Strawberry Postage Due

I still remember when Shelli first revealed this gorgeous stamp set at stampin' Up! Convention a few years ago. In her signature vintage style she punched the wheel circles from patterned paper.

So Shelli - circa 2012 - in her simple vintage style.

I have been meaning to make a card like hers for a while... When a friend asked could we do a French styled card in pretty vintage colours I thought of this card from a few years ago. I have updated the colours and added an extra layer, combining Strawberry Slush with Early Espresso ink and the new watercolour wonder DSP (Designer series paper).

Card Recipe:

Stamp set: Postage Due, hostess Simply Sketched.

Cardstock: Strawberry slush, Crumb cake, watercolour Wonder DSP

Ink: early espresso.

Tools: 1" circle punch, postage stamp punch, 1" square punch.

Little chicken

Happy Easter to everyone who visits my blog this week!

This is my virtual Easter card just for you.

Isn't it the simplest and cutest little chicken ?

I spotted a card on pinterest made by Sharon Burkett and I simplified the design down to this.

 My little chicken is made using the 1 3/8 inch (that's 3.5cm) circle punch and the bird punch (wings) with Daffodil Delight card stock.

My background is a technique called masking. Where you punch out two scallop circles and use them as a mask while you sponge a soft blue ink. Gradually moving the scallop masks downwards till you cover the page with fluffy white clouds.

Card Recipe:

Stampsets - Teeny tiny sentiments, Nature walk

Cardstock - Certainly celery, whisper white, Daffodil Delight, Concord Crush, Poppy parade (for the beak and legs) I was using up paper from my scraps box.

ink - Baja Breeze, Concord Crush

punches - 3.5cm circle, two step bird, Word window

and scallop circle for the cloud mask

big shot - Adorning accent edgelit

ribbon - Daffodil Delight stitched

"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?

Field Flowers

Experimenting with new stampsets is what I enjoy....

I have kept to a very strict palette of purple and green.

Stamping on First Edition Designer series paper, for that botanical vintage look, I guess you'd call it.

 The Field flowers stampset comes with two word stamps:

"With Love "

and "My thoughts are happiest when you're in them."

I like to accent my sentiment with a rhinestone

 stick-on jewell, just giving it that little bit of bling.

Like a dew drop on the flower centre or edge.

The Field Flower set is a TWO STEP stamp set.

As you can see I have stamped the solid stamp in Wisteria Wonder Ink then, stamped again over the top of it with Concord Crush.

Giving depth and tone which makes an almost 3D effect.

 The flowers fit perfectly into the Large oval punch so if you're not into fussy-cutting, this one pops your card up to the next level in a moment, without a pinch, with a single punch...

This flower stamp works well in pretty pinks, orange and red, blues and greens...
which makes it very versatile and one of my new Favourites!

Timeless Portrait in the lumpy bumpy style

I think this is the style that was meant for me.
Layers of fabric, texture, ribbons, border punches, vintage, but fairly clean and a few pearls for embellishment.
I quite enjoyed making this card using the Forever young, Established Elements and Kindness matters stampsets.

 I have fussy cut the picture frame and ink swirl  stepping them up with dimensionals.
Which by the way stick very well to fabric and ribbon.

I've manage to use my Lace ribbon border punch with First Edition printed paper.

And punched the Modern label for my sentiment.

The embossed frame is made with the big shot and Designer frames folder.

 My Cherry Cobbler Seam binding ribbon has been tied into a bow and crumpled mercilessly...
Sprayed with a bit of shimmer mist spray and crumpled again!

The fabric circle is Timeless portrait fabric cut out with my Big shot and Clear Circle die.

You will find it on page 158 of the 2012 IB&C.

Watercoloured Butterfly

I have to show you a card I made

 at a friend's house (Hey Linda!) ... was it a week ago, now?

Warning - Don't borrow this lace border punch UNLESS you intend to own it.

After making this card with the lace ribbon punch I have put it on my next order wish list.

It is so easy to punch a border and you can thread it with ribbon or lace.

I will be using it on scrapbook pages, wrapping around gifts, cutting it up for individual flowers and as a belly band around boxes.

Doesn't it dress up this very plain one layer card?

 The butterfly is punched out of First Edition Designer series paper with the 6.4cm circle punch.

 I have simply watercoloured it with my aquapainter brush using Pool party and Lucky Limeade Ink.

The card is sprayed or is it Spritzed with some Soft Suede ink

 (looks like aged fly dirt) there's a tool for this.

And the Musical notes are "wheeled" on to the paper also in Soft Suede ink.

To finish it off the Victorian Crochet ribbon is tied loosely around a few holes in the

Lace Ribbon Border Punch.

A free stampset - Elementary Elegance

This is a really fun card fold called a

"Double gated" card.

And when you slide off the ribbon it opens up like this- 

These colours are so pretty together: Pool Party and Island Indigo.

The Stampset is a free Sale-a-bration gift when you spend $100 with stampin up.

The Elementary Elegance stamp

is beautifully coordinated to go with the Curly label punch

 and the new Everyday Enchantment designer series papers.

 Card Recipe:

Stampset: Elementary Elegance

Cardstock: Pool party

Ink: Island Indigo.

Paper: Everyday Enchantment Designer series paper

Curly Label punch, Large oval punch, eyelet border punch and dotted scallop ribbon punch.

Pool Party ruffled ribbon.

Tools: Big shot, Designer Frames Embossing folder

Pearl Basic jewels.

