Bright and Beautiful

Isn't this a great inspirational photo at Paper Lovin' Gals this week???  How bright and cheerful are those flowers!  To join in with the challenge is easy, just pick whatever inspires you in this picture and then create a project around it. It could be colours, the flowers, the layout, or some other feature of the picture that captures you attention.

 I chose all three - flowers, colours and layout. Well sort of the lay out I actually also used the layout from Freshly Made Sketches because it went so well with my plan for the card.  The beautiful flowers are from Creative Elements and are inked up using Daffodil Delight and then Melon Mambo using the Rock n Roll technique.  I used both the leaves from the 2-Step Bird Punch and the Little Leaves Sizzlet.  The sentiment is one of the stamps in Pretty Postage.  These are not colours I use often and certainly not together but I actually like the way it turned out.

Come join us and see what the other Design Team members have made to help get your creative juices flowing!

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

Joy Fold Card

I was looking for something interesting to demonstrate to the ladies at one of my workshops, I knew there were some "old hands" in the group as well as people with less experience so wanted something that would be interesting enough to impress but easy enough to complete. The Joy Fold Card was what I decided to go with. I googled for instructions and away I went and this is what I came out with ...
I used Kraft as the base of the card and sponged with brocade blue. I used the Bella Bleu DSP for this one (my first attempt was in hot pinks and purple - just some off cuts as a trial run and I have to say I like the blues far more lol).

The Joy part of the card is that its actually 2 cards put together, the main card and a smaller 3" x 3" card that overlaps it. Here it is with both parts of the card open. In looking at this I could have used more DSP on the inside as the plain Kraft is perhaps a bit dull, either that or stamped a complimentary image on them. Anyway the smaller card opens up to reveal your hand written message ...

For the front I chose the 2-step bird punch - why? because I like the punch and this is just another way to show it off. I sponged the back of the bird with blue to highlight it, and the chest of the bird with Apricot Appeal as often birds have light coloured feathers on their chests. I also sponged the top of the wing for some added dimension.
In the corner of this picture you can just see the "Thank You" stamped onto the large oval and scallop oval. This was mounted on the base and far corner with a double layer of dimensionals - this allows it to stand up off the page far enough to have the corner of the little card slip behind it to keep the card closed.

For me this card was showing the how the basic techniques of card making can be used to very good effect. Overall I was really happy with the end result. The ladies at the workshop appeared to enjoy making theirs also, which was the true aim of the exercise.

This is a great way to use small layouts and display effectively on a regular sized card.

2 Step Bird Punch

I love the 2 step bird punch just out in the new Autumn/Winter mini, at first I thought "yeah nice, but how versatile?" then did some looking at others and found a few options and looks achievable from this lovely punch. Here are some of my efforts ...

Birds wings as tulips and leaves - saw this a few times on SCS and just had to try them out. The petals are from Almost Apricot and leaves and stems from Certainly Celery (I think). I sponged the petals in Pretty In Pink, the leaves sponged with Old Olive. I used the Circles #2 Die and the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder for the background. Just a 3"x3" card, mostly to play with the technique. Background is Kraft.

This one I did for a challenge on SCS but had lost my camera so couldn't post it for the challenge, it was one of the challenges where you take inspiration from another person's card. The original was a white card with 3 stamped apples i think, the paper piercing and the words very similar. This was also part of a colour challenge (multi-tasking again). Just cranky I didn't get to post on SCS as I often look at the challenges but rarely jump in and do them!

Again playing with my favourite colours of the moment - Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, and Orchid Opulence. I like the Cottage Wall DSP as well and think it works well in this card. I added a few extra branch clippings to the main branch just to add some colour and depth to the area.

Another 3"x3" card using some pen work and DSP on the bird to add some depth to it. Again just playing with my new toys rather than making a card to use so to speak, not happy with the sponging around the edge, would tidy that up in a "real" card.

Last one ... I had some spare scraps of the DSP and wanted to do a simple 3"x3" card, I like the use of the DSP like this, flipping the paper over on the diagonal pieces gives a nice effect. Again used the Big Shot to emboss and cut the circle used in the background.

When embossing and cutting - if you want a strong emboss then do the cutting first, as the cutting process will squash down the embossed areas giving a more subtle effect.