Friday 29 March 2013

Simple Thank You Cards

I made these for my order thank you's this week.



The flowers were very easy to do; punch a couple of scallop circles, you can use any size.  Mine are the 1 3/4" scallop in Pink Pirouette.
Sponge the edges with ink.  I like tone on tone but you can highlight them more by using a slightly darker shade than your card stock.
Using your paper snips, snip every two scallops.  Don't cut all the way to the centre or they'll fall off!
With your bone folder, curl the petals gently upwards.
Once you've done this for both scallops, attach them in the centre with a glue dot.  
Attact a button or antique brad to the centre of the top flower.
I used dimensionals to attach them to the card.



Happy Easter everyone!
Cheers
Karen

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Online Ordering is Here!

We've been patiently waiting to catch up with our US counterparts at Stampin' Up! and now, finally, the patience has paid off.

As of today, you can order online 24/7.  How cool is that?!

You can access my online store here.   You will be directed to my website (see below)


Once there, simply click on the Shop Now button near the top right-hand corner and you will land on the store home page (see below).


It really couldn't be easier!

Of course, you can continue to order from me directly, if that's what you prefer.  But now you have a choice.

The second piece of exciting news is that MDS has arrived.  What is MDS?  It stands for My Digital Studio, a software package exclusive to Stampin' Up! that you can download and use to make digital scrapbooks, calendars, photo books and more.  It's going to be a great idea for Christmas gifts! It comes with content already loaded, but of course you can also get lots more content from Stampin' Up! and they're bringing new things out all the time.   And the best part?  It's only $24.95!

If you're not sure about using a digital medium for your scrapbooking, you can download a 30 day FREE trial.  Try before you buy!

Click on this link to have a look at a video that gives you an overview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwgoEx_mn1Q

Right-o that's enough for one day!  Lots of exciting things happening, and a great way to shop is now at your fingertips.

Cheers
Karen





Mojo Monday 286

Another week has flown by and brings Mojo Monday around again.

My card for this weeks sketch is very literal, but I'm happy with it and it was very quick to make.



I started by choosing the DSP - Floral District.  From there it was a no-brainer; choose the coordinating stamp set - Betsy's Blossoms.

The DSP determined the colours and voila, card in a flash!

Happy Tuesday!
Karen

Tuesday 19 March 2013

Mojo Monday 285

Here's this weeks Mojo Monday sketch. 
 
I can't believe I actually made my card on the day the challenge appeared in my inbox!  That's a first.


Anyway, in honour of the last couple days of Sale-a-Bration for 2013 I figured I'd better use some Sycamore Street DSP & Island Indigo Ribbon from the ribbon/button pack.

I had intended to use the Vintage Verses stamp set, also from SAB but then the little birdie caught my eye from Easy Events (annual catty) and I couldn't say no to him!

Send me an email or give me a call if you have last minute SAB needs!
Cheers
Karen

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Mojo Monday 284 & Sale-a-Bration 2013

Mojo Monday rolls around quick doesn't it?  The weeks just fly on by and we craft & craft!  How lucky am I?  Oh, I think I have the beginnings of a poem there...giggle.

Ok, here's this weeks sketch.

And here's my interpretation.
I've used the Sycamore Street DSP & Vintage Verses stamp set from the current Sale-a-Bration offerings.  The colours (Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie) were chosen courtesy of the Colour Coach again.  I know, I've been using this tool a lot lately because it's good to work with things that I mightn't otherwise try.

The Vintage Flower Trim, and Bitty Butterfly are in the current Autumn Winter mini.  You NEED both of these!  Why not order them now while SAB is still on?  The scallop in Rich Razzleberry on the bottom of the Whisper White CS was made using the large scallop Edgelits.

So, check out this supply list to see if you could make this card and get a freebie:

Rich Razzleberry Cardstock 11.95
Whisper White Cardstock  14.95
Rich Razzleberry Ink  9.95
Vintage Flower Trim  11.95
Bitty Butterfly Punch  27.95
Rhinestone Jewels 8.95
Ribbon - substitute Old Olive Taffeta  9.95
Scallop Edgelit* 13.95

Total product spend:  109.60

So YES you can earn the stamp set, Vintage Verses for FREE.  That's 4 gorgeous stamps!

If you don't have a *Big Shot (you need one of these!), you could add it to your order and then you'll get the Sycamore Street DSP FREE as well!  

Up it again to include the Colour Coach, In Color cards & Vellum, and you've got yourself another FREEBIE!  The Madison Avenue set of 5 stamps makes perfect sense as it coordinates beautifully with the paper!

Don't delay.  Call or email today - there's only a week left in this great promotion.
Cheers
Karen

Clean & Simple Pretty Petites

This is a versatile stamp set, and because it's got a co-ordinating punch, both of which you can get for FREE during our Sale-a-Bration promotion (be quick, it ends on 22 March), you can make some clean and simple cards in a flash.



