Just Add Daisies

Challenge: Just Add Ink #175

This is my entry in the Just Add Ink sketch challenge this week.  I have wanted to try the Polaroid style since I saw it recently, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!  I used the Square Framelits to cut the square from the black mat. I don't often brayer, but decided I wanted to give it a go for the background of the 'photo' so used Coastal Cabana at the top and Pistachio Pudding from the bottom before stamping the Upsy Daisy stamp from Best of Flowers.  The sentiment is from Label Love, I used my marker to ink up just the sentiment, it gives even more versatility to this set.   The large pearl is coloured with a black permanent marker to match the theme of the card.

Happy Stamping

Baroque Wedding

I don't often create midweek, but this sketch from Try Stampin' On Tuesday really caught my eye.

I was planning on doing the whole card in Very Vanilla and Gold but decided when layering to add a layer of Elegant Eggplant, and I am glad I did.  You might notice my new favourite stamp Beautifully Baroque ... this time I cut it out with the new Deco Labels Collection. I am loving how versatile this stamp is and how many shapes it can be cut into.  You might not notice but the strip behind the image is brushed gold, and to get my buttons to match I dipped them in VersaMark then gold embossing powder.  They look really great in person as the slight shimmer of the original buttons shows through the thin layer of gold.  Sentiment from Loving Thoughts.

Happy Stamping

Masculine Birthday

I love having a day off, and one where I actually manage to be quite productive!  For my last card of the day I have used the Sunny Challenges 'Masculine Card' theme with the Pals Paper Arts sketch challenge.

I don't think it is possible for me to do a masculine card at the moment without using Washi Tape and Gorgeous Grunge!!!  They just go so well together, and I love the grungy look of the Label Love birthday sentiment.  In the photo it is a bit difficult to see the second from the top strip of washi tape, because it matches the card stock, however in person it is quite prominent.

To get the little 'skid marks' I used the stamp without a block, folding the stamp in half and just inking up the bend in the middle.   

Now I have to head off and tidy my desk after so much creating today!!!

Happy Stamping

Chalk Talk Challenge

 The Sketch Frenzy Friday challenge took my eye today.  It is nice and simple and let me play with a new stamp set and a new technique (for me).

I took a couple of liberties with the sketch, but the large label 'needed' the pretty Coastal Cabana ribbon to hang off!  I just love Chalk Talk and am looking forward to playing with it more in future cards. Here I have stamped in Strawberry Slush and again in Coastal Cabana cutting out the label by hand.  The background is the new technique I was trying (my first attempt).  To make this background I inked up my Honeycombe Embossing Folder and putting a piece of Whisper White card stock inside and then just running over it with my hand to transfer the ink onto the cardstock.  I had imagined that the centre of each honeycombe would have coloured as well but it remained clean!

Happy Stamping

Dynamic Mashup

I have a rostered day off today, so the perfect opportunity to spend some time at my craft desk, Challenge time again for me. This time around I have paired the Dynamic Duo colour challenge with the Friday Mashup challenge which was to use the sketch and/or use a favourite new stamp. I also chose to do the Dynamic Duo option of adding butterflies to the project.

Looking at the sketch I knew I wanted to use the chevrons from Oh, Hello.  I stamped these in Pumpkin Pie and cut each one individually.  My favourite stamp is the Beautifully Baroque large stamp, I can't say exactly why I love it so much, but I think it might have something to do with all the detail and the size of the stamp.

Here is a close up of the butterfly, I stamped with StazOn onto Whisper White, punched it out and sponged the edges.  I used a permanent marker to colour the three pearls before adding to the body of the butterfly.  I also added a little bit of iridescence to the wings, and to parts of the chevrons as well.  

Happy Stamping

Birthday CASE

I have been doing a bit of CASEing lately, taking inspiration from other talented stampers. I find when my mojo is a bit low either copying another card completely or changing up some of the details helps me get back on track with my own creating. Sometimes I do this when I am going for a particular look or just simply run out of ideas of my own and need a card!

This card is for my mum for her birthday and was inspired by both the butterflies and the technique showcased by Lynn on her blog LW Designs. I didn't have a water spritzer on my desk so decided to just huff on the clear block after I had coloured it with Markers.  It left an interesting pattern but not what I was really after.  I coloured up the block a second time and this time spritzed it with my Champagne SHimmer Paint/Alcohol mix,  this added a sparkly layer of colour over the top of the first layer and I really like the effect of texture and shimmer.  

I used my new Chalk Talk Framelits to cut out the Perfectly Penned sentiment, and putting it back through the Big Shot a second time to get the decorative pattern on both ends.  This was the first time I used my Magnetic Platform and I have to say I LOVE IT, it hold the Framelits perfectly in place while you run them through the Big Shot, no holding them down with post-it notes or tape, or hoping for the best ... perfect cuts every time, exactly where I want them.

Happy Stamping

Mosaic Christmas

Here is another card I prepared for my Catalogue Launch.

