There’s no ‘Special Reason’ …

By | March 18, 2017
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Hi there

I really like the Special Reason bundle (stamp set and framelits) in the Occasions Catalogue.  The images are great and so are the sentiments.  Some of the sentiments are ‘Happy Birthday’, ‘Congratulations’ and a really cool one ‘There’s no special reason for this card …’ ‘…except to let you know how special you are!’  Here are three cards I’ve made recently using this bundle.

I have a few friends that are going through some health issues at the moment so I thought I’d use the last sentiment on a card for one of them.

This card uses the Thick Whisper White card stock as the base and Night of Navy for the card front.  The other colours used were Cucumber Crush and So Saffron.  All the images were cut out using the Framelits from the Stylish Stems Framelits Dies and the stamped images are from the Special Reason stamp set.  The small strip of paper is from Floral Boutique DSP.

Next up is another card using the Thick Whisper White card stock for the base and the Floral Boutique DSP for the card front.

This die set can be used to cut a full flower (the So Saffron flower in the card above) or just cut out the petals allowing you to show something behind (check out this post).  The sentiment is stamped on a piece of Whisper White then cut out with the Classic Label punch.  For the mat I punched out another Classic Label from Night of Navy then cut it in half and adhered it at either end of the stamped image.  The Night of Navy Solid Bakers Twine is wrapped around the Whisper White then I tied a bow onto the wrapped around piece.  The ‘cut out’ is adhered to the card front with dimensionals.

My last card is similar to the above just a different orientation.  It also uses the Thick card base and same DSP.

I had tried heat embossing the sentiment in white onto the DSP but it didn’t stand out enough so I cut a piece of Whisper White and stamped the sentiment (from Vertical Greetings) in Night of Navy.  Really pleased with how this turned out.

Well I’m going to head off to bed.  Catch you back here soon with more creations.

Special Reason for a zero

By | March 15, 2017
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Hi there

I had a play the other day with the new glimmer paper that is part of the Sale-A-Bration FREE products range – it is so nice.  It comes in 6″ x 6″ sheets and you get four sheets of three colours – Sweet Sugarplum, Mint Macaron and Bermuda Bay.

For this card I’ve used Sweet Sugarplum and Mint Macaron.

I’ve paired the glimmer paper up with the Stylish Stems Framelits Dies which are part of the Special Reason bundle for the front.  I’m really loving this new set and hope it carries over into the next Annual Catalogue come June.  It has two different sized flower dies and I’ve used the larger one on the front.  The leaves also come in two different sizes.  The banner is created with the Banner Triple punch.  One of my ‘go to’ sets when in need of a ‘Happy Birthday’ sentiment is Endless Birthday Wishes – I really like the font of this set.  The sentiment is stamped in Sweet Sugarplum.

I’ve used the coordinating stamp of the smaller flower for the inside then cut out the smaller die and placed it over the top of the stamped image.  The leave is also the smaller one.  The numbers are from the Large Numbers Framelits.  I decided to step the numbers rather than have them in a line.

Don’t forget we have just over two weeks left of Sale-A-Bration so if you’d like to place an order just let me know.

Creative Inkers March Extravaganza Projects

By | March 12, 2017
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Hi there

I hope you’ve all managed to stay dry today.  It was definitely an indoor day.  I put my ‘indoor’ time to good use and cleaned my craft room.  It had got to the point where there was no room on the desk – and not much on the floor either!  Here are my before and after photos.

As promised yesterday here are the projects that were taught at yesterday’s Extravaganza.

Top left is a Tunnel Card using the Dragonfly suite, in the middle we have a Pocket Envelope using the Cupcakes and Carousel suite and on the right we have a Card in a Box using the Birthday Blast bundle.

In the front left we have a Triple Tier Card using the Party Animal suite and on the right is the card I taught which uses the Beautiful You stamp set.

The card base and dry embossed piece are Kraft Card stock which comes in a 12″ x 12″ pack.  The mat is Early Espresso.  The DSP is Cupcakes and Carousel DSP which comes in the 6″ x 6″ paper stack.  The image is stamped on Shimmery White (you could also use Watercolour Paper) and coloured in using the new Watercolour Pencils – love them.  The doily is the new Lace Doily from the Occasions Catalogue – one side is Whisper White and the other side is Very Vanilla which we have used here.  The heart is from the Sending Love Embellishments pack and has been sponged in Early Espresso and then adhered with the Multi Purpose Glue.  The final touch was the Sprinkles Embellisments from the Cool Treats Suite.  We found the best way to adhere these to a project is to use the Fine Tip Glue.  Add a drop of glue to the project then using the end of the Fine Tip Glue pick the embellishment up and place it on top of the glue – and leave it to dry.

