Little Bird Gift Bag

This is a really quick and easy little bag to make, and takes one piece of A4 paper. No template needed, just a cutting and scoring board - the combined one that I have the Fiskars Paper Trimmer, that can be used to do both on the same board makes it even quicker! As soon as I get the chance, I'll put together a little how to on making it.

EDIT: I have now done the tutorial which is here.

The closure is very handy - no bow tying required, and also quick to do. I'll put that in the tutorial too.

This bag is the one that I made for table favours for my daughters wedding, but I still don't have any to photograph. Hoping to get hold of a couple still . ..

Card/Paper: Old Olive, So Saffron, Cajun Craze, More Mustard

Ink: Old Olive, Cajun Craze

Stamps: Very Vintage Wheel

Other: Old Olive 5/8" satin ribbon, basic pearl, Bird Builder punch, Cropadile

Birthday Windmill

This fun little windmill was made using a punch from the new Stampin' Up! catalogue. Very simply made by punching out four of the plain sided pennants, and then curling them and sticking to a little circle. Another circle with a brad stuck on the top to finish before sticking the whole thing to a wooden cocktail stick. More punched pennants along the bottom of the card. The lovely cheerful bright paper is also new.

Card/Paper: Wild Wasabi, Peach Parfait, Whisper White, Just Add Cake dsp

Ink: Wild Wasabi

Stamps: Party This Way

Other: So Saffron Brad, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Petite Pennants Builder Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

Circles and Lace

Another idea I pinched from the display board to show off the In Colors again!

Of course, Stampin' Up! is known for it's co-ordination between products, and in this case the co-ordination is the fact that a 1" punched circle fits exactly behind the flower shape in the new Lace Ribbon Border punch. So here I have used all the colours again, to create this pretty effect behind the lace.

Card/Paper: Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Calypso Coral

Ink: None

Stamps: None

Other: Lace Ribbon Border Punch, 1" Circle Punch

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

Pear Pizzazz and Ribbon Lace

After making my daughter's wedding stationery earlier this year, I ended up with a large pile of full length A4 strips of Whisper White card. How convenient then, that the new catalogue coming out on October 1st has a punch ideal for using up all those strips!

The lacey border on this card is simply threaded with the narrow ribbon, and finished off with some pearls. I just added a few white flowers and a spray of leaves to finish off at the top.

The flowers are made using the largest shape from the Boho Blossoms punch. I snipped in between each petal to make them longer, and then shaped them a little bit with my embossing ball tool. The centres are just the largest circle from the Cropadile, shaped into a cup shape and then inverted in the centre of the flower over a blob of glue.

Card/Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Old Olive

Stamps: Sincere Salutations

Other: Basic Pearls, 1/8" Taffeta Old Olive, Lace Ribbon Border Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Cropadile, Little Leaves die

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

New Colours

I can't believe that it's less than a week now, until the new Stampin' Up! catalogue goes live in the UK! The year since the last one seems to have gone so fast. So I thought I'd show you a little sneak peek of the new In-Colors - all five of them on this card. Also a tiny bit of a new punch is in there - the idea pinched from a display sample I saw at an SU training meeting. Not the usual use for that punch, but quite nifty!

Each strip of card has had the bottom corners rounded with the Corner Rounder punch, and then was embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots folder. The little centre piece punched out of the larger design of the new punch was added to the end of the strip of card, with a pearl to finish.

Just a little bit of scoring on either side of the greeting to finish off. Quick and easy card!

Card/Paper: Shimmery White, Island Indigo, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral

Ink: Island Indigo

Stamps: Curly Cute

Other: Corner Rounder punch, Lace Ribbon Border Punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Basic Pearls

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

Two Frame Cards

More photos from the archives! These two cards were both made using one Marianne die set called Straight Frame LR0111. A couple of additional punches - the leaves on the one above were from a Martha Stewart punch, the little butterflies were a Woodware punch and the centres of the smaller flowers on the card below were a Woodware snowflake punch.

On the card above, the frame was cut out of a single layer of card, and sponged before sticking to the base card in the centre and on all of the points. Under each curve there is a foam pad, so that the frame has a ripple effect up and down around the edge. Not that easy to see on the photo, but adds a nice bit of dimension. On the card below the frame was cut out of a folded piece of card, with the fold just skimming below the top of the curves to create the hinge. A layer of card has been added to the centre of both the front and the inside back to add a bit of strength and stability to the card base. The die cut base, and the centre layer have both been sponged to bring out the detail of the embossing (which is done by the die as well).

I still can't decide which one I prefer!

