Inkantations and Inkarnations

Zebra Party

2011-11-30T19:51:00.003+11:00

Here's a card from a few weeks ago, finally got an image editted of it! It was a birthday card for a 9 year old girl who likes all things horsie. Last year's card had also featured the Pony Party stamp set, so we gave it a twist this year and made the pony into a zebra! I was a little worried I'd overdone the stripes on the face, but Shaelea thought it was fine so who am I to argue

The pony was stamped on Whisper White cardstock, stripes and hooves done with a Basic Black marker and then a little Early Espresso ink was sponged around the muzzle. To create the shadow on the Crumb Cake layer I first sponged some Crumb Cake ink and then lightly sponged some Early Espresso for a variety. Along the top and the bottom of the Crumb Cake layer there are tiny Early Espresso scallops, created by attaching a strip of Early espresso that had been punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch. The greeting was inked with Early Espresso, stamped on Whisper White and cut out. I then edge it with a thin line of Tombow glue and sprinkled some black glitter over the glue. I punched an extra large oval from Whisper White cardstock, ran a thin line of Tombow around it and sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds over it. Once the glues were dry and excess glitter removed I attatched the two layers. I cut some small pieces of the 1/8" black taffeta ribbon, formed these into little loops and attached them to the back of the greeting using Sticky Strip. The Crumb Cake layer was attached to the Basic Black folded card base, zebra attached and greeting mounted with dimensionals and lastly a tiny rhinestone added to each corner to finish it all off.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Basic Black, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Stamp set: Pony Party, Perfect Punches
Ink: StazOn, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Basic Black marker, sponge dauber, Extra Large Oval punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch, Tombow mono multi glue, Fine Galazy glitter pack, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, 1/8" black taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

Let the Glitter Run Free

2011-11-24T20:33:00.005+11:00

One layered Finnish star was just not enough! After making the Raspberry Tart one, I realised I really wanted to add glitter to it but it was just too hard to do after the fact. I also felt that the proportions could be improved, so I just had to make a second one to try these ideas out. I made this one for a relative who had commented on this Kaleidoscope paper recently, and luckily I had enough left over to use it. (Once again, you can click the image below to see a larger version with more detail)

This time the sizes were 12" x 1", 8" x 1.7cm (basically 2/3 of an inch) and 4" x 0.85cm (1/3"). Yes, I am wierd and work in mixed measurements sometimes! To add the glitter I lined the edge of the star points with Tombow glue and then sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds over the top. I tap off as much excess as I could, then set the stars aside to dry for a few hours, or preferably over night. I then used a large soft-bristled brush to remove the rest of the excess. I wish I had thought to do this over my desk so I could return the excess to the container of glitter... but it wasn't untill afterwards that I realised just how much loose excess remained on the stars. My floor was coated in it! Not that that is really a bad thing... Once I removed the rest of the excess I attached the stars with mini glue dots.

I really do think the glitter finishes it off nicely! Here's a side-by-sde shot of the two stars to highlight the different size of the layers. I now don't mind the sizing of the Raspberry Tart one so much, so if you don't quite have enough paper to do 12, 8 & 4 inch stars the smaller ones will still work nicely. You can also see that I arranged the layers different on the Kaleidoscope star, alternating the opening of the points - not really sure how to describe them! These are incredibly easy to make, though the initial lining up of the strips can be time consuming if you are as pedantic as me. I also wouldn't recommend using strips smaller than 3" as even this size is fiddly to work with.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: none!
Stamp set: none!
Ink: none!
Accessories: Kaleidoscope patterned paper, mini glue dots, Tombow glue, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, 1/8" white taffeta ribbon
Show watched while creating: Torchwood

Layered Finnish Star

2011-11-23T20:08:00.005+11:00

I recently stumbled across directions for something called a Finnish Star, I thought they looked quite effect so I just had to make one. And at this time of year, anything like this is going to have a Christmas bent, so I chose the Christmas-ish colours of the Raspberry Tart patterned paper pack. I did tweak the design a bit though, making 5 stars and attaching them to make one large decoration. (you can click on the image below and see a larger version)

The large star was made using 12" x 1" strips, the medium star uses 6" x 1/2" strips and the small star uses 3" x 1/4" strips. Here's a side-on view to see the dimension of the stars.

If you are wondering what the star is hanging off, it's a dragon's wing! Below you can see the dragon in all it's glory, with it's companion and whole bunch of other decorations done in Raspberry Tart too (yes, I was rather obsessed with it and bought a few packs...)!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: none!
Stamp set: none!
Ink: none!
Accessories: Raspberry Tart patterned paper, mini glue dots, 1/8" white taffeta ribbon
Show watched while creating: Time Team

PS Kari Hughes, this is another decoration challenge for you!

(pine) Cone Trees

2011-11-21T16:47:00.004+11:00

I've been having a bit of fun with glitter lately, spreading it from one end of the house to the other. Well, that wasn't what I was working on, but it always seems to happen! The first project to get the glitter treatment were these trees, made using the Petal Cone die for the Big Shot.

The tree on the left has been decorated with dots from a Sticky Sheets and mini glue dots. The great thing about using dots from the Sticky Sheets is you can stick them all on at the start where you want them, and peel off the back of all the ones you want a particular colour then move on to the next colour. When doing the mini glue dots, I had to stick the dots for each colour separately. The tree on the right has been decorated with a brand new product. In the up-coming Summer Mini Stampin' Up! will be introducing Glimmer Paper. 12" sheets of glitter that doesn't come off! OK, that is a little less fun, but it has it's advantages! I used the Tasteful Trim die to cut out two strips to wind around the tree. I'm still contemplating adding some dots - which means adding more glitter! The trunks are just strips of Choclate Chip that I made tabs at the top of, then curled around and stuck together, then stuck to the base of the cones.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip
Stamp set: none!
Ink: none!
Accessories: Petal Cone die, Tasteful Trim die, Brights Collection paper stack, Sticky Sheets, mini glue dots, Fine Galaxy glitter pack, Red Glimmer Paper
Show watched while creating: Torchwood

Greenhouse Ornament Step-Up

2011-11-14T16:40:00.004+11:00

As many of you would know, I love my punches. One of my favourite punches is the ornament punch as it makes creating simple Christmas cards easy, particuarly when you use it to punch patterned paper. I often try for non-traditional Christmas cards and decided to use the punch with some left over Greenhouse Gala paper for a rather different Christmas look. I made the basic card and then made a second version, with a few pieces a little more involved to add more interest.
This card should be pretty straight forward, one little secret I have used is to layer the colourful ornament on a Chocolate Chip ornament so it is a little firmer and sits up better. The hanging threads for the ornaments are linen thread that has been split in half.

For the stepped up version I have used a layer of textured cardstock, replaced the punched strip with ribbon, painted over sections of the monochrome patterned paper with Frost White shimmer paint and sponged the shimmer paint all over the colourful ornament, used the shimmer paint to create a border on the sentiment piece, painted the linen thread with the shimmer paint, raised the sentiment piece on dimensionals, and edged the design on the colourful ornament with glitter. I used a blender pen to apply the shimmer pain to the ornaments, and a dauber for the border on the sentiment. The glitter outline was done by tracing the edge with Tombow glue then sprinkle Dazzling Diamonds over top. The ribbon is the new seam binding that I ruffled by holding a bunch of strands from the middle of the ribbon and sliding the ribbon along so the edges bunched up and ruffled. I think seam binding is my new favourite ribbon, it is so flexible and easy to work with!

Here's another angle on the card so you can really see the shimmer effect:
All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Basic Card
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Stamp set: Contempo Christmas
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Greenhouse Gala paper, Ornament punch, Decorative Label punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, linen thread, Dimensionals

Stepped-up Card
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, textured Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Stamp set: Contempo Christmas
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Greenhouse Gala paper, Ornament punch, Decorative Label punch, Frost White shimmer paint, Tombow multipurpose glue, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Baja Breeze seam binding, blender pen, sponge dauber, linen thread, Dimensionals

Doctorin' the TARDIS

2011-10-18T10:37:00.004+11:00

You ready for some more Doctor Who papercrafting fun? First, a little background.

This is Doctor Whooves. He was an unnamed background character in the latest version of My Little Pony. That is, until fans noticed his hour-glass cutie mark and spikey brown hair and decided he was The Doctor in pony form (more precisely, the 10th Doctor). Now those involved in making the show even refer to him as Doctor Whooves apparently! Anyway, Shaelea loves horses and Doctor Who so I decided to combine the two for her birthday card.
I came up with a spinner card. Originally I wanted the TARDIS spinning through space, but that made it hard to include the pony. So, after landing the TARDIS, the Doctor has set out for Shaelea's party, and the TARDIS decided it wanted to go too.
Normally I would use a 5c piece behind the spinning item, however I made the TARDIS too skinny for that and had to resort to a magnet. The magnet was much chunkier so I had to have two layers Dimensionals so the magnet could spin freely. It's a good thing this card isn't going through the post!

The foreground grass is Certainly Celery, with the other two layers being Pear Pizzazz. The back layer is sponged lightly with Pear Pizzazz ink to make it a little darker. Another bit of tweaking on this card is with the sign. The Party this Way stamp actually has the arrow pointing to the right, so I inked the arrow with the Pacific Point marker (contemplating a name change and calling it Pacific Police Box or something ), stamped that then cleaned the stamp, inked the wrods with the Wisteria Wonder marker and used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up and stamp inside the arrow.
The good Doctor was inked using the Crumb Cake marker, so I could omit the mane, and stamped on Crumb Cake cardstock. I drew in the neckline with the fine writing end of the marker then cut him out. I hand cut the mane and tail from Early Espresso cardstock then went around the edges with the fine writing tip of the Early Espresso marker so they too were outlined. The hour-glass was hand drawn on Whisper White cardstock using So Saffron and Bashful Blue markers.

And don't forget: Always take a banana to a party

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight
Stamp sets: Pony Party, Party This Way
Inks: Certainly Celery, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: 1/2" circle punch, Cupcake Builder punch, dauber, Crumb Cake marker, Early Espresso marker, Pacific Point marker, Wisteria Wonder marker, Basic Black marker, So Saffron marker, Bashful Blue marker, Daffodil Delight marker, cutter kit, silver gel pen, Dimensionals
Show watched while creating: North & South

It's astounding, I am blogging (and time is fleeting)!

2011-10-14T10:55:00.003+11:00

Finally back with a new project to share. This was Tiarna's birthday card this year, and I usually try to make something a little more interesting than your average birthday card when it comes to my kids - inspiration permitting! They have been getting into Doctor Who quite a bit so I decided to try my hand at making the Doctors' TARDIS.

I based my design on the original TARDIS (yes, there has been more than one) as I had better reference pictures for that, but I wanted to incorporate the woodgrain texture that is more prominent on the current TARDIS. I also would have prefered Brilliant Blue for the cardstock (turns out it has a use!) but I didn't have any left so made Pacific Point the new TARDIS Blue. I did make a few other changes such as simplifying the St Johns Ambulance logo, the wording on the phone door sign, the sign across the top, and the windows (the two corner windows in the bottom row on each door should be frosted and the others clear) - I just could not think of a way to pull them off without throwing off other aspects of the construction. The light on top is a bit of a disaster, I kept putting off dealing with it in the hopes a brilliant idea would come to mind but alas that still hasn't happened!

In the above photo you get a better sense of the 3D nature of the card (click on the image to see it full size). I wanted the sign across the top and the base/step at the bottom to be more prominent, and they also help to keep the card shut. They are essentially little boxes that were fiddly to make and attach and are a little worse for wear a month on. The top of the TARDIS slopes back towards the light with Dimensionals along the bottom holding that section up and a tab at the top folding under so it is nearly flush with the back of the card.

And as it turned out, the scale wasn't too bad for the Doctor & K9 action figures she received!

Two things I really wanted to achieve with this card: it had to be gate-fold so the doors opened in the middle as the real TARDIS doors do, and it had to be bigger on the inside as the real TARDIS is. Turned out that was probably the easiest bit of the card!

The card was an absolute hit, which I was pleased about as you can probably imagine. Only thing is I have to come up with something else for the next child's birthday in less than a weeks time... meep!

