The New Seasonal Catalogue is Here!

Today is the day Stampin' Up! released its new seasonal catalogue! It is chock full of lovely stamps and supplies, including Christmas stamps, paper and embellishments. Just take a look at some of the wonderful banner kits and card kits! As usual, I want ALL of it. Lol! Stampin' Up! knows how to create beautiful yumminess to craft with. Take a look for yourself at what's new at SusanSalutations.

Stippled Blossoms

It's birthday time again! After the fish card (my husband and his friends liked it, by the way) I wanted to make something pretty. A friend is celebrating her birthday this week and I thought she might appreciate a pretty card. My thoughts turned to the lovely two-step stamping set called Stippled Blossoms, and also to Strawberry Slush ink. It's a new Stampin' Up! colour I have not had time to play with until today. I found some paper doileys from a retired kit and was off!

I stamped the flowers in Strawberry Slush then in Basic Black over the top of that on a rectangular piece of Whisper White. I added leaves in Old Olive and Basic Black as well. Then I broke out my border punches and some Old Olive cardstock, and then I decided to stamp the flowers again and cut them out to be popped up over the top of the original flat stamps, after some shaping.

The doiley needed a little adjusting to fit just right but I liked how it sat in the end. I added a sentiment from Simply Sketched in gold embossing, mounted it on a tag punch with a fancy punch underneath, then spritzed it all with  Calypso Coral. Oh, the background layer with the faux stitching is a retired piece of designer series paper too.

I finished off with a couple of little crystals and it was ready to have its portrait taken!

 

I hope she likes it! My friends birthday is later this week :)

By the Tide

Let's go all nautical tonight. It was time to make a masculine card since tomorrow is my hubby's birthday, and as he is mad keen on fishing I just HAD to buy the By the Tide stamp set, didn't I? I smuggled it in to the house with him none the wiser and snuck into the craft room while he was watching The Tourist on TV tonight. I told him I had seen the movie (I had, of course, and would have liked to see it again, but I needed to make him a card even more!) It was fun to make this card for him. The By the Tide stamp set is gorgeous.

First I made the main background by sponging and blending Certainly Celery, Baja Breze, Marina Mist and Garden Green ink across some Glossy White paper. I wanted to make a sort of oval shape with a lighter middle. It was lovely with all those blues and greens but I wanted it to 'pop' more so added a final edging of Chocolate Chip ink.

I did the same to my Baja Breeze card base bottom, then stamped some coral and seahorses across it in Chocolate Chip and Marina Mist.

Then I took Black Stazon ink and stamped my fish directly to the main background, but I also stamped him on some extra Glossy White paper, let that dry and coloured both fish in with Stampin' Write markers in various colours. I fussy cut my second stamped and coloured fish out then shaped him with a flower shaping tool and mat, and popped him over the first image with a double stack of Stampin' Dimensionals.

Then I grabbed my favourite greeting set this week, Perfectly Penned, and stamped the greeting in Island Indigo ink. I immediately poured clear embossing powder over the words so they could be heat embossed.

There are some speckles in white gel pen and silver shimmer paint as well, to make it look like the fish is trailing water drops. I just touched the end of a bamboo skewer to the paint in the lid of my pot of shimmer and then lightly touched some water trails onto the fish and background.

My main image is mounted on Night of Navy cardstock, then wrapped in linen thread and popped up over the card base.

My brother happened to be around when I finished making the card and he said he liked it, so hubby surely will. I have one male vote of confidence already, after all! Lol!

I'll let you know what he thinks tomorrow :)

Available Supplies from Stampin' Up! (some things I used have been retired):
By the Tide stamp set (clear mount) 129120
Perfectly Penned stamp set (clear mount) 122892
Night of Navy cardstock 106577
Linen thread 104199
Stampin' Write! markers
Marina Mist ink 126962
Garden Green ink 126973
Island Indigo ink 126986
Chocolate Chip ink 126979
Clear embossing powder 109130

(PS: If you have a fisherman in your life, you might want to Shop Now for your supplies)

Cake Banner Topper

Do you ever have one of those little puzzles to solve when crafting, and you fall asleep at night before you solve it? I had made a cake and wanted to put 'Happy Birthday' on it in drizzled chocolate, but there was no chocolate left in the cupboard. Probably because I had eaten it at some stage. Anytime there is chocolate in the house, it doesn't last long around me! So, there was no chocolate. Alright, I went to bed still wondering how I was going to add a greeting to my birthday cake in the morning.

