Never Ending Baby Birdies

A customer friend was blessed with a beautiful baby girl recently, so I wanted to make a special card to celebrate (smiling & waving P). I know she loves the Aviary birdies & I do too, so I made her a cute birdie themed never ending card. If you haven't seen a never ending card before, they cleverly fold to show 4 different views. 

This is the front. I stamped Aviary birdies & used some matching Nursery Nest DSP & a little bling (you do need to keep the layers flat so that it turns properly). The sentiment is from my favourite 'Fabulous Phrases' set. You then fold the fronts to each side to see the second view.

I've coloured the 'Packed for Baby' stamp here & used more birdies, words & DSP. The white panel is for a message. To see the third view, you flip the 2 centre panels over. The flowers are from the itty bitty punch pack, with cupcake sprinkle centres.

Then you open each side to reveal the final view, which shows more birdies from the DSP pack & a special message for baby Eva. Fold each side back & you're back at the front. Hours of entertainment LOL.

Making your own never ending card

Never ending cards can be a little tricky to make the first time, but once you get the hang of them, it's hard to stop. Fortunately, there are lots of videos out there that show how to make them, as I think this is one card where you do need the visual clues to get started.

I tend to cut & score my cards a little differently to the tutorials I've seen though. I prefer to score the whole piece before cutting as it's quicker & more accurate. 

This is what I do for this approx 14cm square card.

1. Cut A4 sheet to 28cm x 14.1cm.

2. Score 3.5cm in from edge down each long side.

3. Turn card & score at 3.5cm, 10.5cm, 17.5cm, 24.5cm. 

4. Cut into 7cm wide pieces. You will then have 4 pieces that are 7cm x 14.1cm.

This template shows where the score lines (broken lines) & cut lines should be:

 

To put together your card, follow one of the the videos I've linked to:

The original video by Dawn that showed me how to make them
These 2 videos make a different sized card using the same principles:
Stampin' Up never ending card video
Another video by Dawn
You might also like to see my other never ending cards.

This was such a fun project to make & I hope the receipients enjoy turning it around & around & around as much as I do.  Thanks very much for visiting. If you have any questions or would just like to say hello, leave me a comment.

Inky wishes, Di

PS: I just realised that the Packed for Baby stamp I used here is from the Autumn/Winter Mini & only available until the end of today! Let me know ASAP if you'd like to order it or any of the other fab goodies in the Mini.

Supplies:
Stamps: Aviary, Fabulous Phrases, Packed for Baby, Curvy Verses
Card/Paper: certainly celery card (base), whisper white, pretty in pink card, Nursery Nest DSP
Ink: perfect plum, marina mist, certainly celery, pretty in pink, so saffron, bashful blue ink pads or markers
Accessories: basic rhinestones,
Tools: itty bitty punches, cupcake punch, word window punch, Big Shot, Timeless Type alphabet dies

Just Add Cake Mini Album

I haven't scrapped in a long while, but lately I've been feeling like I'd like to start again.  Last month, a scrappy friend asked me to run a workshop for her & I thought it would be fun to make a scrap themed gift. I'd pinned this cute little mini fold book ages ago (as you do) & thought it would be perfect. I made my version with 9 x 9cm square pages & here it is.

The base album is totally made with crumb cake cardstock, The colour palette had to suit boys & girls (my friend has 1 of each) so I thought the Just Add Cake DSP pack fitted the bill perfectly. I covered the base in different sheets from the DSP pack (so easy when they all match). I kept the embellishments flat & simple using stamped words representing family & love (from Fabulous Phrases) punched with the modern label to let the pics & words star. Here are some more pics...

 

Sorry the pics are a bit dark The weather was unfortunately very blah at the time & it very tricky to hold & photograph! I had such a blast making this little book, so I will definitely be trying more. My friend said she loved it too, so I was very happy all round.

Well it's my bedtime now, so thanks very much for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed seeing my little book. If you have any questions, just leave me a comment.

Inky wishes, Di

Supplies: All Stampin' Up! except noted

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases

Card/Paper: crumb cake, certainly celery, marina mist, poppy parade cardstock,  Just Add Cake DSP

Ink: early espresso classic ink pad

Accessories: poppy parade ribbon, button (marina mist)

Tools: punches - scallop circle, modern label, 1 3/8 in circle, 1 1/4 in circle, 1 in circle

Other: velcro dots (not SU)

Casing Shelli - Bright Blossoms

I was fortunate to go to part of the fantabulous SU Convention in May & especially grateful to see SU founder & all round amazing lady, Shelli Gardner's stamping presentation. If you read Shelli's blog post, you'll know that it didn't go quite as she had planned, however she shared many wonderful ideas. One project I really loved was a very simple but elegant & clever card made with the Bright Blossoms set from the Autumn/Winter Mini. So, when I was making a card for my lovely friend & fellow demo, Leanne, I decided to case Shelli's card. I'd show you the original but my pic turned out terrible. It's very true to Shelli's design though, except for a bit more background texture.

Isn't it a clever idea? The colours are crumb cake (kraft) & elegant eggplant & the 'tablecloth' is made with the 2nd smallest label framelit. The flower vase was inked stamped in white craft ink & eggplant markers. The stamped panel is double matted, to give a little more depth.
Back to Shelli's presentation for a mo. As I sat with around 500 other demo's watching Shelli experiencing what what is probably my worst Demo nightmare, I was so impressed by her grace & sense of humour in the face of disaster & that she just kept going. I think everyone in the room wanted to hug her & tell her that it was OK, as we all mess up sometimes - thankfully, not always in front of 500 people. It was a much needed reminder to me (as a self-named 'disorganised perfectionist') that we're all human & not perfect....& that's OK...both in SU & life in general.

Anyway, I digress....as usual. I hope you like Shelli's card as much as I did. If you have any q's, just let me know. Thanks very much for visiting & I hope to see you here again soon.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies (All Stampin' Up!)

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases, Bright Blossoms
Card: crumb cake, whisper white, elegant eggplant card, Patterns DSP (eggplant)
Ink: elegant eggplant classic ink pad & marker, whisper white craft ink pad
Tools: Big Shot, Square lattice embossing folder, labels framelits

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