Owl Occasions Birthday!

September is a busy month for Birthdays, there is a public holiday this weekend and school holidays are happening here.

 For this friend's birthday card I went to the new and very versatile "Owl Occasions" stampset.

Designed for ALL occasions there is a very trendy owl, tree branch, balloon, party banner, hat, stockings, presents, holly, Merry Christmas and To: From: images...

 

This set is designed for two step stamping. Using several stamps from the same set to build up a colourful scene. It is just like painting a picture, but far easier.
The cute little owl sits on the branch surrounded by birthday presents and holding a birthday balloon.
His legs and ears are yellow, his body pink, with blue eyes and a red beak simply using markers direct to the stamp rubber. These new ink pads in solid foam are very moist so "huffing" is now a thing of the past.
We have created Jessica's friend's name using the "Morning Post" alphabet set, punched out with the postage stamp punch..

Card Recipe:
Stampsets: Owl Occasions, Morning Post, Itty Bitty Banners.
Cardstock: Primrose Petals, whisper white
Ink pads and markers:
Primrose petals, Raspberry Ripple, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green
Punch: Postage stamp
Big shot and Accessories:
Apothecary Accents Framelits, Lacy Brocade Embossing folder.

Island Indigo Snow Flurry

 This months Team challenge for the Inksomniacs is to create a Christmas card using new products... with the challenging part being to use non-christmassy colours.
Well I have plenty of new products from the Holiday catalogue to play with...and I thought why not a non traditional blue-green like "Island Indigo".

Starting from the bottom layer I have embossed the snow flake pattern using the Delicate Designs folder, edging it with the Large scallop edgelit.

I've added the Finishing touches edgelit in white cardstock underneath ... just love the freshness of white and blue.

My sentiment is the new Merry Christmas stamp from "greetings of the season" ... likeing this script style of writing.

Then the star of the card is.... 

 The "snow flurry" snowflake!

For the bling and glitter I have cut out some Glimmer paper (this one is silver, but it now comes in champagne too, perfect for Christmas!)

I've layered the snowflakes with whisper white and pinned it together with a silver brad.

Notice the little silver crosses, I punched them out with the itty bitty shapes pack (from the scraps that surrounded the snowflake die).

 This is a brand new BIGZ die that will cut through nearly any material.

Above I have used the glimmer paper, acetate and cardstock.

It willl also go through fabric, shim metal, silver foil, cork, cardboard and thin plastic.

 The three snowflakes can also be trimmed into very cute little shapes like reindeer antlers... can't wait to experiment some more with this die.

Baby Prints...

One of my long time school friends (that I met when I was 8 years old) is going to be a grand mother!
I am sending the mum-to-be a card and baby gift in advance... can't wait for the new arrival.

A close up of the card I made.
I got to play with my new "Delicate designs" embossing folders and the "Adorning Accent" edgelit, that from the first time I saw it, looked like a pregnant tummy and breast. (to me, anyway).

 I have rocked, rolled and sponged the ink on these hands. They make me think of the many times I hand printed my own little baby's hands to measure her growth for her baby book.

 Open the card and I have stamped congratulations from the "Itty bitty banners" set.
Don't these little feet just make you say "ohhhh!"

 And then they pop up on strips of acetate held on with a few well placed glue dots.
Only a month to go I believe, so baby jelly bean is probably kicking his mum silly by now.
Next, I made a Clam shell box from the Crafter's anonymous tutorial.

 The "B" could stand for BABY or the first initial of his name.

I have used the new "Morning Post" stampset punched out with the postage stamp punch. Tied on with some Baker's twine and a ruffled ribbon in the minty blue of Pool party.

 And when you slide off the belly band and open the  box...

 There's a cute little singlet inside that says:
" Will smile for food."
They didn't have ... will smile for mummy's milk!
I will have to start stamping my own singlets very soon.

I had so much fun today making these two projects... and the baby isnt even born yet!

Raspberry Ripple layers ...

 These cards are the handmade Thank you cards for my customers this month. 
If you placed an order at my launch or any time this month you will be finding one of these with your order.

I am feeling rather down this week as the dreaded spring cold has hit me and I am not up for much more than making the odd card between sneezes and cups of tea.

The Delicate Doily Dies come in three sizes, a small inticate one, a wheel shaped doily and a larger one which I think I like best.

Try these out, they are not for the quick and the instant card, no, no, no!

You will need some patience with this die ... all those little pieces need to be flicked or poked out, such fun!

