Brighten up winter

Here's a little eye candy to brighten up your dreary winter days ... completely inspired by a project in the monthly publication that Stampin' Up! demonstrators receive (anyone who's seen the original will know which one I mean).

Whereas the original was a beautiful 12x12 scrapbook page with a spray of stamped and punched flowers down one side, I simplified the idea down to a standard (if slightly bumpy) greeting card.

It was a lot of fun to make each flower, trying to be sure and get each one a little different from the next.

Supplies used:
Stamp(s): Party This Way
Ink: Melon Mambo
Cardstock: Peach Parfait, Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight
Other: 1-3/4" x 7/8" Oval Punch, Decorative Label Punch (Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue), Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack (Carryover Products), Floral Fusion Sizzlit, Blossom Party Sizzix Originals Die, Elegant Lines Embossing Folder, Finial Press Embossing Folder, Basic Pearls, 5/16" Jumbo Brads

Cherry Cobbler Butterflies

As you can see, I'm still playing around with my butterfly dies - this time the Beautiful Wings Embosslit, which cuts and embosses five gorgeous little butterflies at once.

I have made a card similar to this one before, but this time I just wanted to go with a really simple colour scheme. You might guess that I'm pretty happy with the result, and you'd be right!

Supplies used:
Stamp(s): Hello Again
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Other: Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Elegant Lines embossing folder, Scallop Oval Punch, 5 x 3.5cm Oval Punch, Basic Rhinestones

And I'm also having a lot of fun using the little self adhesive rhinestones on my butterflies lately - they turn a simple card into a special card with almost no effort whatsoever!

More bright and happy :-)

I'm still catching up on posting stamping done in early December ... here we have a card made as a thank you for my daughter's Grade Six teacher, who was tremendously supportive throughout the school year.

I used the card made for Liz as a template, and just changed things around a little to suit the things I had on hand (ie. those things I grabbed first).

So instead of a panel up the side, I used a piece of Certainly Celery across the bottom, embossed with the Elegant Lines embossing folder. And I didn't have any "thanks" stamps nearby so did without. Hopefully the message inside made up for that *g*.

Supplies used:
Stamp/s: Printed Petals
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Other: Elegant Lines Embossing Folder, Certainly Celery 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, 1" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Basic Rhinestones

Birthday Butterflies

More birthday cards, this time for my sister-in-law. I'm still loving the colour combination here and had a few butterflies left over from that cutting session, so I turned the whole thing around and made this.

Happy birthday, Sophie!

Supplies used:
Stamp/s: Perfect Punches
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo
Other: Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Elegant Lines embossing folder, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Top Note Die

Inspired...

I had some birthday cards to make the other night (hopefully they have reached their destinations by now!) and needed some inspiration to get me started. Of course, Splitcoast Stampers obliged, and this card in particular caught my eye. Something about the layout appealed to me, so I sat down to make my own interpretation.

I really like how this came out (hope Lisa likes it also). And I finally got a chance to use my new Crumb Cake inkpad - love it!

Oh, and the blue butterfly - aside from being cute and lifting out the centre of the card, it has an actual purpose in hiding a small smudge :-)

Supplies used:
Stamp/s: Upsy Daisy
Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake
Other: Top Note Die, Circle Cutter, Elegant Lines embossing Folder, Beautiful Wings Embosslit

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