Floral Double Point Fold Card - World Card Making Day 2019

I just haven't been spending enough time in my craft room lately and I'd like to change that.  Saturday October 5th was World Card Making Day and although I worked in the morning I was determined to make a card on the day.  Stampin' Up! offered an opportunity through a Facebook group to make a card on World Card Making Day and to send that card to a fellow SU! demonstrator and I happily took part!

Dena Rekow from the Creativity Cave runs monthly Facebook classes and I'm taking the classes currently.  Each month Dena records three Facebook Live videos.  Each video features three card layouts and at least three card designs per layout.  There's also a class members Facebook group where everyone can share their creations.  So every month you get nine card layouts and see a lot of cards as inspiration - I'm loving it so far!

One of the September class layouts was a Double Point Fold card which was a new design to me so I decided to make one.  I chose some SU! 'Garden Lane' DSP which gave me the colour combo of Mint Macaron, Mossy Meadow, Pear Pizzazz and Whisper White.  I made a card plus a matching envelope.

 

Here's just the card.  I embossed the Mint Macaron panel with the 'Layered Leaves' 3D embossing folder.  For the main image panel I've used the gorgeous SU! 'Beautiful Friendship' stamp set.  I stamped the flowers in Mint Macaron, the leaves in Pear Pizzazz and the flower centres in Mossy Meadow.   The 'Smile' sentiment is from the SU! 'Daisy Lane' stamp set. I added a few rhinestones for a touch of sparkle.

 

Here's the inside of the card.  I thought the 'take time to do what makes your soul happy' sentiment from the 'Tasteful Textures' set was ideal for a fellow stamper and card maker!  A much needed reminder for me too actually!

 

Here's the envelope.  I popped up the name label.

 

How nice to spend some crafty 'me' time, it was lovely, I'm so glad I took part!  I'll be sending this card out later on today and I'll be making another card this afternoon to mail out.  There was a bit of confusion over who was sending me a card and as a result I'll be swapping cards with an SU! demo in Australia - an added fun bonus!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Beautiful Friendship', 'Daisy Lane' & 'Tasteful Textures' sets
CS: SU! Mint Macaron, Mossy Meadow & Whisper White
Patterned paper: SU! 'Garden Lane' DSP
Ink: SU! Mint Macaron, Mossy Meadow & Pear Pizzazz
Tools: SU! 'Layered Leaves' 3D embossing folder, 'Stitched Nested Labels' die set, Envelope Punch Board
Embellishments & accessories: SU! rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals
Ruth

Inked Background & Silhouette Birthday Card

Dena Rekow from the Creativity Cave is my favourite stamper to watch and learn from, she is such fun!  I've watched many of her YouTube videos and I've recently joined her online monthly Facebook classes.

I love inked backgrounds and I've always got great results with Inkylicious ink duster brushes used with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  The Inkylicious ink duster brushes do not work well with the SU! inks however, sponges seem to be the best option to apply the SU! inks but I've found my results mainly unsuccesful.  Dena uses oval make up brushes with SU! classic inks to create inked backgrounds and her results look stunning.  I found some oval brushes on the UK Amazon website and ordered a few to try them out for myself.  Oh my word, the brushes work amazingly well with the SU! inks, the results are so much better than using sponges to apply the inks!

I used the brushes to apply SU! Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral and Poppy Parade inks to a panel of Whisper White CS.  Once you've picked up ink from the pad it's important to brush onto scrap paper to get rid of any excess ink before brushing directly to your CS panel.  Once I'd brushed my background I stamped the sentiment and adhered the very pretty floral silhouette die cut shape from the SU! 'Springtime Impressions' die set.  I trimmed the panel to fit the front of my A6 sized card base, glued the panel in place and added some black rhinestones.
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One of Dena's 'go to' embellishment tricks is to splatter clear Wink of Stella over a piece.  It adds such a lovely touch of shimmer!

 

Here's the inside of the card and the envelope.

 

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Beautiful Friendship' & 'Perennial Birthday' sets
CS: SU! Basic Black & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral & Poppy Parade, VersaFine Onyx Black
Tools: SU! 'Springtime Impressions' die set, oval make up brushes
Embellishments & accessories: black rhinestones, clear Wink of Stella pen
Ruth

Fancy Frame & Butterflies 50th Birthday Card

A lovely friend, Wendy, celebrated her 50th birthday at the end of September.  I chose to make Wendy a pretty, feminine card using a Petal Pink, white and gold colour combo.  As it was a milestone birthday, I went all out and made a patterned paper matching envelope too!  Here's the card and envelope together. 

 

The Petal Pink card base measures 5 3/4" square, I added a Whisper White CS mat layer and adhered the Petal Pink Tonic Studios 'Tea Party Square Base' fancy die cut over the top. I cut out several 50 numbers and stacked them together to get a really dimensional 50 which I added to stitched circle die cuts.  I added three butterflies, a sentiment circle and sprinkled on a few rhinestones to finish the card front.  You can't tell from the photo but I added clear Wink of Stella to the Petal Pink outline butterfly die cut shapes so they have a subtle shimmer.

