Lion in a funky jungle

Oh, I forgot I used Real Red, too – well I had to really, seeing as it was in this rather funky piece of Designer Series Paper.

I'll be glad when I get to the end of these, to be honest, as the pictures are sooooo fuzzy. 

Stamps: Fox & Friends

Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Real Red, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise

Paper: Pink Flamingo

Ink: Summer Sun, Basic Black

Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, 1 ¾” circle punch, Round Tab Punch, Striped Grosgrain Ribbon – Real Red

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A life on the ocean wave

Another teacher gift tin card... this is really simple but I do like it – I love the “waves” created with the Scallop Edge Punch. It’s punched out with the 1 ¾” circle punch, matted on two tabs punched with the Round Tab Punch.

Stamps: Fox & Friends

Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Basic Black

Paper: Pink Flamingo

Ink: Tempting Turquoise

Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, 1 ¾” circle punch, Round Tab Punch

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Owl journal

Another mini journal for a teaching assistant, made in exactly the same way as the previous one, although you notice that the owl fits inside the 1 3/8” circle punch, which makes life easier.

Stamps: Fox & Friends

Cardstock: Pink Passion, Summer Sun, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise

Paper: Kaleidoscope

Ink: Tempting Turquoise

Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Striped Grosgrain Ribbon – So Saffon, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White

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Teacher gift journal

Here’s a little journal for one of the teaching assistants. It’s just cereal box (two layers for each cover) covered in Designer Series Paper, with a piece of Almost Amethyst cardstock on the insides to cover any joins. The pages are index cards, which make very quick and easy journaling pages! It’s all put together with my Bind-it-All, which I dusted off for the occasion!

The fox is punched out using the 1 ¾” circle punch, which is our largest circle punch. However, you can mat this using two round tabs punched with the... you guessed it... Round Tab Punch. Simply layer them at right angles to each other and hope nobody sees the join!

By the way, all these teacher gift photos look a bit fuzzy to me. I'm not sure what I did differently but I apologise. Too late to retake them all now, obviously! 

Stamps: Fox & Friends

Cardstock: Whisper White, Almost Amethyst, So Saffron

Paper: Tea Party

Ink: Almost Amethyst

Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, 1¾” circle punch, Round Tab Punch, Striped Grosgrain Ribbon – So Saffron, Whisper White satin ribbon, Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon

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Vintage elegance

I’m running so behind with blog projects! I have loads made but not photographed yet, or photographed and not written up. So, in an attempt to catch up, here’s one of the projects we made at the Vintage Vogue class.

It’s a blatant CASE (Copy And Share Everything) of a much more beautiful card made by Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrator Joanne. She’s a big fan of flowers, as you’ll see if you visit her blog! Her card was a little too complicated for a class where we were making three projects, though, so I simplified it a little.

First we stamped the two flowers from Vintage Vogue on Very Vanilla cardstock, using Soft Suede ink and the combined techniques of stamping off and rocking and rolling. Sounds complicated? Not really, it just means we inked the stamps in Soft Suede and then stamped them on scrap paper to remove some of the ink before rolling just the edges of the stamp back on the ink pad to make the edges darker.

After cutting them out, we then applied Frost White shimmer paint onto the flowers using a sponge dauber. Frost White is translucent, so the Suede still shows through but the flower now has a lovely, shimmery effect.

We punched a hole in the centre of the flowers using the large hole punch on the Crop-A-Dile™  - you need a pretty big hole when using these gorgeous rhinestone brads because of their shape.

Stamps: Vintage Vogue

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede

Ink: Soft Suede

Accessories: Frost White shimmer paint, clear rhinestone brads, sponge dauber, Soft Suede polka dot ribbon

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Buckle card

Card number 2 of 5 for the teacher tin was a buckle card... and pretty much the same design as used at my Word Window Punch class, which you can see here, with instructions.  No point in reinventing the wheel, right?

Stamps: Sincere Salutations

Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Whisper White, Basic Black

Paper: Pink Flamingo

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: Boho Blossoms punch, rhinestone brads, black brads, Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon , Word Window Punch

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Blackbird

For inside the tin, I made 10 cards for various occasions, all working with the Cameo Coral, Tempting Turquoise and Basic Black colour scheme to match the lid. It wasn’t so daunting as I made two of each design. So here is number one of five...

Stamps: My Sweet Pea, A Bit of Birthday Cheer

Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Basic Black, Whisper White

Paper: Pink Flamingo

Ink: Cameo Coral, Basic Black

Accessories: Basic Black brads, dimensionals

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Teacher gift tin

It’s end of term and time for teacher gifts. I know better than to buy mugs(!) and my son requested homemade gifts, specifically a box full of cards for his teacher.  I know I should have been flattered, but I just ended up stressed!

But it all turned out ok in the end and this piece of rather spectacular Pink Flamingo paper was just the job for the lid and my new Just Perfect Alphabet set (hope it doesn’t retire in September!) was ideal for labelling. Fits inside the ¾” circle punch, too.

Stamps: Just Perfect Alphabet

Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Whisper White

Paper: Pink Flamingo

Ink: Tempting Turquoise

Accessories: Corner Rounder, Tempting Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon, ¾” circle punch

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Revamped biscuit tin

Take one biscuit tin from the Lake District. Eat the biscuits. Then the fun begins... this was a real last-minute job the night before my Mini Catalogue launch. Yes, back in April! I’ve only just found the pic and realised I haven’t posted it on my blog.

I just covered the tin with paper from the Sweet Pea stack and added a ruffle of ribbon attached to a strip of paper. It doesn't need much because this gorgeous paper does all the hard work for you! 

