Card Class - Christmas Time Card 4

We are almost at the end of show and tell from my Christmas Card Class, I do hope you enjoyed seeing the cards we made.

The card today I love because of it's subtle look, but there are quite a few elements to it.

The card base is Cherry Cobbler, with a layer of Crumb Cake on top.  The Crumb Cake layer was stamped 3/4 way down with Serene Snowflakes in Versamark ink and covered in Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder.  This was heated creating a lovely bright, textured background.

There was a further layer of Cherry Cobbler card and Crumb Cake card.  The Crumb Cake layer was put through the Big Shot with the Perfect polka Dots Embossing Folder.

To top if off we added a 3D decoration.  The image from Contempo Christmas was stamped onto Very Vanilla three times in Cherry Cobbler ink, then all three punched out with the Ornament Punch.  They were folded in half and glued to form the 3D shape.  I bow made from 1/8" Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon was added above with a glue dot.

At the bottom we added a length of Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon and the sentiment from Contempo Christmas inked in Cherry Cobbler as well.

My friends have asked me to make them some of these cards to send to family, but they want a blue theme.  I 

will post a picture when I've finished them off.

I have one last card from this class to show you - it's very much Punch Art gone crazy.  It will be on my blog before the week is out :o)

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Cherry Cobbler / Very Vanilla / Crumb Cake

Stamps / Ink - Contempo Christmas / Cherry Cobbler / Serene Snowflakes

Embellishments - 1/8" Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon / 1/2" Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon / Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder

Tools - Ornament Punch / Perfect Polka Dot Embossing Folder / Big Shot / Heat Gun / Trimmer / Glue Dots

Card Class - Christmas Time Card 3

Hi everyone,

Round three on my Christmas Card Class makes, and this one uses a technique that I had heard about before, but saw it put into practise at Convention and knew I had to try it as soon as I got home!

It's called partial embossing!!!!!  It's really gives a card the WOW factor and is a technique I will be using again and again.

You basically run a piece of chip board through the Big Shot in the embossing folder you want the pattern of, in this case it was the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder.  Then I cut out the shape I wanted.  The chip board was quite tough, so cutting was a little bit of hard work, but so worth it!  The I used a little two-way glue dabbed on the chipboard to stick it to the outside of the embossing folder, lining the pattern up.  I know pictures would help make more sense of this, but I hope you know what I mean.  When you put a piece of card inside the embossing folder and run it through the Big Shot, the image only transfers through where the chipboard is.

By using the two way glue you can remove the chipboard when you want to use the embossing folder in the usual way, or if you want to adhere a different chip board piece.

Here's a close-up:

So, for the rest of the card - I did this technique on Garden Green card and then punched twice with the Ornament Punch.  I used Sticky Strip to adhere the beautiful and fun Candy Cane Designer Fabric to the Real Red card base (with a piece of Whisper White behind the fabric so the red didn't show through), and then mounted the Garden Green punched / embossed card over the top with Dimensionals.  The sentiment is from Contempo Christmas, inked in Real Red on Whisper White, and then punched with the Modern Label Punch.  I also used this punch with Real Red card, which I then chopped in half and used to back the sentiment at each end.

I hope you will be giving this technique a try.  If my instructions didn't make sense, please do email me and I will try and help make it clearer.

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Real Red / Whisper White / Garden Green / Candy Cane Designer Fabric

Stamps / Ink -Real Red / Contempo Christmas

Embellishments - None

Tools - Big Shot / Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder / Modern Label Punch / Ornament Punch / Trimmer / Dimensionals / Sticky Strip

Card Class - Christmas Time Card 2

This Origami Tree card was a massive hit at my Christmas Card Class last weekend!

It is a really simply technique, with such a gorgeous finished effect............  When I delivered orders to two of the ladies at class, they both told me they'd been making more of these, and one of the ladies had made 50 of them and had samples ready to show me!!!!  Fabulous...................

We used the Holly Berry Bouquet DSP for the origami Christmas tree.  You can pick any two pattern papers, they all work together beautifully.  I picked out the colours in the DSP to use for the card base and Top Note layer.

I will try and do a tutorial on how to fold the paper to make these trees over the next few days, so pop back and check it out :o)

The trees were formed, and then layered onto a piece of card cut with the Top Note Die and Big Shot.  The main card base was stamped with the Serene Snowflakes images with Versamark to give that subtle watermark effect.  Tricky to pick up in the photos sadly, but it is there.

The sentiment on these cards is from Petite Pairs, as these are pictures of cards I made for craft fairs.  At class we used the Merry Christmas sentiment from Contempo Christmas.

