Vintage Mashup

When I submitted my entry for the Friday Mash Up challenge #38 I noticed that they were leaving the entries for challenge #37 open until next week!  I was a bit intrigued by this challenge which was to use chipboard or distressing techniques, or mash them up and make a card using both distressing and chipboard. I am also entering this card into the 4 Crafty Chics challenge to use something new - new DSP from the upcoming Sale-A-Bration event.

For this post I have taken a few photos to show off different aspects of this card., this first one shows the card completely closed. I knew I wanted to use some of the DSP that is going to be available as part of Sale-A-Bration 2012, there are so many colours in this paper stack but I chose to keep it fairly simple and use two that use Calypso Coral and Pool Party.  The smaller butterfly is cut from DSP adhered to chipboard and then put through the Big Shot, the larger butterfly has been cut using the same die but with DSP only.  I added the sentiment and Crochet Trim to keep with the vintage feel of the card.

I wanted to take a close up of the butterfly accent because it shows off the distressing that I did.  I have to say I struggled a bit with this because I don't usually use distressing techniques.  I decided to use two on this card, one was to crumple the big butterfly and then drag the Crumb Cake ink pad over the creases to highlight them - I was a bit nervous about this but was happy with how it turned out.  On both of the butterflies I sanded back the edges of the DSP to give it a worn look. 

Now to the card itself ...  This picture shows the card partially open.  This was such a fun card to make and was the tutorial by Patty Bombyk and is featured on Splitcoaststampers this week, I wanted to try something a bit different and this certainly fit the bill.  The top 2/3 of the card opens up and the bottom splits in half and opens sideways!  

Here is a picture of the inside to show both how it opens and the insert I made.  I don't usually make an insert for my cards, but this one just needed something on the inside.  I am not sure if it was the expanse of Calypso Coral, or the general vintage feel of the card, but it seemed bare, so I added a piece of Pool Party card stock sponged around the edges and used the image from Creative Elements to create a border at the top and bottom.

Happy Stamping

Paper Lovin' Mojo

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and for those of you who get the whole week off I hope you are relaxing and enjoying whatever you are doing.  I have spent a lovely few days with my husband and daughter, eating Christmas food, and enjoying the time away from work. 

One of the things I do to relax is to create, and this week at Paper Lovin' Gals there is a great inspirational picture to help the creativity flow.  I think this picture is a great break away from the Christmas theme we have had for a few weeks, and a reminder that 2012 is just a few short days away.  The inspiration I have taken from this picture is the rosette and the colours - what will inspire you?  The layout, colours, theme ... it doesn't matter really because you can join in by creating anything that was inspired by this picture, a scrap page, card, 3D item or even something not paper craft related! So pop over and join in this week.

I also took inspiration from the Mojo Monday sketch this week.

I just love making rosettes, and this was no exception, this one is made using 2 pieces of 6" x 1" card stock which I scored at 1/8" and then fan-folded and joined.  The next part is a bit fiddly, you need to adhere the ends together to form one loop then wiggle it until you lay it flat.  I adhere mine to a 1" circle at the back to help me keep it in shape while the glue dries.  I added a Calypso Coral flower using the Triple Layer Blossom Bouquet.  Can you spot the two new products that will be part of the Sale-A-Bration rewards in January? The little brad and the Lucky Limeade Organdy ribbon that I have layered over some Calypso Coral ruffled ribbon and a small strip of white card stock.  I am loving the effect this gives.

Thanks for dropping by.

Happy Stamping

Another Challenge Card

I have had some fun today, but I have to say my creative mojo is a bit lacking and I seem to have slowed down in the speed at which I create things - a day to make 2 cards isn't very speedy lol.  But I enjoyed making them and that is the important thing.

I made this card with three challenges in mind - The Friday Mash Up, CAS-ual Friday, and Less Is More.  I struggle with the Less is More challenges, I don't often like leaving large spaces unfilled in my cards, but with the sketch at the Mash Up I thought I might be able to pull it off ... let me know what you think.

