Fall Flower Babies

A quick diversion from Bali Breeze to show you two baby cards I made recently & forgot to show you – one for my cuz & his lovely wife who welcomed their first beautiful son Jet, & the second for a friend who welcomed her first son. First up is Jet's card (as if you couldn't figure that out):The bubba from 'All in the Family' was stamped in blue bayou ink, water-coloured & punched out to fit on a metal edged tag. The letters (from the 'Big Deal' alphabet) were also stamped in blue bayou ink, cut out & raised on some spotty 'Fall Flowers' paper. The welcome baby is from 'Short & Sweet'. I've used more Fall Flowers paper & some soft sky ribbon on the base.For this one, I've used more Fall Flowers paper & my favourite giraffe image from 'Wild About You'. The greeting is from a great retired hostess set called 'Riveting' from the 07/08 catalogue. Both the giraffe/soft sky layer & the greeting are raised on dimensionals. This colour combination of blue bayou, soft sky, celery & white is one I'm going to miss a lot too.

Anyhoo, hope you enjoy the baby interlude. I'll be back soonish with more Bali Breeze & Eastern Blooms. Hope you have a great weekend.
Cheers, Di

PS: IMHO 'Short & Sweet' is one of the best value & useful sets in the catalogue, as it's only $29.95 for 12 images.
PPS: I will have a brand new unmounted 'Riveting' set for sale in my upcoming retired stamp set sale. Stay tuned if you're interested.

Supplies:
Jet
Stamps: All in the Family, Big Deal Alphabet, Short & Sweet
Card/Paper: Soft Sky, whisper white, blue bayou, Fall Flowers DSP
Ink: Blue bayou, soft sky
Accessories: soft sky stitched grosgrain ribbon
Tools: small oval punch, 1 ¼ inch circle punch

Welcome giraffe
Stamps: Wild About You, Riveting (retired
Card/Paper: Soft Sky, whisper white, blue bayou, certainly celery, Fall Flowers DSP
Ink: certainly celery, blue bayou
Tools: punches – 1 ¼ & ½ inch circles, mat pack & piercing tool

Eastern Blooms & Bali Breeze Joy

Heelllooo again! I'm back with the second project from my 14 Feb class – a joy fold card made using my favourite set & paper from the Summer Mini – Eastern Blooms & Bali Breeze paper.

This was one of those cards that came together like a breeze (no pun intended) & is by far my most favourite card in a long time. By the response of the ladies who made it at the class, they really liked it too. I found this great tutorial on Splitcoast & just had to try it, so I aussified the measurements to fit A4 card. I'm not sure why it's called a joy card but they are fun to make. The basic card has 2 pieces of folded cardstock – one large piece with the fold on the left & a smaller piece with a fold on the right. Hopefully, you can see the way it works in these pics.
What I did:

• The colours are tempting turquoise, pumpkin pie, apricot appeal, really rust, celery & white (never thought I'd use those together but there you go!).
• The flower stem (can you say gorgeous?) is coloured with certainly celery, pumpkin pie & really rust markers, then mounted on pumpkin card.
  The greeting (from Occasional Greetings – but you must know that by now) is also stamped in pumpkin pie.
• The large flower was inked with an apricot appeal pad & then parts of it coloured with a pumpkin pie marker. The same image is stamped on the inside white panel.
• The smaller flowers are inked in apricot appeal & pumpkin pie & then the centres are coloured with pumpkin & really rust markers). All three flowers are mounted on dimensionals.

If you have any questions about the card, just drop me an e-mail. I'll be back next time with some more Eastern Blooms projects.
Cheers, Di
PS: Only 11 more days to order from the Summer Mini, so contact me if there's something you need.
PPS: You can find the latest updates to retirement list availability on the right bar.
PPPS: I'll be posting information soon about the retired/retiring sets I will be selling soon. Stay tuned for some bargains.
Supplies:Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Occasional Greetings
Card: tempting turquoise, pumpkin pie, whisper white
Paper: Bali Breeze designer series
Ink: apricot appeal, pumpkin pie ink pads, certainly celery, apricot appeal, pumpkin pie & really rust markers

Keeping up the suspense

Hope you're having a happy Thursday. The last week has been a bit of a blur, but I'm back with the first project for my 14 February class – a suspension card.

