Wednesday 31 March 2010

Something Sweet Flower

Just popping in quickly to show this little note sized flower card I made last week using another sweet treat cup & the 'Something Sweet' set.
I used the petal, leaf & 'you are my sunshine' greeting to make the flower, then finished off with some floral 'Washington Apple' paper & some yellow brads. Here's a closer pic of the flower.
I have some butterfly cards to show you too, but may not get a chance today, so if not, I'll be back tomorrow.
Hope you're having a happy day.
Inky wishes, Di
Supplies
Stamps: Something Sweet
Card/Paper, whisper white note card, kiwi kiss, so saffron card, Washington Apple
Accessories: yellow rhinestone brads, sweet treat cups
Tools: 1 ¾ inch circle

Skittles sweet treats

I can't believe this is the last day of the Summer Mini & Sale-a-bration. I just feel as if I'm getting into the swing of things some more & now all these goodies will be gone...so I had better just get on with it & show you some more projects.
This sweet treat card was the first project for my class last weekend. The cups are just so much fun to use...& you get to eat the contents – yum! For this one, I used some striped 'Washington Apple' DSP, teamed with the gumball machine from the 'Something sweet' set.
I think most of the card is pretty self-explanatory, aside from the mechanics of adding the cup. If you'd like more info on using sweet treat cups, just drop me a line.
This is the card inside, which reminds me, there is one thing I wanted to mention, the tab end was made with the wide oval punch. I just slid the card up through the punch hole, so it only punched one end.

Isaac's Treat
Here's another similar card I made in Feb for a friend's son. For this one, I used a spotty print from the 'Good Morning Sunshine' DSP pack & a hopefully cool pre-teen 'party hearty' greeting (from the 'Party Hearty set).
Well. I must dash for now. I'll hopefully be back later with one more Summer Mini post.
Inky wishes, Di

PS: If there's something you still want from the Summer Mini (or Sale-a-bration), I can place orders until tonight. Just give me a call or e-mail if you'd like me to place a final order.

Supplies:
Washington Apple/Good Morning Sunshine treat cards
Stamps: Something Sweet, On Your Birthday, Party Hearty
Card/Paper: riding hood red, kiwi kiss, whisper white card, Washington Apple DSP / pacific point, whisper white card, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink: riding hood red, pumpkin pie ink pad / pacific point, kiwi kiss ink pads
Accessories: sweet treat cups, silver medium jumbo brad, silver brads
Tools: 1 ¾ inch circle punch, wide oval punch / word window punch

Tuesday 30 March 2010

Razzle Dazzle in a bag

I'm back with a quickie post, to show you a variation on my Razzle Dazzle easel cards. I needed to make a quicker non-easel version of the cards for another class, so here they are, shown with a double pocket bag we also made at the class.
Here's the bag on its own, teamed with a large tag I made using 'Razzle Dazzle' & 'For Everything'. The DSP I used for the bag is from the retired celery 'Prints' pack from last year.
I also made some pink sets – this one is teamed with a bag using 'one of the Kaleidoscope' papers from the Summer Mini.
This is the card close up:
& here's the bag, with a pink tag. 
Anyway, hope you like these quickies. I must keep going, as I still have some more Summer Mini goodies to show you, before they disappear tomorrow (eek!). Back tomorrow.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:
Stamps: Razzle Dazzle, For Everything
Card/Paper: certainly celery, whisper white, almost amethyst, lovely lilac/pretty in pink
Ink: certainly celery, almost amethyst, lovely lilac/pretty in pink, regal rose Stampin' Write® markers, rose red ink pad
Accessories: certainly celery grosgrain ribbon
Tools: horizontal slot punch

