Wildflower Meadow

I finally got some time over the last couple of days to do some stamping, we have so much going on at present that finding the time to stamp has not been easy.
I wanted to do something a little different with the the Wildflower Meadow embossing folder, and here is what I came up with.

Lots of sponging on this one, however I like the vintage look.  The colours I have used are Blushing Bride, Pistachio Pudding and Baked Brown Sugar.  The butterflies are from the Papillon Potpourri stamp set and the greeting from the hostess set Banner Greetings.
Promise to be back soon with some more of my creations.
Happy Stamping!
Chris

Goodie Bags

I just wanted to pop up a quick post this evening to share the good bags that I made for my catalogue launch parties this week.  I love the way Stampin’ Up! co-ordinates things so beautifully.
I have used plain brown paper bags to put everyone’s catalogues and other goodies into, which I have then added some of the new patterned papers to, and a matching tag.

In this case I have used the gorgeous Eastern Elegance Designer Series Papers (Page 154 Annual Catalogue), with a strip of Crushed Curry cardstock.   The tag has been made using the Chalk Talk stamp set (Page 12) and matching Chalk Talk Framelits (Page 187), along with some of the gorgeous new Chevron Ribbon in Smokey Slate (Page 173).
The photo doesn’t do justice to the colours, we had rather a dull day here in Canberra today, so it was a bit difficult to take a better  photo.
Did you miss out?  I will post a photo tomorrow of the some of the projects we made.  Make sure you stay tuned, and also look out for more classes and stamping get togethers being announced soon.  All classes have a limited seating so please contact me to let me know that you are would like to come along.  I can cater for complete beginners in most of my classes.

Happy Stamping!
Chris

Introducing Mosaic Madness

Ok, yes it has been a while since my last post, not quite sure where the time has gone…… anyway, I am sure you have been getting your inspiration elsewhere, and you may have noticed just how popular anything and everything mosaic is right now.  As always, Stampin’ Up! are onto this trend and in the new catalogue which is only a week away from release, includes the fantastic Mosaic Madness stamp set.

My card features the Mosaic Madness stamp set, the matching punch, and also the Modern Mosaic Embossing Folder.  You might also notice that the colour is not a familiar one…. this is Pistachio Pudding, one of the gorgeous range of new In Colours.

Talking about all the new goodies from the new catalogue, you can come along to my Catalogue Launch dates, Thursday 4th July at 7.30pm or Sun 7th July at 2pm.  Send me an email for more details.

I think I might just be able to squeeze this card in for the current challenge with the girls over at Freshly Made Sketches, and I promise to be back with more ideas and projects for you soon.
Happy Stamping!
Chris

Pillow Gifts

It’s a Stampin’ Up! tradition to make something special for our room mates if we are sharing with other demonstrators at convention or other events, so today I am quickly going to share with you the gifts I made for the lovely ladies who I was lucky enough to share with this year.
Firstly, I made some fridge magnets using the gorgeous Designer Builder Brads.

I just cut off the split pins at the back of the brads using the fabulous Craft and Rubber Scissors – yes, they are strong enough to cut through the metal, and then glued some magnets onto the back.

I added some of the More Amore papers to the front of a journal, and added some chocolates (a must have at convention!).  I liked the idea of a journal, rather than a note book – they can be used as a smash book, design and ideas book, note book…..

Enough from me for today, I have a lot of catching up to do!
Happy stamping!
Chris

Pretty in Pink

Oh no, Pretty in Pink is soon to be leaving us!  If you didn’t already know, Stampin’ Up! have done a colour renovation and with the new catalogue in July, will come a new set of gorgeous colour combinations.  One of the colours that will be leaving the collection is Pretty in Pink… it is such a pretty, girly pink, I am going to miss it!

I have used this week’s sketch from Freshly Made Sketches as a basis for my card and also used my Sizzlits Pinwheel die which hasn’t seen the light of day until now.  The papers are from the Tea For Two Designer Series Papers pack.  The pinwheel may look a little different to how you are used to see them, but I wanted to use just the pink side of the patterned paper without the pattern on the other side showing so I just reversed it – I think it looks a little more like a windmill than a pinwheel, but never mind 🙂  I also struggled with where to put the sentiment.  I have stamped it onto some vellum for a nice soft look, but it just didn’t quite look right, no matter where I put it. Perhaps I should have left the card sentiment free.
The other challenge that I will enter this card in is SUO Challenges, who are currently running a challenge using anything Sizzix – well, I have plenty of those!

Hope you have a crafty week.  Happy stamping!
Chris

Dynamic Duos #50

Here are the colours for this week’s Dynamic Duos challenge……

This week all the cards from the Design Team are birthday cards, a special celebration for Design Team member Vicki Burdick, whose birthday was a few days ago.  So, Happy Birthday Vicki, I hope you had a fabulous day!

