for Sandra

This is almost unheard of ... the other day I made an actual card to send to an actual person!  Mostly the cards I make are used as samples, and eventually (once the featured items retire) end up in a box through which my daughter digs each time she needs a birthday card quickly.

But this time I had a recipient in mind, made the card (based on this one - isn't it gorgeous?) and remembered to mail it!  I could have used an old sample card for her, but that just didn't seem right for the occasion.

So here you have it ... my card for Sandra.  I hope it made her happy :-)

Tips for anyone attempting this ... firstly, make sure your square punch is sharp *sigh*.  Secondly, lay all your squares out and work out exactly what you want the card front to look like - don't leave it to chance like, perhaps, might have happened here.  Lastly, have some sort of guide on hand so that you can keep the squares lined up evenly.

Images © 1990-2013 Stampin' Up!®  
Supplies used:
Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Cardstock:  Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Bermuda Bay
Accessories:  1" Square Punch, Scallop Border Punch, Bitty Banners Framelit, Textured Embossing Folders: Chevron, Petals-a-Plenty, Argyle, Beautifully Baroque, Perfect Polka Dots

All Dressed Up

My dear friend Anne-Marie had a birthday recently, and here is the card I made for her to help her celebrate.  Very little stamping involved, but somehow a table (and kitchen bench) full of cardstock, dies, accessories, and general stamping mess went into the creation of this.

It didn't really come out as I had pictured it (do these things ever?) but I was pretty happy with the result.  And I can't believe it's taken me two months to get around to matching Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay with Elegant Eggplant!  Green and purple - what an awesome colour combination :-)

Images © 1990-2013 Stampin' Up!®  
Supplies used:
Stamps:  Everything Eleanor, Sketched Birthday
Cardstock:  Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Elegant Eggplant, Soft Suede, Whisper White
Ink: Coastal Cabana 
Accessories:  Dress Up Framelits, Bitty Banners Framelits, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Large Oval Punch

Faux Washi Tape

You may have noticed the latest thing in stamping and scrapbooking is washi tape (well, it's been around before - but it's back!)

You can buy rolls of the stuff (Stampin' Up! has a small range, and I keep forgetting to dig mine out to play with it), but you can also buy this ...

Yep, faux washi tape :-)

Naturally I had to have this set, and it's going to be a lot of fun to play with.  The first thing I did was stamp some faux tape across the back of an envelope I was mailing for my husband (I have no idea if the recipient appreciated it, but it amused me).

Then I made this ...

Using my new favourite birthday stamp (from the Sketched Birthday set) - I love this one because it fits with the Bitty Banners framelits, and they are a snap to use with my beloved Magnetic Platform for my Big Shot.



Images © 1990-2013 Stampin' Up!®  
Supplies used:
Stamps:  Tape It, Sketched Birthday
Cardstock:  Burnt Brown Sugar, Strawberry Slush, Whisper White
Ink: Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush, Baked Brown Sugar 
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents Framelits, Bitty Banners Framelits

More Mosaics

I really like this stamp set - can you tell?

Another card inspired by one found via Pinterest ... I might even add some bling to it as in the original :-)

It was a little fiddly getting the positioning just right, but I'm pretty happy with how it came out.  I've embossed the bottom part of the card and added a stamped strip to cover the edge of the embossing.

The stripes stamp on the Bermuda Bay strip of cardstock is from the set Gorgeous Grunge, which is one of those sets that probably doesn't grab you on first sight, but once you see what it can do, the possibilities are endless :-) (do a Google Images search for Gorgeous Grunge Stampin Up to see what I mean).

Images © 1990-2013 Stampin' Up!®  
Supplies used:
Stamps:  Mosaic Madness, Sketched Birthday, Gorgeous Grunge Cardstock:  Bermuda Bay, Smoky Slate, Whisper White
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Strawberry Slush
Accessories:  Bitty Banners Framelits, Mosaic Punch, Mosaic Embossing Folder, Stampamajig

Mosaic Madness

Something I "whipped up" during stamp club yesterday ... heavily inspired by this card I found on Pinterest the other day...

I had limited room to take a bunch of different supplies (I'm not a good travelling stamper) so decided to experiment with the new In Colors, represented here by Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar and Strawberry Slush - I love this year's new colours!

