Wild About You and Wild About Eggplant...

At a recent workshop the hostess chose Children's Birthday as the theme for the Make n' Take card. The cards shown above were two of the possibilities with the kits I made up.

The colours are: Elegant Eggplant (my current favourite colour), Real Red, Summer Sun and Whisper White. I've used this same colour combo before, and just love how vibrant it looks.

One of the cards uses the Linen Background stamp and the other uses the Crosshatch Background stamp...which is retiring :-(. I've used Dimensionals all over...as usual! There is Gel Pen faux stitching on one, and plain old dots on the other. I've done some sponging on some edges, but its a hard to see in these shots.

The lion is from Wild About You...of course. I've coloured one using markers in Summer Sun and Real Red, and the other has been stamped separately in those same colours and cut out and layered. The large Happy Birthday sentiment is from Cheery Chat, and the small one is from the SAB set Birthday Whimsy. The number 7 is from Headline Numbers...which is retiring and has sold out already! The ribbon is beautiful Red Gingham.

A Petal Prints CASE

This card is a CASE of one of Diane Barnes' beautiful cards over at colour me happy



I am not usually a Bold Brights girl, but was inspired by another one of Diane's cards to get them out and have a try!

The cardstock colours are: Lovely Lilac, Pixie Pink, Whisper White, Basic Black and Tempting Turquoise. I have stamped the leaves from Petal Prints, in Lovely Lilac Classic ink over the background Lovely Lilac card. The small Pixie Pink strip has been put through the crimper, and I have also faux stitched the edges using the paper piercer, template and a white gel pen. Next comes a strip of Whisper White, then a piece of Black Gingham with a knot tied in it.

The large square of Basic Black is mounted up on Dimensionals, as are each of the small squares (I've used about 22 Dimensionals in total). The flowers are from the Petal Prints set too, and have been stamped in Orchid Opulence with a Lovely Lilac outline over the top, and Pixie Pink, with a Pink Passion outline over the top.

Riveting and Wild About You

The cardstock colours are: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Whisper White and Tempting Turquoise. I have stamped the base layer with the Linen background stamp in Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink and then sponged around the edges too. The next layer is Old Olive, and is au natural...except for the White Grosgrain tied around one end, and the Riveting stamped 'Welcome Little One' which was stamped in Stazon and Pumpkin Pie, and mounted up on Dimensionals.

The Whisper White layer is also mounted up on Dimensionals and has been distressed along the edges. The Tempting Turquoise layer has been cuttlebugged in a folder whose name I can't remember. The small Old Olive layer is up on Dimensionals. The Elephant from Wild About You has been stamped in Pumpkin Pie on Whisper White cardstock, and then cleared embossed.

Loving Hearts

The cardstock colours are Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Bordering Blue, Barely Banana and Whisper White. The Pale Plum layer is mounted up on Dimensionals.

The stamps are from the Loving Hearts stamp set in the Idea Book and Catalogue.
The main image is stamped in Perfect Plum on Whisper White, hand trimmed, mounted on a layer of Pale Plum (which has also been hand trimmed) and the whole lot is mounted up on Dimensionals.

The background images are stamped in Bordering Blue on Whisper White cardstock and punched out using the 1-1/4 inch Square Punch. The ribbon is 5/8" Very Vanilla Grosgrain.

See you,
Sam.

Bunny Hugs for Easter

Ok, I know its early, but hey...they've been selling Hot Cross buns at the supermarket since just after Christmas, so I'm not the only one!!!

Cardstock colours are: Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Cool Caribbean and Going Gray. The larger Barely Banana layer is mounted up on Dimensionals. The next layer is Cool Caribbean and has been stamped with the Flannel Plaid background stamp, in Cool Caribbean Classic Ink. The two pink ribbons are from the Flirty Ribbon Originals pack in the Summer Mini Catalogue, and are anchored with Barely Banana brads.

The smaller Barely Banana layer is also mounted up on Dimensionals, and has been torn at the edges using The Tearing Edge. The tag is in Pretty in Pink and has been stamped with the 'Easter wishes' sentiment from the Bunny Hugs stamp set in the Summer Mini. It was punched using the Tag Punch, and anchored using another Barely Banana brad.

The Going Gray layer is also mounted up on Dimensionals (yes, I used about half a sheet for this card). The bunny, basket and eggs are all from the Bunny Hugs stamp set, and have been stamped in Stazon on Watercolour Paper and coloured using an Aquapainter and Classic Ink in Going Gray, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana and Cool Caribbean.

Thanks for taking a peek!
Sam.

Punch Art Ideas

Just a really quick post, and a HUGE :-) thanks to Diane and Tracy for pointing me in the direction of these fabulous Punch Art ideas pages on Splitcoaststampers:

memory_lane

and

Cre8tingMemories, there are several Word documents in this post...make sure you scroll down to see them all (they are hosted on the demo-only side of SCS...if you don't have access to that side please feel free to drop me an email, and I'll email them to you [I asked the document owner, and she does not mind if I do this],

and

Forget-me-not

and

yawp

ETA a few more useful links:

Stamp with Heather punch art

Chic 'n Scratch punch art

Chic 'n Scratch animal punch book

Andrea Walford's Punch Bear Tutorial

Stampin' Pretty

Stamping with Roxy

Inking Idaho

Splitcoaststampers punch art gallery

Punch art on my own blog 

Crafty Cow Creations

Paper Punch Addiction

Stamp-n-Design 

Jackie Topa

Marie Shaughnessy

I wanted to post the links here because it will mean I don't lose them again!! These ladies have some great ideas!

