Collage Curios

Something a little less bright and flowery today and a card that could maybe be sent to one of the men in your life.  It could certainly be brightened up just by using a different colour but here I have used the combination of Crumb Cake and Early Espresso with Very Vanilla as a base.
I used the circle punch to highlight images from Collage Curios which were them 3d mounted onto panels of designer series paper, a wood grain embossed panel and panels of contrasting colour.  A bow of seam binding ribbon and a Happy Birthday sentiment and away you go!

Cornish Sunshine

Happy Easter everyone!  I am posting this from sunny Cornwall where I am spending the Easter break with my family. We have had some gorgeously sunny weather while we have been here, not warm by any stretch of the imagination but definitely sunny. 

This scrapbook page shows off some photos of Cornish sunshine from June last year when we were here celebrating my mothers birthday.  I spotlighted sections of the dsp but punching circles from a matching sheet and 3d mounting them.

Razzleberry Clockworks

Clockworks has to be one of my favourite stamp sets at the moment, I love the collage effect. This is a really quick card for when you're in a hurry; the base card is crumb cake then the images are stamped in razzleberry and navy inks to build up the collage.  Finally the watch image has been punched out and 3d mounted.

Evergreen

Yep, Night of Navy is definitely my colour for Christmas this year.  I used the Evergreen stamps again for this one; using navy ink to stamp the background trees and then heat embossing the central image. I used my small circle punch to create the cut out corners.

Christmas Wreath card

I'm going to make a few of these this Christmas! Such an effective design but really easy to create. The white base was embossed in the Big Shot with the striped embossing folder and gives a great base to "hang" the wreath.  The wreath was made by punching a ring of card from two different sized circle punches and then a length of ruffled ribbon wrapped around. A tiny red faux bow finishes it off.  The greeting is from the Contempo Christmas stamp set, a couple of glimmer brads to complete.

Christmas Elf Boots!

How is this for a cheeky Christmas card?  A pair of stripy stockinged Elfen legs. I made this card at quarterly team training along with the gift box and I have a few more projects to share over the next few days so prepare to feel unseasonably Christmassy!
The shoes have each been made from a quarter of a top note die which was then shaped further using the ornament and circle punches, the shoes were then topped with a glimmer brad and a bow.  The gorgeous stripy stockings are from the Holly Berry designer papers and the greeting from Petite Pairs.

Christmas Gift Box

I love this box!  The lovely Amanda Fowler showed us how at our recent team training day at the end of July.
The box itself is made from just one piece of A4 card stock and created easily using the Simply Scored. The lid is made from a scallop square cut using the Big Shot.  
The completed box stands around 6 inches high and will be perfect at Christmas time, I can see that I will be making a lot of these.

Bookmark swaps

A couple of Saturday's ago was our Stampin Up teams Quarterly training day. When demonstrator's get together there is always lots of swapping of projects so that we can all gain inspiration from each other. 
In case it isn't obvious, I made bookmarks this time. I made several different colourways as you can see above.

I used the scallop border punch to pretty up the edges and made rings using two of the circle punches to highlight my stamping. 

Christmas already?!

I know, it's only July but if I don't start now I'll never be ready in time.  This card was inspired by a card I found online, I'm really sorry to whoever designed it but I didn't take a note of your name. The design really appealed to me for a Christmas card as it can be mass produced fairly easily. The colour palette is traditional for Christmas, Old olive, Real red and Whisper white.  The background was embossed with polka dots to add some texture. I used circle circus and perfect punches stamp sets and stamped in coordinating ink.  The circles were all punched and layered and 3d mounted for interest.

Tea Shoppe Gatefold.

Well, here we are, the last card from the handbag portfolio that we made at team training. Amanda designed all of these cards for us, you can see her blog here. 
This is a lovely gate fold card decorated inside and out with papers from the Sweet shop designer paper pack. 

The accent images are from Tea Shoppe, I wasn't sure about this set when I first saw it but I have to confess it has grown on me and is now top of my wish list. The images are stamped in chocolate chip ink onto whisper white card, and matted onto a pool party scalloped circle. A length of ribbon secured with a jelly bean brad holds the card closed for sending.


Here is a closer look at the accents.

Spotlight technique

I really like his one, I'm sure I will use this technique a lot. Amanda showed us at her class a few weeks back and it's really very simple.  The stamp set is Simply Soft and is exclusive to hostesses, the greeting is from Petite Pairs. to begin with the design is stamped in one colour on a base card then on another piece of card stamp again.  This extra piece needs to be punched or cut, coloured (for this sample we used markers and a blender pen) and then mounted onto a piece of card colour coordinating with the main card base, in this case we used rose red. You could mount it flat or 3d mount it to add some dimension.

Triple Treat Flower

Today's card is one that I designed for my monthly card club recently. The Triple Treat Flower was a new purchase for me and I was desperate to show it off.  It's such a great stamp as it coordinates perfectly with 3 of the Stampin Up punches and that makes it so easy to use.
Here's a closer look

 I was also really eager to use the new satin pleated ribbon from the Summer mini catalogue, it's sooooo tactile and adds a real touch of luxury to your project.

This is what I have been busy making this week, I'm making about 30 of these ready for our team training day on Saturday. All the demonstrators in the Inspiring Inkees team swap their wonderful creations so that we can take away some inspiration.
I have used one of the new hostess gifts, Faith in Nature, and stamped the background of my card in matching ink with the leaf image. I then added a band, again in matching card, using the lace border punch. The focal point is the flower image stamped in bashful blue ink once more and punched using the largest circle punch. I daubed around the edge of the circle to add a little depth.
I am so looking forward to seeing what swaps I will receive in exchange, maybe I will get some inspiration for the swaps I need to make for convention, I will need to make maybe as many as two hundred for that!

Noel - Christmas Bunting

This is what mine is going to look like when I've finished making it! The bunting was one of the projects at our Stampin Up team training day recently and this is the lovely Amanda holding up her sample. 
I think the bunting looks amazing and will look great in my house at Christmas and it really isn't that difficult to create.  The designer paper pennant triangles are from Jolly Holiday and are matted onto cherry cobbler.  Then each pennant is trimmed with vanilla card that has been edged with the scallop border punch.  The letters have been inked in old olive and then crystal effects to give them that gorgeous glossy shine.  The letters are then placed onto vanilla circles and cherry scalloped circles.  We used the cropodile to make holes in the corners and to set the jumbo eyelets and the whole thing is joined together with some old olive satin ribbon.  Of course you could make much longer bunting and use different words, hmmm I've got an 18th birthday in the family next year I might make some in a different colour scheme for that!

Christmas gift bag

I'm not really here today, I'm at a Stampin Up team training day in Fareham.  I love team training 'cos I get to meet up with lots of other lovely demonstrators and we share lots of tips and ideas.  One of the highlights for me is swapping card and gift ideas and these are my swaps.

I made them from brown paper lunch bags.  I cut off the handles and then tidied up the edge using the scallop border punch.  You can't see it very in the photo but I have stamped all over the bag with Merry Christmas from Season of Joy stamp set.  I then added a mat of Jolly holiday papers, folded over the top of the bag and punched a circle through both layers.  I punched tags in vanilla and cherry cobbler, again stamping merry christmas in cherry on the vanilla tag.  I daubed more cherry ink around the edge of the vanilla tag and then attached both tags through the hole in the bag using old olive sating ribbon.
The finished bag is big enough to hold a dvd so I can see me making some more of these as the big day approaches!  Hope the other demos like them.