Paper: Sweet Pea Paper Stack

Accessories: Satin ribbon – Old Olive, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

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Vintage goes acid

I can’t say I’m in love with these acidic colours but I was trying to use them up before they retire! Of course, as I'm realising, it takes absolutely ages to use up the amount of cardstock that I have. 

I do like the shabby effect of this card, with all the distressing and different layers of stamping. Here’s how I did it – try it yourself in more subtle colours!

First I stamped En Francais (stamped off) in Pixie Pink on cardstock of the same colour. Next I stamped Vintage Vogue in Pink Passion (ie a darker colour) on the corners of each piece. The edges are chalked and finally I stamped the little spotty stamp from Bird on a Branch in Whisper White craft ink around the edges. Imagine this in Soft Suede – it would be so much nicer!

Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Bird on a Branch

Cardstock: Lavender Lace, Lovely Lilac, Pixie Pink, Whisper White

Ink: Lavender Lace, Pixie Pink, Pink Passion, Whisper White

Accessories: White Satin ribbon, Eyelet Border Punch, Stampin’ Pastels, sponge daubers

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Giraffe scene

This is one of those stair-step cards which are so easy to make – although the back of this is a little tall and it topples over. I'll know next time! This paper from the Tall Tales collection makes the perfect backdrop for the funky giraffe from Animal Stories.

Stamps: Animal Stories

Cardstock: Old Olive, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Paper: Tall Tales

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Accessories: ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Chocolate Chip, silver brad, felt flower

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Fusion of felt flowers

This is a fun project and shows how you can marry up the two different styles of felt flowers – the Flower Fusion set from p83 of the main catalogue and the Sweet Pea set from p13 of the Mini. Don’t they look fab together?

Stamps: Happy Everything, Sweet Stitches wheel

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive

Accessories: Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Sweet Pea stitched felt, Flower Fusion felt flowers

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Sunglasses at the ready

I find this card too busy for my tastes but, when I showed my latest batch to my husband, this was his favourite! I have since showed it to Kelly, one of my team, and she loved it too.

Stamps: Vintage Vogue

Cardstock: Taken with Teal, Basic Black, Whisper White

Paper: Sweet Pea Paper Stack

Ink: Taken with Teal

Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Wide Striped Grosgrain Ribbon - Basic Black, Clear Rhinestone brad

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Colour challenged 2

Another one for the colour challenge which proved to be a challenge. I must admit I came round to the idea of the Almost Amethyst and Chocolate Chip combo... but couldn’t get used to the idea of Lovely Lilac in there, too, so just went for a really small tag peeping out between two tags of Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. Blink and you'll miss it!

Stamps: Bird on a Branch, Tiny Tags

Cardstock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Almost Amethyst

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Almost Amethyst

Accessories: Jewellery Tag, Satin Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

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Colour challenged!

Ooh, sorry about the dodgy picture!

I made this card for a challenge on In Love With Stamping. It was a colour challenge and I have to admit my heart sank when I saw it: Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac, Chocolate Chip and optional Whisper White or Very Vanilla. Now I like purples and lavenders as much as the next person, probably more, but I never ever find myself using those two shades; I much prefer Perfect Plum or Lavender Lace. And I couldn’t get my head round using Chocolate Chip with them, so tried to keep it to a minimum on this card.

It was dead easy to make though – I took inspiration from a sample in the current Mini catalogue and just punched out nine hearts from some Tea Party Designer Series Paper (which just happens to be Almost Amethyst).

Stamps: Tiny Tags

Cardstock: Lovely Lilac, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, textured Almost Amethyst

Paper: Tea Party

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Word Window Punch, Small Heart Punch

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Shabby inspiration

I was inspired to make this card partly by Welsh demonstrator Emma, who does lovely things with Kraft and unusual layouts, and also by something that Stampin’ Up!® CEO Shelli Gardner made for the ladies on the Monaco trip. What Monaco trip? Stampin’ Up!® rewarded its top European demonstrators with an all-expenses-paid trip to Monaco! Next year they’re taking the top demos to Prague... sadly I don’t think I’ll quite make it! Maybe 2012?

Stamps: Vintage Vogue

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Confetti White, Whisper White

Paper: Sweet Pea Paper Stack

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon – Pumpkin Pie, black eyelet

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A great colour combo

Another Mambo, Sand and Black combo – I love these colours together!           

Stamps: French Filigree, Pocket Silhouettes, Tiny Tags

Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Sahara Sand

Accessories: Scallop edge punch, round tab punch, polka dot ribbon – Melon Mambo

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Fun with Melon Mambo

I was so taken with Rich Razzleberry when it first arrived that I forgot that the new colour I was most anticipating was Melon Mambo! So here it is, teamed with Basic Black and Sahara Sand.

Sahara Sand is a great colour and I’m sure we will all be using it loads more in October when it becomes a fully-fledged member of the Neutrals Collection.

This is one of those cards that uses loads of different stamp sets. Not deliberately but, well, if they’re already out on the table, you may as well use them. I stamped and then stamped off with Melon Mambo and the flowers from Vintage Vogue, then added a greeting and some little circles underneath.

Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Sincere Salutations, One of a Kind, Best Wishes & More, French Filigree

Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Sahara Sand, Melon Mambo, Basic Black

Accessories: Polka Dot ribbon – Melon Mambo, Boho Blossoms punch, Felt Flowers, Stampin’ Write Journaller

All products from Stampin’ Up!®

Turtle-y easy

Dead simple, this. Just a Whisper White card black with a turtle stamped on it and a small strip of scalloped cardstock made from a scrap of Certainly Celery. “Hello” stamped in Basic Black and some ribbon. Done!

Stamps: Fox & Friends

Cardstock: Whisper White, Certainly Celery

Ink: Old Olive, Basic Black

Accessories: Black gingham ribbon, scallop edge punch

All products by Stampin' Up!®