Punch Buggy

When my daughter was small, we used to have a game when we drove along. If we saw a Volkswagon Beetle we would yell out 'Punch Buggy!" and punch each other (lightly!) in the arm. This little punch art bug just led me to think of the game. It really isn't a punch buggy. Lol!

I made this one for one of my grandson's 1st birthday. The idea came from a Stampin' Up! demonstrator from Kay Sha of Creations on Paper (thank you for the cute image!) and was very easy to put together once i saw the picture. It came alive with a bit of sponging, don't you think?

Anyway, happy birthday to my little grandson.

Supplies:
All Stampin; Up! supplies were used -
Cardstock: Old Olive, Basic Black, Whisper White, So Saffron, Poppy Parade
White gel pen, black Stampin' Write marker
Various oval and circle punches, a small heart punch plus a scallop border punch
Big Shot Top Note die
Hand written sentiment

Embossed and Shimmered

I had a crafty evening this evening. I made five new cards, all for special occasions in the family. I know the person I made this one for won't see it till she gets it, so I shall share it with you:

It was a simple card to make. I embossed the background with an inky embossing folder, then shimmer sprayed it. That's the only trick I used, really! And the camera doesn't pick up the shimmer at all, but believe me, it is there.

Must get some sleep. Maybe will post another card tomorrow {yawn}

Supplies:
Stampin' Up! (SU!) cardstock - Whisper White, Certainly Celery
Certainly Celery ink & taffeta ribbon
Retired designer series paper & shiny ribbon
SU! pearls
SU! Flower Garden embossing folder
SU! shimmer paint mixed with rubbing alcohol

Double Layer Stamping

You know the stamp sets you think you don't like, then you get a chance to play with them and you like them a lot? I was like that with Betsy's Blossoms. It was one set I could get in advance when the new Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue came out. I didn't know if I liked it till I stamped with it, and guess what? I like it. Lol!

I built a class around the double stamping technique with it in fact, and here is a sample of the cards we made:

That little birdie is so cute, the flowers so lovely to use, the new In Colours so refreshing....

Now if I could only get the lighting for photos right!

Metallic Masculine Cards

Got any spare roof flashing? Got a Big Shot and a rugged embossing folder? Then you can make Metallic Masculine Cards!

The is one of the two cards we made at the last Stampin' Up! class I ran in August. The technique can be used for many other types of cards and will take the most delicate of embossing designs as well. All you do is cut a piece of thin metal (such as roof flashing) and place it in your embossing folder as though it were just cardstock, then run  your 'sandwich' through the Big Shot.

Be careful of any sharp edges or corners on your embossed metal sheet. I like to blunt the corners of my metal sheets a little with my craft scissors. The metal will tend to curve a bit as well. I always place the metal on the card with the arched back up, then flatten it down so the edges and corners bed down nicely on the card.

Just use ordinary two-way glue pen to adhere it to your cardstock.

Supplies (all from Stampin' Up! except the roof flashing. That was form Bunnings.):

Cardstock and Ink colours: Gumball Green , Midnight Muse, Whisper White
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments, retired Stampin' Around Wheel whose name escapes me
Embossing folder: Houndstooth
Notions: Neutrals buttons, Linen thread, Glue dots, Two Way Glue Pen

Just gotta brag a little....

My daughter has been acting for a little while now and this week she is in a TV/webmercial about Skybury Coffee Plantation in Far North Queensland. I am really glad she has found this type of work and hope for more good things in the future for her! Here's the video (well done, Liz :))

Extreme Elements

I was having a bit of fun today playing with backgrounds. It is a friend's birthday tonight and I as he is interested in racing cars (Speedway, whatever that is. Lol!) I decided to make a card with a car on it. I like using the car stamps with the Extreme Elements stamp set. It looks to me like the car is in motion and is splashing through puddles :)

It's funny about the process of choosing colours. I started with Poppy Parade as my friend likes red. The Colour Coach suggested Baja Breeze, So Saffron and Tangerine Tango would work together so I got them out. The red glitter paper also appealed to me so I added it to the pile. And eventually I also wanted some designer series paper so found some from the Tickets and Tags pack. I knew there was not going to be any ribbon on the card but I did go for some brushed silver brads. I didn't wind up using any Baja Breeze except for the stamped stars and the glitter paper got ignored too. I masked off the car so I could add details to the background, after I stamped it in Basic Black ink.

That Colour Coach does a good job of coordinating colours though and I love that I can just grab any of the suggested ones and know they will 'fit'.

Thai Papercraft

I just returned from a wonderful (though short!) trip to Thailand where I attended an SBI Seminar that was very worthwhile. While i was there i kept an eye out for Thai paper crafts. I saw some amazing public works as it was the Queen's birthday weekend and there were many lovely displays commemorating her special day. One of the displays was made all of paper and  graced the atrium of a beautiful shopping centre there. I could see that the flowers were quilled, but on a grand scale! Other techniques were also used but it was the quilling that captured my imagination. What size was their quilling tool, I wonder? It would not be the same as the average crafter's choice! Lol!

The paper used was ivory, thick and luscious. The display was lit by ever changing lights so the paper picked up different hues. It was difficult to get the whole display in my viewfinder but I tried to capture it for you anyway.

