Piggy Thanks Easel Card

This is a thank you card I made for a friend who loves pigs.  I just love how a button makes the perfect snout for this piggy!  The Button Buddies set is such fun to use.  I started with a white square card blank and added a scored line at the halfway point of one side of the card to form the easel card base. I covered the bottom panel with Bashful Blue dotty paper, added a punched Pretty in Pink border and popped up a Thanks Decorative Label.  I stamped piggy in Pretty in Pink ink, applied some Regal Rose ink with a sponge dauber, cut him out and added the button snout and rhinestone eyes.  I cut a rectangle of Bashful Blue CS, added a strip of torn Certainly Celery CS as grass and popped piggy up, tucking his back feet behind the grass.  I die cut 3 clouds using the Memory Box Puffy Clouds die, sponged them with Bashful Blue ink, glued 2 flat and popped 1 up.  To finish off the front I added some Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon.

I stamped a frame and sentiment on the bottom of the card and added a Pretty in Pink punched border.  I covered the envelope flap with some pink dotty paper to finish off.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! Button Buddies, Sincere Salutations, Live Your Dream & Frames with a Flourish sets
CS: PaperMania square white card blank, SU! Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery & Whisper White
Patterned paper: SU! Sweet Pea & Bashful Blue Prints DSP packs
Ink:  SU! Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery & Chocolate Chip
Tools: SU! Top Note die, SU! plain and scalloped oval punches, SU! Decorative Label punch, SU! Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Memory Box Puffy Clouds die, sponge dauber
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon, pink button from SU! Subtles Designer Buttons, SU! Basic Rhinestones, 3d foam pads

Red & White Wedding Card For David & Marie

Kath, my very good friend and neighbour, asked me to make a wedding card for her son's wedding which was back in December.  Whenever I'm commissioned to make a card I really want to make something special and I haven't made a wedding card in ages - so I found this a bit nerve wracking to say the least!  The wedding colours were red and white and so I went with those colours for the card.  Because I hadn't made a wedding card for such a long time I decided to look around the web for some inspiration.  A lovely card made by Karen caught my eye on Pinterest and so I used that as my inspiration.  Karen's lovely card can be seen here on her blog post.

I made a Real Red 5 3/4" square card base and added a black mat.  I then decorated the white panel before adhering it to the black mat - making sure everything was perfect first!  I stamped the Medallion in Real Red ink.  I used the gorgeous heart stamp from the retired SU! Always set and the matching Always in Bloom wheel.  The elegant Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder was ideal for a wedding card I thought so I embossed my red strip with that and layered it on a black mat.  I embossed the hearts with white embossing powder and cut them out.  I stamped the wheel in Real Red ink on Whisper White CS and punched out a circle which I matted on red and black layers to cover the Medallion centre.  I computer generated the sentiment using the Nuptial BT font, stamped the wheel above and below the words, punched it out with the Decorative Label punch and added a red mat.   I placed two punched butterflies on the circle and blinged them with Swarovski crystals.  The sentiment and hearts were popped up and I used a ticket corner punch on the white panel before attaching it to the black mat.  I then blinged the corners with more crystals.

I stamped the wheel and added a sentiment to a white panel before gluing that to the inside of the card.  The envelope flap got the gorgeous heart image.

This last photo shows how I decorated the front of the envelope with the stamped wheel, a CS strip and a punched eyelet border.

I liked how the card turned out and I'm very happy to say that Kath liked it too, phew, what a relief!

Huge thanks to Karen for providing the inspiration for this card!  I was a bit dubious about joining Pinterest at first 'cos I could tell I could waste huge amounts of time if I wasn't disciplined!  However, I'm loving it now for getting ideas.  I like how I can store stuff on boards instead of in favourites files which means I can always find the card instead of trying to remember the name of the blog I favourited or where I stored the card photo.  If my computer crashes I won't lose anything 'cos it's stored on a website  Plus the card is usually linked to the post on the original creators blog so I can give credit.  It's a lovely surprise when I see one of my own cards that someone else has pinned - and  when I see cards from other bloggers I know.  If I need a chuckle the humor section is always worth checking out.  As well as cards I've seen lots of other useful and interesting ideas - home decor, storage solutions and hand made gifts for example.  I'm wanting to try a home made sugar scrub for sure!  I have CASEd quite a few cards I've pinned on Pinterest so it seems to be working successfully for me so far.  I've now added a Pinterest button to my blog sidebar - you'll see my boards if you click on it.  I really enjoy it and would recommend it - with caution - it CAN suck a LOT of time if you're not careful LOL!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! Always set & Always in Bloom wheel, sentiment from Penny Black
CS: SU! Real Red, Basic Black & Whisper White
 Ink: SU! Real Red, VersaMark & Memento Tuxedo Black
Tools: Circle Nestabilities dies, SU! Decorative Label & Ticket Corner punches, SU! Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Martha Stewart butterflies punch
Embellishments & accessories: Swarovski clear crystals, 3d foam pads

