Petal Prints Challenge

After my certainly celery confession on Wednesday, I challenged myself to make a card using colours that I don't use very often & this was the result. It was also the first time I've used my 'Petal Prints' set, which is a very pretty 2 step set that includes base & outline flower & leaf images.

I stamped 4 separate daisy base & outlines on very vanilla card, using more mustard, really rust & summer sun ink. Then, I punched out part of the flowers with the 1 3/8 inch square punch & attached them to a square of really rust card with dimensionals. I randomly stamped the more mustard base with the leaf image & added a strip of summer sun and really rust card. Finally, I attached the matted flowers to the base & used really rust ink to stamp the Birthday wishes greeting from 'Sincere Salutations'.

Even though these weren't colours that normally shout 'pick me', I was happily surprised with the result. So, here's my challenge to you. Try a colour combo, card design or set that you're not drawn to normally and see what you come up with...oh and send me the results too.

Supply List: Stamps: Petal Prints, Sincere Salutations. Card: more mustard, really rust, summer sun, very vanilla. Ink: more mustard, really rust, summer sun. Accessories: 1 3/8 inch square punch, dimensionals.

Wild about you baby....& celery!

As you can see from the lack of posts, I haven't had much card time, but I did take some to make this baby card for some good friends who have welcomed a new baby boy into their family. I like making window cards, so I thought I would see if it worked with Mr Giraffe from the 'wild about you' set. It took me a little while to turn the picture in my head into the card, but I was happy with the result.

So, want to know how I made it?
First, I made a rectangular window in the ballet blue base by punching 2 slightly overlapping holes with the 1 3/8 inch square punch. Then I rolled a line of ballet blue circles down the side with the 'hot to dot' Stampin' Around® wheel & rolled a line of certainly celery circles onto certainly celery card, again with the 'hot to dot' wheel. Then I added a window frame made with certainly celery card. The 100% pure baby tag from the 'terrific tags' free level 1 hostess set was stamped in ballet blue ink & I punched a small hole in it with the ¼ inch circle punch. I attached the tag it to the card by wrapping white organdy ribbon around the card & tying it through the tag. To hold the tag in place I used dimensionals. Last but not least, I stamped Mr Giraffe in certainly celery on whisper white card, and cut a rectangle around him to match the window size. I mounted him with dimensionals onto a triple mat of certainly celery, ballet blue & whisper white & stamped 'happy' inside the card using the 'happy everything' set. Done.

By the way... It's no secret to most of my buds & regular customers that I love (nay, am obsessed with) certainly celery, so you'll notice that here it is again. In my defence, I had no intention of using it in this card, but it just kind of snuck in anyway ... who knew it would look so good with ballet blue? (at least in real life it did!) What can I say? – celery just goes with so many colours. So, what's your favourite Stampin' Up!® colour? Leave a comment and let me know.

Kia Ora from NZ & Cheers to You

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m in Auckland this week. I managed to fit some essential stamping goodies in my bag though and finally got a little time to play with them.
This card was the result. Very quick and easy and I only used very limited supplies. I really like the colour combination, which mainly includes Earth Elements® colours and think it could be used for a guy or girl – what do you think?

To make it, I used 2 of the exclusive Sale-A-Bration stamp sets –‘Birthday Whimsy’ and ‘Lots of Thoughts’. The presents (Birthday Whimsy) are stamped in 3 colours on very vanilla card & the Cheers greeting (Lots of Thoughts) is stamped on top of the celery present. To add some interest, I pierced the pumpkin pie mat using the piercing tool and template from the Crafters Tool kit. Nice and easy. Hope you like it.

Supply List
Stamps: Birthday Whimsy (SAB), Lots of Thoughts (SAB)
Card: really rust, pumpkin pie, very vanilla
Ink: really rust, old olive, certainly celery
Tools: piercing tool & mat pack

Friendship Blooms for Sale-A-Bration

This happy card is the result of my first play with 'Friendship Blooms', one of the lovely free Sale-A-Bration sets. You might recognise the colour combination from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue, but then, anyone who knows me knows how much I love certainly celery & bashful blue.
To make the greeting tag, I stamped the greeting in bashful blue ink on very vanilla & bashful blue card scraps, cut the vanilla greeting into a tag shape & mounted it with dimensionals on a bashful blue mat, then cut out & mounted only the 'happy' part of the greeting on top. I stamped 2 large flowers; 1 with bashful blue card & ink and 1 with apricot appeal card & ink. Then I stamped 5 leaf outlines with certainly celery card & ink. I cut out the leaves, large blue flower & the small apricot flower centre, leaving a little border. I then pierced small holes in the large blue flower & leaves. I twisted a thin scrap of celery card for the stem & secured it on vanilla card with glue dots. Then, I attached the flowers, leaves & tag (with a bashful blue brad),& finally added a vanilla button for the flower centre.