My card uses the Elements of Style stamp set, firstly the swirl is stamped tone on tone onto the base layer.  The beautiful flower image has been stamped using black Stazon ink, and then I have coloured inside the black outline with markers directly onto the Very Vanilla cardstock.  I coloured the leaves in Sahara Sand, the flowers were coloured with Blushing Bride first and then with Calypso Coral over the top to add some depth and shading.  The image and the the Crumb Cake layer have both been cut using the Ovals Collection Framelits Dies, and of course I had to add some paper piercing! The sentiment is an individual stamp called Beautiful Birthday (Page 44 of the Annual Catalogue).

Sadly, this is my last challenge with Dynamic Duos Design Team, it has been a fantastic six months and I have thoroughly enjoyed the time I have spent working with this amazing group of ladies.  They are all so incredibly talented, creative and inspirational.  I am sure I will be playing along with the next lot of colour challenges and the new Design Team, so keep an eye out for the announcement of who will be taking over for the next round.
And I hope you will continue to check in here and see what I have been doing, it has been wonderful to get all of the lovely comments and I do enjoy sharing my creations with you.
Happy stamping.
Chris

Dynamic Duos #49

More fun again this week from Dynamic Duos, with an unusual colour combination and the option of making a masculine card with Basic Black and Basic Grey.

I enjoyed this challenge, but then I also enjoy making masculine cards!
Nothing too exciting about my card, I have used the Woodgrain Embossing folder for the black background, the Serene Silhouettes stamp set, lots of paper piercing (of course!) and the the patterned paper comes from the Twitterpated DSP.
Lots of gorgeous inspiration from the Design Team can be seen here.
Hope you are having a crafty weekend. Happy Stamping!
Chris

More Triple Time Stamping!

I thought I would show you the cards we made last week in the Triple Time Stamping classes, I really enjoyed making these as did those who attended.  So pay attention if you missed out, you could have come along and made these too!! 🙂

We started off making a Christmas card……  yes, Christmas… it’s never too early to start your collection of lovely handmade Christmas cards.

This one uses the stamp set Lovely as a Tree, and the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Sentiments.  It could, of course be a masculine birthday card rather than a Christmas card, but in any case the idea was to introduce the Triple Stamping technique with just two layers of stamped cardstock to see how it all goes together.

The second card uses the gorgeous Swallowtail stamp, combined with Papillon Potpourri, and the colours Pool Party and Island Indigo. 

And last but not least, a masculine card which uses The Open Sea stamp set, and in the background some patterned paper from the Sunshine and Sprinkles Designer Series Papers, and the Cloudy Day embossing folder.

This is such a great technique and creates gorgeous and unusual cards.  I have a couple more that I have made as samples that I will share with you soon.
Happy stamping!
Chris

 

Dynamic Duos # 48

Ok I will admit, I struggled with this week’s Dynamic Duos colours…. a lot!

The first card I made started with some ideas and then didn’t turn out anything like I had intended it to.  The lovely ladies on the Design Team told me they liked it, but I am really unhappy with how it turned out.  However… I promised them I would post it here so that you can see both the cards I made with these colours.  So without further ado……..

I have used some of the Delicate Details Lace tape over strips of Pumpkin Pie cardstock, along with a doily, and the circle image is from Serene Silhouettes stamp set.  There are also layers of the Creped Filter Papers which have been punched out and then sponged with Bashful Blue ink.

The second card using these colours is a masculine one.  I have seen this idea on Pinterest, but unfortunately the card didn’t have a persons name attached to it so I can’t credit them with the idea.  As per usual though, I have changed it and added a few my own favourite techniques and ideas to it.

Firstly, I have stamped the sentiment from Wacky Wishes, then added the strips of coloured cardstock to the base (I have used some Crumb Cake along with the Bashful Blue and Pumpkin Pie).  I have then stamped in Versamark ink, the seaweed image from By The Tide stamp set, over the cardstock strips.  It is a little harder to see it in the photo than in real life.  The shell image, also from By The Tide, is stamped in Crumb Cake and then cut out by hand. And of course, I had to add some faux stitching!

Please feel free to leave a message and let me know which one you like best, and make sure to check out lots of inspiration from the Design Team.
Happy Stamping!
Chris

A New Challenge!

I love it when I find a new challenge, especially when it is one that really opens up the possibilities and gets the creative juices flowing.  Well done to Lesley and Jackie for coming up with this idea, and thanks for all the inspiration.

And here is my first Fusion card.

I have added my own challenge to this as well, I really want to get good at making Clean and Simple cards.  I do find it difficult leaving lots of white space and not using heaps of embellishments, ribbons, lace etc but it will be good for me to learn something new!
It just so happens that this week’s CAS-ual Fridays challenge is to use Chevron and Flowers, so I will enter my card in that challenge as well.


The colours are just gorgeous, aren’t they?  Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango and Melon Mambo.  The yellow Chevron paper is from the Parker’s Patterns DSP, and the greeting from the gorgeous Kindness Matters stamp set.  The flowers look like they have dark blobs in the middle of them, but actually it is just a dob of silver Dazzling Details – the shiny stuff just didn’t show up in the photo.  Have to have a little bit of bling!
Hope your day is bright and sunny!
Happy stamping!
Chris