Monday 29 March 2010

One more easel

This time I have one last easel to show you, which was from the same class as the Razzle Dazzle easel. For this one, I used the 'For Everything' set from the Summer Mini.
I'm sad this one will be going at the end of the month, as it's such a pretty set & I just haven't had much chance to really play with it. Hopefully it will return in the new catty in September, but that's a long time away yet.  Anyway, back to the card. I stamped & coloured the flower images in different ways:
-The stems were stamped in certainly celery, then I lightly coloured in the leaves with an Aqua Painter™ & watery celery ink.
- The circle flowers were inked up in pretty in pink (ink pad), then highlighted with regal rose & rose red markers. Once stamped, the centres were coloured in with the regal rose marker.
- the centre flower was inked & stamped in pretty in pink, then I dotted the centres & dots with regal rose & coloured the petals with the pretty in pink marker.
To finish off, I attached a ribbon slider from the styled silver Hodgepodge pack with some celery grosgrain ribbon. Again, the greeting is from the free 'Happy Moments' SAB set. For the base, I used some more 'Tea Party' DSP (another fave) & a birdie, also from 'For Everything', which I coloured in with markers. I really liked how this one turned out – very soft & delicate I think.
Well, that's all the easels I have to show you for now, but I'm sure they'll be back soon. Thanks for stopping by.
Inky wishes, Di
PS: sorry the colours are a bit funny – too much afternoon sunshine I think!

Supplies:
Stamps: For Everything (Summer Mini), Happy Moments (SAB)
Card: certainly celery, almost amethyst, barely banana, pretty in pink, whisper white card, Tea Party DSP (IB&C p133)
Ink: certainly celery, pretty in pink & rose red ink pads, rose red, regal rose, pretty in pink markers
Accessories: silver ribbon slider – hodgepodge hardware (IB&C p 149), celery grosgrain ribbon (IB&C p151)
Tools: 1 ¼ inch & 1 inch circle punches, word window punch (IB&C p152)

Razzle Dazzle Easel cards

Here I am again with some more easel card. First up is one I made at the beginning of this month with a little group of some of my most regular Saturday class goers.
This design was very much a case of a beautiful swap made by fellow demonstrator Michelle Dyson, at the last Stampin' Up! Regional training day. I couldn't find a pic on Michelle's blog to link to, but I loved the combination of almost amethyst & lovely lilac she used with the 'Razzle Dazzle' set image. I added some celery to my version. Just a note – the brad looks a weird colour but I used a lilac rhinestone one. I think I must have had a pink top on when I took the pic!
I used celery, amethyst & lilac markers to ink up the main image (which is actually a lot quicker to do than you might think), then did the Darth Vader huff before stamping it on whisper white card. You can hopefully see it better here.  By the way, the friendship greeting is from the 'For Everything' set.

Rachel's Easel
Next up is another is another lilac & amethyst easel creation. This is it closed....
...& open.
It's a standard length card (14.8cm), but is only about 9.9cm wide, so it can be cut from an A4 sheet. I cut a 2 inch circle with my Circle Scissor Plus, inked the whole 'Razzle Dazzle' image with my almost amethyst ink pad & highlighted some sections with a lovely lilac marker before stamping. I added a clear rhinestone brad (still looking pink), then mounted it on another circle.
To make the scallop edge, I used my scallop edge punch to make a long length of scallops, cut slits along it & bent it around the circle.
For the striped panel, I inked up the stripe in almost amethyst, highlighted different lines with lovely lilac then stamped it. I think from memory I needed to do this 3 times to make the panel long enough to go across the card. I added some basic grey taffeta ribbon & a basic grey greeting (from 'On Your Birthday').
On the bottom panel, I added another greeting with part of the striped panel. You can see it here when the card is pushed right back. I didn't need to add space to write a message here, as I add a piece to the back of the easel.
Hope you liked these purple creations. I have one more easel to show you but that will need to wait until next time. I you have any questions about these though, please  drop me an e-mail.Inky wishes, Di
PS: Both the Razzle Dazzle & For Everything sets from the Summer Mini are only available until 31 March. Please contact me if you'd like to order them before they go.

