Butterfly Basics….Just because

Hi Friends

You know sometimes I just create a card just for the sake of it and not for a specific purpose.

That is exactly how this next card come to life.

Again, it’s another one I made in the early months of this year.  If I remember correctly I think I was just sitting at my craft desk and wanted to create something pretty.

The new Butterfly Basics stamp set had just been realised in the Ocassions Catalogue and I had been seeing lots and lots of gorgeous cards and decided I wanted to try to make my own gorgeous creation.

This is what I came up with….

As you can see this isn’t your normal size card, I decided to make a long card.  I started with Blushing Bride card stock and embossed the co-ordinating mat and distressed the edges.

I wrapped some Sahara Sand Lace Trim around the mat and the cut a smaller mat in Blushing Bride card stock, which has a piece of Very Vanilla card stock that I stamped with the stunning flower from the Butterfly Basics stamp set.  I used my Stampin’ Write markers to color in the flower with Pink Pirouette and Garden Green.  The strip down the right hand side has been stamped in Crumb Cake ink.

As a final touch I added a Vintage Faceted Designer Button and stuck a Pearl Basic Jewel in the centre.  If you look really closely you will also see on in top right hand corner too.

The stamped image on this card was actually a scrap piece of paper I had lying around after making my cousin Vanessa’s birthday card last year.  Although I didn’t use this image I thought it was just too pretty to throw in the trash so it has been floating around my craft desk for months before I found something to use it on.

All products mentioned are available in the brand new Annual Catalogue so pop on over to my Stampin’ Up! shop and purchase your very own online.

Thanks for visiting.

Tina xo

Petal Potpourri

Hi Friends

I have a feeling that today’s post is going to be a bit on the short side.

Why?

Well, because I made this card way back in March/April and for the life of me I can’t remember why I made it.  I have a vague recollection that I may have made it to say thank-you to someone in regards to my job but I really can’t pin down the exact reason or the person it was made for.

Guess that will teach me to post more regularly and not wait so long after making a card before I post it.

Anyway, the why of this card isn’t really that important in the scheme of things.  I used the beautiful but now retired Petal Potpourri stamp set for the flower and the gorgeous Butterfly Basics stamp set for the fern leaves and butterfly.

All images have been embossed onto vellum and then either punched or fussy cut out.

This is a really fun way of making your images a little bit transparent.  Did you notice the background of this card?  It is the honeycomb stamp that has been stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  A few Rhinestone Basic Jewels add a little bit of sparkle too.

This card is made with the brand new Kraft card stock and has a band of White Jute Ribbobn.

If you have been to my blog before or follow me via email you will know that I like to decorate the inside of my cards.  I kept the inside of this one really simple so there was lots of room for everyone to write their message.

Your comments are always welcome so please leave me you thoughts on my card.  As always unless an item is retired all the products used in this card are available from my Stampin’ Up! shop. Click on the shopping trolley on the left hand side and get your’s today!!!

I look forward to showing you my next creation very soon.

Thanks for visiting.

Tina xo

 

Yes I have been crafting….

Hi Friends

Yes I know it seems like forever since I have showed you what I have been creating.  I have been crafting but it has been pretty sparse these past couple of months.

These cards are ones that I made a couple of months ago at my upline Michelle’s monthly class.  I can’t remember if we made these cards in March….I think 🙂  Michelle decided for this class she was going to teach us how to make “fancy fold” cards.

This is what we made….

This “pocket card” is made using the Crazy About You stamp set.  The card & pocket is made from Vellum and the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits.

This is a really simple, but individual way to make a “card” with a difference.

 

This second card is a bit more tricky and definitely something you need to concentrate on while you are making it.  Probably not the sort of card a beginner would attempt without assistance.  Although this card was challenging it was lots of fun and looks fabulous when completed.

Can you see how this card opens, it is quick tricky really.  The stamp set used for this card is now retired Balloon Bash.

I love how this card looks when it’s open.

Our third and final “fancy fold” card is called a Tent Card.  We used the Love is Kindness stamp set and embossed the front and back of the card for some lovely texture.

This was another card that was fiddly and complicated.

 

These cute little tags slip into the pocket on the back of the card.

Don’t forget to pop back again real soon to seeh what else I have made these past couple of months.

Thanks for visiting.

Tina xo

 

 

Patriots Thank-You card

Hi crafty friends

Today’s card has a bit of a back story that I thought I would tell you first before I show you the card.