The Friday Mash Up this week was to use the sketch and/or use water painting. Now while I didn't actually use water colouring with the card, the DSP I chose for the top note does look like a water colour, so I guess that sort of counts!  To attach the Cherry Cobbler bakers twine I wrapped it around the card and through a small hole punched in the spine of the card, it did have a little bow but I accidentally cut it off when trimming the ends lol.

Added for clarification:  The Less Is More challenge was to use a single word sentiment, in this card I chose the 'create' that comes from the Creative Elements stamp set, and paired it with the frame stamp from the same set.

Happy Stamping

Black and White and Red All Over

When I was younger I used to love the riddle "What is black and white and red all over?"  the answer was "A newspaper" (read instead of red)!  The colour challenge at Colour Q reminded me of this so I just had to add Red as my additional colour this week.  I was also intrigued by the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches as well so used that as my basis for this card.  I am also entering this card in the SUO Challenge "Feeling a bit Punchy" I have added butterflies from the Beautiful Wings die for this part.

I have been itching to use some of the flocked DSP in the Mocha Morning Specialty DSP, and this seemed just the right time to do so.  I love the black, red and white together and knew I wanted to use the stamp from Just Believe as a silhouette image with butterflies to add a splash of colour. It was all a bit dark so I added some Real Red mats to the DSP and I am really happy with the outcome.

It is so nice to have time and energy to be creative and play along with some challenges again.  I am hoping to get a few more done in the next day or so before I have to go back to work, so pop back and check them out.

Happy Stamping

Christmas Trees

Isn't this a beautiful elegant inspirational picture this week at Paper Lovin' Gals?  I love the way that each week people look at the picture and are inspired in so many different ways - how will you be inspired this week?  Will it be the colours, layout, content or one element of the picture?

For me it was the colours and the three little Christmas trees.  I knew what I wanted to do when I saw this and yes, it involved glimmer paper!  I cut three triangles out of card stock - 2 from Always Artichoke and one from Very Vanilla. I put them all through the Big Shot using the Lattice Embossing Folder, with the Very Vanilla one I first adhered some circles I punched out using my Crop-A-Dial and 3/8" Circle Punch.  Once they had the lattice embossing on them I rubbed the surface of each with Platinum Shimmer Paint.  I also used the Shimmer Paint directly on the rubber to stamp the sentiment.  I was really pleased with the way this card photographed, often it is difficult to pick up the look of the glimmer and shimmer on a card, but this shows it off almost as good as in real life.

Happy Stamping

Christmas Yummies

Christmas Yummies was my first thought when I saw the inspirational photo at Paper Lovin' Gals this week.  Cooking treats is one of my favourite things about Christmas, I am a little behind the cooking this Christmas, but I do have my dried fruit soaking ready to make my pudding and fruit mince pies this weekend.  Then the Rum Balls and White Christmas (the closest thing we have to snow in Australia!), my daughter and I often cook together and sing "It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas" as the aromas of baking pies and rum balls fill the air.  Anyway ... that is what this picture reminded me of ... what does it make you think of?  How does it inspire you to create? Come play along this week at Paper Lovin' Gals.

I knew I wanted to use the little snowman out of the Tags Til Christmas set, and played around with a few ideas until it came to me to use him as decoration on the icing of a cupcake!!!  The icing on the biscuits at the front of the photo reminded me of show and so I replicated this in the two snowflakes on the card.  Ever since I started playing with the Silver Glimmer paper I have not been able to put it down!  On the centre circle I have sponged the edges which I think worked quite well, though you may need to click on the photo to see it properly.

I hope you have been inspired to join in this week, if you need a bit more pop over to Paper Lovin' Gals and see what the other Design Team members have created.

