Easter Gift Box and Card

Easter is such a special time of the year, and I wish I was closer to my family to celebrate with them. Unfortunately they are over 1,700km away so that just isn't possible.  I decided that this year I would make an Easter gift and card for the family of my daughter's boyfriend.  She spends a lot of time with them so I wanted to do something special, not just buy a box of chocolates - these are my creations.

First the box, I was going to use a pre-made box from Stampin' Up! but found none were quite the right size for the chocolates I wanted to give.  So the only alternative was to make a box myself!  I used the Natures Composition Speciality DSP for the base of the box, it is quite a heavy weight that is more like a stiff card stock than a paper so it was perfect.  It is difficult to see but I used the sheet with the floral pattern and brayered it with Crushed Curry.  I made the lid from Window Sheet and made the faux band from Melon Mambo and Gold Embossed Vellum.  The box is of course filled with Easter Eggs and Lindt Balls.

I wanted to make a card that matched so after some false start sketches I decided to go with a bigger sentiment and butterfly and I am happy with the result.  They are quite bright, but Easter is a time for celebration and so the brightness seemed to fit perfectly.  You may notice that I have stamped the flowers using the Encore Gold Ink in the Occasions Catalogue, and then coloured parts of the petals with Melon Mambo to give some depth of colour.  The centre flower on both the box and card are raised on Dimensionals and curled.

Box Measurements
Base
- 10" x 10" Card Stock
- Score on each side at 2-3/4"
- Base adhered with TomBow Glue

Lid
- 10-1/8" x 10-1/8" (this is a smidge bigger so the lid fits neatly over the base)
- Score on each side at 2-3/4
- When cutting the fold over flaps, I trimmed these to 1/4 inch so they are less conspicuous.
- Lid adhered with Sticky Strip

Happy Stamping

ESAD SAB Blog Hop - Banner Punch

It's that exciting time of year again, Sale-A-Bration (SAB) is about to begin! For those new to SAB it is a wonderful time of year when you can earn beautiful Stampin' Up! products for FREE!  In Australia just spend $90 on anything from the main or occasional catalogue and you can chose something from the range of SAB products.  To get you in the spirit the Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators have made some great creations with the free items.  You may have hopped on over from Little Scraps of Paper and Delys's lovely creations, or you might be starting here - it doesn't matter, just follow the links at the bottom of each post until you have hopped around all of the blogs!

Now onto my creations ... I chose to showcase the cute little Banner Punch. I love a product that has more than one use and so I got to work looking at alternative uses for this cute little punch. 

Firstly I wanted to use it in a fairly traditional way, by making three little flags down the side of the sentiment panel. This is great if you have a bit of spare space on a card.  The background DSP, Sweet Sorbet, is also from the SAB free products and is so pretty, matching with the 2013-2015 In-colours. 

This next card I have used the Banner Punch to make longer flags for my sentiments, to do this cut strips of cardstock 1.5cm wide and insert one end into the punch, line up and then punch.  By stamping the sentiments first you can get the length of the banner just right.

The little flowers are punched from Sweet Sorbet DSP using the Petite Petals punch, which is a sneak peek from the new Occasions Catalogue also going live on 28th January.

Finally I have used the Banner Punch to make a faux banner on the front of this card.  By cutting a strip of card stock 1.5cm wide, adding a sentiment, then laying it over two banners punched from the same colour cardstock it provides some added interest to the front of a card.  I used dimensionals to pop it up slightly to add to the effect. In this card I have also used the Banner Blast stamp set to create a border along the top and bottom edges of the card, I stamped using the flat edge of the banner alternating two of the patterns.  The DSP on this card is also from Sweet Sorbet, this paper has such a lot of different looks and you will get lots of use out of it.  The centre butterfly and sentiment banner are stamped on Brushed Gold.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed my creations. Now it is time to hop on over to the next blog:

Creating Cards With Andrea 

If you get lost along the way there is a full list of all the blogs at the bottom of this post, don't forget we all love it when you leave comments to let us know what you think of the things we have created - happy hopping!

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 contact me for an invitation to this wonderful group.