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Basic Black, brushed silver
Stamps: Woodgrain
Inks: Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron
Accessories: White gel pen, dauber, Crop-o-dile, silver gel pen, biro

Jolly in June

2011-06-16T16:50:00.003+10:00

The third challenge for the Elite Stampers cyberstamp was to dip into embellishments we'd been a bit precious about, saving for that special occasion that never seemed to come along.

I've used chipboard, dsp and rubons that I hadn't really touched before. This card I am very happy with! I love how the rubons coordinate with the Jolly Holiday paper so well, I'm thinking I'll be revisiting that combination again inthe not-too-distant future. And I don't think I have said it yet, but I lurve how rich a colour Cherry Cobbler is. You think Riding Hood Red is a deep, rich red until you put it beside Cherry Cobbler. And no, I can't believe I've made another Christmas card and it's only June!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Season of Joy
Inks: Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Mix & Match chipboard, Jolly Holiday dsp, Holly & Jolly rubons, large oval punch, scallop oval punch, dimensionals

June Jingle

2011-06-15T16:35:00.002+10:00

Challenge 2 of the Elite Stampers cyberstamp was to pick a number, then turn to that page in the Stampin' Up! catalogue and use the "sketch" of a project on that page for your creation. I chose 42 as my number (nod to Douglas Adams), and used the second card as my inspiration.

I think I could have tinkered with the lay-out a little more on this, I'm not completely sold on the arrangement of the Cherry Cobbler strip & Rich Razzleberry ribbon, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with how this came out.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, textured Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Christmas Classics
Inks: VersaMark
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler marker, Rich Razzleberry marker, Always Artichoke marker, Scallop Trim border punch, Rich Razzleberry 1/8" tafetta ribbon, dimensionals

Happy Birthday Thoughts

2011-06-14T16:12:00.005+10:00

On Saturday night Jayne hosted a cyber-stamp for the Elite Stampers. The first challenge was to use the colours from this month's Elite blog colour challenge to make a birthday card. I have to say I struggled with this one, because I was trying to resist using a tree again with these colours. In the end I gave in.

Quite a simple card, but it seemed to want to be for a guy and most of them don't like things too fussy. It's not very birthday either... no presents, no cake, no balloons or banners... except it does make me think of the Party Tree in Lord Of The Rings, so it is really a birthday card in more than just the words! The layer behind the sentiment was achieved by punching a Decorative Label out of Chocolate Chip cardstock, then instering one end back into the punch and punching it a second time.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, textured Very Vanilla, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake
Stamp Sets: Thoughts & Prayers, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Wild Wasabi marker, Chocolate Chip marker, neutrals brads, Decorative Label punch, Word Window punch, dimensionals

I've also caught up on March challenges over at the Elite Challenges blog, you can see those cards here and here.

Hoot If You Are 2

2011-06-10T10:36:00.003+10:00

It's been a while since I have done some punch art. I seem to go through phases for it, but sometimes you get an idea in your head and there's no other way to achieve it. This was one of those times.

I have a nephew who is big on Hoot from Giggle & Hoot on the ABC, so I felt compelled to have a go at making a Hoot card. I couldn't just do any old owl in Hoots colours - even to me who doesn't have toddlers and doesn't watch Giggle & Hoot - it would look wrong. I cut a strip of Tempting Turquoise slightly smaller than 1 3/4" and fed it through the back of the 1 3/4" punch so only one end was punched. I then punched the straight edge with the scallop border punch. A full Tempting Turquoise 1 3/4" circle and I had the rest of this body. His eyes had been a problem when I contemplated this in the past, but that problem was solved by using the number 6 in the Timeless Type die set. a bit of a snip to the tops of the 6's and Hoot was looking like Hoot and no ordinary owl. In hindsight the head should be a bit shorter, but I don't think it matters too much - there's no mistaking who it's supposed to be

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Early Espresso
Stamp Sets: none!
Inks:none!
Accessories: 1 3/4" circle punch, scallop border punch, two-step owl punch, two-step bird punch, 1/2" circle punch, crop-a-dile, small heart punch, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet die, Simple Numbers Alphabet die, In Colors patterns paper pack, Brights Patterns stack, Neutrals brads, Tangerine Tango pompom trim, dimensionals

Elite Blog Catch-Up

2011-06-08T17:21:00.003+10:00

I've just uploaded three cards to the Elite Challenge blog: a card for the last June challenge and two cards for April challenges. I'll be playing more catch-up over the coming weeks but I promise the next thing I post here will be more than a snipet of something posted in full elsewhere! And hey, today there are three cards... that's gotta count for something, right?

For the April challenges I seem to have combined the stamp set challenge with both the colour challenge and sketch challenge. I always seemed to come back to Nature Walk when mulling over what I'd like to do for each one.
For the colour challenge I went back to one of my favourite techniques of inking with markers. This card is pretty straight forward really, Old Olive on the stems and leaves, Marina Mist on the flowers with a dab of Rich Razzleberry in the middle.

You could say this card has been years in the making. I'm quite a fan of Tori Amos, and she has a song called Butterfly with the lyric "they like you better, framed and dried" that have been kicking around in my head as an idea for a card. With the bevelled windowpanes in the Autumn/Winter mini, I realised now was the time to make it.

And here's the snippet from my card for the third June challenge. Next time I'll share with you another use of that number 6 die

As always, head over to the Elite Challenge blog to check out the full cards and all their details (and cards from other Elite stampers as well).

Butterflies For You

2011-06-03T21:54:00.002+10:00

Yes, again with the butterflies! And again with a card for the Elite Challenge Blog.

This one was a stamp set challenge, Clearly For You, but I feel like it should have been a colour challenge! I had the swatches for these colours sitting out of my Colour Coach as possibilities for the main colour of this card, but the more I looked at them the more I thought they would work nicely together. It wasn't a sure bet, but I think I pulled it off. As always, to see the full card and all the details, see my post at the Elite Challenge Blog.

Hello June

2011-06-02T14:23:00.002+10:00

It's a new month, which means there are new challenges over at the Elite Challenges blog. The first challenge I tackled was the colour challenge, of which there is a sampling below.

I've used two punches in this card, the Curly Label punch (with "Hello" on it), and the new Decorative Label punch. Quite often I want my punched piece to have another colour around it giving a contrasting edge and helping to make it stand out. A little trick I do often is to punch two more shapes in my contrasting colour and off-setting them in different directions, behind the main punched piece. Above you can see the Wild Wasabi punches layered behind the top Very Vanilla punched piece. To see the full card (squirrels and all!) head over to the Elite Challenges blog.

Because I Like Butterflies

2011-05-27T23:17:00.003+10:00

(I really hope this post makes sense... really, really tired but wanted to get this done tonight)

Here's a snippet of my card for the third Elite Challenges challenge this month:

The thing that should be most obvious in this snippet is the little butterfly. He is tiny! I'd forgotten how small the smallest butterfly on the Beautiful Wings embosslit was, but really he was perfect for what I wanted. You can also see a bit of the hydrangea flower from the "Beacuase I Care" hostess set. For something different I stamped this on coloured cardstock (Baja Breeze to be precise), after carefully inking the top with Marina Mist and the bottom with Wild Wasabi ink pads. I then lightly went over the image with a sponge dauber and the appropriate colour ink to add some more colour. To see the full card and all the details, head over to the Elite Challenges blog.

Cupcakes and Candles

2011-05-25T18:59:00.003+10:00

Posting two days in a row - I can guarentee it won't last forever! Today I am again just sharing a snippet of an Elite Challenges card.

I had a lot of fun making this card, and it was one of those rare ones that pretty much turned out as planned. I finally broke out the Create A Cupcake set and coordinating Build A Cupcake punch, two things I've been wanting to play with for some time but never quite got to. For my colours I turned to the Stampin' Up! colour coach for inspiration, after deciding it was time to use Blushing Bride. The colour coach suggested Perfect Plum and Sahara Sand for a "Sweet Set" combination... but the thought of sandy cupcakes was not very appealing so I opted for Crumb Cake instead - much more appealing and appropriate! In the image above you can the little candle flame, that was punched from Blushing Bride cardstock that I then coloured over with the Blushing Bride marker. To see the full card and all the details, head over to the Elite Challenges blog.

Dies With Butterflies

2011-05-24T14:15:00.002+10:00

Very long time since I last posted... sorry about that chief! Here's a little something to ease back into it, a snippet of a card I just uploaded for the Elite Challenges Blog

The card is essentially what my swap card was supposed to be for the recent Stampin' Up! Convention, however I ran out of Peach Parfait cardstock (yes, I was very organised ). Once my order arrives with more Peachy goodness I'll remake the card the way it was supposed to be. Anyway, you can still enjoy it as it is

Woot(ten)!

2010-09-20T20:50:00.002+10:00

Hello again! Yes it's been a while since I posted (yet again!), had a bit of a break from stamping & completely fell out of the habit of taking photos of things when I did create (let alone the editing, uploading & composing...). But I have finally made it back, and tonight I'd like to introduce you to a little friend of mine.

This is Wootten. You may recall me previously mentioning that my Big Shot was named "Barry" the moment I opened his box. Since then I have dubbed my Circle Scissors "Cecil". Well, the latest tool that I am on a first-name basis with is Wootten the two-step owl punch. The punch itself doesn't look that cute, so the name applies more to the owls I make with it (yet to make a girly one, could be in for some adventures there!). This particular owl was made using the colours from this months Elite Challenges Blog colour challenge. To see the full card and product details, head over to the Elite Challenges Blog. If you attend any of my workshops this month you will see me make a very similar card to this, and see how cute he is for yourself!

Inklings Christmas in July Blog Hop

2010-07-08T19:30:00.004+10:00

Welcome to The INKlings’ Team’s Christmas in July blog hop. You may have arrived here from Dani's blog or just be visiting my blog, whichever way once you’ve checked out my creations you can continue the hop through the links at the end of this post to the next team member.

How quick is this year going! Have you started to think about your Christmas cards and projects yet? The INKlings team has and we thought that this month was the perfect time to host a Christmas in July blog hop. You'll find lots of great ideas provided by 17 team members’ fantastic blogs.

Want to win some Blog Candy? Simply leave a comment on each blog and then email Christie Wallace and let her know you’ve done so and you’ll be in the running for a fantastic prize of 17 handmade cards plus other goodies.

Sorry Blog Candy prize not available to SU! demonstrators but you're more than welcome to leave us a comment!

For my Christmas in July project I thought I would show you a Christmas card made using a non-Christmas set. Not surprisingly it's not a traditionally styled Christmas card, but it works!
I have used the Trendy Trees set in conjunction with Heat & Stick powder and the Supernova glitter to make this fun and funky card. I started by stamping the tree trunks, and then each tree top was done individually. The tree top is first stamped with VersaMark then sprinkled with Heat & Stick powder, and the excess powder tipped off before heating with a heat gun - just like embossing powder. When the Heat & Stick powder has just melted it will be tacky, so turn off the heat gun and cover the image with the glitter of your choice, once again tipping off the excess (and it can be returned to the container). Reheat the Heat & Stick with the heat gun and the glitter will set, and very little glitter will then come off to haunt you, or the card recipient, for the rest of your days...

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Trendy Trees, Punches Three
Inks:Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, VersaMark
Accessories: Heat & Stick powder, Fine Supernova glitter, 3/16" corner rounder, Regal Rose 5/6" grosgrain

That’s it from me. Your next stop on the INKlings’ Team Blog Hop is Michelle. Have fun and don't forget to leave a comment on each blog to win some great Blog Candy.

Bloghop for Christmas in July
1. Christie
2. Dani H
3. Carol
4. Michelle D
5. Jayne
6. Kylie
7. Kari
8. Dani F
9. Beth
10. Nicky A
11. Clare
12. Amy
13. Fiona B.
14. Michelle F-S
15. Fiona
16. Divya
17. Rachel

Super-sized Elmo

2010-06-17T13:10:00.003+10:00

I've recently had to make some birthday cards for my nephews. Wanting to do something a little different for my one-year old nephew I asked my sister what things he liked. She mentioned the Tombliboos from In The Night Garden, Giggle & Hoot (I had to look them up!) and Elmo, basically big happy faces. While my brain did have a few ideas about how to tackle each one, in the end I decided Elmo was going to be the easiest - especially the easiest to make as something BIG!

There has been a punch art Elmo floating around the net for some time, I've made him a few times and he was part of a recent stamp-a-stack class. He's made with the scallop circle punch, which isn't exactly big but I used the same principles and applied it to the Scallop Notes cards. OK, so the Scallop Notes are Ruby Red, not the bright Real Red that I normally use for him, but I think it works!