Happy Stamping

Colours of Christmas

Don't you find that at this time of year time goes so fast!  It went so fast for me that I completely missed last week's challenge at Paper Lovin' Gals! This week there is a great inspirational photo to inspire creativity, a bit different to what you might see in an Aussie Christmas, although we have had some unseasonably cold weather lately.

I love inspirational photos because there is no limitations, whatever the photo inspires you to create is just fine, whether it is colours, layout, theme, or one element of the picture. Let this picture inspire you and join us in this week's challenge. I love the colours in this picture and it made me want to use my favourite Christmas colours, which just happens to be the challenge theme for Stampin Up Only Challenges. 

From the picture I was also quite taken with the windows, and wanted to recreate them in some way on my card.  I used the Lace Ribbon Border Punch to make the frame, I have seen this done with smaller border punches and just wanted to give it a go with this one.  You need to start with a 5" square piece of card stock and punch once in the middle of each side.  In the corners I have used the Postage Stamp Punch in Cherry Cobbler and then the 1" Square Punch in the centre of each.  Can you pick what I punched out?   It is the ornament punch in the Tags 'Til Christmas stamp set, isn't it cute? I also used this set to stamp the feature in the centre of the card, and backed this with a stamped doily from Delicate Doilies. I finished off with some Rhinestones to add a bit of bling.

Happy Stamping

Anything But A Card

I wanted to make this ever since I saw the Glimmer Paper in the new Summer Mini Catalogue and how please was I to see that this week the Friday Mash Up was to make something wintry, and over at Stampin' Royalty the challenge was to make 'anything but a card' ...  perfect.  

Now the photo just doesn't do them justice, but they are so pretty in real life and catch the light beautifully. I can't wait to wear them as my Christmas earrings this year.

To make them was super easy, I just punched 4 snowflakes using the Doily Triple Layer punch from the Silver Glimmer Paper.  I adhered these back to back to make two snowflakes (I think they look far more like snowflakes than doilies!!!).  I grabbed a few supplies that I had in storage from my jewellery making days and hey-presto ... a beautiful pair of glittery, wintry  Christmassy earrings.  

Happy Stamping

ESAD Summer Mini Blog Hop

Today marks the release of the new Summer Mini Catalogue and my fellow demonstrators at ESAD have created some amazing items with some of the new products. What is ESAD? ESAD stands for "Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators" and it is an on-line group just for Australian and New Zealand Stampin Up demonstrators.  We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors, but we share our love for what we do with each other as demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know-how, and cyberstamps, and we are always there to help and support each other when it is needed.

So if you are a Stampin' Up! demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand, then please feel free to click here to join our wonderful group

You might have arrived here from Libby's blog LibbyStampz, or you may be starting here, either is fine, just follow the link at the bottom of each post to hop to the next blog.  There are 25 in all so grab a cuppa, sit back and enjoy the creativity.

I was so excited at Regional Training this year because I won a door prize which was the Pretty Postage stamp set, so I chose that to feature in my post for this hop.  In this card I paired it with the raspberry stamp from the Clearly For You stamp set, don't they go so well together?  I used another couple of the new products - the 1" Square Punch, and the Postage Stamp Punch, again they go really well together.  I have also used the Bevelled Window Pane as a feature with Crumb Cake Seam Binding.

Here is another stamp from the Pretty Postage set, I like the concept of having a friend 24-7, someone you can count on to be there for you no matter what, so I paired the 24-7 stamp with the friends from the Tiny Tags set and matching punch.  I think sometimes these special people in our lives deserve a reminder and I think this little gift box is just the thing.  I have also used the amazing Spice Cake DSP to create a feature strip on the box. 

My final project also uses the Spice Cake DSP, it matches the Triple Flower Stamp, for this I wanted to use the sheet that is covered with these beautiful little flowers, because I wanted to make a set of little cards.  I have made a set like this before, and again the idea came from our Regional Training day, I made the card holder using the two tag die.  These little sets are so quick and easy to make and are the perfect thing to either have on your desk to attach to a gift, or to give as a gift to someone special.  

