Enchante farewell

This is a very quick post as I've hurt my wrist & probably shouldn't be typing! I couldn't let the Summer Mini end without showing a final card using the sooo elegant 'Enchante' paper & 'Carte Postale' stamp set.

The colours I sued are sage shadow, pale plum & perfect plum (card & ink), which coordinate beautifully with this double sided sheet of 'Enchante' paper (striped one side & leafy the other). The 'mon amie' greeting is stamped in perfect plum. To make the flower motif, I stamped 3 images, 1 in each colour on very vanilla card & punched out parts of each using the 1 inch & 1 ¼ inch circle punches & 1 3/8 inch square punch & layered them on dimensionals. Then I added a vanilla & perfect plum mat. Hopefully, you can see the detail a little better in this photo. If you'd like any more info on this card, just contact me.
A final reminder that 'Enchante' paper & any other retiring Summer Mini items can only be ordered until 31 March, so let me know if you'd like to stock up. See this post for more info.

New Idea Book Teaser - If you love the' Enchante' paper designs, you'll love the 'Le Jardin' pack in the new Idea Book & Catalogue, as it features the same designs in a gorgeous new colour combination.

Friends with chocolate

This card reminds me of a saying, "the only thing better than a friend is a friend with chocolate". It was made for me by my very dear friend Ngaire & I thought it looked so elegant that I asked Ngaire if I could share it with you!

Ngaire used mostly supplies from the Summer Mini. The base is a very vanilla Pocket Note (from the Summer Mini - ideal for thank you's or to give with a gift) & it's covered with some chocolate chip card and gorgeous 'Au Chocolat' paper. The mon amie (my friend) greeting is from the very elegant 'Carte Postale' set & is stamped in chocolate chip ink & mounted on dimensionals.
I'm happy to say that 'Carte Postale will be returning in the new Idea Book & Catalogue, however the pocket notes & 'Au Chocolat' paper will only be available until the end of this month.
Ngai, you are a true gem of a friend & I'm going to miss you so much while you're on your overseas adventure. Note to self - must get a really big phone card...oh & some new designer paper, textured cardstock & ribbon to help keep you going. Love your work! J

Even More Sassy

Here are some more ‘Sassy’ cards. These 3 are a good example of how I come up with an idea then vary it to make different cards. Hope you enjoy looking at them. I think this set is going to get a good workout, so don't be surprised if you see some more.


This one is super simple – just 3 main steps:
1. Base - Attach strips of gable green card & ‘Loves Me’ polka dot paper to a regal rose base (card front is 10.5 cm x 10.5cm).
2. Flower Image – Stamp with basic brown ink on very vanilla & colour with regal rose, pretty in pink & gable green ink. Mount on choc chip card with dimensionals.
3. Greeting circles – Stamp ‘smile’ from ‘Reason to Smile’ hostess set on regal rose card & punch out with ¾ inch circle punch. Adhere onto circles of very vanilla card (1 3/8 inch punch) & ‘Loves Me’ paper (1 1/4 inch punch) with dimensionals.
The flower image on this one took a little more time to do, but was still very quick to make.
1. Base - Attach strips of pretty in pink card & ‘Loves Me’ polka dot paper & ric rac from the ‘Flirty’ ribbon pack to a close to cocoa base as shown. (card front is 10.5 cm x 10.5cm).
2. Flower vase – Stamp with basic brown ink on very vanilla. Colour with pretty in pink, cool caribbean & gable green inks. Use Crystal Effects® on the petals & water to add shine & dimension. (you’ll have to trust me on that, as you can’t see it properly in the pic!). Attach to base with dimensionals.
3. Greeting circles – Stamp ‘thank you’ from ‘Simply Said’ set in close to cocoa on very vanilla card, punch out with ¾ inch circle punch & sponge with pretty in pink ink. Adhere with dimensionals onto circles of very vanilla card (1 3/8 inch punch) & ‘Loves Me’ polka dot paper (1 1/4 inch punch). Attach to base with dimensionals.

For this one, I wanted to make a full size card. Again I used a close to cocoa base & added strips of pretty in pink & cool caribbean card, some ‘Loves Me’ polka dot paper & ‘Flirty’ ric rac. I stamped the image on whisper white card with basic brown ink & coloured it with regal rose & tempting turquoise watercolour wonder crayons. I used the same smile element as before, this time with whisper white card. This card evolved into this one we made at the class.
I would have liked to use this for my swap for the ‘Stampin' Up!® Demonstrator convention in April, but as many of the items will be retiring at the end of this month (sob!), it will need some revamping first!
If you’d like to order some ‘Loves Me’ paper, ‘Flirty’ ribbons or cool caribbean card or ink (or any other retiring items), before they retire at the end of this month, just contact me by the 29th March.