Supplies:Square Razzle Dazzle EaselStamps: Razzle Dazzle, For Everything (Summer Mini)
Card: certainly celery, almost amethyst, lovely lilac, whisper white card
Ink: certainly celery, almost amethyst, lovely lilac markers, lovely lilac ink pad
Accessories: lilac rhinestone brad (IB&C p149)Tools: eyelet border punch (IB&C p152)
Rachel's Easel
Stamps: Razzle Dazzle, For Everything (Summer Mini)
Card: certainly celery, almost amethyst, lovely lilac, whisper white card
Ink: certainly celery, almost amethyst, lovely lilac markers, lovely lilac ink pad
Accessories: lilac rhinestone brad (IB&C p149), basic grey taffeta ribbon (IB&C p151)
Tools: Circle Scissor Plus (Summer Mini), scallop edge punch (IB&C p152)

Sunday 28 March 2010

Loving easel cards too

I've been seeing tons of easel cards in blogland lately, so I thought it was time I showed you mine. They look so cool standing up, yet are really easy to make, which is a major winner in my book.
This is the first one I made back in January (still catching up!). The flower image is from my friend Kellie's 'A Happy Heart' set, as I don't have it yet & I'm sure you've noted that my 'Raspberry Tart' DSP is getting another work out. The greeting is from the free 'Happy Moments' Sale-a-bration set. You can find a tutorial to make easel cards here on Splitcoast. If you want to make this cute square size (with a 10 x 10cm front), cut your card to 10cm x 30cm & score the long side at 10, 15 & 20cm. You can get 3 of these bases from a 12 inch piece of cardstock.

I'll be back to show you some more easel cards. Until then, thanks for visiting.
Inky wishes, Di

PS: The 'Happy Moments' SAB set is only available for a few more days when you place a $100 order. Contact me for more info.

Supplies:
Stamps: A Happy Heart (IB&C p34), Happy Moments (SAB)
Card/Ink: rose red, whisper white, kiwi kiss cardstock, Raspberry Tart DSP (IB&C p 133)
Ink: rose red & certainly celery marker, rose red ink pad (IB&C p129)
Accessories, regal rose grosgrain ribbon (IB&C p151)
Tools: punches – scallop edge, small oval, large oval (IB&C p 152), scallop oval (Spring Mini – still available)

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Sweet Treat Blooms

Here is a quick post to show you some little treats I made a couple of weeks ago, using some of the large die cut flowers in the 'Blooms' & 'Blooms again' packs & Sweet Treat cups from the Summer Mini.
They were really fun, easy & quick to do & I was really pleased with how they turned out, so I thought I'd share some instructions for you to have a go yourself.

1. Cut a 1 inch circle from one of the largest flowers in the pack. Save the circle.
2. Attach a sweet treat cup to the centre front. Pierce a hole in the bottom of the cup for a bamboo skewer using a paper piercer.
3. Punch a 1¾ inch circle in the centre of a smaller flower & attach to the sweet treat flower using dimensional. (leave a dimensional gap at the bottom for the skewer).
4. Fill the cups with some skittles (colour co-ordinate if you like.
5. Seal back with 1 inch circle - there will be a little of the cup adhesive showing to hold it in place.
6. Insert the skewer & added some grosgrain ribbon for 'leaves'.
7. Give it to someone sweet!

Hope you like this idea & thanks for stopping by.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:
Card/Paper: Die cut Blooms (old olive, real red, pumpkin pie, bashful blue), Blooms Again (very vanilla, baja breeze, kiwi kiss, close to cocoa) (IB&C p144)
Accessories: sweet treat cups (Summer Mini), olive grosgrain ribbon, kiwi striped grosgrain ribbon (IB&C p150-151)
Other: skittles

Friday 19 March 2010

Petal Party Mini Album

Hi there
As promised, I'm back with some pics of a mini scrapbook album I made for my friend Kim, who I mentioned in this post, had a new baby girl in January. The album is 6 inches x 6 inches & folds out & out & out to show lots of pages ...a bit hard to photograph though!
To make the album, I used the Stampin' Up! Petal Party Simply Scrappin'® kit & followed this fab project planner, designed by the super-talented Andrea Walford. Andrea's project was based on the 'I Wish' Christmas themed Simply Scrappin'® Kit, but it was really easy to substitute with 'Petal Party'. All you need is half a Scrappin' kit (which includes card, DSP & adhesive die cuts), plus a sheet of white card & ribbon. You'll have plenty of lovely pieces left for a second album or cards to & all for $36.95.

