Chalkboard Flowers

Here's the second card we made on Sunday, again using the well named 'Fabulous Flowers' stamp set. I used the chalkboard technique to create lighter multi-coloured flower images on a dark background, like chalk on a blackboard. It's another really easy & very effective technique. Solid image stamps like these are perfect for the chalkboard technique, as they provide lots of surface to addcolour & depth.
Like yesterdays card, I used Stampin' Pastels to colour the flowers, but this time, I used a whisper white craft ink pad to create an opaque base for the pastels. The colours I used are rose red (card), purely pomegranate (ink) & groovy guava (card & ribbon – another new 'in-colour'). This card looks much better IRL. I'm blaming the gloomy Sydney weather ...certainly couldn't be my photography skills ;-)
Instructions: Repeat stamp large flower from 'Fabulous Flowers' with whisper white ink on rose red card. Dab on pastels (barely banana, pretty in pink & certainly celery) with sponge daubers to colour flowers. Mat onto groovy guava card & attach some groovy guava double stitched ribbon. Attach to rose red (or purely pomegranate) card base.
Tag: Stamp off the stamen image onto a scrap of groovy guava card with purely pomegranate ink & then over-stamp with greeting. I used 'mother' from 'Wonderful Favourites'. Punch out with 1 inch circle punch & mount on punched 1¼ inch rose red & 1 3/8 inch groovy guava circles. Punch a ¼ inch circle & add some knotted groovy guava ribbon. Attach tag to other ribbon piece with glue dots.
Hints:
Stamp & punch the groovy guava tag circles from the centre of the groovy guava mat piece rather than using a scrap, as the holes made won't be seen on the final card.
Also, if you want to personalise your cards to cover just about any family member, check out the 'Wonderful Favourites' stamp set, as it covers more than 20 different relationships.
Contact me if you'd like more information on this card, technique or the sets I used. I'll be back tomorrow with the last card we made. J

Fabulous Pastels

It's time to start showing you the projects from last weekend's technique class, which focused on different ways to colour images. As Mothers Day is close, I also wanted the girls to be able to make them into Mothers Day cards if they wanted. I decided to make this card for my mum.


The flowers are coloured with a technique called poppin' pastels, using Stampin' Pastels® chalks & versamark ink (or the magic pad as I usually call it!). I love this technique as it's really easy to do & creates a great effect. I used new sets, 'Fabulous Flowers' & 'Occasional Greetings' (Happy Mothers Day) for the images. The colours are purely pomegranate (card, ink & double stitched ribbon – a new 'in colour') & rose red, regal rose & apricot appeal card.
Instructions:Stamp 2 'Fabulous Flowers' on whisper white card with versamark & use sponge daubers to dab the pastels onto the wet ink (rose red, regal rose, pumpkin pie & more mustard). Cut out both images, leaving a small white border. Stamp a stamen on the small flower with pomegranate ink, add a ruby red brad & mount it with dimensionals onto the large flower.
Pierce around some apricot card with the mat pack & piercer, add some rose red card to mount the flower on & stamp a regal rose strip with a pomegranate greeting. Attach pomegranate double stitched ribbon (yum yum!) with glue dots & mount the flower on top of the rose red piece with dimensionals. Finally, attach the whole piece onto a pomegranate base with dimensionals.
I think purely pomegranate is going to get a good workout this year, but as all the 'in-colours' are gorgeous, there could be some competition. I'll show you the 2nd card tomorrow. Happy stamping in the meantime:)

To convention & back...a stamping adventure

So have you been wondering what I’ve been up to? Well, I’ve just returned from having a totally fantastic time at my first annual Stampin' Up!® convention. For those who haven’t heard of convention, it’s an annual training & recognition event for SU Demonstrators. To help set the scene for you, imagine around 300 excited Demonstrators in the one room being inspired & learning new techniques from CEO & total legend Shelli Gardner, her fabulous team & other great demonstrators & having more fun than you can poke an Aqua Painter™ at....not to mention getting free stamps. What more do you want?
Well, add 3 very special fellow Demonstrators & friends - Kellie, Janine & Sam – and you have a party!

One of the great things about convention is swapping ideas with other Demonstrators, by making a card front or other project to swap with one other. I had 3 different cards designs to swap, so I thought I’d show you what I made. You won’t be surprised to find ‘Simply Said’ in them all, as it’s still an all time favourite set of mine... and of course certainly celery in most! I received lots of lovely swaps in return too (including this one of Sam’s, this one of Marelle’s & one of these by the lovely & super talented Sarah).

Artfully Asian Blossoms

This one came together really quickly, as most of my favourite cards seem to do & I find watercolouring so relaxing to do! The card colours are close to cocoa, certainly celery, pretty in pink & very vanilla. The main flower piece is repeat stamped in basic brown with the ‘Artfully Asian’ flower stem & coloured with an Aqua Painter™ and regal rose, rose red, old olive & garden green watercolor wonder crayons. The greeting from ‘Simply Said’ is stamped on certainly celery card with basic brown ink. To make the blossom circle, I punched a flower with the ¼ inch circle & mounted it on celery (3/4 inch) & cocoa (1 inch) circles. Note: I prefer using basic brown classic ink for flower outlines, as it gives a softer look than black & is waterproof when used on very vanilla & whisper white card.