I used the colour coach for the colour combo in this card.  Way out of my comfort zone, but I think it'd be great for a young person's birthday, male or female.

The Chevron embossing folder was used on the Tempting Turquoise layer and the rest is self explanatory.  All the layers were in my scrap box.  Love that!  I think the whole card took around 5 minutes.  Not bad eh?

Happy Tuesday
Cheers
Karen

Monday 11 March 2013

Island Indigo Gift Set

We made a card in class last month that I wanted to use in a gift set.   It uses the Pleasant Poppies stamp in Island Indigo.

Here's what I added to make it a set:
The white paper bag with string handles was stamped randomly by inking up one of the poppies from the Pleasant Poppies stamp (C-129499) with a marker.  I've used Island Indigo and Calypso Coral.  I added a few butterflies along the bottom from the Papillon Potpourri set (C-123759).  The DSP was a piece from the Festival of Prints in the Holiday catty (2012).  It's the perfect size to make a pocket that holds the card. 
I made the flower using the Fun Flowers die and the Big Shot.  The DSP is from Summer Smooches & the brad is from last years designer printed pack.
This cute little bag/box is a CASE from the current catty.  Inside are tea lights for the gift (see below).  It uses the Fancy Favor die and more DSP from Summer Smooches.   I've attached a paper clip as a closer and the heart was punched with Calypso Coral.  The "ribbon" is made from white cardstock stamped with Happy Birthday out of the Curly Cute set.  You make loops of different sizes and attach them all together, wrapping another small piece to make the centre of the "bow".

Here's the whole ensemble.......
.....complete with bird cage gift and Calypso Coral coloured tea light.  So cute! 

Wishing you a great start to the week!
Cheers
Karen

Friday 8 March 2013

Stipple Kissing at Stamp University

Here's yet another technique we did at Stamp University (boy those ladies were busy!).  This is called Stipple Kissing - cute eh?!

You'll need a stipple brush for this.  You can buy them in craft stores and they come in a variety of sizes.  Think old shaving brush - the kind your dad probably used!  Of course, they were huge, and you can certainly use them, but you'll mostly want something a bit smaller.



Choose two colours of ink. I used More Mustard & Cajun Craze.

Start by inking up your stamp in the lighter colour and then working quickly, dab your stipple brush into the darker ink.  I kind of "swipe" mine across the ink pad.  Then "stipple" (dab or tap) the brush onto the stamp in the areas you want to highlight.  You may need to breathe on the stamp to moisten the ink before you stamp it onto your cardstock.

You can make the effect more dramatic by choosing different colours - Certainly Celery and Perfect Plum look amazing, particularly on large flower images.
After inking the stamp with Certainly Celery, the stipple brush was dabbed randomly all over the flower in Perfect Plum.
 
Or you can be more considered and stipple focal points like the centre of the flower and edges of the petals.

This would also be a great way to make leaves look like they're changing colour in the autumn.

TGIF!  Hope the weekend is lots of fun and you can squeeze in some crafting.
Cheers
Karen

Thursday 7 March 2013

What I did Today

It was the first day of the Stitches and Craft fair at Rosehill today, and while I'm not the sewing type - kind of wish I was, but really can't get into it, I did have a fabulous day and learned some new tricks.

Skye Rogers was the guest artist and quite frankly, she's fabulous!  We made our way to her stand first and were able to sit down and partake in making an accordian book.

Skye uses lots of recycled materials and is big on anything sustainable and repurposed.  She has a passion for used envelopes, old books and bits of timber, and will also mould bowls and other decorative items from paper. 

We returned to her stand after lunch and made milk carton vases.  Mine is the one in the front left.  What a blast! 

Thanks Skye, it was lots of fun!

Monday 4 March 2013

Revitalised Vellum

Here's another of the techniques I showed at Stamp University last month.  It's a great technique for backgrounds and can be used in all types of cards. 

Start by choosing two or three colours of ink.   This technique works best when each colour is darker than the last.  The sample shown uses Bashful Blue, Night of Navy & Midnight Muse.

Cut your vellum piece to size.  I wouldn't try to do more than an A5 piece at a time because the ink will dry too quickly.



Swipe your lightest ink pad all over the vellum. 

Working quickly, swipe the first darker ink over the first colour.  Be sure to swipe in different directions so you get some depth.

Swipe the darkest shade last and be sure that the vellum is nice and wet.

Ink up your stamp with Versamark and stamp onto the vellum.  The Versamark will "lift" the ink off the vellum leaving the image behind.

Clean the stamp, ink again in Versamark and stamp again.  Continue with this step until you have the look you want.

Let the vellum dry for 5 to 10 minutes, or use a heat gun to speed up the process, but be careful or the vellum will warp.

Attach vellum to a piece of light coloured cardstock to really see the pattern & images pop.

Note:  You can use either side of the vellum as the front, it's really up to you to decide which side you like best.

Thanks for looking.
Cheers
Karen