Saturday 29 November 2008

Blooms gift certificate pockets

This is a pocket card I've made using some Blooms die cuts & Summer Picnic paper from the Spring Mini. Like this pocket card, they can be include any sort of greeting or photo, but in this case, they're extra special as they include gift certificates that you can give or receive to friends or family members who's like some Stampin' Up!® goodies....& let's face it, who wouldn't? ;o).
I can prepare certificates for any amount, so, if you'd like to give one to a crafting friend or family member, just contact me for more information. Of course, you can always provide my details to your partner, friend or family member too, if you'd like to receive one yourself.
Each folder will vary according to the flowers & paper I have available. This is another folder in a different combination of Summer Picnic paper & Blooms.Of course, I can also make a Christmas themed folder if you'd prefer...note to self -must make some more to post!
Hope you all have a good weekend.
Best wishes
Di

Supplies:
Pocket 1:Stamps: One of a Kind
Card/Paper: bashful blue, whisper white, old olive, real red, Summer Picnic paper, Blooms die cut flowers
Ink: real red marker
Accessories: real red brads (Bold Brights® pack), dimensionals
Tools: large & small oval punches, 1 inch circle punch, piercing tool & mat

Pocket 2:
Stamps: One of a Kind Card/Paper: pumpkin pie, whisper white, old olive, Summer Picnic paper, Blooms die cut flowersInk: pumpkin pie marker Accessories: more mustard brad (Earth Elements® pack), dimensionals Tools: large & small oval punches, ¼ inch circle punch, piercing tool & mat

Friday 28 November 2008

Always Anniversary


I'm taking a short break from Christmas to show you some more Spring Mini projects before the mini ends on Sunday. This is the card I made for my truly wonderful hubby, Damien, for our 16th wedding anniversary, which was earlier this month.It doesn't seem that long since our big day, but when I look at our wedding photos, we look soooo young...so apparently it wasn't yesterday. All I know is that I adore him as much, & probably even more than I did then. It's also a big month for Damien, as it's his birthday....& the big 40 this year too! I'll show you his birthday card another time. Both of these occasions have meant card challenges for me, as I generally struggle a bit with masculine cards. For this card, I decided to use the 'Always' set from the Spring Mini catalogue, teamed with some close to cocoa designer Prints paper. It's a very simple card, but I thought it turned out quite elegant & Damien liked it, so I'm calling that a win.
Anyway, I really hope 'Always' makes it to the 2009 catalogue, as it's such a beautiful & flexible set, but we will have to wait until March/April to find out. If you can't take that stress, you only have another 2 days & approx 2 hours to order it before it goes.
I'll be back soon with another spring mini farewell project.
Bye for now
Di
Supplies:
Stamps: Always
Card/Paper: choc chip, very vanilla, Close to cocoa Prints paper
Ink: choc chip
Accessories: choc chip taffeta ribbon
Tools: ¼ inch punch

Thursday 27 November 2008

More joy and scraps

Here's another version of my SAS card, this time with a river rock base & a touch of real red. Again, I highlighted part of the greeting images in olive.
While I'm on a river rock roll, I made these 2 cards last Saturday morning with some scraps I had left on my desk after cutting all the SAS kits for my last class. They literally took about 5 minutes each & I really liked how they turned out, so I thought you guys might like to see them too (helllooo to those who are still following my irregular posting). The greeting in both is from 'Occasional Greetings' – a must have set IMHO.If you have any questions about anything, just drop me an e-mail.
As it's my gorgeous hubby Damien's 40th birthday today, I'll be busy celebrating with him today, so I've scheduled these posts in advance. If anything looks weird, I'll fix them later!
Hope you have a happy day!
Di J
SuppliesSeason of rock 'n ribbonStamps: Season of Joy
Card/paper: River rock, old olive, real red, very vanilla, Dashing designer paper
Ink: real red, old olive
Accessories: real red grosgrain ribbon

River stripes & snowflake 1 & 2Stamps: Season of Joy, Occasional Greetings
Card/paper: River rock, old olive, real red, very vanilla, Dashing designer paper
Ink: real red, old olive

November Season of Joy SAS

As promised, I'm back with the first card from my final SAS for the year, which was last Saturday. 'Season of Joy' & 'Dashing' paper are the stars of this project, ably supported by real red. I also want to send a huge thanks again to Kellie, who ran the class with me again. Kellie, you're the best!

