Farewell to the Summer mini and Sale-a-bration!

If I had to nominate Five things I am going to miss from the Summer mini it would be a difficult list.

I can't help it I would have to say the cute little

Aviary stampset.

It has been on many a card, tag and scrapbook page this last 3 months.

I haven't shown you all my March projects that I have made... too busy making them in my spare moments to photograph and load the photos.

 I love the little owl from the aviary set and enjoyed stamping it on the tag above and the inside of cards, too. 

 My second favourite thing I will miss is the square scallop die because it has a clear top that you can see the paper or cardstock through when you are positioning it in the Big shot.

I am seriously hoping, fingers crossed, it is carried over into the Main Stampin' up Catalogue this year.

 The Presto Patterns specialty designer series paper is an amazing product that we sponged and smooched to our hearts delight. I will be revisiting this colour combination again I think: pear pizzazz, Marina Mist and Concord crush.

 And the itty bitty buttons they are so, so cute!

With their matching itty bitty bits stampset and matching itty bitty punch pack.

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 What will I be using (that I just cant put away) even though they will no longer be current Stampin' Up product tomorrow?

My Textured Square Lattice Embossing folder,   and

 the Scallop Circle punch.

And then we combined the Summer Mini products with the Sale-a-bration stampsets.

By the way, this card was made with Melon Mambo and Night of Navy for the pure reason that I could use my satin ribbon on it.

And finally, I will say farewell to the Exclusive Sale-a-bration set of stamps.

The elegant and versatile "Bliss" set.

If you wish to place an order best to phone or email me pronto... today is the last day to order these Summer mini and Sale-a-bration products.

Enjoy!

Wishing you Bliss for another day!!!

There are only Two days left to celebrate the Stampin' Up Sale-a-bration!
I have CASEd this card from the SAB2011 catalogue.
It's Melon mambo pink instead of yellow. It has the heart punch border instead of the scallop border punch.
I have used the Boho blossom punch and the Bliss stampset the same as the sample card.

 Then instead of stamping the butterfly and attaching it to the front I have atttached it to the inside of the card and then punched an oval as a  window for the butterfly to poke through.

 The pearls are the finishing touch to the centre of the flowers and the butterfly body. Pearls are such a girly thing to add to a card. I even stamped the bird in old olive as a bit of contrast and interest.

Card Recipe:
Stampset: Bliss (Sale-a-bration 2011)
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Whisper white, Concord crush.
Ink: Concord crush, Melon Mambo, Old olive.
Tools: Oval punch, basic pearl jewels, pinking hearts punch, Boho blossom punch, Itty Bitty shapes punch.

Lap of luxury Bliss and embossed butterflies

Bliss is ...
a card adorned with embossed Butterflies and Lap of luxury Designer Series Paper from Stampin' up.

At  Pals Paper Arts - PPA86 they have an embossing challenge this week so this is what I came up with.
There are so many interesting products on this simple card that I love ...

 I started with the Rich Razzleberry paper and stamped it all over with the Bliss swirly pattern stamp for my background pattern. Then cut a rectangle of Lap of luxury designer series paper.
You can see why I love these Lap of Luxury colours: Concord Crush, Pretty in Pink, Basic grey and vanilla.

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The butterflies are Concord Crush cardstock embossed with the Big shot machine then "wiped" with white cotton stazon ink to accentuate the Vintage wall paper embossing pattern.

The body of my butterflies are made with Stampin'up
 Basic Pearl jewels.

Now you're looking at those butterflies and saying: in real life they would look amazing!

You would be right - because they have also been sponged with champagne mist Shimmer paint.
They sparkle and shimmer in the sunlight on my table.

The Bliss stampset is FREE until the 31st of March with any purchase of $100 worth of Stampin up products (exclusive during Sale-a-bration 2011) and it fits perfectly into the scallop oval punch with just a tiny bit of Concord Crush sponging.
Enjoy!

Fabulous folds - A Never ending card story...

I have had this idea on my to do list for a long time.

Our Stampin' Up Impressions magazine featured this fabulous folding card last month.

And Crafters Anonymous have a lift the flap challenge, this fortnight too.

 (I think this qualifies as a lift the flap kind of card).

So finally, I created my own Never Ending Card.

