And there's more.......

...more of the So Very Grateful creations - the ones that Chris and I did together on Wednesday.

Chris's Card

My card

White base card, Crumb Cake card, stock, So Very Grateful stamp set inked in Versamark 

and heat embossed with White embossing powder.

Images inked with Strawberry Slush and Old Olive inks

and sentiment from Perfectly Penned stamped in Strawberry Slush too.

I think that Chris's looks more crisp than mine, but I am happy with the result.

So Very Grateful

As I did the rounds of the blogs that I regularly read, the other day, I spotted 

a card on Zoe's blog that reminded me of a technique that I hadn't used in a while.

Thus inspired, yesterday, Chris (sis-in-law) and myself set about making a couple of cards

utilising this technique.  Here's one of my cards.

Basically, what you do is stamp your image in Versamark, then heat emboss with 

White embossing Powder.  Colour everything in with White Re-Inker and an Aqua Painter.

Allow to dry, then colour in your image as desired.

I chose to leave the flowers white, and just paint the leaves with Old Olive ink.

Two tiny butterflies cut using the Beautiful Wings Embosslits die, and embellished

with tiny Basic Pearls finish this card off nicely.

Colour combo is Crumb Cake and White with a hint of Old Olive

and the stamp set used is "So Very Grateful"

All products used are Stampin' Up!

I have once again left the card without a sentiment, but will add a small sentiment

when I decide what occasion I will be sending the card for.

Come back tomorrow and I'll show you another card that both Chris and I made

and I'll show you them both.

All Occasion card (and hand made template)

Whilst browsing Pinterest the other day I came across a card that had been made

with a Harlequin die.  I haven't got one of these, so I set about and made my own 

diamond stencil.  I used my Stampin' Up! Triangle punch to make the diamond shape,

first of all in paper - and since then I have made one in acetate.

This card was made using the paper template - which was a trifle dodgy

as I was working blind placing the diamonds.  In fact I am quite impressed with the result, it will be a lot easier with the acetate one.

Here's the finished card, that I have decided to leave blank, in fact I shall make a few that will be suitable for all occasions, and will just need a sentiment.

The colours which I used and stippled into the stencil were:

Real Read, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Old Olive, Coastal Cabana and Pacific Point.

The flower is from the !Love and Sympathy" stamp set,

but I think that this card with the lovely bright colours will lend itself to many different occasions.

Just to give you an idea of how difficult it was to place these diamonds, here is my paper template!

As I said earlier, it will be a lot easier to make the next card now that I have made one out of acetate.  Enjoy!!

WWWU week 6 - Fresh Prints.

I can't believe that it's week six of Wades Weekly Warm Up!!

It's where the lovely Julie Wade comes up with a wonderful colour combo

and we Jems have to come up with a card using them.

Here's this weeks offering.

The colours are: 

Bermuda Bay, Real Red, Crumb Cake and Coastal Cabana

I have punched the flowers out using the Petite Petals punch in the colours above.

I matted a strip of Fresh Prints DSP onto a broader strip of Crumb Cake card stock.

Two leaves are punched in Crumb Cake card using the Bird Builder punch

The greeting is from "Four You" stamp set.

Basic Rhinestones for the flower centres.

All products are Stampin' Up!

(The photo doesn't do it justice as the colours are so vibrant IRL

but you can imagine them I'm sure!!)

In-Colour Anniversary

Here's a card that my down-line Carol made last Thursday and has given me permission to case.

CAS Anniversary

Colour Combo - In Colours :- Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Strawberry Slush, 

Coastal Cabana. Baked Brown Sugar.

Hearts a Flutter stamp set and matching Framelits used to cut out hearts.

Small heart punched with Itty Bitty heart punch in Silver glimmer paper.

Basic Pearls embellishments.

Thanks Carol!

WWWU - Sympathy card

I had another sympathy card to make this week , it was for the family of one

 of my Stampin' Up! sisters (one of our Julies' Jems family) Doreen.

I always find it difficult to decide what colours to use on a sympathy card,

but our Colour Combo Queen - Julie Wade comes up with some super combinations

for us to use, so I used this weeks colours.

Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pool Party and Midnight Muse.

The sentiment is from "Love and Sympathy" stamp set.

image from "Hopeful Thoughts" and the background "Hardwood" stamp.

Double Peek a boo card.

Here's the second card that we made at Anita's on Wednesday - I love it.

Anita made a smaller version for her Convention Swaps in November

 and we had asked her if she would show us the mechanics of this clever card.

Card Closed

Card opening

Card fully open.

It's difficult to see how cleverly this card works on the photos, 

but what happens is, as you open the card, the flowers slide back to reveal the greetings.

