Paper Cake!

Thanks to a lovely blog called eWillow, I found a great template for a three layer paper cake last week. Since I needed a special favour for a special High Tea birthday party at Tea and Niceties (it was soooo yummy!) I decided to make one of the layers for my 9 friends attending. The middle layer of the template worked out to be a lovely size to hold some chocolate hearts and friendship quotes and it also had 11 slices - more than enough in case an unexpected guest arrived! I decorated the tops of each slice with some designer series paper that I embossed. I made a spiral rose for each slice and found the centres were just the right size to hold a birthday candle (WARNING: Never actually LIGHT the candles if you are going to make a cake like this! Paper and fire are a dangerous combination!) and I tied each slice closed with some retired ribbon I had. That made each piece look like a layer cake! The slices needed some bling of course, so I added some rhinestones to each one.

To keep the slices together, I then tied the whole cake together with a piece of gathered pink ribbon :) I thought it needed a centrepiece too, so I made one using one of the chocolate hearts, some silver ribbon, netting and Pink Pirouette cardstock punched with the scallop circle punch. It was attached to a piece of wooden skewer to I could stick the centrepiece into the middle space and it would not move around too much.

The roses are all sponged with Melon Mambo ink, and the cardstock rose colours are So Saffron, Soft Sky and Blushing Bride. The slices are made of Melon Mambo cardstock and matching designer series paper from a stack I had.

There was even enough cake to leave a slice with our lovely Tea and Niceties hostess!What a beautiful and memorable day it was :)

Owl Card in a Box

Special birthdays deserve special cards, I think, so when a friend had one of those special birthdays, I remembered that she loved owls. Her favourite colours were inks and purples. And she appreciates handmade things. Her card in a box almost made itself after that!

I stamped out some flowers from the Flower Shop stamp set because those images can be punched out with the Pansy Punch. I made my owl with the Owl Builder Punch. I punched out a little heart from some silver glitter paper. The sentiment is from the Create a Cupcake stamp set, and I used oval punches to mount it. The stems for the flowers are doubled pieces of cardstock glued together and trimmed.

 

The colours I used in this project were the new Blackberry Bliss, old favourites Smokey Slate, Melon Mambo, and  Pistachio Pudding. I also chose some designer series paper from the Moonlight paper stack and added some that is now retired as well. My fringe scissors came in handy to make the grass.

The new Fast Fuse Adhesive came in handy to make the little box!

All current Stampin' Up! supplies are available at SusanSalutations.

Pretty Wedding

A Grandmother's love for her granddaughter led her to ask me for a very special card to be made for her wedding. The colour pink was requested, as was some vellum and embossing folder work. The decorative theme of the wedding was birds, so when I put all these ideas together with knowledge of my supplies (current and retired!) I created this:

First I took some Blushing Bride cardstock and formed my card base. I prepared some non Stampin' Up flowers that I sponged and enhanced with leaves from the Bird Punch. I stamped with a retired set on the back of a white vellum cardstock sheet then coloured it with Stampin' Write markers before sandwiching it between oval frames. The card front was embossed after I cut out the oval shape and before I added the vellum image. I tied the flowers and punched leaves together with Organza Ribbon then adhered them with Mini Glue Dots.

The Expressions Thinlit word is on the Clearance Rack if you want to order any before they disappear forever.

After i made the card, I realised it was very three dimensional and would not fit into an ordinary envelope. So I brought out my Envelope Punch Board and made a card box from some matching designer series paper. That seemed to need extra embellishment so I broke out my Gift Bow Bigz Die and made a matching paper bow from Blushing Bride cardstock, then used my Hearts A Flutter Framelits to make a little heart enhancement under the bow, and attached them both to a belly band.

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I created a special card gift for a grandmother to give her lovely granddaughter on her wedding day :)

Punch Art Camera Card

Here's a fun handmade greeting card to make. I used a variety of punches to make this one, and i was inspired by many other cards like this on the Internet, so thank you to everyone who made one of these and shared it! This particular card became the one I gave a dear friend who just had his 100th birthday. I altered it to make the 'No 1' read 'No 100' . I think it went over alright! My birthday friend is still going strong and was able to entertain us with singing a song and playing a bass cello in his orchestra with his musical friends. It was a wonderful afternoon of celebrating!

Easel Cards

Card class day is always a fun day of chatting and laughing and crafting and eating. Lol! We even had some interesting foods today - dukkha and flavoured oils with breads, a new type of dip with crackers, and homemade raspberry muffins. Yum! Everyone brings something to eat when we get together to make our cards.

Today I had a request to learn how to make easel cards. They are easy cards to make, once you know the trick.  Start with a normal sized card, then fold the front inward at the mid point. Attach another flat piece of cardstock the same size as the card front to the bottom of the fold. Add a 'stopper' inside the card to hold your easel up, and voila! You have an easel card. Here are some instructions in pictures for you as well.

We started with a humourous card using the Owl Builder punch:

  

 Then we switched the mood and made a pretty card with the Labels Collection Framelits:

You can see all the products I used plus some more of these cards made by class attendees too at my Facebook page. 

