Blog Hop - Let's Say Goodbye Together!

The Month of September brings with it mixed emotions for me.  It is sadly the time when we have to say goodbye to many products in the 2010/2011 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalogue.  But.......  it also means that the sparkly, shiny new 2011/2012 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalogue is just around the corner, released 1st October!

Today's mammoth blog hop celebrates all of those lovely retiring products..........

You have probably arrived here from Donna

I hope you enjoyed the creations she had for you.

I have my monthly card class today, and I based many of my cards on the retiring products, so here is what I've made.......... enjoy!

Joy Fold Card

For this little 4"x4" card I used some of the retiring DSP called Sunny Garden and also the stamp set A Flower For All Seasons.  This is just such a cute stamp set, and works great with the Aqua Painters, or just by colouring in with the Markers.  Colouring with Markers is exactly what I have done here.

I went with the autumn stamp that has sunflowers to compliment the Peach Parfait card I used along with Pear Pizzazz and, one of my favourites, Poppy Parade.

Thankfully the lovely In Colours are sticking around for another year.

The flower stopper that holds the card closed was punched with the Boho Blossom Punch and the centre is from one in the Itty Bitty Punch Pack, all held together with a Designer Brad.

Strength and Hope Card

I love this set and I didn't use it enough.  Buying this set also mean you are making a difference as £1 from each set goes to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

This set was in the mini and will not be available after 30th September, so get it while you can and help a great cause at the same time!

This time I have used Lap Of Luxury DSP for a background on which I stamped the gorgeous butterfly image.  I used the Rock n Roll technique with this one, inking it in Pretty in Pink and then Concord Crush.  The card base is also Pretty in Pink with the swirly image stamped in Concord Crush down the folded edge using a Stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up.  The centre butterfly is popped up with Dimensionals and has a line of Basic Pearls added for it's body.

The sentiment is from the retiring Level 2 Hostess Set - Something to Celebrate.  I stamped it and then punched it out with the Decorative Label Punch.

Top Note Patchwork Card

Again, such beautiful DSP, this time Springtime Vintage from the mini catalogue.

I've assembled squares of the papers over the top of a Whisper White piece of card, glued them all down and then ran it through the Big Shot with the Top Note Die.  I then ran it through again with the Lattice Square Embossing Folder which gives a great quilted effect.

I've simply mounted it onto Whisper White and used the Corner Rounder Punch before wrapping some Rose Red 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon around and tieing a bow.  The sentiment is from Oval All stamp set, inked in Rose Red and mounted onto a Scalloped Oval of Rose Red.  I have used the Paper Piercing Tool and Mat Pack to add a hole to each of the scallops.

Everything was then mounted onto a Baja Breeze card base.

Plane and Simple - I'm going to miss this one so, so much!

This stamp set was just fabulous for those (what I think are harder to make) male cards!

I have grabbed some more DSP - it's all retiring you know - this time Elegant Soiree which is simply lovely.

I have made an Easel Card with Baja Breeze for the base again.  Strips of DSP have been added to the panels, then the plane image was stamped onto another piece of DSP in Early Espresso ink.  This was cut and mounted before being stuck down with Dimensionals.  The Silver Elastic Cord was threaded through the dimensionals behind the image and looped through the sentiment before being tied in a bow.  I'll miss this cord as tying it was a doddle as it was so stretchy and forgiving!  Sadly, it's already sold out, but you can still get the gold.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set, inked in Early Espresso again and stamped onto Very Vanilla.  I cut this out into a banner freehand and mounted it onto DSP and cut again to create a border.

Finally I made the stopper for the card.  The diamonds image was stamped twice onto Very Vanilla in Baja Breeze ink and cut out.  I have added it to the card with Dimensionals (quick tip - when you finish with the Dimensionals, don't throw the sheet away, use all those odd little half bits around the edge by snipping them, they are great for smaller pieces of card you want to pop up!)

Well I hope you have enjoyed looking at the cards I made and you have been inspired to take a look at the retirement list and grab some of these great products before they are gone.......

