Helen's brilliant flower pots

The projects I'm sharing today come with great thanks to one of my favourite cardmakers - Helen...or H2 as she's known on her fab blog. Back in Feb, Helen shared some fantastic flower pots made with the petal cone & Blossom Party dies,which I absolutely loved. So, I contacted Helen to ask her permission to use them for my Mother's Day class. Not only did she say yes, but she very generously shared her tutorial with me and showed me an even more amazing version she'd made, attached to a centre step card ehich I HAD to try. You can see Helen's centre step version here...
And this is my version...

I loved the pool party, calypso coral & vanilla colour combination Helen used for her pots (& everything else). Like Helen, I used a magnet sheet on the back of my pot, so it can be removed from the card. I wanted the card to still look finished without it though, so I used a pretty floral piece of Berry Blossom DSP behind the pot. You can see the plain centre step card here.

 

I also made another version in the other gorgeous colour combination Helen used - pool party, wisteria wonder, so saffron & certainly celery. This was also a Just Add Ink colour challenge set by my friend Kim! (small world). I love the wisteria spotted paper from the (Sweet Shop Specialty pack), as the spots are embossed.

All the ladies at my Mother's Day class LOVED the card, as did Shirley, my lovely MIL, when she received one for Mother's Day.
Thanks again so much Helen for generously sharing your wonderful talent. If you love this project, you MUST check out Helen's blog, as it's just packed with amazing projects.

Edited 16 July 2012 - Helen has very kindly added the flower pot tutorial to her blog so you can Download it here! Thanks very much Helen.

Edited 16 Sept 2014
You can now download my pdf tutorial for this size centre step card in this post.
Hope you enjoy :-)

Well, that's all for me for now. Dinner awaits...or at least it will once I cook it. Thanks for visiting & hope to have something new to share soon.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:
Version 1
Stamps: Curly Cute (Happy Birthday, Fabulous Phrases (friend)
Card/Paper: calypso coral, pool party, lucky limeade, very vanilla card, Berry Blossoms DSP, Patterns DSP (in colour 11-13)
Ink: island indigo ink pad
Accessories: designer printed brads - in colour 11-13, ruffled ribbon - lucky limeade
Tools: Big shot, Petal Cone die, Blossom Party die, jewellery tag punch 
Version 2
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments (just for you)
Card/Paper: wisteria wonder, pool party, certainly celery, so saffron card, Sweet Shop Specialty DSP, Patterns DSP (in colour 11-13)
Ink: early espresso ink pad
Accessories: itty bitty buttoms, bakers twine
Tools: Big shot, Petal Cone die, Blossom Party die, jewellery tag punch, itty bitty punch pack

Simple Twitterpated Mum

Today's card is one of the cards we made at my Mother's Day class back at the end of April. This class was great for me as well as my class girls, as it meant I would be on time with my Mother's Day cards too!

I liked the pretty & soft simplicity of the card -perfect for Mother's Day I think. This was also my first card made with some (at that time) new goodies from the Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue - the beautiful Twitterpated paper, pleated satin ribbon (I'd never be able to sew like that!) & of course my new Edgelits dies to give that lovely curve. I teamed these with the oval Designer Frames & a pretty image from the 'Tagtastic' hostess stamp set.
I liked this so much I gave it to my own wee Mum....with a little sentiment & colour variation which is much more my normal style.

 

Thinking back, Mother's Day seems so long ago, as so much has happened since then. Mum got very sick, then was in hospital. I'm glad to say she's recovering & doing much better now. It's just very hard to see her getting more fragile as time moves on.
Anyway, I'd better finish here, before I start waffling. Hope you liked my card & thanks for visiting.
Inky wishes, Di

PS: Can you believe the Autumn/Winter Mini ends this month? Don't miss out on your faves.