The card is super simple & quick – perfect for the rapidly ticking countdown to Christmas. I have 2 variations to show you:
This the extra simple version – just add some striped 'Dashing' paper, a strip of olive & 'Season of Joy' greeting stamped in real red. I've added some real red brads too, which we didn't do in the class... Sorry, I forgot to take a pic before I added them!This version has some extra stamped detail, but is still very quick....& I looove that spot & stripe paper! I stamped another greeting in old olive, then punched & cut out some of the elements & mounted them on the real red greeting with dimensionals.
You could also easily make the greeting panel multi-coloured by just colouring in different parts with a real red & old olive marker.
I have some more quickie cards to show you, as well as the second SAS card, so come back soon.....& please take a mo to leave a comment if you like what you see.....or if you have any suggestions, as I love to hear what you think.
Bye for now
Di
Supplies:
Stamps: Season of Joy
Card/Paper: real red, old olive, very vanilla, Dashing designer paper
Ink: real red, old olive
Tools: ¼ inch circle punch, 7/8 inch circle punch (non SU – shhh)


Wednesday 26 November 2008

Peace & holiday harmony


...& couldn't we all do with a some more peace & harmony! Anyhoo, I'm interrupting the 'Season of Joy' fest for a quick & I think elegant card using the beautiful 'Peaceful Wishes' set & 2 patterned papers from the 'Holiday Harmony' pack in the Spring Mini.I surprised myself with this one, as the colours are not generally really me, but I do like it. The base is river rock (not that you can see it on the front).The river rock mat has been lightly whacked with the edge of my bone folder, which creates a kind of elegant distressed look....& is very therapeutic. Otherwise it's all very simple....& very easy to mass produce. Like 'Season of Joy, the 'Holiday Harmony' paper is only available until the 30th, so let me know if you'd like to order some.
Back with more Season of Joy in the morning. (are you getting the feeling that I love this set!).
Di J
Supplies:
Stamps: Peaceful Wishes
Card/Paper: River rock, very vanilla, Holiday Harmony designer paper
Ink: river rock, always artichoke

Season of joy & forgetfulness

I was looking on my blog for some cards I made with 'Season of Joy' while preparing for my Christmas SAS' back in August & September & realised that I hadn't actually posted them – Oops! So, I thought I'd better get a move on, especially since there's only 4 more days until Season of Joy disappears with the Spring Mini Catalogue (sob!).
Anyway, hope they give you some more Christmas card ideas. I haven't given much information on each, as they're all pretty self explanatory, but if you have any questions, just drop me an e-mail & I'd be happy to help.

I really liked this one. but decided not to 'SAS' it, as Damien (my gorgeous hubby & sounding board) said he didn't think the flower was Christmassy enough (helllooo – poinsettia!). The base has a faux torn edge, which I love doing too.

This is another one I liked, but discounted as a SAS card due to it having too many raised layers & cutting out. I liked elements of this one, but I wasn't totally happy overall....I think it may have been the vanilla (?) The colours didn't photograph well either (grr!) Both this & the previous card led me to this final SAS card though, so it's all good!
Finally & off the ruby & wasabi theme, is a ballet & brilliant blue card I made at the same time as this one. Again, I thought it would take too long as a SAS card, but I do love making window cards. The window is made using 2 punches with the round tab punch. This works beautifully with the scallop punch. The 'joy' greeting is part of the multiple greeting stamp, which I inked using markers.

I'll be back with the first of this month's SAS cards & some other quickie cards, which all use Season of Joy.

