Christmas 2015

I may have been quiet on my blog but I haven't been idle in the craft room! Lol! I have made a number of cards this year and thought I would post a few designs up for you to see, in case you need last minute inspiration. All supplies used are from Stampin' Up! and most supplies are in current catalogues. Lots of items are discounted or on sale this month too, so if you have some crafting needs, it might be the time to shop. You can check out all supplies at SusanSalutations, anytime day or night!

Now for the cards:

Happy crafting! Merry Christmas!

Kind Koala Goes Wild

I just love the Kind Koala stamp. It is fun to emboss and colour it in. I like to scribble on a stamp block with my Stampin' Write markers and then pick up the colour with an Aqua Painter to colour my images. That's what I did with this particular Kind Koala. I embossed him in black and aqua painted him in Crumb Cake, Pink Pirouette and a touch of So Saffron. His nose and the pretty flower (in Melon Mambo) needed a little lift, I thought, so I added a layer of Crystal Effects to those areas and waited for them to dry completely. It is really best to wait overnight for Crystal Effects laid on thick like this to dry, especially in the Wet Season when the air is so humid.

The Go Wild designer series paper went so well with my Kind Koala! I love how it is a neutral coloured paper stack and it goes with so many different images and colours. I'm really glad I bought that particular paper stack :)

 My card base is folded a little short so the back shows through to the front. I used Crumb Cake cardstock for the base and added a layer of Basic Black and Melon Mambo cardstock to my Kind Koala image, which is popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals and finished off with a Whisper White Seam Binding bow.

Once he was finished, my Kind Koala was sent off to a friend to add a touch of cheer to her day.

Why not send someone a cheery card you've made today? I think the world needs more kindness and cheer right now.

So Many Specials!

Psst! I just had to tell you about the specials and promotions available from today!

First of all, Stampin' Up! is discounting selected stamp sets from the 16th to the 20th November. That's now! You can see everything on special at my Shopping page, where you click on '20% off Stamps'.

As well, the Seasonal Catalogue ends soon, and items are retiring out of that already. Goodies in the Seasonal Catalogue will be available only while stocks last until January 4th, so be sure to purchase your favourites before they are gone forever!

Happy shopping!

Make a Card - it's World Cardmaking Day!

Did you know that today is World Cardmaking Day? If you get a chance to make a card, remember it is a special day for cardmakers all over the world. It's a day set aside for making hand made cards! Founded by Paper Crafts magazine to bring card makers together at the beginning of the busiest card-making season of the year, it was first held on October 7, 2006, just for subscribers to Paper Crafts Magazine. Since there was such a positive response, it became a holiday for card makers from then on!

So celebrate today and make a handmade card for someone special in your life. Nothing expresses your feelings and love so much as a heartfelt handmade card! Happy World Card Making Day!

Stamping on Embossing Folders

Did you know that you can create beautiful cards by stamping on embossing folders? I didn't until this month when I saw a beautiful card done by a fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I immediately wanted to try it out. I wasn't disappointed. All supplies are from Stampin' Up! in the example below and in case you want to order any supplies I have given you the item numbers for the main tools  I used in my project.

 Here I used the gorgeous Woodland Textured Impressions embossing folder (item number 139673) with my Brayer (item number 102395) and my Butterfly Basics (item number 132058) stamp set to make my card. I brayered two colours over the embossing fodler first, making sure the colour went on to the background. I used Soft Sky and Crumb Cake ink. Then I stamped my butterflies on top of the brayered ink in Perfect Plum. Next I added Whisper Whits cardstock to the embossing folder, being careful not to move it once it hit the ink, and ran it through my Big Shot. After it was embossed, I used my Stampin' Write! markers to add extra detail and shadowing.

Of course I made my own envelope with the Envelope Punch Board (item number 133774) to make my custom sized envelope. I used a punched shape from my Elegant Butterfly punch (item number 127526) as a closer. Just pop it up with a Stampin' Dimensional and the corner of your envelope flap will fit right underneath.

So what do you think? Have you tried stamping on an embossing folder yet? How did it work for you?

Dressing up envelopes

Do you dress up your envelopes when you are stamping? I like to. This one is an orphan envelope though. I was using the Wetlands stamp set the other night and made a card or two, then decided to dress up my envelope with a stamp from the set too. I just stamped the image in Tip Top Taupe and added water with a Pool Party Stampin' Write! marker. I liked the effect.

The trouble was, when I tried to put my new card in the envelope, it was too big!

So I measured my card and made myself a big enough envelope for that card using the Envelope Punch Board. Problem solved!

Except now I need to make a card than fits my orphaned envelope  Work, work work. A crafter's job is never done.

Thankfully!

Join Stampin' Up!

If anyone who lives in Australia is thinking of joining Stampin' Up! there is just one week left to take advantage of the fantastic joining special:

* Not only do you get a great deal on the starter kit (pay $169 and get over $200 worth of goodies) you also get two free stamp sets of your choice!

* You also get an extra 10% off your first order!