Thinking Of You Stepper Card - Simply Stampin' Challenge #41

This week's Simply Stampin' challenge is a colour combo.

 A really lovely combo I think!  I have a thing for stepper cards at the moment so I made another one for this challenge.

I used Pool Party CS for the base, covered the front step with dotty Limeade paper, stamped the Petite Posies wheel in Pool Party ink on the back panel, added a Limeade strip underneath and a punched Dotted Scallop Ribbon border at the top.  I stamped the large flower from the Printed Petals set, cut it out, threaded a  Limeade CS strip through the holes of a pink button and added that to the flower centre.  I cut the Swirls Scribbles die with Limeade CS, arranged the pieces on the Top Note shape and I popped the flower up with Dimensionals.  I stamped the 'thinking of you' and punched it out with the Modern label punch and tied that onto the Whisper White organza ribbon.

I stamped the Petite Posies wheel twice onto Whisper White CS and cut them into strips to decorate the back of the card and the front of the envelope.  To finish the envelope, I punched Pink Pirouette CS with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, cut the shape in half and glued one each side of the Pool Party strips.

I really like stepper cards and just like easel cards they're so easy to make.  To make this one I cut a piece of A4 CS in half lengthways and scored one piece in half to form an A6 portrait card with the fold at the top.  I then took the other half of the A4 CS and cut it so it was taller than an A6 card in order to get an extra flap piece.  (A6 is a tad shy of 15 cms and I cut the piece so it was 18 cms tall).  I made two score lines to form the front part and glued the two pieces together to form the complete stepper card.  This photo shows a side view of the card and you can see where I've glued the two pieces of CS together. 

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! Printed Petals set, Petite Posies wheel, sentiment from Trendy Trees set
CS: SU! Pool Party, Pink Pirouette, Lucky Limeade & Whisper White
Patterned paper: Limeade dotty paper from SU! In Color DSP stack
Ink: SU! Pool Party & Lucky Limeade
Tools: SU! Top Note Bigz die, Swirls Scribbles Sizzlits die, SU! Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, SU! Modern Label punch, SU! 1/16" circle handheld punch
Embellishments & accessories: SU! 5/8" Whisper White organza ribbon, marbled pink button from SU! Subtles Designer Buttons, SU! Dimensionals, white twine

Hot Chocolate Mix Jar

We took the Christmas decorations down today and that always makes me feel a bit miserable.  I think it's much worse packing the stuff away for another year than when you get it out in early December to put up for Christmas.  I bought 4 lovely Christmas drinking glasses this year - well, we've only got 2 for next year as I smashed 2 while packing them away.  Owen couldn't get into the cupboard under the stairs because the door knob came away in his hand!  Yep, we both had that post Christmas feeling - some warm mince pies with some spiced plum and rum cream rallied our spirits a tad though!

Recently we spent a fun evening with some good friends and we took a couple of gifts along .  I took a box of choccies that I knew Gill would love and I also made up a jar of Jamie Oliver's Epic Hot Chocolate mix for everyone in the family to share.  The hot chocolate is SO delicious, and packaged in a nice glass jar I think it makes a great little gift.

I tipped the mix into the jar and added a bag of mini marshmallows.  I tied some ribbon around the neck of the jar and tied on a Crumb Cake tag made using a die cut shape from the SU! Two Tags die.  I computer generated the 'epic hot chocolate mix' wording using the Will&Grace font, stamped the dotty frame around the wording and punched out with the Decorative Label punch.