Can't wait till June 17th when we get together again :)

Anniversary in Paris?

I have a wonderful friend who just loves all things Parisian. Her husband asked me to make a card for their anniversary this year so it was not difficult to pick a theme. Both of my friends love the colour red, so I had no problems with choosing a main colour! I used a retired stamp set or two and some retired elements as well. Thank goodness I have a secret stash of retired Stampin' Up! sets and elements to draw on for such an occasion as this! LoL! I just need more storage space to keep all my favourite things is all.
To make the scene, I sponged around a 'cloud' shape I cut out from ordinary stationery coupled with a punched circle shape to make the sky with its moon and sponged over a torn piece of paper to make the ground. The Eiffel tower is embossed in silver and 'Amour' is embossed in Cherry Cobbler. I used Real Red, Island Indigo and Whisper White cardstock, a doiley and some Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, plus a retired silver and crystal embellishment. The base card is embossed with a retired embossing folder as well and the tags came from a retired kit I still had. I added some stationery to the inside of the card and stamped it with images from the retired stamp set as well.

Just wanted to share and let you know I am still crafting away here.
I made my friends an anniversary card from my husband and I too. Here it is:

 

The Happy Congratulations stamp set I used is from the seasonal catalogue  (Celebrate the Everyday). I used Cherry Cobbler and Basic Black cardstock and inks. The sentiment is embossed in gold and the background papers come from a retired stack I had. I made the envelope with my Envelope Punch Board out of retired designer series paper. I thought the circles and stripes formed a bit of a theme for this card and envelope.

Happy Anniversary, my friends!

Project Life is coming to Stampin' Up!

I was so pleased to read that Becky Higgins has partnered with Stampin' Up! to create goodies for Project Life scrappers in Stampin' Up! colours and designs. Woo hoo! Coming to Australian scrappers very soon! (I will be sooooo tempted....)

Happy Easter Week

It's going to be Easter soon and I have seen a number of cute punch art cards on the 'Net with bunnies, chicks and eggs on them. One card in particular seemed to suit my sense of humour and I just had to recreate it.

Behold, a bunny card. A card with a bunny, but not a face. A card with a bunny disappearing down a rabbit hole!

 

I made this one with  Chocolate Chop cardstock and the embossing folder out of the Sale-A-Bration catcalogue, then added black for the bunny hole and Whisper White with Pink Pirouette for the bunny and sentiment. I glued some pink sequins to the card front to add some sparkle.

Happy Week before Easter!

PS: You can purchase lots of the punches from my Stampin' Up! store. Look for ovals, scallop ovals, scallop circles, the Cupcake and Boho Blossom punches.

Adding Vellum Windows

I held a class last month where we added some vellum windows to our cards. It was easy to do with the Stampin' Up! circle punches and a coordinating scallop circle punch. All you do is punch a circle in your card where you want the window to be, then to make the scalloped border for your window, punch another same-sized circle out of coloured cardstock, then punch out the scallop border.

We stamped on the vellum and also made vellum butterflies using Versamark and black embossing powder. Putting the wrong side out at the front gives you a softer butterfly to see o the outside, and a brighter one when you open the card.

Inside the card I placed another scalloped circle border over the punched hole, so it was well-finished for the recipient.

I used a retired embossing folder for the front layer plus some white organza ribbon, the Artisan Label punch with the coordinating Label Love stamp set, and Soft Sky ink. We also added a tiny bit of Soft Sky to the vellum butterfly wings with an Aqua Painter.

The idea for these cards came from a sister stamper, Shellypop. Thank you, Shelly!

Chocolate Bar Sliders

When you need a special gift in a hurry, here's an idea that may help. Make a sleeve for a chocolate bar and decorate it to suit the occasion! I have made a number of these over the years and really liek the way people's eyes light up when they receive a gift like this. It helps to know what the recipient's favourite chocolate bar is, but I find plain chocolate seems welcome by many. Here's the latest one i made:

You can see I chose a Cadbury plain chocolate bar for this gift. I also selected Elegant Eggplant and Melon Mambo cardstock, then used the Birthday Candles wheel and the coordinating Label Love stamps and Artisan Label Punch to finish decorating. I snuck some retired polka dot ribbon in there too.

If you want to know how to make these little gifts, you can find out how by following this link to PaperCraftCentral.

Craft Market!

Today I took the plunge with a good girlfriend and set up a stall at her Craft Market. We sure had a good day! It was hot and humid, but we had such lovely visitors and enjoyed chatting with them while they browsed through our products :) We think we shall hold a monthly market since we were so encouraged by today.

Here's a picture of my table at the Market:

 

The picture is a bit over exposed, sorry. The day was so bright and we had our tables set up in the shade, so it was hard to get my Tablet to take a decent shot! You'll see a few things you might recognise from the Stampin' Up! catalogues, though :)

I'll let you know when the next Craft Market is on. Maybe you can come to visit, if you are n the area. I'd love to meet you!

