For Beth

This was made originally for my god-daughter's 21st birthday - I thought the Eiffel Tower was quite appropriate as she was spending a few days in Paris with her fiance. I changed my mind at the last minute (as you do with cards for important people!) and made an alternative. Needless to say, I never got a photo of that one as the glue was still drying when she opened the envelope ;)

The red cardbase has been stamped using black ink and the En Francais background stamp, then a layer of designer paper (with distressed and charcoal-inked edges) added to the left hand side. The tower has been stamped in black on vanilla cardstock, which has then been crumpled and the edges distressed using the fabulous distressing kit. A layer of black cardstock provides a mat for the image. The sentiment has been stamped in black then punched and coloured using a red marker, then popped up on dimensionals.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

• Stamps – Artistic Etchings, Oval All, En Francais BG
• Ink – Basic Black, Charcoal
• Cardstock – Red Riding Hood Red, Basic Black , Very Vanilla
• Other – Love Letter DSP, Marvellous Markers, 1¾ Oval punch, Distressing kit, sponge daubers, dimensionals.

A valentine!

I made a card using the sketch featured on the Clean and Simple stamping blog this week. It's very similar to the example card, I've just changed the colours/sentiment and rotated the layout so that I could fit the sentiment on. I think I'll be using this sketch again as it's very adaptable, and the 'simple' layout would probably appeal to the male of the species.


It's hard to see in this photo (rubbish weather here in the North East, just for a change!) but the coloured squares have been stamped using various background stamps with Versamark and popped up on dimensionals. After I took this photo, I decided the card needed a little something extra so I stamped the red heart again, cut it out and added crystal effects to produce a shiny finish. When dry, I layered it over the stamped heart using dimensionals. Weather permitting, I'll take a photo tomorrow of the updated version!

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

• Stamps - Whimsical Words (SAB set), Darling Dots (L1 Hostess set), Paisley BG, Medallion BG, En Francais BG
  
• Ink - Basic Black, Versamark, Real Red
  
• Cardstock - Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Basic Gray, Real Red
  
• Other - Whisper White satin ribbon, Crystal Effects, dimensionals.
  

Goodbye Carte Postale!

Last week I decided to have a final play with some of the sets that didn't make it into the new catalogue. Here's a quick and easy card using Carte Postale, a set that really lends itself to elegant cards I think - I'm sad to see this set retire. The caramel card has been stamped with the french script background stamp and the edges sponged with caramel ink.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!)

• Stamps: Carte Postale, French Script
  
• Ink: Not quite Navy, Creamy Caramel
  
• Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Very Vanilla
  
• Other: Not quite Navy Designer paper (from hostess paper pack), sponge daubers, twine, dimensionals.