We were thrilled to bits with this!!

Colour Combo is a very simple Pool Party and White - with a touch

of Old Olive for the leaves.

The stamp set is Bright Blossoms.

The ribbon is retired, but is available in the Clearance rack still!

Sentiments from Petite Pairs stamp set

Thank you so much Anita for showing us how to make this fabulous card!

Get Well Lucas

Today is the first day of the school Half-term Holiday and Lexie and Lucas were going

 to spend the day with me doing some fun things.

Lucas however, is not very well and his mum has taken him through to the hospital.

He has been having problems for a while so it's best to be careful and he will be given 

a thorough once-over.

Lexie and I have been left struggling to find something that both of us can enjoy doing

(not!) so we decided we would have a girlie day crafting together.

Lexie has made her very own Zoo Babies pop-up box card (which I will post later), whilst I have made a card for Lucas.

Card closed

Card semi open

Card fully open.

Lucas is now 10 years old and so he doesn't do kisses anymore!

So I have sent him a kiss to make it better!!

I have used the Thinlets Circle flip card die to cut out this card

which is made from Pacific Point card stock.

The papers are from the Fresh Prints DSP stack, sentiments from Petite Pairs,

and the elephant is from Zoo Babies.

(He might not appreciate the kiss, but he'll like the money that I have put inside it!!)

Lexie has had the same amount of money, 

but she has spent hers on a CD of the soundtrack from Frozen.

She has made a folder in which she is putting all the lyrics from Frozen.

She has decorated the front with a picture of Elsa.

Here's her folder.

She had a great time cutting out all these letters on the Big Shot.
(But she loves singing the songs so much better!)

Lexie loves it! 

Do you ??

Another pop-up box card.

You may recall that I went to Anita's yesterday to craft with Chris and Cheryl.

Anita had two fabulous projects for us to share - here is the first one.

box open

Close up view from above

All the flowers are stamped and punched with the Petite Petals stamp set and matching punch.

Three different flowers were stamped in Melon Mambo, and the little butterfly from

Papillon Potpourri was stamped in Early Espresso (although it looks like black here!)

then punched out with the Bitty Butterfly punch.

The box was made using Crumb Cake card stock matted with Gingham Garden DSP.

The leaves were die cut from Pear Pizzazz card stock using the Secret Garden Framelits.

Thank you Anita for sharing this with us - I really enjoyed making this - and thank you for turning the handle on the Big Shot so many times to cut those leaves out for the three of us!!

Come back tomorrow to see the second fabulous project we made with Anita!

Another Fancy Foil Vellum card

I was so pleased with the Silver Fancy Foil Vellum card that I made yesterday

that I decided to do another one in the Gold.

The recipe is the same as yesterdays card, but instead of ribbon I

have used the new Gold Bakers Twine and instead of Rhinestone

flower centres I have used some gold brads from my stash.

The quality of the vellum is quite substantial and those gold spots are just yummy.

Mmmm - I might just have to do some more of these to keep for myself

(the two I have made have to be given/sent today)

Eileen's Birthday

Tomorrow is one of my friend (and fellow crafter), Eileen's birthday.

She will be 70 years young!.

I decided against putting a number on this card as I was very happy with the finished result,

to have added anything, I think, would have spoiled it.

Colour combo of this is a very simple Silver and White.

The diagonal striped vellum (Silver Fancy Foil Designer Vellum from the Spring Summer Catalogue) )was cut to cover the front of the card with a half inch wrap-over,

at the back, which was stuck down.

Two holes were punched in the front,  1/2" in from the spine and about an inch apart,

and the  Silver 1/8" ribbon was threaded through and tied in a bow.

The Silver Designer frame was embossed then cut out and stuck onto

 a rectangle of white card to make the picture frame effect.

 The Petite Petals flowers were stamped in Versamark, then heat embossed

with Silver embossing powder, cut out with the matching punch and the petals curled.

The Silver leaves are cut with the Bird Builder punch.

The sentiment (from Petite Pairs stamp set) was similarly heat embossed

using Silver embossing powder, punched with the large oval punch, 

then layered onto a punched silver Scallop Oval.

I used double sided tape to attach the vellum to the front of the card

behind the frame and behind the oval where it would not be visible.

I do hope that Eileen likes this - I loved making it!!

The first of many!!

I have quite a few birthdays this month, so I thought I'd better get a move on and 

make sure that they are ready for posting/delivering.