This card also demonstrates the use of the Stampamajig, both in placing the smaller elements on the embossed cardstock, and also (although it's mostly hidden by the greeting) the stamped strip of Coastal Cabana cardstock.


Images © 1990-2013 Stampin' Up!®   Supplies used:  Stamps:  Mosaic Madness, Sketched Birthday
Cardstock:  Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush, Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White
Ink: Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush, Baked Brown Sugar
Accessories:  Bitty Banners Framelits, Mosaic Punch, Mosaic Embossing Folder, Stampamajig

Painting with bleach

Recently I showed you a card I made for my friend Pauline, in which I used bleach to strip colour from cardstock in a kind of reverse painting thing-y.

I liked it so much (or perhaps that was just the smell of bleach in an enclosed area?) that I had to make another!

Here you can see the results of bleach + Riding Hood Red - interesting that, no matter how much bleach I dabbed on, it never got lighter than this yellow shade.  Which, happily, coordinates nicely with the So Saffron base card :-)

Oh, and did I mention just how much I like this Everything Eleanor set?  The flowers are gorgeous, beautifully detailed, and that swirl is going to go with everything.

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Fabulous Phrases
Cardstock:  So Saffron, Basic Black, Riding Hood Red
Ink: Black Stazon
Accessories:  Bitty Banners Framelits, 1" Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Scallop Circle Punch

Another birthday card

Just a little card I whipped up for my friend Liz's birthday a couple of weeks ago ... for a wonder, this card came out pretty much exactly as I had imagined it!  Usually the colours don't match like I wanted, or the layout is just a shade wrong in some indefinable way, but not this time!

As with this card made for my Dad's 80th birthday recently, the main layer is popped up on Dimensionals so that you get the full effect of the punched out circle and pierced detail.

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamps: Betsy's Blossoms, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Cardstock:  Marina Mist, Whisper White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist
Accessories:  2-1/2" Circle Punch, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Bitty Banners Framelits, Delicate Designs Embossing Folder

Birthday Bikkies

Further to my last post about my dad's recent 80th birthday, I just wanted to show you the little box I put together to hold some shortbread I bought for him (I was going to bake but I remembered just in time that I am a lousy baker).

I used Midnight Muse and Lucky Limeade to kind of coordinate with the card.

The box pattern is the same one used in this post, with the obvious exception that this one is full of bikkies :-)  I have also misplaced my Large Oval punch, so had to make do with a smaller one - not quite as satisfactory, but there was no other choice.

I used the frame stamp from Everything Eleanor punched out with the large scallop circle, and then the circle of Lucky Limeade to cover up the journalling lines.  Finally, my new "go to" set for sentiments, Fabulous Phrases (and, of course the Stampamajig to line it all up), teamed with the Bitty Banners Framelits and the job was done!

Just a closeup showing that the decoration on the box is a combination of the large swirl stamp from Everything Eleanor and the more delicate swirl from Creative Elements.

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Creative Elements, Fabulous Phrases
Cardstock: Midnight Muse, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade
Ink: Midnight Muse
 Other:Large Oval Punch, 2-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Bitty Banners Framelits, Midnight Muse 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon

Pretty in Pink - and Gray

I was cruising Pinterest the other night,  specifically looking for inspiration for my new Everything Eleanor set (love those flowers - they're a little fiddly to cut out but totally worth it) and stumbled across this card.   I've always been a sucker for the pink/gray combination and liked the simplicity of the original so had a go at my own interpretation.

Okay, so my interpretation is pretty much the same.  Sorry, I was out of ideas that night :-)  I did add a cute little pearl as the dot on the "i", though.  That counts, right?

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Fabulous Phrases
Cardstock:  Pretty in Pink, Basic Gray, Whisper White
 Ink: Pretty in Pink, Basic Gray
Other:Stripes Embossing Folder, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Bitty Banners Framelits, Basic Pearls

Everything Eleanor

A new stamp set that might well be my new favourite (although time will tell) is Everything Eleanor.  It's another of those sets with different, "collage-y" type elements that work well together and with other similar sets.  Here I have teamed it with my all time fave background stamp En Francais (sadly stamped a little crooked - my fault for cutting the frame shape before stamping - you'd think I'd know better by now) and a little bit of Creative Elements (along the bottom - look carefully).