Flowers Round the Gate

I was looking through some older files of cards and found this card I designed last summer for a class I gave at my local craft shop. I can't remember what the stamp is called, or who it's by, but I do remember that as soon as I saw the stamp, I saw it as a gate with flowers growing around it!

Sorry about the lack of detail on which punches I used, but I can't remember them exactly now, and I no longer have the card because I left it on display in the shop. But I thought you might like to see it anyway!

Get Well Card

I love this colour combination - Marina Mist and Crumb Cake. Very soothing!

The card base has three lines scored across it, and has been spritzed using the Color Spritzer Tool and Marina Mist marker.

The image is from the Hopeful Thoughts stamp set. I used my markers to colour it, and added some Galaxy Champagne glitter to the centres. Just adds a subtle bit of twinkle. Punched one corner with the Scallop Trim corner punch. I used a marker again to ink up just a portion of one of the greetings stamps and stamped in the corner. Inked the edges using a sponge and Marina Mist ink pad. Matted onto a crumb cake layer, and finished off with a little bit of gathered Crumb Cake Taffeta ribbon with a Marina Mist 1/4" grosgrain bow on the top.


The inside of the card is finished to match, and has been stamped with the other part of the greeting stamp from the front.

Card/Paper: Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Ink: Marina Mist, Crumb Cake

Stamps: Hopeful Thoughts

Other: 3/8" Taffeta Crumb Cake, 1/4" Grosgrain Marina Mist, Galaxy Champagne Glitter

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

Pink Birthday Flowers and a Long Pillow Box

This is a really pretty two step stamp set. The large flower outline is one stamp, and then another solid one to fill in with colour. A quick and easy shape to cut out as well. The centre flower is popped up with a dimensional. It doesn't really show in the photo, but the white areas on the butterfly and the centres of all the small plum flowers have Dazzling Diamond Glitter on them, so along with the rhinestones, it's a pretty, twinkly card.

Inside decorated to match:

This card was another project for my stampers ten group, and we made a matching pillow box to go with it.

The box is made using two of the pillow box die cuts. One end of the green section was trimmed straight, and then punched with the Scallop Trim punch, and embossed using the Perfect Polka dots embossing folder. The plum half was stamped all over with the small flower stamp in plum ink before sticking the two halves together, and then assembling the box. Finished off with a flower, ribbon and tag.

We used a handy little time saver for inking up the two plum flowers on the tag stamp. Rather than ink up the whole stamp with two markers - which we could have done, we inked up the whole stamp with a Wild Wasabi ink pad, removed the green from the two flowers using a blender pen, and then inked them up using a Perfect Plum marker. Where you only want a little bit of a stamp a different colour, this saves time in inking up the larger part with a marker.



If you are in the UK, and are interested to hear more about my stampers ten group, have a look at this page.

Card/Paper: Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White

Ink: Perfect Plum, Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi

Stamps: Cottage Garden, Curly Cute

Other: Basic Jewels Clear Rhinestones, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Whisper White 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Scallop Trim Border punch, Pillow Box Die

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

Butterflies and Boxes

This is a recent-ish make and take I designed for my stampers ten members.

The background is created by using a piece of pink card, and then embossing it with a folder that has been brayered with the matching ink before putting the card in and running through the Big Shot. The same for the inside of the card as well.

We also made a matching box using the Mini Milk Carton die. You need two die cuts for each box, and you cut one section off each die cut (not the end with the flap on as you need that to construct the boxes). I am planning to do a quick tutorial on how to do the box, so watch this space!

If you pull the top together with the points up it looks like this:


A little more tricky, and less space in the box, but if you make the points go down it looks like this:

Card/Paper: Perfect Plum, Pink Pirhouette, Very Vanilla, Springtime Vintage DSP (retiring this month)

Ink: Pink Pirhouette, Pear Pizzazz, Perfect Plum

Stamps: Fast Flowers, Fresh Cuts (both retiring this month) Sincere Salutations

Other: Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, Basic Pearls, Pretty in Pink 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon, Silver Cord (no longer available)

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

Cherry Cobbler Flowers

Card/Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive

Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Cheer and Wishes

Other: Scallpo Trim Border Punch

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

This is a stampers ten make and take that we did a while back. One of my favourite sets, I love the flowers on this set, and the leafy flourish. The flowers were stamped on to scrap, cut out and then given a little shaping before fixing to the card. Below I have shown two options for finishing the centre of the large flower. The first one is more practical for posting, with just a little shaped circle inverted over a blob of pva. The second has stamens made by snipping a strip of card into a fine fringe, then rolling up and spreading the fringing to make a much more dimensional centre.

a little stamping to finish off inside . . .



