Friday 16 January 2009

Challenge time

It's time for another one of Kristina's Colour Inspirations. Here is number 38, a tricky one this week I thought.The colours we had to use are Ruby Red, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie and Whispter White. Here's the card I made:Stamp Set: Short and Sweet
Cardstock: Ruby Red and Whisper White
Ink: Ruby Red
Accessories: Flower Fusion, striped grosgrain ribbon, corner rounder punch, rhinestone brads, dimensionals, mini glue dot and Spring Fling designer series papers.

This is a very simple layout. I cut the whisper white to size and rounded the corners using the punch. I then cut a piece of patterned paper and rounded the bottom corners to match the white cardstock. I also used the corner rounder punch for the piece of cardstock with the greeting on it. The ribbon is wrapped around the cardstock and then a bow is made a stuck down using a mini glue dot. I used a large rhinestone brad for the centre of the flower and mounted it using dimensionals.

Sunday 11 January 2009

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

At the end of my last post I commented that I had to go so I thought I would share with you the where's and how's of it all.
Matty had to take a small truck down to someone in Victoria (Loch Sport) so I decided I would go with him to keep him company (probably not that helpful considering I usually fall asleep not long after leaving home but anyway). Matty worked all day friday so we weren't able to leave as early as we had planned. We left home at 8.30pm driving the truck that does maximum speed of 85-90km per hour. I had a bit of a drive to give Matty a break and then he took over again. We had to have the truck at Loch Sport in time to catch the 1.15pm train to Melbourne from Sale (45 min drive from Loch Sport) so this meant there was not a lot of time for sleeping. Because of the truck's speed it took a good couple of hours extra to get there than it normally would. By the time we got there Matty was extremely tired as you would expect after starting work at 6.00am friday morning; anyway we did well for time. We then got a lift to Sale to catch the 3 hr train trip to Melbourne to then catch a bus the the aiport and a plane back home to Sydney where we caught a taxi to Chipping Norton where Matty works to pick up the car to drive home to Thirlmere a 50 minute drive. By the end it felt a little like we were playing the game 'The Amazing Race' only we weren't running everywhere thank goodness. Anyway we got home at 10.10pm Saturday night and went straight to sleep.
Anyway I hope everyone has had a good weekend.

Happy Birthday Gena

It's a little late but it was our niece's birthday the other day so I thought I would share the card I made for her. I used bits and pieces from the Crew Kids Girl Simply Scrappin' Kit. I bought the kit a while ago and had lots left over. I really like how it turned out so here it is:

Stamp set: God's Blessings

Cardstock: Regal Rose, Whisper White

Accessories: Rhinestone brad, Regal Rose wide grosgrain ribbon, stamp-a-ma-jig, paper, flower from simply scrappin' kit, 1" circle punch and the corner rounder punch

I cut the patterned paper and white cardstock to the sizes I wanted then stuck them together by butting them up to each other and using a strip from the kit stuck over the top of the join. I then tied the ribbon into a bow and stuck the flower down over the top. This card is backwards for me because usually I would put the flower on the left hand side but I didn't like the bow on the right so the flower had to go on the right instead. I then punch out a 1" circle from some more patterned paper from the kit to put in the centre of the flower and put the rhinestone brad through all layers before sticking it all down to the card. I then used the stamp-a-ma-jig so that I got the greeting where I wanted it to be.

Friday 9 January 2009

Colour Challenge Time

It has been ages since I have participated in one of Kristina's Colour Challenges so I was very pleased with myself to get this one done. We are up to number 37 and here is the inspiration:
The colours we are to use are Old Olive, Baja Breeze (I used Soft Sky as we don't have this colour yet), Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White.

Here is the card I made:

Image copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2009

Stamp set: Embrace Life and Short and Sweet

Ink: Chocolate Chip and Soft Sky ink pads and Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie Markers

Accessories: Dimensionals, Pumpkin Pie striped grosgrain ribbon, Glossy white cardstock, Soft Sky re-inker and Baby wipes

I used the Soft Sky re-inker and a baby wipe to colour the glossy white cardstock a pale blue colour. I then stamped the image using choc chip ink several times randomly onto the cardstock and coloured it in using the fine tip of the markers. I stamped the same image using the Soft Sky ink onto the card base but only on the bottom half. I added some ribbon at the side and mounted it onto choc chip and then mounted it using dimensionals onto the Soft Sky card base. I then stamped the thankyou greeting using choc chip ink also.

The photo could have been better but I was in a hurry to post it before heading out. Hope you like it.