So Sassy

This is the second colouring project from last Saturday's class. It really says happy to me & was just the thing to cheer me up.

Before we started it, I showed everyone some ways they could choose to colour the flower vase using ink pads & Watercolor Wonder™ crayons with an aqua painter & blender pen, so they could choose which way they'd like to colour their image.

There are 5 main steps to this card:

1. Stamp one of the cute 'Sassy Stems' flower vases on whisper white card with basic brown waterproof ink. Colour the image using your favourite colouring method. I used an aqua painter with orchid opulence, tempting turquoise & gable green Watercolor Wonder™ crayons (from the Bold Brights® family. Then, mount the image on some gable green card with dimensionals.
2. Roll the 'Kindness' jumbo wheel over a square of orchid opulence card with an orchid opulence ink pad. This is a lovely wheel, with lots of curvy quotes about kindess (and don't we need a whole lot of that?)
3. Use a tempting turquoise marker to ink up part of the 'thank you' greeting from 'Simply Said', stamp on a scrap of cool caribbean card & punch it out with the small oval punch. Then, mount it on a whisper white oval punched with the large oval punch.
4. Add some glitter! Use two-way glue to add some dazzling diamonds glitter to the centre of each flower, the edge of the green oval, & the orchid card.
5. Arrange & attach all the elements on a (retiring – sob!) cool caribbean base & stamp the full 'Simply Said' greeting on the inside of the card. Done!

'Sassy' is very much a new favourite and I'm very glad it's returning in the new Idea Book & Catalogue. I find water colouring very relaxing to do & quite often colour a pile of images at the same time & make them into cards later. I've made quite a few 'sassy' cards now, so I'll share more with you over the next few days.

In the meantime, here's another version of this card, with the colours reversed, an extra mat & different 'simply said' greeting.

Tip of the day: Glitter can be messy & that sometimes puts me off using it. Now I store & use it in a little plastic tub (think take away), which really cuts the mess factor. Also I find that rubbing an embossing buddy® over the card before glittering (is that a real word?) helps the glitter to stick only where you want it to.

There’s good news & there’s Summer Mini retiring news...

Anyone within earshot of me lately knows that the 2008/09 Idea Book & Catalogue is nearly here, and I'm really excited to say that I received my order of new books yesterday. There's so much to say about the new and I can say...GORGEOUS....book...
...But for now, I wanted to let you know which of the items in the Summer Mini Catalogue will be staying or retiring at the end of March & I have to say, there's not much staying!
Staying...i.e. will be available in the new Idea Book:Stamp Sets
- 'Carte Postale' set & matching 'Leaves a la Carte' wheel, 'Bud Basics' set & matching 'Basic Outline' wheel, Backyard BBQ set & Flip flops wheel.
Accessories - All wide grosgrain ribbons, round tab punch, spiral punch, 5x5 on board journal
Items Available until 31 March only ...i.e. NOT available in the new Idea Book-All other sets, including Stem Silhouettes (I am officially in mourning!) See here & here for the stem cards I've posted.
-All Designer Series Paper, i.e. 'Au Chocolat', Enchante, & Loves Me papers. I am very sad about those too. There are lots of projects using these on my blog too!
-Flirty Ribbon Originals pack – just gorgeous!
-Pocket Notes – All colours – Available in very vanilla, Chocolate chip & Pretty in pink
If you would like any of the retiring items from the Summer Mini or the current Idea Book & Catalogue, please contact me to order them ASAP and no later than Saturday 29 March, as I will be placing my last order on 31 March.

Full bloom farewell

So have you missed me? Sorry about the lack of posts. There's been a lot going on in the last couple of weeks & something had to give. I have some new projects to show you now though so keep checking back over the next few days though (or subscribe if you automatically want to receive you updates). Anyway, enough waffle, onto the cards...

