Happy Engagement!

Card: cherry cobbler, real red, whisper white
Ink: cherry cobbler, real red
Stamp set: well scripted
Accessories: beautiful wings embosslit, big shot, whisper white organza ribbon, pearls, bayer

A couple at church have just announced their engagement, and for their engagement party tonight, I created this card.  I dusted off my brayer to create the banner, and then stamped the sentiment.  A butterfly, pearls and ribbon finished off this project nicely.  I love how the two tones of red, and the brayered panel.  I added a real red and whisper white inside panel, but I had signed it before I had taken a pic, so haven't included it here.  Here's wishing the happy couple every blessing :-)

Birthday with a twist!

Card: marina mist, night of navy, whisper white
Ink: marina mist, night of navy
Stamp set(s): delicate doilies, well scripted

Accessories: beautiful wings embosslit, big shot, pearl

The lovely Paula shared a quick but very cool tutorial the other day on her blog, and today I wanted to CASE her project. This is my take, and trust me, it was quick! Yay! I ripped some scrap A4 printing paper and sponged with marina mist before stamping with night of navy. This is essentially a masking technique and so so effective! I just had to add a butterfly and a pearl to give it some 'wow'!

Card for a work colleague

Card: blushing bride, early expresso, pear pizzazz, whisper white
Ink: blushing bride, early expresso, pear pizzazz
Stamp set(s): just believe, well scripted
Accessories: blushing bride 1/4"poly-striped ribbon, top note, big shot, beautiful wings embosslit, brayer

A few weeks ago, a work colleague celebrated a birthday and I designed this card for the whole team to sign for her. It's A5 size, so quite big. But I love the hint of pear pizzazz that complements the blushing bride and early expresso (my colour coach comes in real handy!!). I tried to use some scraps I had lying around, but I knew I wanted to brayer some colour somewhere and use my new just believe stamp set. I was pretty pleased with the results, and the birthday girl loved it!

Orange butterfly

Card: early expresso, pumpkin pie, real red, very vanilla
Ink: early expresso
Stamp set: bliss
Accessories: beautiful butterfly die-cut, big shot, petal cone die-cut, perfect polka dot embossing folder, real red striped ribbon, hemp twine, real red button, pearls

I have lots of bits of card and ribbon floating around, and I wanted to use some up today, so I challenged myself to only use scraps on this project. I reckon I did pretty well! Everything was cut or embossed from left-over die-cut projects and scraps of cardstock. I love the pearls and how the different sizes look in a row, and the big ribbon tied with hemp twine has been on lots of projects I've seen recently, so I wanted to give that little technique a go. A pretty cute card!

Brayered birthday

Card: calypso coral, island indigo, whisper white


Ink: calypso coral, island indigo


Stamp set(s): delicate doilies, well scripted


Accessories: brayer, beautiful wings embosslit, big shot, pearls





This is a project I added to the tin of cards I gave my sister for Christmas. I know, it's taken me awhile to post this one...! But I adore this card, and the colour combo has got to be one of favourites still. I love the graduated look of the band of colour (that's what the brayer does - pretty cool!) because it stands out so well on the whisper white. Thought you might enjoy it :-)

Pretty in purple

Card: rich razzleberry, wisteria wonder, whisper white
Ink: rish razzleberry, wisteria wonder
Stamp sets: delicate doilies, curly, well scripted
Accessories: butterfly wings embosslit, big shot, pearls, brayer

For Christmas, I gave my mother and sister a tin of home-made cards each, and I'll be sharing some of the projects that I put together for the tins over the next few weeks. Tomorrow, I'll post a pic of the actual tin I altered for Mum...stay tuned! In the meantime, here is one of the cards I included in the tin for her.

This card came together really quickly, but it's so effective with masked off brayering and a sentiment. The pearls on the butterfly just 'make' it for me. I love this colour combo, too, and I'm sure you'll be seeing lots more of these colours!

Work colleague birthday card

Card: real read, very vanilla, early expresso

Ink: real red, early expresso

Stamp set: strength and hope

Other: 1-1/4" real red striped grosgrain ribbon, rhinestones

One of my work colleagues had a birthday this past weekend, and I wanted to make her a card for the whole team to sign. This is a full A4 piece of cardstock folded in half, so it's quite big! I was going to sponge the edges and make it look shabby, but I really like the clean look. The birthday girl loved it!

Beautiful Blue!

