to you from me

This was one of the cards that featured in my last class. I love a card that starts with a blank canvas using no DSP as the background but rather consists just of stamped images. This is one of those cards. 

The base cardstock I've used is craft cardstock. On top of this is two pieces of whisper white. One slightly larger than the other. I have used the background stamp set 'Ex Libris' stamped in summer starfruit. I have sponged the edges with crumb cake ink to increase the 'aged look.' I've placed a small strip of gold and white DSP from the set 'Gold Soiree' and then a piece of old page torn from a book. I've ruffled up a couple of the edges to make it look old too!

My hero piece on this card is the gold butterfly cut out of gold foil sheet (buy here) using the butterfly thinlit dies (buy here). On top of this I've used the sentiment 'to you from me' from the stamp set 'And many more' (buy here). 

Happy Monday everyone!

time to celebrate

Any busy mum will be able to relate to the elation felt in finally getting up to date with those tasks that have been on the 'to do' list forever! Well I'm finally getting on top of blogging all of my favorite cards from the last 6 months. Only 2 more to go after this post...so get excited there are a couple more on their way!!! Life with 3 boys 5 (and a puppy - kinda counts as an extra child!) is anything but dull. Card making is definitely my 'out time!' 

This is a card we will be making at my next class in mid June. If you're living in Adelaide and are interested in coming along to a class please feel free to get into contact with me. 

To create this:

My background paper is Gold Soiree (yes I know I'm a little obsessed with this DSP....and I just ordered another 2 packets as it's retiring today!) The next layer is a piece of crisp cantaloupe card stock cut with the scalloped tag topper. I've used a layer of vellum and the main image is stamped onto watercolour card stock with stayz on black ink. The image is from the hostess set 'Time to celebrate'. I've water coloured it with crisp cantaloupe and hello honey. The sentiment is embossed in white on a piece of hello honey cardstock. The ribbons I've used include the calypso coral pompom trim and another ribbon I had at home.

best mother ever

best mother ever

Yes this was the card I made for my mum for mother's day this year, and yes I hoped to photograph it, upload it to share with you all in time for mothers day this year and I failed epically again!!!! I did want to share it with you any way because I love it and hey you can use any sentiment you like! I love that the central element on this card is created entirely a touch of watercolour and some white embossing

I used watercolour card to get the look as there's nothing like watercolour card for getting a finish that you're really happy with. I used some crisp cantaloupe and hello honey and a aqua painter to splosh some colour around. 

The hardest thing about this card is giving that watercolour card time to dry properly. I left mine overnight which I know is probably not ideal when you just want to get a card made! Other ways to speed up the process include taking to it with a heat gun, but beware you'll need to heat the front and back from stopping it warping the card stock...yes I have been there many times!

I added a few sploshes of gold ink as well as my token torn page and clothes peg (with a little lick of black paint!) The card is on a piece of crisp cantaloupe card stock

Happy belated mother's day to all you mums out there!

from this day forward

This was one of the cards that featured in my last class.

I love the way pink and gold go together. They are very classic & elegant colours so I thought it was totally appropriate that they go on this wedding card.

The stamp set I've used for the main sentiment is 'For the New Two'. I was delighted to see it's been carried into the new catalogue as it my very favorite wedding set!

This card is full of texture and layers (exactly the way I like my cards!) I've used a page from an old book some black and white stripped paper, a piece of crisp cantaloupe cut into a tag with the "&" die cut out. To finish it off I added a piece of vellum that I embossed the sentiment in gold and sewed it onto the card. Of course it features ribbons and pegs too!

butterfly wishes

The framelit dies are incredibly versatile and don't just need to be used to cut an image but the negative space can also be used as the feature of the card.

I have stamped the background of the white card with the dictionary stamp to help the image stand out. 

hello, you

This card is incredibly easy to create but I believe is very eye catching! Yellow is my favorite colour and I was super excited with Stampin Up released the colour "hello honey"....it's such a lovely shade and works really well with both pastel and bold colours. 