I was inspired by Andrea Buckland for this card, I love that Mosaic Madness makes great Christmas cards. Don't they just look like cute ornaments hanging from that ribbon? I moved the ribbon to the top of the card and added some bling with rhinestones, Dazzling Details and Silver Shimmer Paper.   You could add any Christmas sentiment, I chose the Merry Christmas from Petite Pairs.

Happy Stamping

Best of ... In-Colours

I have been busy lately making a few samples for my Catalouge Launch, and I will be sharing these over the next week. 

This is one I made to show off the beautiful 2013-2015 In-Colours, from left to right: Strawberry Slush, Cantaloupe Crisp, Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana and Baked Brown Sugar.  I stamped the flowers with one of the stamps in the Best Of Flowers set, these sets have been released to bring back some of the beautiful stamps from the last 25 years of Stampin' Up!  Each set contains images from previous stamp sets, and one image designed specially for the set.  In the Best of Flowers set this little daisy is the brand new image.  Best part about this stamp is that it coordinates perfectly with the 1 1/4" Scallop Circle punch!

Happy Stamping

2013 Catalogue Launch

Don't you just love sharing new things with friends?  I had a great afternoon last weekend sharing the new Annual Catalogue with a group of friends.  

Part of the fun is the preparation and this year I had the help of my wonderful daughter who prepared a delishious afternoon tea.  She made salted caramel macarons and mini cupcakes.  You might notice on the top of each cupcake is a cute little flower - I made these out of white icing and the new Simply Pressed Mold.  I even tried to colour them to match some of the new In-Colours - they looked so cute.

I wanted to share a cute make n take with the ladies, and prepared this one as a sample.  Unfortunately we go so carried away with the amazing new products we didn't get to make them on the day!!!!  I was able to send the ladies home with a kit each so that they could make them up at home.  This card was inspired heavily from one Marelle Taylor had up on her blog ThinkSpot, I changed the colours a little and added some extra bling and DSP.  I loved the card because it shows of not only the beautiful Mosaic Madness stamp and matching punch, as well as Label Love set and punch.  

I hope you have your hands on our new catalogue, there are some truly great products in there, all of which are available to purchase through my online shop.  

Happy Stamping

In-Colour Thank You

ESAD, the online group that organised the recent Blog Hop I was part of has set a monthly card challenge.  Unfortunately it is a closed Facebook group for Stampin' Up! Demonstrators and I can't link up the other creations but wanted to share mine.

This card uses three of our beautiful new In-Colours, new Label Love stamp set and matching punch as well as the very cute Chalk Talk Framelits.  I trimmed down the framelit tag to make it more square by running it through the Big Shot twice.  Sentiment from Itty Bitty Banners, and the flower is made with the wonderful Simply Pressed Clay, coloured by pushing it into the Coastal Cabana stamp pad - you can also colour the clay before you put it in the mold, or use an aqua painter to paint the dried flower (I had misplaced mine on my somewhat messy desk lol).

Happy Stamping

ESAD Annual Catalogue Blog Hop

As usual with the release of a new catalogue comes an ESAD Blog Hop, 25 talented demonstrators sharing their creations with some of the exciting new products in the Annual Catalogue released today.  Whether you are starting from my blog, or have come from Chloe's blog Chlo's Craft Closet, all you need to do is follow the links at the bottom of each post to jump to the next blog.  So sit back and enjoy.

For my part I wanted to showcase Happy Day.  This is a cute set and I just knew that I could use it for a variety of card styles, so took the challenge and have created three quite different cards for you.

The first one is one that uses another couple of sets, Gorgeous Grunge and Tape It.  Washi Tape is so popular right now, and Stampin' Up! have made a stamp set of strips of washi tape.  The great thing about these is you can colour them to match perfectly with any project without having to own rolls and rolls of tape!!!  I wanted this card to have a bit of a grungy feel to it and have shadow stamped then fussy cut the sentiment before adding to the card.

My second creation is one CASEd off a card I saw on Pinterest (I will add a link when I find it again), I have kept the design very similar. The DSP used is from Modern Medley, and I added some extra colour by sponging Strawberry Slush (new In-Colour) on the fold backs of the DSP feature, and paired this with one of the Baroque Detail embellishments in the same colour.  The sentiment banner is made using the Mosaic Punch, threading the cardstock through the punch at one end before layering and repeating the process.   The pearls are simply coloured with a black permanent marker to match.

Finally I wanted to use the beautiful swirl patterned stamp, and noticed that it fits beautifully with the Labels Collection Framelits.  I used the emboss resist technique to add both Pool Party and Island Indigo to the framelits, and the Rock n Roll technique to colour the medallion.  The DSP on this card is from Quatrefancy Specialty DSP.

I hope you have enjoyed visiting, if you don't already have a demonstrator and would like to learn more about Stampin' Up! please don't hesitate to contact me.  Now it is time to hop on over to Christie's Creative Corner and see what the talented Christie has made to inspire us all.

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 love what we do & love to share with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors. We also share what we love in our ESAD Demonstrator community, through swaps, challenges, sharing knowledge, ideas & friendship, and we're always there to help and support each other.

So if you are a Stampin' Up! demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand, then please feel free comment on one of the posts and ask for an invitation.

Happy Stamping