These two cards are variations on a theme that's unashamedly cased from 

Amanda's Blog (The Craft Spa)

Main colour Crumb Cake

Main colour Coastal Cabana

                                                Both cards use the same colours
                                    Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, real Red and White.
                                 The little banner is from (SAB) Banner Blast stamp set.
                                             Flowers from Petite Petals stamp set
                  (both these stampsets have matching punches which makes these most useful!)
                                             Sentiment from Four You stamp set.
                                                      Two down - eight to go!!

Fresh Prints

Another card for a man today - similar design to yesterday's but different papers -

this uses the Fresh Prints DSP stack and the colour combo is

Cherry Cobbler, Coastal Cabana and Crumb Cake

(I actually made a mistake with the colours as the red on the papers is Real Red,

but because I didn't read what the colours were I ended up using Cherry Cobbler - doh!)

I don't know whether it's obvious or not - you tell me!

The sentiment is from Label Love and this was stamped then fussy cut out and matted onto 

a  punched out Artisan Label in Cherry Cobbler.
Triangles were punched with the Triangle punch (would you believe that!)
in all three colours.

I punched out 3 faux brads made with a 1/4" circle punch in Red Glimmer paper.

I think I'm on a roll with mens' cards!  I'll see what I can come up with tomorrow.

Retro Fresh

Needed a new design for a man's card today, so decided to start with the

Retro Fresh Designer series Papers and the Triangle punch.

Here's what I made

Colour combo of Tangerine Tango, Coastal Cabana and Baked Brown Sugar.

The only stamping on this card is the sentiment from the  Four You stamp set.

I'm quite happy with this one.

Happy Birthday Emma

Today is not only Valentine's Day, but it's also the birthday of my niece

(who is also my God-daughter) Emma, and here's the card I made for her.

Colour combo of Basic Black, Real Red and White.

Two of my favourite stamp sets of the moments (if you hadn't noticed!!)

Gorgeous Grunge and Petite Petals (and with the matching punch, it  makes it 

so easy to create these beautiful little flowers)

The really tiny flowers are from the Summer Silhouettes stampset

and the sentiment is from Perfectly Penned.

Basic Rhinestones for the flower centres.

Happy Birthday Emma!!

Banner Blast meets Gorgeous Grunge - Take 2.

Yesterday I posted my colour way of this card - today I am posting Chris's colour way.

The colours are exactly the same as mine, the same stamp sets are used, 

but we have used different colours for the base card - 

Mine was Pool Party and Chris's is Crisp Cantaloupe.

Banner Blast meets Gorgeous Grunge

Here is another one of the 3 cards that I made at Chris's the other week.

You can see that I am really in a grunge mood!!

Colour Combo is

Pool Party, Crisp Cantaloupe, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla.

Stamp sets used :  Perfectly Penned, Gorgeous Grunge and Banner Blast.

Banners cut out with the matching Banner Punch.

Sale-a-bration Decorative Dots Embossing Folder.

Sympathy card plus insert.

Here is the second of the sympathy cards that I made, this one is the same design as the original,

but a different colour way, and I have done a co-ordinating insert for this too.

Sympathy card

Sympathy insert

The colours on this card are:

Basic Gray, Smokey Slate, Pistachio Pudding and Rose Red

(which is the colour combo for this weeks WWWU colour challenge #4)

At first I wasn't sure that these colours would work together, but they really do!!

Zoo Babies Pop-up box card

I have admired all the beautiful pop up box cards that I have seen on my travels,

but only just got round to making one.  The inspiration that spurred me on

was my Stampin' Up! Mummy Julie's card which was on display at our

Monthly Training Session last Wednesday.

I didn't have this stamp set, but my good friend and down-line Carol kindly brought the 

stamp set to our Thursday Craft Class and together we set about making this.

Front view - open

Top view

Side view 1

Side view2

Card closed for posting

The stamp set used is Zoo Babies, and the colour combo is

So Saffron, Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana, and Tangerine Tango.

All the little animals were stamped, then fussy cut and stuck onto acetate strips.

The papers used were Retro Fresh DSP.

If I decide to part with this, I will put a number on the front flap showing how old the recipient is.

The sentiment is from Banner Greetings (Hostess).

I am so pleased with the result -

thanks Julie for the inspiration - might now have a go at different designs.

Get well soon!

If you popped round yesterday, then you will know that my friend Liz asked for

us to make Sympathy and Get Well cards, so that we were prepared for

every eventuality when the need arose. Yesterday I did the Sympathy card

and today, here is the Get Well card.

I have used the same image (from the Love and Sympathy stamp set), 

just changed the colours and the sentiment.

Colour Combo is Old Olive, Crushed Curry and Pumpkin Pie

sentiment from Hopeful Thoughts stamp set and inked with Cajun Craze.

I am not sure whether the colours are cheerful enough  - what do you think?

