Little ones birthday cards.

Hello there,

Well I had a great weekend, I went to Stampin' Up's regional training in Reading and had a great time meeting up with all my Stampin' Up friends.  I will be sharing some of the swops I got and the projects we made over the next week or so, but there is so much going on that I hardly know where to start.

Well for today, I'll share a card or two with you.

I've been making a few baby appropriate birthday cards as lots of people I know had babies last year and they are starting reach their first birthday so I wanted to get a little stash of cards to that I am ready to go when the birthdays come round.

I decided to go with "Pear Pizzaz" for the boy cards and "Blushing Bride" for the girls.

 The stamp set is from a new one that will be available from tomorrow, when the new Summer mini catalogue launches and I can't wait as it has so many gorgeous goodies in it I'm finding it hard to put down

I intend stamp a "1" onto the left hand balloon but have deliberately left them blank for now in case I do end up making more baby birthday cards, I can keep these by for next year.

That's it for today, tomorrow is a BIG day with loads of Stampin' Up news, so don't forget to pop back then.  My post should be live by around 9am.

take care... xx


Project Ingredients

Stamp Sets : "UP, Up & Away"
Card stock : "Pear Pizzaz";  "Blushing Bride"; "Marina Mist" & "Whisper White"
Accessories : "Nursery Nest" DSP
Colour:  "Pear Pizzaz";  "Blushing Bride" & "Marina Mist" classic ink pads
Tools : Tape runner adhesive; "Scallop" border punch

Watercolour Technique

Hello there,

I saw this water colouring technique on YouTube and wanted to have a go.

Basically, you used an outlined stamp, stamp on to Water colour paper in Versamark ink and heat emboss.  This then gives you a very slightly ridged outline.  You soak the image in water then just drop the ink on to the paper.  As there is so much water it caused the ink to pool out but the ridges of the embossed image help to stop the ink from spreading outside of the image.  Not sure if you can tell from the photo, but I used 3 different colours of ink which all blended together beautifully.

I cut my images out and adhered them onto a piece of "Whisper White" cardstock which I matted onto a piece of "Concord Crush.  I also stamped the main sentiment image from the "My Friend" stamp set in "Concord Crush" classic ink.

The card blank I used was from the "Card & Envelopes Note" pack, so the finished card was 5" x 3 1/2" rather than the usual A6, but I think this smaller size is really cute.

A little reminder, the "My Friend" stamps set is in the current Spring Mini Catlaogue, which comes to an end on the 30th of this month, so it's only available for a few more days if you want to get hold of it, there is also a French version available, which I am really tempted by.

Inside the card.

On the inside I stamped the other sentiment from the "My Friend" stamp set, and I repeated the stamped floral image, both in "Concord Crush" classic ink, though I stamped the floral image off first before I stamped inside the card to make the image a little softer.

That's all from me today, until next time, happy crafting ... xx

Male birthday card

Hi there,

Really quick post today as I don't know where the day has gone.  Mostly today I've been making 'swop' cards for Stampin' Up's regional training event this coming weekend and the day just ran away from me and I've still not finished the 'swops'! 

I did want to share a card I made as I have a few male birthday's coming up and I wanted to get few done so I would have a little stash.

As you can see, it's really simple and I made 4 of them in total, only changing the colour of the main cardstock, but I stuck to the the 'Regals' family of colours as they are great for men.  Oh, and I used a circle punch for the 'ticket' style corners.

Hope you like it, must dash  .... xx


Project Ingredients

Stamp Sets : "Happiest Birthday Wishes"
Card stock : "Basic Black";  "Not Quite Navy" & "Whisper White"
Accessories : Silver Brads & 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon in "Basic Black"
Colour:  StazOn ink
Tools : Tape runner adhesive; Dimensional adhesive "Square lattice" embossing folder; Big Shot machine & Circle punch

Button Buddies cards

Happy St. Georges Day! ~  but I hope you're having a great day whether this sentiment is relevant to you or not :o)

Today I would like to share with you a few cards I made with the "Button Buddies" stamp set.  I was lucky enough to receive this set for free from Stampin' Up as an achievement award.  Stampin' Up are really good at offering incentives to demonstrators, they really make you feel like they have your back and are trying to help you achieve your goals as a demonstrator, whatever they may be.

I've made my cards 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" square cards, which is a size I love.