This deal is over on July 1st and I don't know when anything like it will be offered again, so I urge you to consider it now before it disappears! You can join here.

I'd love to have you on the Craft Sister's team!

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More layouts for my Album Gift

I enjoyed making these layouts for my friend's 18th birthday present album. It was really not too hard once I found a pack of designer series papers and some page layouts that I liked. In fact, some friends tell me they scrap better when they decorate the page first, THEN find the photos, so maybe there are distinct advantages to traditional scrapping this way! Thanks again to Stampin' Up! for the supplies and Pagemaps for the sketches, I was off and running:

This  layout was meant for a square photo. I liked the little squares of paper on it and of course carried over my butterfly embellishment:

This one was a double layout made especially for party pictures. There are spaces for many photos on this page, and of course, opportunities to tell the story:

Because it was a party, I thought the pennant banner went particularly well with the layout. Also, I made that little medallion in the lower right using a circle of Whisper White cardstock, the Hogsbreath logo cut form a serviette, and some Mod Podge. Some of the embellishments on this page are non Stampin' Up! ones, such as the little glitter heart.

The cover of the album, purchased by my friends who doubled with me to create this gift, also had a window for a picture, so I left it as it was except for adding a little birthday love message. The birthday girl can add a photo of her own to the cover. The album was also black and white which fit in with the party location and the papers and cardstock I chose (this album is also non-Stampin' Up!):

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the layouts for this album. There are of course many more pages in the book for my friend to fill up in her own way.

Have you ever made a similar project? If so, I'd love to hear about it and visit your blog post about it. Tell me your story in the comments!

More 18th Birthday Album Layouts

I just realised I had not yet posted more of the album layouts I promised you! I'll do that right now :) If you missed the first two pages, they are in a post below this one.

The next page was a page just for the birthday girl's portrait. I chose a layout that would take an 8" x 10" photo. I used similar papers and embellishments to follow the theme I started with the title page. The young woman has blond hair so I thought the teal colours would do her justice.

Then I thought 'who would be most important in her life?' and decided you can't go past family! That's why I chose the family page to do next. I left room for a couple of smaller photos and some journaling so  she could tell the story of how important they are to her, and thank them for her special day.

Don't you love the circle banner? It was fun to make, too. Again. I chose colours that fit in with my theme and used papers that complimented previous pages.

Next time I will show you a double layout made just to showcase her party!

Stampin' Up! Retirement List!

Did you know the Stampin’ Up! Retirement List finishes on the 2nd of June? There are still some great bargains to be had with loads of discounts available till then. You can access the Retired list on the link below. Be quick if you want any of these products as there is not too much time left and stock is selling fast.
 

The new annual Catalogue starts on the 2nd of June so we are in a rare sweet spot, with products from the old and new catalogue available (with the discounts still in place) for ONE DAY ONLY. The 2^nd June might be a terrific day to have some girlfriends over for a catalogue party. If you live in the north Brisbane area, let me know if you would like to be a Hostess for one at your home.

18th Birthday Present

Someone I know was about to turn 18 and a friend and I wanted to surprise her with something special. We thought she would appreciate a memento of her party but weren't sure how to go about giving her that. Then suddenly we had it! We knew she appreciated handmade craft, so my friend bought a 12" x 12" album and I made blank layouts to go inside! That way she would be able to print out photos and just place them in her album. I found some retired and current Stampin' Up! products, went to Page Maps for inspiration sketches, and was away scrapping. Here's the cover page:

To make the 18 I created it on Word and printed it out on Whisper White cardstock, then added a few more lines and a bit of colour with my Stampin' Write! markers. I cut them out and adhered them on the designer series newspaper mat. All the flowers and borders were made with Stampin' Up! punches and dies. (I'm so glad the butterfly die is carrying over to the 2015-2016 annual Stampin' Up! catalogue. It's a gorgeous die). I used some washi tape, some stick on alphas, Garden Green and Lost Lagoon cardstock, and retired designer series paper. There's some linen thread and buttons in amongst the embellishments too.

Next I needed to create a party sign-in page. This mostly needed to be blank to allow people to write special messages to the birthday girl, so I didn't need a sketch :)

I used some (then) current designer series paper for the border and cut along one of the wavy lines in it. The background cardstock is Daffodil Delight. The title is done with stick on alphas and I added a tiny Daffodil Delight bow and some bronze coloured pearls. We provided a marker for people to write messages on the night. The page was full when the party was over!

I'll show you some more layout pages another day.

Embossing Folder Stamps

I love my Big Shot. There's nothing like it for embossing, die cutting and for combining both cutting and embossing on one project. It's the tool I reach fro most, along with my stamps and paper punches! But did you know, you can make your Big Shot embossing folders into stamps?? Gasp! It's true!

You can find out how to stamp with your embossing folders by watching this technique video made by our friendly and talented Stampin' Up! home office staff. They are great!

Prepare to be amazed at the possibilities!



See? You don't even need a Big Shot machine for this technique! How portable is that for crops away from home or just making something incredible, quick and easy at home?