This is the outside of the card. I kept the colours simple to start with Pear Pizzazz and Marina Mist on whisper white, using the "Fox and Friends" and "Party this way" stamp sets throughout all the layers of the card for continuity (to make it seem never ending).

To begin you open the centre of the card and fold the pieces backwards.
I've taken a photo to try and show you how it opens up in the middle and reveals the next layer of card.
You could add your sentiment to this layer, or the last layer, or both.

I've introduced Peach parfait, Melon Mambo and Poppy Parade to mix up the colours and tell the story of the animals coming to the party. These would make great invitations don't you think?

 Opening the next layer reveals more of the animals heading to the birthday party.
Perhaps, you could add some story lines and make it like a never ending book....
...and then Mr Turtle said  to Mr Lion "are you going to the birthday party too"? (or perhaps not).

 I think this is the third layer ... three giraffes heading to the party.

 Which brings us to layer four... Mmmm, next version I must remember to add more white space.
Or perhaps a final flap for writing your message on.
Its not too late, I can add a punched out shape, which lifts up on one of those balloons.
Wouldn't it be cute if the balloons lifted up to reveal a written messages underneath?

Here's a top shot to show you that by opening the inside of the final layer, we have returned to the front of the card again. 

By opening the middle you start the never ending card story all over again.
Kids especially love this kind of card as it just keeps opening up in the centre and goes 'round and 'round, until you are finished playing with it. Which may be never...
Enjoy!!!

Congratulations baby set of drawers

Another baby was born into the world last week so I had the need to make a Congratulations and welcome new baby card for his parents.
I chose Baja Breeze cardstock and ink and not a lot else, colourwise.

 The effect of a set of drawers is deceptively simple.
Just an A frame card with 2 long rectangles and 2 short rectangles for the two top drawers.
Lots of sponging on all layers and a baby onesie (shirt) made out of a tag punch.
 Here's a close up of the little baby suit. I hand drew the clothes hanger and stamped the welcome baby tag from the FREE Sale-a-bration set: Punch Bunch.

The little heart is stamped and punched with the gorgeous "Itty bitty" stampset and matching tiny itty bitty circle punch.

 The itty bitty stampset also coordinates with a set of the cutest clear buttons and I have glue dotted a round button on top of the heart. Everything is raised on dimensional adhesive to get that 3 D effect of the little suit hanging off the drawer and the drawers slightly open.

So there it is, the cutest little set of 3D drawers ...
The Congratulations is from the Well scripted stampset (Summer mini) and the "legs" have been created using the curly label punch.  
If there is anything you wish to order from the Summer Mini or to earn your FREE sale-a-bration sets email me or phone me before the 30th March .

Would you like to host a virtual workshop ?

Just get together $300 of orders from your stamping friends or family.

Email me your order(s) before Thursday, 31st March 

 and you will receive a hostess gift from me

 PLUS

three (3) FREE sale-a-bration stampsets of your choice,

plus your Free hostess gift (see page 4 and 5 of the summer mini),

 and $30 worth of Free product from any of our catalogues.

Thats a huge amount to Enjoy!!!

Email nerida_carter@hotmail.com to place an order before the 31st.

Ribbon and Butterfly birthday

Apart from the butterflies, my favourite item on this card has to be the big bow in Early Espresso striped grosgrain. You can't go past a big bow! And this ribbon makes tying so easy...

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   I take photos of nearly all the cards I make and then, I have to find the time to load them on to the computer and schedule them to go up on my blog. So if its 6 am on a Thursday, I am probably not loading this photo live.... I might have done it on a Wednesday at 2pm...

The card was made in the middle of February, not photographed until early March.

And posted to my friend Felicity only very recently.

So the card:

 I've only used two stampsets: happy birthday from "Teeny tiny sentiments" and the scallop oval frame from "Perfect punches".
Early espresso Ink for stamping and white cotton ink, and melon mambo ink for sponging.

Have I said it before?
.... How did I make cards with out my Big shot machine?
The Melon Mambo cardstock is run through the Top note die, then the elegant lines embossing folder.
The butterflies are a die cut and they have also been through for a dose of the elegant lines embossing too.

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If you have any questions or if you wish to place an order please send an email to: nerida_carter@hotmail.com.
Remember - there are only 12 days left
to get your FREE stamps during Sale-a-bration!!!!

Square scallop card with Presto patterned paper Sponging.

