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

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