Right. Bye for now. I'm off to turn my embossing folders into stamps :)

For the Boys and Men

Many crafters have trouble making masculine cards. I keep some special stamp sets for the men in my life and usually have little trouble making them cards for their birthdays. Want to know my secrets? I consider the interests of the fellows around me and get stamp sets to coincide with those - fishing, boating and camping seem to be themes around here. Some just like the ocean. If all else fails and I don't know their interests too well, I use stars or Fleur-de-lis instead of flowers, and use less of them. Or I select a nice strong tree as my main image. I use stronger colours like reds, browns, greens, blacks, yellows, oranges and blues, usually, but purples can be fine too. Whimsy is good for boys so I make little monsters or creatures. They also like robots, in some cases, but I have no robot stamp sets yet :) Lego is fun. And teens love to be sporty quite often so I choose action figures or something that can go fast, like cars, speedboats, etc.  Hmm. Does that give you some ideas?

Here are a couple of masculine cards I made recently to add to the inspiration!

Let me know if you need a supply list for any of these cards. All images are current at time of publishing and can be found in my Stampin' Up! shop.

CAS Birthday

Tomorrow it is a girlfriend's birthday and she is a non fussy person. There was an idea for a CAS card in Australian Simply Cards magazine that I liked involving a negative punched layer with a flower, and I thought that might be a good way to go for this particular friend. I didn't have the exact supplies they used in their card so just substituted everything Stampin' Up!

I can show this to you without a worry because I know my friend does not blog, and she already has her card but she hasn't opened it. Yet.

I thought I would stick with a monochrome look for this one after being influenced by the White with One challenge. Lol!  I just used Blushing Bride, Illuminate and Whisper White inks, cardstocks and retired designer series paper. You may be able to see the Illuminate stamping on the card front? It is more visible in real life.

I clear embossed the sentiment.  Then I wrote inside the card with a Stampin' write marker in Blushing Bride.

The final touch was to use Dazzling Details on some of the flower centres but a rhinestone on the main flower.

When it came to decorating the envelope, I splashed out and used Pink Pirouette and Strawberry Slush inks.

The stamp sets I used were Apothecary Art and Flower Shop ones. I used a retired flower and the Boho Blossom punches.

Can't wait for my new goodies to arrive! Stampin' Up! says they are shipped :) Woo hoo!

A Calm Day

The first time I went out in the tinny with my husband, it was a beautiful, calm day. We went to Bribie Island and fished peacefully there for a few hours. I loved that the sea was so calm and flat and shining. We beached the boat for a little while and went ashore, and when we were coming back to board her again, the sea and the skyline looked so beautiful I just had to take this shot. It still evokes beautiful memories of a pristine day. Talk about a stress reliever day!

To make my layout, I printed this photo out on Stampin' Up! Shimmer cardstock. I started with Whisper White cardstock as my base then used just one other colour tone, mainly Stampin' Up!'s retired Baja Breeze, for the White with 1 challenge, as I wanted it to be as close as possible to the Pantone Placid Blue colour stipulated for the January challenge. I always loved Baja Breeze anyway :) There was a sketch to use this time so I tried to allow that to inspire my work.

The background is made with reinkers and an aqua painter, also with splattering and allowing some of the ink to run down the page. I added some lines with a Stampin' Write marker afterward. Lots of edges of the elements are sponged with ink too. There are some bits of retired designer series paper in there as well.

I made the flowers and leaves with Stampin' Up! punches and added some other brand of stickers I had. I thought a compass effect on one of the stickers was pretty appropriate,

The circle of Baker's Twine was made by running a length through some Tombow glue then sitting a small bottle on my layout and wrapping the glued twine around the bottom of it. I needed to prise the twine carefully away from the bottle when it was still wet.

I made the tags by punching the ends out from the onside of a corner punch.  I added some journaling with a black and a Baja Breeze Stampin' Write marker. Finally I spritzed the bottom of the layout with some shimmer paint diluted in rubbing alcohol to make a shimmery effect like water.

I had fun making this layout and now I have a page for my album to help me remember that special day.

It's the end of January? Already?

I went away on holidays this month and was shocked when I returned to find I had not posted in January at all! I should not have been shocked, since I was away for most of the month, but I want you to know I shall be returning with more new projects and ideas very soon. I have ordered some goodies from the new Stampin' Up! Occasions catalogue and can't wait to get to play with them. They should be here in a few days.

If you haven't seen it yet, you can view the new catalogue at SusanSalutations. Remember it is Sale-A-Bration time too so for every $90 worth of order you make, you will get a free product! I certainly made sure I got some freebies with my order and I would love to hear you are going to receive some too.

Also, if you are on Google Plus, I have a new page there for PaperCraftCentral.com and invite you to subscribe. I'll be adding some new posts there but also searching out some other useful sites to recommend to you, like the Stampin' Up! tutorials page. Check it out!

Now I better go clean off my craft desk so I can be ready for my new supplies! I'll be back soon with some new projects for you.

Hope you're crafting too!