Supplies:  (All Stampin' Up! unless noted)

Stamps: Tagtastic (card 1 - hostess set), Short & Sweet (love you), Just Perfect Alphabet (mum)
Card/Paper: pink pirouette, baja breeze, whisper white card, Twitterpated DSP
Ink: not quite navy classic ink pad
Accessories: baja breeze pleated satin ribbon
Tools: Big Shot, Adorning Accents Edgelits dies, Designer Frames embossing folder, oval punch

Sweet Party Penguin for Cara

It's been a while longer between posts than I expected, with very little creating done either, but I do have a card to share with you today. I made this cute little party penguin card for Cara's 11th birthday back at the start of May.

This centre step card is my current fave fancy fold, as I love how the centre panel pops out. For this size version, you only need a standard size piece of card, a couple of cuts & extra score lines & you have a great new look.I've decorated the base with 3 prints from the fun Sweet Shop Specialty DSP pack. The card is really all about the perky party penguin, so here's a closer look at him:

Can you see, he's really an owl in disguise? Why? - He's made with the owl punch. I cut the owl ears off the body & punched another body to use the ears as flippers ( or whatever penguin arms are called). I used only the smaller eyes in the punch & cut the beak from a tiny triangle of card with 2 angles cut off. I've seen lots of penguins in the blogosphere & mine is based on this one by Amanda & this one by Teneale. The card had to have some bling for Cara, so I used some silver glimmer paper (have you tried this yet?) to make a sparkly party hat & glittery stage for him.

How perfect is the "You're an 11" sentiment? It's from the well named Perfect Words hostess set? I wasn't sure how to incorporate it on the card at first, but then I thought Percy the Penguin could hold it, so that's what I did. PS: the number 11 punched out perfectly with one of the owl eyes!!

If you haven't made a centre step card, check out this tutorial at SplitcoastStampers I used to work out the principles involved, then made my own size version. My version fits a regular Aus C6 envelope.

Anyway, I think that's all I need to say for now. Hope you like my penguin card. Thanks very much for visiting for your patience during my blogging absence.If you have any questions or just want to say hello, please leave me a comment. I love to hear from you. Hope to be back soon.

Inky wishes, Di

PS: Have you seen Stampin' Up!'s awesome specials for this month. Check out the top of the right column for all the info & contact me for more deets.

Edited 16 Sept 2014
You can now download my pdf tutorial for this size centre step card in this post.
Hope you enjoy :-)

Supplies:
Stamps: Perfect Words, Party This Way
Card/Paper: pool party, calyspo coral, whisper white, basic black, peach parfait, island indigo card, Sweet Shop Specialty DSP (Autumn/Winter Mini), Glimmer Paper (silver)
Ink: island indigo ink pad
Tools: punches - owl,1/2 inch circle, modern label, word window, large oval

JAI117 challenge - a daffodil gerbera?

I've really been wanting to get back to doing some challenges (or ANY stamping), so last Friday checked out the new one at Just Add Ink. I almost changed my mind though when I saw that JAI 117 was a colour challenge to use only yellow & white - specifically daffodil delight, so saffron & white. Eek! I like yellow, but I usually team it with other colours, so thought it could be a bit tricky! Anyway, I finally got back to the challenge today (just in time) & was not going to be beaten.

My idea started with a yellow gerbera flower. They're my fave flowers - so bright & happy.

I cut four large flowers from the Blossom Party die & rubbed under each petal with my stylus to curl the petals. The smaller flowers are from the Boho Blossoms punch & the centre is a gold glimmer brad. Then I spritzed the flower with some champagne mist shimmer spray.
Anyway, here's the finished card... 

It's very simple...& of course I had to sneak in a couple of butterflies. I used my all-time fave swirl from 'Baroque Motifs' under the flower & sentiment from 'Heard from the Heart'. I was going to add some ribbon, but I had some zigzag cuts from the tasteful trim die (another idea I was trying) & liked how it looked between the layers. Apologies about the colour, which doesn't show how pretty the yellows are. Darn that light!