I first saw a tutorial for them at Splitcoast. If you haven't seen one before, I think of them as a bit of an interactive twist on a window card. Basically, you punch a hole between 2 layers & suspend a smaller centrepiece in the hole with some thread (or dental tape in this case). If you twist the centrepiece before you envelope the card, it twirls around when the receiver opens the card.
I thought it would be fun to use the circle scallop punch for the hole, so that's where I started. Also, as Sale-A-Bration was in full swing at the time, I used the very pretty 'Botanical Blooms' set. The colours are I think a very pretty combo of celery (yay!), pretty in pink, regal rose, rose red & white. The ribbon is the gorgeous, gorgeous 1 inch rose red stitched grosgrain from the Summer Mini. Here's a close-up (if a little blurry) pic of the window.
To get the multicoloured effect on the greeting (again from Occasional Greetings), I inked the whole image with a pretty in pink ink pad, then used a regal rose & rose red marker to highlight a some of the words. This is a great way to save time, rather than markering (is that a word?) the whole stamp.

More Suspension Cards

Thought you might like to see some more suspension cards I made at the same time- mainly with the Fall Flowers paper pack (going soon! – sigh).

This one was the first one I did & I really liked the layout, but after nearing breaking a circle punch by trying to go through too many layers at a time (see tip below!) & deciding it was a little busy with all the patterns, I decided to simplify the class design.
These were the next 2 I made. I liked the simpler layout & the detail around the suspension part on the first one, but decided I wanted to do more stamping at the class.If you'd like to try making one yourself, check out this suspension card tutorial on Splitcoast. Just one recommendation - Do NOT try to punch through more than 2 layers at a time – I find 1 layer of card & 1 layer of paper works best.
Hope this has given you something new ideas to try. Next time, I'll show you the second card we made at the class....& I have to say it's probably my (& quite a few of my customers) favourite card of the year, using my favourite set & paper....so far anyway. Thanks for visiting.
Hugs
Di J
Supplies:Botanical Blooms SuspensionStamps: Botanical Blooms (SAB), Occasional Greetings
Card: certainly celery, whisper white, rose red, pretty in pink
Ink: pretty in pink (pad), regal rose (marker), rose red (marker), certainly celery, wild wasabi
Accessories: 1 inch rose red stitched grosgrain ribbon
Tools: punches – scallop circle, 1 3/8 in circle, 1 ¼ inch circle, 1 inch circle
Other: Dental tape
Fall Flowers Suspensions
Stamps: Friendly Flowers (Summer Mini), Eastern Blooms, Think Happy Thoughts
Card: certainly celery, soft sky, old olive, groovy guava
Paper: Fall Flowers
Ink: old olive, blue bayou, certainly celery, groovy guava
Accessories: 5/8 inch celery grosgrain ribbon, soft sky double stitched ribbon, celery brads, not quite navy brad
Tools: punches – scallop circle, 1 3/8 in circle, 1 ¼ inch circle, 1 inch circle, ¾ inch circle
Other: Dental tape

Live Your Dream class project

Just a quickie post to show you the second card we made at my January Summer Mini class (wow, I'm still so behind on posting!).Just about everything I used is from the Summer Mini, For this card, we used the elegantly simple 'Live your Dream' set & co-ordinating 'Afternoon Tea' designer paper. The colours are groovy guava, chocolate chip, old olive & ruby red.

The chocolate linen look paper is the back of the guava floral piece, so all I did was cut a rectangle the right size to fit the page, then cut the bottom piece off & turn it over to show the other side & attached them both to a piece of choc chip card. I wrapped some stitched chocolate grosgrain ribbon around the panel (can't get enough of this ribbon at the moment).
For the flower & stem I coloured the petals with a groovy guava ink pad, then added some detail with a ruby red marker & finally an old olive marker for the stem. The flower panel is mounted on groovy guava (with some ruby red brads in the centres) & attached to the base with dimensionals. The greeting (Occasional Greetings) is stamped in chocolate & punched out with the small oval & mounted on a large ruby red oval.Here's a close up of the coloured flower panel. Boy I'm going to miss guava!
Next time, I'll start showing you my February class projects. Bye for now & thanks for visiting. Di
PS: The Summer Mini Catalogue has only 3 more weeks to run, so contact me if you'd like to order some final items.

