Ye Olde Cupcake Shoppe

Hi everyone - been up to my Stampin' Up! mummy - Julie's, today for monthly training session and have come back inspired. I won't post the projects that we have done today until Julie has posted hers, then you can see what we came up with.
BUT.... Whilst I was there Julie showed us her cupcake cards and I knew that I had to have a go when I got home. So.... Barry has to wait for his dinner, cos I have been busy making this!



And here's where I got the inspiratiuon from Julie's blog Thank you!!

Change around

Isn't it amazing how different cards look when you change around the colours? Whether it be the colour of the cardstock, or the inks, or the ribbon - the effect can be so different to the original.
Today is the same design card as yesterday, but I have instead used Pretty in Pink Cardstock, Black embossing powder and coloured in with a white ink Sigmo Gel pen.
Totally different!!

More February thank you cards

I am getting later posting on my blog these days, but it's cos I am so busy.
Played golf again today - until it rained of course, but we had finished our game by that time!
Here is another of my February thank you cards for my Stampin Up customers - I like to give them a card just to say thank you for their orders (I don't write on it and then they can use it themselves!)
This is a very clean and simple design using the frame once again from the SAB Elementary Elegance and the corner design is the filigree stamp from Creative Elements. Colour Combo is Very Vanilla, Gold, Old Olive and Cajun Craze.
I punched out a Curly label in Old Olive CS and stamped the sentiment on in Cajun Craze.
I embossed in gold both the frame and the corner designs, then coloured in using the blender pens. Voila!!

Happy Birthday Joanne

This card is for my very special friend who has a very special birthday - she is one of those special people whose birthday is 29th February, so this year she celebrates her birthday on the actual day. (Other years she celebrates on the day after the 28th of February)
So her is a very special card that I have made for her.
The colour combo is Pretty in Pink and Basic Black. I have stamped the filigree stamp from creative Elements in Whisper White Craft ink and used Melon Mambo embossing powder, this give it a paler pink colour.
The Scallop Trim Border punch was used to make two separate strips of Pretty in Pink, and the I added a little knotted ribbon to finish off. No need for bling on this little beauty.
I can safely post this card today, as Joanne is neither a blogger nor a crafter, so won't see this before the 29th!

Stephen's Birthday

It's a late posting today, I have been golfing, taking advantage of the mild weather. It was a lovely sunny morning, but it has got progressively cooler as the days gone on. Had a good game, then went shopping, fetched the washing in, and now I can relax after having had a lovely tea.
On the 1st of March it's my nephew Stephen's birthday, and whilst my mojo was working overtime yesterday, I came up with this creation. I'm quite pleased with the results.
Colour Combo is Cajun Craze, More Mustard and Old Olive.
Strips in each colour were punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch.
The frames from "Creative Elements" stamp-set were stamped in each colour.
Computer generated "Stephen" was printed directly into the card .
I used the 1/4" square punch (now retired) to do the little feature at the bottom right.

Happy Birthday Sarah-Jane

Today it's one of my SU sisters, Sarah Jane's birthday and she should by now have received and opened her cards so it's safe to post this piccie.
Night of Navy and So Saffron is the colour combo I have used here.
The background is stamped with the En Francais stamp, and the stamp in the oval Textured Impressions Designer frames Embossing Folder is from the Charming stamp-set.
The sentiment is from You are loved. The flowers are punched using two of the Itty Bitty punches and the flower centre are the tiny circles punched out of the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punched in Night of Navy. Tiny leaves punched out with the Bird Builder punch.Sentiment punched out with the Word Window Punch and layered onto a punched Night of Navy Modern label.
I'm quite pleased with this and do hope that SJ likes it.
Have a great day!

Welcome baby!

My Wednesday Craft Class Ladies asked if they could do baby cards this week and here is one of the designs that I came up with.
This is particularly useful if you need to do a card in advance and don't know the sex of the baby.
It uses both of the "Baby" stamp-sets in the current Catalogue - Little Additions and Bundle of Love.
I randomly stamped the various items in random colours from the Subtles collection of colours, plus Crumb Cake and Wisteria Wonder.
I inked the Baby Tees wheel in So Saffron and rollered it onto So Saffron Card then cut out the Babygrow. Coloured the star in with So Saffron marker, then added Dazzling diamond on the hearts on both the babygrow and bibs.