Dreamy Flowers and Scattered

The final pair of cards in my Gift Card series was done with various shades of purple. I used Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum and some Wisteria Wonder. There is also soem Rich Razzelberry in there. I punched and shaped a few little flowers for the card on the right and added a pearl to their centres. The leaves on the right were done with Bermuda Bay ink and I added detail with a silver pen.

Simple Butterfly Cards

It's easy to make simple cards with a butterfly stamp set. When you have the coordinating butterfly punch, it's also easy to pop up a butterfly to add more interest. These little cards only required a couple of different colours of ink to make them pretty. I shimmer sprayed the one on the right and added a pearl to the popped up butterfly on the left.

The Papillon Potpourri stamp set is one of the most frequently reached for stamp sets I have :) 

EDITED: Colours used (inks and cardstock) were Wisteria Wonder, Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo and Elegant Eggplant.

Butterflies and Flowers

I just love the So Very Grateful stamp set in the Occasions Mini. You can only order it till then end of March. I am hoping it will be in the new annual catalogue due out in June, but who knows? Glad I got mine anyway. I kind of reminds me of an embroidery pattern too. Hmm. Maybe I could embroider something with it one day.

These little cards are great as gift cards or just to drop someone a special note. The butterfly card is stamped with Papillon Potpourri and Betsy's Blooms. I like the new little scallop circle punch as it is perfect for little cards like this.

Enjoy your day!

Flowery Notes

I enjoyed making these cards. I plan to stamp my sentiment on them when I need a card fro something.A simple 'hello', 'for you', 'happy birthday' or even 'I'm sorry' would really finish them off. They were so quick and easy to make!

Little Cards

Here are a couple more of the little cards I made the other night. I used Betsy's Blooms on the card on the right. The card on the left was made with my two butterfly punches and a few flowers form my Itty Bitty punch set. A Stampin' Write marker and the retired Spritzer tool helped me make the splatters. Of course I added some rhinestones to make the cards pop. Gotta have bling :)

Gift Cards

I am having a run of making little gift cards lately. Here's a couple I made tonight:

 They are about 3" x  4" (7.5cm x 10.5cm). I made a dozen or so tonight in a single batch. It's quicker to do that. I made envelopes to match them too, using the envelope punch board. It's great to have a batch of these on hand for those special occasions.

Spiral Rose Layout

I just love the new Spiral Rose Die from Stampin' Up! (item number 129379, $29.95, available for a short time only). I keep finding new ways to use it. This month I created a layout using the die to make all the flowers and its negative image as a stencil to make the background behind the photo. I used a couple of the lovely Sale-A-Bration (SAB) stamp sets to stamp rows of flowers and the sentiment. Sale-A-Bration is on till March 31st, and you can order a FREE product from the SAB catalogue for each $90 you spend. Shop with me now to get your goodies :)

Anyway, back to the layout. I used Whisper White and Blasic Black cardstock and made the flowers from Soft Sky, Rich Razzleberry and Basic Black cardstock. I brushed some of them with gold ink. The fringed border and one of the flowers are made with the new Fringe Scissors. I added air dried clay centres with glitter on them, rhinestones and brads too. (Thank you to Traci Cornelius for lots of lovely ideas for how to use this die!)

Here it is!

 

PS: That's my husband and me in the picture :) It was a fun photo shoot.

Supply List:

1.       Spiral Rose Die (129379) $29.95

2.       Fringe Scissors (133325) $16.95

3.       Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding (120992) $11.95

4.       Sale-A-Bration Stamp Sets Petal Parade (133602 in clear mount, 133599 in wood mount), You’re lovely stamp set (133575 in wood mount, 133578 in clear mount) each FREE With a $90 order during Sale-A-Bration (be sure to order before  31^st March and get a FREE product for every $90 spent).

Remember you can order from my website 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week 

 

Spiral Rose Die Heart Wreath

Yes, I am still loving to use my Spiral Rose Die! I have had a fun time this week making felt and paper roses. I made this little wreath using a wooden frame I got at Spotlight, by hot gluing the flowers onto the frame and adding some bits of ribbon. I might fill in a bit more of the frame with ribbon (seam binding) before I'm done:

Here's a picture frame i dressed up with some felt spiral roses and Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding:

I have also put together a banner I got for free by making a $90 order! I love Sale-A-Bration time. I am getting a lot of new product for free this way :) (Find out how to get your own free products here).
The photos I have taken of the banner have washed it out due to having a dark background so I will move it and take a picture for you before too long.

Have a great stamping and crafting day!

News

You might have noticed I have been using a few new items in my projects lately, like the Spiral Rose die? I wanted to let you know that you can order these items for yourself now because there is a new catalogue full of goodies available at Stampin' Up! Australia.

The New All Occasions Mini Catalogue has arrived! As well it is Saleabration time for Stampin Up. That means you can get FREE goodies with orders over $90 during Sale-A-Bration, AND the kit you get for becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is even more fantastic than usual. Check out all the specials and new goodies by clicking on the catalogues picture to the right.

The Occasions Catalogue runs till the end of June and Sale-A-bration Rewards run till 31st March.
Woo hoo!