The card was topped off with a Rhinestone brad to act as a star on the top of the tree.  Here you can see a different DSP tree variation and card base colour combination.

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Real Red / Chocolate Chip / Wild Wasabi / Holly Berry Bouquet DSP

Stamps / Ink - Serene Snowflakes / Versamark / Chocolate Chip / Contempo Christmas / Petite Pairs

Embellishments - Rhinestone Brads

Tools - Big Shot / Top Note Die / Sticky Strip / Trimmer / Mat Pack and Paper Piercing Tool

Training Swaps

Hi All,

A few weeks ago I popped on down to Southampton to join in with the lovely Amanda Fowler's team training day.  There were lots of other demos there so I needed to make 33 swaps...........  I really needed something that was going to be quick to do, so I decided to use the new Two Tags Die and make magnetic bookmarks!!!!

I used three of the new In Colours - Island Indigo, Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder, and added Elegant Eggplant into the mix as well.
The butterfly image and the little flowers on the bookmark base are from Flight of the Butterfly.  The butterfly's were punched with the Butterfly Punch and added with glue dots, then Rhinestones made the body.  Inside I added strips of magnetic tape so that when placed over a page in a book they stick together and it won't fall out.

Maybe you could make some of these to give with any books that you buy for Christmas gifts this year! 

Here are all of them together - I even made a few extra so my mum and two of the girlies at work could have them :o) 

The Details:
Card / Paper - Wisteria Wonder / Pool Party / Whisper White
Stamps / Ink - Flight of the Butterfly / Elegant Eggplant / Island Indigo
Embellishments - Basic Rhinestones
Tools - Big Shot / Two Tags Die / Butterfly Punch / Glue Dots / Magnetic Tape (non-SU)

Baby Shower with Button Buddies

Oh my, oh my - has it really been nearly three weeks since my last post????  I'm not quite sure where the days have gone to..............

I have had card classes, workshops, and even done a craft session for a local youth centre, so my time has been taken up with prep work along with doing the Mon to Fri 9-5...............

I intend to remedy the situation now as I am posting all of recent creations for you to peruse over the coming days.  I hope you enjoy them xxxx

This is a card I made for my friends Jenny and Richard.  They are expecting their first baby, a little girl, in November, and this past Saturday was the baby shower.  Now I have been to a few baby showers before, but this one really was the best fun.  Jenny's friend Kelly had arranged it all, providing afternoon tea with scones, clotted cream and jam, plus biscuits, cakes and drinks..........  Plus she's arranged for lots of games, a pass the parcel, nursery rhyme quiz and one where you had to feel all these items in a bag and try and guess what they all were.  It was fab!!!!

Anyhow, I made a card for Jenny using the new Button Buddies stamp set, and jumped at the chance to use the "For Your Shower" stamp from Teeny Tiny Wishes!!!!

The base is Rose Red, with a layer of Whisper White that had been run through the Big Shot with the Lattice Square Embossing Folder. 
The circle layers were cut from the Circles # 2 Die and also the 1 3/4" Circle Punch.  The rattle images was inked in Rose Red and topped off with a Pretty in Pink Designer Button to add some contrast.
The sentiment was punched with the Word Window punch and the layer of Rose Red with the Modern Label punch.  I added some of the gorgeous Mini Brads to either end and popped it onto the card with Dimensionals.

I love the Button Buddies set, it really is fab for some quick card makes.  I have used it for some cards in my recent class, so watch out for those on my blog in the next few days.

The Details:
Card / Paper - Rose Red / Whisper White
Stamps / Ink - Button Buddies / Teeny Tiny Wishes / Rose Red Ink
Embellishments - Mini Brads / Designer Button
Tools - Big Shot / Circles # 2 Die / Square Lattice Embossing Folder / Word Window Punch / Modern Label Punch / Dimensionals

Flower Power

Hi Everyone,

Do you ever get fed-up of flowers that you buy, to brighten your home, fading away?  I know I do............

So I decided to create some flowers that will last so much longer!

Using the Flower Daisies # 2 Die and the Big Shot I was able to create these lovely, bright and refreshing Gerberra.  They are one of may favourite flowers, and now I never have to worry about them drooping on me!

I used the Big Shot and Die to cut out two of each size flower to create one flower.  I did this twice over in Rich Razzleberry and again in Melon Mambo!  Love those brights........... and the smallest flower was cut in Daffodil Delight.

I sponge daubed all of the petals to give it a bit more dimension, and then used a piece of Fimo baked in the oven to mount them onto.  This was then glued onto a garden stake bought from Robert Dyas.