The first link is the one I was thinking of (while I was looking for them the other day), but it doesn't actually have a flower on it like mine...so I'm not sure where I got the idea from!

Thanks again Diane and Tracy :-).

Sam.

Hostess and Door Prizes

Here are some more little goodies I have used for Hostess gifts and Lucky Door prizes. I always have so much fun making these little things...but I will have to come up with some different ideas soon. Back to Splitcoaststampers methinks!





The different packages contain cardstock samples (colours are Ruby Red, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and Whisper White), Dimensional sheets, and a small sample of brads and buttons.

I was so chuffed to hear from some of my customers (waves), that they keep the bag toppers for their own cards etc. How cool is that?

Talk to you soon,
Sam.

Oval Punch Make n' Take

Okay, now that I am over the trauma of today ;-)...here is the second make n, take from last night.



I want to say first up that the idea for the flower was inspired by a sheet of punch ideas I saw (but apparently did not download) on Splitcoaststampers at some point in the not too distant past. I searched high and low for these again tonight, so that I could reference their creator, but after 30 minutes I gave up. I am pretty sure that when I saw them arranged like this they were part of a turkey (as in a Thanksgiving Day turkey)...and they were his tail. So, if anyone knows what/where I got them from I'd really appreciate you letting me know. I'll post the link here, AND make a copy for myself because there were some AWESOME ideas for things to make with punches.

Just briefly now, the colours are: Always Artichoke, More Mustard, Whisper White, Ruby Red and Pumpkin Pie. The stamp on the More Mustard layer is from the Bud Basics stamp set in the Summer Mini. I have also distressed the edges of this layer. I've used both the small and large oval punches...lots. The stem is from the Rustic Retreat Ribbon Originals. The 'thanks' sentiment is from the Small Sayings stamp set in the Summer Mini. As I only wanted to use part of the stamp I inked it up using a Ruby Red Stampin' Write Marker, instead of a stamp pad. There is SNAIL, a glue dot and ONE dimensional only (underneath the centre petal, at the top)!! WOW. That is a break-through for me :-).

And, that is all there is to this card!

Sam.

Faux Hair Stamp?

Is anyone aware of Stampin' Up! having issued a Faux Hair stamp any time in the recent past? I'm thinking that with a bit of Basic Brown ink...I may be able to use it to fix an "issue" that arose today ;-). Or maybe I could just use a stem stamp...maybe from the Springtime Stems hostess set!

The photo below shows my daughter, almost 4 years old, at 10am this morning.



I went out this afternoon, to attend my very first downline's very first workshop. When I got home...we played a little game of SPOT THE DIFFERENCE!!! What about you...Can you see it?



Isn't it amazing what they can do with craft scissors these days!

Juliann, if you are out there, any tips on how to fix it? I'm wanting to trim off the bits she missed at the sides...but I don't want to make it any...more of an issue IYKWIM?

Anyway, I got through it (with some deep breathing). It will grow back after all, and it could have been much, MUCH, MUUUUUUUUCH more of an issue...couldn't it?

Ta, ta.
Sam.

Chipboard Valentine's Make n' Take

I have just arrived home after demonstrating at a fun workshop, where we made the card above...and another one, but that'll have to wait for tomorrow for uploading ;-).

The background card colour is Taken with Teal. We have hand drawn the small hearts around the card using a White Gel Pen. The next layer is Whisper White, and then there is a piece of Loves Me Designer Series Double-Sided Paper (DSP). We have stamped the 'I Love You the Most' sentiment, from the Love Matters stamp set, in Chocolate Chip Classic Ink, and used the Stamp-a-ma-Jig to align it.

The next layer is a small piece of Whisper White and it has been run through the crimper, and then we used the paper piercer, template and foam mat from the Crafter's Tool kit to poke the triangle of holes on the diagonal corners. We mounted the crimped piece of cardstock using the Stampin' Up! red-backed Sticky Strip...I find it does a better job when you have a reduced surface area for sticking, as you do on a crimped piece of card.

The centre-piece s a piece of chipboard, like those in the Stampin' Up! Accents and Elements range. We adhered a piece of the Loves Me DSP to the top of the tag using Crystal Effects, then when it was dry we trimmed it back using a craft knife, then sanded back the edges using a Sanding Block. We mounted the tag up on Dimensionals.

The two ribbons are Chocolate and Pink Grosgrain. The two circles of cardstock are punched using the large circle punch on Chocolate Chip cardstock and the small circle punch on whisper White cardstock. Then we stamped a heart from the...hmmmmm will have to get back to you on that..stamp set, in Pretty in Pink Classic Ink on Whisper White cardstock, and trimmed it with the paper snips. The heart was then mounted up on Dimensionals and, as you can see in the image below, covered with Crystal Effects.



I think everyone enjoyed making this card. I know I did :-).
Sam.