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Please leave me a comment as I love to know what people think of my creations.

From me you can now head on over to Elaine 

If you get stuck, lost or confused along the way, below is a list of all of the lovely crafty ladies taking part in the blog hop today.

1. AlisonP http://craftyalisoninlyon.blogspot.com/
2. Twintrouble (Erika) http://twintroublescreations.blogspot.com/
3. Lauralou http://airingcupboardstamping.blogspot.com/
4. Sarah (IOWhttp://www.stampinsarahiow.blogspot.com/
5. Theresa M http://my-next-chapter.blogspot.com/
6. Rozelle (LittleMoo6) http://thepapercraftsessions.blogspot.com/
7. Valerie (valmoody) http://stampingwithval.wordpress.com/
8. EmmaH http://emma-letsstamp.blogspot.com/
9. Donna (DonnaM) http://www.head-over-heels-by-dlm.blogspot.com/
10. Julie H (The Crafty Bug http://the-crafty-bug.blogspot.com/
11. Elaine (Sassy Stamper) http://www.thesassystampers.blogspot.com/
12. Sandra (Sarnie) http://www.kraftybiker.blogspot.com/
13. Natalie http://www.natalieoshea.co.uk/blog.html
14. Kimf http://kimfeecrafter.blogspot.com/
15. CarolineSkinner http://stampinupandbranchingout.blogspot.com/
16. VickyLou http://www.vickylouscorner.blogspot.com/
17. Michelle (ShellieStamps) http://michellescraftypaper.typepad.com/
18. allyf http://www.serendipitypapercuts.blogspot.com/
19. Maggiemae http://thefineartofstampin.blogspot.com/
20. Evy C http://www.evyscraftycreations.blogspot.com/
21. Niki http://www.mygroovystampinup.blogspot.com/
22. Sarah-Jane www.cardsandacuppa.blogspot.com
23. Tina( Tina Faghy) http://littlewhitehousecrafts.blogspot.com
24. Sally (Pink Sky) http://pinkskysu.blogspot.com

Happy Anniversary

This afternoon I am off to a family party to celebrate my Aunt and Uncles 30th Wedding Anniversary, so of course I had to come up with a card.  Well, two actually, one from me and my OH and one from my mum and dad :o)

The first one I made using the Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit and 5 Petal Flower Punch to create some strawberries.  I used Poppy Parade and Pear Pizzazz, sponge daubed the edges with the same colour ink, and used the 2 Step Bird Punch for some leaves.  I popped on some little flowers as well, made by punching Very Vanilla card through the Boho Blossom Punch and sponge daubing the edges with Peach Parfait ink and popping a Daffodil Delight brad through the middle.

They were layered onto Confetti Cream card stock, which was layered on a Poppy Parade card base.  The sentiment is from the Hostess Level 2 set called Something to Celebrate which is in the mini catalogue.

The second card I made used Real Red, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White as the colour combo.

The stamp set I used is Stampin' Up!, but it's a set from the USA, called Valentine Defined.  I love it, and wish we had it over here!

The flamingos are inked in Versamark and then Real Red before stamping onto Whisper White and adding Clear Embossing Powder and heating.  The bottom Whisper White section was run through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.  The Real Red top section was stamped with the string of hearts image from the stamp set, ink Real Red ink to give a subtle background.  I added 1/8" Real Red Taffeta Ribbon across the middle and then layered everything together.

The weather seems to have decided to be nice for the party as the sun is currently shining.

I hope you have a wonderful Saturday xxx

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Poppy Parade / Pear Pizzazz / Very Vanilla / Confetti Cream / Chocolate Chip / Real Red / Whisper White

Stamps / Ink - Valentine Defined / Something to Celebrate (L2 Hostess) / Poppy Parade / Pear Pizzazz / Peach Parfait / Real Red / Versamark

Embellishments - 1/8" Real Red Taffeta Ribbon / Daffodil Delight Brads

Tools - Boho Blossom Punch / Clear Embossing Powder / 5 Petal Flower Punch / 2 Step Bird Punch / Scallop Heart of Hearts Embosslit / Sponge Daubers / Mat Pack / Paper Piercing Tool / Tombow / Dimensionals / Snail / Trimmer / Stampin Scrub and Mist / Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder / Heat Gun

Happy Fathers Day!

