Tag Archives: Card Making

Just Add Ink Sketch Challenge #21

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Hi there crafty girls! Today I am taking part in the JAI Sketch Challenge #21 and making a birthday card for  a special wee boy who happens to share my Dad’s Birthdate and turns 2 tomorrow (Happy Birthday Aiden Sweetheart!)…

Here is my take on the sketch challenge:

My card base is Baja Breeze, with Barely Banana and Certainly Celery highlights.  the DSP is from Urban Garden and I LOVE IT! I happened to swap this sheet with my good friend and neighbour JoJo who fancied a sheet of my Cottage Wall – pretty good trade me thinks!!!!

The stamp set is Fox and Friends from the Autumn Winter Mini and the sentiment is from my On Your Birthday stampset.  My bigshot is responsible for the number 2, button and tag detail, with a hodgepodge hardware frame, Baja Breeze Striped Grosgrain Ribbon and Hemp Twine for embellishments.  My Scallop Oval Punch creates a great scalloped edge to the Whisper White Circle which I cut using the Stampin’ Up! Circle Scissors Plus.

And of course who can resist using a wheel to fancy up an envelope? This one is Nursery Letters.

Thanks for stopping by and make sure you head over to Just Add Ink to see the other projects entered this week!

Baby Candle Wrap for Cara-Leigh

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Hi there,

One of my workshop friends (hi Cara-Leigh!) asked for a few pics of my Baby Candle Wrap I’ve been displaying, and I thought rather than email I would post here for you all to share:

This candle features the Fox and Friends Stampset from the AWM – and the colours I have chosen are Kraft and Baja Breeze and Soft Suede Cardstock with ink highlights of Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery and Baja Breeze.

Here it is from a few angles:

  

I was inspired by the idea of a Children’s  Carousel when I spaced the tags around in little card “strings”, suspended from my Soft Suede Polka Dot Ribbon. My tips to pass on for Candle Wraps are:

1. Dont create the wrap first and then attach to the candle – instead start from the bottom layer, adhere that with a strip of tape at the back and then wrap the next layer adhering that and then the next and so on.  You can then embellish your candle as the last step. 

2. Also to allow the candle wrap to slip off if you want to burn the candle, dont adhere the base layer to the candle – on adhere to itself, stretching tightly around the candle to hold it on well.  then each layer you add, make sure you place some adhesive strip onto the previous layer to keep all layers from slipping and sliding – does that make sense?

And of course my scallop flower is created with the SU scallop circle punch – 5 punchies layered and scrunched, secured with a Brad in the centre.

My letters are cut using teh Timeless Junior Alphabet Dies and my Bigshot. 

The tags are punched with the large tag punch.

Here are the  matching cards I created:

I had so much fun making these, but alas no-one I know is pregnant at the moment (can you believe it?)

Hope you enjoyed these projects – be back soon!

Jan xxx

SU Autumn Winter Mini is Here!

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Hey there!

You might notice a few subtle changes to my Blog – yes the new mini catalogue for Autumn-Winter is finally here, and I couldn’t help but warm up my blog a little with some Autumn Colour!

Boy do I have some exciting products to show you all!  There is so much packed into this Mini (that actually isn’t so Mini – it is quite thick!), that you NEED to browse through yourself (see my link to the right – just click on the pic of the AWM catalogue and you can browse on line…)

I am going to share a few of the projects I have been making with my AWM products, and then list the project recipe for each to help you locate the products you fancy in the catalogue…

Project One – Two-Step Bird – Just Because I Care

Base Card – AWM In Colour Soft Suede (gorgeous isn’t it?)

DSP – AWM Autumn Traditions $16.95

Other Card – Creamy Caramel, Elegant Eggplant

Punches – AWM Two Step Bird Punch $30.95

Isn’t this bird punch adorable? The three elements of the Bird, Feather and Branch are on one punch – so all you need to do is get punch happy on a few different card stock colours and DSP sheets, and mix and match for a really lovely effect.

Ink – Elegant Eggplant

Ribbon – AWM Polka-Dot Grosgrain 1.3cm Soft Suede (this is plain on the reverse side – so versatile!)

