Ribbon Holder

By | July 17, 2020
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Hi there

Here we are at the end of another week – I’m looking forward to some crafting time this weekend as I haven’t had time to do anything this past week.

I don’t know about you but my ribbons were in a bit of a mess. The container I kept them in meant I could never find the spool I wanted. After finding a cool ribbon holder project online I spent the other weekend making individual boxes to store my ribbon. Now I can find my ribbons easily and they’re kept nicely wound on the spool.

I’ve coordinated the card stock to be the same or as close as to the ribbon colour which helps know what colour it is. I found a spare plastic container that holds the first lot of ribbon beautifully. I started making boxes for the current ribbon and then some that are current colours but retired ribbon styles.

Don’t they look great? Love that I can have them colour coded. Now I won’t have ribbon ‘running’ away from me and getting tangled.

To create the box you only need two measurements – the diameter of the spool and the width/thickness. The only tools you need are your paper trimmer and a hole punch.

A quick tip to remember is punch the hole before assembling the box – here are the measurements for the new In Colours ribbon boxes:

I had fun making these boxes and I hope you give them a go too.

Until next time …

Forever Fern – Colour Challenge

By | July 12, 2020
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Hi there

Last weekend we celebrated my niece’s birthday (which was at the end of June) and on Friday I took her shopping for her present. We hadn’t been able to do it earlier as she had Uni exams – including one on her birthday.

There are lots of sketch/colour challenge sites you can use to help with creating your projects. The colours – Cinnamon Cider, Crumb Cake and Real Red – used for this card come from the Colour INKspiration Challenge site which you can find on Facebook. The Forever Fern stamp set is a Distinktive stamp. Distinktive stamps lay down the ink at different opacities giving the finished image more depth.

The card base is a 5″ square with the Real Red mat measuring 4 3/4″ and the Whisper White front is 4 5/8″ square. After stamping the images around the edge, the card front has been dry embossed with the Subtles Embossing Folder. The sentiment from Peaceful Moment (page 19) has been heat embossed in White on a Crumb Cake Stitched Rectangle. I stamped my sentiment towards the right so that the lefthand end could be tucked under the ribbon. I don’t have any of the Red Rhinestones (must add them to my next order) so I used the Champagne Rhinestones.

The Forever Fern stamp set looks just as good with these colours as it does with the green tones of the paper from the Forever Greenery Suite (page 108-110). It’s often hard to step away from the colours associated with the suite but this set is really versatile and lends itself to a range of colours.

And here’s the voucher for my niece to redeem her present – painting supplies from Gordon Harris.

Well that’s all for now – until next time …

Jar of Flowers Shaker Card

By | July 8, 2020
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Hi there

We’ve made it to the final project from our team training day. This card features products from the Flowers for Every Season Suite on pages 10-13. This suite consists of two bundles – Jar of Flowers and Celebrate Sunflowers.

The Designer Series Paper (DSP) coordinates with both bundles and features all five new In Colours – Cinnamon Cider, Bumblebee, Just Jade, Magenta Madness and Misty Moonlight plus Poppy Parade. You can see a couple of strips of the DSP on the card above. The card front has been embossed with the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder.

The Jar of Flowers stamp set includes four different flower arrangements to use with your jar and being line art stamps allows for a range of colouring methods. For this card we used Stampin’ Blends. The Jar of Flowers bundle includes the stamp set and a Jar punch (page 168) – you can also purchase these cool Mason Jar Shaker Domes (page 158) that coordinate with the stamp set and punch.

Here’s a cross section of the flowers so you can see all the layers – first I stamped the whole image, then stamped two of the three flowers and finally just one flower. Each layer has been ‘fussy cut’, coloured and layered with dimensionals.

The beads inside the jar are the Flowers for Every Season Gems (page 158) and are a mix of clear and Just Jade – perfect for a shaker card. There are no sentiments in this set so we used the words and punch from the Lovely You Bundle (page 22).

