Thursday 31 December 2009

Some final Christmas cards

Hi there & Happy New Years Eve to all & a very happy Hogmanay to all my Scottish family (btw, Hogmanay is pronounced 'hug-man-ay' for all the non Scots).

Since we're at home relaxing toniIght (in between bad dancing to the Just Dance wii game - yikes!) I thought get one more post in for 2009, since it seems weird to to write about Christmas cards in January. I'm here to show you some of the Christmas cards I made to send this year. I was very late in starting my cards, but am happy to say they all got out eventually (back to Scotland...if you haven't got yours yet, I promise it's on the way!).
I felt like making square cards this year & this is what I came up with... Again, I turned to 'Snow Swirled' for the image – love it! I realised that the large star/snowflake fitted the new 1 ¾ inch circle punch from the Summer Mini, so that set the scene. Then I realised that I didn't have a bigger punch to mat it, but happily, I used my new Circle Scissor Plus (also from the Summer Mini) to cut a 2 inch choc chip circle (or 30), then added a rhinestone brad (red or clear) to the centre. The punched circle greeting (from a SU US set whose name escapes me now) was matted on a 1 inch circle. The base is riding hood red & I used various papers from the 'Holiday Wishes' & 'Ski Slope' DSP packs. I wrapped some choc chip grosgrain around the top & added the circles on top. The finished fronts are 9.9cm x 9.9cm (approx 4 inches). Anyway, I hope the recipients liked them.

Some of the wonderful cards I received
I wanted to show you some of the lovely handmade cards I received this year ...as they're too pretty not to share. Since I try to keep my blog Stampin' Up! only, I'm showing the ones using mainly SU, but I loved all the handmade cards I received. Thank you so much to everyone who sent me a card, whether handmade or not, though. I loved receiving them. Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I did.

Super Santa by Sam,Pretty Poinsettia by Karen, my blogging SU buddy, Shiny Tree by Jean, my gorgeous cousin & Scottish SU Demo tooA Hug of Snowmen by my SU Team member Andrea, Snow Swirled Tree by my new SU team member, Lyndell
Crackers & Christmas Classics Baubles by my SU sister Leanne Christ is Born by Janine, my lovely SU uplineWell, it's almost midnight, so not much of 2009 remaining. Before I go though, I'd like to send a huge thank you to everyone who visits my blog & especially to all the lovely ladies who leave lots of comments. It really makes my day when I receive them. I wish you all a wonderful 2010, full of love, happiness & many blessings. Talk to you again in the new year.
Inky hugs
Di

Supplies: my Christmas cardStamps: Snow Swirled
Card/Paper: riding hood red, chocolate chip, kiwi kiss/baja breeze/old olive, whisper white card, Holiday Wishes & Ski Slope DSP
Ink: riding hood red & chocolate chip ink pads
Accessories: chocolate chip grosgrain, red/clear rhinestone brads, silver brad
Tools: 1 ¾ inch, 1 inch, ¾ inch circle punches, Circle Scissor Plus, Piercing tool & mat

Wednesday 30 December 2009

Christmas Pocket Card & Explosion Box

Here are a few more Christmas projects from my Christmas gifts class back on 6 December (seems such a long time ago now). while these are themed for Christmas, I hope they give you some ideas for everyday gifts too.
Photo/Gift Card Pocket Card
These are a great way to send a photo, letter or gift card. At the class, I showed how to make a photo & gift card version. Gift cards are such a popular gift item, but can sometimes seem a bit impersonal, so I like to present them nicely, to suit the recipient.The basic pocket is a normal half A4 sheet of riding hood red card scored on the long side at 4.5cm & 14.5cm, which makes a folder 10 x 14.8cm. The pocket is secured with 2 brads, but you could also use double sided tape. For this one, I scalloped a strip of olive card, & then attached it & some Holiday Wishes DSP to the top flap. I stamped the greeting image from Season of Joy twice, once in riding hood red & once in old olive, then punched or cut out part of the image. I mounted the stamped piece to some olive card, then to the front with dimensionals.