Big Shot Dies – Polka-Dot embossing Folder, Lots of Tags (both exclusive to SU)

Now is a great time to introduce my new baby – it’s called the Bigshot Die Cut machine from Sizzix and SU and is featured in the AWM catalogue:

I have used the polka-dot embossing folder to create the polkadot impressions on my cared above, first on the Soft Suede, and then again on my Creamy Caramel Strip of Card. For my sentiment I have used the SU Lots of Tags (Set of 4) Dies to make the shaped tag, and then stamped my choice of phrase from the hostess set Best Yet

Project Two – Coffee Cup Hello

Base Card – AWM In Colour Soft Suede

DSP – AWM Autumn Traditions $16.95

Other Card – Whisper White, Garden Green

Punches – Word Window

Ink – Soft Suede, Kiwi Kiss, Garden Green

Ribbon – AWM Polka-Dot Grosgrain 1.3cm Soft Suede (this is plain on the reverse side – so versatile!) and Hemp Twine

Stamp Sets – AWM Share a Cup $11.95 and Hostess Set Autumn Flair

Isn’t this polka-dot coffee cup stamped in Soft Suede cute as? Share a cup is one of the a la carte single stamps available in the AWM and the “hello” sentiment on my card above is featured underneath the coffee cup image – I have just chosen to punch it with a word window and cut out the coffee cup for a little hanging feature on my ribbon…

Big Shot Dies – Top Note (SU Exclusive), Lots of Tags

The top note is the shape I have cut out in the gorgeous Autumn Traditions DSP for this card. You will see it again in the next project…

Project Three – Top Note Halved

Base Card – AWM In Colour Soft Suede

DSP – AWM Autumn Traditions $16.95

Other Card – Whisper White, Garden Green, More Mustard, Printed Font (from my scrap paper pile!!!!)

Punches – AWM Two-Step Bird Punch, Word Window

Ink – Soft Suede, Whisper White Craft Ink

Ribbon – AWM Polka-Dot Grosgrain 1.3cm Soft Suede (this is plain on the reverse side – so versatile!) and Hemp Twine

Other Accessories – Large Brad from HodgePodge Hardware

Stamp Sets – AWM Share a Cup $11.95 and Hostess Set Autumn Flair

Big Shot Dies – Top Note (SU Exclusive), Lots of Tags

I am so excited everytime I even catch a glance of the Autumn Harvest DSP – and add it to my 12×12 assorted pack of Earth Elements and I am in Autumn Heaven!!!

Now if this has given you a taste to see or hear more about these great new products, I am holding an open house Product Launch on Tuesday the 13th of April between 9am and 11am in Charlottes Vineyard Ellenbrook – if you would like to drop by and have a browse through the products and projects I have created so far, give me a call on 0400220177 and I will give you my address – it should be great fun!

Hope to see you there!

Jan xxx

Candle Wraps and a Last Butterfly Play

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Hey there!

Yes just one more day left of the Summer Mini Catalogue, and although many of us will be very sad to see the Butterfly Prints Stamp set and matching punch go, HELLO Autumn Winter Mini! But more on that on Thursday!

I created these projects for a workshop I held on Saturday, to show the girls (waving to Cara-Leigh) just how cute these soon to be unavailable products can be…

Starting with an Ikea candle, I added a wide strip of Embossed Baja Breeze Card (Alert – preview from Upcoming Autumn Winter Mini!!!). I first stamped three butterflies in White Craft Ink on Pacific Point Card, and punched them out with the coordinating butterfly punch (did I mention it is soon to disappear???)

I popped them on dimensionals and added a half pearl as the centre – I bent the wings forward for some added dimension.  I stamped the sentiment from the same stampset with Pacific Point and punched with my Wide Oval Punch.

My Baja Breeze Grosgrain Stripe Ribbon tied in a big bow and trimmed with half pearls finishes the sentiment off beautifully.  And now for the piece de resistance (is that spelt correctly???!?!?!?!?)…

This is my first attempt at the paper flower that I first saw on Dawn McVey’s Blog – and I am hooked! Check out Dawn’s blog here for a tutorial on how to make this little beauty but in short all you need is the Circle Scallop Punch, some offcuts of pattern DSP (or plain if that tickles your fancy) and a brad – thats it! Punch five scallops, secure in the middle with a brad and start scrunching one layer at a time into towards the brad.  tease back out into shape and voila! (there is that French again!!!) Dawn has a video tutorial – well worth checking out!

I loved my candle wrap so much I had to make another one!