Word is it was quite a hit!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie
Ink: none
Stamps: none
Accessories: Scallop Notes II, Circle Scissors Plus, 1 3/4" circle punch (I think... really should have noted that stuff down!), 1/2" circle punch

Deals Of The Week: Week 3

2010-06-15T21:35:00.004+10:00

It's Wednesday, and in June that means Deal Of The Week time!

This week's deal is 40-50% off selected stamp sets. Wow, half price stamps, what a bargain!

Here's the details:

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Sale Price
114263	34	A Happy Heart stamp set	$41.95	$20.98
115792	57	Greetings Eight stamp set	$49.95	$24.98
116330	78	Bella's Bloom stamp set	$24.95	$14.97
113009	97	Enjoy Every Moment stamp set	$53.95	$26.98
114283	105	All Scallops stamp set	$55.95	$27.98

This special ends June 22nd, so you don't have long to take advantage of these great prices. To order any (or all!) of these stamp sets, contact me today

email earth@comcen.com.au or
call 0422 936 139

She's Got Dame Edna Eyes

2010-06-15T18:45:00.003+10:00

I love owls, and I love creating them with punches. While I've really liked the owls I have created, I wanted to be able to make something larger, an owl that would dominate a card front. So I turned to Barry (my Big Shot) and put him to work with the ovals die. I was obviously going to be making some bigger owls, with bigger ovals for the base, but I looked at my punches and tried to think of some other new features I could make with them. And then I noticed a spare wing on my desk, from using the Two-Step Bird punch on another project.

And Dame Edna Owl was born!

Hello owlies!

Of course I had to use bright colours for the Dame, so I pulled out the Pink Flamingo DSP pack and selected my papers and got Barry to work on them. With the papers all spread out, I spotted the "sun rays" sheet and immediately knew how I wanted the rest of the card to go. When I came to put it together however, I realised that it just wasn't all going to fit on a standard card front. Some years ago I was given a bunch of larger envelopes, and I still have quite a few left (all really bright ones... think Yoyo Yellow). I grabbed one of these envelopes and measure it up and made my card to fit. Now the Dame had space to stretch her wings! And because I loved the effect so much, I once again layered the Lots of Tags die on the similar Frames With A Flourish image for the sentiment.

Remember, Pink Flamingo is one of the 5 DSPs on special this week as part of Deals Of The Week. But tonight is your last chance to order it at the special price, so be quick & don't miss out!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Frames With A Flourish, One Of A Kind
Inks: none
Accessories: Pink Flamingo DSP, Ovals die, Lots of Tags die, Two-Step Bird punch, large oval punch, Curly Label punch, Boho Blossoms punch, 3/4" circle punch, 1/2" circle punch, Crop-a-dile, 5 Petal Flower punch, Circle Fire rhinestone brads, Real Red marker, Tempting Turquoise marker, Cameo Coral marker, Tombow mono glue, fine Supernova glitter, dimensionals
Show Watched While Creating: True Blood (WARNING: there will be season 3 spoilers on this page so careful what you look at or read!)

Bleu Medallion

2010-06-10T19:45:00.002+10:00

Here's a snippet from another card I did on the weekend for the Elite Challenges blog. I'd been working on samples for my Emboss Resist class last week an had really been enjoying myself, so I decided to use it on this card and combine it with DSP. I'm quite happy with how this turned out, with the colours, the patterns, the shapes... To finish the card off I wanted to add a little feature in the middle of the Medallion image and went through a few options before I settled on punching out a circle from another Bella Bleu sheet (and I chose this specific section because it looks like a little bug face to me, heeheehee). I was going to stick it on a Antique Brass Build-A-Brad brad, but the rim of the brad covered up too much of the underlying patter for me, so I just used the adhesive dome instead.

To see the whole card and read all the product details, head over to the Elite Challenges blog. If you are interested in finding out more about next weeks emboss resist class (there are still places available), you can email me or call 0422 936 139.

Cottage Garden Wall

2010-06-09T21:33:00.002+10:00

Here's a snippet of a card I just uploaded to the Elite Challenges blog. I had started on this card in May, then had to set it aside to get ready for Convention. On the weekend I decided it was high time I finish it off, but I just couldn't remember where I was going with it! I know this wasn't quite it, but I am glad I thought of using Frames With A Flourish. Head over to the Elite Challenges blog to see the whole card and read all the details.

Deals of the Week: Week 2

2010-06-09T09:08:00.004+10:00

Time againfor a new Deal of The Week! This week we have 35-40% off selected patterned papers. Some of my favourite papers and included in this special so I am really excited about this deal. Here are the papers selected for this special:

And here are the details:

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Sale Price
112470	132	Haiku Designer Series paper	$16.95	$10.17
113976	132	Pink Flamingo Designer Series paper	$16.95	$11.02
113992	133	Tea Party Designer Series paper	$16.95	$10.17
113975	133	Raspberry Tart Designer Series paper	$16.95	$11.02
114037	133	Sweet Slumber Specialty Designer Series paper	$22.95	$14.92

This special ends June 15th, so you don't have long to take advantage of these great prices. To order any (or all!) of these punches, contact me today

email earth@comcen.com.au or
call 0422 936 139

Colour Renovation Re-do

2010-06-07T21:50:00.002+10:00

Stampin' Up! recently announced they were renovating their colours, with a complete shake up of how they group colours and what colours they will carry over the next few years. As part of this change they will be introducing 5 new colours as well as making Kraft a new core colour so it will have a coordinating inkpad and many more coordinating accessories (oh I am so cheering for that one!). Another aspect of this change is many current colours will be retiring at the end of our current catalogue. While I am sad to be waving good-bye to some of them, others I am very glad to finally give the boot (Yoyo Yellow & Only Orange you know I am talking about you!).

Why I am I telling you all of this? There are a couple of reasons, but the first is to do with the card you see above. As I was going through things on my desk last week I came across some cards I had taken out of my sample boxes as they featured products that were no longer available. One card in particular I had really liked, so I decided to remake it using current product. To mix it up even more, I decided to use mostly retiring colours. I'm sad to say Mellow Moss, Brocade Blue and Close To Cocoa will all be leaving us at the end of August. This card also features two punches that are part of this weeks Deals Of The Week special offer. You can order both the Scallop Oval and the Trio Flower punches for $20.12 each (normally $30.95 each), but only until Wednesday so you only have one day left to take advantage of this great deal! Contact me now to order yours before it is too late.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock:Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Close To Cocoa, Whisper White, Brocade Blue
Stamp Sets: Flight Of The Butterfly, Best Yet
Inks: Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, Always Artichoke
Accessories: 5/8" Brocade Blue grosgrain ribbon, Trio Flower punch, Scallop Oval punch, large oval punch, butterfly punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop edge punch, Pretties Kit, mini glue dots, dimensionals

Deals Of The Week: Week 1

2010-06-01T12:34:00.004+10:00

What are "Deals of the Week"? Throughout June Stampin' Up! will be offering a new special each week, 30% or more off selected products. Each special is stricted limited to that week only so you have to be quick to take advantage of it. What is this week's special? You all know I love my punches right? Well I think this is a fantastic special! Save 35% on each of these four punches, details below:

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Sale Price
112081	152	Scallop Square punch	$30.95	$20.12
109183	153	Trio Flower punch	$30.95	$20.12
110711	153	Boho Blossoms punch	$30.95	$20.12
114889	n/a*	Scallop Oval punch	$30.95	$20.12

*From Carryover flyer

This special ends June 8th. To order any (or all!) of these punches, contact me today

email earth@comcen.com.au or
call 0422 936 139

SU! Convention Swaps

2010-05-28T11:27:00.002+10:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I had Stampin' Up! convention coming up. The event was last weekend, and once again it was a fabulous experience (though I could have lived without the two fire alarms that were false alarms at the hotel!). I find swapping is a wonderful aspect of convention, though it can be a frenzy you exchange creative ideas and meet so many other talent people face to face. These are the two cards I swapped:

Many of you have probably noticed that I used the same set. I do have more than one set of stamps! I just love this set so much and the styles are so different that some people even swapped for both cards. Both are pretty simple to make, if you'd like to see how and have a go at making one yourself book a workshop and I can come and show you how it's done.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
first card
Cardstock: Soft Suede, Confetti White
Stamp Sets: Vintage Vogue, Very Vintage jumbo wheel
Ink: VersaMark, Tempting Turquoise, Cameo Coral, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss striped grosgrain ribbon, horizontal slot punch, Top Note die, Vintage brads

second card
Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Whisper White, Handsome Hunter, Lavender Lace
Stamp Set: Vintage Vogue
Inks: Almost Amethyst, Lavender Lace, Orchid Opulence, Handsome Hunter
Accessories: scallop border punch, Rich Regals brads

Cinema Saturday #79

2010-05-19T19:09:00.002+10:00

Hey again everybody! I know I have been quiet again, I just never seem to think of blogging at the right time (ie when I am on the computer and have time), so you haven't heard a lot from me lately. I am off to Stampin' Up! Convention tomorrow, which is very exciting, but I just had to take time out from preparing for that to make a card for this weeks Cinema Saturday challenge: New Moon. As busy as I am, how could I NOT make a card for this??? Let's start with the inside of the card, since that is also the first thing I did...
I had come across a nice clear graphic of the wolf-pack tatoo at deviantart and really really wanted to use it but couldn't fit it on the front, so inside it went. Did a test print or two to get the position right since this was going directly on the inside of the card base.

Now for the front of the card... Quite some time back I had seen this card and had wanted to give it a go, I just never had the right motivation. I very nearly did a card like that for the Australia Cinema Saturday challenge, however I chickened out! This time, since having done numerous Twilight inspired cards and having no new ideas... I remembered the "man card" and the time was right.
If you don't recognise it, my card is based on Jacob Black's bare & buff New Moon body. Following Bevithia's directions, with close scrutiny of a few photos of Jacob (a girl has to suffer for her art...) and after whole lotta sponging - I was done and pretty happy with the result!

Even more impressive is getting through this post with no innuendo...

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Basic Black textured
Stamps: none!
Inks: Creamy Caramel, Close To Cocoa, Whisper White
Accessories: Sponge dauber, Styled Silver Hodgepodge, cotton-bud
Show watched While Creating: New Moon

En Vogue

2010-04-28T10:43:00.003+10:00

One of the many new sets in the Autumn/Winter mini from Stampin' Up! is Vintage Vogue, and I think there is a very strong posibility that it will be the most popular set in the mini! For that reason I chose it as this months Stamp Set Challenge over at the Elite Challenges Blog. Above you can see a snipet of my card for the challenge, for which I also used the new Top Note die for the Big Shot die cutter, both of which are available in the Aut/Wint mini as well. For the rhinestone center of my flower I have used a pumpkin brad from the Fire Circle Rhinestone pack, however I have removed the rhinestone from the brad and attached it with a mini glue dot as I felt the whole brad backing would make things a little too bulky.

For complete product info and a full image of the card, head over to the Elite Challenges blog.

Dancing Medallion

2010-04-27T12:12:00.003+10:00

This months colour challenge over at the Elite Challenges blog is "Mambo Kisses Tango", hence the title of this post . For my card I inked the brand new Medallion stamp with So Saffron before sponging the other colours around it. The bright colours are probably not what you'd expect with this image, but I think they work well and I was really happy with how it came out. To see the full card and product details, head over to the Elite Challenges blog.

Cinema Saturday #74

2010-04-11T00:30:00.003+10:00

The Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge #74 is Up! I was lucky enough to have my "13 Going On 30" card receive the Audrey so I got to be a guest designer for UP.

While I think Pixar make good movies, the premise of this one had me a little dubious (it just didn’t sound as fun as toys or monsters), so I was pleasantly surprised when I did get to see UP! If you are ever around me and my girls you may hear random “Squirrel!” comments, heh heh heh. Anyway, when I found out what movie I would be designing for the basic idea for the card was in my head straight away. I did struggle with the sentiment though… I had a few stamps that were appropriate for the movie (inspired by Ellie’s passion for life) but I just didn’t feel they were right for the card. I decided to print out the “Adventure is out there!” catch-phrase because it can bring together the idea of grand and simple adventures of life.