My husband is the secretary for the Patriots – Cairns Chapter motorcycle club.  This club is for currently serving and previous serving Australian Defence Force members and is full of great a guys and girls who love to ride motorcycles on the weekend.  As well as riding their bikes they are also heavily involved in community charity events, esepcially anything that involves our Diggers.

A couple of weekends ago the Cairns chapter rode down to Innisfail to meet up with the some of the Townsville chapter members who were riding up to Cairns for a charity event.  The day was sweltering and all the members wear the appropriate safety gear to proctect themselves while riding.  This includes jeans, boots and leather jackets.

Unfortunately when they were almost home, they stopped at a traffic light in Gordonvale and one of the members wasn’t dealing with the heat too well and passed out while sitting on his motorbike while waiting at the red light.  Both himself and his bike landed on the ground.

Thankfully a very kind lady who lives on the intersection saw the accident and rushed out of her home with blankets, pillows, and water to assist.

All the members helped out assisting with removing the bike off the road and contacting the ambulance to take there friend to the hospital.

I am happy to report that the rider was discharged later that night from the hospital after being treated for dehydration and low sugar levels.

As a result all the club members wanted to say THANK-YOU to the lady who helped their friend out.  I offered to make a card to go with the bunch of flowers they delievered to her.

The clubs colours are red and black so I wanted to stick with that for my card design.

Here is what I came up with.

The base of the card is Basic Black card stock with a Cherry Cobbler mat.  The flower image is from the Butteryfly Basics stamp set and was stamped with VersaMark on Whisper White card stock and them embossed with Black Embossing Powder.

I used my Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities to colour in the flowers.  The image was them matted on a Cherry Cobbler and Basic Black card stock and adhered to the card with Dimensionals.  I used Basic Black and Cherry Cobbler Chevron Ribbon too.  Finally some Basic Jewels were added for a bit of bling.

As you know I usually decorate the inside of my cards, however, this time I did something a bit different.  My husband created a watermark with the Patriots Club symbol and I printed it onto Whisper White card stock and adhered it to a Cherry Cobbler mat.

This way the clubs symbol is still on the card but they can write over the top of it.  Clever hey?

All products to create this card are currently available on my Stampin’ Up! store, just click on the shopping trolley, login or create an account and get your’s today.

I love reading your comments so please feel free to leave me one.

Thanks for visiting.

Tina xo

Love & Sympathy card

Hi crafty friends

My daughter had devasting news this past weekend.  My ex-husband’s father (her paternal grandfather) passed away early Saturday morning.

Although Cassie lives in Queensland and both her father and his parents live in Victoria she always makes an effort to visit them whenever she is down there.

Naturally she was very upset and rang me to give me the news.  This is the first of her grandparents to pass away so naturally she was struggling with the news.

I have been divorced from her father for almost 20 years but his parents have always been such lovely people and I feel for my ex-mother-in-law and the rest of the family.

My daughter was planning on visiting her Pa in two weeks time when we go down to Melbourne for my step-son’s engagement party, sadly Pa couldn’t hold on that long.

Apparently Jim has been ill for quite some time and never really recovered from a severe stroke that he had several years ago.

I decided to sit down at my craft desk and create a sympathy card for my mother-in-law to show her that despite not seeing her for almost 20 years I still have fond feelings for them.

I love the Love & Sympathy stamp set in the Stampin’ Up! annual catalogue.  I don’t have many sympathy stamp sets but with the few I do, I always seem to grab this particular one.

There is a sample of how to use this stamp set in the annual catalogue and I took inspiration from that to create my card.

I used Soft Sky card stock as both my base and mat this time.  The mat has been embossed with the Large Polka Dots Embossing Folder.  The stems of the flowers are coloured in directly onto the stamp with Old Olive and Always Archichoke Stampin’ Write Markers, and the flowers are coloured in with Soft Sky and Not Quite Navy Stampin’ Write Markers.

The banner is cut from a fairly new product to Stampin’ Up! called Canvas Creations, which is basically a sheet of 12×12 of canvas that can be stamped, die cute or embossed.  I have had this in my stash for quite some time but this is the first time I have used it.  I am really happy with how it stamps.  I cut the banner from the Party Pennants Bigz Die and added some Basic Pearls to the centre of the flowers.

The smaller banner is also cut with the Party Pennants Bigz Die and is Whisper White card stock.  The greeting, also from the Love & Sympathy stamp set, is stamped with Gold Metallic Encore Ink.  The white lace is not Stampin’ Up! but the White Bakers Twine is.

