Birthday Owl

I finally got around to using the little owl I made the other day, turning him into a cute birthday greeting. I used the Two Step Bird Punch for the branch, otherwise he would have been floating in mid air. Of course, this means the branch is floating ... now I'm overthinking things LOL. If it was truly realistic, the owl's heart would be on the inside, for a start.

This is a card the guests at a recent workshop made, with personal variations of course.

Supplies used:
Stamp/s: Perfect Punches
Ink: Early EspressoCardstock: Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Peach Parfait, Poppy ParadeOther: Two Step Owl Punch, Two Step Bird Punch, Top Note Die, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder

Simple and Stunning

This card is directly inspired by a swap I received at our Stampin' Up! Convention in Canberra last year. The original was created by Nikki Stalker, and has been sitting at the back of my mind as something I would like to create for all this time.

This is my version, using some updated colours. I love the combination of Rich Razzleberry and Baja Breeze, with a little Daffodil Delight thrown in.

Looking at it now, I see that I could have used Pear Pizzazz instead of Daffodil Delight and kept with the purple/blue/green theme from the other day *g*.

Fun Colour Combination

Did you know that purple, blue and green could look so good together? Well, they do when you use these particular shades, anyway.

Here I have combined two new In Colors, Concord Crush and Pear Pizzazz with an old faithful, Bashful Blue. It's kind of hard to see the Concord Crush properly - it is a dark blue-purple colour, very rich, and one I hope to use a lot over the next two years.

Supplies used:
Stamp/s: Cottage Garden, Trendy Trees
Ink: Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz, Bashful Blue
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz
Other: Crimper, 1-3/4" x 7/8" Oval Punch (formerly known as Large Oval), Word Window Punch

My new favourite colour *happy sigh*

No photograph can do justice to the beauty of this colour. Cherry Cobbler, one of the new core colours, is a deep, rich, velvety red - almost a burgundy - and just blows me away every time I see it. The picture here just doesn't show its true beauty *sigh*.

Supplies used:
Stamp/s: Medallion, Trendy Trees
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Cardstock: Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler
Other: Very Vanilla 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, 1-3/4" x 7/8" Oval Punch (formerly known as Large Oval), Scallop Oval Punch

Beautiful Butterflies

Some more new goodies, and no stamping in sight!

Amongst other things in the 2010-11 Idea Book & Catalogue, we have a range of new Big Shot dies and accessories to play with, some of which are shown here.

The butterflies are cut and embossed using the Beautiful Wings Embosslit die - this nifty little gadget will cut your shape and emboss it at the same time. The die comes with five different sized butterflies - the largest, shown here, is 4.7cm across the widest point of the wings.

Beneath the butterflies, I have used something else new - the Elegant Lines embossing folders.

And if you have a very keen eye, you will see two new colours on this card - Daffodil Delight, one of the new core colours, a lovely sunny yellow as you can see; and Pear Pizzazz, a new In Color, which is similar to Certainly Celery, but a shade or two darker.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo
Other: Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Elegant Lines embossing folder

OMG! Owl Punch!

One of the first things I *had* to have from the new 2010-11 Idea Book & Catalogue was the Two Step Owl Punch (page 146). The punch itself doesn't look like much, but once you do a bit of creative punching and gluing, you get this little guy - how adorable is this?

He's only little, too - a hair under 3.5cm from the top of his head to his butt (not counting ears or feet).

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the owl contains a few new colours - his body is made using the new Early Espresso core colour, a dark, dark brown; the heart is in the new In Color Poppy Parade - a clear bright red, almost a vermillion; and the eyes are another In Color, Peach Parfait, which is kind of like a lighter version of Pumpkin Pie.

Supplies used:Cardstock: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Peach Parfait, Poppy ParadeOther: Two Step Owl Punch

And here's a variation, which isn't an original idea at all - but it's so darned cute and easy I had to make one. The beak is made from the heart included in the punch, with the eyes glued over the top. This one has a bit of an odd look - those little black pupils are super small and kind of tricky to glue on!

Supplies used:Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Peach Parfait
Other: Two Step Owl Punch

Simple Card

Here's something a made a while back, but never quite got around to photographing for the blog. It was super quick and easy to make, I have to say.