Most Supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: All In The Family, Frames With A Flourish
Inks: StazOn Jet Black, Blush Blossom (watercolouring)
Accessories: aquapainter, Creamy Caramel marker, Close To Cocoa marker, So Saffron marker, dimensionals, Basic Black marker, white cotton thread, computer-generated sentiment, 1 3/8" circle punch (to stick balloons to), various DSP's most notably Good Morning Sunshine, Haiku and Pink Flamingo
Show watched While Creating: UP

Hippity Hoppity Easter is on it's Way

2010-03-29T19:36:00.003+11:00

A couple of weeks ago Ariane posted a very cute Easter basket on her blog. Many of us hounded her for a tutorial, and while we waited, and I studied her pictures, I got to playing and came up with a template of my own. Ariane has now posted her tutorial, and our templates are a little different but the made up baskets look the same to all but the closest observers. Anyway, here is the basket I came up with, all ready for Tiarna's guitar teacher tomorrow afternoon, filled with a whole bag of little Lindt bunnies

All supplies (except chocolate...) by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Baja Breeze
Stamp Set: Baroque Motifs
Ink: Baja Breeze
Accessories: Baja Breeze Patterns designer series paper, scallop edge punch, Whisper White 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Button Bouquet designer buttons, 5/16" Neutral brads, Sticky Strip

Again With The Punches

2010-03-26T07:17:00.002+11:00

Earlier this week Ryn asked us to challenge her with a punch art request. I suggested a dragon, and it would only be fair if I took on the challenge as well. However, I did cheat a little because I had already made a dragon last weekend! I have been holding off on sharing this with you as I like the recipient to have received the card before I post it here so I don't spoil the surprise, this is for a 2yr old boy though and I don't think he is a regular reader . I was also dying to share because he's just so gosh darn it CUTE! After I made him I was a little stumped about what to do for the rest of the card, but Tiarna once again gave me the brilliant idea of a cave.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Kraft, Basic Black, Basic Gray, So Saffron, Whisper White
Stamps: none!
Ink: Basic Gray
Accessories: Wide Oval punch, 1 3/8" square punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, small oval punch, 3/4" circle punch, scallop square punch (for the notches along the bottom of the ears!), Horizontal Slot punch, 1/2" circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, Boho Blosoms punch, Heart To Heart punch, Cutter Kit, Square Ice rhienstone brads, Square Fire rhinestone brads, Circle Fire Rhinestone brads, dimensionals
Show Watched While Creating: Corpse Bride

Happy Moments

2010-03-25T13:56:00.003+11:00

When discussing this set with a customer recently, I mentioned I had a few simple ideas come to mind just while we were talking about. However, it's taken me a while to get around to acting on those ideas. Here's one very simple idea: stamp the image randomly in the background with VersaMark, then use the same image for the focal point of the card. I've coloured the main image with an aquapainter - picking up ink from the lids of my inkpads - and I have jazzed it up a little by using some ribbons but it is still a very simple card that takes no time to put together.

The Happy Moments stamp set is one of four available free as part of the Sale-A-Bration promotion. Sale-A-Bration, and the Summer mini catalogue, end on March 31st so you have less than a week to get them.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Real Red, Summer Sun, Cameo Coral, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Happy Moments
Inks: StazOn; Pretty In Pink, Cameo Coral, Summer Sun used for watercolouring
Accessories: aquapainter, Real Red marker, Pretty In Pink 1 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Real Red 3/4" polkadot grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals
Show watched while creating: The Philadelphia Experiment

Cinema Saturday #71

2010-03-22T12:15:00.002+11:00

This week's Cinema Saturday movie was 13 Going On 30 (which I think was called something else here in Australia). I hadn't seen it before, but was glad I got a shove in that direction from Brooke & Sankari... otherwise I never would have seen Gollum on the dancefloor! I had completely forgotten Andy Serkis was in this, and could not stop laughing when he joined in on the Thriller dance, moonwalk and all! Anyway, for my card I chose to base it on Jenna's dress from that party. The requirement for this challenge was to include geometric shapes, so I stuck with the stripes of the dress, and punched my images out in circles for good measure. There's one item on this card that is a sneak peek from the up-coming Autumn/Winter mini - can you tell what it is?

If I could have one do-over, I don't think I would have VersaMarked the wheel int he background, I think it looked better with just the stripes!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Orchid Opulence, Rich Razzleberry, Baja Breeze, Green Galore, Taken With Teal, Pink Passion, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Cheers To You, Cheers standard wheel
Inks: VersaMark, StazOn, Pixie Pink (watercolouring), Baja Breeze (watercolouring)
Accessories: 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, aquapainter, Green Galore marker, Real Red marker, Taken With Teal marker, Pink Passion Marker, Orchid Opulence marker, dimensionals
Show Watched While Creating: 13 Going On 30

I'll Owl-ways Have Punches

2010-03-21T11:54:00.002+11:00

Yes I know, more punch art! But at least there is a bit of stamping this time!

It's been a while since I have done someone else's challenge (for those of you who don't know, I create the monthly challenges over on the Elite Challenges blog), so when I finally got caught up on my Google Reader and saw a couple of challenges freshly posted I thought I'd take some time out and put something together. This card is based on Taylor's sketch #105 and Keesh's Inspiration Challenge #19. After seeing a few comments that Keesh's challenge would result in a lot of flower cards I decided to do things differently, so I just took the colours. I didn't stick to the colours completely, just wanted a lot of green and purple. The owls were inspired by some fabric I saw the other day, where I had a lightbulb moment and realised the Round tab punch could be used to shape the top of other punches for owls. The Curly Label punch can be used too, however it has wider curves so I think he works better on larger shapes (ie the 1 3/4" circle and larger). For something I pretty much just winged, the branches worked out perfectly with a pretty seamless join... that I then went and covered up! It would have been fine if i had stuffed it and used it for an "embellishment opportunity", but I guess it's always good practise for the next time I want to lengthen that branch...

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Old Olive, Whisper White, Lovely Lilac, Orchid Opulence, Elegant Eggplant, Lavender Lace, So Saffron, Summer Sun, Basic Black
Stamp Sets: Cheep Talk, Owl Together Now
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Wide Oval punch, Scallop Oval punch, 1 3/8" Circle punch, 1 1/4" Circle punch, Round Tab punch, 5-Petal flower punch, Boho Blossoms punch, 1/2" Circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, 3/16" Corner Rounder punch, Cutter Kit, Crystal Effects, dimensionals
Show Watched While Creating: Four Feathers

Punch Bunny

2010-03-19T11:55:00.002+11:00

Up for some more punch art? Here's a bunny rabbit in the same style as the cat & dog ones I posted last week. Subscribers to my monthly email newsletter received a detailed tutorial on how to create him. I felt the ackground was going to be pretty boring if I just used plain cardstock, so I went to town with the patterned paper, using two papers from the Washington Apple pack for the sky & clouds, one paper from the Good Morning Sunshine pack for the grass (double punched with the scallop edge punch), and papers from Sweet Always, Haiku and Raspberry Tart for the eggs.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Tangerine Tango, Going Gray, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Basic Black
Stamps: none!
Inks: none!
Accessories: Full Heart punch, Heart to Heart punch, 1/2" circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, small oval punch, large oval punch, scallop edge punch, Going Gray marker, dimensionals

It's In The Bag

2010-03-18T10:01:00.004+11:00

Monday night was the Inklings Cyberstamp for March, hosted by Ryn. The first challenge she presented to us was to create something inspired by a reusable shopping bag from Target. She didn't mention what she felt were the closest colours, so I erred on the side of purple and went with Almost Amethyst, Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery. The bag had butterfly designs on it but I felt like something different so I went back to an old favourite and pulled out A Beautiful Thing and didn't worry about getting the outline image remotely close to the solid colour as the original bag had the outlines well and truly offset... in fact it was almost a challenge in itself to not automatically try and line the limages up closely!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Almost Amethyst, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: A Beautiful Thing, Frames With A Flourish
Inks: Almost Amethyst, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Elegant Eggplant 1/4" grsograin, dimensionals
Show watched While Creating: Picnic At Hanging Rock (ah the memories!)

Punchy Scotty

2010-03-12T11:16:00.001+11:00

This little guy has been mistaken for a kitten, but he's really supposed to be a Scotty Dog (I thought the short tail and long ears would give it away but maybe not!). Maybe he needs a bone too? He doesn't look too upset about not having one though

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Basic Black, Whisper White, Regal Rose
Stamp Set: none
Inks: none
Accessories: Full Heart punch, Heart to Heart punch, 1/2" circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, scallop edge punch, 1/16" circle punch, red gingham ribbon, linen thread, Urban Oasis DSP

Punchy Dog

2010-03-11T11:16:00.000+11:00

Here's my little punch doggie. I've had a few comments about him looking sad, and I didn't mean to make him that way... my kids say he is sad because he doesn't have a bone, and they were even making suggestions about how I could make one with punches! You could easily punch a ball for him to play with and that would perk him up a bit . I wanted to make the background different to plain cardstock that I probably normally would have used, so I was rather happy when I came across the Bashful Blue flowers in the Washington Apple DSP pack, the Good Morning Sunshine sun just capped it off!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Close To Cocoa, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Basic Black
Stamp Set: none
Ink: none
Accessories: Full Heart punch, Heart To Heart punch, 1/2" circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, scallop border punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, Washington Apple DSP, Good Morning Sunshine DSP

I {heart} Punches

2010-03-10T10:42:00.004+11:00

A few years back when my kids were in playgroup, one of the craft activities I organised was from DLTK. Since the heart punches came out in the Stampin' Up! catalogue I have been dying to replicate some of these creations substituting punches for a lot of cutting. Here is the first one of these, a made largely from heart punches - ain't it just the cutest?! The tail was even made by punching a scrap with the Full Heart punch twice to make just a sliver, but with a nice curve to it. I have a few more of these punch critters to share with you over the next few days, so don't forget to come back and check them out!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Bordering Blue, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Basic Black
Stamp Set: Think Happy Thoughts
Ink: Bordering Blue
Accessories: Full Heart Punch, Heart to Heart punch, 1/2 circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Pink Pirouette taffeta ribbon, Flower designer brads

Elite Sketch Challenge #29 Redux

2010-03-09T10:33:00.003+11:00

Back in January I enjoyed playing with Sketch Challenge 29 from the Elite Challenge blog that I wanted to use it again. It worked so easily with this set I'm surprised I didn't use it the first time! I took the opportunity to indulge in a lot of purple with this card too, which is always fun

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Lavender Lace, So Saffron, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Butterfly Prints
Inks: Laender Lace, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Tea Part DSP, Butterfly punch, So Saffron striped grosgrain, 3/16" corner rounder, mini glue dots.

Better Late Then Never

2010-03-08T10:06:00.003+11:00

Some weeks ago, the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge was Australia. I made my card, on Australia Day to boot, photographed it but just never got around to uploading it... so here it is! I hadn't seen this movie before, so I was happy to see it come up. I knew it had got a bit of a bagging but that doesn't always match our own personal views does it? I actually found it very funny, though that suddenly stopped about half way though (understandably, but then it would have been nice for it to be revived more at the end), it did seem a bit long but that may just have been because it seemed like the film was wrapping up and then there is another half hour to come! I also had no idea that David Wenham was in it so that was a nice surprise (even if he doesn't play the nicest of characters). Anyway, while I naturally had the temptation to base my card on a costume, the required element was to use the colour "Kraft" which lead me to do a more masculine card. I did sneak some ribbon on, but kept it all pretty simple. I did have a point behind picking that particular quote but it was so long ago I have forgotten it now!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue, Kraft, So Saffron, Whisper White
Stamp sets: Wanted, Best Yet
Inks: Really Rust, VersaMark
Accessories: Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain, Button Latte designer buttons, linen thread, 3/16" corner rounder, 1 1/4 circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch
Show watched while creating: Australia, cricket

Colour Challenged Bird

2010-03-05T09:42:00.003+11:00

This morning I have uploaded another card over at the Elite Challenges blog, this time for the "Barely a Breeze" colour challenge. In quite a contrast to yesterdays card that was full of colour, todays card has a lot of white space. In the above snippet you can see the little bird that I paper pieced, by first stamping it on patterned paper, trimming, then sticking it over the same image stamped on white. To see the full card and product details, check it out at the Elite Challenges blog.