This candle wrap consists of a Perfectly Plum base, Pirouhette Pink Accents with Pretty in Pink and Elegant Eggplant stamped butterflies and sentiment, and the ribbon is white grosgrain.  My gorgeous paper flower is made from the soon to be unavailable Kaliedescope DSP that ended up being so much more versatile than I orginally expected.

This candle is taking pride of place in my display unit – I LOVE IT!

Today is your last chance to order any of these featured products from the Summer Mini so be sure to contact quick smart if you don’t want to miss out on these gorgeous little butterfly images and punchies, and of course the kaliedescope DSP stampingelegance@live.com

Have a great day all and keep an eye on my blog for the Autumn Winter Mini Launch tomorrow!

Jan x

Enthusiastic New Stampers!

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I just have to share with you my JOY when I hold a workshop and unearth an enthusiastic stamper (or two) who have never been introduced to SU products (this their first time) and just can’t believe their eyes!

I had one such workshop this morning, and want to say “a big thanks” to my stunner of a hostess Kylie (or Linksy as some of us are coming to know her ), for introducing me to such a great bunch of girls! I am looking forward to seeing some of them again at Kim’s workshop in June!

So what projects did we make that created such enthusiasm you may be wondering?

Firstly I showed the girls a cute Lolly Box using my fave birthday set Party Hearty:

And my large tag punch creates are great name tag if you are using them as the lolly bag for a birthday party..

And a then demonstrated a Birthday Card using the same colours and stampset:

I’ve started with a card base of Kiwi Kiss, added some Pacific Point DSP, and stamped my cupcake from Party Hearty, first in Pacific Point and then in Riding Hood Red, Cutting out the Red icing and popping it up on dimensionals.  My candles are also cut out and arranged on dimensionals in the shape of my chosen number (7 works really well but I dare you to try a 3 or 8!)…

I have used my trusty FREE sale-a-bration stamp set Vintage Labels for the Happy Birthday Scalloped Circle (4 of the girls at the WS earned their FREE SAB set by spending $100 or more)…

The ribbon for my bow is Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon and I have tied it on to a white paperclip.

Cute for boys or girls eh?

For my next project I made a sweet card using Raspberry Tart DSP patterned paper and the Large Bloom for the Embrace Life stampset.  I’ve repeat stamped first using Kiwi Kiss and then Riding Hood Red.  I love the effect this makes! I also showed the girls the scoring technique cased over at www.SarahKlass.com on a white strip of card and then sponged it with Kiwi Kiss, allowing the ink to pick up and highlight the scored lines.  Again my label is from SAB Vintage Labels and the sentiment is from the great Hostess level 1 set Best Yet

And for the make and take project:

I just love this colour combo of Kraft, Baja Breeze and Close to Cocoa Card.  I snuck a little Kaleidescope DSP in there and finished the look with Baja Breeze Striped Grograin.

And of course following my theory that it should look even better as a scrapbook Layout:

This sweet little 8×8 layout was one of the many hostess gifts I left with Kylie for “inspiration” while she plays with her new SU products.

If you’d like to know more about the hostess benefits available when you hold a workshop, drop me an email at stampingelegance@live.com OR call me on 0400220177.

Have a great weekend- and if you are one of the enthusiastic new stampers I met today – THANKS!

Jan x

I’ve Discovered Doodling and I’m in Love! JAI #7

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We had a bit of a foiled camping weekend that ended up with Laurenz and I spending nearly 4 delightful hours at the Swan Emergency Dept. having a “laceration to his head” cleaned and glued! I got to say a big “I TOLD YOU SO” as I had indeed told him not to run into the Jayco until it was fully erected BUT NO apparently he knew better than me and scraped his noggin on an exposed bracket! Poor wee soul!

So the Card Making Magazine I had planned to sit by Lake Leschnaultia with, was read at home with a glass of vino instead!

Anywho what does all this have to do with my Just Add Ink Project for Colour Challenge #7? As I devoured my magazine (I don’t splurge on these very often at $9.95 a bundle), I couldn’t get past a gorgeous layout with a group of cards featuring doodling as accents – and I JUST HAD TO TRY IT!

 So I pulled out all the necessary colours for this weeks colour challenge at one of my favourite Challenge Blogs- Just Add Ink and grabbed my Happy Moments sale-a-bration FREE stampset, and got to colouring with my Stampin’ Pastels and Blender Pens. 

Then I grabbed my Stampin’ Write marker in Basic Black and got to doodling! First I doodled frames around my stamped images, then coloured in bits and pieces and added rows of dots here and there with my basic black stampin’ write marker and white gel pen. 