I have been waiting to post these cards on my blog for three weeks.

Now it's Father's Day I can put them up as the originals have all been received!

The first card I made for my brother, his girlfriend and my gorgeous nephew to give to my lovely dad.

He's got a big fish pond in the garden and loves his fish, so having seen the Build a Blossom stamp set used to make various fishy cards on the Internet, I thought I'd have a go too.

I used the Just Believe stamp set to get the foliage, and the sentiment is from Something to Celebrate (Level 2 Hostess) - much used by me!!!!

The second card is for my brother (his first Fathers Day!) from my lovely 5 month old nephew Ethan.

I wanted to go with something simple and quite child like, so CASE'd a design I'd seen on the Internet some times ago - really sorry, but can't remember who's design it was........

I used various punches to put together a little sailing boat, added in some little hearts cut from DSP and the sentiment is again from Something to Celebrate.

I really hope everyone likes the Fathers Day cards I made.  I certainly enjoyed making them all.  It was quite a challenge making so many and trying to make them all different, especially as boys cards are something I find pretty tough.  

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Sahara Sand / Pear Pizzazz Smooth and DSP / Peach Parfait / Whisper White / So Saffron Smooth and DSP / Bashful Blue

Stamps / Ink - Build a Blossom / Something to Celebrate (Level 2 Hostess) / Just Believe / Pear Pizzazz / Peach Parfait / So Saffron / Certainly Celery

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

Tools - Lattice Square Embossing Folder / 1 1/2" Scallop Square Punch / 1 3/8" Circle Punch / Small Heart Punch / 1 3/4" x 7/8" Oval Punch / Scallop Oval Punch / Trimmer / Stampin Scrub and Mist / Snail / Sticky Strip / Dimensionals

Happy Anniversary my lovlies.......

Today I wanted to show you the card I have sent my Brother and his Girlfriend for their 2 year Anniversary.

I've seen lots of cards with the Owl Punch used, and thought it would be perfect for the two love birds :o)

The Owl Punch is just so cute and has so many uses, Tulips, Penguins, Rudolf to name a few.....  it's just fab!

I went with a brights palette, plus some gorgeous Crumb Cake.

The base is Tempting Turquoise and I added a Whisper White backdrop that I created a cloudy sky on with the Scalloped Circle Punch and Tempting Turquoise ink with a dauber.

I made a male and female owl and added in a little love heart in Melon Mambo.  The Old Olive 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon acts like a branch for them to sit on.

The sentiment is from Something to Celebrate (Level 2 Hostess) - I used this a lot, it's just great for so many occasions.  I punched it out using the Large Oval Punch and mounted it on a Melon Mambo Scalloped Oval.

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Tempting Turquoise / Whisper White / Early Espresso / Crumb Cake / Melon Mambo / Tangerine Tango / Brights DSP

Stamps / Ink - Something to Celebrate / Melon Mambo / Tempting Turquoise

Embellishments -1/4" Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon

Tools - Two-Step Owl Punch / Large Oval Punch / Scallop Oval Punch / Scallop Circle Punch / Glue Dots / Snail / Dimensionals / Trimmer / Stampin Scrub and Mist / Sponge Dauber

Fathers Day - lots of cards to make!

So I asked my brothers girlfriend if there was any birthdays etc coming up that she'd like me to make cards for, and I got a whole long list, which included Fathers Day cards.

I can pop a couple on my blog now as I know her dad and step-dad won't be looking at my blog, though a few others might just have to wait to be posted.

I wanted to go for something a bit different and had heard of the shirt fold card before, so I looked it up on the Internet and found a really simple tutorial by a lady called Cambria Turnbow.  