Our Extravaganza events are heaps of fun so mark the 22nd July in your calendar – more details nearer the time.

Have a great week.

Colouring “Inside the Lines”

By | March 11, 2017
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Hi there

Today we held our team Extravaganza event – its a full on day but so much fun.  Tomorrows task is to unpack and take photos of the five projects that were taught – so check back tomorrow to see what we taught the ladies.  If you missed out on todays event don’t worry – our next event will be held on Satruday 22nd July once the new Annual Catalogue has been released.  Watch this space for more details.

We have three weeks left of Sale-A-Bration so if you still have some items you want to purchase to enable you to receive a FREE Sale-A-Bration product then contact me.  I will be placing my next order on Wednesady 15th in the evening.

One of the FREE products on offer is the Inside the Lines Designer Series Paper.  Now this paper isn’t our usual paper – this paper has outlines and then you get to colour in :).  Here are two cards I’ve created using the same paper design but have been coloured in with different colours.

Both have been coloured in with our new Watercolour Pencils.  This first one uses uses Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry and Bermuda Bay.  It was very relaxing colouring this in 🙂

This next card uses Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Calypso Coral and Early Espresso.  This required a bit more concentration with the colour mix but was still relaxing.

Once I’d coloured in my design I used a Blender Pen – you could use an Aqua Painter if your prefer.

I cut my 12 x 12 sheet into six card fronts – now to get the remaining four coloured in and made into cards.

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow to see the projects from Extravaganza.

Gate Fold Wedding Anniversary and Wedding Card

By | February 28, 2017
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Hi there

I’ve lost count of the number of wedding anniversary cards I’ve made in the last two months – but it’s been a few.

This one is fancy fold using the Gate Fold technique.

I started with a normal card base but rather than score it in the center I scored two side panels which then fold back onto the ‘base’.  One side was slightly wider than the other so that it overlaped and was held shut by the heart die from Bloomin’ Heart Thinlits set.  The Heart was cut out of Real Red Glimmer Paper and adhered to one side of the card using Multipurpose Liquid Glue.  The flowers and the sentiment were stamped with Real Red then die cut with the Bloomin’ Hearts and Number of Years dies.

I decided to adhere the sentiment directly to the card front rather than use dimensionals.  The DSP (Something Borrowed) is retired but went so well with the Bloomin’ Hearts and I didn’t have my new papers when I made this.

And here’s the inside to show how it opens up.

While I was making this card I needed a Wedding Card for my cousins son who got married earlier this month so as I had the papers and stamp set already out here is what I created.

The ‘heart’ is stamped in Sahara Sand then clear embossed.  This time I used the solid flowers stamped with Real Red and cut out with the Bloomin’ Hearts Thinlits.  The sentiment is from Floral Phrases.

Well that’s it for February posts – tomorrow we’re in March!

Bloomin’ Love and Beautiful You – February Card Class projects

By | February 26, 2017
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Hi there

It’s been a very relaxing weekend – enjoying the sunshine, reading my book and entertaining some overseas guests.  I haven’t done any stamping this weekend but that’s OK.

My monthly card classes have started again for the year and here are the first two projects the ladies made.  They have to make some choices for these cards – a bit tough for the first class 🙂

With lots of wedding anniversaries this month that was our first theme.  It’s been awhile since I made a Folded Paper Frame so that’s what we made.  There were two choices of patterned paper for the frame and then two choices for the background – decisions, decisions.

Falling in Love DSP or the Falling Petals Embossing Folder on Blushing Bride cardstock

The stamp set is Bloomin’ Love and the sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments set.  The flowers are cut out with the Bloomin’ Hearts Thinlits.  Our card base is Sahara Sand and the ink is Sahara Sand and Blushing Bride.  The heart is heat embossed with Clear Embossing powder.

Our next project combines a couple of techniques – emboss resist, sponge braying and paper piecing to create a beautiful card.  More decisions had to be made before we started – which paper design to use, which image and which colour – Peekaboo Peach, Flirty Flamingo, Sweet Sugarplum, Dapper Denim and Emerald Envy.

  

I’ve used the Irresistibly Floral Specialty Designer Series Paper for the emboss resist (check out page 172 of the Annual Catalogue) To get the colour onto the cardstock ink up a sponge brayer and roll away.  I found that it was best to roll the brayer backwards and forwards in different directions rather than up and down so that you don’t get ink lines.