I generated more wording on the PC, this time using the Hank BT font to go on the inside of the tag.  After gluing the white piece to the Crumb Cake tag I stamped the mug and marshmallows using stamps from an Elzybells set.  Those stamps are just perfect for this tag!  I tied the tag to the jar with some baker's twine.

Jamie's hot chocolate mix is seriously scrummy, we've almost finished our jar.  I have all the supplies ready to make another jar though - and this time I'll be making a minty version - yum!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! Four Frames set, Elzybells Tea for Two clear set
CS: SU! Crumb Cake & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip & early Espresso
Tools: SU! Two Tags Bigz die, SU! Decorative Label punch
Embellishments & accessories: brown & white striped grosgrain ribbon, baker's twine

January 2012 Card Group Cards

Today was our first card group meeting of 2012.  I designed 3 cards for the ladies to make and I eased them gently into the new year - nothing too tricky for them to do!  I had tons of frustration while prepping for today and I think I was very kind indeed to spare them the same frustration LOL!

The cause of the frustration?  A new Woodware huge punch that cuts multiple shapes - a bird, owl, branch and leaves.  I saw a card made with it at the Glitter Pot and thought it looked fun and would make a good card group project.  You punch out the bird and fold down the wing which looks really effective if you use contrasting double sided paper.  So I bought the punch and some paper and tried it out when I got home.  Oh dear - not consistent results by any means.  I can't say the punch is faulty, it's just a huge pain in the bum to use!  I could see 10 very tetchy ladies wrangling with this punch come card group day so I thought I'd better punch out the birds and branches myself.  It took AGES 'cos I'd get 3 good punch outs and then about 5 duff ones on the trot.  It chewed up paper and CS regardless of weight or thickness, I couldn't find anything in my stash that I got consistent results with.  I could have given up I suppose but I'd bought the thing to use at card group and I was determined I would use it!  So I gritted my teeth, said a few choice words and carried on.  But I have to say now I. Am. So. Over. This. Punch!  It doesn't reside in my craft room any more.  Let this be a lesson to me to avoid impulse buys - I had no business buying another bird punch when I already own the fabulous SU! one that works perfectly each and every time!

Anyway, a very simple card, just a Calypso Coral panel stamped with the Bella Toile background stamp, a branch, sentiment and a popped up bird with a rhinestone eye.  I stamped the Bella Toile stamp on the envelope flap too.

I started this next card weeks ago to use at the December 2011 card group meeting.  I knew I wanted to make a circle window card but everything I tried didn't look right and nothing gelled and I wasn't happy with it at all.  So I put it away, made another card in its place for card group and then went back to it a few days later to try again.  Much better that time I'm happy to say!  I stamped the Bliss flourish on the card front in Lucky Limeade ink and punched out with a 1 3/4" circle punch.  I punched a Calypso Coral 2" circle for inside the card and layered the stamped circle over the top.  I stamped the flower from the Bliss set by inking with Calypso Coral ink, stamping off once and then rock and rolling and then cut them out and popped them up around the circle.  Some Coral patterned paper at the bottom, a Limeade punched Scallop Ribbon border and a stamped sentiment finished off the card.

The third card all started with the gorgeous My Mind's Eye patterned paper.  Island Indigo, Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose matched it really well so that was my colour combo sorted.  I designed the rest of the card using my new Top Note die and Button Buddies stamp set - loving them both muchly!  I love that my Button Button set works perfectly with the Button Buddies set too!  I cut a whole Top Note from Island Indigo CS, cut half a Top Note shape from the patterned paper and layered that onto the CS shape.  I stamped the Button Buddies flower in Regal Rose ink and then stamped again without re-inking and the third flower was stamped in Island Indigo ink stamped off once.  I stamped the buttons onto Pretty in Pink CS, punched them out, placed them on the flower centres and popped the flowers up.  The very pretty 'thinking of you' sentiment from the Swirls and Curls Verses set finished off the card.