Anyway, I'm really happy I finally got a challenge done & hoping to try another one this week too.
Thanks very much for visiting & hope you like the card. I think I might try another one in a different colour combination & see how it turns out.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies - All by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Heart from the Heart, Baroque Motifs
Ink: so saffron, daffodil delight
Card/Paper: so saffron (base), whisper white, daffodil delight card, Daffodil delight Patterns DSP (Brights)
Accessories: Basics Glimmer Brads (gold), basic pearls
Tools: boho blossoms punch, Big Shot, Tasteful Trims die, Beautiful Wings Embosslit

Butterflies are back!

Have you missed seeing butterflies here lately? I thought I'd give you a little break, but it's time for their return.

I made this card for my wonderful Mum-in-law Shirley's birthday last December & didn't realise I hadn't shown you....which I can't believe, since it was one of my absolute fave cards of last year. Shirl loves purple, so elegant eggplant & wisteria wonder were a perfect combination.

The card front was around 15x15cm, which was perfect for the large scallop square die cut. The beautiful swirl on the mat & DSP is from Elements of Style & the perfect sentiment is from the Summer Mini set, You Are Loved. I'm sure you recognise the embossed butterflies are made with the Beautiful Wings embosslit die. The largest butterflies have a white butterfly under the eggplant one. You can see the panel & layering better here:

You may recognise this colour combo from my Christmas card too. This butterfly card was the card that inspired me to use it.

I was so happy with how this turned out, that I decided to use the design for a thank you card for the Acting Principal at Cara's school, whos is a wonderful teacher, leader & supporter of our school.

For this one, I tried a different colour combo, using calypso coral & poppy parade. I don't know what I'll do when poppy parade retires in August, as I really like it with calypso coral. It is tricky to photograph though!

I decorated the inside of the card with more butterflies - you simply can't have enough :0) - & a sentiment from Curvy Verses.

I think that's all I need to say for now. Thanks very much for visiting & a special thanks to everyone who takes the time to leave comments. I really love hearing from you all.

This will probably be my last post for a week or so, as we're having a much needed family break, so until next time...

Inky wishes, Di

Supplies

wisteria/eggplant butterflies

Stamps: Elements of Style, You Are Loved, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Card: wisteria wonder, elegant eggplant, whisper white card, wisteria wonder Patterns DSP (In colours 11-13)

Ink: elegant eggplant, wisteria wonder ink pads

Accessories: basic pearls, white taffeta ribbon

Tools: Big Shot, Scallop Square die, Beautiful Wings embosslit die, large oval punch, modern label punch

coral/poppy butterflies

Stamps: Elements of Style, Thank You Kindly, Curvy Verses

Card: calypso coral, poppy parade, whisper white card, calypso coral Patterns DSP (In colours 11-13)

Ink: calypso coral, poppy parade ink pads

Accessories: basic pearls, white taffeta ribbon

Tools: Big Shot, Scallop Square die, Beautiful Wings embosslit die, large oval punch, modern label punch

Extreme teen birthday

As promised, today's card is for a fun-loving teen who celebrated his 14th birthday in March.

Teens are still a bit of a new thing for me, so teen cards are a little out of my comfort zone, but the Extreme Elements set makes it much easier. You can just create a messy collage & it seems to work well. This one turned out a bit brighter than I originally thought, but OK I think...at least the recipient seemed to like it anyway. I also went a little grungy with torn & distressed edges too, which work well for the boys. The birthday sentiments are from On Your Birthday - another super flexible set.

Extreme Elements does work for a cool girlier card  too. You can see one here. Yikes, my battery is about to die on me, so I'll say a quick thanks for visiting & bye for now. Hope to see you here again soon.

Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:

Stamps: Extreme Elements, On Your Birthday

Card:old olive, tangerine tango, pacific point, whisper white card

Ink: tangerine tango, peach parfait, pacific point, real red, pear pizzazz ink pads

Accessories: sponge dauber

Tagtastic bear for guys

Today, I have some cards to show you, that are suitable for the guys in our lives. Both include the fun bear image from the Tagtastic hostess stamp set. Some of you know that I have a bit of a bear obsession - both of the cuddly teddy & wild varieties - so when I saw this image, I HAD to get it.
Cards for guys are not generally my favourites to make & I used to find them a bit tricky. Over the years though,  I've found that simple layouts, deeper colours, some DSP & a neutral image or sentiment go a long way. Anyway, here we go with the cards.

The colour combo I used was not quite navy card & Patterns DSP, baja breeze, crumb cake, tangerine tango (for a little pop of colour on the base & bear hat) & naturals ivory. I like the effect of the cropped Top Note shape with the decorative label punch shape for the bear & mat & you know I love a matching punch.

This version has similar, but more neutral colours - baja breeze, early espresso, crumb cake, ivory & a little marina mist. I've used the decorative label to build a mat. The ribbon was folded in half & tied with some linen thread. I also coloured the bear with my crumb cake marker.

Hope these give you some ideas for this stamp. I'll be back with a card for a younger male. Until then, thanks for visiting.
Inky wishes, Di

PS: Tagtastic has lots of great flexible images & all work with our co-ordinating punches. If you haven't noticed it yet, have a look in the hostess exclusive section of our Idea Book.

Supplies
Navy/Tangerine card
Stamps: Tagtastic
Card/Paper: not quite navy, baja breeze, crumb cake, tangerine tango, naturals ivory card, Regals Patterns DSP (not quite navy)
Tools: Big Shot, square, Top Note die, decorative label punch 

Baja/crumb cake card
Stamps: Tagtastic
Card/Paper: baja breeze, crumb cake, early espresso, marina mist, naturals ivory card, Regals Patterns DSP (not quite navy)
Accessories: linen thread, early espresso striped grosgrain ribbon
Tools: Big Shot, square, square lattice embossing folder, decorative label punch

Happy Easter Picnic Basket

Firstly, I'd like to wish you all a very happy & blessed Easter Sunday. Today, I have one more Easter class project to show you - an Easter picnic basket.

I think it's perfect for holding choccy's for Easter (or anytime), small kitchen tea or baby shower gifts, or even a Mothers' Day gift.
Here it is open...

I'm sure many of you will recognise this basket from the gorgeous Tanya Bell's blog, Stamping T. Tanya created a fantastic exploding picnic basket & tutorial, so I just had to try it myself.
I originally thought I'd use Tanya's box for my class, but then decided I'd try my hand at making a closed box version. I made up my own printable template to make construction quicker & was excited it turned out as I wanted, so the card could be printed on my printer.
My box base is a little bigger than Tanya's. It's 9 x 7cm around the top & 7 x 7cm at the bottom & 7cm high. This is the biggest I could make using an A4 sheet.  I made a bigger version again using a 12x12 inch sheet, but it's not as quick to make, as there's a lot more measuring & scoring!
As my box originated from Tanya's box tutorial, I don't think it's right to offer my template here, but if you like to make your own picnic basket, you can visit Tanya's blog to purchase her tutorial & adjust it like I did.

Here's a final shot, without the tag, so you can see the basic box better. I've used my beloved pool party card with calypso coral (what did I do before these colours?). The DSP was a final fond farewell to the SAB paper pack too.
I was super happy with how it turned out & I think all the girls at the class really liked it too, even though it took more time than those made with the Big Shot. Hope you like it too.

Well that's all from me. A busy day today. Thanks very much for visiting with me. Hope you have a happy & safe Easter break & school hols for those of you with kidlets. Back soon with....I'm not sure yet ;0).
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Card/Paper: pool party, calypso coral, crumb cake card, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB retired)
Ink: chocolate chip ink pad
Accessories: medium brads - very vanilla, basic rhinestones, calypso coral ruffled ribbon
Tools: Big Shot, Blossom Party die (flowers), square lattice embossing folder, word window punch

Quick Chick Boxes

Hi there! Just a quick post tonight to show some more little Easter boxes made at my last class.