I started with a base of hello honey that I embossed with the spring flowers embossing folder (137365) and then rubbed over lightly with a sponge dipped in white ink. It makes the image stand out more! 

I placed a doily in the centre. My next layer was a page torn from an old card that I cut 2 inches (5cm thick) and used the ornate tag topper punch (137416) to cut into a tag. I cut a circle in hello honey from the 1.3cm circle punch (119869) and stuck that on top of the tag and then cut a small hone through the middle using my hole punch. Backed onto the tag is a piece of doubled over hello honey quilted cotton ribbon (137864).

The next layer is a circle of the sweet dreams DSP (137782) cut out using the 6.4cm circle punch

The butterfly is a piece of vellum cut with the Butterfly thinlit dies (137360)

The top layer is stamped with the sentiment "hello you" from the set 'Regarding Dahlias' (1300327) on black card and embossed in white. I finished off the card with a couple gold sequins because well...everyone loves sequins!

carbs schmarbs

Anyone that knows me well will think this card is hilarious because I'm actually a bit of a health food nut (check out my food blog here). However I have a policy that extends to being inclusive of cakes for birthdays so it's all good!!!

This card is a bit of fun and is actually very versatile suiting a teenage girl right up to an elderly women.

The base of this card is crumb cake card stock. I have distressed it a little by sponging the edges with crumb cake and stamping some water droplets with crumb cake using the set gorgeous grunge (130517).

I then stamped the circle image from papaya collage

 (126612) in the top right hand corner and bottom right hand corner. Taking my 1.3cm circle punch I punched a hole at the top and bottom of the card in the centre of the stamped circular image making sure I cut through both the front and back layer of card and threaded the crisp cantaloupe thick backers twine through the bottom hole (top layer of card only) and around the back to the front of the card, sending the ribbon back through the top hole and tieing a bow at the top. You should be able to open and close the card and you will see the twine on the inside of the card (on the top side). 

The image is stamped on a piece of whisper white cardstock in stayz on black ink and is watercoloured with an aqua painter with crisp cantaloupe and hello honey. I also stamped the water image from gorgeous grunge a couple times on the white card. I used a piece of window sheet (114323) on top of this image to give it an extra layer of depth. The image sits behind a piece of crisp cantaloupe card with a sqare framelit cut from the middle giving a 'window image'. The sentiment is stamped on hello honey card in versamark with white embossing powder on top. I have sponged the edges with some white ink to make it pop. Lastly I added a piece of old page torn from an old book i found in an opp shop (which seems to be my signature trademark!)

This is a layout that can transfer to any different occasion with any stamped and watercoloured image. Three examples can be seen below.

Enjoy that cake!

For You

This layout was made using the gold soiree DSP as the base. I added a piece of torn page from an old book and attached this to the DSP by adding some glue behind and then a stroke of gesso using an old credit card to add it to the card (1 to 2 strokes in a downward motion is ample).

I embossed the for you sentiment in white embossing powder on a piece of crisp cantaloupe card stock. To add some extra detail I stitched around the outside of the sentiment using my sewing machine. I finished the card off by adding some gesso to a wooden peg and a double bow using some pistachio pudding thick bakers twine. 

You're in my thoughts

This card is incredibly simple but very effective. I stamped the bird from 'beauty of the season' in stayz on black ink on watercolour card stock. I then used my aqua painters to add watercolor to the card in different colours somewhat overlapping each other. The colours I used on this card are crushed curry, tangerine tango and coastal cabana. I added some splashes of black paint to the layout. Lastly i added the sentiment "you're in my thought" from 'A Dozen Thoughts' (131059) on black card stock with white embossing powder and a mini staple.

all gold

The background of this card is made using the gold soiree DSP. I cut a piece of vellum using the 6.4 circle punch. I stamped the 'thanks' sentiment from the "A Happy Hooray" stamp set (134012) on whisper white card stock in versa mark ink and embossed it in gold embossing powder and cut this out using one of the circle framelit dies.

I painted a wooden peg white and used this to attach the sentiment to the card. Behind it I placed some gold sequin trim, gold satin ribbon, and gold metallic bakers twine. I also embossed the feather from the above set on some gold foil sheet in whisper white.