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing these projects that we made and have been inspired by them. If you would like to purchase any of the products used in these projects please visit my online store or contact me directly.

Until next time …

Birds & Branches Bundle

By | July 7, 2020
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Hi there

Back again with the fourth project from our training day featuring the Birds & Branches bundle from page 120.

I decided to leave the sentiment off the front of this card as I’m not sure what I want to use it for at the moment.

This card has lots of dimension and textures on it. To start we stamped the nest directly onto the card front – this helped us know where to position the branches (stamped in Crumb Cake) and leaves (Old Olive) then added a die cut nest with dimensionals on top. The birds are a ‘two-step’ stamp which means there are two separate stamps that coordinate together to create a complete image. The first image was stamped in the new Bumblebee and then the second image was done with Daffodil Delight (stamped off) to give the birds a two tone look. Once all the stamping was completed we ran the cardstock through the die machine with the new Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder – this photo really shows off the texture of this folder.

Have you noticed the ‘eggs’ in the nest? To get the colour of these we watercoloured a piece of Watercolour paper with a Pool Party wash then ‘flicked’ some specks onto the cardstock using the Soft Suede Stampin Blends. They came out a real ‘duck egg’ blue. The Magenta Madness flowers add a real touch of colour to this scene. The ribbon is the new Pool Party 1cm Sheer Ribbon which has a lovely sparkle in it.

Well that’s it for tonight – I’ll be back tomorrow with the final project from our training day. Until then …

Field of Flowers – Sliced Card

By | July 6, 2020
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Hi there

Today’s card was a ‘self directed’ card we made halfway through our training day. Nobody actually taught us this card – we just followed the step by step instructions like a production line :).

This is another set I don’t have so it’s great to have a sample to show. There are five layers to this card – a standard card base using Thick Whisper White, Misty Moonlight (3 7/8″ x 5 5/8″), Whisper White dry embossed with the Old World Paper 3D Embossing Folder (3 3/4″ x 5 1/2″), Whisper White (3 1/8″ x 5″, Whisper White (3″ x 4 1/2″).

With the smallest piece of Whisper White we started stamping the sentiment near the top of the cardstock in Basic Grey. By doing this first you then know where to stamp the flowers. The stems are stamped in Granny Apple Green with the flower heads stamped in Daffodil Delight. The Dragonfly is stamped in Misty Moonlight. Once the stamping is done cut 1/2″ from the bottom of the image, then cut a further 3/4″ of the image. The final piece should then measure 3″ x 3″. Now to assemble the card.

Adhere the embossed layer to the coloured cardstock and then adhere this directly to the card base. Next add dimensionals to the back of all remaining pieces. Work out your placement and spacing of the three pieces on the 3 1/8″ x 5″ piece of Whisper White before removing the backings from the dimensionals. Once you are happy with your spacing remove the backings from the dimensionals and add the big section then adhere a length of ribbon. If you wanted to you could add a bow or a knot or leave it as I have. Repeat the process with the remaining two sections. If you want a second length of ribbon add it before adhering the last section. Adhere these two layers to the card base and then add a couple of Rhinestones.

This was a great project and I’ll give this design a try with some other sets I own. What sets do you own that you could use to recreate this card too?

Well that’s all for now. I’ll be back tomorrow with the fourth card. Until then …

In Good Taste – Gift Card

By | July 5, 2020
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Hi there

Today’s post features the second card we made at our team training – the In Good Taste Suite on pages 122-124 – this was at the top of my shopping list. This suite is all about textures – the stamp set, papers, embossing folder and wooden elements.

In Good Taste Suite

The papers which include photographic images and visual textures work well for a variety of projects. The predominant colours are the Neutrals with a touch of Night of Navy, Petal Pink and Rococo Rose. These papers will be great for masculine or feminine projects. Rococo Rose – one of the 2019-2021 In Colours – teams beautifully with Early Espresso and here we’ve made a gift card for that special friend or family member in your life.