Another Elementary Elegance

After playing with this SAB stamp-set yesterday, I picked it up again today and tried another of my favourite colour combinations - Basic Black and Pink Pirouette
The motif that the flowers sit in is from Creative Elements and i have used versamark with Melon Mambo EP for both this and the frame.
Little butterflies cut with the Beautiful Wings embosslits and the fringed flowers are finished off with a pink pearl stamen from my stash.

Elementary Elegance

The inspiration for this card came from one that I saw on my SU sister - Sarah-Jane's blog here
I decided to make it in a colour combo of Soft Suede, Gold and Pink Pirouette - although you might be forgiven for doubting that! The colours have not shown up very well at all.
The stamp-set used is from the Sale-a-bration set Elementary Elegance, and the punch is the Lace Ribbon Border - which has gold Mirri card (non SU) behind it. The butterflies are cut from gold mirri card also, using the Beautiful Wings Embosslit die. The frame is embossed with Versamark ink and gold embossing powder, as is the sentiment. The frame is then punched out using the Curly Label Punch.

Baroque beauty

This is my cased version of a card that I received for my birthday from the lovely Chris C
The one I received was in Melon Mambo, Basic Black and Whisper White, and I have substituted the Melon Mambo for Tempting Turquoise.
The Stamp-set used is Baroque Motifs stamped in Versamark and embossed using Black, White and Tempting Turquoise embossing powder.
The sentiment is from Sincere Salutations punched out using the large oval punch and layered onto a scalloped oval punched in Basic Black.
The usual obligatory bling has been added for the finishing touches.
Thanks for this inspiration Chris!.

Richards Birthday

Not sure whether or not you know this, Chris (sis-in-law)is in Australia at the moment, visiting her son Richard.
This is the card that I have sent to my favourite nephew for his birthday today.
I used the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Medium Sizzlits Die to spell his name, the beautiful Mocha Morning Speciality DSP and the sentiment is from the Curly Cute Stampset. (How did I ever manage without this ever so useful set?) The stars I punched in Crumb cake and Very Vanilla CS - but the Star Punch is now sadly retired (but still very useful for men's cards).



Happy Birthday Richard!!

Saturday morning workshop

Hi everyone - a bit late posting today as it has been my monthly Saturday morning workshop. I have just finished tidying up the conservatory and am having a well deserved cuppa (and a slice of cream cake!).
Today my ladies have made an easel calendar card, a Sale-a-bration handbag - see previous posting here , and this Medallion Birthday/Best wishes card.
The lace ribbon border punch is used for making the medallion and the ribbon across the bottom of the card.
Colour Combo is simply Whisper White and Melon Mambo, sentiment from Sincere Salutations stampset - very versatile this set.
After uploading this photo, I can see that I photographed it before I finished it off with my usual bling - so... imagine.... beautiful rhinestones in the middle of the flowers and each flower in the ribbon lace (cos I am too tired to take another photo!)

Simply Adorned Bracelet

Look what the UPS man delivered for me before I went away on my jollies - just in time to take away with me!! I love it. I bought all 4 of the baubles (and don't tell Barry but I bought the Trinket Crowns and Keys as well - I'll show you them later).

February thank yous

I've tried to get ahead of myself by starting to make my February thank you cards for my Stampin' Up customers and guess what - I'm back in monochrome mood - fancy that!!

I have used the rose from You are loved and the Love Blossoms wheel to make this little beauty. Colour Combo - Basic Black and Whisper White.
Enjoy!



Don't know why this looks like Night of Navy, because its Basic Black that I've used - my photography skills are rubbish. Good job that it's crafting that's my hobby and not photography!

Valentine's Day Card

Hello everyone - hope that you had a Happy Valentine's Day yesterday.
Here is the card that I made for my beloved Barry.
The sentiment was computer generated in a square pattern.
Various layers of Whisper White and Cherry Cobbler were layered along with a layer of Whisper White stamped with Parlor Prints in Cherry Cobbler.
The top layer is stamped in Versamark and White embossing powder on Cherry cobbler - with the heart from You are loved.
Still just a big softy at heart!!