So I grabbed some DSP and set to work.  About 3 minutes later the shirts were done!

What do you think?

I just cut the ties out freehand and popped them on with glue dots.

The sentiment is from Something to Celebrate (Level 2 Hostess) and has been stamped in co-ordinating Poppy Parade and Peach Parfait ink and punched out with the Decorative Label Punch then mounted.

Quick, simple and pretty WOW too.............

The Details: 

Card / Paper -Marina Mist Textured / Chocolate Chip Textured / Whisper White / In Colour DSP (Level 1 Hostess) / Peach parfait Smooth / Poppy Parade Smooth

Stamps / Ink -Something to Celebrate (Level 2 Hostess) / Poppy Parade / Peach Parfait

Embellishments - None

Tools - Trimmer / Bone Folder / Decorative Label Punch

Mini Handbags............

Hello!

Sunday again, but at least this week we have a Bank Holiday Monday thrown in as well, so one more day off of work which is lovely.

It didn't rain yesterday which was great, though it was still a bit too breezy to sit and have the bbq outside, so the boys cooked it outside and then bought it in for a picnic indoors.  It was a lovely day.  My nephew, Ethan, was on top form as usual, all smiles and lots of gurgles going on.  He's so, so close to turning him self from his back onto his front, if only he could figure out moving his arm from under him, he'd be there!  

My brother's lovely girlfriend Alex gave me a little list of people and occasions she needed card for, so as soon as I got home I got to work!

I made a girlie card based on the Stamping 411 sketch challenge this week.

I went for bright and bold colours of Melon Mambo and Tempting Turquoise, thrown in with some Whisper White and Basic Black.

Now I do have to confess that I used a Stampin' Up! product that isn't available in the UK!  In Canada they have a set of stamps called Create a Cupcake, and a co-ordinating punch.  I was lucky enough to be able to get one of these, and have resisted using it on my blog so far, but for this card I do have an alternative.

The cute little handbags are made by punching out a cupcake base, or wrapper I guess, and turning it upside down, but if you have the Scallop Square Punch, you can use that and just trim the sides at an angle to create the main body of the handbag.

The top of the handbag is made using the 1" Circle Punch and folding it over the bottom section, then use the same punch to create the handle.  A Basic Rhinestone is added for a bit of girlie bling, and there you have a mini handbag!

A girl can never have too many handbag, right????

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Basic Black Textured / Temping Turquoise Smooth and DSP / Melon Mambo Smooth / Whisper White Smooth

Stamps / Ink - Something to Celebrate (Level 2 Hostess) / Melon Mambo

Embellishments - Basic Rhinestones / 5/8" Whisper White Satin Ribbon

Tools - Build a Cupcake Punch (alternative Scallop Square Punch) / 1" Circle Punch / Eyelet Border Punch / Trimmer / Dimensionals / Sticky Strip / 2-way Glue Pen / Stampin Scrub and Mist / Stamp-a-ma-jig

Butterflies, butterflies, everywhere!

It's Sunny Sunday - at least I hope it will be!

The Less Is More challenge this week was all about lovely Butterflies!

I thought I'd use the opportunity to try the Emboss Resist technique.  I used the All a Flutter a la carte stamp and inked it with Versamark and stamped randomly over a piece of Whisper White card.  I used clear embossing powder and used my heat gun to melt this.  I then grabbed my brayer, it's first outing, and inked it with Pink Pirouette and ran the brayer across the whisper white card.  Once I'd got the coverage I wanted I used some tissue to just rub over the embossed butterflies and take off any excess ink.

The sentiment is from the Level 2 Hostess set - Something to Celebrate, and is again inked with Versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder.

Simple, yet really pretty.

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Perfect Plum / Whisper White

Stamps / Ink - All a Flutter / Something to Celebrate / Pink Pirouette / Versamark

Embellishments - Clear and White Embossing Powder

Tools - Brayer / Heat Gun / Stampin Scrub and Mist / Trimmer

The Never Ending Card!

