Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Birthday card

Card: blushing bride, poppy parade, whisper white, poppy parade DSP
Ink: poppy parade, blushing bride
Stamps: create a cupcake
Ribbon: poppy parade 1/2"stitched-poly ribbon
Other: big shot, perfect polka dots embossing folder, square lattice embossing folder, dazzling diamonds

I decided to enter this week's JAI challenge - a sketch! I embossed DSP, gave my big shot quite a work-out, and just had to add some dazzling diamonds... What do you think?

I know I'm using my favourite colour combo here - again! - but I had fun with this, and love the texture of the embossing. The sketch was pretty simple, but for this card, I think less is more. It was the first time I had imbossed DSP, and I quite like the result - I'm pretty sure I'll have to try this again sometime :-)

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Quilt card

Card: whispher white, riding hood red, more mustard
DSP: unknown (retired?)
Ink: ridng hood red
Stamp: unknown (from a mini?)
Ribbon: whisper white 5/8" satin ribbon
Other: anywhere glue stick

This was my first try at a quilt card, and loved the results. I'm definitely going to use this technique again, thanks to my upline, Paula! It's really quite simple with a little practice, and some anywhere glue stick for perfect "movability" of the tiny strips of DSP.

I had lots of fun with this, and if you want to have some fun and learn how, contact me to book a workshop!

Monday, June 20, 2011

More butterflies!

I love the inlaid embossing technique, and I came up with this card the other day:

Card: poppy parade, blushing bride, whisper white
Ink: poppy parade
Stamps: pocket sillouttes
Ribbon: poppy parade 1/2" stitched-poly ribbon
Embossing folders: framed tulips (autumn mini), square latttice (summer mini), beautiful wings embosslit
Other: big shot, tombow, pearls

I wasn't too sure how this would turn out, but I love all the texture and I was pretty happy with the results! My big shot has definitely been put to work lately...! This card doesn't have a sentiment, but I'm thinking I'll add a panel of stamped whisper white inside with a sentiment and a scallop trim border (at the bottom) to finish it off. What do you think?

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Butterflies, butterflies...

Card: basic black, whisper white
Ink: basic black
Stamp: cottage garden
Embossing folders: vintage wallpaper, textured impressions (summer mini), beautiful wings embosslit
Other: top note die cut,big shot, rhinestones

This was my entry for the current JAI challenge - a colour combo challenge of black and white. It was a fairly simple challenge, but I used lots of texture here, and used a technique that the lovely Paula taught at a class last weekend - inlaid embossing. Loving it!

I embossed the first layer with the vintage wallpaper embossing folder, and ran my basic black ink pad over it to highlight the texture - pretty cool! Then I layered black and white top notes (I trimmed the white top note so the black die cut could show through). On the wite top note, I stamped the sentiment and adhered the small black butterflies, then embossed the whole top note to create the inlaid embossing. The big butterfly was dimensionalised and the rhinestones were added for some bling.

I don't usually use black as the base for a card (you have to use a white gel pen or something similar to write in it!) but I love how this turned out.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Layout pleasure...

Remember the Care Bears??! Mum made my sister and I one each for Christmas back in 1986, and we've obviously hung on to them... Mum wanted some photos awhile back to show someone that didn't believe she had actually handemade them! I just had to do a layout with the photos:

Card: real red dsp, real red, crumb cake, concord crush
Ink: soft suede, real read
Stamps: defining alphabet
Other: concord crush 1/2" stitiched-poly ribbon, pearls, beautiful wings embosslit, big shot, sponge, decorative lable punch, black pen

I love the butterflies on here - I wanted to get a cloud/heavenly look, but the sponging on the crumb cake looks cool, even if you can't really see it in the photo!

And don't forget the amazing hostess promotion currently running until the end of June. Contact me to book your workshop to make the most of this opportunity!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Thank you cards

The other night I made some thank you cards... You can never have enough on hand! My new favourite colour combo is Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip and Blushing Bride.

Card: crumb cake, very vanilla, chocolate chip, blushing bride
Ink: chocolate chip
Stamps: pocket sillouttes
Other: pearls, perfect polka dots embossing folder, beautiful wings embosslits, big shot

Really easy to make, and the texture of the embossing just finishes these wee cards. I've run my fingernail around the very vanilla panels to distress the edges, but I know Stampin Up! sell the Cutter Kit that includes a distressing tool... All great fun!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Little treats

Someone at work was leaving the other day, so I decided to make a wee card for her, then another work colleague was having a rough day, so I thought I would cheer her up with a wee card...as you do! It was lots of fun surprising these lovely people!

I just had to go with my favourite colour combo again (poppy parade and blushing bride):


Here is a close-up of the first card for the colleague who was leaving:


And the second card for the colleague who needed cheering up:

Card: poppy parade, blushing bride, whisper white
Ink: poppy parade, blushing bride
Stamps: Pocket Silhouetted, Create a cupcake
Other: brayer, linen thread, beautiful wings embosslit, top not die-cut, big shot, pearls, dazzling diamonds

For the first card, I brayered (gotta love it!) poppy parade on whisper white, stamped the flower images, used the embosslit to make the butterfly, and wrapped it all up with linen thread.


For the second card, I made a top note and cut it in half, stamped & cut out the cupcake images, and dazzled the cherry with dazzling diamonds to finish it off.




If you want to learn how to make these cards, contact me to book a workshop and earn lots of hostess benefits, too!