  

The dresses, hats and umbrella are stamped with Memento Ink on In Colour Envelope Paper then cut out and adhered on the already stamped image.  This is called Paper Piecing.  We then coloured in her skin with Watercolour Pencils and blended the ink with blender pens.  Very easy but very effective.

I love the Stitched Framelits and they work perfectly with the Layering Ovals Framelits.  I also used the Layering Square Framelits and just cut a square for the stamped image.

Have a great week.

Colour INKspiration – CI03

By | February 22, 2017
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Hi there

Life has been a bit busy this past fortnight with workshops, card classes and stamp camp that I almost missed entering a card for the third Colour INKspiration challenge.  On my way home on the train I was trying to think which stamp to use that would go well with the  five colours – Soft Sky, Marina Mist, Peekaboo Peach, Soft Suede and Whisper White.  In my minds eye I was running through my stamps then I stopped at one I bought last year which has NEVER seen ink – how bad is that.  What stamp set did I stop at?

Touches of Texture – you’re right.  This was the perfect set to incorporate all five colours.  I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to get these stamps out of the case.  The stem, bee and dragonfly are stamped in Soft Suede, the flower outline in Marina Mist, the solid flower in Soft Sky and the background and flower centre in Peekaboo Peach.

I used the Gold Wink of Stella to colour in the bee and dragonfly then applied the Fine Tip Glue pen to them for some dimension.

For the flower I used the Clear Wink of Stella and applied the glue just to the centre of the flower.  The Fine Tip Glue pen is my new friend 🙂

I cut the Burlap Ribbon in half then adhered the sentiment (which is from Love & Affection) on top using dimensionals.  The sentiment is cut out using the Stitched Framelits and Layering Oval Framelits – both these sets are a ‘must’  and are my most used framelits.

Well I’d better sign off and make my lunch for tomorrow then head to bed.

Milestone Birthdays – 90 and 100 years young

By | February 16, 2017
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Hi there

I recently needed to create two milestone birthday cards – one for my 90 year old aunt and one for a 100 year old lady I’ve never met.

For these cards I’ve used the Number of Years stamp set and coordinating Large Number Frameltis.  My colour combination is Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Marina Mist and Daffodil Delight.

I decided not to put the numbers on the front for this card but adhere them to the inside with another sentiment.

One of our team saw and article in ‘Stuff’ about a lady who had turned 100 and received over 50 cards of the same design – some had come from Australia and some were from New Zealand.  Obviously not many designs to choose from for this age bracket!  So those of us that were able to made her a ‘one off’ handmade card and we sent them off to her – she was delighted.

I went with subtle colours for this card – Blushing Bride, Wisteria Wonder, Perfect Plum and Old Olive.  When you reach 100 you need to have some ‘bling’ and ‘shine’ on your card so I added some rhinestones and gold foil.

Well I’d better start packing for our annual Creative Inkers Stamp Camp in Rotorua.  I think the weather is going to be perfect for crafting!  I’ll try and load some photos to my Facebook Business page while away so check it out to see what we’re up to.

Stay dry this weekend.

Tasty Trucks – Tacos or Ice Creams?

By | February 15, 2017
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Hi there

Well I am now a qualified First Aider for the next two years :).  It’s always good to have this training and thankfully I haven’t needed to use it in real life.

January through to March is Sale-A-Bration time at Stampin’ Up!  For every NZD$110 you spend during this time you get to pick a FREE product from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue.  One of the sets on offer this year is Tasty Trucks.  This is a fun stamp set with lots of variations.

First up we the ‘Taco Truck’

The image is stamped in Memento Black on Shimmery White cardstock.  One of my favourite items in the new Occasions catalogue  are the Watercolour Pencils.  I used 9 of the 13 colours to colour in my truck and tacos – Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Basic Grey, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Old Olive, Pacific Point and Early Espresso.  Once I’d coloured in the image I used my blender pens and aqua painters to blend the colour.  The card base has been dry embossed with the Petal Burst Embossing Folder.

The sentiment has been stamped in Sweet Sugarplum then cut out with the new Oval Stitched Framelit.  The final touch to this card was the Sweet Sugarplum Enamel stars.

I love the line on the sentiment ‘now where’s the cake?’ – inside of course.

So if you’re not into tacos – how about ice creams?

Again this image was stamped in Memento Black but this time I used my markers to colour in the image – Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride, Daffodil Delight, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Basic Grey, Basic Black, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso.

My card base is Melon Mambo and the DSP is from the Neutrals Paper Stack.

