Wedding card? It's a Piece of Cake

Pretty cards are a challenge for me so I struggled with this wedding card for my brother, who finally married his childhood sweetheart at the weekend, 40 years after they first met!

Eventually, I settled on the Piece of Cake Bundle, which has a lovely wedding cake image.

I used a watercoloured background, in Blushing Bride with a hint of Pool Party, then popped up the cut-out cake, which I'd stamped in Blushing Bride, Pool Party and the new colour, Rococo Rose. The greeting (Better Together - retiring) is stamped in Rococo Rose and embossed using clear embossing powder (the Stamparatus is invaluable for this technique).

It's all framed with a stitched rectangle frame, which I embossed using the Country Floral 3D embossing folder, a Sale-a-Bration item which is carrying over to the new catalogue.

Some self-adhesive sequins finish it all off.

Incredible Like You Week - celebration cards

I’m ending my Incredible Like You Week with two similar cards I made to celebrate some amazing team members.

I’ve combined the stamp set with some greetings from Stamp Your Way to the Yop, a demonstrator-exclusive stamp set which helps us honour our teams.

On the left is a welcome card for Karen, my latest recruit, who couldn’t resist the fantastic Sale-a-Bration offer and the beautiful craft tote...

From my newest team member to my oldest (in the terms of longest serving, that is!)... the second card celebrates an incredible sales milestone by Tracey, who joined me nearly 11 years ago and has worked consistently hard ever since.

The colour combination is well away from my usual palette but I really like it. Flowers, pastel shades and fussy cutting? What on earth is happening to me?

Keeping it simple with Accented Blooms

There’s a theme to this week’s blog posts, which wouldn’t necessarily be obvious at first glance.  I’m using three different stamp sets, three different colours schemes and the cards are for three different occasions. So what’s the theme?

The theme is ... #simplestamping.

We demonstrators have realised that we get so into our craft that we sometimes neglect the new stamper. We are so keen to throw everything at our projects – purely because we can – that we forget that some people are starting out with limited supplies.

This project, then, takes things back to basics. One ink pad, one stamp set, one colour cardstock, one punch and one pack of embellishments. Perfect for the new stamper... or the experienced stamper in a hurry.

Dashing Deer brayered Christmas card

I was inspired by this beautiful card by Dawn Olchefske to make a festive version using the gorgeous Dashing Deer stamp set.

The ladies loved having a go at brayering at Crafty Friday last week and all produced two cards, including this one - or a version of this... as some of them decided to go “off piste”! I love the vibrant colours, although they have blended into each other (that WAS the intention) so you probably can’t identify them at a glance: Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry.

Come back Wednesday for our second vibrant brayered creation!

Sneak peek: Winter Woods

Who’s ready to start on their Christmas cards? The Autumn/Winter catalogue will soon be open for business, but as demonstrators, we get to order early so we can prepare some lovely samples to show you.

This gorgeous Winter Woods stamp set works great on its own but even better when combined with the Rooted in Nature set, which has smaller trees. And the dies are fabulous, too - look how gorgeous they look with the branches popped out.

Delightfully Detailed laser-cut paper with brayered background

Another project from my brayering session. For this one, I masked a panel and brayered in Pacific Point, graduating it towards the top so it faded out. On top of this I sprinkled some water and allowed it to dry, which gives a lovely effect.

To create a focal point, I trimed a section from the Delicately Detailed Laser-cut DSP and sponged in different colours. It’s not easy to stick down but I used some tiny dabs of Tombow which did the trick.

Some Soft Sea Foam sequins finish it off - I'm in love with these!

Tropical Chic with a brayered background

I thought it was high time I tried the sponge brayers so gave them a whirl for this card. I’ve always loved playing with background techniques and enjoyed creating this graduated look with Pool Party, Bermuda Bay and Pacific Point.

It’s a six-colour combo, but I think it works... and sometimes you need two or three shades to really make the most of a brayered background. 

I topped it off with some Tropical Chic flowers and some beautiful leaves from the Delightfully Detailed Laser-cut Designer Series Paper, which is a total must-have as it will add a real “wow” to your projects. This special paper is Very Vanilla on one side and Whisper White on the other, which is perfect for sponging as I’ve done here with Soft Sea Foam and a hint of Old Olive. 

Accented Blooms meets Pinewood Planks

Accented Blooms is one of those sets that illustrates what Stampin’ Up!® does so well - co-ordination. It goes with the Tailored Tag punch, which was launched in the spring along with a masculine set. Now the Tailored Tag punch is back for the new catalogue with a floral stamp set. I love the panel for the greeting and the big blowsy flowers.

I must admit I did think at first that this set might be a bit of a one-trick pony, but I intend to prove that theory incorrect.

For this project, I painted the image using ink pad lids and an old-fashioned paintbrush - you do have to work quickly when using Whisper White. Then I fussy-cut around the whole image - that was a decision I regretted before I was even a quarter of the way around - and mounted it onto some Whisper White cardstock embossed with one of my favourite folders; Pinewood Planks. Some of those fab new self-adhesives sequins finish it off nicely.

Tropical Chic celebration card

I’m quite chuffed with how this card turned out, which is a relief as it’s for a very special occasion. It’s not every day that one of your team reaches such a major milestone as their 10th anniversary! Congratulations go to Kellie for sticking around – here’s to many more years!

To create the background I stamped repeatedly using Granny Apple Green, stamping over and over again without reinking to get various shades of green. I added some Petal Pink speckles to give a lift and to link to the die-cut Petal Pink flowers. These Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins give it the perfect finishing touch.