Supplies:
Stamps: Live Your Dream, Occasional Greetings
Card/Paper: groovy guava, chocolate chip, ruby red, whisper white, Afternoon Tea designer paper
Ink: chocolate chip & groovy guava ink pads, ruby red & old olive stampin' write markers
Accessories: choc chip 1 inch stitched grosgrain ribbon, ruby red brads (Earth Elements® pack)
Tools: large & small oval punch, paper piercer

Guava & olive Folder Set

Today's project is a set of note cards & envelopes in a folder I made for my dear friend Robyn's birthday In December (smiling & waving hi ya Rob). This set is similar to this one, but I changed the folder to give more room for the cards & make it free-standing. This set reminded me (again) how much I'm going to miss this year's in colours, as there are so many in there.The flower images are a combination of 'Pick a Petal' (which I'm overjoyed is not retiring) & True Friend' (hopefully returning) sets. The colours are guava, ruby red, really rust & olive & the papers are 'Fall Flowers' & 'Olive Prints'. Thanks again to Sarah for sharing your butterfly card idea in these cute cards & to happy2stamp4ever on Splitcoast for the tulip card I saw in this gorgeous set.The flower on the cover was stamped in guava on whisper white cut out & raised on dimensionals. The stem is always artichoke grosgrain ribbon & the button is ruby red (Earth Elements pack - also retiring) I've tied the box with groovy guava double stitched ribbon. The inside flaps are held closed with olive brads.If you have any questions about the folder or cards, or would like to order any of the items I used, just e-mail me at colourmehappy@optusnet.com.au.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Cheers
Di
PS: I made another version of this folder with Eastern Blooms & Bali Breeze paper for my last class on the 28th. I'll show you that version soonish.
PPS: Both the 'Fall Flowers' & 'Olive Prints' paper packs are on sale for $8.96 per pack & Groovy guava ink pads are also on sale for $7.46 until sold out (or the end of this month).
Supplies:
Stamps: Pick a Petal, True Friend (Spring Mini), Think Happy Thoughts, Short & Sweet, It's Your Birthday (Retiring)
Card: Note Cards & Envelopes, Groovy guava, old olive, whisper white, really rust
Paper: Fall Flowers (Retiring), Olive Prints (Retiring)
Ink: groovy guava, really rust, old olive, ruby red
Accessories, groovy guava double stitched ribbon (retiring), always artichoke grosgrain ribbon, silver brads, olive brads
Tools: Punches – large & small ovals, scallop circle, 1 3/8 & 1 ¼, ½ inch circles, word window, boho flowers (Spring Mini)

Going wild with Jersey one more time

Back in July, some of you might remember I made a little box of wild cards with the fantastic 'Wild About You' set (I am so grateful this isn't retiring). At the same time, I made a double pocket bag with the Jersey Shore paper I used & was going to make another set of cards to put in it. Well, about 7 months later, here they are. All I needed was a good reason to make them & that was to give as a gift. (waving - Hi Lyndell). Since Jersey Shore paper is retiring, I thought I'd give you a final lookie. The animals are stamped in the same colours as the Jersey Shore paper. I also used 'It's Your Birthday' for the greetings (I told you – it's a goodie!). The cards are pretty simple, so I won't waffle any more, but if you have any questions, just drop me an e-mail.

Bye for now

Di

Supplies:
Stamps: Wild About You, It's Your Birthday, In the Spotlight
Card/Paper: whisper white, pumpkin pie, brilliant blue, wild wasabi
Ink: brilliant blue, wild wasabi, pumpkin pie, bashful blue, Jersey Shore paper
Accessories: white & bashful blue 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon
Tools: 1 3/8 inch square punch, Scallop Square punch, 3/4 inch circle punch, 7/8 inch circle punch (non SU), horizontal slot punch

Sweet Sunday 2 – Outlaw Style

OK, I've found the photo of the 3^rd card I made using Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 2 layout. I made this for a really good male friend of ours. I struggle a bit with male cards, but surprisingly, this came together very quickly. I really think this layout is easy to work & fits so many themes. Maybe I'll have to try some more.

The motifs are punched from a sheet of 'Outlaw' paper, which I also used on the background. I raised the motifs on dimensionals & 3 choc chip circles. I used half of a saying from the 'It's Your Birthday' set of greetings on the front & the other half on the inside. I also stamped some creamy caramel card with the 'Weathered' background. The ribbon slide on twill tape adds extra texture.