Yippee- Skippee

I love this card because of the many layers that make it pop. The butterfly is the star of the show!

The base is once again the Gold Soiree DSP…yes my favourite! On this I layered a piece of vellum and a page from an old book…yes I love pulling pages out of old books and using them on my cards!!! Next I cut a tag using whisper white card stock and scalloped tag topper punch. I added some extra detail that you have to look very carefully for…some modelling paste (found in any good craft store) applied using the dots and stripes decorative mask (133775) and an old credit card. You simply lay the mask on the white card and pick up a small amount of the modelling paste and apply it in a down ward motion running the credit card down the page a few times. Remove the mask and wipe it clean and wait for the page with the paste to dry.

I cut the butterfly out using a retired butterfly die (however there's some fabulous new ones out now). I cut the small butterly out of vellum with the elegant butterfly punch and used some black card stock and white embossing powder to stamp the 'hi there' sentiment from 'Hi There' stamp set (134216). I added the "yippee-skippee" sentiment from 'Yippee-Skippee' set (131344) also using black card stock and whisper white embossing powder. I added a strip of washi tape under the yippee skippee sentiment, a wooden peg whitened with some white paint and also a piece of pistachio pudding thick bakers twine.

creating the bokeh effect

My favourite thing about this card is the bokeh effect!

The base of this card is made using the Gold Soiree DSP…which ps is my all time favourite Stampin Up DSP. Big call I know! Using a rectangle piece of watercolour card stock I created a watercolour effect with a aqua painter using crisp cantaloupe and crushed curry, slightly blending the two colours. Over the top I stamped the sentiment “hello there” from the “Hello There” stamp set in stayz on black ink.

Next is the fun part…using some clear plastic or window sheets cut out some different size circles using either your circle punches or circle framelit dies making sure there you keep some space in between each circle. Take your cut window sheet and place it over your water coloured sentiment. Using your sponge dauber and whisper white ink, colour in your circles slightly overlapping them. Use your sponge dauber to create white circles too, some you can apply less ink to and some more. For a video showing this technique check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHa4eXrBtlM.

I backed the watercolour card onto a piece of whisper white card stock to make it pop a little and behind this placed a layer of vellum. I stamped the sentiment “hippity hoppity from the set “And Many More” in stayz on black ink and cut it out using a ‘word bubble’ framelit die. I added a piece of crisp cantaloupe thick bakers twine and some sequins for extra detail.

Hope you enjoy creating your own bokeh card!

Thank You

I received a very encouraging email from a lady that came across my blog spot and it was a reminder to post some photos of cards I've had sitting my desktop for months. Upon setting out to upload this one I've realised it's six months since I photographed it and now the two stamp sets it's featured have retired! I'm finding the days turning into months lately with life with 3 boys 5 and under probably being a largely to blame!

I loved it when Stampin Up released the craft card stock in this seasons catalogue. It has a rich depth and texture to it unlike any card stock I've come across. It also is fantastic for distressing and sponging to bring out an 'aged' look to it. This featured as the base for my card and onto it I stamped the 'dictionary' stamp in baked brown sugar. I sprayed it with white mist spray and sponged the edges with baked brown sugar. 

I then applied some gesso using an old ID card (3-4 slides down the page is enough - less is more!) The main feature of the card is made using two pieces of whisper white card stock with the top one stamped with the flower from Happy Watercolour. I stamped the flower two more times on two separate pieces of whisper white card and coloured it in using an aqua painter and the colours: crushed curry and crisp cantaloupe. I cut the two extra petals out and layered them on top of each other with a dimensional between each layer. I used the stamp from gorgeous grunge to apply some spots with baked brown sugar to the main feature and sponged the edges and adhered it to the larger piece of whisper white cardstock. 

Lastly I embossed the "thank you so much" stamp from Cheers to Love in whisper white on a piece of crisp cantaloupe card stock and sponged the edges with whisper white. I used some stampin dimensional under the sentiment. 

Better late than never hey!