Free As A Bird The World Needs More Card

Following on from yesterday's post, here's a couple more cards in the same style.

This card was great for using up some of the smaller pieces of Designer Series Paper leftover from another project.

What do you think of that little embossed circle?  It's the pop-out from the Picture This die with the Ornate Floral embossing folder.

I actually used the Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper in this card.  The feathers are so pretty.  

Don't you love it when your stamps and die cuts are a perfect match?  The stamp is from Free As A Bird and the die cut is out of the Tasteful Labels kit.

This is the last card - I promise!   I love the Crumb Cake & Blackberry Bliss colour combo.  The DSP is retired now & particularly the one in the top panel was very hard for me to use.  It's from a pack called Something Borrowed and I still have a couple of sheets left that I will probably save forever!!

This design shows how different patterns can work well together when you get the colour and pattern size in harmony.   But in all honesty, I just go with what I like.  Sure we can apply all sorts of design rules, but the most important thing is for you to enjoy what you make.

Leave a comment if you like what you see :)

Happy Hump Day!

Free As A Bird Just Because Card & Pseudo Spotlighting

 I received a lovely thank you card from one of my craft ladies this week and I loved the way she had used layers and picked out some details creating an effect that was as much art as card....if you know what I mean.  Anyway, thanks Carole, because you inspired me!

Today’s card uses the Picture This die to make three frames for the beautiful Bird Ballad DSP, sadly retired :(

The "birds on a branch" were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and watercoloured using my Classic Ink pads and an aqua painter.  Definitely my preferred way to watercolour because it's so easy, even I can do it!!  I then cut out the whole image.  

TIP: Stamp your image and give it a few minutes to thoroughly dry.  That way it won't bleed when you watercolour it.  Don't have the brush too wet - I like to blot it on paper towel - otherwise your cardstock will warp as it dries.

The small squares were made by stamping an image and using a 1" square punch to cut them out.  This is a different take on the spotlighting technique, adding interest to the design. 

I stamped the greeting on to the narrow rectangle that came out of the main die cut and used my square punch to create a banner shape at one end.  You can see another idea using spotlighting here.

What stamps have you got that you could try out the pseudo spotlighting technique?

Happy stamping :)

Free As A Bird Colour Inspo

 This week I'm making cards with the Free As A Bird set from Stampin' Up!

                  Item 149468 Set of 12 cling stamps

My friend Susie sent me this gorgeous photograph of a parrot, and that provided some inspiration for the colours of my little birdies!

The base card is Coastal Cabana, with a layer of DSP from Expressions in Ink - this one is Pale Papaya.  The birds were stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and so was the flower.  I coloured the image with Stampin' Write Markers using Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay.  The leaves are Old Olive and the branch is Early Espresso.   I wanted the flower to be a little softer in colour so I used an Aqua Painter and the Pale Papaya Classic Ink, and it's popped up using a dimensional.

For the sentiment, I stamped on Basic White and cut out with a die from Tasteful Labels.

If you have a go at a card like this, please leave me a comment below.

Happy Stamping

How to Make A Card Folder

 This week I've been playing with the Free As A Bird stamp set.  When it was first introduced, it had a matching DSP, but as you probably know, Stampin' Up! retires it's DSP at the end of the catalogue and we get gorgeous new papers to play with in the new catty.  That said, this year we got a suite of products called Hand-Penned and I was thrilled to find the DSP goes beautifully with Free As A Bird.  Woo hoo!

I made this cute little card folder, ideal to gift a set of your hand made cards.

The folder is made from a piece of A4 scored at 148mm in a Landscape format, and turned 90 degrees and scored at 155mm from the right side in a Portrait format.

The additional piece of DSP for the top extension measures 297mm x 45mm.

You can watch a video to see how I made the project here.   If you would like to order any of the products I've used in this project, hop over to www.stampinup.com.au and use the current month's host code that you can find on my home page.

Have a crafty day!

Karen

The Perfect Card to Send on International Friends Day

 February 4th is International Friends Day!

What a perfect opportunity to send a handmade card or four ;)

So here's a cute idea for a card you can make.  It's a quick one to make because you use Designer Series Paper in layers for depth.  I chose Free As A Bird (149468)  for the sentiment panel, Pick out the colours from the DSP & use the co-ordinating inks to stamp the images.  

  

This one uses Woven Heirlooms (149306). 

    

On both cards I've used retired DSP - I've always got lots of scraps, so I like to find ways to use them up, and this is a great card for that!  I distressed the edges of the stamped layer and used a sponge to add ink which gives a vintage feel.

Why don't you have a go?  Sort through your stash and find something you love.  Cut, stamp, assemble and you'll be ready to send to a friend and make their day!

Happy stamping.