Delicate details dragonfly

Here's a card made using one of the items you could earn for free during the Sale-a-Bration promotion, the Delicate Details stamp set. I have used the emboss resist technique for the background - the stamps have been embossed using Versamark and white embossing powder onto Whisper White cardstock, then Soft Sky ink has been sponged over the top. The ink has been added gradually to produce an ombre effect - i.e. strong colour fading in intensity as it moves down (or up!) the page. A black mat provides definition against the Soft Sky cardbase.

The dragonfly has been stamped in black Stazon ink onto vellum cardstock, then cut using the corresponding die. I added Soft Sky and Marina Mist ink to the back of the dragonfly, then glued the body to a white dragonfly base. I also added some Wink of Stella to the wings, hopefully you can see a bit better in the photo below.

The sentiment, from Birthday Blooms, has been stamped using black Memento ink onto Whisper White cardstock which has then been cut using a stitched circle die. 

The wanderer returns

Well hello, long time no see! Sorry it's been so long, but life threw me a massive curve ball and crafting, unfortunately, fell by the wayside. I was asked to make a card for a lady going on maternity leave, but not to emphasise the 'leaving' part as the lady was coming back to work. Another stipulation was plenty of room inside for co-workers to sign, so I decided on a larger A5 size card. It took quite a bit of fiddling/panicking/swearing after several months away from the craft cupboard, but here's the result. Sorry for the poor quality photo - I forgot to take a picture with the camera before I delivered it, so I had to attempt a picture with my new phone!

I started with an A5 card base of crumb cake cardstock, layered with whisper white cardstock. I used the baby tees wheel on several colours of designer paper, then cut out the individual onesies and attached to a washing line of linen thread using little wooden pegs. I punched squares of designer paper in the same colours and added buttons, ribbons and die-cut letters. The sentiment was computer generated, and cut using one of the Apothecary Accents framelits. I inked round the edges with pool party ink to provide a bit of definition. Simples!!

Products used (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated):

• Stamps: Baby Tees wheel
• Ink: Basic Black, Pool Party
• Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White
• Other: Apothecary Accents Framelits, Designer Paper stacks (Brights, Neutrals, In-colour s 2011-13), Sycamore Street buttons and ribbons (SAB), Brights designer buttons, Daffodil Delight 1/4" stitched grosgrain ribbon, 1 1/4" square punch,  linen thread, Timeless Type Junior alphabet dies (retired), wooden pegs (non-SU), dimensionals.

A SAB colour challenge

My mojo was missing-in-action, so I thought a colour challenge might get the creativity flowing. I decided on the Splitcoast Stampers colour challenge CC366, to use Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight and Pool Party with a neutral of white or Vanilla. An added option was to use ribbon or seam binding. Kerching!!! A card is born!

A strip of pool party DSP has been trimmed with a daffodil border, made using the dotted scallop ribbon border punch, and layered onto vanilla cardstock. The vanilla ribbon has been added with the ends tucked under the vanilla mat, which has then been added to the poppy cardbase.
The stamp image from the SAB set Fresh vintage has been stamped in daffodil, poppy and pool inks onto vanilla cardstock, then cut out with the 1 1/4” square punch. These have then been mounted onto a scalloped square of the corresponding coloured cardstock, and adhered to the top of the vanilla layer at different angles. (Didn’t I do well not putting them in a straight line? It really had my OCD gene a-jangling, though :) )
The sentiment has been inked using the 3 different markers, and stamped off-centre (gulp!) onto an oval of vanilla cardstock on a poppy scalloped oval. A little flower, made with the boho blossom punch and a large pearl, occupies that spare space next to the sentiment. I crumpled the layers a little to give a bit more texture.
I’m really pleased with this one, I probably wouldn’t have teamed these colours together but the end result is so bright and cheery. I may just use this one again :)
Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

• Stamps: Fresh Vintage (SAB set), Petite Pairs
• Ink: Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Pool Party
• Cardstock: Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Very Vanilla
• Other: Spice Cake DSP, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, 1 1/4" Square punch, Scallop Square punch, Scallop Oval punch, Large Oval punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Pearls, 3/8" Vanilla velvet ribbon, dimensionals.

Another SAB card

Here's a card I made for my niece's birthday last week. It uses another stamp set that you can get for free with a £45 order during the Sale-a-Bration promotion, as well as that gorgeous free designer paper! Sorry about the quality of the photo, it was an 'about to go in the envelope' job!

The frame image has been stamped in pool party ink onto pool party cardstock, and the centre cut out using the curly label punch. A ruffle of twill has been stapled underneath the frame image and the ends trimmed to a point. The sentiment has been stamped in soft suede onto vanilla cardstock, then positioned under the opening of the stamped frame. The frame is popped up on dimensionals - I can't seem to make a card without them! A card base of limeade cardstock and everyday enchantment designer paper provides the perfect backdrop - I added a little crumb cake ink around the edges of the paper to give a more vintage look.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

• Stamps: Elementary Elegance (SAB set)
• Ink: Pool Party, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake
  
• Cardstock: Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Very Vanilla
• Other: Curly Label punch, Twill Tape, dimensionals, staples.

Sale-a-Bration card

As promised, a card made using one of the stamp sets available during Sale-a-Bration. This has been sent as a belated birthday card to a lovely friend that unfortunately I don't see too often. Must try to remedy that this year :)

The image has been inked using markers and stamped onto white cardstock, which has then been matted onto black cardstock. The border stamp has been used on a strip of limeade cardstock using limeade ink, and a layer of small black scallops adds definition. I used the dotted scallop ribbon border to achieve this, and cut the border in half before attaching to the back of the limeade panel.