Happy stamping!
Di

Supplies:
Poinsettia swirl

Stamps: Season of Joy, So Swirly jumbo wheel
Card: ruby red, garden green, whisper white
Ink: ruby red & wild wasabi in pads, ruby red & garden green marker, ruby red stampin' around cartridge
Tools: jumbo stampin around handle

Layered tree
Stamps: Season of Joy, So Swirly jumbo wheel
Card: ruby red, wild wasabi, whisper white
Ink: wild wasabi ink pad, summer sun marker, ruby red stampin around cartridge, summer sun marker
Tools: jumbo stampin around handle

Swirly tree
Stamps: Season of Joy, So Swirly jumbo wheel
Card: ruby red, wild wasabi, very vanilla
Ink: wild wasabi ink pad, summer sun marker, ruby red stampin around cartridge, summer sun marker
Tools: jumbo stampin around handle, bone folder

Snowflake window
Stamps: Season of Joy
Card: ballet blue, brilliant blue, whisper white
Ink: ballet blue, brilliant blue
Accessories: 2 way glue pen, dazzling diamonds glitter
Tools: round tab punch, scallop circle punch, circle punches: 1 3/8 inch, 1 1/4 inch, 1 inch, corner rounder punch

Tuesday 25 November 2008

Pink Petals for Wendy

It's been busy busy around here & I've been trying to post for this for the past week & clearly not getting anywhere, so I'm just going to be quick otherwise it might never happen. So without any further waffle, this is a card I made earlier this month for my beautiful friend Wendy's birthday (hi Wend J).It includes 3 of my current favourite things:
  • Pick a Petal. This set was a recent purchase/treat & I am so sorry that I didn't get it a long time long ago, as there are so many fab ways to use it.
  • The colour combination - pretty in pink, purely pomegranate, rose red & white. This is quite unusual for me as I'm not usually a pink girl (can anyone say celery?).
  • Spots – love them – enough said!
A quick tip!
The greeting was inked completely with a pretty in pink ink pad, then I used rose red & regal rose markers to colour 'dear' & 'friend'. This is a great quickie way to multi-colour.
Don't forget that single markers can only be purchased until the end of this month, so contact me if you'd like to order your favourites.
I have lots more to show you if I can just get posting, so visit again soon.
Happy Stamping in the meantime.
Di :0)
Supplies:Stamps: Pick a Petal, Occasional Greetings
Card/paper: Purely pomegranate, whisper white, rose red Prints designer paper
Ink: pretty in pink & rose red ink pads, regal rose & rose red stampin' write markers
Accessories: pretty in pink button (Soft Subtles® pack), dimensionals

Saturday 15 November 2008

Embossed blooms


While I was playing around with embossing, I decided to see what the 'Blooms' die cuts would look like embossed & this was the result.Eagle eyes will probably notice It's the same layout as my last workshop cards, but this time, the 'Blooms' die cuts are definitely saying 'look at moi'. It may be a bit hard to see in the pic, but they're really glossy IRL. I think they look great with the striped paper from the 'Jersey shore' pack & the olive stripe & flower circle from the 'Summer Picnic' pack. The base is pumpkin pie (shock horror - all those Kristina challenges have made me like it more!). I thought the happy greeting from 'Polka Dots & Paisley' worked well with the fun, bold look.
Anyone who's tried 'Blooms' knows it's hard to stop playing with them, so I made this card too. I didn't emboss the flowers this time – they look soo good a-la-natural in that textured cardstock anyway. Again, I used the 'Summer Picnic' paper, this time with some always artichoke grosgrain ribbon.
Sadly, 'Blooms' & 'Summer Picnic' paper will only be available until the end of November, when the Spring Mini ends, so contact me before they go if you'd like to order some.
Bye for now.
Di
Supplies:
Embossed Blooms

Stamps: Polka Dots & Paisley
Card/Paper: Whisper white card, Blooms die cuts, Jersey Shore designer paper pack, Summer Picnic designer paper
Ink: old olive, versamark
Accessories: old olive brad, clear embossing powder
Tools: ½ inch circle punch, large oval punch, heat tool

Blooms for you
Stamps: One of a Kind
Card/Paper: Whisper white card, Blooms die cuts, Summer Picnic designer paper
Ink: pumpkin pie stampin' write marker
Accessories: real red brads, clear embossing powder
Tools: large & small oval punches, ½ & ¼ inch circle punches

Friday 14 November 2008

More Fabulous!