This was a quick bonus project, so I could show the girls how to make another little choccy holder with the Petite pocket die...& so I could make these cute little chicks I saw, by US Demo Tami White. 
The eggs are punched with our extra large oval punch & some Cheerful Treat DSP. The chick is made with a scrap of textured so saffron card & the bird builder punch. I popped the chick & egg & pink egg bottom with dimensionals. You can see Tami's chicks here.
The box is made with 2 petite pocket die shapes, using the same method as I used for the Mini Scallop Box in this post. It's perfect for a large Freddo or similar sized choc. You can see the depth better in this shot of the lucky limeade box.

For this one, I turned the flap down, so the box stays open. For the pretty in pink version below, I left the flap up & closed it with some ribbon.

Well, that's it for me tonight. Hope you like these little boxes. I'll be back next time with the last project from my Easter class. If you have any questions about the boxes, just leave me a comment.

Inky wishes, Di

Supplies

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Card/Paper: lucky limeade, pretty in pink, melon mambo, whisper white card, so saffron textured card, Cheerful Treat DSP

Ink: Chocolate chip ink pad

Accessories: basic rhinestones, daffodil delight taffeta ribbon

Tools: Big Shot, Petite Pocket die, Punches -  extra large oval, word window, bird builder

I heart bunnies box

Tonight, I have the first of my Easter class projects to show you - a heart bunny box! This is the front...

...& this is the back, after poor bunny has been nibbled.

Isn't he cute? I love that he's mostly made with heart punches - the Full Heart & Heart to Heart punches. I popped up the layers with dimensionals too, to make him stand out more. Mr Bunny is a case of one by the very clever Carol Dunstan, who showed a cute Easter card featuring him, on an SU Demo forum. Thanks so much, Carol! He's adorable.

The box he's sitting on is made with the Petite Pocket die...& is in elegant eggplant. Yes, it makes so much more than just a cute pocket. The basic box is made with 4 Petite Pocket die shapes, stuck together in much the same way as the square scallop box in this post. Simply trim off one side tab (the same side) off each shape & attach to each other at other side tab. Trim the long flap to 5cm for box bottom (bottom of pic below). The box is around 5cm wide & about 9cm tall & fits lots more than you think.

One more quick pic. I added a simple tag to the second box I made, so thought I'd show you it too!

Heart Bunny Tags
I loved these bunnies so much that I made some more for some tags on Cara's buddies Easter bags . Here they are on the largest of the Two Tags die tags, ready to be attached to the bag of goodies. I didn't pop these ones up on dimensionals, since I thought they'd survive better in the girls school bags if they were flat!

Heart Bunny Punch Shapes
Here is a list of the punch shapes I used to make my heart bunny
3 x full heart - choc chip - for body, head & ears
2 x word window - pink pirouette (cut down each side to form point on one end)
1 x small heart (heart to heart) - pink pirouette - for nose
1 x wide heart (heart to heart) - white - for tummy
1 x small heart (heart to heart) - white - for tail
2 x circles (1/2 inch circle) - white - for eyes
2 x circles (cupcake - sprinkes) - black - for eyeballs

Hope you like these little guys as much as I do. Leave me a comment if you have any questions about the box or bunny. I'll be back to show you some more Easter treat boxes soon.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments (Easter tag)
Card/paper: elegant eggplant, pretty in pink, chocolate chip, pink pirouette, whisper white, basic black card. Patterns DSP (Subtles - pink pirouette)
Ink: chocolate chip ink pad
Accessories: pretty in pink 1/4 in grosgrain ribbon, white bakers twine, pink taffeta ribbon (retired), two way glue pen, dimensionals, tombow mono adhesive
Tools: Big Shot, Petite Pocket die, Two Tags Die. Modern label punch, double scallop ribbon border punch. Other Punches as listed for bunny.