Don’t forget that you can stamp directly onto your Designer Series Paper (DSP) as we have done here with the leaves image. Once stamped the DSP has been adhered to the Rococo Rose mat with linen thread wrapped around and tied in a bow. I find it easier to wrap the thread and attach a bow separately with a glue dot. The main flower image has been stamped on a scrap and ‘fussy’ cut out – sorry no die for this image but it’s an easy image to cut out. I coloured mine in with the Rococo Rose Stampin’ Blends. The wooden leaf elements just finish off this card. The sentiment is also from the Tasteful Touches stamp set and we used the very versatile Lovely Labels Pick A Punch from page 22. We’ve only had this punch a month and it’s already been put through it’s paces – I love it.

This card uses a standard card base with one additional score at 4.7cm from the edge which is then folded back on itself to create a pocket for a gift card. We added a piece of Rococo Rose cardstock (4.4cm x 10cm) which was dry embossed using the new Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder. The measurements for the front of the card were: Rococo Rose 9.5 x 10cm, DSP 9 x 9.cm. The attached panel measurements were: Early Espresso 7.5 x 11cm, Rococo Rose 7 x 10.5cm, DSP 6.5 x 10cm. When you attach this piece to the card front remember not to adhere the whole piece as part of it overhangs as per the photo above.

Well that’s all for now – I’ll be back tomorrow with another fun stamped project. Until then …

World of Good – Trifold Card & Envelope

By | July 4, 2020
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Hi there

A couple of weekends ago we had a team training day and made five projects with new products – it was a fun, relaxed day and so good to finally be able to meet together. The first project we made uses products from the World Of Good Suite – pages 24-26. I don’t have this suite so it was great to have a play with it.

World of Good Suite – Trifold Card & Envelope

To make the envelope start with a piece of the World of Good Specialty Designer Series Paper measuring 6″ x 9″ and score at 2″ and 6″. Before you join the ends make sure you cut the half circle using the 1 1/2″ Circle punch. Make a ‘belly band’ from Cinnamon Cider cardstock which has been dry embossed with the new Old World Paper 3D Embossing Folder. We lightly ran a VersaMark pad across the cardstock and heat embossed it with Gold Embossing Powder – add some ‘torn’ stips of Early Espresso cardstock to either side, wrap around your envelope pocket and adhere ends together. Wrap some Bumblebee 1/4″ Twill Ribbon (threaded through a Antiqued Slide (page 157) and a die cut ‘globe’ from the Beautiful World dies.

And now the card – the card base is Early Espresso (8 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ – scored @ 3″ and 6 3/4″). The front panel of Early Espresso (2 7/8″ x 5 3/8′) has also been dry embossed with the Old World Paper 3D Embossing Folder and Gold Embossing Powder added. A thin strip (3/4″ x 5 1/2″) has been roughly torn then add to the card base before adhering the front panel.

The inside Very Vanilla cardstock has been stamped with sentiments from the Beautiful World stamp set and lightly sponged around the edge with Early Espresso ink. The inside panel of DSP measures 1 3/8″ x 5 3/8″. There is also another piece on the other side of the flap. In total this project uses half a sheet of 12″ x 12″ paper.

Here you can see the other side of the DSP. The ‘Globe’ has been die cut using Misty Moonlight and Mossy Meadow. Quick tip for punching the hole for the ribbon – pop the card into the envelope, make a pencil mark on the card so that the hole will be in the centre of the punched out circle. Remove the card and punch your hole then thread the ribbon through.

Well I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing this project – it’s a great way to use your DSP and be able to see both sides of it on the project. I’ll be back tomorrow with project #2.

