French Rose

 This is a card I CASED last year. (I cannot remember who from)

I feel it has such a sophisticated look about it…maybe it is just because it has used French Script as the background?

I didn’t have the punch that was used for the “thank you” background, so I made my own using the Scallop circle and an oval punch. Then I sponged the edges to give a deeper feel.

The rose is coloured by the “Re-inker” technique or “Floating watercolour” technique. It certainly is one of my favourite techniques especially for adding a variety of colours to larger outlined images. The photo doesn’t do it justice for how it actually looks.

Butterfly wishes

This was such a quick and easy card to do for my niece’s birthday.

I have just received the butterfly punch and was quite eager to play with it. It certainly helps when you also purchase a matching stamp set such as Butterfly Prints.

I previously had some other company’s embossing folder and used that to layer the butterfly’s on. Add to that a base card in Elegant Eggplant and all is done.

Alright I hear you say, I also added a layer on the inside so I could stamp some flowers and write all the best wishes etc…

Just what a gorgeous little 11-year-old likes.

Extreme Expresso Birthday

 I had another 40th Birthday card to make this week for a male friend.

Has everyone seen the Extreme Elements stamp set? I really like it for male cards and you can use it for all age groups. I have also teamed it up with the Grunge Rock stamp set as well. Grunge Rock is only available during the current Summer Mini promotion until 31st March.

The background paper is Very Vanilla and I have stamped with various stamps from both sets in Cake Crumb, River Rock and Marina Mist ink. I have cut out the Guitar image and highlighted it even further by using dimensionals. You can still gets the brads, but I am afraid the ribbon and Star Brad have retired (just utilizing the last of my stock). You could certainly use a matching Early Expresso Ribbon and then substitute the star for an Antique Brad, a Jumbo Brad or even a different Star Brad out of the Hodgepodge Hardware kit.

I suppose you could even highlight it was a 40th card by adding “40″ from the big shot dies, or if it was a younger male even adding some Chocolate or Aqua glitter on the guitar. I thought about both of these ideas, but ran out of time in my preparation. Hope you like it.

MultiColoured Dragonfly’s

 This was for a niece’s birthday. I was playing with some Glossy white card stock and embossing.

I have a couple of different techniques on this card. Firstly I stamped and embossed the dragonfly (from Bugs and Kisses). Then I used the versamark and stamped some other insects on the background ( you will have to look very closely in the photo to see them). Then it was time to use the brayer over the top in Pink pirouette. The background insect creates a type of watermark in the background.

I like using Markers to colour, so I have used several to add a multicoloured effect within the wings of the dragonfly.

As you can see I liked the result so much I made one in male oriented colours, with a different Happy Birthday stamp layered on Designer Label and Curly Label punches.

Sponging with an alternate colour gives the impression of another layer. Comes in handy at times.

If you like it let me know.

My sister turns 40

 My sister turned 40 last year. It has taken me 3 months to show her card, so my new years resolution is definitely going to be “To Blog More Frequently”.

It took me a little while to get this card how I liked it, and I have to admit that when my husband and I boarded the plan to travel interstate for her party, I left it behind. Not my best move.

There are lots going on in terms of elements and style. Big Shot Alphabet and Leaves Dies. Multiple punches (Big Flower, Little Flower, Oval, Scalloped Oval and Scalloped Edge), paper piecing and cut outs, watercolouring, embossing, embellishments (such as brads, pearls, ribbon, felt flowers), glitter, DSP and all put together on a trishutter card.

You can probably find a few other different techniques if you look closely.

Even though the DSP has retired, you can get the same pattern but in a different colour. The new one is called Sunny Garden.

I have used stamp images from multiple sets including Cottage Garden, Occasional Quotes, and Cheers to You.

Hope you like it as much as I do.

Glittery Presents

I just found a couple of cards that I made for some birthdays earlier in the year. The first one is for my DD who turned 11 (as if you couldn’t tell). I purchased the big shot when it came out in the mini catalogue this year, and I also purchased the alphabet die. It also has numbers and a few shapes as well. I had been hanging out for some nice sized number stamps for a while now, but when this came along, well I thought it was a whole lot better.

 The layout I have cased and used a number of times with cards I have made, but with this one I changed it from a landscape to a portrait design. This layout can so easily be used with all sorts of colours or stamp patterns, depending on what you want to say. Plus I was eager to use the new colour Rich Razzleberry. Plus my daughter just loves anything with glitter. One of the comments she made on her birthday was, “…all my cards have glitter on them”.