Sketch With No Stamping

2010-03-04T12:03:00.003+11:00

For this months sketch challenge over at the Elite Challenges blog I decided to do something I don't do very often: I made a card with no stamping on it! Above you can see a snippet of my card. The feature piece was made by shaping scallop square punches into cones. Something to note about the centre of the flower that these cones made is the rhinestone brad. I removed the rhinestone from the brad so it would sit right in the depression in the middle of the button. Normally I don't bother taking the brad part off, but on this occasion I realised the prongs were going to be in the way and while it was a bit of fuss it ultimately worked out better than the alternative!

Pop over to the Elite Challenges blog to see the full card and all the product details.

Wonderful Challenge

2010-03-02T10:25:00.002+11:00

Thursday night was the Inklings February Cyberstamp, hosted by Kari Hughes. Challenge 1 was a colour challenge, to use Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip and Kiwi Kiss - you could also include a neutral (White or Vanilla). Well, I guess I cheated a little as I used both Whisper White and Very Vanilla but never mind! Went with a style I haven't done a lot of lately and I like how this turned out.

All products by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Stamp Set: Occasional Greetings
Ink: Whisper White
Accessories: Dots & Designs Rub-Ons, Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla satin ribbon, Blooms II die-cuts, Antique Brass Build-a-brad, Urban Oasis DSP, Flower Fusion II

Cinema Saturday #67

2010-02-26T11:32:00.003+11:00

Life has been so busy lately! There is just not enough hours in the day, particuarly when you are trying to get over a cold. After talking all weekend at the CraftExpo my kids have taken to calling me Croaky Carol! At least I can speak at a normal volume now.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff! This weeks Cinema Saturday challenge movie was Tristian + Isolde, an old favourite of mine. As usual, I shose to base my card on a costume. Sweet Stems was a perfect match for patterned sections on the dress, and I used some textured cardstock to give the look of the rough weave of most of the fabrics in the film. I had already been thinking of making it a gate-fold card before I double checked what the required element was, so that was no problem this week. I put the sentiment on the inside, hidden from the outside and close to the heart
All products by Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Night of Navy, Baja Breeze, textured Not Quite Navy, Taken With Teal, Very Vanilla
Stamp Sets: Sweet Stems, Whimsical Words
Inks: Not Quite Navy, So Saffron (for sponging)
Accessories: Square Ice Rhinestone brads, Earth Elements brads, Curly Label punch
Show watched while creating: Tristian + Isolde

Taken With Butterflies & CraftExpo

2010-02-16T10:32:00.004+11:00

Yes I know, it's been another long break between posts. After days of thinking "I'll update my blog later" and it never happening, I've taken time out from preparing for CraftExpo to finally share something. This is a snippet of the card I have made for this months Elite Challenges colour challenge "Point Taken". While these colours just scream "peacock" to me, I thought they'd work well with butterflies. And I'm just a little obsessed with butterflies at the moment! Hope over to the Elite Challenge blog to read all the details.

What was that I said about CraftExpo? Fellow demonstrators and myself will be there with displays, demonstrations, a Make & Take and daily lucky door prizes. Drop by to check it out!

Where & When: Friday February 19th to Sunday February 21st at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre (a short walk from Broadmeadow train station).
Open: 10am - 4:30pm daily.
Tickets: Entry is $14 for adults, $12 for Seniors/Pensioners, $7 for Children (5-16yrs), Children under 5 are free. A family ticket (2 adults and 2 children) is available for $34.

Find us at stand F13

Cinema Saturday #62

2010-01-19T09:47:00.003+11:00

This weeks Cinema Saturday movie is Night At The Mueseum. I really like this movie, and there were so many directions we could have gone in with inspiration. Brooke & Sankari made the required element "something minature", which did throw me a bit but it was a great idea, it tied in so well with the movie. I found I kept thinking about how it was the mueseum of natural history, so I went the nature tangent (I would have gone Egyptian if I'd had Egyptian stamps!). I guess my "minature" element is open to interpretation, but I decided to make a smaller than standard card, and to play with proportions... so I put a little birdie on a big flower

The card base is a scallop note card (which I received in a Secret Santa gift, thanks Santa!), and I added a strip of textured Chocolate Chip cardstock behind the scallops so the card could stand up on it's end. Colours were somewhat inspired by the outfit that Rebecca wears while showing a tour group around the muesem. I don't know that you'll necessarily look at this card and think "Night at the Mueseum!" (though there is that line about "a little birdie told me..."), but I think it turned out rather cute.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: textured Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Inspired by Nature, Cheep Talk, Jumbo Outline Alphabet, Best Yet
Inks: Kiwi Kiss, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Scallop Notes II, Kiwi Kiss marker, Pumpkin Pie marker, Chocolate Chip marker, 1 1/4" circle punch, Button Latte, Earth Elements brads, dimensionals
Show watched while creating: Night At The Mueseum

Cinema Saturday #61

2010-01-13T08:25:00.003+11:00

This week's Cinema Saturday is another favourite of mine, A Knight's Tale. I've been a Heath Ledger fan since the good ol' Roar days, and while I initially had issues with the historical inaccuracy of the costumes when this movie came out, I had no such issue with the modern music - go figure! Anyway, I had planned on putting a modern spin on this card, but my "Rock on" rub-on stuffed up, so I had to go with plan B (resulting in another sneak peek at a SAB set). Colours are inspired by Williams banquet outfit (I don't think those wooden toggles ended up on it!), and I have included the required element of stars in the form of a few brads.

I had plans for a scrap page featuring a pic of my girls at the medieval fair, but my darn sinuses are playing up so I'm not sure I'll get to it in time.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss, Very Vanilla
Stamp Sets: Baroque, Framed With Love, Vintage Labels
Ink: VersaMark, Chocolate Chip, Pale Plum
Accessories: Very Vanilla 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, Mellow Moss taffeta ribbon, clear embossing powder, Styled Silver hodgepodge

Bashful Thanks

2010-01-12T14:20:00.003+11:00

This month's colour challenge over at thr Elite Challenge Blog is a little different to normal. As you can see above, the colours are Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango and Bashful Blue. My thinking was these were "masculine" colours, great for a boys card... and what do I go and make? A girly card with flowers on it! OK, the colours alone make it anything BUT a prissy girly card, still I could have persisted and made something for a guy! I may yet do it, I had one or two other ideas but this one developed faster. To check out the full card and all it's details head over to the Elite Challenges blog.

Everything is Sketchy

2010-01-09T20:55:00.002+11:00

Above is a snippet of the card I just uploaded to the Elite Challenges Blog, for this months sketch challenge. For this card I used markers to colour my image in. As you can see, I didn't worry about being really neat for this as you can get away with it thanks to the style of image in the For Everything set. Pop over to the Elite Challenges blog for all the details.

And we're back!

2010-01-08T14:50:00.003+11:00

From another impromtu break in blogging! I just can't consistently get back into the swing of it, though it helps if you have something to share! We are also back to Cinema Saturday challenges. This first challenge in 2010 is The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. As many of you may expect, I quite like this movie. We have it on dvd, but I couldn't for the life of me find it to rewatch before making my card... so I just based a card on a costume. On the off-chance that there is someone reading who hasn't read the books or seen the movie, I won't spoil you by mentioning the scene, but I will tell you this card is based on an outfit that Lucy wears. I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out but I thought I would share it with you anyway... you gt a sneaky peak at an up-coming SAB set!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, So Saffron, brushed gold
Stamp sets: Friends 24-7, Framed With Love, Vintage Labels
Ink: VersaMark, silver, Ruby Red (for brayering)
Accessories: clear embossing powder, brayer, Pretties Kit, Valet Ribbon Originals, Styled Silver HodgePodge, scallop circle punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, dimensionals
Music listed to while creating: The Unfinished Spelling Errors of Bolkien (no official site, so that will do - at least you can read the lyrics and get a taste )

Merry Holly

2009-12-17T07:28:00.001+11:00

The last challenge for the Inklings cyberstamp was a little frustrating. I had planned what I would do a few days before hand, but when it came to making my sample nothing worked... three ideas, many hours and a few wasted efforts later I resorted to "old faithful" - markers direct to rubber. I've been woefully slack in making Christmas cards this year, so I wanted this card to be a nice simple and relatively quick design. I used my Kiwi Kiss marker to colour the leaves of the holly before doing a darker centre stripe with Old Olive. The scallop oval that the sentiment is layered on was in the Spring mini (which has ended) but Stampin' Up! have have announced it, and a few other items from the Spring Mini, are still available to order... woohoo!

All products by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Rose Red
Stamp Sets: Christmas Classics, Many Merry Messages
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss marker, Old Olive marker, Rose Red marker, scallop oval punch, large oval punch, Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla satin ribbon, dimensionals

Circle CASEing

2009-12-16T07:55:00.002+11:00

The second challenge from the Inklings Cyberstamp on Saturday night was to make a card based on one in the Stampin' Up! catalogues that used circles. My sample card (that you can see above) was based on a card from p97 of the main catalogue. I decided to make mine very bright and use the new Kaleidascope paper - I even used Only Orange marker!!!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Summer Sun, Pixie Pink
Stamp sets: Circle Circus, Jumbo Outline Alphabet
Ink: Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Green Galore, Summer Sun
Accessories: white taffeta, Kaleidascope DSP, Fire Circle brads, Ice circle brads, scallop circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch, 1/2" circle punch, Only Orange marker, Pink Passion marker (for colouring ribbon), Playground designer buttons, dimensionals

Colour Challenge Butterflies

2009-12-15T06:23:00.002+11:00

The December Inklings Cyberstamp was held on Saturday night, and this month I was the host. The first challenge I posted was a colour challenge: Lavender Lace, Baja Breeze, Brocade Blue and Certainly Celery. For my sample card I went with the new Butterfly Prints stamp set, teaming it with the grass image from Inspired By Nature. I had intended on putting ribbon behind the sentiment, but felt both Baja ones were too wide so I opted for strips of cardstock instead.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Whisper White, Lavender Lace, Baja Breeze textured
Stamp Sets: Butterfly Prints, Inspired By Nature
Inks: Certainly Celery, Lavender Lace, Brocade Blue
Accessories: wide oval punch, butterfly punch, Patterns Pack II DSP

Love is Like a Butterfly

2009-12-12T12:55:00.002+11:00

Another day, another butterfly card for the Elite Challenges blog! And another card that uses markers over already inked stamps... I'll see if the next card I upload can be a bit different in topic and technique . I've used another Summer Mini set on this card, in conjunction with a matching punch and Circle Scissors. Yes, Circle Scissors. Oh how I have loved playing with this fantastic tool... no longer am I circle challenged! I can now cut circles in any size from 1" up to 6" - I'm loving how easy and versatile it is. Anyway, to see the full card and all the product details, check it out at the Elite Challenges blog. If you like to see the circle scissors in action, just contact me to book a workshop.

Hello Butterfly

2009-12-11T16:39:00.002+11:00

As I mentioned yesterday, I recently attended Stampin' Up! regionals in Sydney. You may not know that part of the deal in attending is receiving a stamp set to use in make & takes on the day, and to take home with us (considering everything else that is involved in regionals, receiving a stamp set just for going along really does seem like a a great perk!). The stamp set we received this year is the one you can see used above, Hello Again (we also received the matching wheel, Retro Remix, along with a wheel handle and cartridge - the deal just gets better and better!). I've employed the same technique as yesterday in parts of this card, using markers over the top of lighter coloured ink, to get the different colours on the butterfly. To see the full card and all it's product details, head over to the Elite Challenge Blog.

Dazzling Sugar Plum

2009-12-10T21:25:00.003+11:00

The above image is a snippet from a card I made as a swap for our recent SU regionals in Sydney. I mentioned to a few team members that it was a sneak peak at an Elite Challenge blog challenge for December, but didn't tell them what challenge it would be for (I'm such a tease, I know!). Well I've now uploaded it over there so all is revealed - it's for the colour challenge "Sugar Plum Fairy" (Plums & Pirouette... what else could it be called???). To get this look I originally inked the stamp with Pink Pirouette ink, used a cotton bud to remove where I wanted Pale Plum then coloured, and used the Perfect Plum straight over the Pink Pirouette ink. The set I have used is brand new in the Summer Mini: Razzle Dazzle. Hop on over to the Elite Challenges blog to check out the rest of the card details.