Narelle Hoggard
Kathryn Ruddick
Nikki Sadler
Emily Campbell
Keryn Campbell
Leonie Schroder
Chloe Evans
Amity Knight 
Alisha Watson
Ann Gerlach
Delys Cram
ME - Monique Fielder
Andrea Buckland
Paula Reid
Pauline Bennetts
Dianne Dunk
Tamsin Adams
Corina Beyer
Richelle Fletcher
Mel Sharp
Christie Kunkel
Nerida Carter
Gail Kirby
Michelle Grech
Sally Williams

Happy Stamping

Bitter Sweet

My post today is a bit bitter sweet.  Sweet because I think my mojo might have come back, I saw the Mojo Monday sketch challenge this week and immediately had a plan of what I wanted to do.  The bitter part comes because of the reason for making this card, I found out today that one of my colleagues lost her grandmother last weekend.

Butterflies are so lovely to use on a card, to me they symbolise freedom and beauty, but also change and growth, and so I wanted to use them as the feature for the card.  I hunted through my retired DSP and found a sheet of Newsprint with a butterfly print and it was just perfect.  I love using vellum when I do butterflies, and because I wanted a fairly simple design without lots of busy colour or stamping it seemed the right thing to make the butterfly layer from.  What you can't see in the photo very easily is that I stamped and punched a fourth butterfly and have adhered it over the centre one, so that one lifts off the page.  The sentiment from Sweet Essentials was just right also, a obvious sympathy sentiment didn't seem right somehow.

Happy Stamping

Proud Parents

If you visit regularly you will know I don't often post personal photos on my blog, keeping it more for my creative endeavours.  Sometimes there is an occasion or family celebration that I just have to share.  This time it is the graduation of our beautiful daughter from school.

Doesn't she look so elegant in her formal frock, hair all done, matching bag and shoes?  I think the scariest part is how grown up she looks.  We are both so proud of our 'little' girl, school hasn't be the easiest journey for her and there were times I wondered if she would stick with it. I think the turning point came when she discovered the field of Hospitality which gave her a spark and passion strong enough to not only 'make it through' but to succeed.  She is planning on going further in this field and is working to secure a Baker's apprenticeship in 2014, and we wish her all the best.

 To celebrate this proud occasion I wanted to make a card that reflected some of the struggles she had overcome, particularly in high school years. The Feel Goods sentiment was just right for this.  I took inspiration for this card from a card made by Sharon Burkert that I found on Pinterest, though I can't find the directly link now.  I added the year in silver glimmer paper which I highlighted by carefully drawing around each number with a Stampin' Write Marker.  Finished off with stamped and punched images from Flower Shop and Papilion Potpourri.  I also made a belly band for her gift with the flowers and in these colours (you might be able to make out the watch and bracelet set on her wrist).

Happy Stamping

Matching Card

Don't you just love a challenge? One of my daughter's friends had her birthday recently and my daughter had bought a beautiful box to put the gift in.  As the resident card maker I was asked to make a card for her too.  On seeing the box I just knew I had to try and make a card to match.

I think it was the colours and the butterfly that made me think of doing a card to match.  I had such fun matching both the colours and the lay out, if you enlarge the photo you can see that I have done some additional stamping on the background to help match the two.

The birthday girl loved the card, box and treats inside so I consider that a job well done.

Happy Stamping

Thank You Tags

Don't you just love it when you have a creative streak, and the time to revel in it? That was me this weekend, sure the housework might be quite up to speed, but hey, it will just need doing again anyway! This time I am joining in with the Friday Mashup, an old favourite of mine.  This week the challenge was to use tags, and/or colour combo: Crisp Cantaloupe, Primrose Petal, Bermuda Bay and Soft Sky.

As usual I like to do the mash up and I am pretty happy with the outcome.  I used some of my Chalk Talk Framelits and the very cute daisy from Best Of Flowers.  I think the sentiment from Petite Pairs works really well with the double tags.

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

Sympathy

Isn't it hard to make a sympathy card?  I always say I am going to have a few on hand for when they are needed, but never seem to make them.  This week one of the ladies I work with lost her mother to cancer, so I wanted to make a card for the team to send to her.  

I took a lot of inspiration from Lee Conry, you can see her original card here.  I added the sentiment from Loving Thoughts by stamping it on Vellum and cutting the ends with the new Mosaic Punch.  To do this thread the strip of vellum or card stock back through the bottom of the punch and line it up with the section you want.  I repeated this process with Basic Black to create the layer.

With the card being square I felt the top right hand needed 'something' so I stamped the small butterfly onto the card and again onto Vellum which I punched out and adhered so the wings would lift slightly.

On the inside I added a folded card to allow for more people to be able to sign the card.  I stamped the same image from the Serene Silhouettes onto the corner to tie it all together.

Addit: Still addINKtive have a "spot that stamp set" challenge with the Serene Silhouettes stamp set, pop over and see the other lovely creations with this set.