Hellooo again finally. Time got away from me...again, but I'm back with the second card we made at my technique class last Saturday.This card is all about the large flower, which I made using the emerging colour technique. I first saw this technique demonstrated by the lovely Vanessa Webb, at the Demonstrator Regional Training day in September. I then found this great tutorial & project by the fab Beate Johns, which I really loved, so I cased it for my project.

Like the last card, I used 'Fabulous Flowers'. The colours I used are groovy guava, so saffron, bashful blue, rose red & pumpkin pie - an unusual combination, but I think it works nicely together here & gives a nice spring feel. To make the flower, I stamped some small flower images on white card, & over stamped the large flower with versamark ink & clear embossed it. Then, I sponged/brayered rose red ink over the top & rubbed off the excess ink resisted by the embossed flower. Then I just cut out the flower & added a rhinestone brad. The base is so saffron & the strip is pumpkin pie. To continue the embossing theme, the greeting was stamped in white & embossed with white embossing powder.

Here's one more 'emerging colour' card. This time, I stamped the 'En Francais' background in groovy guava ink, clear embossed, then brayered over with ruby red ink. I mounted it on a ruby red base & pierced guava mat, added some guava double stitched ribbon & white embossed a greeting from 'Wonderful Words'.If you haven't tried emerging colour yet, have a go with lots of different stamps & colours. It's fun to see the different effects you can create.


If you'd like more information on emerging colour or these cards, just drop me an e-mail. Hope you have a great weekend.
Bye for now
Di

Supplies:
Totally Fabulous
Stamps: Fabulous Flowers, Sincere Salutations
Card: So saffron, pumpkin pie, whisper white
Ink: groovy guava, bashful blue, so saffron, versamark
Accessories: rhinestone brad (Fire pack), bashful blue grosgrain ribbon, clear embossing powder, white embossing powder
Tools: heat tool, brayer

Fabulous Francais
Stamps: Fabulous Flowers, Wonderful Words
Card: ruby red, groovy guava, whisper white
Ink: groovy guava, ruby red
Accessories: rhinestone brad (Fire pack), guava double stitched ribbon, clear embossing powder, white embossing powder
Tools: heat tool, brayer

Tuesday 11 November 2008

Fabulous flowers, prints & rub-ons


A little later than I planned, but here I am with one of the projects we made at last Saturday's embossing themed class. I have been playing around with the emerging colour technique & decided to see what sort of effect I'd get by using patterned paper, so I tried some designer Prints paper & really liked how it turned out....so I made this one for the class.To get the effect I stamped & clear embossed the large 'fabulous flower' stamp onto 2 squares of rose red Prints paper, then sponged & brayered over the top with purely pomegranate ink. I cut part of one image out & added a pink rhinestone brad (love those things!), then raised the whole flower panel off the base with dimensionals. For the original card, I also white embossed a greeting on the pomegranate strip, but at the class, I used a rub- on, as this is my favourite way of adding a white title or greeting & I wanted to show the ladies at the class how to use them. I really like the pretty in pink, rose red & pomegranate colour combo too, as I think it's stylishly girly (well to me it is anyway!). I'll show you another card with this combo later in the week.
I also thought I'd show you the first card I made, so show the different look you get when you don't ink the whole square. This time I used some So Saffron Prints paper from the pack that was available earlier this year.
As you can see, I just sponged a little over the flower edges with this one, as I liked the look better on the saffron. Incidentally, you'll never guess what colour ink I sponged on... groovy guava (true!). Lastly, I white embossed the greeting & raised it on dimensionals....truth be told after an unfortunate embossing incident on the almost complete strip nearly wrecked the card!


Rub on Some Happiness

Before I go, I wanted to also let you know about the 2nd great offer available this month on Stampin' Up! rub-ons. You'll receive receive a great 20% discount on all our Stampin' Up!® rub-on packs, when you spend $20 on normal catalogue goodies between 10-30 November. Rub-ons are usually $19.95, but this month, they're $15.96 each.
Like all of our products, co-ordination is the key, as our rub-on packs are designed to work with a selection of our exclusive stamp images. They of course work well on their own too! They're great for surfaces that are difficult to stamp on, eg. fabric, ribbon or shiny surfaces, or on glass, plastic or wooden home decor items.
If you'd like more information on how to use rub-on or you'd like to order some, just e-mail me for more information. I'll be back tomorrow with more emerging colour projects to show you.
Bye for now!
Di
Supplies:
1. Rose Red Prints
Stamps: Fabulous Flowers
Card: Pretty in pink, purely pomegranate, whisper white
Ink: versamark, purely pomegranate
Accessories: Urban West rub-ons, pink rhinestone brad (Fire pack), purely pomegranate double stitched ribbon, clear embossing powder
Tools: heat tool, sponge dauber, brayer

