Kraft Resist

I know I have some retired Stampin' Up! embossed resist paper, but do you think I could find it? Noooo. Just as well my friend Alz sent me some to play with. I wanted to try colouring it then stamping on it. I used sponges to get the coloured background, then, as the Kraft Resist paper was French, I stamped in archival ink on top with the Stampin' Up! Artistic Etchings stamp set. I really liked the depth that created and the way the stamped images seem to float on air....

PS: You could make your own Crumb Cake resist by clear embossing on it. Must try that another day :)
PPS: If you are reading this, Alz, thank you again for being such a generous friend! I will get to use the titles and embellishments you cut for me out of Pacific Point soon, I am sure - they are just begging to be put on a page!!  xx

Tea Shoppe Cards

I'm in a couple of swaps at the moment and I found a cute idea to make for it with the new Tea Shoppe stamp set from Stampin' Up!

I used the masking technique to stack the cups on the front of the cards and the new Twitterpated designer series paper is a dream to work with. The main colours used are Poppy Parade, Baja Breeze, Island Indigo and Pear Pizzazz.

Inside i made a little folded pocket and decorated it with another stamped image from the Tea Shoppe set as well as some punched borders and shapes.

I chose tea bags to sort of blend with the colours of cardstock and embellishments I used so they also became embellishments (did you know you can get heaps of beautifully packaged tea bags from the supermarket? The colour choice is amazing!)

I hope people like the swaps they are getting. Here is one version of them:

...and here is another version, using the same colours, stamp set and papers:

So what do you think? Do you have some new goodies from the Autumn/Winter mini catalogue? If so, what have you made?

PS: Remember, Aussie readers,  that I can organise an order for you if you would like a catalogue to some of the new stamp sets and products available in the new Autumn/Winter mini catalogue

Water Colour experiments

Do you like using Stampin' Up!  watercolour paper? I was playing with markers and blending pens today to see what effects I could get with it. It's amazing how different the results can be depending on what you do with water! The water colour paper can take lots of water, unlike other kinds of cardstock. I like how thick watercolour paper is too, and its texture.

Now I'm curious. What do you like about watercolour paper?

Triple Treat Birthday

It was a special friend's birthday this week and I made her a card, of course! I know she likes easel cards so I tried to put together something a bit more 3d than my 'usual' cardmaking style usually allows. I cut two parallel lines in the front of the card and pushed that section out so it formed a raised platform, Then I folded some steps int he card front to allow it to stand alone. This also meant i had several layers to put my embellishments on, so embellishing i did go.

The Triple Treat Flower and Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamp sets came in handy again as did some of my punches. I chose shades of purple and pink (Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush, Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride and Rich Razzleberry) to bring everything together. There are rhinestones in the middle of each flower's centre and the centres are popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals. Oh and I used some of that new pleated ribbon that Stampin' Up! has for sale in the Autumn-Winter mini catalogue. I really like that ribbon. It is shown here in Blushing Bride shade, but you can get it in Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze and Riding Hood Red as well. I added a small touch of white organza ribbon to finish off the look.

If you want some ribbon, stamps, ink or paper, remember I am a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator so can order some in for you if you live anywhere in Australia.

Playing...

I was playing with some retired Stampin' Up! sets, and also with some watercolour paper and Stampin' Up! marking pens and other inks, including an archival one. I wanted to see if I could get a vinatge-y watercolour-ey effect. I thought I liked the first try alright but wasn't sure if it was finished:

  I kinda liked the background (done with a blending pen and spraying water on the watercolour paper before and after and during colouring with the blender pen, whatever seemed right at the time - lol!). But there was still too much open space for my liking. It didn't really hang together, or something.

So I got out a script stamp from the recent summer mini catalogue (it's in the Open Sea stamp set) and stamped right on over the whole thing a couple of times with archival ink.

Yeahhhh. I liked that better. :)

2012 Creative Challenge at PaperCraftCentral

There's a challenge set just for fun over at PaperCraftCentral. It has something to do with this card.

Why not go on over and see what it's all about? I would love to see your entries rolling in :)

Easter Box

We made these cute little boxes with two of the Milk Carton dies from Stampin' Up! Cut two and remove one panel (the one without the tab) and adhere them together. You can have an 'iny' or 'outy' closure depending on how you pinch the folds together.

You can then decorate your box in any way you want. I made a punch art bunny and carrots from the Build a Blossom stamp and punch set.

Happy Easter everyone. Remember it is much more about our Lord than about chocolate eggs and bunnies :)

Triple Treat Flower Stamp

Don't you just love how so many of Stampin' Up!'s products are versatile and clever? Take the Triple Trat stamp, for instance. You can stamp it out in a plain colour and use it flat, or you can punch out the middle flower and the centre of it too and make them different colours, pop them up to create a three dimensional look, or use them individually. You can substitute other shapes int he punched holes too. I was playing with my Triple Treat stamp the other day and came up with this flower for my March Stamp Club tiny thank you cards :

I liked how the contrasting layers looked. I used Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point and So Saffron cardstock and stamped them in Basic Black ink. As the flower was for the inside of my little card, I did not pop the layers up on Stampin' Dimensionals, but it would have been easy to do.

Today I made a card for a friend and used one of the flowers on it, combining the stamped image from Easy Events to make my flower stem and scene:

I heat embossed the stem, sentiment and grass in black before using my Stampin' Write Old Olive marker to add colour to the grass. I also sponged Baja Breeze ink over a Scallop Circle shape to make the clouds, then sponged a bit of Tangerine Tango over that to add a bit more interest. See how i used the Triple Treat stamp as a card background too? I filled in the small spaces between the large stamp with small flowers from the Fresh Vintage stamp set. Then I punched a heart edged border from Pacific Point, layered on a strip of So Saffron, dyed some Bakers Twine in Tangerine Tango ink, punched out a tag and heart to tie it on with the twine, and finished with a few dots along the So Saffron strip in black journaling pen. There's a clear circle button in the middle of my Triple Treat flower.

I hope you enjoyed a glimpse at my Triple Treat flower cards.

PS: If you Aussie readers would like to order a Triple Treat Flower stamp (125040) for $16.95 plus $5.95 postage, or if you would like to order any other current Stampin' Up! products, contact me on SusanSalutations. There's a pink 'contact me' button at the top right hand corner of the page.