espresso
Papers: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight & Calypso Coral
Accessories: Beautiful Wings sizzlit & Big Shot, White embossing powder, button & thread, and the window punch.

Baby Cards

I love baby things!  My youngest is now three years old and we've well and truly moved past baby things (insert a very sad face here), so it's wonderful when you get to make baby cards and things for others instead!  So when a friend recently had a baby girl, I decided to make a card that I had been wanting to make for ages!!

 

I love this card, and I've seen it done in pinks, blues, whites and even chocolates.  Just gorgeous!  I decided to use pinks of course for a little girl.

 This card uses lots of punches, well a few anyway.  I've used the Curly Label punch to make the bottom of the drawers, punching two pieces out close together.

I've also used the Modern Label Punch to make the decorative edges of the top shelf of the card.  I've sponged the edges of the drawers with matching Pretty in Pink ink as well as using dimensionals on the top drawer, so as to appear like the drawer is pulled out a little bit!

I've used the Baby Bundle set to make the little baby pieces inside the top drawer.  These were stamped with black StazOn and coloured in with glitter pens! 

This card is so cute, there's so many out there in the world of stamping, so this is now my version.  If only I could get the lighting for this card right!!

More Stained Glass Techniques

Well on Sunday I shared the card we made using the Stained Vellum technique and how beautiful the results are on an assembled card.  So of course, I had to make technique cards for the lovely girls in my team!  I've used different stamps and colours to the finished card to see what they would look like!

I love how the bright colours just shine through the vellum and it's so clever to think it's coloured on the back side and the white embossing is on the front side!

I love the contrast of the colours too.  Add a little leaf in another contrasting colour and they look gorgeous!

Technique cards and technique books are just one of the little things I like to do for the girls in my team, to show how much I value their friendship.  If you've been thinking about joining Stampin' Up! and would like to join a friendly team of girls, please contact me, I would love to share my journey with you.  For more info, click on this link.

Stained Glass

Well, I've spent a lovely day crafting with my friends and have lots of projects to share .......... but that will have to wait until I take some photos (in the day light of course!).  So today I wanted to share a card I made using the Stained Glass (Vellum) technique.  I shared this technique back in April to the team of stampers I'm part of!

Put simply, this technique means embossing (we used Whisper White) onto Vellum.  Turn over and colour with markers.  Then turn over and admire the beautiful image you've created!

I also got the opportunity to play with the Secret Garden stamp set (love!) and while we handcut the flowers, this set comes with matching framelits.  Woohoo!!

Stained Glass Technique

You need: Outlined Stamp of choice, Vellum, Craft Ink or VersaMark, Heat Tool, Embossing Buddy, Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Stampin’ Write Markers

Step 1: Rub the Embossing Buddy over vellum to keep embossing powder sticking to where it shouldn't!
Step 2: Ink stamp with Craft Ink or Versamark Ink.  Cover stamped image with Embossing Powder and tip off/shake off any excess.
Step 3: Using a Heat Tool, heat the Stampin’ Emboss Powder until it melts.
Step 4: Flip the stamped vellum over and colour the back of the image with markers. Let it dry.
Step 5: Turn the vellum over so the embossing side faces up. .

So here's what I used:
Stamp Sets: Secret Garden & The Nicest Things (retired)
Papers: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Night of Navy & Whisper White CS, Vellum CS
Inks: Whsiper White Craft Ink & Early Espresso
Markers: Regal Rose & Rose Red, Baja Breeze & Night of Navy, Wisteria Wonder
Other: White Embossing Powder & Heat Tool
Big Shot: Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Oval Framelits & Beautiful Wings sizzlit

If you want to learn more about this technique, head on over to Tami White’s YouTube video. This beautiful card and technique were inspired by Absolute Kreations.

Colour Blocking

So last week (OMG where did that week go), we had our Avid Inkers team meeting.  We meet bi-monthly and it never seems its enough!! Don't you just love that?  Hanging out, sharing and laughing with a group of friends!  So I decided to share a technique known as Colour Blocking.  It's a technique on trend at the moment and time to have a go!

So what is colour blocking you ask? Colour blocking simply means that you pair two or three totally different colors together to make a bold statement.  For successful colour blocking, keep your colors in the same family such as all pastels or all neon colours. Source: http://www.plannerslounge.com/what-is-color-blocking/

So I asked all the girls to bring blocks of coloured cardstock that coordinate and have a go.  These are the cards I demonstrated/prepared earlier for 'show and tell'!

 

This card used the colour combination of Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz & Daffodil Delight.  I used the Nature Walk stamp set with white embossed images in the background and a bird that I had stamped, coloured and cut out.  Do you notice the little black eye on the bird?  Use your sharpie markers to colour your pearls when you need a different colour!