That is it from me, please keep hopping to see the great projects that Joanne Kechagias has to show you on her blog Joanne's Stamping Creations. Don't forget to leave some comments as you hop around, a bit of blog love is always appreciated.

If you don't have a current Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and would like a copy of the new Summer Mini please send me an email.  I have added a link to an electronic version up on the left side bar if you want to  have a look through all the products.

Happy Stamping 

Time to Give Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American visitors.  We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia, but I think it is nice to have a day where you take time out to focus on things that you are thankful for.  Before I get onto this weeks challenge I thought I would share a few of the things I am thankful for at the moment ... I am so very thankful for my family, my wonderful husband of 20years and beautiful daughter; I am thankful that I am in a job and field that I love and makes a difference in people's lives; and I am thankful that I have stability and a degree of security in my life that fewer people have these days.

Now onto this week's inspirational picture, you can use this picture in any way to inspire your creation. You can use the colours, theme, layout, or just part of the picture like the clouds or the rays.  I look forward to seeing your entry so pop over to Paper Lovin' Gals and see what the other Design Team members have come up with and add your entry.

I chose to use the layout and colours, and kept "Thanks" as the sentiment.  I sponged over punched out scallop circles with So Saffron and More Mustard to make the clouds. I also used More Mustard on a sponge to lightly colour the Velvet Designer Ribbon from the upcoming Summer Mini Catalogue that goes live here in Australia on 1st December. I was happily surprised at how well it took the colour. The sentiment, from Short and Sweet is on a piece that has been doubly cut with the Decorative Label Punch. 

I stamped the sentiment and then punched once, ensuring the sentiment was toward the bottom of the punch. I stuck the punch out onto the back of a post it note to give me something to guide it into the punch with and lined it up and re-punched.  The picture shows how this lines up, and the little tabs on the sides are just perfect for pearls, bling or brads.  I just love finding extra uses for the tools I have, it makes them really versatile and great value.  

Happy Stamping

Playing With New Toys

Don't you just love playing with a new stamp set for the first time?  I certainly do, and it was definitely the case on this card, my first with the Kindness Matters stamp set.  I received this set as part of my final gift from my Secret Sister, and so happy she sent it to me, it's such a cute little set with pretty butterflies, swirls and sentiments I think it will be getting a real work out.  

I was inspired to use it in the Freshly Made Sketches challenge this week. I enjoy the simple lines of the Freshly Made Sketches, not too many layers and there is a lot of room to be creative.  I chose much softer colours than I would normally put together, I think the delicate nature of the butterflies steered me in that direction.

I used a Baja Breeze base for my card and layered the First Edition Specialty DSP which I gave a spot of colour to using my Stampin' Pastels.  I find Pastels give a softer finish than sponging and that was just what I was looking for with this card.  If you look closely the typed passage is all about butterflies, so it went really well with this card.  I stamped the three butterflies onto Very Vanilla and then ran it through the Big Shot with the rectangle Designer Frames embossing folder and trimmed off the excess. I usually would only use an image that fits within the frame, but lately I have seen so many where the image is larger than the frame I thought I would give it a go!  I used Pastels again on this piece on the edge of the frame and in the centre to match it up with the Baja Breeze and So Saffron that I used on the DSP.  I also used some sponging right on the edges of the frame, and used my Stampin' Write Marker to highlight the inner crease of the frame. 

I finished the card off using the Lace Ribbon Border Punch layered with Crochet Trim, and then a single piece from the same punch as the embellishment with one of the flower shaped buttons from the Subtles Buttons.

Happy Stamping

Back to Mashing Things Up!

I went to look at which Friday Mash Up we were up to and was shocked to see it is challenge number 33 this week, wow how time flies!  Anyway, onto the challenge "Everything's Coming Up Rosettes!" ...

 This week we had to use the sketch, or use a rosette, or mash it up and use the sketch with a rosette.