As you can see, these images are really cute but simple and great for all sorts of occasions.

 

 I've only used a few of the images, there are still 5 more for me to play with.

Why "Button" buddies are you asking yourself?

Well that's because all the images have an element on them that matches up perfectly with our buttons, as you can see in the card above - how cool is that and makes 'stepping-up' card so easy.

I also teamed the images up in this little collection with the "Swirls & Curls Verses" sentiment set.  This is a hostess only item that is in the Spring mini catalogue, which comes to an end on the 30th of this month, so only about a week left to get hold of the items in that mini so don't delay in getting in contact if you would like to order any item in that catalogue.

take care ... xx

Rule UK!

As many of you will know, today is the Queen's birthday, so I thought I would make a patriotic card.

As you can see, it's a one-layer card made by using lots and lots of masking and is very much a tone-on-tone style of card.

I hand drew the flag and cut out the sections in such a way as to make the basic pattern of the Union flag. I used a couple of different wheels to do the crosses and versamark ink to produce the solid colour on the cross.  I used the small circles in the "Confetti" stamp set in the triangular sections.

I was really pleased with how it came out, not sure on what occasion I would send it to someone so I might just keep it for myself and pop it on the wall!

Oh, and I should say, the "Love Blossoms" wheel is in the current Spring Mini catalogue which ends at the end of this month, so you only have just over a week to get your hands on this gorgeous little wheel.

Have a great day ... xx

 
Project Ingredients

Stamp Sets : "Confetti"; "Love Blossoms" wheel; "Decor" wheel
Card stock : "Crumb Cake" 
Colour:  "Crumb Cake"; "Soft Suede" & Versamark ink
Tools : Standard wheel handle; Wheel Guide

Shiny "Thank You" card

Hello,

I'm really late in posting today as I've been busy working on my Swop cards for next weekends regional training.  This is just one of the many wonderful things about being a Stampin' Up demonstrator, they give so much in the way of training and support.

The project that I'm sharing today is a card I made a while ago but forgot to post.  I wanted to play with stamping using the shimmer paint.

As you can see from the photo, it works well as I stamped an image from the "Delicate Doilies" stamp set, which I really like and I'm not sure why I haven't used it more.

Ooo Shiny!

Stamping with the shimmer paint makes a really lovely, shiny image.  I teamed it up with some paper from the "Mocha Morning" Specialty DSP, which is very rich looking.

I liked the look of stamping with the shimmer paint and it is something that I will defiantly be doing again.

Enjoy the rest of your Friday.... xx


Project Ingredients

Stamp Sets : "Delicate Doilies" & "Thank you kindly"
Card stock : "Crumb Cake"; "Very Vanilla" & "Soft Suede"
Accessories : "Mocha Morning" Specialty DSP & Antique Brads
Colour:  "Soft Suede" Classic ink pad & "Champagne Mist" Shimmer paint
Tools : Tape runner adhesive;  "Decorative Label" punch

Monday Mojo 237 Challenge Card

Today my share is a card I made for the "Monday Mojo" challenge site.  The challenge is to make a card based on the following sketch.

... and here is my card.

It's a new baby card done in appropriate colours for a boy.  I used the "Aviary" stamp set and "Nursery Nest" DSP, which is one of the options of DSP you can get for free at the moment if you place an order for £45 or more.

Hope you like it... chat again tomorrow.




Project Ingredients

Stamp Sets : "Aviary"
Card stock : "Marina Mist"; "Whisper White"; "Perfect Plum"; "Basic Gray" & "Pear Pizzazz"
Accessories : "Nursery Nest" DSP
Colour:  "Marina Mist"; "Perfect Plum"; "Basic Gray" & "Pear Pizzazz" classic ink pads
Tools : Dimensional Adhesive; Tape runner adhesive;  "3/4inch & 1inch Circle" punches

"Chevron" Technique Tutorial

Hello again, as promised in my post form this morning, I have for you a tutorial showing how to do the "Chevron" technique.

Step 1

 You need some stripy patterned paper, I used "Cheerful Treat" DSP, the hostess only item.

I cut a section of 6 x 6"

 

Step 2

 I cut this section on the diagonal.

Step 3

Then I cut 1cm strips using the diagonal line as my straight edge to base my cuts on.