Somewhere around 3am, my eyes popped open and I suddenly knew what to do! I would make a paper banner cake topper! There were quite a few on the 'Net and I used my memories of them to work out in my head how I would make my own. Instead of counting sheep, I counted punches and paper....zzzzzzz

In the morning I went straight to my punches, cardstock and Big Shot dies, and made this:

I used a retired alphabet die set I had, and the scallop and circle punches that fit the font. The colours I chose were Crisp Cantalope, Coastal Cabana and Pistachio Pudding. Then I got my husband to bring me two clean bamboo skewers from the kitchen and covered them in Epic Day Washi Tape from Stampin' Up! (well, it was for his birthday cake, which he shared with a few other friends later in the day, so he didn't mind helping). I found some Baker's Twine in Calypso Coral to adhere the punches to, in two rows, then covered the backs with some Calypso Coral circles as well. The ends of the Baker's Twine is wrapped and tied around each skewer in one spot.

There's a rhinestone on the letter 'd' as well, and I might bling this topper up some more before I use it again (Yes! I foil wrapped the bottom of the skewers so I could recycle this! It's now safely stored away in its own clean little cello bag with a clean card behind it with a bit more Washi Tape to hold it in place).

So next time you can't sleep, I recommend counting punches and cardstock. I slept like a baby after I did :)

Supplies: (You can order the numbered ones from SusanSalutations, 24/7!)

119854     1-3/4" Scallop Circle Punch
119861     1-1/4" Circle Punch
Die cut alphas
131302      Coastal Cabana cardstock
131177      Pistachio pudding cardstock
131176      Crisp Cantaloupe cardstock
126983      Calypso Coral cardstock
125573      Calypso Coral Baker's Twine
131269      Epic Day This 'n That Designer Washi Tape
Clean Bamboo Skewers
Foil
Adhesives

Fan Card

I don't know what I was thinking. It's winter here and I got drawn to making a fan card? Well, we did have a small heat wave this week, but it is cool again this morning! I definitely don't need a fan! Lol!

The card idea was so pretty though, I just had to CASE an idea from Carolyn King. I saw a card of hers that showed a folded doiley fan, and it would not leave my mind till I had tried it out. I tried out her layout too but there the similarities sort of ended.

Here's the card I made:

You just fold your doiley in quarters to make the fan, and ink all the edges. Ruffle the edges a little to make them more three dimensional. Add some pretty lace and a sponged rose and a tassel.

I chose Pretty in Pink and Rich Razzleberry, and the brown is Early Espresso. I made the little tassel by wrapping Baker's Twine around two fingers abotu four times, then wrapping and tying the end around the top third. Cut the long ends to suit your card.

The square is cut with a Big Shot scalloped square die then rolled through an embossing folder. The stamping was done with a wheel (Very Vintage). I used the scallop edged border punch too, And the lightest background came from a paper stack.

Here's another one with a Rich Razzleberry rose:

 Yes, I even made two of them. Then I made up kits for this week's Craft Class ladies. And they didn't seem to think it was strange to be making fan cards in winter either! At least, they didn't say they thought it was strange. Lol!

 

Tag Card

I saw a nice card somewhere that used the idea of having a tag sing open to reveal your sentiment and personal message. For the life of me I cannot locate the blog I saw it on! But the image stuck with me and I had to try one out for myself.

I remember the sample card had a layer made with the Tulip Embossing Folder, so I knew I had to make my tag to fit inside that shape. I made my tulip layer out of Soft Suede, and then thought it would look good with a Basic Black cardstock frame.

The tag itself is hand cut from Ivory cardstock and the sentiment was stamped in Bermuda Bay ink, then embossed with clear embossing powder. I then embossed lines around the tag with my Scoring Tool.

I made the rolled roses from Strawberry Slush, and Bermuda Bay cardstock.  I punched some flowers from  Crisp Cantalope cardstock and turned them into faux suede layers to sit the rolled roses on. Their centres are the new Candy Dots in Soft Subtle colours. Their leaves are the bird wings from the Bird Punch and I punched them out of Pistachio Pudding cardstock. I finished off by tying the tag closed with some retired Baja Breeze seam binding.

This was a fun card to make! I think the ladies at my Craft Class today thought so too. I sure hope they did.We had a discussion about the delicious names for the new In Colors from Stampin' Up! and decided we felt as though we were assembling a fruit salad or desert pudding instead of paper crafting today. Lol!

PS: You can purchase all but the retired Stampin' Up! items used on this project from my store at SusanSalutations anytime, 24/7.

A Lovely Stampin' Up! Promotion!

Buy 3 Get 1 FREE Offer
 
Collect a paper stash for every creative mood and project. Feeling cool and eclectic? Check. Need something bold that’ll pop? We’ve got you covered.

During our limited-time offer buy three of your favourite packs of Designer Series Paper and then choose one for free—so your paper stash will be ready for any mood that hits.

See your options on pages 151, 153, and 154 of our annual catalogue! *Designer Series Paper Stacks and Specialty Designer Series Papers not included.

Talk to me today to get yours or go to SusanSalutations to learn more!!