This next card I made for my nephew. I know it is bright and glittery, but that is his personality.

Now you may be looking at this card and thinking “haven’t I seen this one before?”. Well in fact, yes you have. I CASED myself. Having to make a card for a thirteen year old boy(especially when I had limited Male orientated stamps) I was a bit stumped for ideas, so i took a card I made and I think I actually improved on it.

So… who is clever enough to have remembered which other card looks like this?

Retired Products to sell

Hi all, I have lots of stamp sets that are now on the retired list, so I have decided to sell them to make way for more products. If you would like to look at these sets, click here to be directed to the page. Once they have been sold, they will be removed from the page. All prices quoted are for the stamp sets only. An additional $5.95 postage is required to cover. Drop me a line if you are interested in anything. More will be added later in the year from the mini catalogue.

Baby Shower

This is the first card I have made using a new stamp set from the 2010-2011 IB&C. You will have to excuse the focus of the camera work, but I just had to take a picture before rushing out the door to a baby shower. My goodness me, it has been long time  since I have been to a baby shower. When I first arrived I was given two pegs, if you said “Baby” then you lost a peg to whoever heard you. I think I was the first one out.

Anyway, back to the card at hand. This new set is called Baby Bundle, and how apt that it had a verse about baby showers.

I must admit, that I left making the card until the last minute and under pressure, just couldn’t think of how to make the card. Thank goodness for the internet, because I went surfing and found a card with a very similar layout, and went Yes! I like that card. So what you see is my final creation.

Origami Fathers Day

I made these two cards for my children to give to their father on Fathers Day.

Both feature “Origami”. I know what you are thinking… if you are anything like me, you haven’t done Origami since you were at school.

But these are both great for male inspired cards. I found the instructions through other demonstrators and knew as soon as I saw them ages ago that this is what I wanted to use them for.

Both have used retiring colours, card stock and DSP, but that’s fine, you get the point.

My 11 year old daughter was so inspired from this card, she made a 30cm “tie” from DSP and cardstock, thread ribbon thru the top, so dad could slip it over his head and she also wrote on the back of it. I am always so amazed at the imagination of children. They often have very different ideas from us, but theirs is no less important.

Christmas in July Blog Hop

I hope you’re ready for the ESAD Christmas in July Blog Hop!

Hopefully you are already enjoying yourself and have come from the previous blog that belongs to Gardenia Pepworth. http://alittlelessuseless.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/esad-christmas-in-july-blog-hop/

Keep on reading and then don’t forget to keep on hopping, by following the link at the end of the post.

In case you have started with me here is a little about ESAD?

ESAD stands for Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators and it is an online group just for Australian and New Zealand demonstrators for Stampin’ Up!

We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors but we share our love for what we do with each other as Demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know how and cyberstamps and we are always there to help and support each other when it’s needed.

So if you are a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand then please feel free to click here to join our wonderful group.

This is my little creation for Christmas. I have gone with a non-traditional variation of colours, which include Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss and Chocolate Chip.

This is what I have called my three C’s of Christmas. (Cards, Candles and Chocolate). I have created two different christmas cards, A card wallet that can be used as a gift, with another two cards inside, A couple of candles and of a chocolate gift wrap.

 

  This is a lovely card wallet, that was shared with our group on ESAD a while ago as part of a weekly challenge. I didn’t participate then, but I still loved the idea.

I used elements taken from one of the scrapbooking kits “Sweet Nothings” and also one of my all-time favourite stamps from “Baroque Motifs”.

As you can see here, the only limitation to christmas is your imagination. Again I have used elements from the scrapbooking kit and just added a christmas sentiment and accessories and you can easily transform any card.

This a technique I learnt at one of our Regional events that is held every year for Demonstrators. Regionals is a great day where we have lots of fun stamping, learning new techniques and sharing ideas with friends we have made, especially on ESAD.

Stamping on candles is so easy once you know how. I love candles, they certainly always create such an ambience to any situation. It is such a pity that you cannot buy too many different aromas in white.

And lastly there is Chocolate. I am such a chocoholic. And what kind of Christmas would it be without chocolate.

This is such a clever design, especially with the pull-out tabs made with ribbon.

Yet another idea that was shared among the group as a challenge.

So there you have it. All the goodies that I like at Christmas.

Have fun continuing on your adventure today. Next on your list is to go visit Bev Watt. http://stampinovation.blogspot.com/2010/07/esad-blog-hop.html