Birthday Butterflies

Now, before I start, I have to tell you ... this card design is not one of mine. Yes, I made this, but it was following instructions from my incredibly talented "side-line" (ie. we share the same upline) demonstrator, Felicity.  Go on, check out her blog - you won't be sorry!  Just don't forget to come back.

*****

Welcome back.  Isn't Flick's stuff just gorgeous?  *sigh* if only I had half her talent.

So, where were we?  Oh, yes, the butterfly card.  Well, a little while ago, Flick hosted a training night for some of her downline, and while I am not part of that group, I was lucky enough to be invited along.  We all got to make the card shown, with its matching envelope, which were inspired by the cards that *ahem* some of us made at our annual Convention back in late May/early June.  (I am ashamed to admit that my own make & take projects from Convention are still in the bag that I put them in while packing to return home from Canberra).

 There is just so much going on here with new products, I don't know where to start!  Well, the "happy birthday" is a new stamp set designed to co-ordinate with a new Framelits set comprised of a set of three cute little banners (take a look at the stamps on page 134 of the new Annual Catalogue, and the framelits on page 191).

The butterfly punch is also new - and it's soooo nice.  As you would imagine, being a Stampin' Up! product and knowing that co-ordination is a cornerstone of their design, this punch will work with the beautiful Papillon Potpourri (page 115).

And the Island Indigo layer is cut with another of the new Framelits, this time a set known as Floral Frames.  This set of five dies is made to work with the Daydream Medallions stamp set on page 117 (you can see one of the stamps from this set across the Baja Breeze cardstock), but of course you can use it in any way you please.  The largest of the five dies is a whopping 13.3cm across.

Here is a picture of the card with the matching envelope, made from Baja Breeze cardstock and lined with paper from the Twitterpated set.  The envelope was made using the Simply  Scored tool, and the optional Diagonal Plate - now you can make envelopes to match all your cards, and they don't have to be standard A6 size either (one of these days I will make a tutorial on creating an envelope to suit any size card ... it's amazing!).

And finally a closeup of the button detail on the middle butterfly -  the darling little button is one of the Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons (page 176) tied on with a bit of string and glued down onto an Island Indigo circle with a dab of the Tombow Multi glue - a nice touch.

Supplies used: 
Stamp(s): Itty Bitty Banners, Daydream Medallions
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, Whisper White, Twitterpated Designer Series Paper
Other: Elegant Butterfly Punch, Bitty Banners Framelits, Floral Frames Framelits, Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, 1cm Circle Punch, Simply Scored tool, Simply Scored Diagonal Plate

Creating with Creative Elements

You might think that when I'm not posting, I'm not stamping - but that's just not true!  Well, okay, it is sometimes ... but not this time!


I have been hard at work making sample cards with my Creative Elements set as part of a display for the upcoming Picture to Page show (Whitehorse Club, Burwood Highway, East Burwood on October 6-7).  Yes, there will be a Stampin' Up! stand there, and I will be manning (womanning?) the stand with a few fellow demonstrators on the Sunday (so feel free to drop by and say hi, I would love to meet some of my readers).

As proof that I haven't just been sitting around doing nothing, here is a quick pic of some of the cards I've got so far (shhh, I have to admit that one of these is not, in a technical sense, actually finished.  Okay, it's not even finished at all.  I could go so far as to say it's not really even started.  In fact, the two layers you can see aren't even stuck together.  I'll get onto that, promise).

A couple of these are re-creations of cards I've posted before but since given away.  I will post proper pictures of the new cards after the show.

Hope to see some of you on the 7th!


Supplies used: 
Stamp(s): Creative Elements, En Francais
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Rich Razzleberry, Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Basic Gray
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Riding Hood Red, Rich Razzleberry, Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Whisper White
 Other: Stripes Embossing Folder, Decorative Label Punch, Labels Collection Framelits, Simply Scored tool, Simply Scored Diagonal Plate, 1" Square Punch, Postage Stamp Punch

More Circles

When I dragged out my Circle Circus stamp set the other night (see previous post), I must have been on a roll, because this card just sort of popped up out of nowhere demanding to be made.  For a stamp set I have had a lot of trouble with in the past, I am awfully proud of this card!