Kelly's Keeping Box

I was asked if I could decorate a box for a lady at work (hi Margaret) for her to give to her daughter as a 'keeping box'; of course I said yes. Margaret bought a box that you can buy at Spotlight - plain brown shoe box size box that she wanted decorated in blue and black as they are her daughters favourite colours and not too girly. I had some paper at home and sorted out what I was going to use. I hadn't really done much covering of things in the past so I was a little worried about how it was going to turn out. I had a look on Splitcoast stampers website to see if I could find any tutorials that might help me. There were tutorials on decorating tins and clipboards and stuff and they all used Mod Podge so I decided that was what I was going to use to stick the paper down and as a sealer when I had finished. Anyway here is a couple of pictures of the box


Stamp set: Yummy (sale-a-bration set), text was done on computer

Paper: mixed papers from before Stampin' Up! days, whisper white cardstock

Accessories: 2 fowers from pretties kit with clear brad, Mod Podge, Black stazon ink, Brocade Blue wide grosgrain ribbon. extra sticky double sided tape, mini glue dots, jumbo glue dot and a plain shoe box bought from Spotlight

The box was quite easy to decorate and I really enjoyed doing it. I stuck the side panels down first by applying Mod Podge to the box and lining up the paper with the top of the box and wrapped a little over the underneath of the box and the sides (front and back) for a neat finish. I then stuck the paper down for the front and back ends measuring the exact size. I applied a coat of Mod Podge over entire surfaces to seal. I then stuck down a piece of plain blue on the underneath of the box to finish it off.

For the lid I did the sides first with the striped paper again wrapping extra over the top and the sides and then stuck a plain piece on blue down and applied a layer of Mod Podge. I love Mod Podge, it dries pretty quickly and really sticks stuff down.

I attacked the ribbon using extra sticky double sided tape before mounting the "Kelly's keeping box" panel at the front. I typed the text on the computer and printed if one whisper white cardstock and cut it to size. I stamped the swirl in the top right corner using stazon ink so when I applied the Mod Podge over the top it didn't smudge (I didn't want to have to do it again if it did). I put the 2 flowers together using the brad and stuck them down using a jumbo glue dot. I then needed to put a couple of mini glue dots under a couple of the petals because they weren't sitting how I wanted them to.

Saturday 3 January 2009

Birthday Gift Folder and Box

My good friend Di has made quite a few of these gift card folders and showed me how to make them. I made this one for my good friend who's birthday is on monday. Stamp sets: Embrace Life, Short and Sweet
Cardstock: Choc Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Choc Chip, Ruby Red
Accessories: Ginger Blossom Designer Series Paper, Ruby Red Brads, Dimensionals, Choc Chip wide grosgrain ribbon

I made this gift card folder by scoring a sheet of patterned paper at 2 1/4", 6" and 9 3/4" then turn your paper and score at 2 1/4" and 7 1/2". Follow the link above which will lead you to the tutorial Di found on how to make them. If you have any problems email me here.
Here is the inside of the gift card holder.
Stamp Set: Embrace Life
Cardstock: Choc Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Ruby Red, River Rock
Accessories: Blender Pen

I used the blender pen and ink pads to colour the flower stamp and place the image in the top left and bottom right corners of the vanilla cardstock. When I was doing this I didn't think about where the images would be when I finished so next time I would stamp the image in the top right and bottom left corners. Once I stamp the image I used the blender pen and Ruby Red ink to colour parts of the flowers. Before colouring the image I wiped some excess ink on scrap paper to get a liter more subtle colour.

I love choc chip with this paper, it has to be my favourite paper at the moment and who doesn't love choc chip - really!!

I attached the ribbon using a brad front and back and then simply tied it into a bow.

Because I was making this for a good friend I wanted to put it into a box so I made a very simple pizza box. I've seen many of these around lately but again Di showed me some she had made and how to make them; so easy. Here is the link to where Di found them
Stamp sets: Embrace Life and Occasional Greetings
Cardstock: Ruby Red, Choc Chip and Very Vanilla
Ink: Ruby Red, Choc Chip
Accessories: Choc Chip wide grosgrain ribbon, small and large tag punch, slit punch and horizontal slot punch
I allow an extra millimetre for the top of the box so when you fold it down it doesn't pull a little. The measurements for this box are 14cm x 10.5cm (10.6cm for the top) x 1.5cm deep. To make this box you will need to cut your cardstock to measure 17cm x 25.6cm.
T stamped this image from Embrace Life set in Ruby Red randomly over the cardstock.
To make the tag I cut the Vanilla cardstock at 3cm wide then threaded it through the punch to make it longer in length. I did the same with the larger punch by cutting the Choc Chip cardstock at 3.5cm and punched it to length.

Friday 2 January 2009

It's time to Sale-A-Brate

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a great christmas and I hope you all have a Happy 2009.

Stampin' Up! provides customers, hostesses, recruits and demonstrators with the opportunity to earn free exclusive stamp sets based on purchases and sales. Here are the ways you can earn free stamp sets:

- for every $100.00 (before shipping and handling) you spend you can choose a free sale-a-bration stamp set not available any other time

- for every $600.00 (before shipping and handling) you receive in workshop sales, the hostess can choose a free sale-a-bration stamp set in addition to your regular hostess benefits

- for those who become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, you will receive any regular stamp set to the value of $79.95 from the current catalogue (not including hostess sets) for free

How great does that sound. To make it even better, anyone who places a $100.00 order (before shipping and handling) with me during Sale-A-Bration will go into a draw to win a level 1 hostess set (my choice) free. Winner will be drawn on the 1st March.

So if you would like to book a workshop, email me here with your details.

Have a lovely day