I kept the inside pretty simple, just a mat of Soft Sky card stock and another greeting from Love & Sympathy stamped in Metallic Gold Encore Ink.  Again I stamped the coloured in flower at the bottom.

All products except the white lace is available from Stampin’ Up! and can be purchased through my Stampin’ Up! shop by clicking on the shopping trolley to the left hand side.

Thanks for visiting.

Tina xo

Beautiful Bunch card of love

Hi crafty friends

Back again with another one of my cards to show you.

I have to tell you straight off the bat, I am TOTALLY IN LOVE with this card.

I just love it when a card I can see in my head turns out exactly how I wanted it too.  Sometimes, just sometimes it even looks better than I had imagined.  That is exactly what has happened in this case.

Sorry I don’t mean to toot my own horn but I do tend to get a little excited when I create a card that I am just so proud of.

I used a couple of my most favourite Stampin’ Up! products while making this card, Cherry Cobbler card stock, Very Vanilla card stock, the Beautiful Bunch stamp set. and of course my Big Shot!!

This card has taken me a couple of days working on and off to get it finished, I’m sure you will understand why when I show you the photos.  The purpose of this card is for either Valentine’s Day or to say I Love You, although you can use it for any purpose I suppose.

So the base card is made with Very Vanilla card stock and then a mat of Cherry Cobbler card stock is added on top then another mat of Very Vanilla card stock that has been embossed with the new Lovely Lace Embossing Folder.

All flowers are stamped on Very Vanilla card stock with Cherry Cobbler ink.  The large flower is from the Beautiful Bunch stamp set and the three smaller ones are from the Petite Petals stamp set.  I used the Fun Flowers Punch to punch out the large flower and the Petite Petals Punch for the smaller three.

The flowers were all textured using my Stampin’ Pierce Mat and a stylus, once I got the desired shape I spritzed them with some water (a little trick my gorgeous friend Cheere Robinson taught me).  By spritzing the flowers once they have been shaped helps the card stock to become rigid once dry and makes the flowers more durable and less likely to either loose their shape or fall apart.

The leaves from one of the current Hostess stamp sets called Bloom With Hope, were stamped with Old Olive ink on Very Vanilla card stock and fussy cut out using my Paper Snips.  I stamped five of the leaves for the front cover.  Stampin’ Up! Twine was wrapped around the embossed Very Vanilla mat a couple of times and tied off in a knot before I stuck down the leaves.  I always lay my card out in the design I want before I start sticking it down, just in case I need to shuffle things around a bit.  This is especially good when I am doing this sort of card with lots of leave and flowers scattered around.

Once the leaves were all stuck down I then glued the larger flower in place and then the three smaller ones.  The leaves were also spritzed with a little water and texturized with my Stampin’ Pierce Mat and stylus.  The last thing I did was add some Pearls to the inside of the smalelr flowers.  I am still considering if I will add  a greeting to the front but I haven’t decided yet.  I am worried it will over-crowd the card, what do you think?

As usual I had to decorate the inside of this card too, although I am sure some of my friends are going to say I went a little overboard with the inside this time.  Want to see what I did?

Now, I’m sure some of you are going to think that this could quite easily be the front of the card, but as you can see, although the leaves and flower have been texturized like the front of the card it is only a little bit.  Stampin’ Up! Twine and a Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla card stock mat were also added to finish of the look.

Like I said at the start of this post I am so PROUD of this card and just LOVE it to bits.  It is going to be very hard to give this one away 🙂

I would love to hear your thoughts about today’s card and if you have any suggestions on how I can improve it.

All of these products are currently available in the Stampin’ Up! Annual catalogue and can be purchased through my Stampin’ Up! shop.  If you have fallen in love with any of these products like I have, just click on the shopping trolley and log in or create your own account and purchase your own.  All orders are delievered to your front door or post office box.  Remember until the end of March every single order that totals $90 or more is entitled to a FREE Sale-a-Bration item.  Who wouldn’t love that!!

Thanks for visiting.

Tina xo

 

Michelle’s class samples part 3

Hi crafty friends

I’m back today to show you the third of the cards I made at Michelle’s class.  Of course I have left the most spectacular card until last…:)

I did change this card just a little.  It was originally designed as a birthday card but I decided to use it for an engagment card because it really is THAT special, plus I have a very special engagement party coming up in March so I figured may as well use this card for that purpose.