 

Here's a side view so you can see the depth of the stacked number die cuts. 

 

Here's the inside of the card.  I used a gold metallic Sharpie marker to add a line above the strip of patterned paper.

 

Here's the envelope.  I popped up the name label and added more bling.  I so enjoyed making this for Wendy!

Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts 'Wonderful Day', SU! 'Perennial Birthday' set
CS: SU! Petal Pink, Whisper White & Gold Foil sheet
Patterned paper: SU! 'Petal Promenade' DSP
Ink: SU! Petal Pink & Soft Suede, gold metallic Sharpie marker
Tools: Tonic Studios 'Tea Party Square Base',  SU! 'Large Numbers', M&C Boutique stitched circles, Memory Box 'Cascadia Butterfly Trio', 'Leavenworth Butterfly Trio', 'Bistro Label' & 'Chadwick Label' die sets, SU! Envelope Punch Board
Embellishments & accessories: clear Wink of Stella pen, SU! rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals
Ruth

September 2019 Card Group Projects

Wait, what, September has been and gone?!  I totally neglected to post the projects we made at our September get together and it's now October, I don't know what happened to September, it passed by in a blur! 

I only created two projects for the ladies in September because we made a flower pot card again and they are rather time consuming to make.  Chris Slogar made a wonderful flower pot card tutorial video for Splitcoast Stampers which can be found HERE on YouTube.

The card we made this time was a Christmas poinsettia flower pot card.  The colour combo is Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Whisper White and a touch of gold foil.  The poinsettias were stamped onto Cherry Cobbler CS with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

 

Here's a side view. 

 

Here's a view of the back of the card.

 

Here's the envelope.  I used the same patterned paper that I'd used on the card base to tie everything together.

The second card we made was CASEd (my interpretation of CASE = Copy And Selectively Edit) from a card shown on page 117 of the SU! 2019/2020 Annual Catalogue.  The colours and layout really appealed to me.  The card base is Pool Party and the Pool Party stamped Swirly Frame rectangle was cut out using a Stitched Rectangle die.  I stamped the circle Swirly Frame image onto Crumb Cake CS using Soft Suede ink and used two circle dies to cut out the frame.  I stamped the birds image onto So Saffron CS using Soft Suede ink,  added colour with dry SU! watercolour pencils, cut out the image using a circle die and adhered it behind the Crumb Cake circle frame.  I stamped the 'Birch' background stamp in So Saffron ink onto So Saffron CS, adhered the panel to the card front and popped up the image circle.  I then added the flagged sentiment banner, two stamped and fussy cut flowers, some white tulle polka dot ribbon and a linen thread bow

 

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I coloured the single bird images using the dry watercolour pencils and added a little green underneath to ground the birds.

 

It has to be said this turned into a very full on afternoon, bordering on fraught and the ladies pleaded for the cards to be simple for the October class so I solemnly promised!  Unfortunately, circumstances mean I've had to cancel our October meeting which is really disappointing, but hopefully, we'll all be getting together again in November.

Supplies for poinsettia flower pot card:
Stamps: Creative Expressions Sue Wilson 'Shaded Poinsettia' set, Hero Arts 'Joyful Christmas Season' set
CS: SU! Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green & Whisper White, SU! Gold foil sheet
Patterned paper:  SU! 'Dashing Along' DSP
Ink: SU! Cherry Cobbler, Memento Tuxedo Black
Tools: Creative Expressions Sue Wilson 'Classic Poinsettia' die set, SU! Simply Scored, flower centre from Apple Blossom 'Christmas Wintry Additions' die set
 
Supplies for birds birthday card:
Stamps: SU! 'Free as a Bird', 'Swirly Frames' & 'Perennial Birthday' sets
CS: SU! Crumb Cake, Pool Party, So Saffron & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Soft Suede
Tools: SU! 'Layering Circles' & 'Stitched Rectangles' die sets
Embellishments & accessories: SU! watercolour pencils, white tulle polka dot ribbon, linen thread, Dimensionals

Ornaments Deck the Halls Christmas Card

There's not been much activity lately in my craft room, a very sad state of affairs!  I'm trying to kickstart my mojo and get back to creating more often and to help with that I've signed up for a monthly online class.  One of the things that appealed to me about the class is that you get a number of card layouts to work with throughout the month.  I find when you have a good sketch to start with you're halfway to creating a card, as your layout is already decided on which saves time!   I signed up late for the August class so I probably won't get all the sketch cards made but I'm hoping to do more for the rest of the monthly classes.

I decided to make my first layout card a Christmas card because, as per usual, I haven't started making them early enough in the year, even though I always say I will!  I've used some new SU! supplies from the 'Brightly Gleaming' suite of products.  The papers in the 'Brightly Gleaming' Specialty DSP pack are gorgeous, rich colours with copper foil detailing, so luxurious!  I love the unusual, non traditional colours for Christmas showcased by this suite.  You can never go wrong with stamps and matching punches either, that always makes a card come together quickly!

