Old Favourites

It's been a while since either of these stamp sets came out for a play ... Baroque Motifs, with its gorgeous swirl, really needs more air time, and Pocket Silhouettes with its cute little bunches of leaves.  I was inspired by this card over at Splitcoast Stampers (sooo much inspiration) and as always, ended up with something that wasn't much at all like the original - or, for that matter, anything much like what I had pictured in my head as I was creating *sigh*.

Now, can you see the mistake?  Here's a closeup for you ... I could have kicked myself when I realised what I'd done, but by that time it was all glued together and I didn't have the patience to try to dismantle it. In my defense, the light in my dining room/stamping area can be kind of dodgy and it was kind of late by the time I got to this step.  I knew I should have stuck with Rhinestone Jewels.

I wish I'd taken the time to curl the little flowers up a tad, as well, to give the whole thing a little more dimension.  Next time :-)



Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used: 
Stamp(s): Baroque Motifs, Pocket Silhouettes
 Ink: Old Olive, Lucky Limeade, Melon Mambo
 Cardstock: Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Melon Mambo
Other: Boho Blossoms Punch, Old Olive 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Metallic Brads, Beautiful Wings Embosslit

New product available!

Those of you who have bought the Simply Scored tool will already know how handy it is for scoring up boxes, rosettes, card bases, decorative lines ... there's a whole lot of stuff you can do with it!  Then there is the Metric Plate, available separately, with centimetre measurements instead of the standard inches.

And now there's another plate available to bring an extra dimension to the scoring fun!  From today, you can purchase the Diagonal Scoring Plate!  This plate has grooves every 1/8" at a 45 degree angle so you can whip up envelopes and other tricky folds in no time at all.

Contact me today to place your order!

We *still* {heart} our hostesses!

A reminder to contact me as soon as you can to book your July Stampin' Up! party ... the "We {heart} our Hostesses" promotion is still running until the end of this month, so if you would like to receive an extra $90 in Hostess Rewards drop me a line or give me a call to find out more!

PS.  I have some cards to photograph and upload, but I just haven't had a chance to get out the camera to take a half-decent photo.  Watch this space :-)

Pop Out Butterfly

I promise this will be the last butterfly for a little while but I had to share it because it really does look pretty darned cool (well, that's my opinion, and this is my blog so I get to say what I want so there LOL).

This is another of the cutout butterflies which I made a while back, this time in a colour combination pinched from a recent ColourQ challenge (I can never organise myself to do these challengers during the set time frame, but it's a nice colour scheme no matter when you do it, right?)

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used: 
Stamp(s): Mixed Bunch, Creative Elements
Ink: Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder
Cardstock: Basic Gray, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder, Tempting Turquoise
Other: Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Pearls Basic Jewels

Black Butterflies

Yes, more butterflies, this time as a kind of silhouette look.  I saw this card (such a talented lady!) and loved it so much I had to make my own version.  Of course, mine has a long way to go before it matches the beauty of the original, but I still like it :-)

It was pretty easy to make, as well, with the layer of stamped Whisper White peeping out from behind the Lucky Limeade panel

And see how well the punches layer together?  I love that about punches - you don't have to have the same shapes in different sizes to get a neat layered effect - just mix and match until you're happy with the result!


Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used: 
Stamp(s): Inspired by Nature, Tea Shoppe, En Francais
Ink: Lucky Limeade, Basic Black
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade
Other: Basic Black 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Beautiful Wings Embosslit,  Decorative Label Punch, Large Oval Punch

Sponged Masking

Here's an oldie but a goodie ... basically you mask off a section of cardstock and sponge randomly with a few complimentary colours.  I used to do this on envelopes before sending them off through the mail - and I like to think the postie enjoyed the view :-)

And was this one of the quickest cards I ever made?  You bet!  It took longer to decide which stamp to use than it did to create a quick mask, select the colours and lay them down nice and thick on the Whisper White cardstock (may I say that this cardstock is perfect for this technique?  The smooth finish takes the ink brilliantly).

I might add a greeting one day when I decide who to give the card to.  In the meantime I will just enjoy the pretty colours (how well do the current 2012-14 In Colors of Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder and Lucky Limeade go together?)

And thank you to Janine for reminding me about this technique :-)

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used: 
Stamp(s): Simly Soft (Hostess Only set)
Ink: Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Basic Black
Cardstock: Pool Party, Whisper White

For a change

... yes, for a, change more butterflies.  Did you ever notice just how much I like my Beautiful Wings Embosslit and Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die?  A quick click on either of those links should give you some idea.  So much so that when I worked on the Stampin' Up! stand at Picture to Page recently, my contribution was a poster full of butterfly cards.  Many of them I have posted here in the past, but I made a few new ones to replace those I have given away over the last couple of years.

Here's the first one, and for a wonder, there is not a skerrick of pink to be seen on this one - I know - how did this happen?!

I can't even tell you the story behind this - I just wanted to use my Framelits and emboss them, and things just kind of went on from there.  Yes, I know it needs a greeting, but that can wait until I decide what it's for :-)

Images © 1990-2012 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Whisper White, Pacific Point
Other: Labels Collection Framelits Die, Petals A Plenty and Stripes Embossing Folders, Beautiful Wings Embosslit