Here is a view of the inside, complete with a piccie of us (which was printed 2 to a page on 10x15cm photo paper). I included 2 cards for a greeting & photo/gift card. I forgot to take a pic of the gift card side, but the white panel was punched on either side with the slit punch to hold the gift card. If you'd like some more ideas for pocket cards, you can see some more here & here.

I can also make to order when you order a Stampin' Up! gift certificate from me. Just contact me if you'd like more information.

Holiday Wishes Explosion Box

The second class project was an explosion box & matching tag. I like how the base of this box opens up like a greeting when you take the lid off.Again, I used more riding hood red card & Holiday Wishes DSP – there are so many different designs in this pack that you can create lots of different looks. The finished box lid is 6 x 6 x 2.5cm & the stamped base is 5.8 x 5.8 x 5.8cm, so you get a good snug fit with the lid. I made a matching tag using the 'Curly Label' punch bundle, which includes the curly label punch & matching 'Cute & Curly' stamp set, which I think looks really good with this DSP pattern. I tied some choc chip taffeta around the box & through a slot in the tag made with the horizontal slot punch. This way, you get a nice flat knot & can slide the ribbon off without untying it. Here's a close up of the finished tag.One more Gift Card Folder I made this folder with the leftovers from the explosion box just for the sake of playing & showing the girls at the class! The base card piece was approx 21 x 13cm.With this version, you fold in & partially seal a centre flap & use the word window punch to make an opening to hold the gift card.After making this one, I adjusted the design, so that the card flap folds back on the left side to make a pocket & I included a panel for a greeting on the right, which I liked better. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics before giving them to a customer (oops), but at least Renee & Annette will know what I'm waffling about (hi girls).

One final thing I'll mention is the extra punched kiwi layer around the greeting. To do it, I punched 2 curly labels, attached one in the opposite direction to the greeting & cut the second one in two & attached it to the back.

OK, that's all for now. I still need to show you my Christmas card design (or one of them anyway, as I forgot to take pics of one of those too – grin!) Thanks again for visiting & hope to see you again.

Inky wishes
Di

Supplies
Pocket Card
Stamps: Season of Joy
Card/Paper: riding hood red, whisper white, Holiday Wishes DSP
Ink: riding hood red, old olive
Punches: scallop edge, ½ inch circle, ¼ inch circle, slit punch

Explosion Box
Stamps: Cute & Curly, Snow Swirled, Occasional Greetings
Card/Paper: riding hood red, whisper white, Holiday Wishes DSP
Ink: riding hood red
Accessories: chocolate chip taffeta ribbon
Tools: curly label punch, horizontal slot punch, word window punch

Gift Card Folder
Stamps: Cute & Curly, Snow Swirled
Card/Paper: riding hood red, whisper white, Holiday Wishes DSP
Ink: riding hood red, chocolate chip
Accessories: chocolate chip taffeta ribbon
Tools: curly label punch, horizontal slot punch, word window punch

Tuesday 29 December 2009

November Christmas SAS

I'm going a bit back in time today to my November SAS. I haven't got much time, so I'll just get straight to it.

Snow Swirled
This first card is probably my favourite Christmas card of the year & probably would have been my own Christmas card if I hadn't decided to use it for my class....although I did make a few to send too. It's very simple & quick to make, but I think very elegant.
The colours are riding hood red, kiwi kiss & vanilla, teamed with the 'Snow Swirled' set, & 'Holiday Wishes' DSP. You can't miss the gorgeous striped ribbon from the Spring Mini too.... & lots of dazzling diamonds glitter, which you can hopefully see here.
3 cards for the time of 2

For the second design, I decided to make some square cards. Since we also needed to be very productive (it was already November after all), everyone got to make 6 square cards of their choice, in these designs (or their own variation). The card fronts are 9.9 x 9.9cm, so you get 3 cards from one sheet of A4 cardstock, instead of 2 normal sized ones. The designs were really simple too, so you could make lots quickly.