Here are a few more pics of some of the album pages. You'll notice I didn't add any sentiments & left plenty of space, so Kim could personalise it to fit her photos & journaling. This is the inside cover:
& here is an overview of the whole album:
This pic is the centre panel closed. The flowers are all raised on dimensionals, but I didn't fully attach the saffron flowers so Kim could slip pictures underneath.
Finally, here is a pic of Andrea's beautiful original project using the 'I Wish' kit. I've made 2 of these already & I was so pleased how they turned out. I've shown you my version of the cover below, but the remainder of my album is pretty much as per Andrea's planner which you can see here:
I'm looking at running a class to make one of these style albums in May, so if you'd be interested in making one of your own, please contact me to let me know & I'll let you know more information when I finalise my plans.

Important: If you're a Demonstrator & are interested in this project, please go to Andrea's great Demonstrator training site, http://www.demotodemo.com/ to purchase her Class Project Planner. It's well worth the investment, plus you'll find lots more wonderful planners.

Anyway, hope you like this project. It was so good to do something scrappy for a change, as It's been a while. Hope you have a happy weekend!
Inky wishes, Di

 Supplies
Card/Paper: Petal Party Simply Scrappin'® Kit, whisper white cardstock
Accessories: so saffron grosgrain ribbon (retired)

Wednesday 17 March 2010

St Patrick’s birthday

Just popping in to quickly show you a card I made for a dear friend. His birthday is today, which is of course St Patrick's day, so I gave his birthday an Irish feel with a four leaf clover & an Irish sounding greeting – 'happy o' birthday'.
The clover is made with large hearts from my brand new heart to heart punch (popped on dimensionals) & the button is a retired SU one. The greeting is mounted on 4 punched word windows stuck together (faux chipboard I call it). The paper is all from the 'Windsor Knot' DSP pack. I snuck in some ribbon (as you do), but I think it still looks manly enough, even though Damien said the clover looked like a flower (sigh!).
Anyway, Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!
Inky wishes, Di

PS: Nicky – Hope Russ has received it today, but if not, please wish him a very happy birthday & don't spill the beans about the card... just make sure he knows it's a four leaf clover!

Supplies:
Stamps: On Your Birthday
Card: chocolate chip, old olive, Windsor DSP
Ink: chocolate chip
Accessories: choc chip grosgrain ribbon, button (retired)
Tools: heart to heart punch, word window punch

Saturday 13 March 2010

Baby girl chickie

Hi there & happy weekend. Today, I’m showing you a baby card I made recently to welcome a friend’s beautiful baby girl (waving at you Kim!).

On looking at this card again, I realised there’s a couple of elements I unknowingly repeated from Kellie’s card, even though I made them a couple of weeks apart – weird! Can you see what they are?
The cute little chickie is from the ‘A Good Egg’ set. It’s actually an Easter set, but I think she looks really cute for babies. Chickie is stamped on barely banana & cut out. Her egg is cut from a ‘Good Morning Sunshine’ DSP print. Here she is up close.
On the inside, I added some more DSP & scallops & one more cute chickie for good measure.
Hope you like this idea. Thanks for popping in for a visit. Nightie night for now.
Inky wishes, Di
PS: I made a mini album for Kim too, so I’ll try to give you a peek of that next time.