Happy Stamping

Colourful Mashup

I am enjoying my final couple of days of holidays before heading back to work tomorrow and while I haven't been as busy at the craft desk as I was hoping I have achieved a lot around the house and did get chance to join in with the Colour Q and Friday Mashup Challenges.

Colour Q this week was to pick one of the 2012 colour combos that a member of the Design Team had chosen, there are some lovely ones to choose from but the one Yapha used with Rich Razzleberry, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake and White. I love how these colours look together, and I had fun deciding how I would use them on the sketch and incorporate some hearts.  You can see the new Sale-A-Bration Pretty Petites set used again here for the outline on the vertical banner, the hearts in the centre were stamped using the little heart from the Create a Cupcake set stamped and then stamped off for alternate hearts. 

I think this card takes the lead in most number of stamp sets and tools used, see if you can spot them all ...

• Bitty Banners Framelits - on the sentiment
• Fashionable Hearts Embosslits - for the two hearts
• Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit - I ran the two hearts through this embosslit to get the embossed hearts on them
• 1" Square Punch - for the end of the vertical banner
• Stamp-A-Ma-Jig - for lining up the frames and hearts
• Pearls
• Elegant Butterfly Punch
• Papillon Potpourri
• Creative Elements
• Short and Sweet
• Pretty Petites
• Create a Cupcake

I also used my Paper Trimmer, Snips, SNAIL and Bone Folder, and I think for such a simple layout that isn't bad! I was about to hit the publish button and realised I didn't mention my embossing powder and heat tool!!!

Happy Stamping

Freshly Made Silhouettes - Two Ways

Looking for a sketch to base my next card on I turned to Freshly Made Sketches, I like these as they are nice and clean layouts, without the 'simple' aspect of a lot of Clean and Simple challenges.  

This time around I used my new Serene Silhouettes stamp set, I just love the little birds on the tree and did some fussy cutting after stamping them in Cajun Craze to make them stand out from the branches.  I wanted the card to have a fairly muted look to it so I used my brayer to colour the back ground for the birds and then decided to try and colour the DSP with the brayer also.  I am really happy with how it turned out, achieving the effect I was after.  

Here you can see a picture of the un-brayered DSP beside the piece I coloured with Pool Party.  I think this worked because I was using a fairly pale colour, too dark a colour would just cover the DSP.

Because I brayered a whole 12" strip I had a piece left over so decided to use the same basic sketch but make some changes.  Firstly I made this card landscape instead of portrait. I added some ribbon and a sentiment as well.  The butterflies are stamped with my new Papillon Potpourri stamp set and cut out using the new Elegant Butterfly Punch. If you look closely at the centre butterfly I have stamped on it with the new Illuminate Glimmer Watermark Stampin' Pad - this is a bit like VersaMark but has a distinct glimmer to it, and is so pretty.  It is hard to capture it in the photo.

Happy Stamping

Beautiful Blue Butterflies

I am happy to say I have made my first card with my new toys, it took me a bit to get going as I kept finding new toys on my desk and wanting to play with them all - I felt a bit like a 3 year old!  I decided the thing to do was clear off the desk, put the new toys away and focus on the one at hand, which worked a treat.

This card is made completely with new products (apart from adhesives lol).  The DSP is from Comfort Cafe, which I think is going to become my new favourite DSP, it is so pretty, if you look closely behind the main pattern the paper is printed in such a way it looks like it is fabric, which gives such a lovely feel to the card. The butterfly images are from Papillon Potpourri and are punched out with a matching punch (my new favourite punch), no more fussy cutting of butterflies!  I stamped the butterflies once onto Very Vanilla card stock after cutting it out with the Apothecary Accents Framelits, then again onto Vellum, when adhering the vellum butterflies onto the card I used used a strip of TomBow glue along the body of the butterfly, that way the wings can sit up off the card.  

I used some of the new Dazzling Details on the bodies of the butterflies and on the Happy Birthday banner.  You will notice a very neat row of paper piercing around the main Framelit image, this isn't from a steady hand (I wish) but rather is with a new set of paper piercing tools called the Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack. The pack has three sheets of templates for use with a variety of dies and punches as well as some straight rows.  The best part is that it measures 15.2cm x 15.2cm so there is now no longer a need to re-position the smaller guide that SU used to stock. 

I am loving the new products, and when I have hung out a load of washing I will be back at my desk creating something else to show you.

Happy Stamping