The main image has been used as a background on the wisteria card base - I 'stamped off' the ink to produce a paler impression on the cardstock. The flower stamp also provides a pale image on the sentiment circle to provide continuity in the card design, with the sentiment stamped in black ink. Rhinestones have been used on the sentiment, one of the flowers and in the lower corner to add a bit of bling!

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

• Stamps: Fresh Vintage (SAB set), Petite Pairs
• Ink: Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Basic Black
• Cardstock: Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Basic Black
• Other: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, 1 1/4" Circle punch, 1 3/8" Circle punch, 1 3/8" Scallop Circle punch, Rhinestone jewels.

Sale-a-Bration is here!

One of the highlights of the Stampin' Up! year is the Sale-a-Bration promotion. You can choose a free gift for every £45 order during the promotion, so a £90 order will get you 2 gifts and so on. This year, there is a choice of four stamp sets and (for the first time) a designer paper pack. The paper is absolutely gorgeous, I think it's the best DSP SU have ever given us! And it's free! What could be better?

I'm off to drool, I mean create some projects with my new FREE products! Don't forget to click on the Sale-a-Bration image on the right to see what products YOU could be drooling over soon!

Wait long enough, and you'll get a Free card!

Oh dear, it appears I've been neglecting my blog! Sorry for the lack of posts, but not much has been done in the last few months craft-wise. It seems the cold weather totally sapped my inspiration :( The days are getting longer again so hopefully Miss Betty will let me craft in peace (I'm being extremely optimistic there, LOL)

Here's a card made using stamp sets that you can get for free! (costing nothing, gratuitous, without charge, freebie, complimentary, gratis, on the house, without compensation, FREE OF CHARGE!) Don't you just love those words! Please contact me for further details on how you can earn these sets too!

The main panel has been stamped with the scroll stamp from the Bliss stamp set in crumb cake ink, and the flower in 'stamped off' soft suede ink. The quote in the top left corner was stamped with soft suede ink. The edges have been distressed using one of the files from the distressing kit, then sponged with crumb cake and soft suede inks. A ruffle of vanilla grosgrain ribbon was added before the panel was adhered to a soft suede card base. An espresso oval and a soft suede scallop oval provide mats (and depth) to the sentiment, stamped in soft suede ink on a vanilla cardstock oval.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

• Stamps: Bliss (SAB), Occasional Quotes (hostess L3)
  
• Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
  
• Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Early Espresso
• Other: Distressing kit, Sponge Daubers, Extra Large Oval punch, Extra Large Scallop Oval punch, Large Oval punch, 5/8" Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon.

A Sale-a-Bration card

Oops, didn't do a good job with this photo - looks a bit Tower of Pisa! But you get the gist. Fab little birdcage from one of the SAB sets this year (you can get them for free! Contact me for more information)


I've used chocolate chip and bordering blue marker pens to colour the cage and bird respectively, and stamped onto Confetti white cardstock. The sentiment has also been stamped in chocolate chip ink and a bordering blue mat attached to this layer of cardstock. A little bow of kraft ribbon has been attached using a rhinestone brad (thanks Monica for the inspiration!) A piece of the gorgeous Bella Bleu designer paper has been added to a bordering blue layer, punched with the eyelet border punch. 3 little 1/4" circles of blue cardstock, covered with crystal effects, help balance the layout. Card base is Confetti white.

Products used (all Stampin' Up!):

• Stamps - Happy Moments
• Ink - Chocolate Chip, Bordering Blue
  
• Cardstock - Confetti White, Bordering Blue
  
• Other - Bella Bleu designer paper, Eyelet Border punch, rhinestone brad, kraft taffeta ribbon, 1/4" circle punch, Crystal Effects, 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 Sale-a-bration!

Well the Sale-a-bration promotion is over but hopefully you got at least one free set ( don't you just LOVE free stuff?!) The promotion in March is for 25% off chipboard - not quite as good as free but which other companies come up with as many different promotions as Stampin' Up! do? There's link on the right for further details on the chipboard promotion.

Here's a card I made with one of the SAB sets, Botanical Blooms. My background stamps have been sadly neglected recently as I try to use my designer papers, so I dusted off the Paisley background to use in this card.


Products used (all Stampin’ Up!):

• Stamps – Botanical Blooms, Paisley, Sincere Salutations
• Ink – Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss
  
• Cardstock – Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke
• Other – 1/4" grosgain ribbon (Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke), Gold brads

A Sale-a-Bration card

The layout for this card is using Julee's Mojo Monday sketch 70 here. I am going through a circle phase at the moment so this sketch caught my eye immediately! The flower and leaf stamps used are from Botanical Blooms, one of four stamp sets you can get FOR FREE during Sale-a-Bration in January and February. A link to the online Sale-a-Bration leaflet is on the right hand side, please contact me if you require further information.
I've used Confetti White cardstock for the card base and white layers - it has small flecks of colour embedded into it, like handmade paper, but is still smooth enough to stamp on.

Products used (Stampin' Up! unless stated otherwise):

• Stamps - Botanical Blooms, Best Yet
  
• Ink - Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive
  
• Cardstock - Confetti White, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive
  
• Other - Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, nestabilities (non-SU), dimensionals