 

Card Recipe:

Stampsets: Papillon Potpouri, and Itty bitty Banners.

Cardstock: Raspberry Ripple and whisper white.

Ink: Raspberry Ripple classic.

Tools: Butterfly punch, 3/4" scallop punch,

Big shot machine, Delicate Doilies Sizzlits die

Textured impressions Woodgrain embossing folder. 

And the last one uses the smallest and largest of the Delicate Doilies dies, with a paper ribbon at the top.

What is an ATC?

Many have asked... What is an ATC?
An ATC is an Artist Trading Card.
They are like mini works of Art that Artists and crafters share with one another or swap.
They usually have a theme, or an inspiration to spark creativity.
They can be made from cardstock or any material that will fit into a small plastic sleave and they must fit the dimensions of: 8.9cm x 6.4cm.
They can be single or multi-layered.

 Many online craft groups have Artist trading card swaps so that techniques and ideas can be shared.

They are not designed to be mini greeting cards, more samples of an artist's style, or an inspiration challenge.

These are the swaps I received in my mail box for the month of September -

The theme was simply - Angels and Fairies.

As you can see there is a wide range of ideas, styles and interpretations of the theme, using a variety of products and mediums.
I love receiving these little packages in the mail every so often. Angels and fairies was a little bit tricky as being a stamper I had to have a stamped fairy and having only had one princess stamp to my name...
My answer was to add some butterfly wings, copious amounts of "shimmer" paint and mist, Rhinestone jewels and "Dazzling details" for a glittery image with a layer or two of tearing and my fairy was complete.

"Postage Due" and the Fan Fair suite.

Stampin' Up! has done what they do so well:  coordinating some of my favourite products into a Style Suite!

Whats a suite?

It's a bundle of coordinating stamps, ink, colours, papers and accessories that go together.

The Fan Fair suite has stampsets: Postage Due, and Morning post,

Fan Fair Designer series patterned paper and Vintage Faceted buttons,

and stampin' around builder wheels like Viola's lace, Travel journal and measuring stick.

The suite coordinates with the postage stamp punch and Doilies die, too.

I have used just some of these products for my card today.

When I put these products together I feel like I am packing my bag for a trip to Paris, France.

Well I can dream ...

 Have a close look at this vintage faceted button, they are going to be adding a bit of sparkle and bling to lots of flowers and tags on my cards.

Easy to thread with a piece of cotton, glue dot to your page, or tie with ribbon.

Card recipe:

Stampset: Postage Due p.108 (Annual catalogue) $36.95 (clear).

Designer series paper: Fan Fair

Cardstock: Crumb cake, Midnight Muse, whisper white.

Ink: Midnight Muse.

Tools: Postage stamp punch,

NEW 3/4" scallop circle punch,

Sharp snip scissors, Bakers twine,

Vintage Faceted buttons

Rhinestone jewels.

Colour challenge - Crafters anonymous - My 2 cents worth.

September's mini challenge over at Crafter's Anon is a colour inspiration challenge.
Don't you love a challenge that stretches you way outside your comfort zone?

The colours in this challenge were: Summer Starfruit, Basic Grey, Whisper white and Basic Black.
I haven't used my square Stampin' Up punches for a very long time.
The square pillows and flower texture inspired the layout for this design.

 Card Recipe:

Stampset: "Postage Paid" p.108 (Annual catalogue) $29.95

Ink: Black stazon.

Cardstock: Basic grey, whisper white, Summer Starfruit.

Punches: Square punches 1 1/4" and 1 3/8",

NEW 1 1/4" scallop circle, Postage stamp punch.

Dimensionals and silver brad.

 The style is crisp and clean. What else would you expect with balck and white,  offset with a distressed crumpled flower in the corner. the flower is made with three punched scallop circles distessed and delaminated to make 6 layers. Held together with one of our mini silver brads.

 I love this stampset - "Postage Due" - It's french, it is slightly vintage and it has that gorgeous 2 cents worth stamp that matches the postage stamp punch, (*sigh*) love it when everything coordinates...
What do you think?

Core'dinations Cardstock and Holiday Oval Frame

This was actually a very quick card to make for me.

The new core'dinations cardstock has a different coloured core so when you tear it, distress it, emboss it or sand it you reveal the inner colour and get fabulous dimension and texture.

 I simply ran the cardstock through the Big shot with the Holiday Frame embossing folder.

Then lightly sanded the surface with my sanding block and wiped it off.