Until then …

Birds & More – masking technique

By | July 3, 2020
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Hi there

I’m back :). I had some technical issues with an auto update that locked me out of my blog – thankfully it’s sorted and we’re back on track to sharing projects with new products 🙂

First up is a card I made via our virtual team gathering last month featuring the Birds & More dies and masking. COVID-19 cannot stop us from crafting!

Birds & Branches – So Saffron and Bumblebee

The card base is Crumb Cake (5″ x 10″ scored at 5″) with a mat of Pool Party (4 3/4″ square) and then a Whisper White stamped layer (4 5/8″ square).

So Saffron

The sponged background was created with a mask using one of the die shapes from the new Tasteful Labels dies (page 179). We were given a great tip to create this mask. Cut a scrap piece of card stock the same size as your Whisper White (4 5/8″ square) then place the die in the position you want it and run it through your die cutting machine. Then place the template on top of the Whisper White and sponge away. For our sponging we started with Pool Party and then a light sponge of Crumb Cake in the lower edges. When you remove the mask template your sponging is in the correct place.

Bumblebee

The die cutting of the branches and bird use the Birds & More dies (page 174). Die cut two birds one from So Saffron and one from the new Bumblebee In Color. Carefully take the accent pieces out of the die and swap them over so that the So Saffron bird has the Bumblebee accents and vice versa. Here’s another tip – on the back of the bird add dimensionals so that when the accents are re-added they’ll stick to the dimensionals :).

The branch is die cut from Early Espresso and for my flowers I used Magenta Madness and the Friendly Silhouttes die on page 181. The flower centres are the small Seaside Spray sequins from the Woven Threads Sequin Assortment (so glad these carried over to the new catalogue). The bigger sequins of Pretty Peacock and Rococo Rose have also been used.

The sentiment is from Tasteful Touches (page 124) and stamped in Crumb Cake. Once the Whisper White and Pool Party have been adhered together a length of linen thread has been wrapped around and a bow tied and adhered.

I almost forgot to mention the birds eyes – these are our Basic Pearls that have been coloured in with the Basic Black Stampin’ Blend.

Well that’s all for now – back tomorrow with more treats to share and inspire you.

Until then …

Tasteful Touches Swap Card

By | June 18, 2020
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Hi there

I have recently participated in two different card swaps featuring products from the new 2020-2021 Annual Catalogue and now that everyone has their cards I can share my creation with you 🙂

Tasteful Touches

As a demonstrator I get to place a ‘pre-order’ a month before a catalogue goes live. Fortunately one of the Suites available in the pre-order was the ‘In Good Taste’ suite on page 122 – 124. This suite is full of wonderful textures from the stamps, paper, embossing folder and embellishments. Combined or on their own they look great. The papers in this suite are all neutral colours which are great for masculine cards and with a pop of colour can make a great feminine project.

For my card I’ve used the stamp and dies (which come as a bundle so you can save 10%) and the embossing folder. As I wasn’t using the papers I decided to go with feminine colours – Purple Posy, Blackberry Bliss and Soft Sea Foam. The Blackberry Bliss card stock has been dry embossed with the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder.

I stamped the flower in Blackberry Bliss and then ‘fussy’ cut it out. Before I adhered it I thought I’d add a bit of sparkle with the Wink of Stella. Well – as I was adding the Wink of Stella it pulled some of the colour from the stamp onto the petals giving the ‘pink’ hue so each flower is unique 🙂

I remembered to take a photo of the inside – I kept it simple as I ended up making 35 of these cards 🙂 I think this suite will be getting a lot of use.

Well that’s all from me for now. Until next time …

Sketch Challenge – Sliced Rainbow Card

By | June 14, 2020
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Hi there

Today’s card has been created using the below layout. It’s my brother’s birthday today so thought this sketch would be good to use for his card. The only stamping I’ve done is the sentiment – so check out below to see how I used this sketch.

For this design you could stamp your image as a whole on one piece of cardstock then slice it up into the three sections or as I did cut three different sizes of scrap cardstock and then layer various widths of different coloured cardstock.