Hi,

Finally it's the weekend!  I have been waiting all week to try out this card, but wanted to wait until I had some time and wouldn't rush it!  I have to admit, it did take me a long time to do, but it is my first attempt :o)

It would make a good card for a special person or occasion.  I got the instructions from a video by Dawn Griffith.

The Never Ending Card is a card created of four pieces, they are scored and folded before being stuck together in such a way that you can fold the card back on itself over and over and over........  you get the idea!

My other half was not convinced it would work, so was suitable impressed when I made a mock up with paper.  This helped me get the dimensions for the bits I added to decorate the card and I could scribble and put measurements all over the mock up.

So here it is - four photos to show you each of the views when folding the card back on itself:

Seeing as I used the Botanical Gazette DSP for this card, it features lots of birds, plus the ones on the last fold from Clearly For You stamp set.  For that reason I decided to link my card for the Stampin' Royalty challenge this week, which is all about Birds!

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Early Espresso / Cherry Cobbler / Very Vanilla / Not Quite Navy / Botanical Gazette DSP

Stamps / Ink - Something to Celebrate (Level 2 hostess) / Clearly For You / Not Quite Navy / Cherry Cobbler / Old Olive

Embellishments - None

Tools - / Square Lattice Embossing Folder / 1 3/8" Circle Punch / 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch / 1" Circle Punch / Circle Punch from Itty Bitty Shapes

Sweet Sunday - on a Thursday!

Hello.....

So I realise it's Thursday evening, later than I hoped to post, but I had a last minute trip to the hairdressers after work!  I've been trying all week to complete a card for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge blog, that as you might guess, publishes it's sketch on a Sunday!

If you go and look at the challenge sketch you will notice that I turned it upside down for my card.

I absolutely love the Fox and Friends stamp set, and stamped a couple of cheeky little monkeys in Chocolate Chip and cut them out. Only fiddly when I got to the tails!  I punched the branches from the Bird Punch in Pear Pizzazz.  I just thought it worked well to make them look like they were having a great time swinging from tree to tree!

I added in some Pear Pizzazz DSP (Level 1 Hostess) which has a leafy type pattern on it, and the back drop cloud design paper is from the Sweet Pea DSP Stack that is now sadly retired. The colour is Sahara Sand, so if you wanted to try making this you could always use the Sahara Sand DSP in the Neutrals stack.

The card base is textured Marina Mist card stock, and the sentiment is mounted on a Marina Mist Scallop Oval.  The Happy Birthday is from the Something to Celebrate stamp set (Level 2 Hostess), inked in Chocolate Chip.

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Marina Mist textured & smooth / Chocolate Chip / Pear Pizzazz smoth and DSP / Sweet pea DSP (retired)

Stamps / Ink - Fox & Friends / Something to Celebrate / Chocolate Chip

Embellishments - None

Tools - Bird Punch / Large Oval Punch / Scallop Oval Punch / Trimmer / Stampin Scrub and Mist / Snail / Dimensionals

Crafty Bug Mum.....

Oh, it's the weekend! Hoorrrraaayyyyyy..............

I had a lovely crafty morning round at my mums house today.  I limited myself to one box of goodies to haul over there, and decided to let mum take the reigns as to what she wanted to do.  I gave her some ideas and we got started.  My mum is a newbie to card craft, so she took her time getting to grips with the items, particularly the punches, but she mastered two-step stamping really well.  I was really pleased with what she created.

So here are the two cards my mum made today.

This first one was made using the Build A Blossom stamp set and Blossom Petals Punch in the mini catalogue.  There is so much you can do with these items, they are brilliant.  We stuck with mostly the In Colours, as they happened to be the ink pads I took with me.  We used the Designer Buttons to pop in the centre of the flower and alongside the sentiment.  The buttons looks so much nicer in real life than in the catalogue, it doesn't do them justice.  I love the way the Poppy Parade really stands out against the Basic Black textured card.