I'm also loving the new Bitty Banners Framelits - you can use them with the coordinating stamp sets, or just any old set that happens to fit as I've done here with Teeny Tiny Sentiments.

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Creative Elements, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Cardstock:  Baja Breeze, Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla
Ink: Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse, Baja Breeze
Other:Apothecary Accents Framelits, Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder, Bitty Banners Framelits

Gable Box

While on the hunt recently for a project to make showcasing the Simply Scored Tool, I stumbled across this adorable little box over at Splitcoast Stampers

"I'm game", I thought ... one sheet, not too much in the way of measuring - sounds like my kind of project.

And it was exactly the kind of project I like - sooo easy.  Of course, I had to comprise a little with the base, as I was using A4 cardstock which is only about 8-1/4" wide, but it really made no difference in the long run.  I trimmed it down to 11" long and away I went.

My only comment is that I switched steps 10 and 11, and folded the sides in before sticking down the side tab.  It just seemed to make more sense that way.  You could also trim those side flaps off, but then I don't think the edge would look as good.

The box is stamped in Crumb Cake with stamps from the Everything Eleanor set, which I suspect is going to become my new "go to" favourite set :-)  The giant swirly shape is gorgeous!

The greeting is a combination of three separate stamps from Fabulous Phrases, which I see as the stamp equivalent to fridge magnet poetry - 30 stamps with all sorts of cute and useful words, ready to mix and match to suit your occasion.

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Fabulous Phrases
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy
Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Other:Extra Large Oval Punch, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Simply Scored Tool, Corner Rounder Punch, Bitty Banners Framelits

In Colors 2012-14

Every year, a new batch of In Colors arrives, and every year it takes a little time to warm to them. A card like this one does help, though :-)

I found myself heavily inspired by the card linked above, and so combined Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple and Summer Starfruit for myself ... I love the "wild garden" look of it, and realised that these three colours actually look good together (I had my doubts)!  It also gave me the opportunity to open up another new stamp set, Summer Silhouettes - love this set! 

You can build your own flowers using the separate stems and flower heads, and there's also a cool background stamp as well (take a close look at the green layer below to see what it looks like).  I had to do a little careful positioning to get the stamp to fit all the way across the cardstock - and then realised that it was going to be covered up and didn't really matter *sigh*.  You would be proud of the effort I went to if you could only see it, honest.

One last thing before I forget ... see that gorgeous satin stitched ribbon?  Fancy getting something like that for FREE?  Don't forget that, during the month of October, for every $60 you spent on catalogue goodies (not including shipping), you can get a FREE roll of 2012-14 In Color Stitched Satin ribbon.  The ribbon normally retails for $15.95 - can you say BARGAIN?!

Don't miss out - contact me to place your order today!

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Itty Bitty Banners
Cardstock:  Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White
Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit

Other: Bitty Banners Framelits, Summer Starfruit 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon

Happy Birthday John!

Following hot on the heels of my sister in law's birthday each year is my brother's birthday ... so it's easy enough to remember his (and, after all, I have a lifetime of knowing when his birthday is).

I find cards for guys to be ridiculously hard ... when it comes to buying stamps I am drawn to flowers, butterflies and other girly stuff (and a long time follower of my blog will be aware that I'm quite fond of pink as well).  So I had to hit the internet for inspiration, and broke in a new stamp set (Postage Due) I just received last week for the occasion.

I used to do a lot of the "collage" type stamping, back in my pre-Stampin Up days, so it surprised me that it was kind of hard to put this together at first.  Guess I'm out of practice.  Of course, the background here is all one stamp, so that was pretty easy LOL.  I placed the stamps along the right hand side to cover up the flower image (not very masculine).

And here's a closeup of the Bitty Banners framelit with the coordinating stamp from the Itty Bitty Banners set, as well as the large shape from the Apothecary Accents in Summer Starfruit, which I have embellished a little by adding pierced holes using the new Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack.  And look!  Something else from the new catalogue!  I used one of the Delicate Designs embossing folders to fancy up the strip of Midnight Muse cardstock.

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamps: Postage Due, Itty Bitty Banners
Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Very Vanilla
Ink: Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse

Other:Delicate Designs Embossing Folders, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Bitty Banners Framelits, Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer, Postage Stamp Punch