Tag Archives: card making

Freshly Made Sketch #126

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Yes I am still here….. I have had a few other things to deal with recently with all of us in our household coming down with the dreaded cold bug that is around in Canberra at present.  We are all on the mend, and getting back to “normal” – not sure that “normal” really describes our familyin any way……
I think my computer also came down with it, I had to take it to the doctor to get it fixed too.
Anyway, yes I have done some stamping! Yay…. 🙂
I love this week’s card sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and just had to have a go.

I have used the gorgeous Watercolour Wonder papers along with the Springtime Hello stamp set.  Lots of layers in this one, and of course some faux stitching as a finishing touch.  I just love the different angles of the layers in this sketch, they really create some interesting lines. The card may look crooked in this photo, but it’s not…. not really 🙂
What do you think?  I enjoyed using some different colours for this card, yellows and oranges are not colours I use a lot, but I felt like something bright and cheerful!
Happy Canberra Day for those of us in the nation’s capital, it has been a glorious autumn day, but definitely feels like summer is still here.
Until next time, Happy Stamping!
Chris

More Flurries

Posted in Cards, Christmas by

I have seen so many gorgeous ideas using the Festive Flurry Bundle  (Wood #133284, Clear #133285) that I just had to share another project.  I think I will have to use them to make some Christmas decorations this week!

 

I’m not sure if I am keen on this card, I think the stack of snowflakes makes it a little heavy, and you certainly wouldn’t put it into a standard envelope and send it through the post in Australia!  Guess I will be making a special envelope for it 🙂
The colours I have used are Rich Razzleberry and Smokey Slate (which is a very versatile colour!), a piece of the Silver Foil Sheet (#132178) which has been run through the Big Shot (#113439) using the Modern Mosaic Embossing Folder, (#129984) some silver Glimmer Paper (# 124005) and Silver Ribbon (#132137), and of course some of my all time favourite – Faux stitching.
This week’s SUO Challenge #85 is to use non-traditional Christmas colours in a project, so I will be sharing this card with the ladies there.  And there is heaps of great inspiration on their blog if you are looking for some ideas.

Happy Stamping!
Chris

Special Season

Posted in Cards, Christmas by

I haven’t really fallen of the face of the earth, just been rather busy…. a trip to the US in October, a bit of break from crafting and now it’s time to share some of the many creations I have been making over the last couple of weeks.
I absolutely love the Special Season stamp set in the current Seasonal Catalogue, and it has had a work out since it arrived!
Last night I held the first of two Christmas Stamp-a-Stacks, featuring… yes, you guessed it Special Season (Wood #131766, Clear #131769) combined with the traditional colours of the Season of Style DSP (#132340) papers.  Here are the cards that we made:

The sentiment on this first card comes from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamp set (Wood #130042, Clear #120024), which is framed with some of the Gold Foil Sheets (#132622).  You can be sure you will be seeing some more of the Gold and Silver foil, its a great way to add a touch of something special!

 

We had a lovely night, lots of laughs, and lots of stamping… what more can you ask for? 🙂
My next Stamp-a-Stack in on Wed  11th December at  7.30pm, so if you live in the Canberra area and would like to come along, send me an email.
I do have a lot more to share with you, but I think it can wait for another post.
If you would like to order any of the items I have used in these cards, you can do so here, just click on the “Shop Now” button at the bottom of the page.  And please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Happy Stamping!
Chris

Goodie Bags

Posted in Stamping Classes by

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

A New Challenge!

Posted in Cards, Flowers by

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

Dynamic Duos # 46

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This week’s Dynamic Duos challenge is to use the colour Primrose Petals and combine it with a colour of your choice.  Well, now that just leaves it too open for me, too many possibilities and ideas……
I decided on combining my favourite colours of all, pink and purple….. so I have added Elegant Eggplant to the Primrose Petals.

My card uses two techniques that I haven’t played with for a long time.  Firstly, the Stained Glass technique, combined with the Tissue Paper technique.


To do this, I have embossed the Swallowtail in white embossing powder onto the smooth side of the Crepe Filter Paper (page 6 Seasonal Catalogue) – if you feel the paper really carefully you will notice that one side is slightly smoother and the other side a little more rough. The Stained Glass technique is usually done onto Vellum, which is much stronger than the crepe paper, so I wasn’t sure how this would turn out.
Then on the back, behind the butterfly image, I have coloured using inks and a blender pen, in the two colours, blending them together.
I embossed an extra butterfly to experiment with, and gave this one to my son.  He coloured the back of the butterfly directly with brightly coloured markers, and that worked really well too, so you could do either of these.  However, it does work best if the colouring is on the back of the embossed image.
I have then wrapped the crepe paper over a piece of Shimmer White cardstock, and stuck it behind the cardstock using glue to keep it in place.  If you are using standard tissue paper for this technique, it is nice to scrunch up the paper to give it more texture, and then smooth it out again, but this crepe paper is a little heavier and I thought it would detract from the image, so I left it flat.
While you can’t see it in the photo, the shimmer of the cardstock does show through the crepe paper.
The lace, seam binding ribbon and gorgeous resin rose, are all from the Artisan Embellishment Kit (page 10 Seasonal Catalogue).