We made these cards at last Saturday's colouring class. I couldn't decide which one I liked more, so I made enough kits so everyone could choose which one they wanted to do (btw, I think half the guests chose one & half the other!). I used the retiring set 'In Full Bloom' for both cards. It's such a pretty set with so many different images to colour, so I'm very sad it's going.For this card, I stamped the flower on watercolour paper with basic brown ink & coloured the flower with the earth elements Watercolor Wonder™ crayons (ruby red, cameo coral, really rust, summer sun, old olive & garden green) and an aquapainter. I made slots in the card with the horizontal slot punch, threaded through some spotty ruby red & caramel ribbon from the 'Rustic Retreat' Ribbon Originals pack (also retiring) & mounted it on some ruby red card with dimensionals. I attached the ribbon to some strips of barely banana & cameo coral card with gold brads & mounted the whole lot on a certainly celery base, which I had stamped all over with one of the 'In Full Bloom' leaves. The greeting is from the 'Warmest Regards' retiring hostess set.For this card, I used a cranberry crisp base, stamped with the 'Bloomin' wheel that matches 'In Full Bloom'. I used the same flower stamps as before, but I coloured the flower petals with cranberry crisp ink (also retiring) rather than crayons. I used the same colour crayons for the other elements, but just made the colour deeper to work with the deeper cardstock. It's hard to see in the pic, but I also covered the flower petals, centre & leaves with Crystal Effects® to give a glossy dimensional look to the watercolouring. I mounted the flower on creamy caramel card & attached it and some striped taffeta ribbon (also from the 'Rustic Retreat' pack) to a strip of old olive card, which I stamped with heartfelt, from the 'Heartfelt Thanks' set.

So, which one do you prefer? Leave a comment to let me know.

Tip of the day: I generally prefer to use basic brown ink for outline images instead of black, as I think it gives a much softer look. Stampin' Up!® basic brown ink is waterproof and so not prone to bleeding. On SU watercolour paper (which is really fantastic for colouring), I tend to leave it to dry for a minute before I start to colour, just to make sure it's really dry.

ps. Sorry the pic colours are a little off - not sure what was going on the day I took them.

I’ve been tagged...

by Chrissie

The tagging rules say I'm supposed to post 7 random and/or weird facts about myself & then tag 7 other blogs I visit. Those who know me know that random weirdness isn't a problem, but I've decided to do my own thing and do 5 of each instead of 7.

So... 5 random facts
1. I was born in Glasgow, Scotland, but I don't have a Scottish accent any more...except when I say "us"...or when I tease my mum.
2. I recently resigned from the company I worked at for almost 23 years.
3. Bears are my favourite animals - especially polar bears.
4. I like quoting lines from movies – especially very silly ones from Austin Powers.
5. I didn't like the colour green until I found Stampin' Up!® certainly celery.

... and 5 blogs
This is a nice opportunity to tag 5 Stampin' Up!® demonstrators who I really appreciate and want to thank:
Sam, Marelle & Sarah: - Their creations are awesome & they inspire me in so many ways.
Roz: - I've been doing some great demonstrator training courses with Roz, so thanks Roz for sharing your time & wealth of knowledge. Buy her book if you're a demo too!
Andrea: - Andrea recently helped me to help one of my lovely customers, so thanks heaps Andrea!
Kellie Jupe: - Kellie's blog is a work in progress, so you'll need to wait a little while to see how beautiful her cards are! Consider yourself tagged when it's live Kellie!

I think they all live the Stampin' Up!® statement of the heart:
"To love what we do, and share what we love, as we help others enjoy creativity & worthwhile accomplishments...in this we make a difference."

The last week has been a difficult one for my family, so I haven't been able to make any new cards to show you, but stay tuned. I hope to be back in the swing with some new creations later in the week.

One, two, buckle my...err cards!

OK, I'm officially obsessed with buckle cards. Here are 2 more I made in the same way as this one, using some of the designer series papers from the Summer Mini. For this one, I went chocolatty, with 2 of the circle patterned papers from the 'au chocolat' pack. The base is chocolate chip card & the inside right panel is very vanilla card, with a choc chip & vanilla based paper. There's another panel of the same vanilla paper on the inside left of the card. The greeting is from Sincere Salutations, a set I find very elegant & useful for lots of occasions.For this one, I wanted to make a fun card, so I used some spotty teal & cool caribbean paper from the 'Loves Me' pack on a tempting turquoise base. I also used stamps from the very cute 'Eat Cake' set for the presents & greeting, which I raised on dimensionals. I'm really happy that 'Eat Cake' will continue to be available in the new Idea Book & Catalogue, as it's a fun set for birthdays & invitations.

At this stage, both the 'Au Chocolat' & 'Loves Me' paper are only available until the end of March, but I have my fingers crossed that they'll be included in the new catalogue too, as I find them really easy to use on projects. They're good value too, at only $16.95 for 12 sheets - 2 sheets of 6 double sided designs in each pack.