Well, I have to run now. Hope you like these ideas & thanks for visiting. I still have one more Christmas class projects to show you, plus my own Christmas card, so I'll try to pop back in later today. Thanks for stopping by in the meantime.


Inky wishes
Di


Supplies:
Snow Swirled
Stamps: Snow Swirled, Occasional Greetings
Card/paper: riding hood red, kiwi kiss, very vanilla card, Holiday Wishes DSP
Ink: riding hood red, old olive
Accessories: striped grosgrain ribbon, 2 way glue pen, dazzling diamonds glitter


3 for 2
Stamps: Season of Joy, Punches Three, Occasional Greetings
Card/Paper: kiwi kiss, real red, whisper white, Ski Slope DSP
Ink: chocolate chip, real red, baja breeze
Tools: square scallop punch, 1 ¼ & 1 inch circle punches

Saturday 26 December 2009

From our home to yours

Just popping in to say I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day.
We had a very early morning opening presents, then a beautiful Christmas day service at our church celebrating Jesus' birthday, then a trip up the coast to spend the afternoon with my mum's sister & family. All in all, it was a good day indeed.
Here we all are (well except me) opening pressies with mum very early on Christmas morning.

Christmas hugs
Di

PS: I posted all my Christmas cards very late, but they're in the mail! I'll be back at some point to show you some final Christmas projects including the very late cards.

PPS: in case you're interested, the heart wreath on our front door is from Ikea. I added some chocolate chip double stitched ribbon to finish it off (incidentally this ribbon is 25% off at the mo!)

Monday 14 December 2009

You gotta love a bargain

Stampin' Up! today announced a fantastic offer you won't want to miss.
From Dec 15 until Jan 24, you can save an amazing 25-50% off the price of 30 selected stamp sets & accessories from the Idea Book & Catalogue.

Stocks are limited, so click here to see everything that's available & contact me to order the sets you need!

Inky wishes
Di

Sunday 13 December 2009

Never ending trendy trees

Two posts in one day – yay! Here I am again with another never ending card.
This was actually the first one I made, initially as a possible Father's Day class project. I the end, I didn't use it, but showed the girls at class anyway. Everyone still wanted to make one, so we made a girly one at the fancy folds class instead. For this one, I used the 'Trendy Trees' set, teamed with 'Good Morning Sunshine' DSP & I think they work for a masculine card. Anyhoo, here's the front:& the second view......& the third......& the fourth.It's a long time until Father's Day, but you might like to make one to intrigue a birthday boy in your life with a never ending card. Thanks for visiting anyway!
More inky wishes
Di
Supplies:
Stamps: Trendy Trees, Occasional Greetings
Card/Paper: chocolate chip, very vanilla, old olive, certainly celery
Ink: chocolate chip, old olive, certainly celery

More fancy folds – never ending card

Happy Sunday to you!

Today, I have two never ending cards to show you – this one is the girly version we made in October at my Fancy Folds class. I used the (sadly for now unavailable) 'Great Friend' set, this time with Raspberry Tart DSP. Like this one, the finished card is approx 14cm x 14cm.
This is the front:
...& this is the second view & the third (sorry about the wonky colour)
& the fourth& here's a close-up of us back to the front (with rock & rolled butterfly).If you haven't made a never ending card yet, you'll find Dawn's video very helpful to work out the folds. If you want to make one the same size as mine, you'll need to cut 4 pieces at 14.1cm x 7cm. Any questions, please drop me a line. I'll be back to show you the long lost first never ending card I made for Father's Day.

