Jan 22, 2009 | Uncategorized |
Hi everyone!
Well tonight I amazed myself at being able to think of an idea for
Kristina’s latest challenge, right away! My first thought when I saw the colour combination was YIKES since it was very bright and a little different… so I’m quite pleased I managed to come up with something that doesn’t look completely hideous (I hope!). I’ve just realised though, that the card has no ribbon on it – how the heck did I manage to do that? I totally love ribbons! I guess I could add some, but I rather think it’s OK without it – and with no ribbon at all, it would be able to pass for a masculine card, perhaps??
I don’t think you’ll have any trouble seeing where the idea for the circles came from, it’s pretty obvious, right? Once I’d cut the background card out it looked a little plain, so I added some punched 1/4″ circles using my circle punch and a glue pen, to add a little interest but not detract too much from the main piece.
The cute cupcake image comes from my brand new “Occasionally” stamp set that even just arrived today! That’s got to be a record for me – using a set on the day I get it! It’s not a set that was first on my wishlist, as in the past I’ve not gone for small images particularly, but I had a close look in the catalogue and realised it’s actually a very versatile set. Not the cheapest set at $82.95, but there are 28 stamps in it – so less than $3 per stamp. I think that’s pretty good value, I’m going to get a lot of projects made using this set, just watch! (Well, as soon as I get them all mounted that is…). I’ve fallen in love recently with the 3×3″ card size and these stamps are just perfect for embellishing those!
Recipe:
Stamps: Occasionally, Congrats (Sale-A-Bration set)
Ink: Real Red, So Saffron, Green Galore, Basic Black
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red, So Saffron, Green Galore
Other: 1/4″, 1″ and 1 1/4″ circle punches, 2-way glue pen, Stampin’ Dimensionals
If you like the look of this little cupcake stamp and want your own,
click here to e-mail me and we’ll get that set ordered for you right away! (NZ residents only of course, that’s the rules!)
Happy stamping!
Jan 20, 2009 | Uncategorized |
Hi everyone,
I’ve got a wee backlog here of projects I’ve made and photographed and not posted to my blog, so I thought I had better share one (especially as we’re still waiting to see the next Kristina challenge, right?).
Over the past year or so I’ve developed something of a challenge for myself whenever I’ve got orders of Stampin’ Up! products to distribute to my wonderful customers. Quite often, especially if there’s more than one person ordering, I’ll put in a bit of effort to make a pretty tag to label up their bags of goodies, so I know who should get each bag. I don’t really have the time to do this, but I can’t help myself… I know some of you look forward to seeing what I’ll come up with next! And to make it extra hard for me, the tag designs have so far been different every time I’ve had a batch of orders come in! That’s a lot of tag ideas! These are the first ones I’ve actually photographed, oh dear I could have had a month of posts ready to go. And I can’t remember what I made a year ago either so making more to photograph would be impossible. Oh well never mind, there’s always the next design!
This set of tags uses a cute flower from the Sale-A-Bration set, Polka Dot Punches. With all those dots, I thought it went really nicely with the frame from Frames With a Flourish. There was a bit of cutting out involved with these tags, but otherwise they’re pretty simple to make! I did use some of the retired silver cord that Stampin’ Up! had here last year – I love the stuff and still have about 4 rolls of it left, as I stockpiled it when I heard that we weren’t going to be able to buy it anymore! I hope this week’s recipients of these tags like my little snippet of inspiration. Thanks ladies!
Recipe:
Stamps: Polka Dot Punches, Frames with a Flourish, Occasional Greetings
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Tempting Turquoise (marker)
Other: East Coast Prep Designer Series Paper, corner rounder, 1/16″ hole punch, 1/4″ circle punch, silver cord (retired).
If you’d like to get a little inspiration from me and receive one of my tags made with TLC, or better yet, the Polka Dot Punches SAB set so you can make your own,
click here to e-mail me and place your order!
Thanks for visiting!
Jan 20, 2009 | Uncategorized |
Hi everyone!
This is a slightly different post for me tonight, two of my stamping friends nominated me for the Marie Antoinette Award. Thanks ladies!
Now being new to blogging, I really don’t know that many other bloggers yet that I can nominate in turn (especially as all the ones I know well have already been nominated!). So while I’m supposed to nominate another 7 bloggers, I’m going to have to do less than that. But the ones I’ve chosen are really talented ladies and I’ve become a regular stalker of their blogs!