I am back to share with you these cards we made on the weekend.

Now you probably guessed my favourite colour is

 Concord Crush: a deep blue-purple.

The colour of dark purple irises, water lilies and some purple daisies.

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We used the gorgeous and amazing presto patterned paper to make this card.

The presto pattern is white on white designed to be sponged or brayered with ink to reveal the pattern embossed on the surface.

It comes in a pack of 12 sheets (30.5cm x 30.5 cm square). And you get two each of six different patterns.

We used three colours to sponge the background:

Pear Pizzazz, Marina Mist and a swipe of Concord crush around the edges.

  With a layer of white cardstock placed on a card made from the Big shots Square Scallop die.

The centre of the card is made with more scallops!

This time with two of my favourite punches.

The Scallop circle punch (4.4 cm) and the larger Scallop circle (6 cm), which is new in this Summer mini catalogue. They almost look like a water lily floating on a blue green pond.

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The words from the "well scripted" stampset fitted nicely onto our smaller scallop circle punch. 

There are words for Easter, Wonderful mother, Dear father, Love you and Congratulations - which kind of covers a card for everyone in the family.

Hope you enjoyed the workshop Sophie!

Fairies and Angel cellophane bag toppers

How simple is this as a gift bag with a yummy biscuit inside?

I made a few of these with gingerbread men, butterflies and star biscuits as little gifts a few months ago now.

They make excellent lolly bag toppers for children's birthday parties, too.

The topper is so easy to make with a big shot and scallop circle die.

Here is a batch of fairies (adorned with vellum butterfly wings) ready to go on top of the lolly bag for a child's party.

 Firstly, cut out your circle scallop die with the Big shot machine.
Fold it in half.
(That's your bag topper made).
Now, Punch out a smaller scallop circle (for the hair).
And one circle for the face.
Then use the circle 1 1/4" punch to cut out the base of the scallop circle.

Above you can see how easy it is to draw a girls face,with closed eyes.
The fuzzy brown hair is made using the scallop circle punch and 1 1/4" circle punch.
Stick them together (velum butterfly wings, optional)

 

 You can make funny short haired characters:

and Santa clauses with a few extra punches....

And an angel in white ... Embossing the Scallop circle gives an extra layer of texture.

and here is a simple idea of a gift wrapped notepad and soaps using the Top note die, too.

Enjoy!!

Window sheet butterflies in Pink

I said I would be back with more window sheet butterflies ... such a stunning technique.

I have used two Big shot die cuts on this card.
The Beautiful butterfly die cut of course and the top note die.
Both of which have been run through again with the elegant lines embossing folder.

You can add the cotton white Stazon either with a sponge or just wiping the stazon ink pad around the edges of the butterfly wings.

My ribbon is the 3.2cm wide striped Grosgrain - this ribbon comes in 11 different colours... I can never choose which colour roll I want to buy next. There is an aweful lot of ribbon on a roll, over 9 metres .... thats a lot of bows and cards I will be making.

What will it be: Black, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Marina Mist, Pumpkin pie, Night of Navy, Real Red or Pretty in Pink?

Elegant lines and window sheet butterflies

This idea of butteflies made from window sheets comes from a fellow stampin up demo named Julia Emms. When I saw this beautiful idea of butterflies made from window sheets (aka: clear transparency) I just wanted to experiment with it.

The white ink on the edges of the plastic seems to accentuate the clear transparent butterfly wings and the purple caught my eye at first and then the elegant lines embossing and pearls.

The Thank you is from the stampset Curly Cute and punched out with the scallop oval punch with a little sponging on all layers.

So then I had try a double butterfly using two beautiful butterflies on top of each other.

The two butterflies can go through the embossing folder at the same time if you want the same texture on both layers.

The white ink is Stazon cotton white... just another thing you can sponge this white ink on to. I loved making this fairly simple card so I took a few photos of it from different angles. Thank you Julia Emms for the original idea and here is the recipe list.

Stampset: Curly Cute

Ink: Perfect Plum

Cotton White stazon.

Cardstock: Perfect Plum, whisper white, sahara sand.

Tools and accessories: Big shot machine, Elegant Lines embossing folder, Beautiful Butterflies Die cut,

Basic Pearl jewells, Scallop oval punch, Sponges,Mini glue dots and dimensional adhesives.