     

Then I punched a few Whisper White hearts with my Full Heart Punch and had a few failed attempts at creating some doodled accents – before I came up with the final ones shown here…

I had seen another article about cutting out your images freehand instead of nice neat squares or rectangles so I had a go at that too and I think it resulted in quite a quirky look…

Everything you see on these cards except for stamped present and bouquet from Happy Moments has been doodles, coloured by hand and cut out – including the little flower accents and all borders and frames.

Why not have a go at this technique yourself the next time you sit down to create? And while you are at it, stop over at Just Add Ink and have a look at the other gorgeous subsmissions – so much talent – so little time to create!!!

Have Fun!

Jan x

Happy Moments – Just Add Ink Sketch Challenge #6

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Gotta play along with the fantastic sketch challenge over at Just Add Ink This Week

I created this card for my beloved boss Joan, who had her 64th Birthday last Friday:

I grabbed the fab idea of white embossing the gifts from over at Sarah Klass’s wonderful blog and coloured them in a little with my Stampin’ Pastels and Blenda Pens Using Blush Blossom and Mellow Moss.  The card I have used is Kraft as a base, then Blush Blossom followed by Kiwi Kiss DSP from the Raspberry Tart Collection – Blends beautifully doesn’t it?  I’ve added another easy tie bow with buttons (thanks to the tute over at JAI – see my previous post for link).

My Pressies are stamped on Blush Blossom too. 

I’ve only just broken out the first ever Soft Subtle Pack so experimenting with these beautiful and soft colours is SOOOO MUCHHH   FUUUNNN!

Doesn’t my happy birthday punchy from the FREE SAB Vintage Labels set look great as the final accent?

Be sure to head on over to Just Add Ink, view the gorgeous design team creations and send some comment love eh?

Jan x

A Cupcake Happy Birthday

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Hey Girls!

I’ve played along with Karen Giron’s Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 58 today for my friend’s little one’s 4th birthday..

Here is the sketch:

and Lachlan’s card:

I began with Brilliant Blue Cardstock, Tangerine Tango and Whisper White.  I punched scallop circles in each colour and created a base for my three cupcakes, stacking them up on dimensionals.  My cupcakes are from Party Hearty – stamped in Kiwi Kiss and Pacific Point.  The four candles are stamped in Only Orange.  Each cupcake is cut out and popped up on even more dimensionals for some serious height!

My ribbon is Riding Hood Red Taffeta (so versatile!), and I’ve trimmed my bow with a clear button tied on with Hemp twine.  Try out this tutorial over at Just Add Ink for this cute easy bow with button

My really sweet Happy Birthday sentiment is from the FREE sale-a-bration set Happy Moments and I have punched it out with my word window punch and popped it onto dimensionals.

I just don’t use this stamp set enough – I love the way this card turned out – clean and simple. 

Now scoot on over to Karen’s blog and check out her gorgeous design and the other great challenge entries! click “here”

Jan x

My Neighbourhood Workshop and Other Projects

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Well as promised this is a wee bit of a lengthy blog, but I have so much to show you!!! 

Firstly I want to share a Sympathy/Well wishes card that I made for my dear Cousin in law and her family as they face sad news regarding the health of Tom, Dad, husband and Grandad – the Radu’s wish them all the best and I sent this card to each family yesterday:

 

Recipe

Bashful Blue and So Saffron Card, Bordering Blue DSP (Hostess Level 1 Set), and Happy Moments, Vintage Labels (Both SAB Stampsets), as well as the Best Yet sentiment (Level 1 Hostess Set).

I wanted a really simple card with a heartfelt message, I think the window through to the flower bouquet from Happy Moments SAB works really well. 

Here is a closeup of the label:

Ive stamped in White Craft Ink onto the So Saffron (no embossing this time), and placed the sentiment over the top in Black ink.

I am really happy with the way these cards turned out…

The next projects I’d like to share are from a really fun workshop I had last week – we had a bit of an Easter Theme for the make and take, and I coudn’t resist showing off my Sale-a-bration Good Neighbours stamp set which I demonstrated with a few projects – but first the hostess gift…

The hostess thank you gift was an Easter themed card, with a sweet treat cup, that I filled with photo corners and hodgepodge hardware, as well as some ribbon cutoffs, for my hostess to use on her own projects…

I suggested that, as I had left the card blank inside and used a general sentiment (“For You” from the SAB Vintage Labels  stampset), that she could refill the sweet treat cup with mini eggs or lollies and pass it on to someone special for Easter.

