Going going ... retirement list

This month our Stampin' Up team have been Farewelling stamps and products from the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalogue. A few of us swapped cards with the challenge to use as many retiring products as you can. Here are 4 that I received:

Debra has used Fresh cuts stampset, Occassional greetings and Marina Mist Satin ribbon. 

 Karen has used Great Friend stampset, Sunny Garden DSP, The Designer Label punch, photo corners punch and the Certainly Celery striped grosgrain ribbon.

 Linda has used: The BlueBerry Crisp DSP, Razzle Dazzle stampset and Occasional greetings, Marina Mist satin ribbon, and the also retiring Designer label punch.

 Nerida (stamping joy) used two retiring stampsets: Friends 24/7 and sense of Time AND the Designer label punch. Then because I love this stampset I made another card to celebrate August retirement month.

This card uses The Sense of Time stampset in Pacific Point and black embossing powder.

Now if you are wanting to order any thing from the retirement list just send me an email to nerida_carter@hotmail.com and we will place your order asap.

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The retirement products are going very fast from the wharehouse and the the latest update from Stampin' Up tells me the following items are now no longer available to order:

Garden Whimsy Stamp set [wood-mount] -

(If you are looking for this one I have a "gently-used" set that I will be selling off on 1 September.)

Choo Choo Stamp Set [wood-mount]

Sanded Background Stamp [wood-mount]

Full Calendar Stamp [wood-mount]

Bashful Blue 12" x 12" Card Stock

Rich Razzleberry 12" x 12" Card Stock

Early Espresso 12" x 12" Card Stock

Chocolate Chip 12" x 12" Card Stock

Night of Navy 12" x 12" Card Stock

Marina Mist 12" x 12" Card Stock

Crumb Cake 12" x 12" Card Stock

Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelets

Metallic Eyelets

Pewter Jumbo Eyelets

Photo Corners Punch

Spiral Punch

Star Punch

Small Oval Punch

Say Goodbye... 2010 Idea book Caty

The Stampin' Up 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalogue finishes at the end of August and to that means that the Retirement list is available.

There are some exciting Bargain priced products on the list.

But these bargains are only available until 31 August or till stocks run out.

The jumbo eyelets and the spiral punch are already out of stock!!!

Bargains like these:

40% off Gifted stampset (page21)

40% off Jolly Holiday Designer series paper

25% off many other products

Email me nerida_carter@hotmail.com or give me a call to place your order, as items on this list have begun to run out already.

Rhinestones and ribbon ...

Aren't these gorgous together?

Do you know, I don't own any fire or ice rhinestones ...

You may have noticed I use my clear rhinestones when ever I need a little point of shine, bling and a centre of attention.

They suit vintage cards like this one which I think makes a nice wedding or anniversary card.

It is inspired by Shelli's vintage demo at Convention. Its definitely my style too.

You can do so much with monotone colours (thats a single colour).

And you can be certain you will have no colour clashes.

The collage effect of different stamps layed over each other is another easy technique that makes a one layer card so easy to prepare.

Without the rhinestone and filigree brad in the centre of the ribbon this card would be well... a little dull I think. I am pretty pleased with how this turned out and it could be done in melon mambo or Rich Razzleberry colours too.

If you are looking for some bling for the centre of your accesories let me know before Wednesday so that we can place an order for some rhinestones and ribbon.

Card Recipe:

Stampsets: Friends 24/7, Rustic Rooster, Teeny tiny sentiments.

Cardstock: Sahara sand

Ink: Sahara sand, Soft Suede.

Accessories: Clear Rhinestone brads, Filigree brad, Soft Suede polka dot ribbon.

Tools: Large Oval punch, Scallop oval punch.

Point taken in the Elite Challenge.

So that was February, and it's already March!!!
On Saturday I tried to quickly whip up an Elite Challenge Card for the month of February. One of the challenges was to use the colours: Pacific Point, Taken with Teal, Tempting Turquoise and Orchid Opulence. I have been thinking over these colours for the whole month, gathering courage.

I thought the colours could be a bit heavy: the Teals and the Blues... so with the help of a whisper white Fresh Cuts Note card I think I managed to keep it light and white to carry those heavier hues.

  The front of the card is stamped with the damask stamp from Friends 24/7 stampset ... I have used this stamp over and over again.... then I slipped a square of Orchid Opulence behind the cut out panel stamped with Tempting turquoise.

I puched two flowers out with the 5 petal punch one in Taken with Teal and the second Tempting Turquoise. Placed them behind and a pacific point cut out flower in front.

All held together with one "Build a brad".

The sentiment is stamped in whisper white craft ink onto Pacific point and punched out with a word window.

And I couldn't help myself - I had to put the smallest stamp from Flight of the butterfly in orchid opulence on the side.

Recipe:

Ink: Pacific point, Orchid opulence, Tempting turquoise, whisper white craft.

Cardstock: Whisper white, Pacific Point, Orchid opulence, Taken with teal, Tempting turquoise.

Punches: Five flower punch, Eyelet border, word window, 1.3cm circle.