My colour combo is Night of Navy, Pretty Peacock, Mossy Meadow and Very Vanilla.  I stamped the ornaments using VersaMark, heat embossed with copper embossing powder, punched them out and popped them up after drawing strings and bows with a metallic Sharpie.  I also used the Sharpie to add lines all around the die cut stitched rectangle and then I popped the whole panel up.  To finish the front I added a couple of rhinestones.  

 

Here's the inside and the envelope.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Christmas Gleaming' set
CS: SU! Night of Navy & Very Vanilla 
Patterned paper: SU! 'Brightly Gleaming' Specialty DSP
Ink: VersaMark, SU! Mossy Meadow & Night of Navy, metallic Sharpie
Tools: SU! 'Gleaming Ornaments' Punch Pack, 'Stitched Rectangle' die set
Embellishments & accessories: SU! copper embossing powder, rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals
Ruth

Birdie Card & Matching Gift Bag

Two friends came over to craft with me a few weeks ago and I designed a card and a gift bag for them to make using the beautiful SU! 'Bird Ballad' suite of products.  We had such a lovely time together, I enjoyed it so much!  Here's the Card, envelope and gift bag together.

 

Here's the card - it's a fancy fold design - an aperture is cut out from the card front.  I stamped the image in Memento Rich Cocoa ink and coloured using SU! Stampin' Blends.

 

Here's a view of the card within a card fancy fold.  Inside the Crumb Cake card there's a smaller Pool Party card. The bird panel is popped up with Dimensionals.  I love that the sentiment is hidden until you open the card!

 

Here's another view.

 

Here's the inside of the card and the envelope.  The birdie on the envelope flap was cut out with a circle punch from a piece of 'Bird Ballad' DSP.

 

I gave each friend a mini card (made using the SU! 'Lots of Happy' card kit) and a small gift - I placed the card and gift inside a kraft pillow box which I decorated with an element from the 'Lots of Happy' kit, some Granny Apple Green woven ribbon and a circle tag.   A sweet little token of friendship and appreciation!

Supplies for card & gift bag:
Stamps: SU! 'Free as a Bird' set
CS: SU! Crumb Cake, Pool Party & Whisper White 
Patterned paper: SU! 'Bird Ballad' DSP
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, SU! Stampin' Blends alcohol markers
Tools: SU! 'Stitched Nested Labels' die set , WRMK Gift Bag Punch Board, circle punches
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Bermuda Bay ribbon, Dimensionals

Supplies for mini card & pillow box:
Stamps: SU! 'Lots of Happy' set
CS: SU! Whisper White, elements from the 'Lots of Happy' card kit, Kraft Pillow Boxes
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Stampin' Blends alcohol markers
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Granny Apple Green textured weave ribbon, Whisper White baker's twine, Metallic Pearls, Dimensionals
Ruth

August 2019 Card Group Projects

We got together on the 1st August for our August card group meeting.  I only made two projects for the ladies this month as one of the projects - a pop up flower pot card - is a little time consuming.

Chris Slogar designed the pop up flower pot card for Splitcoast Stampers and her fabulous YouTube video tutorial can be found HERE.

Here's the front of the card.

 

A view from the back.

Here's a side view.  The pop up element folds flat so the card can close to be placed in an envelope.  To have the card on display a band of CS is slipped over the base to keep the base flat.  Ingenious!

 

I added a daisy to the envelope flap to finish.

For the second card we revisited a design we've made before at card group.  Back in June we made a butterfly closure card but for this card I swapped the butterfly to a dragonfly.  I stamped the dragonflies as a background using Mint Macaron ink on the Mint Macaron card base - I do love the tone on tone look!  After I'd glued the fancy outline dragonfly over the solid dragonfly shape I added shimmer to the wings using a Sakura Clear Gelly Roll pen.  I added strips of Tranquil Tide CS cut using a Grosgrain Ribbon die, popped up the sentiment label and scattered a few iridescent flower sequins to complete the card front.

 

The dragonfly wings slide through  the die cut aperture when the card is opened.

 

Here's the inside.

 

I stamped pretty Mint Macaron dragonflies on the front of the envelope to finish. 

 

I wasn't really sure how the ladies would like making the flower pot card but I'm very happy to say it was a hit!  In fact we'll be making a Christmas version next time featuring poinsettias!

Supplies for flower pot card:
Stamps: SU! 'Daisy Delight' set, Personal Impressions 'Large Everyday Messages' set
CS: SU! Cajun Craze, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Grapefruit Grove, Melon Mambo, Old Olive & Whisper White, SU! Window Sheets (acetate)
Patterned paper: SU! 'Delightful Daisy' DSP
Ink: SU! Cajun Craze & Early Espresso
Tools: SU! Simply Scored, Daisy & 1/2" circle punches, M&C Boutique Stitched Rectangle die set
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Old Olive linen thread, glue dots, Dimensionals


Supplies for dragonfly closure card:
Stamps: SU! 'Dragonfly Dreams' set
CS: SU! Mint Macaron, Tranquil Tide & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Mint Macaron & Tranquil Tide, Sakura Clear Gelly Roll pen
Tools: SU! 'Detailed Dragonfly' & 'Petals & More' die sets, Memory Box 'Grosgrain Ribbons' die set
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dimensionals, iridescent flower sequins
Ruth