A late bird

I've had this stamp for ages but for some reason it's never seen ink (oops!) I thought I'd pair it with one of the fabulous Sweet Pea papers - I did have a struggle cutting into this pad as the designs are lush! Why oh why am I such a hoarder?


I've pleated the chocolate chip ribbon then stapled it down, and stamped at the bottom of the card with the swirly stamp in pumpkin. I haven't put a sentiment on, but when I decide to use the card I think a sentiment punched out with the word window punch will look just right!

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

• Stamps: Whimsical Wings
  
• Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Taken with Teal
  
• Cardstock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie
• Other: Sweet Pea designer paper, Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, Scalloped border punch, staples (non-SU).
  

I thought I'd make a card using some of the Bold Bright colours as the last few posts seem to be a bit kraft-obsessed! I must admit that the Earth Elements family is probably my favourite and the Brights my least favourite - I don't do bright in real life either :)


The card is pretty self-explanatory - several of the circle circus stamps done in turquoise, 2 shades of green and gray (sing New Model Army song here!) Green galore card base, gray mat and turquoise ribbon, then glorious green scalloped circle with gray mat and sentiment in turquoise on white CS, popped up on dimensionals (ooh, what a surprise!)

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

• Stamps - Circle Circus, Circle of Friendship
  
• Ink - Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, Glorious Green, Basic Gray
  
• Cardstock - Whisper White, Green Galore, Glorious Green, Basic Gray
• Other - 1 1/4" Circle punch, 1 3/8" Circle punch, Scalloped Circle punch, Stampin' Write Markers, Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals.
  

A colour renovation!

You've probably read the news as it's all over blogland, but Stampin' Up! are having a colour renovation! In the past 2 years, Stampin' Up! have been researching colour trends and conducting surveys amongst SU demonstrators and customers in order to update the SU colour palette.

The new colours will be arranged into four collections: Subtles, Brights, Regals, and Neutrals. You will see 25 of our current colours remaining, and fifteen new colours will be added to the core colour lines. So when the new catalogue comes out in October, some of the current colours will retire and new ones will take their place. 5 new 'in-colours' will also be available this year, and 5 colours next year. These 'in-colours' will be available for 2 years before retiring for more up-to-date colours. Here are the NEW collections:

And as Stampin' Up! products co-ordinate so well, we can look forward to a whole new range of fabulous ribbons, buttons, papers and accessories in some of the 'core' and 'in' colours! Here are the colours that we will be saying a fond farewell to in October:


But don't panic if your favourite colour is retiring - you have 6 months to get your craft area full to bursting point with cardstock, and inks, and ribbons, and everything else. We all know that crafters NEED so many things (wink, wink!) Please feel free to get in touch if there's anything you would like to start stockpiling :)

Another vintage card

Here's another card made with the new set, Vintage Vogue. I've made a Z-fold card of brocade blue cardstock, layered with vanilla cardstock and Bella Bleu designer paper. The vanilla CS inside the card has been stamped in brocade blue ink with the border stamp available in this set. I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the borders lined up correctly!

The muted colour of the small flowers and swirly vines has been achieved by stamping off once before stamping onto the vanilla and brocade blue panel. The sentiment is from Wonderful Words, stamped in black to make it stand out more. The larger flowers have been inked with bordering and brocade blue onto vanilla cardstock, cut out and attached to the centre panel. Large pearls from the pretties kit accent the flowers, and some vanilla taffeta ribbon adds extra interest to the left hand panel.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

• Stamps - Vintage Vogue, Wonderful Words
  
• Ink - Bordering Blue, Brocade Blue, Basic Black
  
• Cardstock - Brocade Blue, Very Vanilla
• Other - Bella Bleu designer paper, vanilla taffeta ribbon, pearls fron Pretties kit, corner rounder punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, dimensionals.
  

Challenges!

As promised, here's a card made using one of the sets from the new mini catalogue. It's called Vintage Vogue and I think it may become one of my most used sets, the images are so gorgeous! I decided to participate in a few challenges with this one. The Creative Card Crew challenge is a vintage/aged theme, and over at Just Add Ink the challenge is to use the following colours.


I didn't manage to upload the card by the deadline for Just Add Ink, but that's the great thing about challenges - you can use them for inspiration at any time!


A blush blossom panel has been stamped with the Very Vintage wheel using close to cocoa ink, and coloured using a blender pen with coral and cocoa ink and a white gel pen. This has been layered with a cocoa scalloped mat and kraft ribbon onto a kraft cardbase. The friend stamp has been inked using coral and cocoa markers and stamped onto blush blossom cardstock with a cocoa mat. The edges of the layers have been distressed to give a more vintage feel to the card.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

• Stamps - Vintage Vogue, Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel
  
• Ink - Close to Cocoa, Cameo Coral
  
• Cardstock - Kraft, Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa
• Other - Scallop Edge punch, kraft taffeta ribbon, white gel pen, dimensionals.
  

It's Mini time!

Today's the first day to order from the new Stampin' Up! mini catalogue! There are loads of fab new products - take a look using the link to the right, and feel free to get in touch with me if there's anything you would like to order. My list gets longer every time I look :)

I'll be back soon with a card using one of the new sets!