Stampset: Friends 24/7, Flight of the butterfly, Fresh cuts.

Fresh cut Notes, Build a brad, DSP.

Six Circles to express your style!

What is your individual style?

People say they can pick my style of card ... but I dont know quite what it is myself.

A style can be clean, bold vintage, elegant, shabby chic but one style is all of these things and more: eclectic style.

It is classic and innovative all at the same time. An elegant script paired with bold colours and different design with Silhouettes and flowing lines integrated into one eye-catching  project. (I hope)

The colours are bright: Pumpkin pie, Kiwi kiss and Riding hood Red.
Black and white script from the Life Definitions set.

I really enjoyed making this card. It uses so many of my favourite sets: the silhouette from Upsy daisy, flowers and medallian from Friends 24/7

And the build a brad on the lower right circle for a bit of gloss and shine. Finished with a bit of dazzling diamonds on the kiwi kiss outlined flowers.

Scrapbook an original Super star

Do you have a gorgous photo that you want to display or a milestone moment to be celebrated?
This year (in December) Daughter finally achieved her first super star Assistant Principals award certificate.
We celebrated with a photo and she was up on stage to recieve it at the school assembly.

At first I used a 6x6" scrapbook page to present her photo with a ribbon and I thought I might put it in a small shadow box frame to place on our display shelf.

The layout is one that we made at a recent Team training day ... then as I always have more than one photo I decided to make it up into a 12x12" scrapbook page to either fit my album or frame for the wall.

The quote is "Unique" out of the Life Definitions stampset - an excellent set for scrapbooking.

If you want to place the stamp perfectly inside the stamped frame as I did here you can use a stamp positioner, affectionately known as the stamp-a-ma-jig.

And here is a button-grommet combination to add interest to my ribbon. The gromot has little metal prongs that you can simply press into the cardstock and bend the tines over to hold it securely in place. Really easy!

And I placed the button into the centre with a mini glue dot.

What you need to make this page:
Stampset: life definitions, outline alphabet, Friends 24/7, Frames with a flourish.
Cardstock: Baja breeze textured, riding hood red, whisper white, Pacific Point.
Ink: Riding hood red, baja breeze, Pacific Point, white craft (for the large title).
Tools and accessories: Riding hood red ribbon, large white grommet, button bouquet, stampamajig, jumbo eyelet, cropadile, 1 3/4" circle punch, crimper tool, large star punch, mini glue dots.

Friendly words

We are still feeding our little noisy minor bird ... every couple of hours. Here he is only a few days after we found him on the first Monday of the school holidays.When I am making cards he is on the floor lookng at me, chirping at me and showing his pretty yellow and grey plumage. So I have made another friends 24/7 card using the markers direct to rubber and coupled it with the friendly words wheel. A portrait of our little bird as he grows.

The Marker Colours I have used are: so saffron, going grey and basic grey for the bird. Chocolate chip and Old olive for the branch he sits on.
I have distressed the edges of the white and chocolate chip card stock mounting with my distressing tool.... it gives a kind of shabby chic look and suits the watercolour effect of the stamping.
The friendly words wheel has a collection of quotes and lines about friendship ...my favourite is
True friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.Materials used:

Stampset: Friends 24/7, Friendly words wheel.

Cardstock: Sahara sand, whisper white, chocolate chip

Ink: chocolate chip.

Markers: so saffron, going grey, basic grey, chocolate chip, old olive close to cocoa.

Ribbon: choc chip taffeta.

Tools: Distressing tool, Circle punches: 1 1/4 ", 1 3/8"

Friends and friendship

Where would we be without our bestest, bestest friends?
They are there with us through our good times, and... (this is what makes them our best) They are there through the worst times aswell ... listening, sharing, comiserating, holding up the truth for us and taking it on their shoulders, sharing the load a little.

And they are still there, when you come out the other side!

Just waiting to celebrate the next adventure.

This is only the second swing card I have ever made. I modified the original dimensions to make it a square-ish card that then I realised I needed to make a handmade envelope to fit it. I love how when you open thise card the image swings around to show the sentiment... Thank you for your friendship. Then you can flip it over again and see the stamping on the back... not as exciting as the front, but shows you how its made. The little bird is coloured with markers direct to rubber, using the so saffron marker and the sahara sand marker (does it look a little bit like a noisy miner?), ... and the branch is in chocolate chip and the leaves in Old Olive. I huffed on the stamp to moisten it up before stamping. The Best is yet to be stamp is also multi-coloured with markers ... as are the flowers and damask image stamps aswell.I am an optimist always: the best is yet to be ... no matter where you are right now...Enjoy!