I cut the stakes to different lengths before popping them into a tall vase.  They will stay bright and stand tall, and they never need water!  Get and make some to brighten your living room :o)

I hope this helps to inspire you to use your Stampin' Up! products to make something other than a card. 

Julie xx

A Kaleidoscope of Butterflys...............

I have another item to share with you that I made for my launch party on 1st October.

Today it's my Stampin' Up! colour sampler.  A group of butterfly's really is called a Kaleidoscope, which to me seems so fitting.  They are also know as a Swarm (sounds more like wasps!) or a Rabble (I have an image of lots of chatty women)............

There are so many colours that I really wanted a way to show them off.

I used a 12" shadow box frame so that I could pop the butterfly's up on Dimensionals and fold some of the wings out to make it pop out of the frame.

Sorry about the photos, there is a bit of reflection going on.

I used the Beautiful Wings Embosslit with my Big Shot to get lots of variation in shapes and sizes of butterfly, and I embellished with Basic Rhinestones and Dazzling Diamonds on a selection of them.  

I tried to create a nice rainbow effect going across the base which is Textured Whisper White and Bashful Blue.  It seemed to me a bit like sky!

There are so many colours to choose from.  Which is your favourite?  Leave me a comment to let me know!

Julie xx

Launch Party Make and Take 2

Hi,

Time for my second make and take from the weekend!

I was still thinking about Christmas and how often a bottle of wine (or any alcohol) makes a good gift for co-workers or neighbours.  So I decided to make a bottle git tag, though when I made this one I went with nice bright colours to suit the weather at the time.

It also showcases one of the gorgeous new In Colours - Calypso Coral!!!!!  

I cut the base from Calypso Coral wide enough to allow for the Scallop Circle Punch opening to hang over the bottle top.  The scallop is Baja Breeze.

The next layer is also Baja Breeze, and although you can't really see it in the picture, it's a folder tab to write a greeting inside.

This was simply glued onto the Calypso Coral base.

The flowers are Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight DSP Stack.  I have run them through the Big Shot with the Fun Flowers Die, and then added a 1/2" Circle and a flower punched from one of the Itty Bitty Punch Pack.  All secured with a brad, which means you can then move the layers about to get them how you like.  I used Red Stocky Strip to secure the flowers to the Baja Breeze layer as it really doesn't budge, and any other glue wouldn't hold as well due to the brad fastening added some bulk.

I loved this quick and simple project and so did all the crafty gals at my open house.

Now who to give that wine too????  Maybe a present for myself :o)

Launch Party Make and Take 1

My goodness the weekend went by so fast!

Gorgeous sunshine, my other half returned home from a business trip and I'd missed him loads, lots of lovely ladies came for my open house catty launch event, I spent time with my mum, plus a pub lunch with my best mate...........  A brilliant weekend!

I had organised two make and take projects for my catty launch event.  Today I'm showing you the first one.

I went with a Christmas theme, which seemed silly on the day given the 28 degree heat outside!

I used one of the gorgeous new In Colours - Lucky Limeade, along with Chocolate Chip and Cherry Cobbler.  A perfect combo for Christmas cards.

The Cherry Cobbler layer was embossed using the Lattice Square Embossing Folder and Big Shot.  It gives a lovely quilted effect.  The ribbon on the side is the wonderful new 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon in Chocolate Chip.  I used the new Pennant Parade stamp set and Petite Pennants Builder Punch.  This is a fabulous stamp set with lots of sentiments that fit inside the pennant shapes, there's one that looks like a waffle cone for ice-cream, this little tree and then a plain and scallop pennant for bunting.........  So many ideas going round in my head!

I stamped the tree in Lucky Limeade and the pot image in Cherry Cobbler and Chocolate Chip.  I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line them up nicely and then punched them out with the Large Oval Punch.  I added a second tree image on top with Dimensionals.

The sentiment is from Curly Cute stamp set inked in Lucky Limeade again.

This card is nice and simple, and would be great to make in batches for Christmas time.

I will show you the other make and take project later in the week, so check back for that, or sign up for email alerts or follow me for updates :o)

Have a good Monday!

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Lucky Limeade / Chocolate Chip / Cherry Cobbler / Whisper White

Stamps / Ink - Pennant Parade / Curly Cute / Cherry Cobbler Marker / Chocolate Chip Marker / Lucky Limeade

Embellishments - 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon

Tools - Big Shot / Square Lattice Embossing Folder / Dimensionals / Sticky Strip / Tombow / Trimmer / Stampin Scrub and Mist / Stamp-a-ma-jig / Petite Pennants Builder Punch / Extra Large Oval Punch / Paper Snips

August Card Class - Beautiful Butterflies

This is the third card from my August class and it uses the Big Shot for a lot of the elements.