I love the Brights colours so went with this colour family. I ended up using all 10 colours on my card. At the top we have a thin strip measuring 5mm then a wider strip at 1 1/2cm. The thin strips are Poppy Parade, Melon Mambo and Flirty Flamingo, the wider strips are Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana and Granny Apple Green. The measurements are repeated for the Mango Melody and Gorgeous Grape cardstock. The bottom Daffodil Delight strip is 1 cm wide.

I had originally thought I’d stamp the sentiment on the Daffodil Delight strip but once it was all together it needed something else so I die cut the ‘swirl’ from the Painted Labels die and then stamped the sentiment on a Stitched Circle. After completing the card I went looking for a bag to put the gift in and look what I found in my stash 🙂

After completing the card I still had some spare strips of cardstock left over so created another card with them.

Rainbow Card

The sentiment is from the Many Mates set and has been punched and matted using the new Lovely Labels Pick a Punch – love this punch.

Well that’s all for today – I hope you’ve enjoyed these bright cards. I hope you’ll give the sketch a go for one of your creations.

Until next time …

2020-2022 In Color DSP – Herringbone Card

By | June 13, 2020
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Hi there

I’m loving the new In Colors and the 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper. The designs in this pack are really great. I’ve CASED today’s card design from a US demo. She had only used three colours from the paper she used – I’ decided to use all five of the In Colors to show how well they all go together. There are four new products from the 2020-2021 Annual Catalogue for this card – can you pick them?

The strips of DSP are 1″ wide DSP and I’ve used all the designs from the paper pack. The length for the longest diagonal strip needs to be about 6 1/2″ but with the In Color paper only 6″ I needed to do a join – this is covered up by the sentiment :). I cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock 9.5cm x 13.8cm and then adhered my strips of DSP trimming once I’d adhered everything. This was then adhered to a Whisper White card front (10cm x 14.3cm). I wrapped a piece of the new Just Jade Twill Ribbon and adhered the bow separately. The sentiment comes from the Tasteful Touches set and has been die cut with the coordinating dies – Tasteful Labels. The actual stamp says ‘Just saying hello’ but I only wanted the ‘hello’ so I very carefully placed Post-It notes to cover the words I didn’t want. The sentiment is heat embossed in White and adhered with dimensionals.

Tomorrow’s post is a card birthday card for my brother using a sketch challenge so until then …

Introducing the new 2020-2022 In Colors

By | June 10, 2020
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Hi there

With a new Annual Catalogue comes five new In Colors that will be with us for the next two years. The new colors are: Bumblebee, Cinnamon Cider, Just Jade, Magenta Madness and Misty Moonlight.

For my first project I’ve used the 2020-2022 In Color 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper (page 150) plus the new Lovely Labels Pick a Punch (page169) – I’m sure you will want to add this punch to your shopping list.

The new Lovely Labels Pick a Punch is six punches in one. There are two designs and three widths (1.3cm, 1.9cm and 2.5cm) and you can make this banner any length you want.

For my card above I’ve used the widest banner and a mix of patterns from the paper. There are 40 sheets in the 6″ x 6″ pack – 4 each of 2 double-sided designs in the 5 colours. The sentiment is from a new set called ‘Many Mates’ (page 43) and has been stamped on the 1.9cm wide banner.

I alternated the different punch designs so you get to see the two looks. Do you have a favourite end – I think I prefer the ‘flat’ end. Now to decide which is your favourite colour :). These colours go well together and as mix and match. I’m sure you will see them pop up on projects in the coming months.

Well that’s all for today. Tomorrow I’m heading into the office for the day – my first day back since 17 March.

Until next time …

CASEing the 2020-2021 Catalogue

By | June 7, 2020
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Hi there

It’s been a great weekend here – very productive. Yesterday morning I attending our ‘Virtual’ Team Training with others from around the country. In the afternoon I rearranged my craft/office space and had a good ‘tidy up’ – it felt so good :). I think my new layout will work better especially as I am still working from home and need to share the space with ‘work’ and ‘crafting’ :).