WWWU round 3

It's time for Wade's Weekly Warm up number 3!

Our Jems team has started a weekly colour challenge and Julie Wade is the

kind lady who comes up with these fantastic colour combos for us.

This week's colours are :

 Elegant Eggplant, Melon Mambo, Pear Pizzazz and Rich Razzleberry......

and here's my card.

My friend Liz and I were out shopping this morning and she asked if we could make a couple of

sympathy cards and a couple of get well cards (before the need arises) as very often, when we need these cards we are not in the right frame of mind to tackle the subject. 

Our Weekly Warm Up colour challenge seemed a good opportunity to tackle two birds with one stone (so to speak!)   The stamp set used for this card is Love and Sympathy and I think it is a beautiful and very fitting image

 and the sentiments are so comforting.

Petite Petals meets grunge - again!

I do think that these two stamp sets really complement each other.

What do you think?

The two stamp sets used were Gorgeous Grunge and Petite Petals.

Colour combo Pistachio Pudding and Crisp Cantaloupe, on White (with a little Gold)

Sentiment from Sweet Essentials.

I have cased this card from Lindsay Tindal

click on the link to visit Lindsay's blog and see more of her great work!.

I love this card so much I don't want to part with it - better make another!!

Thank you cards for January.

Here are a selection of the cards that I am giving to my customers who ordered products

 in January.

Baked Brown Sugar and Coastal Cabana

Baked Brown Sugar and Blushing Bride

Baked Brown Sugar and Strawberry  Slush

Baked Brown Sugar and Pistachio Pudding

Stamp sets used are Gorgeous Grunge, Petite Petals (plus matching punch!)

and Perfectly Penned.

I have also used some papers from the In Colours DSP stack.

I am really getting into this grunge lark!!

A CAS General Birthday card

Not had much time to craft today - got up late (went to bed late last night!),

Mavis called to see me and I gave her her  Congratulations card - she was thrilled with it!

Tuesday Craft Class this afternoon, just had a cuppa and taken some piccies,

although the light is still poor, and now am here to show you my latest make.

Its a very CAS card that will do for a man or a teenager, indeed, I wouldn't mind

 receiving it myself as I love the colour combo of Black, White, Crumb Cake

 and Coastal Cabana.  I had been working with 2 cards using Crumb Cake and Coastal Cabana,

 and when I came to tidy up the desk, these slivers of card inspired me to 

play around with them and I came up with this design.

Not a lot of work, just a little tricky weaving the strips of card and glueing 

the pieces where they cross.  So it might not be suitable for a card in a hurry!

The sentiment is the only stamping on this card and comes from the "Four You" set

What do you think of this?

Congratulations Mavis!!

Yesterday I made a congratulations card for one of my down-line, 

Mavis, who reached Bronze 2 in January.

Here it is.....

The colour combination on this is - Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana,

 Crisp Cantaloupe, Strawberry Slush and Pistachio Pudding.

Once again I have used Petite Petals to stamp the flowers and then 

cut them out using the matching punch. 

I used sentiments from 2 stamp sets - Congratulations from Sweet Essentials 

and Celebrate Today from Perfectly Penned.

The background was created using the Gorgeous Grunge stamp-set.

Tiny Basic Pearls used for the flower centres.

So ... once again - Congratulations Mavis!

Petite Petals

This stamp set is fast becoming a favourite of mine -

I saw  this design on my fellow Jem - Amanda's Blog

when we did our Team's Sale-a-bration Blog Hop,

and after asking permission to case, made this card in a different colourway.

Blushing Bride, Smokey Slate and White

I used some Blushing Bride DSP instead of a stamped image on this version.

 And here's my CASEd card from Amanda's original one.

I have used the same colours and design, but changed the sentiment.

Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake and White.

I used the Petite Petals stamp set and matching punch for the flowers,

and the free SAB Banner Punch for the little banner.

Sentiment from Blooming with Kindness.

Thank you Amanda for your inspiration!

WWWU#2

Here's my entry for our Jems' weekly Challenge Wade's Weekly Warm Up number 2.

The Colours we had to use this week were:

Sahara Sand, Pool Party, Basic Black and Crisp Cantaloupe.

I used a base card of Sahara Sand and embossed a piece of Black cardstock

with the Arrows Textured Impressions embossing. 

The next layer is Pool Party, then another Black.

I stamped the image and sentiment from Happy Congratulations onto Sahara Sand card stock.

Then, using the Stamp-a-magig, I stamped in the circles with Sahara Sand, 

Crisp Cantaloupe and Pool Party.

Finishing touches were the two coils of Pool Party Twine (free SAB product!)

I am quite pleased with this!