2. Saffron Prints
Stamps: Fabulous Flowers, Sincere Salutations
Card: so saffron, pumpkin pie, whisper white
Ink: groovy guava, whisper white, versamark
Accessories: pumpkin rhinestone brad (Fire pack), pumpkin striped ribbon
Tools: heat tool, sponge dauber, brayer

Monday 10 November 2008

Single markers are here - woo hoo!

Here's a new & very special offer for you marker lovers out there!
For this month only (10-30 Nov), You can purchase our fabulous dual tip Stampin' Write® markers for $4.95 each. Normally, markers are only available in packs of 12 or 48, so this is the perfect time for marker lovers to replace some well loved colours (celery anyone?), or if you haven't used them before, pick a few favourite colours to try!

Our markers have dual tips - a broad brush tip at one end for adding lots of colour & a fine tip at the other for adding words or details. People often ask me how much I use my markers & the answer is, a lot! Here are are some of the things I use them for:

1. Basic stamping - use the broad tip to colour the image & stamp as usual.
2. Omitting parts of images - great if you want to only use a small part of an image, eg. one of the greetings in the large greeting stamp from 'Season of Joy'.
3. Multi colouring images - colour in parts of the stamp with different colours, eg. the flower & greeting on this card
Both omittting & multicolouring is explained here in the Techniques section of the Stampin'Up Website.
4. Watercolouring images - use with watercolour paper to create coloured images, as I've done here & here.

You can see all projects on my blog that feature markers here.
If you'd like more information on this limited offer, contact me for more information.
I'll hopefully be back later with the first of my projects from Saturday's embossing class.
Bye for now.
Di

Saturday 8 November 2008

Happy 79th birthday Mum

Last Saturday was my wee Mum's 79th birthday, so I thought any family out there might like to see a pic of the birthday girl on her big day (with Cara & I). Her 'Bee Sting' (why?) birthday cake from Cavallaro's deserves an yummy mention too.Of course, I wanted to make her a beautiful card to help celebrate her special day & this was the very simple but I think elegant card I made.
I used a beautiful new set called 'Live Your Dreams', which will be available in the new Summer Mini Catalogue, coming in December. The colours I used are purely pomegranate, rose red, regal rose, certainly celery & white.
It's really a case of this card, made by the very talented Silke Ledlow back in July. I've had it in my 'cards to case' list since then, so I was really happy when I heard Demonstrators who were attending a Regional Training Day recently would receive the set.
To make the card, I first inked up the large flower with my old olive, regal rose & rose red stampin' write markers, & stamped them on whisper white card. Then, I stamped & cut out two more flowers & mounted them on top, with dimensionals. I attached the stamped piece to a regal rose mat & offset it a textured purely pomegranate mat (yum!). Then, I knotted some celery grosgrain around the pieces & attached them to a textured whisper white base. Finally, I used rose red & regal rose markers to ink part of the 'Circle of Friendship' greeting & then add a small flower to the centre. I punched it out & matted it on 'pom' & regal rose circles, then attached it to the card with dimensionals.
Talking about markers...they make it so easy to create multi-coloured images & omit parts of the stamp you don't want to use, plus so much more. If you haven't tried our Stampin' Write markers yet (you haven't, really?), this month is perfect for you, as you can purchase any of your favourite Stampin' Up! colours, for $4.95 each (plus p&h) from 10-30 November only. Contact me for more information.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Di
Supplies:
Stamps: Live Your Dreams, Circle of Friendship
Card: whisper white (textured & normal), purely pomegranate (textured), regal rose
Ink: old olive, rose red, regal rose stampin' write markers
Accessories: certainly celery grosgrain ribbon
Tools: circle punches: 1 3/8, 1 ¼, 1 inch