For today’s card I’ve CASE’d one of the cards from the cover of the catalogue – the one on the right. I used my grid paper to make sure I had my lines straight

For my colour palette I started with Soft Sea Foam – which I haven’t used much – then added So Saffron, Terracotta Tile, Smoky Slate and Seaside Spray.

My ‘strips’ of colour have been sponged whereas the original card used strips of cardstock. To create my coloured strips I used Post-It Notes to create a mask – using my grid paper to make sure I had my lines straight. I reused my Post-It Note multiple times but I think next time I’ll either let the ink dry a bit or use new Post-It Notes for each colour as my Terracotta Tile blended in a bit with the Smoky Slate – oh well I just created a new colour :).

The card base is Thick Whisper White with a Cajun Craze mat measuring 3 7/8″ x 5 5/8″ and then the Whisper White front is 3 3/4″ x 5 1/2″. The leaf image is from Rooted in Nature and stamped in Cajun Craze. When I was deciding on the stamp set to use I found I have a lot of ‘line art’ sets so will be adding a few more solid stamp sets to my stash. The sentiment is from Butterfly Gala and is one of my most used sentiments. This has been heat embossed in White on Cajun Craze which has been die cut from the Stitched Rectangle dies.

The final touch for this card are the Woven Threads Sequins Assortment – so glad these have carried over.

Well that’s all for now – have a great week.

Until next time …

2020-2021 Annual Catalogue is here

By | June 4, 2020
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Hi there

The brand new 2020–2021 Annual Catalogue is now live, and we’re having a celebration! Anyone who holds a party or shops during the month of June will receive extra Stampin’ Rewards with a qualifying purchase. So don’t wait! Start planning now to hold an event in June. If you’re interested in holding an event contact me now for more information and to book a time. 

It’s a bundle bash! If you have been thinking about becoming a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, now’s the perfect time to join. Not only will you get a Starter Kit—already a great value at $189 NZD for $285 NZD worth of products—but for a limited time, you can select any stamp/tool bundle from the new 2020–2021 Annual Catalogue for FREE. There could not be a better time to join me and my team. If you would like to know more about joining please contact me.

Check out my Promotions page for more details.

Here’s a quick video showing the new 2020-2021 Annual Catalogue

If you don’t yet have a 2020-2021 Annual Catalogue and would like one please let me know and I’ll get one sent to you. In the meantime check out my Catalogue page to download a pdf version.

Happy shopping – until next time …

Magnolia Lane – Tri Panel Card

By | June 1, 2020
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Hi there

Welcome to Winter – at least we’re now starting to get the rain we so desperately need. One positive of winter is that we have to stay indoors more which means more crafting time – and with a new catalogue just days away – bring it on.

Today’s post is created from a sketch challenge. Sketch challenges along with colour challenges are a fun way to create cards. A sketch challenge gives you a layout design to follow and allows you to use any stamp set and colour combo you want. A colour challenge sets out a number of colours for you to use in your project and the design/layout/stamp set are up to you.

Here’s the sketch I based my card on.

And here’s my take on the sketch. I’ve used the Magnolia Lane DSP for the top horizontal panel and then used Petal Pink cardstock embossed with the Parisian Flourish 3D Embossing Folder for the vertical panels. I tried a couple of colour combinations for the mat before settling on Basic Black. Some Petal Pink 1/4″ Metallic Edge Ribbon wrapped around the card covers the join of the DSP and card stock. I then tied a separate bow and adhered it with a glue dot. The final touch was the sentiment – stamped in Mossy Meadow this stamp is from the Magnolia Blooms stamp set and has been die cut using the Stitched Shapes dies.

I hope this layout inspires you to give sketch challenges a go. I’d love to see your creations.

Until next time …