Water Colour & Life In The Forest

I've been using lots of the very convenient Note Cards & Envelopes from Stampin' Up! recently and find them wonderful for creating quick sets of cards. At one of my recent classes we used a stamp from the "Happy Watercolor" set combined with the cute little animal images from "Life In the Forest". Both these sets are in the Occasions Catalogue that will finish on June 30, 2014, so if you don't have them yet you can order them at my online store.

We made a set of 6 cards - I will show just a couple of them here.

Stamping the colour shape first, negated the need to colour the image and I love the simplicity of this effect, not to mention the speed of completing the cards.

The cards were finished off with the "Just Saying" stamp set from Stampin' Up! and that can be purchased  with the Word Bubbles Framelits Dies as a bundle. Did you know that Stampin' Up! bundles some of the coordinating products and then saves you 15% when you purchse them as a bundle. Just keep an eye out in all the catalogues for the Bundle & Save  signs. You can be sure that the items will coordinate beautifully and you will save 15% from the purchase price.

I raised the word bubbles on dimensionals, adding some texture to the card. 

If you would like any of these products just go to my on-line store and the items will be posted directly to you. This is a safe and convenient way to shop for Stampin' Up! products and if you want assistance with any techniques or product information you can contact me via my Demonstrator Business Website

Until Next Time

Stay Crafty

Best of Sale-a-Bration Stamp Set

Have you seen the Best of 25 Years series of Stamp Sets from Stampin' Up!? It's a wonderful idea to commemorate 25 years in business and I predict these stamp sets will become collectors pieces.

One of the things I love is that the images are different in size to the original images and there is one new stamp in each set. 

To celebrate Sale-a-Bration, I brought out my "Best of Sale-a-Bration" set and used my favourite image as a basis for colouring. I thought this image would be wonderful on note cards, so stamped quite a few of them using Early Espresso Ink. My choice and combinations of colours create a variety of pretty flowers that will work on many cards

Most of these stamped images have not yet been made into cards, but will be very shortly. I used a water colour technique with classic ink and an Aqua Painter. The water blends the stamped ink a little too and allows for layering of colours. Just remember to always start with your lightest colour!

Coastal Cabana mat picks up the colours in the petals.

Pink Pirouette and Early Espresso are a lovely combination and I knew the exact person I wanted to send this to today, so I added an embossed background using my Free Sale-a-Bration embossing folder "Decorative Dots", added a tiny linen thread bow and popped it in the post. 

You can view the choice of free products available during Sale-A-Bration in this brochure so have a look and drop me a line if you'd like a hard copy. 

Sale-A-Bration continues until March 31, so don't miss out on your free products.

You can choose one free product for each $90 that you spend.

Until Next Time,

Stay Crafty!

You Are Loved - a Set of Cards for Someone Special

Have you ever tried colouring your rubber stamps with the Stampin' Write Markers? 

This is an easy technique that give fabulous results, and always brings exclamations of appreciation when I teach it.  At one of the recent card classes we made a set of these cards plus a small box to place them in so they could be given as a gift or just stored neatly.

A little of the versatile Seam Binding ribbon, ties the box up very neatly. I've made a window in the top and lined it with Window Sheet, so the pretty cards can be seen.

A set of 6 with 2 different greetings gives a little variety for the recipient. 

 

I love this colour combination of Always Artichoke, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and Rose Red.

This  simple and quick project makes a lovely gift for the person who has everything. And it's even better because it is made with love. 

If you'd like further information on this project, or would like to order the products to create this and other similar projects, you can contact me and I'll be happy to help you.

Until Next Time

Stay Crafty

Thank You Note Set

Today I needed to think of a gift for a friend who is turning 75 and has requested "no gifts". I've talked myself into believing that something I made  could pass as a "no gift", and wanting to do something a little bit practical, decided on a set of Thank You Notes. 

It was easy to reach for some of my old favourite stamps from Stampin' Up!® - I wanted to keep the cards simple and a bit "earthy" so settled on using some retired CONFETTI CREAM card stock as the base of the card, combined with Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke and Bravo Burgundy card and inks. 

I varied the stamp placement a little on each card, and used the STAMPIN' OFF  technique to achieve different tones of the one colour.

The images looked a little too disconnected  so I stamped the small circular image from FRENCH FOLIAGE  (p. 86) and that brought the composition together a bit more.

I'm loving the  CRUMB CAKE ENVELOPES that are available from the Annual Catalogue (p.160) Just be aware that the size is slightly smaller than the regular C6 envelope and you'll need to adjust your card accordingly. 

I made a Belly Band to hold the cards together and then made a box using the SIMPLY SCORED SCORING TOOL (p. 181). It's really great how easy it is to custom make boxes of any size to fit your gifts. The texture on the Belly Band is from the SQUARE LATTICE EMBOSSING FOLDER - this is one of the most versatile embossing folders created by Stampin' Up! - it's wonderful for cards for both genders and gives 2 different patterns depending on which side you decide to use. 

And here's the box with its lid. The lid has  Paper Piercing detail and a WINDOW SHEET  insert so the gift can be seen without unwrapping it. The flower is made from Vanilla paper using a variety of Stampin' Up! punches.

I hope our friend likes her "no gift". I sure had fun making it.

If you would like to order any of the products I've used you can ORDER ON-LINE at my new on-line store. The products will be shipped directly to your home address. When you place an order, you can request FREE the instructions for making this project. 
All the benefits that you would receive as a Hostess still apply via ON-LINE ORDERING, so make sure if your order is over $300 that you have a Wish List ready with more items. Why? Because you will get Hostess dollars to spend if your order qualifies.

Until Next Time

Stay Crafty!