Now I think this card is a beauty.  Well done my mum xxx

Again we went with the In Colour palette.  The main three colours we used were Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait and Pear Pizzazz.  All three are colours from the Sunny Garden DSP.  We punched out sections with the large square punch and layered up with the scallop square extra-large punch.  The sentiment is from Something to Celebrate (level 2 hostess), on whisper white, punched with the large oval punch and mounted on Peach Parfait with the scallop oval extra-large punch.  The beautiful butterflies are in Poppy Parade, and made using the Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die.  

I think a big well done is deserved by my mum :o)

She's coming along with me to team training next weekend, so hopefully she now feels more prepared and is more familiar with the products.

Right, quick change, and time to head off.  I'm finally getting to give the Penguin Celebrate card to my friends for their anniversary tonight.  I really hope they like it xx

The Details: 

Card / Paper - Sunny Garden DSP / Poppy Parade / Whisper White / Pear Pizzazz / Basic Black / Peach Parfait

Stamps / Ink - Something to Celebrate /Pear Pizzazz / Poppy Parade / Build a Blossom

Embellishments - Designer Buttons

Tools - Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die / Mat Pack and Paper Piercing tool / Trimmer / Stampin Scrub & Mist / Clear Block C / Blossom Petals Punch / Scallop Oval Ex-Lrg / Oval Large / Scallop Square Ex-Lrg / Square Large / Eyelet Border punch

Mojo Monday!

Oh my goodness - it seems like it was only a few days since I finished work for a week off, but already it's time to go back..............  And it's going to be so busy!!!  Looking on the bright side, there are only four days until the weekend :o)

I thought I'd do something new today - there are lots of card challenges you can join in with, so I thought I'd give Mojo Monday a go.  Basically a team of people come up with templates/sketches for cards, or maybe a colour scheme, it's posted on the site, along with actual cards made by the design team based on the challenge, then you have a go and upload your card to the gallery.

You can see what I mean by going to Mojo Monday

I kept with a summer theme for my card, using the Summer Splash stamp set which I also used last week.  Again I stuck with the brights palette for the colours, but this time I added in the lovely real red and pacific point with the tangerine tango.

I hope you like it!

The Details:

Card / Paper - Tangerine Tango / Real Red / Pacific Point / Real Red DSP

Stamps / Ink - Summer Splash / Something to Celebrate (level 2 hostess) / Tangerine Tango / Real Red / Pacific Point

Embellishments -Brads in Pumpkin Pie / Linen Thread

Tools - Clear Block G & E / Stampin Scrub & Mist / 1 1/2" Scallop Square Punch (for the sentiment) / Dimensionals / Snail

Penguin Mania

Hello......

The card I'm uploading today was actually made about a week ago.  I made four cards tonight for various birthdays and anniversaries, even a new home one, but I seemed to be finding my inspiration in retired Stampin' Up! stamp sets, so I thought I'd post this card instead as it uses the Two-Step Owl Punch which is in the Mini Catalogue that's out now.

My friends Jenny and Richard will be celebrating 8 years of wedded bliss in May, and they are both mad about Penguins.  I haven't sent them the link to this blog yet, so I'm safe to post this now.

All I did was punch the main body of the owl and then chop of it's ears......I was gentle.......hey presto, a Penguin!

The punch also pops out the little chest pieces, the various size circles for the eyes and even the tiny hearts - so cute don't ya think?

I hope they like it!

The Details:

Card / Paper - Whisper White / Basic Black / Poppy Parade (In Colour) / Daffodil Delight (for the tiny little beaks / Designer Series Paper Pack - In Colour (level 1 hostess gift)

Stamps / Ink - Something to Celebrate (level 2 hostess gift) / Poppy Parade (In Colour)

Embellishments - None

Tools - Trimmer / Two-Step Owl Punch / Snail / Dimensionals / 2-Way Glue Pen / Stampin Scrub & Mist

Thanks x