Thumping Great Butterflies!

I love these colours together. Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake and Whisper White cardstock were made for each other. And the beautiful Organza ribbon has become a favourite of mine. It is so soft and easy to tie into a pretty bow.

The Strength and Hope stamp set really lends itself to making delicate, pretty cards. I wanted to see if I could make the butterflies have a little more depth and character though, so for this card I used the thumping technique. I chose a couple of colours of Stampin' Write markers and, starting with the lightest colour, used the side of the thicker point on the stamp. I bounced it around the stamp on the areas I wanted to highlight. Then I used the next colour, thumping it to fill in some more spaces, and so on till I had covered the stamp.

It took me awhile to add all the colours and some of the ink looked a little dry, so I 'huffed' (breathed warm air) on it to rehydrate the colours before stamping.

So there you have it - Thumping Great Butterflies! Lol!

July Card Class

We had a great card class today :) Thank you fro coming, ladies! I enjoyed our chats, the food (the Food! So much!) and of course sharing in your crafting :)

We made two projects today. I found a paper wallet online and made one up for the ladies to try, then found a lovely thank you card that I CASED from Wendy Hawkinson's blog (thank you for sharing, Wendy). I'll post some examples for you to see :)

PS: If you live in my vicinity, do remember I hold monthly card classes now. See SusanSalutations for details and to book in!

Watercolour Stamping

Have you tried watercolour stamping? Here I used some watercolour paper and Stampin' Up!'s Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set. After colouring the images with some Stampin' Write markers, I spritzed the images lightly with ordinary water before stamping as normal. The effect was lovely and soft compared to the usual crisp, clean images obtained without water.

There are a few more water colouring tips on PaperCraftCentral.com if you would like to explore a few more options :)

The other cardstock and ink are So Saffron, Bravo Burgundy and Garden Green. The ribbon is Night of Navy and the sentiment is from the Create a Cupcake stamp set also from Stampin' Up! The ferns in the background stamped in Versamark are from a retired Stampin' Up! stamp set called Organic Grace.

Children's Birthday Cards

If you have been wondering what we get up to at Card Classes, here is a sample of the parade of creatures we made last week! I showed my ladies how to make childrens birthday cards using their Scallop Circle Die and #2 Circle die with the Big Shot, and a few punches. What a fun day it was!

These little cards are just perfect fro a young child's party. They do not take long to make so you won't mind quite so much if they get ripped or crumpled, and the children do love them.

Actually we adults had a lot of fun reliving old memories of childhood and child rearing ourselves. The Muppets have been around for a long time! Lol!

If you would like to see how to make your own fun children's birthday cards, there is a tutorial on PaperCraftCentral.com for you.

Congratulations Cards

Here's a card with a little different style to the last one I posted :) While I personally love Vintage cards, sometimes I need a simple one for a man, and vintage style doesn't really make me think of masculine cards. I like to have a couple of congratulations cards on hand so I can be prepared for times when some recognition is in order!

I made this one using a stamp from Stampin' Up!'s Fun and Fast Notes. I don't know if this stamp set will be available in the next Idea Book and Catalogue coming out in September but I have liked this set from the start. The images make whipping up a quick card just so easy.

If you want more details for how I made this card, I wrote a tutorial about it on PaperCraftCentral.com for you.

Tiny White Flowers

Isn't this a pretty card? It was inspired by one made by Monica Gale and I just love it. I used the birdcage from the Nature Walk stamp set from Stampin' Up! plus the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder from the same source. The papers are Whisper White, Basic Black, Sahara Sand and Very Vanilla. I thought it was just such an elegant card I decided to teach a few friends to make some too at a card class today. Here they are:

I really think these little cards are beautiful! Well done, ladies :)

Do you like the little white flowers on the cards we made? If you have not tried making these flowers, of course there is a tutorial for you over at PaperCraftCentral.com. Enjoy!

Retreat!

Just thought I would share another cupcake card from the Brisbane Papercraft Expo stall we ran :) I like how cheery it is, being made of So Saffron cardstock and scrunched Old Olive ribbon and all. And it says 'Celebrate', which is what I just got finished doing at the Stampin' Up! Retreat held for our Independent Demonstrator team this weekend.

We stamped! We inked! We punched! We ate! We talked! We laughed! I think there were about 30 of us who stayed for the three days of the Retreat (I elected to leave half a day early to go to church) but we had a great old time while together.

In case you want to get away for a crafty break too sometime, I advertise when they will happen on SusanSalutations. I'll upload the dates for the next ones shortly. If you are within reasonable distance of Brisbane, Qld Australia, and you want to come along to a Retreat, let me know!

Motorbikes Forever!

I'll tell you a little secret. In my youth I rode a small motorbike. I had friends who had bikes and we would go for long rides, feeling free and exhilarated in the open air! So when I saw the new Motorcycle stamp in the 2011 Autumn-Winter Mini catalogue from Stampin' Up!, well, I just had to get it.