I have stuck on a tree from the Pennant Parade stampset and a cotton ribbon on the front with dimensional adhesives.

Card Recipe:

Stampset: Pennant Parade

Ink: Gumball green, Raspberry ripple, Summer Starfruit.

Cardstock: Whisper white, Gumball green

 and Early Espresso Core'dinations.

Ribbon: 2.2cm natural cotton

Tools: Sharp scissors

Big shot, embossing folder,

Sanding block,

scallop edge punch.

2-way glue pen and dazzling diamonds.

Launch nigth party!

It was a very big night...

I want to say Thank you to the eight beautiful, lovely ladies who came to my launch night on Saturday!

We made three projects and used a pile of new products from the new Annual Catalogue and the Seasonal catalogue.

In the hall we had seventy or more women, crafting, talking, making cards and gifts and learning new techniques.

 A great chance to catch up with friends we haven't seen for such a long time.

I hope you all had fun?

We played with the new Core'dinations cardstock, embossed with woodgrain and sanded it to reveal its different coloured core.

 These gorgeous little owls were certainly a hit. We punched them out from the Snow Festival Designer Series paper (DSP) with the 1" circle punch. She is peeking through the 1 1/4" circled hole in her tree.

We tried a new paper fold, scoring it with the Simply Scored Tool and embellishing it with new Apothecary Accent Framelit dies.

I was so busy all night at my table, I didn't have time to photograph the sample table, or our completed projects on the night, so this one doesn't show the new butterfly punch we used.

Every launch night needs a 3 D item, a gift you take home to give away, or use yourself.

I designed this note book holder that you can keep your Christmas lists. All those friend and family gift lists and christmas card lists in. 

 We used the Big shot for the Oval Accent die which folds down over the top and is embossed with another new embossing folder called Lacy Brocade.

The flap is secured beneath a 40cm piece of Scalloped Tulle ribbon, so easy to tie and make look pretty.

 Hanging from the tulle bow is a gingerbread man (isn't he fabulous?) and the note book is covered with more Snow festival paper.

Very tired this morning - I had fun -What a way to launch two amazing new catalogues!

Our three projects only scraped the surface of all the new things on offer.

Ginger bread men in the scentsational season set

 I am loving this sunny Spring weather... and loving sitting in my dining room creating with new stampsets and Big shot framelits.

I just had to share with you the two cards I made this morning with the Scentsational Season stampset and Holiday Collection framelit dies.

 The first card just makes me smile ... those ginger bread men are tempting me to bake some gingerbread biscuits to eat with my cups of tea!

... run run as fast as you can, you can't catch me.

And they are accented with the new oval Big shot die, that is definitely going to be as popular as the top note die.

 It fits the new embossing folder  "Holiday frame" neatly inside ... I can see some elegant christmas cards with this folder for sure.

And the colours: Raspberry Ripple, Summer starfruit and Gumball green behind.

I have stamped the happy gingerbread people, (lets not be too gender specific) in gumball green, Cajun Craze and Raspberry ripple inks. 

So this second one is my favourite,

just because it looks like a plate of biscuits that my daughter has been devouring.

I didn't know if I'd like this gumball green but, it reminds me of something between Wild Wasabi and Old Olive.

If you havent booked in for my launch party on Saturday night, give me a quick text on 0468 877 125

as there are only a few seats left.

The 2012-13 Annual catalogue is here!

Today, we have five new in-colours at Stampin' Up! and that means new inkpads, new cardstock, new patterned papers, stampin' write markers, ribbons, brads, and stamps, and tools!
I have been playing every spare moment this last week, enjoying all the new things I can do with these colours, embossing folders and dies.
We have a new type of ink pad (made of solid foam instead of the fabric type) and it creates a lovely solid image with just one touch of the rubber to the foam pad.
No more twisting, tapping and tapping again.

The new colours range from a lovely lemony yellow (think star fruit), through bright gumball green, to midnight muse - a navy blue, primrose pink and a rich raspberry ripple red.
The stampset I have been playing with is called Betty's Blossoms and consists of 5 stamps.

A bird, flowers, flower burst pattern and leaves.
It comes with a matching stampin' around wheel and coordinating paper called "Floral District".

Do you want to come and play with all the new stamps, colours and accesories in the catalogue?

Come and join me on Saturday, 8 September for our catalogue launch at 7.30pm.

Text me if you'd like me to save you a space at my table - 0468 877 125.