This card was also made using a new technique, apparently this type of card design is called a Z-Fold card.  You will see why when I show you the side view of it.

Wow hey?  This card has lots and lots of layers and would be a bit expensive to post but it really does have the WOW factor.

I started with a base card of Basic Black card stock that was folded in half and then the bottom half was folded in half again.  the second layer of all the panels is Sahara Sand card stock and the top layer is from the Something Borrowed DSP.  This designer series paper is just gorgeous and is perfect for wedding or engagement cards or gifts.

The two butterflies are cut using the Butterflies Thinlits Dies and Basic Black and Whisper White card stock.  Aren’t they just beautiful?  So many possibilities with them.

The greeting I used is from a retired stamp set and was stamped on Whisper White card stock with Black StazOn ink and matted with Basic Black card stock.  Both pieces of card stock were punched out using the Decorative Label Punch.  I love the new Sahara Sand Lace Trim, it is so classic.  Dimentes were added to the middle of the smaller butterfly for a touch of bling.

From this angle you can see what it’s called a Z-Fold card and how we folded it.  The two circles up the top are popped up with a dimensional so the front layer can slot in underneath and stay upright.
This is the greeting on the inside of the card.  The background is stamped with Sahara Sand ink using the Butterfly Basics stamp set.  Once again the greeting is from a retired stamp set.

I so love how this card turned out, it really is an amazing card to see up close.  I am hoping my newly engaged step-son and his gorgeous finace love this card as much as I do.

All products, except the greetings is current and can be purchased at my Stampin’ Up! shop, just click on the shopping trolley and log in or create an account and start shopping right from your lounge room.

Your comments are always welcome and I love reading them so if the need takes you please leave me a comment at the end of the post.

Thanks for visiting.

Tina xo

 

Michelle’s class samples part 2

Hi crafty friends

Did you see the gorgeous card which I made at Michelle’s card class that I posted a couple of days ago using the Bokeh Technique?

I hope it inspired you to try the technique yourself.  If so please leave me a comment and a link to your blog if you have one, I would love to see what you have created.

This second card that we made at Michelle’s last Saturday is completly different to the previous one.  This one is bright and fun and all about punches and framelits, which mean I got to play with my most favourite Stampin’ Up! product the Big Shot.

I have already ear-marked this card to send to someone for their birthday.  I know she is going to love it.  I know I do.

Although you can’t see it we started with a base card of Bermuda Bay card stock the layered it with a piece of Birthday Bash DSP which then had a smaller mat of Bermuda Bay and Whisper White card stock added on top.  Before we stuck all those layers together we stamped the greetng from the Celebrate Today stamp set onto the Whisper White mat.  We used the Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry Stampin’ Write Markers to colour in the greeting.

Next step was to stamp the balloons with Bermuda Bay and Tangerine Tango ink onto the co-ordinating card stock and then die cut out the balloons with the Balloons Framelits Die.  The Tangerine Tango balloon is stuck directly onto the white mat but the Bermuda Bay is popped up with dimensionals.  Whisper White Bakers Twine was tied around the ends of the ballons.  The banners across the balloons were also cut out using the Balloons Framelits Die set and Birthday Bash DSP.  The gorgeous bow attached to the balloons string is made using the new Build A Bow Punch currently available in the Stampin’ Up! Ocassions catalogue.

Finally a few Bermuda Bay sequins were stuck down using Glue Dots to add a bit of bling to this bright and cheery card.

All products are current and can be purchased through my Stampin’ Up! shop by clicking on the shopping trolley icon to the left hand side.

If you would like either an Annual catalogue or an Ocassions catalogue of your own you can either click on the icons of the catalogues to see them via a PDF file or I can post one out to you if you email me with your details.

I love reading your comments so please feel free to leave your thoughts at the end of this post.

I still have one more card to show you from Michelle’s class so don’t forget to come back soon.

Thanks for visiting.

Tina xo

Michelle’s class samples

Hi crafty friends

Well this past weekend I spent Saturday morning with my gorgeous upline and some fabulous friends in Innisfail creating 3 stunning cards.  My upline Michelle Zahra makes beautiful cards and I love spending time with her and the girls who attend her monthly classes.

Michelle is taking a new angle with her classes this year and has decided she is going to teach us a new technique every month.  This month we actually learn’t two new techniques.

This first card that I want to show you is using one of the latest techniques out there at the moment….the Bokeh Technique.  You may remember I have already made a card using this technique that I showed you a couple of days ago.