I used the same sentiment as the first card but didn’t want the ‘cake’ line so only inked up the ‘Happy Birthday’ and punched it out with the Classic Label Punch.

Well I’d better sign off and get ready for my card class.

Enjoy your evening.

 

Casing The Catalogue – CTC110

By | February 14, 2017
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Hi there

Last month I participated in another challenge site – Casing the Catalogue – which is run by Stampin’ Up! demonstrators.  For this challenge they were casing pages 4 – 7 from the new Occasions Catalogue.

I don’t have any of the stamp sets from this suite but decided to use the layout from the floral card on page 6 and change the stamp set.   I also changed the orientation of the card.

I’ve used the single stamp ‘Stylized Birthday’ along with the flowers from Mixed Borders.  The flower stamp is an outline stamp so I coloured in the flowers with Rose Red, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive and Crushed Curry ink.  I find for small images like this I prefer to use a Blender Pen rather than an Aqua Painter.  My ‘go to’ black ink is Memento Black and I used this to stamp the sentiment.

The card base is Rose Red which I ran through the Big Shot with the Fluttering Embossing Folder.

Don’t forget to use the catalogues as inspiration for your cards – they’re a great resource.

Well tomorrow I’m off to do my First Aid refresher course 🙂  Enjoy your day.

Celebrate Today – Seb and Sam

By | February 13, 2017
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Hi there

Back again with some more creations from last month.

Do you have stamp sets you haven’t used for awhile?  I do and Celebrate Today is one of them.  So off the shelf it came and got re-introduced to ink 🙂

I needed two cards so created the same design but swapped the colours around for a different look.

The images are stamped then cut out with the Balloon Framelits die.  Two are adhered directly onto the cardstock and the one with the sentiment is adhered with dimensionals.  I like the fresh look of a Whisper White card base – it also makes the colour of the mat stand out.  The card base is Thick Whisper White.

This set is a ‘two step’ stamp – the balloons are stamped in Tempting Turquoise, Real Red and Daffodil Delight and then the ‘overlay’ is stamped in Pacific Point, Memento Black and Crushed Curry.

I’ll be back tomorrow to share some more projects using new stamp sets from the Occasions Catalogue.

Colour INKspiration – CI02

By | February 12, 2017
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Hi there

I’m back :).  I’ve had a few ‘technical’ issues over the last couple of weeks but hopefully we’re all sorted.

Colour INKspiration is a new fortnightly challenge site which I plan to participate in.  How it works is that each fortnight they give us some colours which we need to use to create a card or 3D project.  CI02’s colours were Wisteria Wonder, Soft Sky, Mint Macaron, Whisper White and Garden Green.  This is not a combo I’ve used before but once I got started I ended up creating four projects 🙂

February seems to be the month for weddings anniversaries – I know of at least 10 couples celebrating this month and one wedding!  So my first two cards are anniversary ones.

This is the card I made for my parents who will be celebrating their 58th wedding anniversary on Valentines Day.  Back then it wasn’t as commercial as it is today.  I made a mask with the Sweet & Sassy Heart Framelits and sponged the background heart in Mint Macaron then stamped the heart image from Bloomin’ Love and cut it out with the framelits – adding a few pearls to finish it off.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Sentiments and is stamped in Garden Green.  I’ve popped it up with dimensionals for some height.

Next up is a card I made for friends who celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary last week – what a milestone that is.  Congratulations Bob & Steph.

I chose Number of Years for this card and stamped the main part in Garden Green then added the flowers in Wisteria Wonder, Soft Sky and Mint Macaron.  The sentiment is the same as the above card.  On the inside I added ’40’ cut with the Large Numbers Framelits in Wisteria Wonder.

I was so enjoying this colour combo that I decided to make another two cards – birthday this time with one of my favourite techniques – inlaid embossing.  This is such a cool technique and you get a different look depending on which embossing folder you use.

The first card uses the new Hexagons Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder from the Occasions Catalogue and the second card uses my favourite Petal Burst Embossing Folder.  The sentiment is from Window Shopping which is another new set from the Occasions Catalogue.  The circles are cut out with various sized circle punches.

Well now that the ‘technical glitches’ are sorted I’ll be back tomorrow to share some more projects.

Happy Anniversary – 15 Years

By | January 19, 2017
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Hi there

Today is a very special day – Phil and I are celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary :).  We are enjoying some time in the South Island at beautiful Te Anau.  Tomorrow we hope to go to Milford Sound and do the boat cruise.

Here is the card that I made for Phil.  I’ve gone with a Red and Silver theme this year.