Card: concord crush, marina mist
Ink: concord crusth, marina mist marker
Stamp set: punch bunch
DSP: concord crush, in colour pattern stack
Other: 1/2" stitched-poly ribbon - concord crush, square lattice embossing folder, big shot, scallop trim border punch, beautiful wings embosslit, rhinestone

I pulled this card together for a sketch challenge recently, but I was too late to upload it, so I decided to keep it for a time when there's not much happening on my blog...!

I'm loving concord crush and marina mist as a colour combination - I know I go on about loving different colour combos, but that's just what my passion is right now :-) I'm also loving the texture on the embossed DSP - yes, I've embossed DSP! You'll have to take it from me that it looks pretty amazing in real life!

JAI Colour Challenge

Card: crumb cake, pool party, calypso coral, whisper white
Ink: calypso coral, pool party
Stamp set: pocket sillouttes
Other: brayer, perfect polka dots embossing folder, big shot, beautiful wings embosslit

The challenge at JAI this week was a colour challenge, using two of the new In Colours this year. I'm loving the calypso coral and pool party together! They just come alive when you team them up with crumb cake and/or whisper white.

I've used my brayer here, which hasn't seen ink for a wee while... And the embossing creates an elegant, soft background for the brayered art work. Butterflies are definitely "in" right now, so I couldn't resist a few to accent the scene. Check out the other projects that have been posted for this challenge for even more inspiration!

SUO Challenge - fall colours

Card: crumb cake, early expresso, daffodil delight, poppy parade, very vanila
Ink: early expresso, soft suede, poppy parade, real red
Stamp set: bliss, because I care
Other: petals-a-plenty embossing folder, beautiful butterlies embosslit, big shot, sponges, scallop circle punch, decorative lable punch, early expresso 1/1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon

Over at SU Only Challenges, they had a fall-themed challenge, and this was my take on the challenge. I've rushed to do this before it closes, but hope you like it! Loving the way the colours have come together with the masking...

Will be posting more pojects through the week, so stay tuned!

JAI sketch challenge

Card: island indigo, pool party, calypso coral, whisper white
Ink: calypso coral
Stamp set: bliss, pocket sillouttes
Other: linen thread, perfect polka dots embossing folder, beautiful wings embosslit, sweet buttons embosslit, big shot, scallop trim border punch, scallop ciricle punch, sponge

Here is my take on this weeks JAI Challenge - a sketch. Follow the link to see what the amazing design team dreamed up this week! I found it quite hard to bring this card together by only using the materials and tools I have from Stampin' Up! but it proves it can be done...after all, I am creative!

Loving the new In Colours - these are my favourite! The island indigo and calypso coral work so well together. I sponged the whisper white and the scallop circle punch with calypso coral to highlight the edges and to give a bit of a shabby look. I used a button from the sweet button embosslit (gotta love this cute embosslit when you don't have buttons!) and wound linen thread around the middle of the biggest butterfly for some detail and texture.

Birthday Card

Card: wisteria wonder, rich razzleberry, whisper white
Ink: wisteria wonder, rich razzleberry
Stamp set: pocket sillouttes, so happy for you
Other: brayer, beautiful wings emboslit, big shot

A good friend had a birthday last week, and as she is a scrapbooker, I just had to make a handmade card for her... Love, love, love this colour combo! This looks better in real life, but hopefully you see the elegance and femininity of the scene - I think it looks gorgeous!

I also stamped a whisper white panel for the inside, and punched the bottom edge with my scallop trim border punch. My friend loved the card, which was the main thing!

JAI Inspiration

Card: marina mist, whisper white
Stamp: pocket sillouttes
DSP: patterns DSP stack - brights (melon mambo)
Other: marina mist write marker, square lattice embossing folder, beautiful wings embosslit, big shot, rhinestones, melon mambo button (from the current ribbon & button bundel promotion)

I had a hard time deciding on my project for the current JAI challenge. I knew I wanted to try this uniquely folded card, but deciding on the colour combo for the challenge was difficult! I toyed with doing a sandy/neutral combo with a splash of colour, but decided on marina mist, melon mambo & whisper white. The colours go so well together - I'll definitely be trying this combo out again!

For this card, I've inlaid embossed the front panel and attached the biggest butterfly with dimensionals to give it some depth. The reverse side of the dsp was striped, so I've included that inside to write a thank you message. Hope you like it!

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?

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.