Happy Birthday Emma

Today, as well as being Valentines Day, it's the 30th birthday of my niece (who is also my God-daughter) Emma.
We will be spending the day with her and having a meal out together tonight with the family.
I decided that I would do this card (again) - thanks Sharon!! - as I just love it in these colours. Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Chocolate Chip.
Have a great day Emma!!
xxx

Vintage Vogue

Here's a card that I made at Chris's (sis-in-law) a few weeks ago when she was demonstrating SU products to a potential new customer who likes the distressed, vintage style card.
So we made this card that Chris designed, using the Vintage Vogue stampset with Pink Pirouette, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla CS. Tiny Tags were stamped and punched, then fastened on the card with linen thread, which sadly is no longer available - what will I use when this runs out? The flowers were inked using the rock n roll technique and brads were used for the flower centres. Beau Chateau DSP complements the colour combo perfectly.

Another Cupcake card

This is a somewhat simpler cupcake card that was made (once again cased from my SU mummy Julie - see her blog here) which my lovely crafting ladies loved making once again.
You can see the large 2.3/8" scallop circle has been used here - isn't it a really useful size.

My friend

I have a confession to make.
Chris, our new friend Lyn and I, each made a card using the hello sentiment from the My Friend stampset along with the Charming stamp set last Friday.
I was going to post the card that I made , but I noticed that I had smudged my butterfly - so until I get the chance to redo it, you will just have to look at Chris's. (If you are a Facebook fan you may have seen Lyn's already as she really loved it.)
It was cased from the internet, but I am not sure whose blog it came from - if it's yours, please let me know so that I can credit you with it's design.

A pyramid of Cupcakes

Hi everyone - today its quite self explanatory. After seeing Julie's pyramid of cupcakes on her blog here - I had to case it for myself. Yummy!!

Happy Birthday Gemma

Today is the birthday of Gemma, who, up to last month, was part of our Julies' Jems Team. So just to let her know that we haven't forgotten her, I made her this card. I used a colour combo of Calypso Coral and Very Vanilla teamed up with the fabulous (and free) Sale-a-bration DSP. I cut out Gemma's name using the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Dies and the sentiment is from Sincere Salutations, punched with the Oval Punch and layered onto a punched Calypso Coral Decorative Label. Two faux ribbons were punched in Calypso Coral using the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, and finishing touches of Basic Pearls.
Have a great day Gemma!

Sympathy Cards

Last week my cousin died, at the age of 57. He has two younger brothers and his mum is still with us, so I wanted to make them each a sympathy card to let them know that we are thinking of them at this very sad time.
I know that none of us enjoy making sympathy cards, but the stamp-set which I turn to when I have to do them is Hopeful Thoughts.
I decided to keep the cards very plain and just ink-dusted the circles using an acetate template that I made, then I stamped the tree and sentiment in the same colour. The colours that I used were Bravo Burgundy, Night of Navy and Basic Black ( the Black was ink-dusted on Basic Grey).
I highlighted the centre of the flowers with the White uni-ball Signo Gel Pen.

Diamond Crimped Background

I was speaking to my new found friend Lyn on the phone last night and she sent me a link to a tutorial showing you how to make a diamond shaped crimped background for a card - then dared me to make a card and blog it today - so here it is!!!
Yes Lyn - when you hung up, I watched the video and set about having a go at it. It didn't take long, and it's by no means perfect, but I do like it.
As you can see - and you must be getting bored with it by now - yawn- I used my new found favourite rose stamp from You are Loved for the diamond shaped panel in the middle.
Colour Combo is really Red, Very vanilla and Basic Black.
Can't wait to have another go at this one!! Perhaps using a different stamp next time?
What do you think Lyn?


the link to the tutorial is here

Playing with Vellum

The biggest problem of using vellum when card-making is fixing the vellum to the card.
The problem that I had with this one, was that I wanted clean lines, so on one side of the card there was no way of disguising any adhesive.
The solution in this case was to use brads to fasten the bottom right hand corner of the scallop circle to the card.
The card stock was Pink Pirouette, the vellum was cut using the Scallop Circle die which was then stamped in Versamark and embossed with white EP using the rose from the (by now current favourite) You are Loved stamp-set.
Flowers are cut in vellum using the Bigz L die Fun Flowers, with an Itty Bitty punched flower and a white brad in the centre.
(This is how all the flowers were attached to the card - thus fastening the vellum securely to the card without any adhesive, which would show through the white vellum.)



