A card or two

It has certainly been a busy Christmas season for me.  We are well into the summer holidays and with four busy boys there isn't a lot of time for other things.  After all that has happened in the past year it was enough to get through the things that I wanted to do. So it hasn't been till now that I have had a chance to post what I have been creating over the last month.  My focus for this month is creating the structure that I want to carry on into the year.  So I have been finishing projects and tidying my space ready for action.

This is a birthday card that I had a chance to play with a paper stack by Echo Park.  It was inspired by this card and led to the design for my Christmas cards.

Colours:  daffodil delight, not quite navy, garden green
Stamps:  best yet (SU)
Finishing touches:  papers (echo park) 

After cleaning out my leftover supplies, this was a card that I put together from the last pieces of matching papers that I found.  I have been saying for a long time that I must put together some cards to have on stand by.  It came in very handy when a birthday party came up.

Colours: baja breexe, not qutie navy, riding hood red
Stamps: kid's zone (kaiser), papertrey (PTI)
Finishing touches:  papers (various unknown), circle cutters (CM), foam dots, faux stitching

This one was for a anniversary card.  A chance to use the Pleasant Poppies stamp that I had recently purchased.  While I was aiming for red, the watercolouring pink tones fitted well.

Colours: white, cherry cobbler, garden green
Stamps: pleasant poppies (SU), text style and papertrey (PTI)
Finishing touches:  n/a


 

Stamp Club Challenge September

This month the challenge is to do something different with your punches.  Always great to get the most out of your tools and supplies by discovering new ways that they can be used.  So the punches that I have used are:

photo corners for the 'arrows' border

round tab punch for the brackets

circle scallop punch for the rolled flowers

I was going to try and put them altogether but it was too much so I ended up with two cards using a similar design.  Love how they turned out.

Colours: not quite navy, pumpkin pie, white
Stamps: in the stars (SU)
Finishing touches: round tab punch, photo corners punch, white embossing powder and patterned DSP (SU), dimensionals, stitching

Colours:  not quite navy, very vanilla, old olive
Stamps:  hope perches (verve), grunge me (PTI)
Finishing touches:  round tab punch, circle scallop punch, big shot textured impressions embossing folder, metallic brads, ruffled ribbon island indigo, victoria crochet trim and everyday enchantment DSP (SU), dimentsionsls, stitching, heart die (cuttlebug)

Felt Flowers

What started out as a fairly simple card soon created a challenge as I couldn't get it to look like what I had pictured it to be. Combined with not getting things to stick it wasn't my best effort.  So when its not working I tend to go with more and this was the result.

Colours:  white, bravo burgandy, pink pirouettee, old olive, crumb cake
Stamps: friendship blooms and sanded (SU), timy tags (PTI)
Finishing touches: felt, heart die cut, button, sheer ribbon tiny tags die (PTI), linen thread and XL flower folds die (SU)

Using my stash

Every so often I go through my stash and pull out bits and pieces that have been lying about for too long. My card supply is being used and the idea was to keep filling as I go. So these cards came together. Not my usual style apart from the little details to finish it off.


 FYI -
Colours: always artichoke, so saffron
Stamps:n/a
Finishing touches: paper and chipboard alpha (heidi grace), 5 petal punch and linen thread (SU), button
Drama Queen -
Colours: gable green
Stamps: vintage labels (SU)
Finishing touches: allsorts papers and all girl rub ons(kaiser), chipboard, orange glitter, postage label die (cuttlebug), faux stitching
Happy Day -
Colours: baja breeze, blush blosson, cameo coral
Stamps: baroque motifs (SU)< happy (unknown)
Finishing touches: chipboard wildfloweres (heidi grace), stitching, beautiful wings embosslits (SU), rhinestones

May Stamp Club

Last month I got the textured impressions folders in my order so I decided to use one in this months challenge. The challenge was a sketch you can find it here. I have recently been going through my Resene decorating magazines and found a great retro colour combo. Fun. I thought the daisy flower fitted really well. I made it with a daisy disc that was hiding in my Mum's cupboard. A great tool. Colours: white, old olive, early espresso, tangerine tango, more mustard
Stamps: little pieces, best yet
Finishing touches: distressing tools, spiral punch, textured impression folder, stitching, antique brad, daisy disc

Pinterest inspiration

If you haven't checked out pinterest yet, it is well worth a visit. These cards were inspired by a page that is saw while checking it out. You can find it here

Colours:white, basic grey, yo yo yellow Stamps: words of wisdom(verve), chevron stripes (PTI) Finishing touches: scallop circle punch, button, buttercream twine (the twinery), distress tool Colours: white, more mustard, crumb cake, taken with teal Stamps: large alpha (making memories), small alpha (unknown), alpha (martha stewart), rough type (SU), background basics retro (PTI) Finishing touches:corner rounder (fiskars)

Pretty in pink

Another card for sale. I was inspired by a scrapbooking layout that I had seen. I liked the subtle colours and the combination of layers. I just can't seem to help myself when it comes to the little details. The button was the perfect fit. Loved this one.

