Dynamic Duos #42

 

The first thing I thought of when I saw these colours was yellow flowers and green leaves, and then decided that was a pretty obvious choice so wanted to do something different, and decided I would continue with my masculine themed cards, although this particular technique could definitely be used on any cards.

The different pieces of cardstock have been punched or cut out and then stuck onto the base piece using either glue or double sided tape, and then the whole piece has been run through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  It looks like the pieces are embedded into the background piece, a little like patchwork.
I have used the Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamp set for the greeting on each card as I wanted them to be small and insignificant in relation to the geometric shapes.
Here are the cards individually:

 

 

 

 

Lots of inspiration for you from the rest of the Design Team again this week.
Happy Stamping!
Chris

Dynamic Duos #41

This week’s Dynamic Duo‘s colours are:

Yum… another gorgeous combination!
The colour reminds of a beautiful clear ocean, so I made my card using the new By The Tide stamp set.

I have also used the French Foliage set to add some “bubbles” in the background along with the Square Lattice embossing folder and some sponging around the edges, and paper piercing and faux stitching of course! 🙂

You can see what the rest of the Design Team have done with these colours here.  Please join us and share your wonderful creations.
Happy stamping!
Chris

 

Dynamic Duos #39

Gorgeous colour combination this week, one that I just love…. Pink Pirouette and Pool Party – yes of course, lovely girly colours 🙂

Too many ideas came to mind with this combination so it’s probably a good thing that it has been a busy week and I haven’t had much time to make the hundreds of different ideas I had!  I did, however, once again use Everything Eleanor again for this week’s card.  I do apologise for my current obsession, I promise to try to use something different for next week’s creation.

I have used the embossing folder called Holiday Frame (not currently available, but you never know if it might be in the future….) which is supposed to be a Christmas one, it has a little Christmas tree, but if you turn it side ways and cover up the Christmas tree with leaves, no one would ever know!  I just think it is really pretty and works well as an oval frame.
I have then used the oval from the Designer Frames Folders in Pool Party which has been cut out by hand.  The greeting is from You Are Loved and punched out using the large Oval Punch.  Flowers from Everything Eleanor have been cut by hand and layered.  Some lovely seam binding ribbon, leaves and a gorgeous Vintage Brad and for some reason I am still not entirely pleased with how this card turned out.  Oh well, lots of other ideas running around for these colours, so I can always make something else 🙂

Make sure you check out the inspiration from the rest of the Design Team, and please share your creations with us, we love to see what you have come up with.
Happy stamping!
Chris

Still AddINKtive Challenge #3

This week’s challenge from Still AddINKtive is to use the colours River Rock, Pink Pirouette and Soft Suede.

Not quite sure how I feel about this combination, that is until I saw all the beautiful samples using these colours – lots of gorgeousness…. 🙂
So my card uses the Framed Tulips Embossing Folder on the Soft Suede layer, and then the Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folder on the white layer.  The stamp set is the Everything Eleanor set, the swirls stamped in River Rock and the flowers in Pink Pirouette, and then hand cut.  To add a little shimmer and interest, I have used a dab of Frost White Shimmer Paint, which I have added using a paint brush, and looks much prettier in real life.

I’ll be back with more soon!
Happy Stamping!
Chris

Dynamic Duos #38

I found these colours a bit of a challenge this week…

so I have added quite a lot of neutral to it, but of course, once I had made my card, I had a whole heap of other ideas.  I will just have to share those with you another time! 🙂

My card this week uses one of the gorgeous Doilies from the Seasonal Catalogue that have just been released.  I have stamped straight onto the doily using the swirl from the Everything Eleanor stamp set, in Pretty in Pink and Sahara Sand. It may be a little hard to see in the photo but there are also some of the swirls stamped onto the Sahara Sand background, which I then ran through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  The flowers have been inked and then hand cut, and the red flower has been coated with Crystal Effects to give it a nice shiny finish.
Heaps of inspiration again from the Design Team this week, so make sure you have a look.

I am a little late with posting this today, I had a bit of an incident with some glass and my thumb.  No serious damage done but it was a pretty nasty cut and slowed me up a little yesterday for a while.  Won’t stop me from stamping, or blogging! 🙂

Happy stamping!
Chris

Bright Blossoms

This is one of “those” stamp sets… you know the ones, you see it, imagine all the great things you could do with it, and then don’t use it!  Yes, for me Bright Blossoms has sat on the shelf for quite some time, unused and unloved.
But… I received a package in the mail during the week with some bits and pieces for a challenge, and amongst it, some patterned paper from the Summer Smooches DSP – one that I don’t yet own.  So, perfect opportunity to get Bright Blossoms off the shelf and use it!


Ok, so my challenge was to use the colours in the card stock I had been sent, which were Real Red, Tempting Turquoise and Island Indigo, add some whisper White card stock if needed, use only the ribbon included along with one other type of embellishment, which in this case is the rhinestones (must have bling!).
I have some the patterned paper left over now, so I might just have to work out how to use it for another card.  You never know, Bright Blossoms might get a bit more of a work out! 🙂
Hope you are having a crafty weekend.  Happy stamping!
Chris

 

Dynamic Duos #37

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

Owly Thanks

I’m not entirely sure that “Owly” is a word, but you get the idea!  Hopefully all of the recipients of these little thank you cards have received them by now, so it’s ok to post them here.

I love this gorgeous Owl punch but it has been very much neglected.  So he got a work out making some thank you cards, and while I was at it, I thought I would make a book mark for my son, who always has numerous books on the go at once, so we can never have too many book marks in our house!

Happy stamping!
Chris

Melon Mambo and Island Indigo…

….sounds kind of exotic, doesn’t it?  I really like the names that Stampin’ Up! use for their colours, and I like the combination of colours for this week’s Dynamic Duos challenge too!

DD# 34

I had too many ideas for this combination, so in the end I decided to keep it simple.

I have used the flower from Button Buddies stamp set and fussy cut them to create the layers of different colours.  The greeting is from Wacky Wishes and I have used the zig zaggy background was created using the Chevron Embossing folder through the Big Shot.

Lots of inspiration from the rest of the Design Team again this week, so make sure you have a look here, and lets see what gorgeous designs you can come up with using these colours.
Have fun with it, and happy Stamping!

Chris

Stampin’ Royalty Challenge #156

I thought it was time I did some stamping for the enjoyment of it, so I have gone looking at some of the challenge sites that I used to frequent regularly, and today I have made a card for the latest challenge from Stampin’ Royalty.

Here is the sketch:

stampin royalty sample-005

And here is the card I have made:

100_8312

 

I have a few bits and pieces which arrived just before my move, and which have not been used, so definitely time to start using some of them 🙂  I have used the Summer Afternoon Hostess stamp set along with some of the Fan Fair patterned papers, which are just gorgeous!

I will be back over the next few days with more creations and with some updates for classes etc for the new year.  In the meantime, happy stamping!
Chris