The image and sentiment are from the Bloomin Love set.  I’ve heat embossed the heart image in Silver Embossing Powder then adhered the Real Red flowers which were ‘cut’ out using the coordinating Bloomin Hearts Thinlits dies.  The outline and image on the banner were heat embossed in clear powder after I stamped the image in Real Red.  I then stamped the words and heat embossed them in silver.  The banner is cut out with the coordinating die from Large Numbers Framelits and adhered with dimensionals.  As I was trying to decide what to use for the background I found some retired Silver Vellum – it went perfectly with my design.  Vellum is hard to adhere without showing the adhesive but with this card you can’t see where my adhesive is.  That’s because I used Glue Dots folded in half to fit under the silver embossed hearts on the vellum 🙂  I have a few other ways of adhering vellum which I’ll share with you on another post.

The sentiment used on the inside is from Suite Saying.  It actually has another word on the stamp but I only wanted the ‘Forever’.  To achieve just the one word I used my Real Red Stampin’ Write Marker and inked up just the area I wanted.

Well we are off for a drive today to Lumsden and Invercargill.  The weather today isn’t that great and we woke to some snow on the mountains :).

I’ll try and do some more posts in the next couple of days but the WiFi isn’t that great.

Beautiful You – Paper Piecing Technique

By | January 10, 2017
2 Comments

Hi there

Well I’m not sure what’s happened to summer but it’s great weather for crafting :).  I’ve been busy creating with some of the new products from the Occasions Catalogue.

My favourite stamp at the moment is the ‘Beautiful You’ set.  This outline stamp lends itself to a number of different ways to colour – ink, colouring in with the new watercolour pencils or the paper piecing technique.  I’d never done this technique before but it’s very cool and effective.

First off I stamped the image on a piece of Sweet Sugarplum Envelope Paper.  I used both sides of the paper – the patterned side for the dress and then the plain side for her hat – and then cut around the outline.

beautiful-you-paper-piecing-dancing-dress

Next up I stamped the image on the card front and then adhered the DSP cut out over the stamped image.

beautiful-you-paper-piecing-card-front-karenina

I used Pool Party ink for the ‘puddle’.

I also bagged up some Note Cards and Envelopes I’d created from my One Sheet Wonder project – a nice gift to give away.

beautiful-you-paper-piecing-card-and-gift-karenina

Check back later this week to see some watercoloured cards using this stamp set.

Yellow Bear Signature

Beautiful You

By | January 5, 2017
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Hi there

I had hoped to post this earlier this evening but we decided last minute to go and see ‘Rouge One’ – the latest Star Wars movie – it was great.

One of my favourite stamp sets in the new Occasions Catalogue is a set called ‘Beautiful You’.  It’s an outline stamp that you can either colour with ink, watercolour pencils (another favourite new item) or even DSP.  My first sample is one that I inked for a friend who had a ‘special’ birthday just after Christmas.

beautiful-you-front-bernie

The background of the card uses the Irresistibly Yours Specialty Designer Paper which I inked up using the Sponge Brayer.  The white-on-white embossed design shows through when the paper is inked.  Once you’ve inked the paper just wipe with a tissue to remove any excess ink.

The stamped image is cut out using the Oval Stitched Framelit and then matted with the Oval Layering Framelit.

beautiful-you-inside-bernie

The sentiments in this set were perfect for the birthday girl – I’m sure she did celebrate in style.

Now as I mentioned yesterday it’s Sale-A-Bration time.  Check out below how you can earn FREE product between now and 31 March 2017.

shop!

Here’s the deal – for every $110 NZD you spend (before shipping) between 4 January 2017 and 31 March 2017 you get a FREE Sale-A-Bration product.  That means it’s the perfect time to purchase those products you’ve had your eye on while earning more products for free.  Check out my ‘Catalogues’ page to see what the Sale-A-Bration FREE products are.

host!

Need another excuse to get together with friends?  Just host a qualifying party with at least $450 NZD in sales during Sale-A-Bration and you’ll earn and extra $45 NZD in Stampin’ Rewards!

join!

It’s the best time of the year to join Stampin’ Up!  During Sale-A-Bration you can become a demonstrator for just $189 NZD and choose TWO additional stamp sets for your Starter Kit – any stamp set, any price! (Excludes project kits, bundles and Sale-A-Bration sets) plus your kit ships for FREE!  I would love to have you join and be part of my team.  If you are interested in joining Stampin’ Up! please contact me – I’d love to hear from you.

I’ll be back soon with more projects from the Occasions and Sale-A-Bration catalogues.

Please contact me if you wish to place an order.

Yellow Bear Signature