Grunge Birthday

My daughter was headed out with her boyfriend's family this week to celebrate his sister's 15th Birthday.  Being a 15 year old girl I wasn't quite sure if she was a girly girl or a grungey girl, so I decided to take the middle ground and make a 'pretty grungey' card! It is a bit hard to tell but I used the Gold Ink on the fine splatter to add some glitz and tie in the Champagne Glimmer Paper.  I love Gorgeous Grunge set, it really is so versatile and I will be so sad if it retires at the end of this catalogue!

As a gift my daughter had bought a poster of one of Sarah's favourite anime series. As you can imagine posters are a bit hard to wrap, so instead I made it a little belly band to match the birthday card - so much nicer than a rubber band!  Apparently both the card and matching band were loved by the birthday girl, which of course is the main thing.  I love being able to make cards and packaging especially for someone, I think it adds so much to a gift.

Happy Stamping

Birthday Gift and Card

My husband's sister and her husband have birthdays very close to each other in March, and I find both of them a bit difficult to buy for each year.  This year my hubby suggested that we get them the BBC series Sherlock on DVD, which I thought was a great idea.  Now, just giving a DVD is a bit boring, and as a paper crafter you know I just had to dress it up just a 'little'.

I decided to make a cover for the DVD, and include on the inside some microwave popcorn to add a 'movie' experience feel to the gift. I also wanted to design something that was neither masculine or feminine as it would be a joint present for both of them.  Here you can see the front cover on which I have used Gorgeous Grunge (gosh I hope this doesn't retire this year!) stamped in Rich Razzleberry, Island Indigo and Smokey Slate.  Take note of the Just Sayin' stamp on the cover, I cut this by hand and then layered it over Silver Glimmer Paper, adding some Silver Glimmer Paper punched with the Chevron Punch to the card front.

I used the Tag Topper Punch to make a clasp to hold the cover in place, adding a small magnet to both this and the DVD pocket.  The Razzleberry Candy Dot finishes off the clasp.

I made a cute little banner with the Banner Punch and the stamp set "ABC - 123 Sketch Alphabet & Numbers".  This is a great set that I overlooked for some time but it fits perfectly in not only the banner punch but a number of our other punches as well.   After adhering the banners to the front of the card I put a small rhinestone between each to give some bling.  I also added a cute little paper clip from the Essentials Hardware Clips.  The photo doesn't pick up the sparkle, but in person it really was quite blingy.

This is the inside of the 'card', you can see I made a couple of pockets on the back of the cover to hold the two mini popcorn packets, adding Chevrons in Glimmer Paper to these to tie in the theme from the front.  I just loved the expression on Benedict's face and decided to add a speech bubble with their age!  The panel is for writing the message.

I took some measurements and plan to write up a short tutorial for this, it is a bit bigger because the DVD set is of all three seasons, but the idea would work for normal sized DVDs or even a clear mount stamp set, you could add an ink pad and some embellishments to the pockets instead of popcorn.

The good news is they both loved the gift!

Happy Stamping

Bloodsplatter Valentine!

Just a quick post today - I made the decision on Monday to join in with Less Is More and Friday Mashup Challenges.  Unfortunately the mashup is from the week before (where does time go?)!!! The mashup was to use hearts and arrows and combine it with colour combo of Real Red, Coastal Cabana and Crumb Cake.

Here is my card, I realised as I finished it off and looked at all the elements together that the background Gorgeous Grunge stamp does look a little like blood splatter!  However my daughter loves it and will use it for her Valentine this year!  We decided the best thing to write on the inside is "I love you to death"!  

Happy Stamping

Non-Traditional Christmas

Don't you just love having new toys and the time to play with them?  I had both this week when my good friend Cathy came over for a play date.  I was a bit tired so didn't get as much done as I would have liked but I did create a card for the 'Tis the Season Challenge.

I figured with a non-traditional colour combination I would also try a non-traditional look to the Christmas card.  The new stamp I used on this card is the lovely Off the Grid background stamp that I got in my last order and haven't had the chance to use.  It really lends itself to a grungy look and I think perfect for what I was going for. I used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to line it up and stamp twice on the background, "stamping off" with Baked Brown Sugar to keep the colour soft.

Here is how I made the layer under the sentiment:

Step 1: Distress Baked Brown Sugar card stock with the bone folder until the layers start to split apart.

Step 2: Pull the layers apart gently, the inside has a suede appearance and is great for  a number of different projects.

Step 3: Place one piece of the separated card stock smooth side up on a non-porous surface - I used my silicone mat.  Using an Aqua Painter, 'paint' water around the inside edge of the framelit.  I chose the framelit one size up from the one I used on the sentiment. 

 

Step 4: Wait a few minutes to let the water seep in, then gently tear around the water line.  In this one I perhaps started tearing a little too soon, you can see the water hasn't soaked all the way through. 

Adding the water allows the fibres of the card stock to come away from each other which gives a soft shape, rather than the more hard edge of the more traditional use of framelits.

Happy Stamping

Blackboard Fusion

Boy have I been busy today, time for another challenge ... Fusion Card Challenge is a fairly new challenge site that I thought I would play along with this picture and/or sketch challenge this week.

I know immediately I would use both the inspirational picture and the sketch in my card, who could pass up an opportunity to use the blackboard technique? I chose the colours from the picture as well.  While the sentiment is pretty easy to pin down, can you guess what I used to make the wood grain?  It is the lined stamp from Gorgeous Grunge! I added the chevron stamp from Tape it for the banner.

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

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