Friday 7 November 2008

One more gift folder


A couple of weeks ago, Damien (my gorgeous hubby to those not in the know) asked me to make a gift card holder for someone at work, so I was more than happy to make another gift folder. I don't know why, but I get such a kick out of making these. For this one, I used some (sadly) retired 'Loves Me' paper, from last year's Summer Mini Catalogue. I used the spotty circle from 'Think Happy Thoughts' for the motif on the front. The punched floral circle is from another 'Loves Me' design & the ribbon is regal rose grosgrain.
For the inserts, I stamped some flower images from the well named, 'Fabulous Flowers' set, as I thought they co-ordinated really well with the paper. I matted the stamped piece on pretty in pink & close to cocoa card. Drop me an e-mail if you'd like more information.
I'll be back tomorrow hopefully with a sneak peek of a lovely set from the Summer Mini Catalogue, starting in December.
Happy stamping!
Di
Supplies:
Stamps: Fabulous Flowers, Think Happy Thoughts
Card/Paper: Loves Me designer paper (retired), close to cocoa, pretty in pink, whisper white
Ink: regal rose, pretty in pink, close to cocoa
Accessories: regal rose grosgrain ribbon, pretty in pink brads
Tools: punches: 1 3/8 inch, 1 ¼ inch, ¾ inch circles, 1 3/8 inch square

Thursday 6 November 2008

Big bold 8th birthday


Time for a (short) break from some Christmas projects to show you some of the other cards I've made in the last month. First up, I made this bold girly birthday card for one of Cara's good buddies, who celebrated her 8th birthday last month.This was my first play with 'Big Bold Birthday', which I bought during last month's birthday promotion. I used the card in the promotion flyer as my initial design inspiration. The colours are all girl - orchid opulence, pixie pink, gable green & whisper white. I raised the icing on the cupcake & gllittered the candles & background flower centres with my good old 2 way pen & dazzling diamonds glitter.
Hope you like this change of pace. If you'd like more information, just drop me an e-mail.
Happy stamping!
Di
Supplies:
Stamps: Big Bold Birthday
Card: orchid opulence, pixie pink, gable green, whisper white
Ink: orchid opulence, gable green, pink passion, yo yo yellow marker
Accessories: whisper white grosgrain
Tools: ¼ inch circle punch

Wednesday 5 November 2008

True Friend Christmas Bauble SAS


This is the second card we made at my latest Christmas SAS on October 25th & it’s probably my favourite Christmas card of this year....so far anyway! I continued the theme of using non-Christmas stamp sets for Christmas cards, this time with the gorgeous ‘True Friend’ from the Spring Mini. I think I have a bit of a bauble obsession, as I’ve made a different bauble in each SAS class so far...totally unintentionally though. I love, love, love the combination of certainly celery (about time too!), blue bayou, soft sky & white.
I thought I'd show you the colours in reverse too, as I really liked them, but decided that that celery worked better as the inside of the card.
Here are a couple more cards I made while having a play with the set.
This was actually the first card I made (& if you twist my arm, probably my favourite), but I decided that it would take too long as a SAS card, as the smaller flower has a stem, which needs to be masked. Some of the ladies at the class made similar cards though using the larger flower, which looked great too.
With this one, I made smaller baubles using the circle stamp from the set, using a circle mask, made with the 1 1/4 inch circle punch . I used a wasabi base, blue bayou mat & some soft sky double stitched ribbon (oh how I love that double stitched ribbon!). If I made this one again, I’d maybe fiddle with the bauble placement a bit, but you get the idea.

So, what do you think? Christmassy enough? I’d love to hear what you think.

Note: We'll be farewelling ‘True Friend’ at the end of this month, when the Spring Mini ends, so if you’d like to make this card, you’ll need to order it very soon!
Please contact me if you’d like any more information on how to make the card or anything else.