This is my first card to share, over the next few days - I'll share some more (I've got one more card to finish lol!!).

So here's what I used:
Stamps: Nature Walk & Apocathery Art
Inks: White Craft Ink, Early Espresso & Peach Parfait
Papers: Whisper White, Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso & Daffodil Delight CS
Other: Blender Pen, White embossing powder, pearls & bakers twine.

Fun Flowers

So the last few weeks and the coming few weeks, have got to be the busy weeks in my year.  End of May right through to July is full of birthdays! 

So to start birthday season, I made my friend this card featuring the Fun Flowers die set from Stampin' Up!

I've used Pink Pirouette CS for the flower and sponged each of the petal to give a bit of dimension.  I've kind of folded (very lightly) the petals in to help them curl up too.  Don't you just love the Vintage Brad for the flower centre. So sweet and adds a real touch too!

I should mention that I've embossed the Crumb Cake cardstock with the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder and then sponged Champagne Shimmer paint over the embossed bits.  Adds such pretty glimmer (I'm really sad this is retiring, sob, and I didn't even get a chance to stock up either).

I've used the Apocathery Art stamp set, stamping with Old Olive onto a piece of Old Olive CS die cut with the coordinating labels framelits.  Yep, lots of Big Shot-ting on this card!!  I've also added some little pearls and of course a birthday greeting.

In the end it was probably a good thing, I hand delivered this card.  I would have hated for the flower to get crushed in the mail!

So here's what I used:

Stamps: Apothecary Art
Inks: Old Olive, Pink Pirouette & Early Espresso
Papers: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Old Olive & Crumb Cake CS
Accessories: Vintage brads, pearls, sponge daubers, Champagne Shimmer Paint & paper snips.
Big Shot: Fun Flowers Bigz die, Labels Framelits & Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder.

I'm really happy how this card turned out.  It was inspired by one I saw in the world of Pinterest but I didn't get the creator's details.  It's so beautiful, I just had to be inspired!

Chloe Stem

I know I've said it before, but I'm sure I'll keep saying it.  It's always hard to make Sympathy cards.  For many reasons, we struggle.  Usually as it's a card for a sad reason.  I promise myself to have a stash ready but it never seems to happen.  So when a dear friend needed a card sent to her for the loss of a loved one, well I used the tried and true formula of classic but simple, elegant but not fussy.

So I decided on a very muted colour combination of Whisper White & Crumb Cake.  They work well together when you need classic, elegant and simple!

I used my honeycomb embossing folder for interest to the background and used my Oval framelits to cut the Whisper White card front. I die cut the Chloe Stem also from Whisper White CS and adhered just inside the oval cut out.

 I've added a little bit of interest with the little butterfly and a few little pearls. I coloured in the butterfly with my blender pens and Peach Parfait ink.  All in all, it's what I think a very elegant card that is definitely not too fussy.

Here's what I used:

Stamps: Papillion Potpourri & Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Inks: Early Espresso & Peach Parfait
Papers: Whisper White & Crumb Cake
Big Shot: Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Chloe Stem die & Oval Framelits
Accessories: Butterfly punch, pearls & blender pen

Single Stamps are here!

From now until 31 August 2013 (or while supplies last) we're (Stampin' Up! and me!!) excited to offer you customers five single-image stamps for you to choose from!

 

Things to remember:

• You can find the stamp item numbers on the flyer.
• Single stamps can be ordered in my online store.
• These won't be sent in our typical cases or packaging; they'll be packaged in cello bags. If you'd like a case for your stamp, you can buy our Clear-Mount Stamp Cases that come in packs of four.
• This offer is available for clear-mount stamps only.
• The stamps won't come with a Clear-Mount Block, and you'll need to purchase a block separately if you don't already have one. The recommended block sizes can be found on the flyer.
• There's no limit on how many stamps you can purchase.
• These stamps are only available through 31 August 2013, so get them while you can!

Click here or on the flyer for all the information!

To order, head on over to my online shop or contact me by phone 0417 165 345 or email.

Best of 25 Years Stamps - Flowers

Best of 25 years - Flowers!

As part of Stampin' Up!s 25-year anniversary celebration, we're bringing back some of our favourite stamp images from the last quarter century and combining them into five sets, which will be released -one set per month- until April 2014. Even better, along with some great classic images, each "Best of" set will also include a never-before-seen image!

Some things to remember:

• All Best of stamp sets will include 3-5 images, including a never-before seen image, and will be priced at $25.95.
• While we are releasing just one Best of stamp set per month (with a new theme each month) until October, all of the Best of sets will be available until April 2014.
• All Best of stamp sets are available in Clear-Mount only.
• The stamp images may be sized differently from the original stamp sets.
  

Click here for on the flyer for all the information!

To order, head on over to my online shop or contact me by phone 0417 165 345 or email.