Its all about the elegance of coordinated ... colour, ink, stamps and paper.

A Fabulous Floret Scrapbooking page

 Summer time at the Beach playing in the shade in the sand.

It must be one of the best childhood memories I had as a child.

I've chosen the Fabulous Florets stampset to embellish my scrapbook page.

The line art and solid stamp flowers fit nicely into circle and oval punches.

I have rock and rolled the flowers in both Wisteria Wonder and Elegant eggplant inks and thrown on a rhinestone jewel for the flower centre. 

 The "photo-corners" are made with the curly label punch.

 Simply punch out the curly label and using your craft knife or rotary cutter slice a slit into the corner of the cardstock and voila!

 you have ready made photo corners.

On the right of the page I have embossed the Big shot textured impression Flower Garden direct to the background page.

It creates a delightfully deep impression as a contrast to the stamping and photo.

The words: the earth laughs in flowers is stamped on an elongated punch of the Modern label punch.

You can make this as long as you like by putting the ends of a 1.4cm strip of card through the punch one end at a time.

Sale-a-bration has started...

Such an exciting time of year... children tucked safely back in school, the usual pattern of our days resume and there is time for blogging, stamping, scrapbooking, cardmaking and workshop planning!
It may be the best time to join as a demonstrator with Stampin' up! to get your discounts all year 'round ...

 On the weekend I demoed at my first workshop for the year.

There is nothing more fun than stamping and creating with friends, a lovely afternoon tea and catching up with what we've missed.

On our first card we used the "Fabulous Florets" stampset combined with the Flower garden embossing  folder which makes a quick base for assembling a card on Concord crush.

 We made an elongated sentiment  using the "modern label punch" and the words from the Fabulous Florets stampset... I was intrigued by the quote:

"the earth laughs in flowers"

it is a little controversial as it is attributed to the poet ee.cummings but,

it seems the author is actually Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Correct me if I'm wrong. 

The second card is made using the delicious "Everyday Enchantment" designer series paper.

It coordinates with the Fresh Vintage and the Elegant Elements stampsets.

 (Both FREE from the Sale-a-bration catalogue).

We punched out the patterned papers with a new postage stamp punch - so easy!

Did I mention that I love the colours: Pool Party and Poppy Parade together.

And Lucky Limeade was made to be rock and rolled with Pool party on this stamp.

My calendar is open for February and March workshop bookings...

You can send me a text, email or give me a call to plan an afternoon together with friends.

Nerida on my Mobile: 0468 887 125

Fabulous Florets

 Fabulous Florets is a stampset on page 14 of the Summer mini catalogue and it forms part of the totally coordinated "Beyond the garden" Product Suite.
I am never quite sure how a card will come together when I make it from scratch...
But if I use products from the same "suite" of products, I atleast get a coordinated image and style that works well together.
I"d probably be a lot more productive if I stamped more and thought less about the whole thing...
but there you go, it all turns out fine in the end.

Card Recipe:
Stampset: Fabulous Florets (set of 6 stamps)
"Flower Garden" Textured Impressions embossing folder.
Cardstock: Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder and whisper white.
Ink: Melon Mambo, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder.
Tools: Modern label punch, Circle and oval punches, Big shot.

Building a scrapbook page.

Scrapbooking is a little different to making cards.

You know that your scrapbook page is going to be kept for some time and may be brought out year after year by family and friends.

I know that a scrapbook page takes a little longer and so I set aside enough time to enjoy the process.

There is the Photo selection time - choosing a picture that evokes an emotion: a moment of pride, excitement, a beautiful photo, or an event to remember!

Next comes the colour matching - to the photo, to the mood, to the season.

Usually it is the fabrics and patterns in the photo that I want to repeat in the background.

Then choosing the products I will use as accents: Sometimes for me it is the latest set of patterned papers or a shiny new product that I want to experiment with. And, sometimes it is just an idea I have, inspired by a magazine, or an image from an advertising catalogue. My favourite are bath, manchester and bedroom catys. 

This one reminds me of pillows or a patchwork quilt.

Often, I like to start small with a 6x6 inch page and build up a full size page from there. 

 Sometimes by the time you add an embellishment and some background stamping, or a title that is enough!

But usually I like to add more than one or two photos to a page and that decides the way the page will look.

I add my date and journalling last ... and sponge around the edge of the white page.

This page is one of my favourites featuring Jessica at the Choral Festival in September.

The singing club sung songs from Mary Poppins and dressed as maids and chimney sweeps.

The fresh vintage patterned papers and the orangey reds in the embellishments match the cute little aprons they wore.

Christmas tree ornaments

When you are addicted to stamping and all things art and craft you join a group called

Crafters Anonymous

I 've been going there for a while now and can I say they haven't helped.

They just keep sending me more ideas to further my addiction...

But it's all good - take a look at the lovely gifts I have received.

 This star ornament is by Daryl Clapham.

I might be making a few of these to decorate the house this year.

 This cute little snowman is by Dannii Sholz.

 And here is the Angel ornament I sent as my christmas tree ornament.

 It is one of my favourite punch art angels that I have made before

 but for these I was able to make the angel's skirt with
 Stampin' Up fabric
 and I used a square ice brad in her hair to hold the ribbon and wings on the back.

 A host of angels ready to be sent ....

In this photo I think you can just see the shimmer paint that I have sponged on the angel's hair.

And the wings are made of velum punched out after I'd run it through the Big shot with the Elegant lines embossing folder.