Up, up & away

Today I have two cards to share using the Up, Up & Away stamp set. Both cards were made for good friends back in November (I know, I know, still behind!). This set was at the top of my must-have list, as I loved the look & flexibility of the images for so many types of cards & the little details like the birds & pennant trails.
One for a guy
First up, one for my friend Ray, in shades of blue.

This is one of my fave go-to layouts & I liked how it worked with the balloons. The balloons are all stamped, cut out & popped off the base with dimensionals.The navy strip at the bottom is our great denim ribbon, which is great for male cards (click on the pic to see it closer). on the inside, I created another little scene to finish it off.

...& one for a girl
I made this centre step step card for my dear friend (& now keen stamper) Alison. This was my first attempt at the style of card & won't be my last, as it's such a fun fold.

I used the balloons in a similar way to Ray's card. This time, I added some itty bitty punch flowers & pearls to make them a little more girly. The colours are a bit off in the pic, so let me tell you that they're pool party, island indigo, poppy parade & calypso coral.

If you'd like to try a centre step card, check out this tutorial on SplitcoastStampers.com.
I changed the measurements for my card & can't remember for the life of me what they were. If you'd like to know, leave a comment & I'll see if I can 'borrow' the card back from my friend (Hi Alison!).

Edited 16 Sept 2014
You can now download my pdf tutorial for a centre step card in this post.

Anyway, must fly for now. Hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for visiting & hope to hear from you or see you here again soon.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies: All Stampin' Up!
For a Guy
Stamps: Up, Up & Away
Card/Paper: Night of Navy, bashful blue\, whisper white card, Patterns DSP (Regals - Navy)
Ink: night of navy, bashful blue ink pad & markers
Accessories: blue denim ribbon
Tools: Big Shot, Top Note die

For a Girl
Stamps: Up, Up & Away, Happiest Birthday Wishes (hostess)
Card/Paper: pool party, whisper white, calypso coral, poppy parade card. Patterns DSP (In-colour 11-13 - indigo & pool party)
Ink: poppy parade, calypso coral
Accessories: basic pearls
Tools: itty bitty punch pack flower

Harry Potter Owl pocket card

I've something a little different to my beloved butterflies to show you today - a Harry Potter-themed pocket card featuring my favourite owlie friend, dressed up as Harry.

(click pic for a bigger image)

I made this for Cara to give Damien for his birthday back in November. She had a great idea to get Damien tickets to the Harry Potter exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.....yes, we're all big Harry Potter fans, so I want a Harry themed card. I also love dressing up owlie, so I went had a bit of a play & came up with what you see here. I also tried a bit of curling & distressed  for a more vintage look...well, as distressed as I do anyway.
Anyhoo, here is Harry Owl for his close-up - very simple, but I think kind-of Harry like. All the bits as made using shapes from the owl punch.

I wanted to include the tickets in the card, so a pocket card was the best option. I found a couple of free HP like fonts online & used them for the inside message. Cara was pretty impressed with that!. By the way, the card front is approx 21cm x 10cm & fitted a DL envelope.

It was a lot of fun to make & it made Damien smile, so that's a win in my book. Hope you like it too.
That's it for me tonight - must finish the post before my battery runs out. Thanks very much for visiting. Hope you pop in again soon.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies
Stamps: Curly Cute
Card/Paper: basic black, whisper white, riding hood red (textured card), Patterns DSP (neutrals pack)
Ink: staz on black, black stampin' write journal pen
Accessories: black satin ribbon, silver brads
Tools: owl builder punch, Big Shot, Circles #2 die

Another enchanted butterfly

Well I didn't get back here as quick as I expected, but at least I'm here now to show you the card I made for Leesa, to match the butterfly frame I made for her.

It's a very simple & well used layout, but I liked how it turned out...I can't help myself with those butterflies. Like the frame, I used the SAB Everyday Enchantment DSP & Patterns DSP. I also used the ribbons & a brad from the SAB accessories pack. I like the subtle shimmer that the ribbons added to the card....even if it doesn't show in the pic....so here's another angle. This one shows off my new sentiment stamp set - Friendly Phrases, which includes 2 of my fave fonts & such lovely sentiments.

 I kept it simple on the inside of the card. Just some DSP, card & more butterflies just for good measure.

I hope you're not getting too sick of butterflies. I seem to have had a real obsession with them, looking through my card pics...& I haven't even shown you them all!
Thanks very much for visiting & leave me a comment to say hi if you have time. I love hearing from you. Until next time, inky wishes
Di

Supplies:
Stamps: Friendly Phrases
Card/Paper: pool party, calypso coral, poppy parade card, Everyday Enchantment DSP, In Colours 11-13 Patterns DSP
Ink: early espresso
Accessories: everyday Enchantment accessory pack (SAB) - brad & ribbons
Tools: Big Shot, Beautiful Butterflies die, Beautiful Wings die,

Everyday enchantment butterfly frame

Today's project was a gift I made for my lovely friend Leesa's birthday. She loves butterflies, so I came up with the idea to make a shadow box frame with my butterfly dies & I have to say was thrilled with how it turned out.