Supplies for bird Best Wishes card:
Stamps: SU! Bella Toile bg stamp, Hobby Art Best Wishes
CS: PaperMania 4" square white card blank, SU! Calypso Coral & Chocolate Chip
Patterned paper: Echo Park Victoria Gardens Wild Rose/Bluebird
Ink: SU! Calypso Coral & Chocolate Chip
Tools: Woodware Huge Multi Owl punch
Embellishments & accessories: rhinestone, 3d foam pads


Supplies for circle window Happy Birthday card:
Stamps: SU! Bliss & Curly Cute sets
CS: PaperMania A6 white card blank, SU! Calypso Coral & Lucky Limeade
Patterned paper: Coral paper from SU! In Color DSP stack
Ink: SU! Calypso Coral & Lucky Limeade
Tools: 1 3/4" & 2" circle punches, SU! Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch
Embellishments & accessories: 3d foam pads


Supplies for flower trio Thinking of You card:
Stamps: SU! Button Buddies, Button Button & Swirls & Curls Verses sets
CS: PaperMania square cream card blank, SU! Island Indigo, Pretty in Pink & Very Vanilla
Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye Fine & Dandy Tickled Pink
Ink: SU! Regal Rose & Island Indigo
Tools: SU! Top Note die, SU! 1 3/4" scalloped circle punch, 1/2" circle punch
Embellishments & accessories: 3d foam pads

Ginkgo Thanks So Much Stepper Card

A while ago I got the gorgeous PaperTrey Ink Harvest Berries set - I just love those ginkgo leaves!  There are dies that match the stamps and Alex very kindly got the dies for me so I thought it would be fun to use the stamps and dies to make a thank you card for her.

I made a few Christmas stepper cards using PaperMania packaged white card blanks and I thought it was about time I made my own using coloured CS as a base.  Because of the way stepper cards are made, the CS for the base needs to be quite long so if you make your own you need to cut and score two pieces of CS and glue them together to form the base.  I made this card from Wisteria Wonder CS to fit into a C6 sized envelope.

I covered the back panel with some Wisteria patterned paper and added the sentiment.  I stamped and die cut the leaves, glued the bottom portion only of the larger leafy stem flat to the front panel and popped up the smaller leaf clusters.  I then stamped and die cut some flowers using a Hero Arts/Sizzix  stamp and die combo set and popped the flowers up.  I sprinkled on some rhinestones to finish off the front.

Here's the back panel and the envelope with stamped leafy loveliness!

Supplies:
Stamps: PTI Harvest Berries set, Hero Arts stamps from 'Floral' combo set, sentiment from SU! Trendy Trees set
CS: SU! Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush, Pool Party & Whisper White
Patterned paper: Wisteria Wonder paper from SU! In Color DSP stack
Ink: SU! Lucky Limeade & Concord Crush
Tools: PTI Harvest Berries Die Collection, dies from Hero Arts/Sizzix 'Floral' combo set, SU! Modern Label & Word Window punches, Scor-Pal
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Basic Rhinestones, 3d foam pads

Emboss Resist Flower on Vellum Thank You Card

 Happy New Year!

Back in August I saw this fab card Kristina made and I fell in love with the flower stamp she'd used from a Hero Arts clear set.  I have such a weakness for flower stamps and  find it hard to resist them but on this occasion I held off and didn't buy it straight away.  It remained on my wish list though and a short time ago I came across the set on eBay - and it was on sale!  As the saying goes "good things come to those who wait!"

So here is my CASEd version of Kristina's card - I've changed the colours and I tucked leaves behind my flower.  My colour combo is Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum and Rich Razzleberry.  I started off with an A6 card base with the fold at the top.  I cut the card apart and added a panel of CS weight vellum to bridge the gap and I added Perfect Plum CS strips.  I inked the flower and leaves in VersaMark ink, embossed with white embossing powder, sponged on the inks and cut them out.  I heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder also and added the dotty Rich Razzleberry ribbon.  The finishing touch to the front was a rhinestone placed in the flower centre.

I left the inside of the card blank but stamped the front of the envelope. The stamps in this set are perfect for the emboss resist technique but look fab just stamped in ink too.  I've noticed the vellum gap has buckled a bit on this portrait card so next time I'll use a landscape oriented card with the fold at the side and see how that works out.

Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts 'To From Petals' clear set, SU! Frames with a Flourish set
CS: SU! Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum & CS vellum
Ink: VersaMark, SU! Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum, Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz & Old Olive
Tools: sponge daubers
Embellishments & accessories: white embossing powder, SU! Rich Razzleberry dotted grosgrain ribbon, rhinestone, 3d foam pads