A couple of days ago, I think I somehow pinched a nerve in my back or hip, and was in a lot of pain, and was having trouble bending, sitting down and standing up. I was very slowly and painfully working my way out of bed a couple of mornings ago, and saying to Amy (8 years old) that I was like an old woman. Her reply: "Well, you're kind of old - you are 50!"

Feeling much better now though. This afternoon I leaned forward whilst sitting at my desk, and felt something go twang - all of a sudden the pain and stiffness was vastly reduced, so guess whatever was pinched is un-pinched now . . . thank goodness!

Wedding Gift Thank You Cards

Card/Paper: Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Stamps: Wedding Sweet, Sweet Swirls

Other: Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Cosmos Orchid glitter, Scallop Trim punch, Curly Label, Cropadile

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

These are the thank you cards I made for my daughter's wedding. Somewhere between these and the save the date cards I posted the other day, there was some wedding stationery, but I still have to work on getting photos of that!

Fairly simple design because I had to make 50 of them. And I finally found a use for my vacuum cleaner! The glitter is stuck on with pva, and once it had dried and hardened overnight, I used the dusting brush attachment on my vacuum to suck off the remaining traces of loose glitter. Normally I use a soft paintbrush to do the job, but 50 cards was proving to be a bit tedious until I switched to the vacuum. It worked really well, and was ten times quicker. My family didn't even bat an eyelid at mum vacuuming her cards!

Misplaced Mother's Day!

No, I haven't lost the card - it's just misplaced in time whether you're in the UK or US! But I found it in my files, and thought that I would post it anyway. This is the card that I gave my mum on mother's day this year. At the time I made it, it was pretty much all new products from the mini, so I was having fun experimenting with them.

The sentiment stamp is from the SU set Occasional Greetings which is retiring this month.


I decorated the inside to match.

Just a little close-up of the flowers to finish with.

Quick Thinking of You Card

This is one of those rare (for me) cards that comes together unexpectedly, and in very little time!

I saw the idea for colouring with markers onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water, and then stamping onto watercolour paper. I was in the mood for trying it right there and then, so grabbed a couple of colours that I thought might look nice together - Crumb Cake and Marina Mist - to try it out. Beginner's luck helped it to work first time, so I went looking for an image to stamp over the top. This one from Hopeful Thoughts seemed to fit the bill, and the combination makes for a serene feel that suits the sentiment from the set. They are both stamped in Night of Navy.

The card base is Night of Navy, and I just embossed a strip down one side with the Square Lattice embossing folder. Finally added a Crumb Cake mat behind the image before mounting on the card base. A quick bit of stamping on a square of Very Vanilla for the inside of the card, and half an hour after I started it was done! I'm usually a pretty slow card maker when I'm designing, so I was in a slight state of shock at the turn of events!

Save the Date Card

I do have a picture of the save the date card I made for my daughter's wedding. The patterned paper is a long retired SU speciality paper Bride. It's a self patterned white thick paper, which I brayered Elegant Eggplant onto. The glossier swirls of the design resist the ink, so only the background takes the colour, leaving this lovely effect. Not so sure it was a good idea to brayer 50 invitations x 2 squares of paper though!

The save the date words on the front, and the invitation wording are computer generated and printed onto Whisper White card. The invitation portion simply slides in and out of the case, and both are finished off with matching ribbon - sadly retired as well now, although SU still carries the colour in card and ink.

I was sensible enough though, to research the sizes of envelope available to me, before deciding on the size of the invitation!

Thomas

I was browsing through my card photo file, to see what I could put up today, and came across this one that I made back in June for my new son-in-law's birthday. (I like to send grown up cards!)

I googled a colouring page image of Thomas, which I downloaded and took into Photoshop to re-size and print out a few copies. I then cut them into templates to paper piece him with various colours of SU card stock. On most of the pieces I sponged the edges to give them some dimension. All of the pieces were stuck onto a base piece cut from blue card to the outline shape of the engine. I hand drew the face, copying the one on the colouring picture.

I stamped the brown for the sleepers with the retiring Sanded background stamp, and spritzed the ground with the Colour Spritzer tool and a marker. The rails are made from three layers of card stuck together, with a little slit in them where the wheels slot in to hold the card open.

You can see from this back view that the card is an easel card, with a front flap that is shorter and narrower than the back of the card. The greeting is written on the underside.

Big Bold Birthday

Hello!