As always, heaps of inspiration from the rest of the Design Team at Dynamic Duos, all using different colours for their creations.

Happy Easter everyone, I do hope you are having a crafty Easter, and spending time with loved ones.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Dynamic Duos #37

Posted in Cards, Masculine by

More Masculine cards from me again today!  I thought the colours would lend themselves nicely to masculine cards, but then I have seen all the beautiful flowery cards from some of the other Design Team members…… just gorgeous!  Make sure you check them out here.

I started off just making one card, using the Dapper Dad stamp set, (which will be available from the 1st Feb ), and then thought I may as well make a set of matching cards.

Here they are individually, so that you can see them in more detail.

 

 

 

 

In my previous post, I started on some tips for making masculine cards.  So here is another one… I guess this might be obvious from the cards I have made here, dry embossing (using Textured Impressions Embossing folders) make great backgrounds for masculine cards, giving lots of texture and interest.  Great ones to keep in mind are the one I have used here, which is the Argyle, Square Lattice, Houndstooth, Perfect Polka Dots, Woodgrain (one of my favourites!), Chevron, Stripes, and definitely Spider Web.  You can change the entire look of a card just by using a different embossing folder in the background.  Give it a try and see what you like best.
You’ll be pleased to hear that there are more great embossing folders coming in the new Seasonal Catalogue – Cloudy Day, and Honeycomb, both of which would work just fine on a masculine card (available from Feb 1st).

I do hope you will join us this week with this gorgeous colour challenge, we love to see what you have come up with, so make sure you share your work with us 🙂
Happy Stamping!
Chris

Feeling Sentimental

Posted in Cards, Masculine by

I’ll be the first to admit that I love making cards that are girly – pinks, purples, ribbons, lace and vintage in style, but I also really enjoy making masculine cards.
A lot of people have commented that they struggle with making cards for the men in their lives, so this year I plan to share with you lots of tips and ideas for male cards, and hopefully some inspiration too 🙂

This particular card uses the new Sale-a-Bration stamp set called Feeling Sentimental, and it is great for masculine cards.  I am also going to enter this card in this week’s Paper Players challenge #129, which is a sketch challenge.  Pop on over to their site, lots of inspiration for you!

So, my first tip for making masculine cards is, don’t be afraid to use patterned papers, as I have done in this card.  I have used the Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP here, which is perfect, but don’t forget to look at the packs of papers you already have.  Stampin’ Up! are fabulous when it comes to incorporating all sorts of possibilities, so have a look through those flowery papers and look for stripes, spots, even what may seem like a girlish pattern, could be cut so that it changes it’s look. How about some of those Christmas papers?  Red or green stripes or spots or patterns could easily be turned into a background for a tree or other masculine image.
Let’s see if I can give you an example…. The Twitterpated DSP is a lovely flowery, pretty pack of papers, but have a look at the reverse side of each paper.  Green and blue checks… stripes…. geometric designs in grey, and a red geometric pattern that could easily be cut to look masculine.

For my card, I have die cut the patterned paper using the Window Frames Collection, and then layered that over my stamped image.  This particular patterned paper is only available for a few more days, so make sure you get in quick if you want to get hold of some!

Happy Stamping!
Chris

Dynamic Duos #35

Posted in Cards by

Gorgeous colours again this week for the Dynamic Duos challenge, and here is the third card in my Bordering on Romance set that I shared in my previous post.

I have used mostly So Saffron with just a hint of Certainly Celery on the leaves.

The sprays of flowers have been cut out by hand and then lifted off the card with dimensional tape.  And this time, instead of lots of faux stitching, I have just done lots of paper piercing 🙂 it does create a completely different effect.  The greeting is from the Perfectly Penned stamp set.

Lots of inspiration from the rest of the Design Team, which you can see here.
Hope you are having a crafty and productive weekend.  I know I am! 🙂
Happy stamping!
Chris

 

Card Kit Nights

Posted in Classes by

I am excited to announce my new Card Kit Nights, starting on the 1st of February and running on the first Friday of every month.  Here are the details:

Do you like to make your own cards, but don’t have the time to do all the cutting and preparation?  Do you have some experience in stamping and card making?
Why not come along to my monthly Card Kit Night?

When: On the first Friday of the month, from 7.30 – 9.30pm
(Dates: 1st Feb, 1st Mar, 5th April, 3rd May, 7th June, 5th July, 2nd Aug, 6th Sept, 4th Oct, 1st Nov, 6th Dec)

Where: My house in Melba – (directions provided when you book in)

How does it work: I will make up card kits from various different Stampin’ Up! products.  In each kit there will be everything you need to make a card, all you need to do is stamp and put it together in your own design.  You can use my tools, stamps and inks, and other materials will be available for purchase. Please bring your own adhesive or let me know if you need to purchase some.

Cost: $2.50 per card kit – make as many or as few as you wish in 2 hours.

More details can be found on my “Classes” page.  Make sure you contact me asap to book your place, and I look forward to crafting with you soon!