And how awesome does the combination of Pacific Point and the new Summer Starfruit look?  Summer Starfruit is an odd sort of colour, which here looks green, but next to a green looks yellow.  Weird *shakes head*.

The Summer Starfruit strip of cardstock was originally going to just go across the entire card until I thought I wanted it to look kind of "ribbon-y" - so out with the square punch to cut a nick out of the end (much neater and easier than trying to cut it with scissors - I would have had to trim it here then trim the other side to make it even, then trim the first side again to match and so on until I had nothing left!).

Supplies used: 
Stamp(s): Circle Circus
Ink: Summer Starfruit, Pacific Point
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White
Other: 1-3/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 1" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, 1-1/4" Square Punch, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder

Birthday Circles!

I hate to admit that I struggle with this stamp set ... yes, I know, I'm supposed to be in the business of encouraging you guys to want everything (and buy it from me LOL), but this set, which I received at a convention a few years back, has always been a challenge to me.

So, internet to the rescue!  I am ashamed to say that I completely CASEd this card, right down to the positioning of the stamps and the colours (although the original used Real Red and Bashful Blue, as far as I could tell).  I'm afraid I can't give credit to the original creator - it was a random pin on Pinterest, with no real link back to the original site (and, yes, I tried an image search on Google, still didn't come up with the original).   Original creator, whoever you are, thank you ...

Anyway, my version (which has now gone to a good home - happy birthday, Anne-Marie!).

Supplies used: 
Stamp(s): Circle Circus, Memorable Moments
Ink: Pool Party, Raspberry Ripple, Crumb Cake
Cardstock: Raspberry Ripple, Whisper White
Other: 1-3/4" Circle Punch

Something a little different

Usually I will show pictures of the papercraft-y things I have made, because that's what I do.  Plus I have LOADS of papercraft supplies to play with most of the time.

 

However, today I am sharing something a bit different from my usual output ... made with Stampin' Up! Designer Fabric.

Designed to coordinate with the exclusive colour families, the Designer Fabric can be used for all sorts of projects, like quilting and other home crafts.  They come in packs of three designs, with an extra large fat quarter of 68.6 x 45.7cm in each design.

The other day, I came across this tutorial for making a little iPhone pouch, and pinned it (oh, how I love Pinterest) for future reference.  Then I realised I have pinned a LOT of stuff lately in the hope that it will make me more likely to craft.  Turns out that's not the case.  There was no reason not to start this project, so that's what I did yesterday.

I'm not as good at corners as the original pattern designer, but I'm still pretty happy with the results.  I've used the Summer Smooches fabric pack here - love the bright happy colours!  And it's easy to find the depths of my handbag!

And here's my trusty iPod Touch peeking out - fits so snugly I should be able to keep the screen a little safer in future.  The poor thing gets a lot of use, and could do with a little TLC :-)

Supplies used: Other: Summer Smooches Designer Fabric
 

It's here! It's here! And there's more!

You can now see the gorgeous new 2012-13 Annual Catalogue online!  And it's beautiful!

Stampin' Up! have produced a fresh new look to this year's catalogue, and it's jam packed with fresh new products to match.  It's been hard keeping a lid on this thing - ever since I got hold of my own copy early in August I have been dying to share with you all!

Here's a picture of the front...

So pretty :-)


Click on the pic to take a look inside!

But then come back here because I have MORE news ... want more new products?  Want something a little more "seasonal"?

Well, we also have the new, larger-format, Holiday Catalogue full of Christmas, Halloween and Valentine products (and more).  This new catalogue takes the place of the old "mini" catalogues, with a difference - they're larger (same dimensions as the main catalogue) with more pages (39!) and the products are available for longer - five whole months.  The Holiday Catalogue is current from September 1 through to January 31.

Here's the front (love this ornament!):

And, of course, click the picture to take a look inside.

Let me know if you would like more information about the awesome new products now available and I will do my best to help you out.

A quick note ... from next year, our Annual Catalogue will be produced in line with the US, which means a new catalogue year.  This current catalogue will run until June 30, and from 2013 on, our catalogues will be released in July 1 each year.  Yay!  No more stalking US demonstrator's blogs and wishing we could get our hands on their products quicker :-)