Happy Everything

It was hard to show the layers in this one in a pic, so you’ll have to trust me that it looks better IRL. First, I sponged & stamped a ¼ A4 piece of whisper white card with ‘Simply Said’ 2 step flowers in bashful blue & brocade blue ink. Then I stamped the ‘Happy Everything’ greeting in night of navy ink on a ¼ A4 piece of vellum & attached it at the top of the white piece only. To make the base, I drew & cut a curve near the top front of a bashful blue base, trimmed it off about 1cm below the lowest part of the curve & sponged the edges with bashful blue ink. I attached the lower part of the curve to the bottom of the stamped white card & attached the whole piece underneath the top of curve.
Hint: If you want to make more of the same card, you can stamp a whole A4 flower sheet & cut into 4. Also, if stamping a vellum overlay like this one, you’ll need to use a much darker ink colour on the overlay to make it visible.

Simply a favourite...again

If my final swap looks familiar, it’s because it’s a variation of this one, which I really liked when I made it. I used a circle of brocade blue card on this one to add more depth & changed the square sizes, but otherwise it’s the same card.

Thanks to all the lovely demonstrators I met in Brisbane & who swapped their creations with me & to anyone I didn't get to meet, hope to see you at the next event!

Cards by Cara

Last week, Cara had to show her classmates how to make something as part of her weekly news, so I of course suggested she show them how to make a card. She liked the idea, so we came up with these cute animal cards.We stamped animals from 'Wild About You' (giraffe, alligator & penguin), 'All in the Family' (dog & cat) & 'Very Punny' (ladybug, frog, pig & cow - retired SAB 07) & punched them out with the 1 inch circle punch. Then Cara glued the animals onto punched 1 1/4 inch circles 1 3/8 inch squares & then onto white card (5cm x 5cm front). All ink & card colours are from the bold brights family.

Cara demo'd how to make one in class & then gave one to each of her classmates, teachers & buddies. Hmmm, I wonder, can you recruit your own child?

I love how the squares & circles are off centre etc. as I think it adds to the fun...even though those who know me know I'm generally so not about random placement! Eagle eyed types will be able to find the 3 I did in the mix!

Hope you like seeing Cara's cards & leave a comment to let her know you've seen them!

Bud’s Back!

To celebrate 'Bud Basics' being in the new Idea Book & Catalogue, I decided to use it for the 2nd project at last weekend's class.

This is a really simple card with another favourite no-fail layout. The colours are close to cocoa & ruby red (card & ink) & chocolate chip & very vanilla (card).Instructions:1. Stamp the vanilla card with the large flower & ruby red ink, using a combination of normal stamping & stampin' off (stamp on scrap before stamping on the card to get a lighter image, ie. 2 colours from one ink pad). Then stamp the large flower outline in close to cocoa ink randomly over the top.2. Punch a hole in the lower right with the large oval punch & mount card onto chocolate chip card.3. Stamp the 'happy birthday' image from 'Birthday Best' (IMO one of the cheapest & most useful sets in the Idea Book) in ruby red ink, punch out with the small oval punch & ink edge. Punch a second small oval in ruby red card & attach in centre of large oval space. Mount greeting oval on top with dimensionals.4. Attach stamped/matted piece to close to cocoa base.5. Punch a scalloped edge on a strip of ruby red card with the corner rounder punch, guard removed. (I used the retired one but there's a new cute one in the new Idea Book) & attach to base (butt up against choc chip edge).
...and one the same but different

I wanted to show the ladies at the class how to very simply make a male or neutral version of this card using the same colours & layout, so I made this one. I used the lovely 'Paisley' background stamp instead of 'Bud', changed the width & placement of the mats, added some piercing across the top & used 'Everyday Flexible Phrases' for the greeting.

Simply a favourite

This is one of the projects for a class I did last weekend for some lovely ladies at church. I used 'Simply Said' for both cards, which is a really lovely & flexible 2 step set. This set started my obsession with SU back in Nov 06 & is still a firm favourite.

The colours used are bashful blue (card & ink), barely banana (card & ink), certainly celery (card & grosgrain ribbon) & very vanilla (card), brocade blue (ink).

Instructions

Base:

1. Repeat stamp the base & banana strip with chosen stamps (I used a combination of co-ordinating 'Simply Said' outlines & bold flower images).

2. Attach ribbon to top of banana piece & attach banana piece to base (with glue dots).

3. Stamp chosen greeting in brocade blue ink on bottom right of banana card. The thank you is from'Simply Said' & birthday wishes from 'Sincere Salutations'.

Flower mat:

4. Stamp bold flower in banana & outline in blue. Punch out with circle punch (1 inch for small flower, 1 1/4 inch for large flower). Add a blue brad to centre of flower (from soft subtles pack).

5. Attach to larger punched blue circle with dimensionals (1 1/4 inch circle for small flower, 1 3/8 inch for large flower), the onto matted squares of very vanilla & celery card.

6. Attach to base with dimensionals.

If you'd like the exact measurements for these cards, just drop me an e-mail.

A little extra

This is the card that inspired the final versions for the class, which had to be simpler & quicker to make. The main differences are: wider vanilla grosgrain ribbon & banana card strip, brocade blue stamped flower, banana brad & lots more layers in the flower motif.

A final fact you might like! This general layout is another favourite of mine, as it's so flexible. If need some convincing, check out this one I posted last week!

It's here & it's almost celery!

Just a very quick post to say that the new & GORGEOUS Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue is here!

You can view all the new goodies online here. You can also purchase a Catalogue from me for the discounted price of $10 (plus postage if needed) until the end of April.

If you'd like to receive a free Idea Book & earn free hostess goodies from the catalogue:

- just book & host a workshop at your place if you're local to Panania (in Sydney), or

- host a catalogue party with some friends, to collect orders.

I ordered lots of new goodies today (see - I had to wait too!) & can't wait to play with them when they arrive...& of course show you what I come up with.