Another mouth to feed ... birds and friends 24/7

I had to share this photo with you of my daughter with our school holiday addition to the household. Her dad found the bird in the middle of the road, fallen out of it's nest and he couldn't leave it there. So after figuring out it is a native noisy minor, (not the brown introduced indian minor species), we rang wires and they said to feed it and try to introduce it back to the local community of noisy minor birds ... well so far they have completely ignored it and every hour or so it says "peep peep peep" (very cute) and needs another feed.
Daughter loves it by the way... and has named it "tweety".
And here is the card I made, inspired by bird on the weekend (there are several actually)...The background is stamped with the damask stamp from friends 24/7... rock and rolled in pink pirouette and riding hood red ink. I did the same with the bird ( a bit heavier with the riding hood red) and cut it out so that I could place it up off the page with a few dimensionals.

Then I coated the bird in shiny crystal effects. Its an adhesive that dries hard and clear and gives a great shiny coating to cardstock when you spread it with the nozzle.The sentiment "My friend" was stamped and embossed on white cardstock using the "friendly words wheel", cut out and attached with a dimensional too. The pink flower is a metal brad (from the Spring mini catalogue) and I have edged the two layers with the eyelet border punch.

There is a layer of Riding hood red cardstock under the white, and a layer of pink pirouette patterned paper under that. Inside I have placed another strip of Designer series paper (both from the Bella Rose paper pack). What I have used to make this card:
Stampset: Friends 24/7, Friendly words wheel.
DSP: Bella rose designer series
Cardstock: Riding hood red, whisper white and sahara sand.
Ink:Riding hood red, pink pirouette, VersaMark.
Accessories: Flower brad, Crystal effects, silver embossing powder.

Baja and Parisian breeze

Have you seen this gorgous card on page 71 of the Stampin' Up idea book and Catalogue?

Here is my version of it. I have used baja breeze textured cardstock and the specialty paper Parisian breeze for the tactile effect. It is layered on a piece of whisper white that is scalloped at the bottom and put on dimensionals. I have used different stampsets and colours but the layout is almost exactly the same. I love using the tafetta ribbons chocolate chip and whisper white (I added that behind the flowers). The best bit is how you can turn the corner of the double sided paper with a brad and display the other side. I really like these papers.

I have used the medallion from the friends 24/7 stampset that just peaks out from underneath. I might have used more of it but didn't want to distract from the patterned paper.

Instead of the pocket silhouette flower I have used two stamps of the bella bloom flower in baja breeze and chocolate chip. They seem to match the papers.

Card Recipe:

Stampset: Bella's bloom, Friends 24/7, Pocket silhouette.

Ink: Chocolate chip, baja breeze.

Cardstock: Baja breeze textured, whisper white.

Specialty Paper: Parisian Breeze

Ribbon: chocolate chip, whisper white tafetta

Tools: mat pack, awl, eyelet border punch, word window punch, Antique black brad.

Enjoy!

A Happy Birthday - Friends 24/7

I can share this with you today as the recipient has it now. And I remembered to photograph it before I gave it to her.... As per usual it is very difficult to photograph a card with dazzling diamonds on it. It sparkles in real life but, put it under a lens and the sunlight makes the glitter look white and the shade makes it disappear, so imagine the dazzling diamonds on the red and the happy.
I have used happy from the happy everything stampset as I love the script style and the Birthday from the sentiment stamp in the upsy daisy stampset.
Just love these colours together - fresh, chocolate and earthy...
Materials used:
Stampsets: Friends 24/7, Happy everything, upsy daisy.
Cardstock: Close to cocoa, chocolate chip, riding hood red, Whisper white.
Ink: Riding hood red, white craft.
Other: Dazzling diamonds, 2 way glue pen.

Film strip cards and scrapbook pages

Do you remember, about a year ago, all the rage was the film strip card that my talented upline, Linda Higgins introduced us to? I think the orginal idea came from splitcoast.We all bought hole punches, and spiral punches ... well, its time to get them out again, if you ever put them away.

This scrapbook layout uses the same concept to feature a row of themed photos like a film strip.I have used the "gallery" stampset from the current spring mini. There are 3 large frame stamps that I like to use for either short journalling onto, or turning into a frame for an accessory or two.This one reminds me of a mirror frame with the curly wrought iron looking swirls top and bottom. Just enough room to write the girl's names and where they are - the Japanese gardens - and the date. This frame reminded me of a large flower frame, so I centred the flower stamp from the always stampset on vellum in elegant eggplant ink (embossed in clear embossing powder to make it permanent) and used my favourite filigree flower with a clear rhinestone brad in the centre. Pretty special huh? I've used my double rectangle punch for the edges of the filmstrip. Trimmed the photos to roughly the same size and shape, (they were already framed on each edge with a white border). I've also kept the colour scheme fairly monochromatic, pale plum and eggplant cardstock, eggplant grosgrain ribbon and elegant eggplant, perfect plum and nothing else for ink. I am loving my gallery stamps ... So many words on this page I kept the Title small: Friends giggle...

The girls took food for the fish in the carp pond, but being winter, they were having their ponds cleaned so we walked around, played in the tea house and had a hot chocolate in the cafe. Look at those happy faces... chocolate fueled smiles or what?

Other Accessories: large oval punch and dimensionals to lift the warm words ovals.

Friends stamp is from the Friends 24/7 stampset.