Apparently what I have to do with this award is:
2. Nominate 7 more persons
3. Link the nominees and let them know about this award
4. Post the award on my own blog
Here are my blog nominations, in no particular order of course!
Thanks to these ladies for all the wonderful inspiration they give me!
Jan 15, 2009 | Uncategorized |
Hi Everyone!
Back again with my entry to
Kristina’s challenge for the week. Now THAT one was a challenge for me. Not with the colours, strangely, since the combo is different, but I struggled with the layout this week! Almost all of the time I sketch out my design on paper (often because the ideas come to me when I’m not actually crafting!) and this week, it just wouldn’t work the way I wanted it to. I think the problem was I’d been thinking of a particular flower image that turned out to be too big for the card I wanted to make. This card is really super simple, but it took me hours to get it made! So I didn’t get other things done that I should have been doing…. Oh well… I am not normally the sort that wastes a lot of cardstock in the process, but you should see how many cut out flowers and circles I now need to recycle!
So anyway, here’s my entry, it’s pretty self explanatory so I won’t tell you too much except to say I’d really wanted to put a knot in the Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon (near the bottom of the card) but it was a little bit too much with all the other stuff that’s on there. I love the Lots of Dots jumbo wheel from our Summer mini (this was the first time it got to see ink too!) so that was a must include. I kept lots of white in the design because there’s lots of white in the notepad that was Kristina’s inspiration for these colours. I nearly used Stampin’ Dimensionals to adhere the flowers but then decided against it – eventually I will probably mail this card somewhere and with the layers and buttons on there, it’s already thick enough!
Recipe:
Stamps: Friendly Flowers, Lots of Dots jumbo wheel (both from Summer Mini)
Ink: Pretty In Pink, Ruby Red, Pumpkin Pie
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pretty In Pink, Ruby Red, Pumpkin Pie
Other: Pumpkin Pie 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon, Earth Elements & Soft Subtles buttons, 1 1/4″, 1 3/8″ circle punches, scallop circle punch
I took the photo at night, using my OTT light (should have been using that all along shouldn’t I!). I haven’t got time to re-shoot it this morning, but I’m guessing it would be even better if I used the OTT light when there’s still natural light from outside. Strangely, there isn’t any at midnight!
If you want to ask any questions about this card or place an order so you can make your own, click
here to e-mail me.
Thanks for visiting!
Jan 8, 2009 | Uncategorized |
Hi everyone!
Here’s this week’s entry to
Kristina’s colour challenge. You know how sometimes this “works”, as in the card in real life turns out exactly as you pictured it in your head? Well, for once this actually was the case for me! Doesn’t happen often! I spotted Kristina’s colour combo late last night, had an idea and less than half an hour later – ta da! Super simple this week (are you amazed at how I can now do simple? I am!). We don’t have Baja Breeze here so again I used Soft Sky. I thought that by embossing the card base, the embossed bits would turn a darker shade, which I think gets me one step closer to Baja Breeze. Can any of you lovely USA or Canadian readers confirm that for me please – if you clear emboss on Soft Sky, does it look any closer to Baja Breeze? Thank you!
A colour combination like this one – Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and a blue colour of sorts – is my favourite combination for masculine cards. But I think this one is a bit more girly, with the bling I added! I love how the scallops from the Chocolate chip scallop square just peek out from behind the stamped image. I thought about cutting off some of the white border so you can see more of the chocolate chip, but I think the white really helps to make the focal image stand out more. The base card is textured – so the embossing powder doesn’t always get down into every line, it gives it a bit of a rustic, almost distressed look which adds another texture.
Recipe (All supplies from Stampin’ Up!):
Stamps: Baroque, It’s All Good
Cardstock: Soft Sky (textured), Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Versamark, Old Olive
Other: Clear Embossing Powder, 5/8″ Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Fire Rhinestone Brads, Flower Fusion felt flower, Scallop Square punch, 1 1/4″ square punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals
This week I’ve got the same card in two different shots to show you – which one do you prefer? I’ve got a photo box on the way to help me take better photographs of my work, that should help with lighting/shadows, but I tried using a white background for a change and wasn’t so sure – does it look washed out? I do like a picture with a bit of the product I’ve used, showing, but does it distract you from the card? I would love to know what you think. Please leave a comment or
e-mail me, thanks!
Thanks for visiting!
Hi everyone! 