Well, look at that  . . . I can remember how to use Blogger! Even I was quite shocked when I looked and saw how long since I last posted. Life got in the way one way or another, and blogging took a back seat for a long while, but hopefully I'm back now - although I can't promise every day! I would just like to say thankyou to the people who have sent messages of concern. It was very thoughtful and I really appreciate them. Some of the reasons were not so good, but I'd prefer to talk about one of the good reasons for being absent, which was this in May this year:

My eldest daughter's wedding. Some of you may recognise the youngest bridesmaid - my daughter Amy who does the drawing of names out of the hat for me. My second eldest daughter was chief bridesmaid (second from the right) and my son is third from the right in the back row. Of course that's hubby with me on the right.

I was very busy for a while with all the wedding stationery, which I'll show another day. In fact, at the moment I don't think I have a photo of the invitation, or even one in my posession!

Today I'm showing cards all made with the SU stamp set Big Bold Birthday. It's one of the sets on the Last Chance list (click on the 'Say Goodbye' link above to see the list). Some items are already sold out, and no longer available, and more are going out each day, but at the time of writing this Big Bold Birthday is still available - and at 40% off. There are other items which have also been reduced by up to 40%. Items on the list are only available whilst stocks last, or until the end of this month, whichever comes sooner! So take a look and see if something you love is on there.

Anyway, back to Big Bold Birthday. I'm sad to see this set go. It's such a versatile set, and I have used it many times to create different looks on cards. This first one is nice and glittery and pink! I stamped the frosting part of the cakes with Pretty in Pink ink and then Versamark over the top. I added Heat'n'Stick powder, melted it with my hot air gun and then sprinkled on Dazzling Diamonds. It really twinkles! The cake cases were stamped in Chocolate Chip, cut out and run through the crimper to make them look like real cases. Finally I punched a Real Red card circle for a cherry and covered in in a nice thick blob of Crystal Effects, with a little strip of Chocolate Chip card behind for a stalk. The spotty background was stamped using another stamp from the set. Apart from drying time for the cherries, this was a very quick card, although it sounds like more work. If you click on the image to enlarge it you can see the sparkle better.

Another girly, twinkly card. This time I used the stamp in the set which is intended for a bow on top of a present. If you stamp the image, and then rotate the bow upside down and stamp again, it makes a lovely flower. I stamped these in Versamark onto Pretty in Pink card and then embossed with white embossing powder. I sprayed the card with homemade shimmer spray using isopropyl alchohol and Champagne Shimmer paint. The twinkle just about shows up if you click to enlarge, but it is so much prettier 'in the flesh'. I finished off the flowers by colouring them in with a Versamarker pen to make them darker than the surrounding card. The greeting from the set was stamped four times in Rose Red ink to frame the image, finished off with Rose Red brads and mounted on a Rose Red card base.

 Are you bored yet?! More of the same bow flowers on this card, but instead stamped in Pear Pizzazz and coloured in with Peach Parfait and a blender pen. Finished off with Clear Rhinestone Gems. The 'leaves' surrounding the flowers were stamped with the curly end of the party blower stamp. A little bit of trim made with the Scallop Trim Border punch and the greeting stamped in Peach Parfait to finish off this clean and simple card.

Finally, a stack of presents in a bolder colour scheme suitable for man, woman or child! The card base is Concord Crush, and the two mat layers are Peach Parfait and Pear Pizzazz. The Peach present is a square roughly handcut from the stamped cupcake base image. The green present is a piece of green card stamped with the circle present pattern image and again roughly hand cut. And the Concord present is a punched square stamped with the spotty stamp in Whisper White Craft ink. The bow stamp used to make the flowers above was stamped at the top of the pile in Concord Crush ink, and then using the matching marker and a ruler I drew in the line of string down the stack of presents. This is a really speedy card to make!

Here are some links to previous cards I've made with Big Bold Birthday:

Blue Birthday Balloons
More Birthday Cake
Bright and Cheery Balloons
Big Cake Little Guy

Some more which never got posted on my blog:

Thinking Outside the Box Challenge on ILWS
Inspiration Challenge on ILWS
Limited Supplies Challenge on ILWS
Quick and Simple card on ILWS

And finally, found one more that I made a couple of years ago, and can't see if I posted it or not. I made this for my nephew's birthday, and it also uses my much loved Sanded background stamp which is retiring. It's stamped on the computer generated 16 which I cut out with my Silhouette, and also on the strip of Not Quite Navy at the side. The metallic brads are also retiring. The greeting is an old one from my stash, not part of the Big Bold Birthday set, but the candles are from BBB.

Ok  .  . so you're either sick to death of this stamp set now, or I've convinced you you need it. So talk to your favourite SU demo, about getting one! Or if you don't have one, (or I'm your favourite demo) use the contact me tab above to talk to me!

Maybe the next post should be shorter!

Thanks for visiting,