The flowers are just punched out of Pretty in Pink and Melon Mambo cardstock and layerd onto the branches of the little stamp from Pocket Silhouettes. I have also used the same stamp a couple of times at the bottom left of the base card and the pink layer to add some interest there.

Images © 1990-2010 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:
Stamp/s: Pocket Silhouettes
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Soft Suede
Cardstock: Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla
Other: Pretty in Pink 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Boho Blossoms Punch, Metallic Brads

More Old Favourites

Recently I posted about rediscovering an old favourite stamp set, Always. I had a ball making new cards with the set, trying out this and that to see what worked. Here's one from that session I didn't get around to posting.

Usually I will use pinks and warm colours with this particular stamp, but I wanted to break away from that - managed pretty well here, I think *g*!

Images © 1990-2010 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:
Stamp/s: Always
Ink: Pacific Point
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Whisper White
Other: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder

Upsy Daisy

Still lovin' this stamp set. See how versatile it is? It can be vibrant and colourful. It can be coloured with markers before stamping (hmmm, I don't seem to have a sample of that - better fix this situation soon *g*). It can be dramatic. Or it can be simple, as shown here.

All I've done is stamped the flowers twice in Versamark, embossed in white and layered onto Night of Navy and Crumb Cake.

Love how it came out!

mages © 1990-2010 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:
Stamp/s: Upsy Daisy
Ink: Versamark
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Night of Navy
Other: White Stampin' Emboss Powder

Returning Favourites

If you've had a chance to flick through your copy of the new Idea Book & Catalogue, or checked it out online, you might see that some of the stamp sets are a little familiar.

This time around, we have a number of sets returning from the previous year's Mini Catalogues, including this one, which I love.

It's called I {heart} Hearts, and consists of ... well, hearts. Ten of them to be exact (three are on the one stamp, and coordinate with the Heart ot Heart punch). You can see some stuff I made with this set earlier this year by clicking this link.

Couldn't help myself, I added a touch of embossing to the lower part of the card - did I mention how much I LOVE my Big Shot?

mages © 1990-2010 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:
Stamp/s: I {Heart} Hearts
Ink: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Whisper White
Other: Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig

Still waiting *sigh*

So I have placed my first order from the NEW Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue, and of course I want it right now, if not sooner. Unfortunately, it has to be picked, shipped and delivered before I can play with my new goodies.

In the meantime, here's a card I made, again using the new catalogue as inspiration - the original is on page 74, if you happen to have yours handy.

These cute little stamps are from Printed Petals - a set we received as part of our convention experience back in May. Stampin' Up! policy doesn't allow us to post samples of stamps on the web unless they're available either as a pre-order or for general sale, so I have had to keep this set under wraps all this time, which has been a little hard this past month, I can tell you!

As I didn't have ribbon to match the Chocolate Chip base (*sniff* now that Chocolate Chip ribbon is retired, *sob*) (can't wait to get hold of the new Early Espresso ribbon, though!) I crimped a piece of matching cardstock to attach instead - I really like the tone-on-tone look.

Supplies used:
Stamp/s: Printed Petals
Ink: So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink
Other: Crimper, 1/2" Circle Punch

It's here! It's here!

At long last, Stampin' Up! is proud to announce the arrival of the new 2010-11 catalogue in all its glory.

You can have a look at the new (and returning) products available on the Stampin' Up! website - just click on the main picture on the site to be taken to the new catalogue page or click here to go directly there.

You can view the catalogue online, or download a PDF of the whole thing directly from the website.

Or, of course, contact me for a hard copy of your own *g* ... remember, it's free if you host a workshop!

For those of you who are "serious" collectors, Stampin' Up! have made available several new "colour kits" to update your current stash of cardstock, ink, pastels, markers and watercolour crayons with the new core colours (Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Early Espresso and Crumb Cake - formerly Kraft) and the new In Colours (Blushing Bride, Concorde Crush, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait and Poppy Parade) - check out the flyer on the new catalogue page.

I have already placed my first order, so hopefully I will have some new stuff to show you over the next week or so.