In the meantime, thanks for popping by.
Inky wishes
Di
Supplies
Stamps: Great Friend
Card/Paper: whisper white, rose red, kiwi kiss, Raspberry Tart DSP
Ink: regal rose, rose red, kiwi kiss

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Fancy Folds – tri-shutter

Hi there! I was looking through my card directory & realised I'd forgotten to post the cards we made at my Fancy Folds class in October. First up is a tri-shutter card. I also realised I didn't take pics of the actual class card & have posted it now, so this is slightly different to the final one. (which I used Sweet Stems on all middle panels & arranged the DSP differently... just in case you want to know). I really enjoy making tr-shutters, as they look complicated but are very simple once you know how. I used the 'Sweet Stems' stamp set & Raspberry Tart DSP (surprised). All the class attendees got half a pack of this DSP so they could choose their own DSP designs to use on both projects.
This tri-shutter card is smaller than the Tea Party one I made before, so it fits in a regular size envelope. Check out this Splitcoast tutorial to get the idea of how to make one. To make one this size, you'll need to cut your card 27cm x 15cm, then score the long side at 4.5cm, 9cm, 18cm & 22.5cm. Finally, make your slits, 5cm in from each short side, between the 4.5cm & 22.5cm score lines.On the front, I stamped one of the 'Sweet Stems' & coloured it with pretty in pink, regal rose & certainly celery Stampin' Write® markers. I stamped a greeting from 'Great Friend'. I wrapped a filigree brad & pink rhinestone brad around some celery grosgrain, attached it to the stamped piece & rose red mat.

The second card we made at the fancy folds class was a never ending card, but I'll show you that one next time. In the meantime, thanks for popping in for a visit.

Inky wishes
Di

Supplies
Stamps: Sweet Stems, Great Friend
Card/Paper: whisper white, rose red, regal rose, Raspberry Tart
Ink: rose red & regal rose ink pads, pretty in pink, regal rose & certainly celery Stampin' Write® markers
Accessories: 5/8 & ¼ inch celery grosgrain ribbon, filigree brads, fire rhinestone brad

Sweet Stems (115880) $29.95

Thursday 3 December 2009

Punch Pals SAS

Tonight, I have lots of cards to show you from my September Christmas SAS, so I'll try not to waffle. For this SAS, I used the very cute & multi-punchable 'Punch Pals' set for all the cards. There are so many different but co-ordinating stamps in this set that you can make lots of different cards, tags etc (see all the images at the bottom of the post).

I kept the same main colour theme for all the cards, which was kraft bases with riding hood red, old olive & 'holiday wishes' DSP. I only used one paper here, but at the classes, the ladies used a range of papers from the pack. All the stamped images were water-coloured on whisper white card with my Earth Elements® Watercolor Wonders™ & Aqua Painter™ , which added a few more accent colours. I couldn't decide which cards to use, so the ladies got to choose which ones they wanted to make.

First up is one of the most popular cards: Mr Snowman.
Here is a closer version, so you can see his colouring better. Note: I stamped Mr Snowman is basic brown ink (I think it's softer than black & suited the DSP colours) & colour washed the white parts with sahara sand ink to give a bit of depth. You can see him better here:Next up is another very popular choice with the girls - a penguin trio. The penguins are stamped & coloured in basic grey ink (again, not as harsh as black I think) I used riding hood red ink for the red scarf & wcw crayons for the other colours.
This tree card was probably the quickest & easiest card to make. I got the idea for this one from a similar card in the US Idea Book. I stamped the tree in old olive ink, then coloured them with the olive wcw crayon. While the old olive ink pad is not waterproof like the basic grey & basic brown ink pads, it's fine to colour with, so long as you don't use too much water to colour – very easy with the aquapainters).

Now we have a combination of the penguin & the tree. It's hard to see, but Mr Penguin is cut out & raised on dimensionals. You may be able to see better in this pic. Going off SAS for a mo, here is a square, kiwi kiss version of this card that I made while playing with the set.