The whole frame (which I got at Ikea ages ago) is about 71cm x 31cm & is about 5cm deep. The white border is part of the glass & the base sits well below the glass. This leaves heaps of space for some beautiful 3d butterflies. Here's a close up of each window.

The butterflies are of course cut using my fave Beautiful Butterflies die & Beautiful Wings embosslit die. "What's that beautiful paper" you say? Well, the backing & butterflies are mainly the Everyday Enchantment DSP pack,  made especially for Sale-a-bration, teamed with a little of the in-colour Patterns DSP & a little calypso coral & pool party card. The butterflies are finished off with some antique brads (large butterflies) & Sale-a-bration brad pack (smaller butterflies).

The butterflies are lightly curled at the edges & popped up with many, many, many dimensionals to keep them in place - some are 3-high! Here are some angled pics I took before the butterflies went in the frame, so you can see the layers better. Unfortunately, they were taken at night with dodgy lighting, so the colours are a little off.

I was so happy with how it all turned out & even better that Leesa really loved it. I think I'm going to have to make another one for me too. Hope you like it too. If you have any questions, please leave me a comment.
I'm out of time for now, so I'll have to show you the matching card I made for Leesa next time.
Until then, thanks very much for visiting & come back soon.
Inky wishes, Di

PS: In case you've missed the Sale-a-bration buz, you can earn the paper & brads I used here FREE during Sale-a-bration, which runs until the end of March.

You can find out more about Sale-a-bration HERE, or by contacting me

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless noted)
Card/Paper: Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB), In-colour 11-13 Patterns DSP, calypso coral & pool party card
Accessories: Antique brads, Everyday Enchantment brads (SAB)
Tools: Big Shot, Beautiful Butterflies die, Beautiful Wings embosslit die
Other: frame from Ikea

Poppy Butterflies for JAI 103

Hi there. Today I actually have a new project to show you (shocking I know). I'm trying to get back into my stamping groove & have quite a few cards to make & thought a challenge would be a good way to get me started. So, I checked out the latest challenge at the fab Just Add Ink, which is JAI103 - just add red & white.
I thought the challenge would be pretty easy, but the red & white was a little trickier in practice. The one easy choice was using the butterflies. There's just something about them that I can't resist at the moment & I had my two butterfly dies already on my desk, so I went for it. Anyway, without any further waffle, you can see what I came up with.

I cut the butterflies from some retired poppy parade DSP & cardstock. I also used some of the Sale-a-bration DSP pack for the bottom mat. Initially, I stamped the white stripe embossed panel with a swirly stamp, but thought it was a little busy, so I changed it. I distressed the edges of all the mat pieces. I popped the sentiment inside one of the embossed designer frames, which I cut out & mounted on dimensionals. The butterfly edges are sponged & popped with dimensionals & not forgetting the cute brad from the SAB accessory pack.

Here's a different angle to show the layers better:

Anyway, hope you like what I came up with. Leave some comment love if you have any q's or just want to say hi. Bye for now.

Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:

Stamps Elements of Style

Card/Paper: poppy parade, riding hood red, whisper white card, In-colour 10-12 Patterns Hostess DSP pack (retired), Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB)

Accessories: white taffeta ribbon, Everyday Enchantment brads pack (SAB), basic pearls

Tools: Big Shot, Beautiful Butterflies die, Beautiful Wings die, Designer frames embossing folder, stripes embossing folder, sponge dauber

Inlaid embossing fun with K's

Todays card is one I made for a friend who wanted to give a special 40th birthday card for a friend. While asking what her friend might like, she said the friend was having a themed party where everyone had to come dressed as something beginning with the letter K, as the birthday girl's name begins with K - fun huh! So, with that in mind, this is what I came up with:

 As you can see, I've used the inlaid embossing technique again with the square lattice embossing folder. I just love the look this gives. The K & the 40 is from the timeless type junior alphabet die set & I think it was perfect for this, since it's almost square. I thought it might look too plain with just the K's so I added some itty bitty punched flowers before I embossed & some little rhinestones after.
The card is a tall one - The front is approx 21cm x 10cm from memory. This was a hurried photo, so the colours are not quite right, but you get the idea ;0)

It's been a while since I made this, but I'm pretty sure at the time I thought of the lovely Sarah Klass's card with numbers to get me started (coincidentally a 'K' too!). Thanks again Miss S.

My friend liked what I came up with & hopefully the birthday girl did too.

Thanks very much for stopping by. Hope you liked the card & hope to see you again soon.

Inky wishes, Di

Supplies

Card/Paper: baja breeze base, rose red, regal rose, whisper white, lots of Subtles collection scraps for the K's

Accessories: basic rhinestones, celery grograin ribbon (retired)

Tools: Big Shot, square lattice embossing folder, Timeless Type junior alphabet dies, circles #2 die, 1 3/4 inch cirle punch, itty bitty punch pack