Colours: sahara sand, blushing bride, certainly celery, white
Stamps: wedding cake (martha stewart), library ledger, text style and timey tags (PTI), simply you (ali edwards), friendship blooms (SU), patchpal giraffe (CDS), sentiments circles (autumn leaver, baby (kaiser)
Finishing touches: DSP and stitched poly ribbon (SU), blossom die (spellbinders), slit punch (SU), hole punch, pearls, linen thread, tiny tags die (PTI), button, stitching

Vintage wedding

The word is getting out. My wedding card was well liked, so much so that I was asked to make another. I usually ask for some inspiration. This time I started with the vintage theme. I just love pulling out different pieces and seeing them come together.

Colours: very vanilla, baja breeze, poppy parade
Stamps: sense of time, whimsical words (SU), wedding mimi (kaiser), favourite memories (ali edwards), impressions (bella!)
Finishing touches: antique brad, hodgepodge, victoria crochet trim, beautiful wings embosslits and everyday enchantment DSP and organdy ribbon (SU), clock chipboard (unknown), wool daisy flower, vellum, photo anchor, rhinestones, apron lace border punch (fiskars)

March Stamp Club

It seems all I have had time for is my challenges and the cards that need to be done. I supposedly have more time with my youngest at kindy, but I think that everything else has stepped up a notch. Time to start having my dessert first and doing what I love, despite wanting to have everything else done first. It keeps me sane.

This month the challenge was mine. Easy as ABC, 123 {you know the song}. Take the initials in your name and choose something to use for each, then name one, two, and three things to use on your card. It could be embellishments, colours or techniques. My take was
Cherry cobbler
Masking technique
Flower
1 ribbon
2 sentiments
3 buttons
Love how it turned out

Colours: cherry cobbler, lucky limeade, very vanilla
Stamps: whimsical words and vintage labels (SU), vintage labels(PTI)
Finishing touches, beautiful wings embosslits, ruffled ribbon, victoria crochet trim, designer label and scallop circle punches, DSP, linen thread (SU), papers (unkown), rhinestones, distress tool, heart buttons

A birthday card to make

My oldest was off to a birthday party . I had sorted the present and needed to make a card to go with it. Trying to come up with something girly I decided to start with a crochet flower. Thanks to a comment from Lyn who suggested to pop a pin on the back to make it part of the gift on this post.
With the flower started I was inspired by a colour combo in the new Stampin Up catalogue using their Pocket Full of Posies DSP on page 84. I used my background stamps from PTI to put together some papers of my own. Card sorted.

Colours: rich razzleberry, baja breeze, white
Stamps: background basics - retro (PTI), vintage labels (SU)
Finishing touches: crochet flower pin, button, grosgrain ribbon baja breeze, apron lace punch (fiskars), photo corner punch (SU), distress tool

Learnt to crochet

On my last visit with Mum I had a chance to learn how to crochet. WIth the basic steps and how to follow a pattern I was able to make flowers. So I have been having a play with different wool. Different thicknesses give different sizes.
Because the flower is the focus there wasn't much more to add. I made a cream flower to go with the twill tape. The colour strip was inspired by a card from Nichole Heady for the papertrey ink blog hop which you can see here. I am looking forward to using more of my new found skill.
Colours: very vanilla, riding hood red, certainly celery, tangerine tango, chocolate chip, baja breeze
Stamps: vintage labels
Finishing touches: twill tape, crochet flower, button, stitching, linen thread

Still trying new techniques

When something catches my eye while I have been blog hopping I don't usually get back to using the inspiration. So I have been bookmarking the ones I have seen and actually using them. It also means that when I post it I have the reference to link to.

The inspiration for this one comes from Angela McKay at North Shore Stamper. Her card using the morning cup stamp set and Elegant Soiree DSP from Stampin Up uses my favourite colours and although I don't have the papers I do have a similar set from kaiser that I could use. I did get stuck with what to use in the boxes until I found my butterflies from Bella! I was originally going to use my new found crocheting skills for the flower but didn't quite get there. So tried out the rolled flowers that have been showing up of late.

Colours: early espresso, baja breeze, very vanilla
Stamps: impressions (bella!), vintage labels (SU)
Finishing touches: praire lane designer paper (kaiser), ribbon, square and circle scallop punches and linen thread (SU), faux stitching, square punch, label punch