You may have to zoom in on this photo to see the detail.

When is a cupcake not a cupcake?

When it's a handbag of course!!
Here's the fabulous handbag card that we made at our All Day Training Event in January with Julie.
Can you spot where the cupcake is?
I am sure that you don't need the recipe for this but just in case.....
Colour Combo Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White, with just a touch of Red Glimmer Paper and a few Rhinestones. The Create a cupcake stampset and the Build a Cupcake, Extra Large Oval, 1/2" and 3/4" Circle and Decorative Label punches - and last but not least the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Expressions Embossing Folder.
Mmmmmm - good enough to eat (appropriately!).



If you'd like to make this card but don't have any of the items needed - just get in touch with me and I'll be pleased to order them for you - or why not host a workshop and get the items free!! Email or give me a call - whichever you like.

Flutterby Butterfly

Chris (sis-in-law) came over yesterday for our weekly crafting get-together and we made 3 projects which I will show you over the next few days.
My favourite was this little butterfly, which was inspired by one that I saw on my SU Mummy Julie's blog

The butterflies are cut using the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die (which is exclusive to Stampin Up) and we ran them through the Elegant Bouquet Textured impressions Embossing folder (another SU exclusive).
Basic Pearls were used for the head and thorax and flower stamens were used as antennae.
I am very pleased with the results.

This is my butterfly


(I have entered this in the Cards Galore Butterflies challenge
http://cards--galore.blogspot.com/2012/02/cards-galore-february-challenge.html)

This was Christine's butterfly


Chris has posted on her blog today - the first time for a long time - maybe you could pop along and visit her blog here
and leave an encouraging comment - she's posted 4 cards that she has made recently.

You are loved again!

This is a stampset that I wasn't sure about, but I find myself using it more and more. (Don't laugh but I have just had to go back on that sentence and put in all the "i"s, as there was a crumb stuck under the key so even though I was typing all the "i"s, there wasn't a single one there!!! (must make a mental note not to eat toast when using laptop!!)
One of my Thursday Craft Class ladies, Jan, liked the monocrome card that I made earlier in the week, but thought it was rather funereal, and wanted to try it out in bright cheerful colours. She used the markers to ink the roses with, in Old Olive and Real Red on Whisper White. This was then stuck onto a panel of Old Olive edged with the Scallop Trim Border Punch, then stuck onto a base card of Whisper White.
Result - beautiful! Well done Jan! Fancy becoming a demonstrator??

Retirement card

My Aunty retired this week, but I have only just got around to making her a retirement card, so as it's now in the hands of the Royal mail, I can safely post it on my blog.
Once again a very clean and simple card - uses Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Chocolate Chip CS. The Lace Ribbon Border punch is used to make the ribbon and 1" circles are punched out of the contrasting CS. Blinged up with basic pearl and the Congratulations sentiment stamped in Chocolate Chip - a computer generated On your Retirement was printed directly onto the base card.
I am sure that Noreen will love it.

I have cased this from a birthday card that I received last year from fellow Jem - Sharon see Sharon's blog here

Lisa's birthday card

Tomorrow is my friend Lisa's birthday - I can safely post this today as she hasn't time at the moment to blog watch!
This card uses Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock, Whisper White Craft ink and Basic Black ink, white embossing powder, You are loved stampset and the sentiment is from Sincere Salutations. Just perfect Alphabet stampset used for the rest of Lisa's name - the "L" was cut out of Whisper White and then I used the Love Blossoms wheel to decorate it.
As you will have noticed from recent posts - I am back in my monochrome mood!!