And now for my Good Neighbours Card:

And my 8 x 8 Scrapbook Layout for the Hostess – my friend Jo:

Laurenz and I took Jo and Ellie to breakfast for her birthday at Waldecks in Landsdale, where the kids had a great play on the playground while us Mum’s chatted… and at the end of the moring, Ellie and her white dress was still spotless, but LAURENZ – well he was covered in black mulch from head to toe, and as we had to visit Kingsway across the road for a few things before we headed home, i tried my hardest to pretend he belonged to Jo!!!!

You like? I have a theory ~if it looks great as a card it should look even better as the basis for a Scrapbook layout – this is a theory I plan on testing for my workshops – I really love these colours together – and as I gave this page to my hostess, I had to try and recreate it with a twist for my own album…

I have always really liked the idea of preserving the first pictures of our family home once the gardens were finished in 2004, and thought the Good Neighbours stampset was the perfect backdrop:

Recipe

Elegant Eggplant 12×12 Card, Kaleidescope DSP, Sage Shadow Card.

I have used my Schoolbook Serif Alphabet Stamps for the Title (our street name), in Elegant Eggplant Ink, and Used Versamark with the SAB Round Vintage Label on the Sage Shadow Card, then punched with my Scallop Circle Punch.  Doesn’t the sentiment from Best Yet Hostess Set Level 1 just sum up how you feel when you move into a new house? “the Best is yet To Be”

I love creating neighbourhoods with this SAB Good Neighbours stamp set, and I have added a little chimney smoke with some lilac half pearls:

All I can say is gone are the days when I only scrap in blue for my two boys! Yay for Me!

And finally I’d like to share the Make and Take Easter Card the girls made at the weekend’s workshop:

Cute eh? Baja Breeze card, yet another side of Kaleidescaope DSP (Summer Mini), Certainly Celeray Card with Scallop Border edge, Basic Grey Mat and Egg Hunt stampin’ around wheel with certainly celery ink.  A wee tab of White Grosgrain to finish things off! Oh and of course my favourite Oval Vintage Label with Happy Easter Sentiment from my A Good Egg stamp set.

Well I hope you liked everything you’ve seen today – remember that the SAB sets and the Summer Mini items like the kaleidescope paper are only available until the end of March – so be sure to give me a call if there is anything you would like to get your hands on!

Cheers and have a great long weekend!

Jan xxx

Just Add Dimension!!!

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Hey girls, 

I have so much to post for you this week, but I am going to start with my entry for the Just Add Ink Challenge #5 which is all about adding dimension to your projects!

Click here to see the details for this week’s challenge “Just Add Dimension” – and if you haven’t heard about Just Add Ink – it is a challenge and tutorial related blog run by some very talented and enthusiastic Stampin’ Up! Independant Demonstrators – I LOVE IT and am trying my absolute best to enter each challenge.

I have taken a little longer to participate this week, as I had a specific idea in mind and needed a bit of time to formulate an ACTION PLAN! It is my gorgeous friend and neighbour Jo’s birthday tomorrow, and I have a sweet little pack of Earth Elements brads to give her (SU) as a gift, and wanted to package them in a Flower Pot Gift Bag (elaborating on the Flower Pot card thing that is SOOO popular around the blogs).

As I had never made a Flower Pot Card before I needed time to have a wee play

So… here is my dimensional project for this week:

 
I have used a combination of Kaleidescope DSP (Summer Mini), Barely Banana, Sage Shadow and one of my faves, Basic Grey.  The butterflys are made using my full heart punch (and folding two in half laying them side by side to create “wings” and the littel antennae are from the Butterfly Prints Stamp Set (also Summer Mini)…
Here is the side view – you can see the little brads container is hanging in there in a cellophane bag, secured at the top.
And here is the slide out card:

This lovely sentiment on the slide out card is from the gorgeous Whimsical Words SAB set and although I just couldn’t get it to show in the photographs, there is a lovely happy birthday sentiment on the front of the flowerpot (stamped in green galore and punched in a word window) which is from another SAB set – Happy Moments.
My next post will be quite a lengthy one, with a few projects from a recent workshop, so be sure to check back soon – Oh and again, log on to Just Add Ink and send the gorgeous entrants some comment love eh?
Jan x