This next card is a bit different & is all about playing with punches.I punched some riding hood red & old olive squares, laid them out checkerboard style on the base, then added a punched snowflake with dimensional. The greeting & scallop edge were then butted against the squares. This one took a bit longer than it looked.

Last but not least, here's another Mr Penguin one. In hindsight, I think I should have added some background snowflakes to the bottom part of the base to add a bit more detail.

A Final Tip: Custom Mounting Stamps:

One of the stamps in the Punch Pals set (see below) includes 5 different greetings & 2 snowflake rows. I decided to split all the greetings & mount them on the ends of some of the other stamps in the set, to make it quicker & easier to stamp them singly. I also mounted the snowflakes, parallel to one another with enough space to stamp a greeting in between. Just one more benefit of being able to mount your own stamps. I really should have taken a pic to show you what I did, but didn't think of it until now. If I remember next time I'm using it, I'll add it to the post.

Phew, that was a long post. Thanks for hanging in there. If you have any questions about any of the cards, just drop me a line....& thanks for visiting.

Inky wishes
Di

Supplies:
Stamps: Punch Pals
Card/Paper: Kraft, riding hood red, old olive, whisper white card, Holiday Wishes DSP
Ink: basic brown, basic grey, old olive, riding hood red ink pads, Earth Elements® Watercolor Wonder™ crayons (pumpkin pie, not quite navy, old olive, garden green, summer sun).
Tools: punches: scallop circle, 1 3/8 inch circle, 1 ¼ inch circle, 1 inch circle, ¾ inch circle, 1 inch square (non SU), word window, large oval & scallop oval (kiwi penguin)


Punch Pals: (115856) $56.95

Tuesday 1 December 2009

Summer is here!

As well as officially welcoming Summer in Australia today (even though it's been soooo hot for weeks & ironically quite cold today), I'm very excited to also welcome our brand spanking new Summer Mini Catalogue.

My mailout of catty's to current customers should be done tomorrow, but if you can't wait, you can view the fun & fabulous new goodies online here. If you'd like a copy of the catty, just drop me a line & I'd be happy to send you one.

I'll be back to show you some of my first Summer Mini Projects in the next week.

Inky Wishes
Di

PS: Gift Vouchers
I've had some questions about whether I'm offering gift vouchers again this year, which I definitely am. If you'd like to purchase one for a loved one, or would like a loved one to give one to you, just contact me.

Saturday 28 November 2009

Christmas Circle Circus SAS

Here I am again with the second card from my October Christmas SAS.
For this one, I used the Circle Circus set. This is not a Christmas set, but when I first saw it in the catalogue back in April, I thought it would be great for Christmas baubles, as well as an opportunity to go mad with punches (& regular class goers will know how much I loooove bauble cards & punches, not to mention getting the most from the stamps in my collection).
The layout is very simple & quick to mass produce, but has some extra details to make it a bit more special. The hanging bauble has 3 stamped & punched out images, glued together & mounted on dimensionals.
I realised after making it that the colours are almost the same as this card, but with a different look. The greeting is from 'Many Merry Messages', a very well used essential Christmas set, as it includes greetings for both the front & insides of your Christmas cards. (I think this is my 3rd year using it!)
Here's another version with the colours & stamps swapped around.And one more quickie card I made at the same time. The front is 9.9cm x 9.9cm, which sounds like a weird size, but it means you can get 3 square cards from one sheet of A4 card. The card has a part oval punched out of the side, with another part olive oval inside with a ribbon knot attached.
Hope this gives you some more ideas for quick Christmas cards. Please let me know if you have any questions & thanks for popping in.

Inky wishes
Di

Supplies:
Stamps: Circle Circus, Many Merry Messages
Card: old olive, ruby red, whisper white
Ink: riding hood red, baja breeze, kiwi kiss, always artichoke
Tools: punches: scallop circle, 1 ¼ inch circle, ¾ inch circle; mat pack – piercing template & mat

Circle Circus set (114375) - $52.95

Many Merry Messages (115930) $64.95