Step 4

I then repeated this for another 6 x 6" section of this DSP.  I used the other section that had the same colours.





Step 5

Then match up the patterns, alternating the direction the lines go to produce the "Chevron" effect.

Keep doing this until you find a pattern you like.

Step 6

I arranged mine so that a specific pink line within the pattern lined up, (see area in box within photo), so that it created a more random looking pattern. 












Step 7

Once you are happy, adhere to a piece of scrap paper.











Step 8

Trim off edges and make to required size.

Obviously the more pieces of paper you can match up the larger the size you can have.  This is easier with a relativity simple stripe of just a few colours, but my sample is very colourful, but hopefully helps you to see the pattern.

 Step 9

Create your card.

I matted mine on a piece of "Rich Razzlebury" cardstock, which I adhered to the right side of the "Old Olive" card blank, then added a "Very Vanilla" taffeta bow on the left side, added a sentiment from the "Happiest Birthday Wishes" stamp set.

Hope this was clear and helpful, if you have any questions or need anything clarifying, please do not hesitate to get in contact or leave a comment.

Thanks  ... xx

"Chevron" Technique

A very brief post for you this morning as I wanted to quickly share with you a card that highlights the "Chevron" technique.

It's made by placing stripy patterned paper next to each other to form the chevron pattern.

I was hoping to have a little tutorial for you on how to do this but I'm still trying to sort out the photos so I will be back later today, hopefully, with all the details on how to do this very striking technique.

Until later ... xx




 Project Ingredients

Stamp Sets : "Happiest Birthday Wishes
Card stock : "Lucky Limeade" & "Whisper White"
Accessories : "Cheerful Treat" DSP
Colour:  "Lucky Limeade" & "Concord Crush"  classic ink pads
Tools : Dimensional Adhesive; Tape runner adhesive;  "1-3/4" Scallop" punch & "1-3/8" Circle" punch

Monday CASE'd Book

I have a CASE'd card for you today.  For those who are unfamiliar with the term it means that I've copied it, which in the stamping and paper craft world is completely acceptable and in some ways encouraged, just as long as you give due credit to the originator.

My card today was CASE'd from the Stampin' Up's catalogue and the original can be found on Pg 120.

I changed the colour and a few of the embellishments but other than that, it's pretty much the same.  I made this card a couple of weeks ago when I was feeling like I had lost my crafty mojo, so, for me, CASE'ing a card was a great way to get me making something so that I felt inspired again.  That's the great thing about the catalogue, it's got so many great projects in there to inspire and spark off the imagination.

Have a great day .... xx



 Project Ingredients

Stamp Sets : "Aviary";  "Happiest Birthday Wishes" & "Tiny Tags"
Card stock : "Whisper White" & "Night of Navy"
Accessories : Patterns Designer Series paper Stack in Regals.
Colour:  StazOn Ink; "Pool Party"; "Island Indigo" & "Poppy Parade" classic ink pads
Tools : Dimensional Adhesive; Tape runner adhesive;  "Dotted Scallop Ribbon" border punch; "Tag" punch; "Corner" Punch

Scrapbook Page

Hello,

Today I'm sharing with you a 12" x 12" scrapbook page that I put together using one of the "Simply Scrappin" kits from Stampin' Up.  The kit I used is called "Country Club" and is one of the kits that I used to make one of the cards I shared yesterday.

It's the first 12" x 12" physical scrapbook page I've done.  Up to now my scrapbooking has been confined to much smaller memory books or digital pages so a blank 12" x 12" page seemed quite daunting at first, but I knew the photo's I wanted to use and the story I wanted to tell, so actually I found that I filled up the page quite quickly.

(sorry about the terrible photo ~ working on it!)

The photo's are ones of my DS, Ben, when he was about 5 and they were taken when we were on holiday in Portugal.

I like the basic layout but I'm not that please with it overall so I stopped working on it as I decided that it would be easier to add things later than try and take things off if I add too much at this stage.
I am glad I got the memory down and I've been able to use these photos to perfectly illustrate a family story for the future, which is, after all, what scrapbooking is all about and I intend to do a companion page using up to date photo's to further illustrate my story so I'll see what I feel it needs when I see the two together.

