Little brown birdie...

This card came about because I had a stray scrap of Pool Party cardstock in my paper stash which I had stamped and distressed and then decided not to use.  While it wasn't right for the original project (which I posted the other day), it was exactly what I needed to go with this Very Vanilla/Crumb Cake combination.

Images © 1990-2013 Stampin' Up!®
Supplies used:
Stamps:  Papaya Collage, Everything Eleanor, Clockworks Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Pool Party
Ink: Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents Framelits

Blue Butterfly

A quick search of my blog would reveal that I like my butterfly dies.  It's no secret :-)  If there's a blank space somewhere on a card, why not fill it with a butterfly?  And the dies are so easy to use!

So here's another quick one, which I whipped up the other week at stamp club (which, by the way, is open to anyone who can make it to the Mount Street Neighbourhood House in Glen Waverley on the last Saturday of each month - it's not a Stampin' Up thing, so no selling goes on, just a bunch of us who like to stamp with friends).

The background text is stamped in Crumb Cake, with the flourish and flowers in Midnight Muse.  The blue/brown combination is a real winner!

Images © 1990-2013 Stampin' Up!®
Supplies used:
Stamps: Everything Eleanor, En Francais
Cardstock:  Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Midnight Muse
Ink: Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse
Accessories:  Beautiful Wings Embosslit

Missing in Action

Well, where have I been lately?  Mostly just at home, loafing about - and I haven't even been stamping!  I know!  This time of year I seem to find I need to take a few weeks off to recharge after making all those Christmas cards (why do I do it each year?  Sadly, it's all for the money LOL), and my mojo takes a holiday as well :-)

But I'm back.  Sort of.  I motivated myself the other night to get out a new stamp set to add the finishing touch to this card:

I've seen a few cards with this "circle-y" theme online lately, and wanted to give it a go for myself.  I like the extra dimension given by popping up and punching out a circle (shown here with the little four point flower  from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack) gives the card,

The Pool Party circles have been stamped with Whisper White Craft Ink, which in Real Life (ie. I couldn't catch the effect with the camera) seem to glow... I love using Whisper White Craft on light coloured cardstock - the effect is always interesting.

And the new stamp set?  The "Just Because" greeting from the set Vintage Verses, only available from tomorrow until March 22, and only available FREE with a $100 purchase.  Yep, it's nearly Sale-A-Bration time again... more information for you tomorrow

 

Images © 1990-2013 Stampin' Up!®
Supplies used:
Stamps: Vintage Verses (SAB 2013 set), En Francais, Clockworks, Everything Eleanor
Cardstock:  Pool Party, Midnight Muse, Whisper White 
Ink: Whisper White, Midnight Muse
Accessories:  1-3/4" Circle Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack

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

Oops...!

I hadn't realised just how quickly November had been slipping away until I looked at my blog and saw that my last post was waaaaay back on the 9th!  Here it is, nearly a month later, and what do I have to show for it?  Well, a few things, as it happens :-)

I have been busy creating, although it was more along the lines of mass-production of the traditional 100 or so cards for my employers to send out to our customers.  This year I was so happy to see the back of the cards I actually completely forgot to photograph them before I bundled them up into envelopes and posted them this afternoon.  I had to quickly whip another one up just so I can take a picture of it and show you all ... but not today, mostly because I only finished it a few minutes ago and the light's not so great for photography.  I promise, it'll be up in a day or so.

In the meantime, enjoy this card, made for my good friend Pauline's birthday the other day :-)

The images were stamped with Stazon onto Pumpkin Pie cardstock, and then the flowers were "coloured" using an Aqua Painter filled with bleach (some were stamped separately and stuck on with Dimensionals).  It's fun to watch the bleach "take" to the cardstock - at first you're not sure it's going to do anything, then suddenly the magic happens.  You can blast it with a heat gun to speed the process if you like.

Of course, it may not have been as much fun had I been doing it in a well-ventilated area like I probably should have.  A little light-headedness is good for you, right?

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Fabulous Phrases
Cardstock:  Old Olive, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla
Ink: Black Stazon
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents Framelits, 1-3/8 Circle Punch, Bitty Banners Framelits, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Aqua Painter

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