A Very Simple Christmas

2009-12-09T19:06:00.000+11:00

With Christmas a month away it's about time I shared another Christmas card with you. Above is a snippet of another card I have uploaded at the Elite Challenges blog. There's not a lot of stamping on this card as I couldn't bare covering up any more of that gorgeous Ski Slope paper, which is just fine as t makes for a quick and simple card (the perfect kind when you are feeling crunched for time!).

Owly Friends

2009-11-24T18:59:00.004+11:00

I've uploaded another card over at Elite Challenges, todays card being for the Forest Friends stamp set challenge. My kids have already told me I'm not allowed to sell this set when it retires, they're very attached to the cute animals (although I don't think they have a name for this owl, unlike those in the Owl Together Now set). However, I only used one of the animals in this card, the owl you see in the snippet above. For the full card and product details, head over to the Elite blog to check it out.

Chalked Night and Day

2009-11-23T18:15:00.002+11:00

Another card using chalks for you tonight, this time stamped on a light cardstock. The technique used in this card is "chalk popping" or "poppin' pastels". I've used a few other images from the gorgeous Friends 24-7 set, in conjunction with a frame from the Cute & Curly set (curly label punch, how do I love thee? ).

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Close To Cocoa, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Friends 24-7, Cute & Curly
Inks: VersaMark, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Stampin' Pastels, sponge dauber, Certainly Celery marker, Curly Label punch, Bashful Blue 1" double-stitched grosgrain, dimensionals

Chalked 24-7

2009-11-22T20:02:00.004+11:00

My goodness, I hadn't realised so much time had passed since I had last posted here! I've been busy working on team swaps, swaps for Regionals, getting ready for Christmas and a multitude of other everyday things. I'm back tonight to share with you a snippet of the card I have just uploaded to the Elite Challenges blog. This card uses the 'chalkboard' technique, a great way of creating with a dark background. As always, for the full image and product details, check it out over at Elite Challenges.

Butter-Moth-Flies

2009-11-09T19:00:00.004+11:00

On Friday night Clare hosted this months Inklings Cyberstamp. Her first challenge was a sketch challenge based on a poster for the movie The Shining, the second challenge was a colour challenge of black, white and orange. I was late to the party so I decided to speed things up by combining the challenges (after all, orange can be a bit scary... ). The colours would have been great for a Halloween card, but since that was past I was a little stuck for inspiration until I thought of all the Tiger Moths we have around at the moment. I used the emboss resist technique to create my moths with the Flight of the Butterfly set, so they may be a little confused as to what species they really are but I'm really happy with how they turned out. And yes, I actually used Only Orange!

All products by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Only Orange, Basic Black, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Flight of the Butterfly
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: clear embossing powder, Basic Black marker, Scallop edge punch 1/16" circle punch, Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon, Fashion District rub-ons, mini glue dots
Plus a mystery item from the up-coming Summer mini catalogue

Chocolate Reindeers

2009-11-08T20:41:00.005+11:00

Above is a snippet from the card I just uploaded over at the Elite Challenges blog. When working on this card I decided early on that I wanted the reindeers to be the feature, and to help them stand out even more I would use the Chocolate glitter from the Supernova glitter set. Chocolate reindeers reminds me of Lindt chocolate, we usually include a pack for each of the girls amongst their Christmas stuff. And now that I have got you all thinking about chocolate, I'm off! I'll be back tomorrow with a very different card to the one I have shared tonight

PS my tweak of the double-ball ornament didn't turn out, and now that I have attempted it I have a feeling I may have even tried it last year! Oh well

Double-Ball Ornament

2009-11-07T05:41:00.003+11:00

I'm very excited to let you all know that I have had a tutorial published! Beate asked me to provide a tutorial of the double-ball oraments I shared last year (second image on this post) for Splitcoast Stampers, and today it is up! They are very easy, and only use small pieces of DSP so it can even be made with scraps. Head over to Splitcoast for the full list of supplies as well as photo and videos of the tutorial. I've just thought of a tweak for these too, so I shall give that a go later and share with you too :)

Cardmaking Stamping & Papercraft Vol 15 No 6

2009-11-06T11:42:00.004+11:00

I have four cards in the current issue of Australian Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft, Featuring the Kindred Spirits stamp set. I'm sharing one of the cards below, probably my fave for the little touch of dark outline around the bottom mistletoe image.
It can be tricky colouring such a large image with markers, as the first sections you coloured start to dry out by the time you have finished colouring the whole thing. I like to colour the skinny sections first as these hold the ink for longer, and then give a quick touch up to the wider areas (just a few dabs, doesn't have to be evenly coloured) just before stamping.

The issue will be in shops for another week or so, check it out to see the other cards and their product details.

(I've no idea what is happening with the CS&P page, two weeks ago it wasn't working at all and now it is showing an issue three years old!)

Merry Tree Trimmings

2009-11-05T14:10:00.000+11:00

I haven't managed to get many of the Elite Challenges challenges completed in recent times, but here is one I finished before I went away (I just didn't get the photos editted until now). The snippet you see above is actually looking through a window punched into the front of the card. The bauble in the snippet was embossed using black embossing powder before I coloured inside it using a Pink Passion marker and my Kiwi Kiss marker. The other baubles on the card were embossed with clear powder before being coloured in with a Basic Black marker. For the full card and product details see it over at the Elite Challenges blog.

Dad's Birthday Card

2009-11-04T20:34:00.004+11:00

Sorry I went all quiet again! I've been away for a week to catch up with my Dad for his 70th - above you can see the card I made him - and it's proved harder than I thought to get back into the swing of things after everything else that has been going on.

I kept Dad's card pretty plain and straight forward as he's a no-fuss kind of guy. Both papers I used come from the Windsor pack, I really like the colours in this but it was still the first time I had used it. The chipboard numbers were covered in the diagonal stripe paper (which I didn't get on exactly evenly despite my best efforts, but it's only noticeable if you really look... which you are all doing now!) attached with Tombow Mono Multi glue, the edges sanded and the I ran the side of my Chocolate Chip marker around the edges to give them definition.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Old Olive, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Stamp Set: none
Ink: none
Accessories: Windsor DSP, 5/16" brads, On Board Simon Lower (retired), Chocolate Chip marker

Shaelea's Birthday Card

2009-10-20T07:29:00.002+11:00

Yesterday was Shaelea's birthday, so for the last few days I have been working on her card, another castle one - this one being based on the castle in the latest Barbie movie (though I made this pinker for Shaelea). I took quite a few liberties with the back row, there was just so many darn turrets and little things I simplified that a lot but it's still quite effective.
Construction was much the same as Hogwarts, using textured cardstock and making one side of the concertina fold longer than the other to push the castle more upright. One thing I did differently for this one compared to the previous two (the other being the Beauty and the Beast castle) was to use the double rectangle punch for the battlements and to punch windows into the castle walls and cover them from behind... trying to attach all those fiddly little windows so they are straight is tricky! I did the Beauty and the Beast roses along the outside castle wall because I couldn't think of an easy way to do the fountains.
Here is the card folded up so you can see how the concertina folds stager. This one also fits in a 15cm square envelope.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: textured Pink Pirouette, textured Regal Rose, Basic Gray, Certainly Celery, Creamy Caramel
Stamps: none
Inks: Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery
Accessories: 1" circle punch, Word Window punch, horizontal slot punch, double rectangle punch, cutter kit, daubers, Certainly Celery marker, Regal Rose marker.

Thinking of Paris

2009-09-25T08:02:00.003+10:00

Here's a detail shot of a card I've uploaded to the Elite Challenges blog for this month's sketch challenge. This card uses a few products from the Spring mini, however what stands out for me in this section is how I have used the Rock n Roll technique by stamping off and then re-inking the edges of the decorative motif with the same ink. To see the full card and the list of products used, head on over to the Elite Challenges blog.

Papercraft Essentials 4

2009-09-24T09:39:00.003+10:00

The fourth issue of Australian Papercraft Essentials has hit the newstands, and in this issue I have 5 cards for a "1 stamp, 5 ways" article. I chose the set Snow Swirled for my cards and focused on the tree image as my 1 stamp. Above you can see one of them, to check the rest out pick up your copy today.

On the home front the house is mostly cleaned of it's soot, though after yesterdays dust storm I'm sure a lot of things have a bit of fine red dust on them now! On the whole, things are greatly improved although the girls are still at the in-laws. My desk has been cleaned but I now have the huge task of putting everything back in it's place. I did get a lot done last night but I still have random piles of stuff all over the place. Better get cracking on something today though, it is MIL's birthday!

Break In Transmission

2009-09-18T08:10:00.003+10:00

This is the current state of my craft desk:
thanks to this:
I had been giving my desk a tidy over Monday and Tuesday and had planned on creating a few more pieces for CS49 (I even unearthed another half-made banner bookmark). I had a pile of scraps to file away, but I never quite got there as the dishwasher caught fire Tuesday night. Even though the dishwasher is at the other end of the house, the soot is everwhere. Cleaners are coming in about an hour but I've no idea how long it is going to take to clean everything up, let alone put it all back etc etc. So unfortunately, no stamping for me for a while!

Cinema Saturday #41 or Tiarna's Birthday Card

2009-09-14T21:25:00.004+10:00

It's astounding, time is fleeting... sorry, wrong movie! But you are caught in a bit of a time warp here! Cinema Saturday #41 was Chamber of Secrets, and ever since I did the Beauty & The Beast castle card I was wanting to do a more realistic castle version, which all tied in nicely with Tiarna's birthday coming up... I got started but took quite a break from this card and only just finished it 11pm Saturday night, with Tiarna's 10th birthday being on Sunday. Here is the card I made for her:Even though Tiarna has just recently read the LOTR books (and a LOTR themed card would have tied in nicely with this weeks Cinema Saturday movie), she has been a Harry Potter fan since she was 18 months old. There was no way I could make a card that included all of the Hogwarts castle, so I went through images I have on my harddrive and picked a section (the section to the right of this image) that would be relatively easy to replicate (though I of course took some liberties). I made two main changes to the construction of this card from the Beauty & The Beast one, the most obvious being to use textured cardstock instead of plain. This gave it more of the rough brick look, it is also thinner so less bulky when you have a lot of layers and the card is collapsed (this one still fits into a large square envelope, but only just!). I also used textured cardstock for the roofing, however it is turned inside out so the less textured side is showing and you get a contrast in the textures. The other change I made was a structural one: it was hard to get the castle to stand upright on it's own, the nature of the basic concertina fold meant it was always tilted backwards. For Hogwarts I lengthened the sides that weren't going to have cardstock attached to them, so those that did have cardstock attached would stand pretty much vertical.

Tiarna loved her card, but I have just remembered that I had stamped and coloured an owl for Hedwig that I had intended to use on this and forgot to put it on... so shall have to do that and see how long it takes her to notice ;)

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Going Gray, Going Gray textured, Bordering Blue textured, Basic Gray
Stamps: none!
Inks: Going Gray, Old Olive, Garden Green
Accessories: Word Window punch, Horizontal Slot punch, 1/2" circle punch, 1" circle punch, cutter kit, dauber, scoring blade on paper trimmer
Show watched while creating: Aus v Eng limited overs cricket

...and because I am not quite ready to have a post without Karl Urban...

Cinema Saturday 49

2009-09-13T00:33:00.000+10:00

I'm sure you can imagine that I was exstatic to be asked to guest design for Cinema Saturday's Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers challenge. Those of you who have seen the Extended Edition dvd sets will have noticed that each one has a different style - FOTR is Elvish, TT is Rohirric (if that isn't a word it is now!) and ROTK... well maybe I will save that for when the girls nominate that as the weeks challenge! Anyway, it seemed that the thing to do would be to make something for The Two Towers that had a Rohan theme. One thing that really stood out for me was all the banners that are displayed in Meduseld, so I selected one and based my piece on that. I also have a bookmark of one of these banners, so I decided to make one of my own.
Thank you to my lovely assistant Karl Urban for helping me to present my bookmark to you.

Here's a closer shot of it. I used the emboss resist technique for most of this card as I wanted details in yellow on a green background. The horse was embossed with white, and I then went over it with my VersaMarker to fill the gaps and create a border and then embossed in clear. The base has a fold along the top so it will fold over your page.