If you are interested in learning more about scrapbooking, capturing memories or any Stampin' Up products, then please do not hesitate to get in touch, details above.

 xx



 Project Ingredients

Accessories : "Country Club" Simply Scrappin' kit
Colour:  "Whisper White" craft ink
Tools : Dimensional Adhesive; Tape runner adhesive

"Scrappy" Cards

Hello,

Hope you are having a lovely weekend so far.

Today I wanted to share with you a couple of cards I've made using "Simply Scrappin" kits, which, as the name suggests, are actually kits designed with the Scrapbooker in mind, but that doesn't mean you can't make cards out of them.

Both cards are made using different kits but the same sketch.

This first card was made using the "Tea Time" kit

This second one was made using the "Country Club" kit.

This is a close up of the main embellishment on the card which is so easy to make with the punches.

These kits are great, you get DSP, Textured card stock and self-adhesive die cuts.  Everything you need to make a great scrapbooking page, or, as shown above, a quite and simple card.

Tomorrow I will be back with a scrapbook page I put together using one of the kits, until then, take care..... xx




 Project Ingredients

Stamp Sets : "Elementary Elegance" - RETIRED
Card stock : "Whisper White"
Accessories : "Tea Time" & "Country Club" Simply Scrappin' kits; "Lucky Limeade" brads.
Colour:  StazOn Ink
Tools : Dimensional Adhesive; Tape runner adhesive; "5-Petal Flower" punch; "Fancy Flower" punch & "Dotted Scallop Ribbon" border punch

Side Stepper card

Hello there,  well I'm feeling shattered today as I stayed up to watch a live game of Baseball that had 'extra time' and didn't finish until just before 5am - Yes, I know, crazy.  I subscribe to a website that gives me access to all games that have been played so far within the season so I usually catch up a sensible times but I made the mistake of starting to watch a live game that was really exciting and couldn't stop, daft old bat that I am, so please excuse me if this post is completely illegible - lol!

I did get a chance to craft whilst watching though as my computer monitor is on my crafting desk, so crafting and baseball at the same time ~ yay!

My share today is a little, (4x4"), side stepper card.

Very colourful!

I haven't made one of these before and I'd only seen the dimensions for larger sizes so I spent quite a lot of time with some scrap cardstock to get the proportions right and I made made myself a template with all the details on before I made the actual card.

Side view.

The colours are really bright and cheerful and remind me of summer, which is strange for me as I am defiantly an autumn/winter girl, I blame watching the baseball, it obviously put me in a warm and summery frame of mind.  (The ONLY good thing about spring/summer, from my point of view, is that it's baseball season!)

I'm pleased that I figured out how to do this card at this size and I'll defiantly be making more.

I'm just off to have a little nap, have a great day .... xx


 Project Ingredients

Stamp Sets : "Aviary"; "Button, Button" & "Pocket Silhouettes"
Card stock : "Daffodil Delight" & "Melon Mambo"
Accessories : "Flirtatious" Speciality DSP
Colour:  "Daffodil Delight" & "Pumpkin Pie"
Tools : Dimensional Adhesive; Tape runner adhesive; "Word Window" punch & "Modern Label" punch

Congratulation Card

Hello there, hope you had a wonderful Easter, I can't believe it's over it seem to fly by in no time, luckily I got some crafting done with my new Stampin' Up goodies that I will share with you later in the month as I used some new products that are not available until the beginning of next month  ;-)

My share for today is a 'Congratulaions' card that I sent to my lovely Stampin' Up upline Sarah-Jane  
she made Silver 2 in promotion last month so obviously I had to send her a card to congratulate her as she works so hard and is a great friend and inspiration.

Now I knew I had to use the silver embossing powder but it took me absolute ages to decide what colours to use with it.  In the end I went for a "Basic Gray" card blank and "Concord Crush" top layer ~ love this colour.  I had to use my lovely "Stylish Star" stamp, because she is a little Star!

Ooo, shiny!

I embossed all the edges of the "Concord Crush by rubbing the Versamark ink pad directly to the edges and matted it onto "Basic Black cardstock to make the silver stand out even more.

I was quite pleased how it turned out in the end, even if this card did take the longest I've ever taken over a card ~ lol!

have a great day ... xx


 

Project Ingredients

Stamp Sets : "Stylish Star" & "Curly Cute"
Card stock : "Concord Crush"; "Basic Black" & "Basic Gray"
Colour:  Versamark Ink;
Tools : Silver embossing powder; Heat tool