The base is Garden Green, with a layer of Pear Pizzazz which was daubed around the edges and stamped with the script from French Foliage.

The next layer started out as Whisper White, but has been torn and distessed with daubing and stamping in Pear Pizzazz ink.  Again the French Foliage stamp set was used.  The script and water spotches look really good together with the odd postmark image stamped as well.

The butterflies were cut using the Beautiful Butterflies Die and the Big Shot.  The largest in Pear Pizzazz was then embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, and the smaller Vellum butterfly was embossed with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.

Just add some Basic Rhinestones and a length of Pear Pizzazz 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon and your done!

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Garden Green / Pear Pizzazz / Whisper White / Vellum

Stamps / Ink - French Foliage / Pear Pizzazz

Embellishments - Basic Rhinestones / Pear Pizzazz 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon

Tools - Big Shot / Beautiful Butterflies Die / Square Lattice and Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folders / Sponge Dauber / Dimensionals / Sticky Strip / Tombow / Trimmer / Stampin Scrub and Mist

August Card Class - Sail Away Card

This was one of my favourite cards of the five we made in class.  I usually struggle with cards for men, so was really pleased with this one.

Again I used the colour coach for inspiration - though the combo was meant to use Not Quite Navy, and I substituted with Baja Breeze instead.

The Sail Away stamp was inked in Early Espresso and stamped onto the Crumb Cake, plus a piece of Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler.  The sails were cut out of the Very Vanilla, and the boat cut from Cherry Cobbler, then both were glued to the image stamped on Crumb Cake.  The edges were distressed slightly with the wonderful Cutter Kit tool.

Another tool used for this card was the Crop-a-dile - how did I ever get on without one of these, they add so much to a card.  The ribbon was simply knotted and threaded through the Jumbo Eyelets and glued on the back to hold in place.  

The Cherry Cobbler Top Note layer was stuck down with Dimensionals to allow for the height the Jumbo Eyelets added.

You will have to excuse the line on the top left corner - during the class my card toppled over onto the Early Espresso ink pad!

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Crumb Cake / Cherry Cobbler / Baja Breeze DSP Subtles Stack / Very Vanilla

Stamps / Ink - Sail Away / Curly Cute / Early Espresso

Embellishments - 1/2" Crumb Cake Seaming Binding Ribbon / Jumbo Eyelets

Tools - Cutter Kit / Crop-a-dile / Stamp-a-ma-jig / Big Shot / Top Note Die / Dimensionals / Snail / Sticky Strip / Stampin Scrub and Mist / Paper Snips

August Card Class - Flower Power Card

This post is the first of the five cards we made in my August card class.

I tried to make the class varied in the use of Stampin' Up! products, card themes and colours.

This card used a few punches plus the Big Shot with the Top Note Die.

I started by selecting the colour combo with the Colour Coach - I cannot praise this product enough.  One of the ladies at class ordered this product even though she doesn't have SU card stock in her stash, that speaks volumes for this products usefulness!!!

I started with a card base in Pumpkin Pie, layered with a square cut piece of Old Olive.  The Whisper White layer was cut with the Top Note, then you turn it 90 degrees and line it up and run it through the Big Shot again to get this square layer with perforated edge all the way round.  So simple yet effective!

The Rich Razzleberry layer is punched with the Fancy Flower Punch and then stamped in Rich Razzleberry ink with the circles image from the Confetti stamp set.  This is a great set for doing all kinds of backgrounds with six patterns to choose from.

I then used the 5 Petal Flower Punch with Pumpkin Pie card and sponge daubed the edges with pumpkin Pie ink.  This was layered on the card using Dimensionals and then a Designer Button from the brights collection was threaded with some Silver Elastic Cord and added with a Glue Dot.

The sentiment is from Afterthoughts (Level 1 Hostess) was inked in Rich Razzleberry and positioned using the Stamp-a-ma-jig.

This was quite a simple card with lots of different elements.  It would be really simple to re-create in a variety of colour combinations.

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Pumpkin Pie / Old Olive / Rich Razzleberry / Whisper White

Stamps / Ink - Afterthoughts (Level 1 Hostess) / Confetti / Pumpkin Pie / Rich Razzleberry

Embellishments - Designer Button / Silver Elastic Cord

Tools - Big Shot / Top Note Die / Fancy Flower Punch / 5 Petal Flower Punch / Stamp-a-ma-jig / Snail / Trimmer / Glue Dots / Dimensionals / Stampin Scrub and Mist / Sponge Dauber / Colour Coach