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: More Mustard, Summer Sun, So Saffron
Stamp Sets: Carte Postale, Wanted, One Of A Kind
Inks: VersaMark, Ruby Red, Garden Green (I think... it's been a while)
Accessories: white embossing powder, clear embossing powder, 1 3/8" circle punch (again I think, it's been a while), brayer

PS For the curious... I knew there would eventually be a CSCC for The Two Towers, and when working on cards for Fellowship I had ideas sparking for this. I then found out that Karl Urban would be attending the SupaNova convention in Sydney, so I made the bookmark and took it along and got him to pose with it. Squee!

Lovely As Tree Trimmings

2009-08-22T13:23:00.000+10:00

Two Christmas cards in two days and it's only August! It's a bit crazy, but that's all that I have photographed at the moment sorry! This card uses another set from the Spring mini, Tree Trimmings, which features three ornaments and the string/tie image for hanging. With Peaceful Wishes retiring in April, I had to think or another set with greenery I could hang my ornament from for this card. It suddenly hit me that by stamping "the" Lovely As A Tree tree sideways, I could make a branch without a branch stamp! I say "the" Lovely As A Tree tree as this tree gets used a lot on Christmas cards and is quite possibly the most used stamp from that set. I embossed my ornament 'string' in gold, and to compliment this I used gold brads on the sentiment. I also edged the Chocolate layer under the sentiment with my VersaMarker and embossed that with gold too.

It hasn't come up well in the photograph, but the tips of the leaves are a lighter colour than the rest of the branch. After inking the image with Old Olive, and going over the wood part with the Chocolate marker, I stamped off the edges onto scrap paper, then touched them up with the Celery marker.

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Almost Amethyst, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Tree Trimmings, Lovely As A Tree, Punches Three
Inks: Lovely Lilac, VersaMark, Old Olive
Accessories: Chocolate Chip marker, Certainly Celery marker, Lovely Lilac marker, Designer Label punch, gold embossing powder, gold brads, 5/8" Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, VersaMarker (not available through SU!)

Ye Olde Christmas Cheer

2009-08-21T15:54:00.000+10:00

I instantly fell in love with this image when I saw it in the Spring Mini. The reindeer is just gorgeous and I have a penchant for traditional styled Santa's. While I also have a penchant for using non-traditional colours at Christmas, I went with traditional red here. The Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon is so beautiful I just had to use it. To add just a little red to my images I used a red pencil, also using white for Santa's beard and eyebrows and eye highlights on both Santa and the reindeer (and a wee bit more on the reindeer's antlers and ears to help balance things). The red and white have also been used on the holly branches that have been stamped inside the card. The holly is visible even when the card is completely closed as the edge of the card front has been trimmed and punched with the eyelet border punch.

I designed this card for an Inklings Card In A Box swap at a recent team meeting, then also used it in an Inklings swap (because I was pressed for time and I could get away with it - people weren't going to double up!). It's quite simple though the colour can take a little while... there's a good chance I'll be making more of these for my own Christmas cards.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Kraft
Stamp Set: Good Cheer
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Eyelet Border punch, Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon, watercolour pencils

Cinema Saturday #45

2009-08-20T17:01:00.004+10:00

I probably should have put a brightness warning on this one shouldn't I? This week's Cinema Saturday movie is Sixteen Candles, and our challenge requirement was 80's colours... so out came the fluro Bold Brights! I did have Summer Sun and Tangerine Tango for the yellow and orange but they just didn't look bright enough, so I used Yoyo Yellow and Only Orange instead - yes, I used those two colours of my own free will! You can pick yourself up off the floor now I'm not much of an orange or yellow fan as it is, but when it comes to these two colours I use them even less than normal. So much so that I am still working on the original sheets (12) from the bulk packs of Bold Brights I bought in 2006 (when Stampin' Up! started in Australia in 2006 only select colours were available in their own packs of cardstock, so the only way to get many of the colours was in a bulk pack). As I mentioned before, I am currently desk lighting challenged, and as that is where I normally take the photos of my creations I had to come up with something else for this one. I had to dash outside and snap my photo in the late afternoon light to get this today, but the colours and brightness are off in the photo so I will have to get another one some other time. Oh, and the card layout comes from Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge 93.

The set I've used here is a brand new one for me called Party Hearty. During June and July Stampin' Up! ran an incentive for their demonstrators where we could earn a free set for placing $600 in orders in both months. I chose Party Hearty because it even though it's not my normal style, it is quite versatile.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pink Passion, Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange, Green Galore, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Party Hearty
Inks: none
Accessories: markers in Pink Passion, Green Galore, Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange; scallop circle punch, dimensionals

Embossed Circus

2009-08-20T11:04:00.003+10:00

Sorry I've been AWOL again. I haven't been stamping much (not having a desk light is putting a huge crimp on my mojo), and completely forgot that I had some stuff already photographed, some even editted!

The above snippet is from a card I've just uploaded over at Elite Challenges, for last months Circle Circus stamp set challenge. While the set hasn't been used much on the card, it is the feature. The colours (and bling!) were inspired by Tina's first Traveler's Inspiration Challenge. This card is also one that we'll be making at my embossing class on Tuesday night (2 spots left if you're around Newcastle and interested!).

Parisian Dreams

2009-08-12T16:13:00.000+10:00

Here's another card made of the recent Inklings team weekend, utilising another set from the stamp library. I really like the Dreams du Jour set but other things always seem to bump it down the wishlist. When I saw it on the stamp librbary table I snapped it up thinking "this will go nicely with the Parisian Breeze paper"... It was only later, as I was assembling the card, that I realised how well they work together - the main flower on the stamped images is an exact match for flowers in the paper! This one is a very simple card because I just couldn't bear to cover the paper up, it's a gorgeous colour combination, pattern and texture as the Parisian Breeze DSP is a heavier weight than Stampin' Up!s standard DSP.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Kraft
Stamp Set: Dreams du Jour
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Parisian Breeze Specialty DSP, Chalet Ribbon Originals, Eyelet Border punch, scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, dimensionals, In Color "marker", white gel pen

Just Awesome

2009-08-11T20:03:00.000+10:00

One of the fabulous things about the team weekend is the stamp library. The library is a collection of sets that everyone has brought in for others to use, which is a great way to have access to a set that you're not quite sure about, or are dying to get but the budget hasn't stretched that far yet. I'm not much of a beachy person, so the Just Beachy set didn't appeal to me when I saw it in the Mini catalogue. However, I've seen many wonderful things done with it. For this card I was combining a colour and a sketch challenge (based on a card on p55 of the main catty), but I was determined not to do an autumnal card and I was finding it really hard to figure out what to do... so I went over to the stamp library and cruised all the sets there. This one suddenly jumped out at me, and it all fell into place pretty quickly after that. The card and sun were stamped on Whisper White with Chocolate Chip ink and I let that be for a while - to make sure the ink was really dry - before colouring with markers. The sentiment comes from the new rub-on pack Fashion District.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Just Beachy, Sanded
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: double-stitched Chocolate Chip ribbon, Rich Regals brads, 5/16" neutral brads, Haiku DSP, Fashion District rub-ons

...And Then They're Gonna Be Pretty

2009-08-11T10:44:00.004+10:00

Well, I hope you think the new blog look is pretty (or positive variations thereof, such as beautiful, gorgeous, lovely... I'll accept all those!). I'm rather chuffed that it took me less than 24 hours (with some sleep and real life included) to sort the bulk of it out, and that's after changing templates and starting from scratch mid-way through. Still have the header image to sort out, but otherwise I feel done! If you notice anything looking wierd let me know... I haven't tested things in different browsers and resolutions etc yet, so things may not look as nicely arranged and rendered for everyone.

Thanks to Three Column Blogger and Tips For New Bloggers for the refresher course in playing with code (I forgot how fun it was! ).

Things Are Gonna Get Ugly

2009-08-10T11:23:00.002+10:00

I've been in the process of moving my blog to Wordpress for some time (I like a lot of the behind the scenes stuff over there better than blogger)... I was 95% there, still had some technical stuff to do but felt it was time to start work on my header image - only to find the template didn't have that capability and you can't change any of that stuff over there without paying for it (and I am yet to find another Wordpress template that suits all my needs for free). So, I'm going to make some changes here because that way I'll at least get some of what I want and the rest I will have to live with for now. It will take me a while to get it all sorted out, so if you come to my blog and things look a little off, that is why.

Australian Papercraft Essentials Vol 1 Issue 3

2009-08-07T07:47:00.003+10:00

Australian Papercraft Essentials is a relatively new magazine on the scene, a local version of the British magazine, and issue 3 has hit the shops. I have 7 cards in this issue (yes - 7!!!) in the cut out and keep section, all bright, fun general birthday cards. Above is just one of the cards, so simple which is not like me! These cards were a bit of a challenge to create as they aren't my usual style, but I was really happy with what I came up with. To see the rest of the cards, with product details and instructions, check out the nicely purple mag

Over Embellished?

2009-08-06T11:13:00.002+10:00

Here's a snippet of my latest upload to the Elite Challenges Blog. This is another card I made on the team weekend away, using one of the colour challenges (which was an old KW one, shall have to check up which one). There was some suggestion that I had over-embellished this card... I think it went close! Those that saw it on the weekend may also notice it looks a little different now. That's because I was not happy with the sentiment being on a circle, but you see with the Carousel Note being a circle, I felt the sentiment had to be too (you know, like you have to wear brown shoes if you are wearing a brown belt...). But it really wasn't working, so when I got home I ripped it off and re-did it with the new scallop oval punch. Looks much better! I also had to move one of the buttons&brads, so the card is a little ugly on the inside but looks fine from the front

Soft Kisses

2009-08-05T07:53:00.003+10:00

Here's a snippet of another card I made over the weekend, you can see the full card here. This one was for another team sketch challenge, but I combined it with this months Elite Challenges colour challenge "Kiss From a Rose". This one I had basically planned before I left home but didn't make until Saturday... if I hadn't I'm not sure I would have got as much done! This one uses some products from the new Spring mini - the Soft Summer stamp set and lovely corduroy buttons! The sketch used for this card was based on a card from p48 of the 09/10 Idea Book & Catalogue.

Cheer In a Box

2009-08-04T09:47:00.002+10:00

Here's a snippet of the card I designed and prepared for the Card In A Box swap at the Inklings team weekend. You can see the full card and product details over at the Elite Challenges Blog. I was a little bit sneaky and had based my card on this months sketch challenge (which is not sneaky, is being prepared...), and then Jayne asked me if I had some sketches we could use for challenges on the weekend... I figured we may as make one this sketch so I already had my card for one of the weekend challenges done mwahahahaha! LOL...

Spring Mini is Here!

2009-08-03T07:19:00.002+10:00

Morning everyone! I'm back from the Inklings team weekend and I have stuff to show you that I made while I was away, but since I didn't get a chance to schedule it before I went away I'd like to share with you the news that the Stampin' Up! Spring Mini catalogue is now live!

If you haven't already received one in the mail you can check it out online at the Stampin' Up! website, or you can contact me and I can send one out to you.

Winter Kraft

2009-07-30T13:34:00.003+10:00

Apologises again for not posting. I had planned to have my blog moved (over to Wordpress) and kept holding off a new post until I had done that, but there are still some things that need working on there. So rather than delay any further, here's something for you to look at.

This is a snippet of a card I just uploaded to the Elite Challenges blog. I made this card at the start of the month, when it was rather chilly, so the image seemed fitting. We've had good weather for a few weeks now so this card seems a little out of place but I hope you still enjoy it!

past & future appologies

2009-06-30T12:34:00.002+10:00

Sorry I have gone quiet again, I have been caught up with a few things. And today "the" cold has hit me so I may not do a proper post for a while. I am going to concentrate on getting my newsletter out, although it won't be happening first thing tomorrow as planned as I still have a few things to fix up. Hope you're all keeping well and finding some time to be creative.