Supplies:

Stamps: A Good Egg (chickie), Family Phrases
Card/Paper: pink pirouette, pretty in pink, barely banana, certainly celery & very vanilla card, Tea Party DSP, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink: basic brown ink pad, so saffron marker (beak)
Accessories: certainly celery grosgrain ribbon, pink taffeta ribbon
Tools: punches – large oval & scallop oval

Sunday 7 March 2010

Kellie’s birthday flower


Hi there & hope you're having a happy weekend. Today's card is one I made recently for my gorgeous friend & fellow stamper, Kellie's birthday.
The large flower is made from a combination of die cut blooms flowers and flower fusion felt flowers with a pink rhinestone brad in the centre. You can see the flower layers better here.
I made a stem for the flower one of the greetings from the 'Flight of the Butterfly' set which I thought looked a bit like a stem and leaf, as well as having a lovely message that I thought was so true of Kellie – "one person can make a difference and that person is you". I also used a large silver grommet (from the Summer Mini) with some double stitched ribbon. The colours don't look quite right again, but I used rose red, pink pirouette (for the front flower panel), chocolate chip & a beautiful print paper from the 'Tea Party' pack.On the inside, I added a panel to hold a gift card & added another felt flower to finish it off.

I was really happy with how this one came out. Hope you like it too. Thanks so much for popping by & if you'd like more info on anything, just let me know. Back soonish.

Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:
Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly - stem (IB&C p82), For Everything - Bracket (Summer Mini), Happy Moments – Happy Birthday greeting (SAB)
Card/Paper: rose red, pink pirouette, chocolate chip card, Tea Party DSP (IB&C p 133), die cut flower - Blooms Again (IB&C page 144)
Ink: old olive, choc chip ink pads
Accessories: large grommets (Summer Mini), chocolate chip double stitched ribbon (IB&C p 150), pink rhinestone brad, felt flowers – Flower Fusion & Flower Fusion Too Accents & Elements (IB&C page 144)
Tools: scallop edge punch

Tuesday 2 March 2010

Leesa’s birthday book

Today, I have another book project to show you. This time, a birthday book I made for my friend & SU team member Leesa, whose birthday was at the end of January.
If you haven't heard of birthday books (or card organisers), they include a perpetual calendar of dates/months for you to record special occasions like birthdays & anniversaries & pocket pages to store cards you've made ready to send in that month (if you're organised that is!). I've wanted to make one for ages & thought it would be a great pressie for Leesa, as she is very organised, as well as being very thoughtful.

The whole book is completely handmade (well, except for the wire binding). I used lots of different papers from the retired 'Afternoon Tea' DSP pack & matching 'Live your Dream' stamp set, as I thought Leesa would like the colours & theme. Here's a closer view of the front cover.
The covers are made from the thick card backing sheets included in our designer series paper packs. I covered the outside cover in DSP & the inside cover in cardstock. You can see a close up of the front decoration here. (A big thanks to Nette for lending me her 'Life Definitions' set for the 'remember' definition, which worked so well). You can see the inside cover & first pocket here:
Each pocket page is made with half a 12x12 sheet of card. I included 13 pockets in the book (1 extra, so that you can store stamps, tags etc in the front of the book & so the January calendar wouldn't have to be on the inside cover). The finished pocket pages are about 20 x 15cm. The covers are a little bigger.
For the calendar, I made a table in word & added the month & days (the font is called Amelie in case you're interested!). I stamped a couple of tiny flowers either side of the month, to carry the theme over to the calendar. Here's a pic of a calendar page:
I bound the book with a binding machine to make the holes & a ¾ inch o ring. I don't think you could add any more pages than this for that size. I hindsight, I would probably use less layers around the pockets too, as it made them quite thick in the middle. Nevertheless, I was really happy how it all turned out & I think Leesa liked it too, which is what it's all about.

If you'd like to try making your own book, you can find a similar book here at Splitcoast. Please contact  me if you have any questions.

Thanks for visiting & hope to see you back again soon.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies
Stamps: Live Your Dream (Retired) Life Definitions
Card/Paper: choc chip, soft sky, groovy guava, wild wasabi card (all retired), whisper white card,  Afternoon Tea DSP (retired)
Ink: choc chip, groovy guava, wild wasabi, soft sky
Accessories: choc chip grosgrain ribbon, ruby red brads
Tools: scallop edge punch, binding machine