Stamps: Friendship Blooms (SAB)
Card: certainly celery, apricot appeal, bashful blue, very vanilla
Ink: bashful blue, apricot appeal
Accessories: very vanilla button, bashful blue brad
Tools: piercing tool, dimensionals, glue dots
You can receive the Friendship Blooms set (or one of the other 3 lovely SAB sets) for FREE, every time you place a $100 order (excl s&h) anytime from now until 28 Feb. You can also earn a set (in additional to the normal hostess benefits) by hosting a $600 workshop in January or February. You can find out more in the Sale-A-Bration catalogue, here, or by sending me an e-mail.
Stay tuned for more Sale-A-Bration projects and info through January & February.
Quick note: I'll be in New Zealand until 13 January, but I will still be able to post, check my e-mail & submit orders while I'm there. Talk to you soon.
Bye for now - Di

Criss-cross gift card

Well, Happy New Year everyone & best wishes for 2008! 2007 was a great year for me, as it brought so many lovely people and opportunities into my life, so I can't wait to see what's in store for this year. Anyway, time for a new project.

I've wanted to try making a criss-cross card for ages and finally made this one as gift card (Hi Nette). I really like the criss-cross design as the insert can be used in lots of ways – for a greeting, with a photo, a store gift card, or as a gift certificate.

This was a perfect opportunity to use some of my new and delicious 'chocolat' designer series paper from the Summer Mini Catalogue. The paper coordinates beautifully with the chocolate chip card and chocolate grosgrain ribbon. I included 2 inserts with the card; each has a chocolate chip base & is covered on one side with more 'chocolat' paper. I also added tabs (using the tab punch from the Summer Mini) to make the inserts easy to pull out. The second pic shows the back of the card and inserts, one of which is a gift certificate for Stampin' Up!® goodies from me. I can make up certificates in any amounts, so if you'd like to purchase one for a lucky person, just e-mail me for more information.

If you'd like to try making your own criss-cross card, the instructions are available from Splitcoast here. Note: I modified the measurements slightly to better suit Australian A4 card. Alternatively, I'd be happy to run a workshop for a group to make the card with you too. Just e-mail me if you're interested.

Finally, a special thanks also to fellow demonstrator Tanya Blewitt for kindly sharing her gift certificate template with me.

Talk to you soon.

Christmas card finale

Well it's 3 days until Christmas and I can finally and thankfully say that all my Christmas cards are finished, posted and hopefully delivered. I thought I'd show...myself and anyone else who accidentally finds my blog, most of the cards I actually sent.

All these cards feature the lovely 'holiday thyme' designer series paper which was available until 15 December. All other supplies are also from Stampin' Up!® unless noted.

First off the block is the origami Christmas tree, which was inspired by this card on Sam Post's blog. I made 2 colour variations – this one in old olive cranberry crisp and naturals ivory and another with a naturals ivory card base. The greeting is my favourite from ‘Many Merry Messages’ and is stamped in cranberry crisp ink.
The ivory mat is pierced in each corner using the piercing template from the mat pack and raised off the base with Stampin Dimensionals®. The star brads are from my scrapping stash, so I’m not sure of the brand.

Next up is my Christmas baubles card. I was really pleased with this one too, especially because it satisfied my love of punches. The base is naturals ivory – I liked the way it looked with the ‘holiday thyme paper’. The ‘holiday thyme’ paper baubles are raised off a cranberry crisp bauble base using Stampin' Dimensionals® for more impact. I made the baubles with the 1¼ inch circle punch & the hangers with the ¼ inch and ½ inch circle punches. They are ‘hanging’ on silver cord, which was stitched through the card. Again, the greeting is from ‘Many Merry Messages’.


Last but not least, these 2 cards follow the same design, but use very different colours. Again, the first uses naturals ivory and old olive card. The greeting is stamped in cranberry crisp ink, on naturals ivory card which has been pierced and mounted on Dimensionals. The olive card is also pierced on 2 sides. The second version uses night of navy card and ink & whisper white card.

Hope you liked the cards. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Best wishes to everyone for a happy and peaceful Christmas.

Hi and Welcome

Well it's been a while since I started setting up my blog, but I think it's good to go!
I've enjoyed putting it together and hope my family, friends, customers & anyone else who's interested in messsing around with paper & ink will enjoy it. Welcome!