It is quite a lovely detailed stamp and when I saw it, I immediately thought of using the faux metal technique. I think I need a few more practice goes but in the end I was pretty happy with how the image turned out. I made it into a birthday card to have on hand when the next man in the family has a special day :) None of the other family women ever learned to ride a bike that I know of! Lol!

If you would like to see how to make a faux metal image, the instructions are on PaperCarftCentral for you now.

Embossing Makes Cards Pop!

The Big Shot is such a versatile machine! I love how it embosses and what you can do with the beautifully embossed cardstock. I made a series of cards with my Build a Cupcake punch and used the coordinating Create a Cupcake stamp set (both from the Stampin' Up! Autumn-Winter mini catalogue) but wanted to add a richness to the cards that only embossing and pretty ribbon can bring.

We used these cards at the Brisbane Papercraft Expo of course :) You can see the entire series at www.PaperCraftCentral.com, of course!

Scrapping an old photo

Have you ever got cold feet about an old photo and whether or not to scrap it? I have had this picture for a very long time and finally got the courage to do something with it. I was glad I did! Now it will be protected for years to come instead of floating around on my craft desk making me feel guilty :) Lol!

If you would like a little fuller explanation about how I made some of the elements in this retro layout, here's the link on PaperCraftCentral.com

Black Magic Inking Technique

Here's a way to make a dramatic impact with a stamped image, some light coloured ink on dark cardstock, and some chalks. I made this card for the display at the Brisbane Papercraft Expo

Buckle Card

The fan fold flower card shown below is actually a buckle card. I have had people asking how these cards can be made and to help you, I have made a tutorial about these cards that is now available on PaperCraftCentral.com

If you have been making these cards for a long time, I would love to see your version of them. Blogger does not allow you to upload pictures in the comments section, so if you would like to upload a photo of your own work you can do so at PaperCraftCentral.com. I would love to see more cards made with this design!

Flowers from the Fan Fold

Have you ever made a fan fold flower? I found out how to make these and decided to create a buckle card with this type of flower embellishing it for a special birthday coming up. I made a tutorial about how I made them at PaperCraftCentral.com, of course! Just for you!

Hope you like it :)

Cute Puppy

I made a double layout of my cute little puppy while I was at a Scrapchat retreat last month. The pictures were just begging too be scrapped and when we were given a wonderful four photo sketch to work with, I was away!

Teddy has grown quite a bit since these pictures were taken. I'll have to update you with some newer ones soon. He's still as cute as a button :)

More about how this layout was made at PaperCraftCentral.com

An Album for Ali

I made a special album to hold a lot of cards handmade for a certain friend who has been feeling low lately. A bunch of us girls got together secretly and decided to do something to cheer her up. Each of us made a card and I collected them all to make into this little album. It contains over a dozen handmade cards and decorated envelopes from a dozen different friends! We gave it to our friend this week and yes, there were tears!

Here's the album opened up,

a pic with the cards released from their ribbon,

and a shot of the back of the album too.


If you would like to know how to make a similar album, the instructions are on PaperCraftCentral for you.

I'd love to see your version if you make one, so please do leave a link in the comments section if you do :)

Inking Techniques

I discovered a new inking technique that involves using my brayer and a couple of ink colours recently and had to have a play. I also found a way to make leaves using my paper crimper and wanted to share them with you :) If you would like more details, go to PaperCraftCentral.com to see how it was all done!

A Wedding Easel Card with a Western Theme

Have you ever been asked to make a wedding card with an unusual theme? How about this one, with its distinctly western flavour? This one also had to be a card everyone at church could sign, so I made it out of a while A4 sheet of cardstock.

If you would like to see how I thought it out and made it, there's a page on PaperCraftCentral.com that shows you all that :)

Something a little different

A friend requested that I scrap a circle journal entry for her about my favourite music. Since I love classical music, I decided to find a favourite musical piece in sheet music and make my own musical 'ribbon' from the score. I also made a border of mixed musical notes in silver pen.

I added my photo and a journaling piece backed by black and white designer paper. The addition of a few blue crystal brads and some white ribbon tied in a bow completed the pages.

All but the designer paper is from Stampin Up! supplies.

It's Almost Mother's Day!

Do you need an idea for a special card for Mother's Day? I made the one shown using an embossing technique on the heart that you may like to try. Read about how it was done on PaperCraftCentral. And do let me know if you try it out by leaving a link to your card in the comments section.

If you are celebrating Mother's Day this weekend I hope you have an enjoyable day:)

Easter Greetings

Just a little hello to you all at Easter. I'm thinking of why we celebrate Easter, why we take the time to pause on Good Friday to remember the sacrifice made for us. Fewer people seem to know the true meaning of Easter. I hope with all my heart that you do.

May your Easter be a time of remembrance and thanks.

And if you are looking for a way to tell children about the Easter story, why not do it while making Resurrection cookies? They sound so good :)