Back soon with a break from Christmas cards! Happy thoughts to all
Di

Make it Yourself
Stamp the Merry Christmas greeting (from ‘Occasional Greetings’) in blue bayou ink on white card.
Make a circle reverse mask with the round tab punch. Punch one way, line punch up at right angles & re-punch.
Stamp 3 large flowers in blue bayou ink. Use reverse mask technique to sponge over them in either celery or soft sky inks.
Use the fine end of a stampin’ write marker to rule some bauble strings (btw, have you seen the single marker offer on the right column?)
Add some subtle bling (is that an oxymoron?), by dotting dazzling diamonds glitter on the baubles (apparently, I can’t make a Christmas card without it!)
Sponge the edges with celery ink
Mat stamped piece on blue bayou mat & then onto a celery base.

SuppliesStamps: True Friend, Occasional Greetings
Card: certainly celery, blue bayou, whisper white
Ink: certainly celery, soft sky, blue bayou, not quite navy & certainly celery stampin' write markers
Accessories: dazzling diamonds glitter, 2 way glue pen
Tools: round tab punch, sponge

Tuesday 4 November 2008

Going Baroque for Christmas SAS

As promised, I'm finally back with the first card from my last Christmas SAS on 25 October. The theme was making Christmas cards with non-Christmas stamp sets, so I HAD to bring back my beloved 'Baroque Motifs'. I teamed it with some Christmas greetings from the incredibly useful Christmas greeting set, 'Many Merry Messages' or great all-rounder set 'Occasional Greetings', chose some Christmas colours & voila! Is there nothing that swirl cannot do?

Everyone made 4 of these cards - 2 with a wild wasabi base & 2 with a real red base. Truth be told, I was initially going to use my preferred combo of ruby red & wild wasabi, but Kellie convinced me that real red looked great too....and she was demonstrating the card at the class, so I went with it! We got the dazzling diamonds glitter out again for the red flowers, except that I took pics of some un-glittered ones (sigh!)
These cards are so easy to mass produce. Something that will become even more attractive as we get closer to December! (eek!).Thought you might like to see this minor variation too. I like how the swirly 'peace, love, joy' greeting from 'Occasional Greetings' works so well with the Baroque swirl too & I really just wanted an excuse to use some real red ribbon.....and shhhhh, the greeting & flower are actually stamped in ruby red!
Just let me know if you'd like more information on any of these cards. I'll be back with the2nd SAS card, which I promise does not include real red or wild wasabi (not that there's any wrong with it!)
Thanks again Kellie for running the SAS class with me...& encouraging me to explore real red! :o)
Happy stamping to you all!
Di

Supplies
Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Many Merry Messages, Occasional Greetings
Card: Real red, wild wasabi, very vanilla
Ink: Real red, wild wasabi
Accessories: real red grosgrain ribbon

Monday 3 November 2008

Christmas pizza box gift


Where has the last week gone? So sorry about the lack of posts. Just life getting in the way of stamping. I'm finally back with a Christmas pizza box, which I made for Jane, to thank her for being such a lovely hostess. It's filled with 10 love note sized Christmas cards, which would be ideal to use as gift cards. As regular readers know, Jane's workshop theme was red & green Christmas, so I used these in the gift, to give her some more ideas for Christmas. I first saw the pizza box idea here on Sarah's blog (waving *hi* Sarah!) & I just had to try making one. I was happily surprised to find they're so quick & easy to make too, which is always a bonus.The box is made all in one piece & looks just like a mini pizza box, as you can see here. My finished box dimensions are 8cm x 8cm x 2.5cm.Here are all the card designs I included. Those good with maths will realise there's 4 cards missing - I doubled up on 4 of my favourites! No doubt, you'll also realise that I used 'Season of Joy & Short & Sweet (again!), & the fab Merry Christmas stamp from "Occasional Greetings'. The card colours are, vanilla, garden green & real red & very simple. If you'd like more information, just let me know.
I've finally taken better (I hope) pics of the Christmas cards from my last SAS class today, so I'll be back tomorrow hopefully to show you the first one! In the meantime, happy stamping!
Di
SuppliesStamps: Season of Joy & Short & Sweet, Occasional Greetings
Card: very vanilla, real red, garden green
Ink: real red, garden green, wild wasabi
Accessories: real red grosgrain ribbon
Tools: circle punches: 1 3/8 in, 1 1/4 inch