Have you ever made papercraft items for public displays? If so, please do tell me about it in your comments :)

Stampin' Up! Retirement List

This year's Retirement List from Stampin' Up! is now available.Once the items on the list are sold out, they are gone forever! If you are in Australia, let me know if you need anything as soon as possible and we'll do something about it :)

Coffee and Cream Quilt

Ta dahhh! This is a picture of my first quilt, being held up by my kind, long-suffering husband and my ever-supportive though attention seeking dog. I finished this lap quilt in April but it has taken me awhile to get round to taking its portrait. I think it is called a post and rail quilt? I could be wrong there. Anyway, it is my first quilt and I love it. It has a wool centre and is just the right weight to have on my lap these cool winter in  Queensland evenings :)

I have kind of fallen in love with fabric all over again now that I have started to learn about quilting. I am even putting fabric on my handmade cards, like the ones we made in the June class I ran here at home:

This paper and fabric and embellishment range is the Twitterpated range from Stampin' Up! I can see it will only be a matter of time before I quilt some Stampin Up! fabric into something.

Stay tuned!

Special Birthday

Tonight we enjoyed some time with friends, one of whom was celebrating a special birthday. Now as this had to be a masculine card, I decided it was time to try out the sponged background techniques I have been reading abotu on Michelle Zindorf's blog. I didn't make a card exactly liek one of hers, but I sure studied her techniques! Lol!

I also chose out my The Open Sea stamp set to use as I like it so much. The ship kind of reminds me of a pirate ship for some reason, but that's another story :)

For the background I first sponged the sun colour in Daffodil delight. Then I masked off the sun area and continued to sponge around it to make the sky, in Bashful Blue, Baja Breeze and Night of Navy..
Then I masked off the sky, removed the sun mask and sponged a line of Night of Navy to form the horizon. The sea was sponged int he same colours as the sky but the waves were made with my white gel pen.

Then I stamped the ship in Versamark and Basic black, and embossed it with black embossing powder. The little birds were hand drawn with my black journaling pen. I added some brushed solver brads, mounted it on a split Top Note Night of Navy cardstock shape, and then made the little tag a punch, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Versamark ink, black embossing powder and a journaling pen.

I hope you like it. I was happy with the result and want to play with some more sponged background techniques now.

PS: I made a tutorial about how to create a similar seascape background using Brayers over on PaperCraftCentral . Let me know if you make some cards using this technique!

May Card Class

My we had fun in May with a birthday theme for our card class. We made a paper cake from wedge shaped boxes. You could put treats in the boxes, like candies, small gifts, anything really. A couple of the class members commented that you could make a whole lot of wedges fro a wedding and send guests home with a slice of wedding cake inside the wedge. What a great idea! We also made little chocolate favours to put on the birthday table. We used Dove chocolates for the favours but let your imagination go wild and add any type you wish to the favour boxes (made form punching out two double petal shapes and adhering three sides together).

And what's a birthday party without birthday cards? This one is made using the Apothecary Art stamp set and matching dies, accordion pleated cardstock, doileys and Stampin' Write markers. We made them is several colours and all of them looked lovely:

It was sure a fun day. Thanks for enjoying it with me, ladies!

Placecard Idea

Do you have the Stampin' Up! Top Note Big Shot die? I found a use for the doubled-over shape in making quick and cute placecards. I needed to make about 70 placecards for my daughter's black, silver and red wedding and the theme was ladybugs, so I found a ladybug die too and cut them out to add to the plain white card. I wrote the guest's name with a silver and black ink pen.

Here's the Top Note die shape:

And here is a picture of some of the placecards in action:

You could of course customise these to be any colour and as fancy as you want!

Till next tim/.

She Art

I had fun learning something new this weekend. I tried a mixed media approach with a canvas, some paint, inks, stamps, glue, old scrapbook papers, masks made from salvaged materials, old dress patterns, Stampin' Write markers, and bling. Thank you Chelle Jamieson of Chelle Bean Designs for generously giving your time to teach a group of us about this technique! It was a lot of fun and I actually liked everyone's work very much. Here's my attempt for you to see what you think:

Feeling Owl-ish?

This was my May 1st Class card and I so enjoyed making a sparkly background for this little night-owl, that I have issued an Owl-ish challenge at PaperCraftCentral this month. Do you know some cool ways to make a night scene for an owl to adorn? I used my Owl Builder punch from Stampin' Up! to make my own night bird, and sat him on a branch cut with the Bird Punch. It's fun to make these little guys.

I hope you share your own night owl card with me this month :)

PS: Card CASED from Adele Suda. Thanks, Adele!

Card in a Sleeve

Here's a pretty way to wrap up your message. Make a sleeve for it! Punch two holes on the right end and thread it with ribbon long enough to allow your inner card to slide into the sleeve, ending with the bow on the sleeve. I added extra ribbon under the flower and attached it to the left side of the sleeve to make it look like the ribbon is part of the mechanism for sliding the inner tag in and out. He he.

The flower is made with the Build-a-Blossom stamp set and Blossom Builder punch from Stampin' Up! The designer series paper and the ribbon is from the Everyday Enchantment pack and accessories that were available during this years' Sale-A-Bration. I added a flower brad to the middle of the main blossom. Inks are Cajun Craze, Old Olive and Baja Breeze, and I used a few other Stampin' Up! punches here and there :)

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. :)