This is another almost all retiring card, as 'It's Your Birthday', 'Outlaw' paper & the pewter hodgepodge are all retiring. Stocks of 'It's Your birthday' (which is a really flexible birthday set) are running low as of yesterday, so contact me quickly if you'd like to order it or anything else on the list. Speaking of the retirement list, I'll keep updating stock availability on the right bar, rather than in each post, so keep an eye on it there. Anyway, thanks for looking.

Di

Supplies:
Stamps: It's Your Birthday, Weathered background
Card/Paper: naturals ivory, really rust, creamy caramel & choc chip card, Outlaw designer paper
Ink: Chocolate chip, creamy caramel
Accessories: vintage brads, Hodgepodge Hardware ribbon slide
Tools: 1 inch circle punch

Sweet Sunday Blooms (& winners)

I'm trying to get on track & show you some more of what I've been making, so without any further waffle, I have 2 cards to show you today. I made this one for my fabulous friend Kellie's birthday. (waving & smiling at ya Kellie!).This was also the first card I made with the gorgeous Eastern Blooms set & Bali Breeze paper from the Summer Mini. You'll be seeing lots more of these in the next couple of weeks, as I've been using it HEAPS. Love love love them.
The layout was based on Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 2, which I totally loved. I started with 'Blooms' & Happy Everything for the panel & it just grew & grew. I then realised I would have to make the card front much bigger than standard to make the proportions work (nothing like careful planning is there?). So, in the end I think the card front was a couple of cm's smaller than half an A4 sheet (& fitted into a C5 envelope). I really liked how it turned out, so I hope Kellie did too.

Anyway, after I finished Kellie's card, I had another play with the layout to see if I could make a standard sized version & simplify it a bit – as I'm always happier when I keep it simple. This was this was the result.
I liked it a lot, so decided to use it as one of the projects for my Summer Mini class on Jan 31^st., where it also went down well. I just remembered that I made another card with this layout, for a male friend's birthday, but I can't find the photo, so I'll show you that one later if I find it.
Thanks so much Karen for a great sketch & for so generously sharing your awesome creations & ideas. I'm definitely going to try some more.
We have a winner...or 2
Thanks to Michelle & Kim for playing along with the retiring items giveaway in my So Long Mr Crabby post. You were both spot-on with all your picks, except for the inks, which were actually blue bayou, soft sky & groovy guava. No wild wasabi, the green actually celery (which thankfully for my sanity is not retiring). A special woo hoo to Michelle for figuring out 'Polka Dots & Petals'. I thought that was a tricky one! Can you both please e-mail me with your full name & snail addresses, so I can send your prizes. I'll edit the Crabby post to list the full supply list.
Anyway, must go. Thanks for looking.
Di
Supplies:Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Happy Everything
Card/Paper: old olive, purely pomegranate, pretty in pink, whisper white, Bali Breeze designer paper, Summer Picnic designer Paper
Ink: old olive & purely pomegranate, groovy guava ink pads, rose red, tempting turquoise, pumpkin pie & regal rose markers
Accessories: old olive brads, silver brads, purely pomegranate satin ribbon (not available), purely pomegranate double stitched ribbon, dimensionals
Tools: scallop edge punch, paper piercing tool

Retirement List Update

Just a quick post to say I've updated the retirement list on the side bar --> to show that the following items are no longer available as of today.

Item Code - Description
103195 - Gifts Galore wheel
107561 - Garden Annuals wheel
109610 - Leaf Prints wheel
109610 - Confetti Simply Scrappin' Kit

If you haven't had a look at the retirement list, yet, please check it out soon, as there are some serious bargains in it. Back tomorrow with another update & maybe a winner from this post.

Byyeeee
Di

Retirement List Update

Hi again. I've been on the Stampin' Up! website again & the following items are no longer available. I'll continue to post updates to this list as they become available.

Item Number - Product Description
Stamp Sets
108748 - Best Friend Numbers
Wheels
107565 - Flip Flops
107212 - Mateys Map
Ink Refills
109020 - Wild Wasabi Classic Ink Refill
109015 - Soft Sky Classic Stamin' Ink Refill
109016 - River Rock Classic Stampin' Ink Refill
109017 - Purely Pomegranite Classic Stampin' Ink Refill
109019 - Groovy Guava Classic Stampin' Ink Refill
Accessories
100381 - Earth Elements Eyelets
100378 - Soft Subtle Eyelets
105320 - Basic Eyelets