Vintage Birthday

I am a fan of mixing up challenges, so was excited to try this one from Runway Inspired Challenge and CAS(E) this Sketch.  I haven't seen Runway Inspired Challenge site before so that was a nice find as well, they take their inspiration images straight from the runway!  So on trend for patterns and colours which is a bit fun.  

I decided to turn the sketch on it's side as it fit the sentiment better.  I have been having some fun recently with the Gold stamp pad, here I have stamped onto Basic Black card stock with both Flower Shop and Petite Petals stamps.  I finished off the centre flower with one of the Antique Brads, I haven't used these for ages so it was nice to brush the dust off!  The sentiment is from Perfectly Penned and also seemed to fit the vintage feel of this card.

I have taken a second photo so that you can see that I have spritzed the Modern Medley DSP so that it has a shimmer to it, the flowers have also had the shimmer treatment.  I found this helped tone down the starkness of the DSP, and tied it into the Brushed Gold layer.  I was thinking about adding some colour, but decided against it and kept the monochormatic look.

I have a very special Easter project to share with you, but as I haven't given it away yet I won't post that until Sunday. I will say it is a very different feel to this one with much brighter colours, although it does use the Gold ink again!

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

ESAD Seasonal Blog Hop 2013

Welcome to another Blog Hop brought to you by the talented ladies at ESAD, you might have started at my blog or you might have hopped on over from the talented Jenny at Stampin by the Seat of my Pants. To hop to the next blog just follow the link at the bottom of my post and enjoy the creations featuring items from the latest Seasonal catalogue.

For my creations I wanted to prepare a set of cards using the same basic elements and layout, but with some minor differences, the main feature in all of these cards is the a la carte stamps "Just Thinking" (p 21). I hope you enjoy my creations and are inspired to try some of these techniques yourself.

I love this stamp as it is really quite versatile.  In this card I have stamped onto another product in the new catalogue the white Canvas Creations (p 21), these sheets have a lovely textured surface and are just wonderful with this stamp.  After stamping with Early Espresso I allowed it to dry before colouring the outer textured portion with my Stampin' Write Markers, the canvas surface takes the colour really well.  I have also used the new Borders Scoring Plate (p 26) to create the scallop embossed images.

For the next three cards I have substituted the sentiment in the centre of the stamp with stamps from a range of different Stampin' Up! sets.  For this one I used the lovely flower branch from Elements of Style.  After stamping and colouring the image I then ran it through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice folder which gives it, and the other following images, a tapestry look that fits so beautifully with this stamp.

This card uses the same technique but with the stand of flowers from Just Believe.  I have also added to all of these cards one of the Delicate Doilies (p 5), they are so economical at just $4.95 for a packet of 24! I have used some distressing on both the doily and the base card to give a more aged look, I was very happy with the way this one turned out.  

 For my last card I have used Serene Silhouettes, again cutting the centre piece from Very Vanilla and running through the embossing folder. I have also used the Borders Scoring Plate on the top of this card, however this time I have used the 'valley' of the embossing and highlighted it with small pearls.  On all of the cards you might also have noticed the Flower Trim and added a pearl to the centre of each to give more of a vintage feel to them.  You may have noticed that the flower on the first card was smaller than the rest, this is achieved by using your heat tool on the flower to gently shrink it. Again this Flower Trim is very economical and very versatile as they come on a strip of netting that allows you to either use in a row or individually  the 1.8m of flowers gives you approximately 90 flowers for only $11.95 (p 5), with that many you will be adding them to all your projects!  They are also very easy to colour using markers or re-inkers to match any project. 

I hope you have enjoyed these creations if you don't have a current demonstrator and would like to purchase any of these, or other Stampin' Up! products you can do so through my on-line store by following the link on the top left of this blog.

Now it is time to hop on over to see what lovely creations Narelle has for you at Simply Stampin. Then keep hopping around all of the lovely creations the ESAD ladies have created to showcase the wonderful products in the Seasonal Catalogue.

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.

Happy Stamping

Dynamic Doily

Today I was due to do some work on some assignments, but I just couldn't focus so decided to take advantage of an afternoon to myself and create a card just for fun.  I am entering this one in the Dynamic Duos Challenge "Primrose Petals & Your Choice" - my choice was Gumball Green.

I received a new box of toys the other day but had terrible back spasm and wasn't really able to create so took the opportunity to use them on this card.  I chose Oh, Hello stamp and teamed it with a Perfectly Penned sentiment.  To get the doily to better match the oval I cut a section from the centre of a doily and then ran the ribbon over the seam.  I had also used my brayer to colour the doily to match the colour scheme.

Happy Stamping

Sneak Peek - SAB 2013

I get so excited when new products come along, even more so when you can earn them for FREE!!!  From 22nd January Sale-A-Bration begins and you can earn one of 19, yep nineteen, products for free!  As a demonstrator I get the opportunity to pre-order some of these items and am allowed to show the items I create with them.  So without further ado here are my first creations:

My daughter was headed to a birthday party tonight and so I offered to make a card and matching gift box for her.  The favourite colours of the birthday girl are blue, purple, black and white.I started with the gift box and used my new Purse Die and Island Indigo DSP.  The new mini Curly Label punch is perfect for making the little tags that you get on bags, and the matching Pretty Petites were just the thing to add something special.

With the box sorted I knew I wanted to do a version of the Build A Cup Cake punch purses, however I again used the little punch and matching stamp set to make the top of the bags.  The stamp is the same on all bags, but the middle one I turned around so the little heart would show.

 Here is a close up of the bags, you can see how the centre purse has a little heart, I used Silver Dazzling Details to make it sparkle and added a small rhinestone to the other two bags.

One of the things I just love about Stampin' Up! is that I can make packaging for gifts and matching cards, and make them fit the recipient with colour and style.

Happy Stamping