We matched the Bokeh Technique with the gorgeous 3 step stamp set Lotus Blossom which is currently a FREE Sale-a-Bration item if you spend $90 or more in a single order before the end of March.  I am loving this stamp set and have used it a couple of times now.

 

Firstly we stamped the three lotus flowers with Strawberry Slush ink twice, the first time was directly from the inkpad onto the Whisper White card stock, then we stamped the second stage of the flower with Strawberry Slush ink then stamped it off onto scrap paper so the colour wasn’t as dark.  The third step was to stamp the largest part of the flower with VersaMark ink and then heat emboss it with White Embossing Powder.  I love how the lotus’ turned out.

To create the background we sponged Coastal Cabana, Lost Lagoon and Night of Navy ink all over the card stock and then sponged Whisper White Craft Ink onto the background with a template we had made with Window Sheets and several of the circle Stampin’ Up! punches.  This technique is to easy you just keep sponging circles, or whatever shape you want to use, overlapping them and running them off the edge of the card stock until you are happy with the overall appearance.  The secret is to just ink up you sponge or dauber once and keep “colouring in’ the circles until the ink has all run out before re-inking, that way the white circles seem to fade into the colour in the background.  The greeting which is stamped in Black StazOn ink is from the Butterfly Basics stamp set, currently available in the Stampin’ Up! Ocassions catalogue.

If you would like to try this technique, just pop onto YouTube and check out the hundreds of video’s on how to do it.  All products mentioned in this post are currently available in either the Annual catalogue, Sale-a-Bration or Ocassions catalogue from Stampin’ Up!

You can purchase your own at my Stampin’ Up! shop by clicking on the shopping trolley to the left hand side.

I will be back shortly with the second card we made at Michelle’s class.

Thanks for visiting.

Tina xo

 

Be My Valentine – water/gel card

Hi Crafty Friends

I want to show you a card I have made this past week.  The stamp set I used is supposed to be a Valentine’s Day themed set, but I decided to use it in a different way.  That’s what I love about card-making with Stampin’ Up! products you don’t necessarily have to use them for the purpose they were originally made for.  You are only limited by your imagination.

I found another fantastic tutorial on Dawn Griffith’s blog which I decided to use for this card.  You can find the tutorial here if you would like to give it a go.

I love how this card turned out, and it feels so squishy you just want to keep playing with it.

I started with Coastal Cabana card stock as my base card, then added a mat of Whisper White card stock then added a mat of Best Day Ever DSP over the top.  This DSP is currently FREE as a Sale-a-Bration gift when you spend $90 or more on Stampin’ Up! products.  I choose this particular design from the pack because it reminded me of bubbles, which is perfect for this card.

These gorgeous little fishies from the Be My Valentine set were stamped on Whisper White card stock with Memento Black ink and then coloured in with Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight and Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities.  If this stamp set looks familiar it is, you may remember I posted a card I made a last weekend at the Paperbelles Party Time event using this same stamp set.

See just because it has a particular theme you really can use the images for anything you like.  I just didn’t ink up the Valentine greeting that is part of this stamp.

Once I had coloured the fish I then made the “water” using Dawn’s technique, except I used anti-bacterial hand gel rather than hair gel like in the video, then stuck all the layers together with lots and lots of dimensionals.  I cut out an oval frame using Stampin’ Up!’s Oval Framelits and stamped the greeting in Coastal Cabana ink onto Whisper White card stock and cut out another oval from the Oval Framelits sets to back it.  The greeting is from the Express Yourself stamp set and was attached to the card with dimensionals too.

This is a really heavy card, mainly due to the “water” but also all the layers.  If you were planning on posting a card like this I would suggest you use a padded post bag to protect it.

Want to see a close up of the water?

Cute hey?  I love how not only do you get the bubbles but it even looks like the water is moving with the shadow and light playing with each other.

This is such a easy technique to do, however I do suggest you start with a small amount of gel and add some more if you think you need more.  I think I may have added a little bit too much gel.  I had a 55ml bottle of anti-bacterial hand gel and used about three quarters of it, when in fact I probably could’ve got away with just using about half of the bottle.

None the less I think the card looks fabulous and I love it to bits.  It is really hard to stop playing with that “water”.

I love reading your comments they always make my day so please leave yours at the end of the post.

All products except the gel can be purchased from Stampin’ Up! via my online store by clicking on the shopping trolley to the left hand side.

Thanks for visiting.

Tina xo