KW Colour Inspiration #55

2009-06-21T19:19:00.002+10:00

Kristina's latest challenge uses a very interesting color combination, but one I really enjoyed playing with. They aren't colours I would have thought to put together but I felt they worked really well together. The patterns from the skirt were more of the paisley style, but rather than pulling out my much loved Paisley background again for that sort of thing I decided to go with the damask-style image from the Friends 24-7 set. My basic idea was to use markers to ink it up, but it was really only once I got playing that I decided on doing a fully patterned panel. It was relatively time consuming to ink it up so many times, but I think it was well worth it. I had wanted to have some vanilla taffeta off the left edge of the main panel, but the way I wanted to do it would have required sewing and I just wasn't in the mood for that much hand sewing! I felt the next best option was the eyelet punch. I've based the layout of the card of the Elite Challenge Blogs sketch for this month.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: textured Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Basic Gray
Stamp Set: Friends 24-7
Inks: Basic Gray (for edges)
Accessories: markers in Really Rust, More Mustard, Basic Gray; sponge dauber; Eyelet Border punch, dimensionals

Cinema Saturday #37

2009-06-21T00:20:00.000+10:00

Thank you to Brooke and Sankari for picking my sweet lollipop card for the “Some Like It Hot” Audrey! That’s exciting in itself, but it’s a bonus when it means you get to be the guest designer the next week. And how fun that it is High School Musical! With two young daughters in the house this has been a favourite around here, although I didn’t think I would like it. I was pleased to find that it was better than most of the Disney tv movies I have seen, so I didn’t mind revisiting it for the challenge. There were a lot of ways I could go with my card, but I felt that I had to have a lot of red and white, and I wanted my card to be a bit of a celebration of the individual.

I went with an age birthday card, using chipboard and punches for some stars and working in the number with a big glittery 7. In talking about it with Tiarna she had mentioned basketballs, so I decided to make orange a feature colour and threw in some blue for contrast. The 7 is from the Sticky Cuts Letters pack - this was the first time I had used them (finally!) and I think it is great, very easy to use. I stuck the 7 to some Whisper White and then trimmed around it before covering it in the orange Supernova glitter. To balance all the orange on the right I wanted to use some of the glitter on the left, so the two small brads have been covered with a mini glue dot and dipped in the glitter, while the large brad (from the Styled Silver hodgepodge) has had a scrap of the Sticky Cuts trimmed to size and stuck on top before dipping in the glitter. The white gel pen dots on the punched stars were inspired by the title on the disc cover, and it also carries over the look of the DSP on the chipboard.

Hope you all have fun with this challenge, I can’t wait to check out your entries!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Bashful Blue
Stamp Set: Curvy Verses
Ink: Real Red; Bashful Blue for sponging
Accessories: Large star punch, star punch, Wide Oval punch, sponge dauber, Bashful Blue marker (used on edge of chipboard and inside large punched star), white gel pen, Supernova glitter, Styled Silver Hodgepodge, Sticky Cuts Letters, Real Red 1/2" Striped grosgrain ribbon, Summer Picnic DSP (retired), On Board Accents (retired), dimensionals
Show watched while creating: High School Musical

Cinema Saturday #36

2009-06-19T13:29:00.002+10:00

This weeks Cinema Saturday movie was Beauty and the Beast, with the required element being a fairytale theme. Initially I was at a loss as to what to do for this movie, we don't have it on disc so I wouldn't be able to watch it again to get inspiration. But then I saw Jaimee's card and it reminded me of something I had been meaning to try for ages. I had bought a kids "things to make and do" book with the intention of giving it as a present, but also thought there were some good ideas for my cardmaking in it. This was one of them... so book recipient, please over-look that it is now slightly second hand!I'm pretty ecstatic about how this came out! I had intended it to fit in a large square envelope, but now that I have finished it I am not sure it will... I haven't tested it out yet. It does fold up flat for postage, but I wanted it big so I could get some details in.
Here's a side view so you can see the concertina-style base that all the elements are stuck to. The scoring wasn't as precise as I had intended, so I have had to prop the back up a bit for photos, but I've already figured out a tweak so that the card won't need propping up, and the elements will sit pretty straight (rather than all tilt back).
And now a shot from the right. The Baja Breeze moat was cut using the cutting tool of the Cutter Kit. The edges were sponged with Baja Breeze ink. The drawbridge and entrance are large Tag punches with details drawn on with marker.
Above you can see some of the details on the towers. The shingles are stamped - the only stamping on this card! Windows are, appropriately enough, done with the Word Window punch. I've drawn on random bricks with my Pink Pirouette marker. This is the main thing I would change with the card - I had intended on using textured cardstock but completely forgot to pull it out. I realised my mistake only after everything was cut, so thought this solution would be the best alternative. I think the textured cardstock would give enough of a texture to make do for brick work. Oh well! The notches were cut out with the now retired 1/4" square punch - made the job so easy! The Spiral punch would probably also work really well, especially on something of a smaller scale. I also did some masking and sponging to help add some apparent dimension. The tower in the background has been shaped with a tag punch.

Along the front of the castle wall I drew some vine-type things with little Regal Rose dots for flowers. This is probably verging on more of a Sleeping Beauty card than Beauty and the Beast, but I wanted to work in some sort of rose. You can also see a bit more masking, sponging and hand-drawn bricks down here too.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze, Close To Cocoa, Going Gray, Basic Gray, Regal Rose
Stamp Set: All Scallops
Ink: Regal Rose; Pink Pirouette and Baja Breeze for sponging
Accessories: Certiainly Celery marker, Regal Rose marker, Close To Cocoa marker, Basic Gray marker, Pink Pirouette "marker", sponge dauber, Word Window punch, small tag punch, large tag punch, 1/4" square punch, Cutter Kit

Oasis Pizzazz

2009-06-19T07:28:00.000+10:00

Challenge 3 from the Inklings Cyberstamp was a colour challenge. My orginal plan with this card was to follow Karen's Sweet Sunday sketch #22, so I started with the large circular element, since that is what I struggle most with. I have a tendancy to use the large Pretties Kit flowers for this, so for something different I went for the large Petal Pizzazz flower. I stamped and clear embossed my flower on Baja Breeze cardstock and had intended to put the Planter Box rub-on over top - but found out that the rub-on is bigger than the stamp! So I jsut put the rub-on on Baja Breeze cardstock and cut that flower out again! I was keen to do another button/brad (hmm... if only I had thought of that for the Benjamin Button Cinema Saturday challenge!) combination and thought that would work well for the flower centre, however it needed something else... A quick search found that this Boho Blossoms punchie was perfectly sized to go under the button, so I put that all together and had my flower done.

Fiona had mentioned the Urban Oasis paper when setting the colour challenge so I pulled that out and decided straight away I wanted to use the stripey Kraft coloured paper. I love Kraft, and I'm loving that we now have a few things that coordinate with it so I try to use them at every opportunity. I went through a few different arrangements with what colour to have where, but once I settled on the dark paper on the right it all fell into place. Basic Gray isn't listed as a colour in the Urban Oasis paper, but this particular sheet is like Basic Gray with Basic Black spots so it worked in well. The Short & Sweet font is a nice match for the loopiness of this Planter Box rub-on.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Stamps: Short & Sweet
Ink: Basic Gray
Accessories: Planter Box Rub-Ons, Urban Oasis DSP, Button Bouquet buttons, Ice Circle Rhinestone brads, Boho Blossoms punch, Kraft taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

Party Purse

2009-06-18T09:41:00.003+10:00

I tell you, this purse is just the cutest thing! Our second challenge at the Inklings Cyberstamp was to make one of these purses, using a template from the demo side of the Stampin' Up! website. Being late with the challenges as it was I went the simple route and printed the template on DSP so I didn't need to spend a lot more time decorating it. The paper I chose was one of the Almost Amethyst sheets from the Tea Party pack. I knew I wanted to use my favourite colour combination again (Lavender Lace, Almost Amethyst and Baja Breeze), but decided that the other two colours would be accents. Initially I wasn't going to have a second layer on the flap, but I massacred the curved slit for the closure and wanted to cover it up... I also thought it needed to be a bit sturdier with the button and brad on there too. For this second flap I just traced it out on Almost Amethyst cardstock and cut it out, stamped it and stuck it on. To get the rhinestone brad on the flower I simply pushed the prongs through one of the holes in the button. Why I put them both through the one hole I can't recall right now... but I then decided that the prongs would interfere with the purse closure if I put them through the flap, so I trimmed one with wire cutters (otherwise it would have been visible out the side or the button) and simply attached it with a mini glue dot.

The other special feature of the purse is the handle. It is Whisper White taffeta ribbon that I died with my Lavender Lace marker. I have had a little trouble with the colour running a little bit from the ribbon onto the finished card even though it seemed dry, so to play it extremely safe this ribbon has been sitting out for a couple of months to dry - to make absolutely sure!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Almost Amethyst
Stamp Set: Embrace Life
Inks: Whisper White
Accessories: Tea Party DSP, Button Bouquet buttons, Ice Circle Rhinestone brads, Flower Fusion II, Trio Flower punch, Planter Box Rub-Ons, Whisper White taffeta ribbon, Lavender Lace marker, mini glue dots

Circle Circus and Colour Indecision

2009-06-17T10:30:00.003+10:00

On Sunday night Fiona hosted the Inklings Cyberstamp for June. The first challenge she posed to us was a sketch challenge. I decided pretty quickly what I wanted to do, but the doing it took much longer... I jsut couldn't decided which way the colours would look best for the stamping... instead of just getting on and trying them out I wasted a lot of time agonising over it and didn't get my card done on the night! I then decided that I'd just go ahead and make two copies of the card so I could use both colour ways. Now that they're both done, I do think my initial feelings were correct, that it would look better with the Pacific Point on the outside but the other is still fine!
All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Very Vanilla, textured Baja Breeze, Pacific Point
Stamp Set: Circle Circus
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point
Accessories: Filgree brads, Valet Ribbon Originals, Scallop Edge punch, Good Morning Sunshine DSP

KW Colour Inspiration #54

2009-06-12T16:19:00.002+10:00

Kristina's latest colour challenge had my eyes bugging out of my head as soon as I saw it - they're an awesome combination! While I was tempted to make another boys card, I went with something non-descript, using another set that hasn't seen enough ink since I got it. I went back to some retired colours and accessories for this one too: Soft Sky for the blue because it worked much better than Bashful Blue (too blue) or Baja Breeze (too dark); and all ribbons are actually retired ones! All stamping is clear embossed, and I had intended to get the bleach out again and remove colour in a few areas, but in the end I let things be. The layout is based on AmyR's latest sketch, and below I have included a side-on shot so you can see how I built up the main motif to give it dimension without too much bulk.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Soft Sky, Green Galore, Whisper White, Taken With Teal, Pumpkin Pie
Stamp Set: Circle Circus
Ink: VersaMark, Green Galore
Accessories: scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, 1/2" circle punch, Bold Brights brads, Flirty Ribbon Originals, District Ribbon Originals, Apple Green 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, clear embossing powder, dimensionals

Bird of Friendship

2009-06-11T13:41:00.000+10:00

Freinds 24-7 was one of those sets I fell in love with as soon as I saw it, and got in my first order from teh new catalogue, but I haven't taken time out to play with it yet. I've seen some very lovely things done with it, but I decided to be a bit different and use some strong colours with it. The bird was stamped and clear embossed once on Perfect Plum and once on Kiwi Kiss. I used some Exit Mould in an aquapainter to bleach out the chest of the bird on the Plum one, and the birds legs on the Kiwi Kiss one. I only did the Kiwi one once, as I wanted to retain a bit of colour, but the Plum one I bleached 3 or 4 times to remove practically all the colour. I very nearly left it as it was after the first bleaching though, because it was a very similar colour to Rose Red, but I decided to go ahead with my original idea. Once the cardstock was dry I cut out the Plum bird and then flooded the bleached area with water before dipping the aquapainter into ink on the lid of my inkpad and then into the flooded area. I did this a couple of times, concentrating the colour on the birds tummy. While that was drying I stamped the sentiment and lovely damask style image for a background (anyone spot an error?), then put the card all together. I based the cards layout on Jen's latest sketch.

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Rose Red, Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Friends 24-7
Ink: VersaMark, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: clear embossing powder, aquapainter, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Kiwi Kiss striped grosgrain, dimensionals, Exit Mould (non-SU, lol...)

Cinema Saturday #35

2009-06-10T09:54:00.002+10:00

This week's Cinema Saturday movie is Some Like It Hot. Lollipops were a common reference in the movie, so the basic idea for this card came pretty quickly. The stick for my lollipop was a real-life lollipop stick... I was going to use an empty pen bit but felt it would be too thick, so Shaelea had to have this lollipop for the sake of Mummy's art. Card layout is based on Taylor's latest sketch.

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette
Stamp Set: Simply Said
Inks: VersaMark, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: sponge dauber, clear embossing powder, Pretty In Pink taffeta ribbon, Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon, Sweet Always DSP, dimensionals, lollipop stick (non-SU!...)
Show watched while creating: Some Like It Hot