As I often do I chose to mash it up and do both.  My rosette is made from the Cherry Cobbler Striped Grossgrain Ribbon, it lost some of it's ruffles when I adhered it to the card!  I used the Flower Fest stamp embossed in gold and cut them out using the 5-Petal Flower.  The DSP is from the Letters to Santa, blue isn't a traditional Christmas colour but I am really liking it, especially with the Early Espresso. 

I enjoyed playing along with the challenge again, pop over to the Friday Mash Up to check out what the Design Team and other entrants have come up with this week.

Happy Stamping

Paper Lovin' Bookmark!

I was a bit fascinated by this square wreath in the inspirational picture at Paper Lovin' Gals, and just knew it was what I wanted to feature on my card.  What inspires you in this picture?  The colours, shapes, theme, layout, or something else?  What ever it is come and join in this week's challenge.  If nothing immediately pops out at you visit Paper Lovin' Gals and see what the other Design Team members have been inspired to create.

Now, as you can see I didn't make a card at all.  I got a bit stuck with how to incorporate this into a card, I had a few false starts and nothing was coming together for me at all.  It happens like that sometimes, so I put it aside and did some other things and then when I came back I threw out the idea of a card and decided to do a book mark instead.  Part of the inspiration for this came from one of the presentations at our recent Stampin' Up! Regional Training, one on the long list of things I have been wanting to try.

I stamped the background using More Mustard, which I then coloured in patches with my Stampin' Pastels in More Mustard and Old Olive.  I just love my pastels for this kind of thing.  I then stamped on the cute little birds from the same stamp set, Clearly For You.  I finished it off by attaching a large Bevelled Window Pane to the image using Adhesive Sheet and added Old Olive Satin Ribbon doubled over, tied with some twine and covered with an Antique Brad.

I was really pleased with the result.  I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for this week's challenge.

Happy Stamping

Inspired by Love

Time for another inspirational photo over at Paper Lovin' Gals!  I just love the white picket fence, and the red hearts against the white of the flags, and of course the word 'love'.  

 What inspires you? Is it the texture, colours, theme, or the layout?  Let your creativity flow and come join us this week.  The thing I like most about inspirational photos is that there is no wrong interpretation!

As I said, it was the picket fence that inspired me and I just knew I wanted to make a fence made from the Tiny Tags Punch, to make the pailings I took a piece of Whisper White card stock and dragged my Choc Chip ink pad over it creating the lines which I think look a bit like wood grain.  Then I cut it into strips 9mm wide, then put one end of the strip into the punch from underneath, so just the end was inside the top of the tag and punched it out, then cut to length.  I guess I could have just made the join lie under the cross beam but that would take too much lining up!  Instead of the hearts I was inspired to use the butterfly and sentiment from the Butterfly Prints stamp set, highlighting the Love with a Real Red marker.   

I hope this has inspired you to come and join in this week, or if you need more inspiration pop on over and check out what the other Design Team have made.  

Stamp: Butterfly Prints
Colours: Lucky Limeade, Real Red, Whisper White, Choc Chip.
Other:  Punch - Jewelry Tag, Punch - Decorative Label, Punch - Butterfly, In-Colour Paper Stack, Pearls

Happy Stamping

Fancy Fold Christmas

A couple of years ago I recieved a Christmas card and the design had me intrigued, so I kept the card and recently used it as the make and take for a workshop I had with a couple of friends.  I just love cards that look a bit different, and this one is no exception.

The top picture is the card closed up, I had to put it into a bag so I could take the photo, these cards just don't like being contained!  You can see what it looks like in the bottom picture, it sits up on the front point.  You can embellish the sides of the card, or as I did, use a decorative paper as a feature.  I used the stamp from Tags til Christmas that goes with the Ornament Punch, and embossed it in gold, and embellished it with pearls.  

Here is another one I made with the Jolly Holiday DSP from last catalogue.  These cards will fit into a regular C6 envelope for easy posting.

Happy Stamping