Something a little bit different ...

I was sorting through some patterned papers the other day and came across some scraps of the Basic Grey Infuse paper line. I just adore the colours in this range, so I immediately sat down and made today's card.

 

The greeting is from the Stampin' Up! Saleabration Set Lots of Thoughts. The Stampin' Up! cardstock colours which match this paper really well are Naturals Ivory, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose and True Thyme. To give the Regal Rose an aged look, sponge it with Chocolate Chip.

I have created the scallops using the Stampin Up Slit Punch. Just turn it over backwards, push it in as far as it will go and line the half circles up next to each other. You end up with a piece about 1.5" wide which is great for a border or to pop under paper as I have done here. If you want a wider piece of paper that is scalloped, I use the corner rounder, but I prefer these deep scallops. The Slit Punch is only $11.50 as well!

Just a reminder, you can get the stamp set used for this greeting (it's one of 6 in the set), the Stampin' Up! Saleabration Set Lots of Thoughts FREE with any customer order of $100 or more. In fact for every $100 you spend, you get to choose one of the free Saleabration Sets. Check them out in the Saleabration brochure here and then email your order through (or call me on 03 97352946) and you could have your own set just like that!

Cyber stamping ....

We had a cyber stamp night with my upline and the extended team last night - lots of fun and great ideas. I am so inspired and have so much fun interacting with the other demonstrators in our team, and my 'extended Stampin Up! family'. So today you get two cards that I completed in the challenges.

This first challenge was to case a card from the 2007/8 Idea Book and Catalogue. I chose the card layout on page 53 and came up with this. I just can't get enough of that Both Way Blossoms Hostess Set at the moment can I (don't forget to enter the competition to win it - see my post Jan 25th) ?. These are the Elegance Designer Series Papers from the Summer Mini Catalogue. The cardstock colours used are Pale Plum, Chocolate Chip and Naturals Ivory.

This second one was a colour challenge to use Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, Rose Red and a neutral coloured cardstock. I cased this design from page 10 in the Summer Mini Catalogue. There are so many inspiring card and layout ideas in these catalogues! I added my own twist with the circle greeting top left. This set is Stampin' Up! Stem Silhouettes and the circle greeting from Seeing Spots.

Got a thousand things to do today (OK, slight exaggeration, lol) so I will leave it at that for today and see you back here tomorrow! Have a happy day,

Claire xx

Colour Inspiration ....

Today's card features one of my favourite Stampin' Up! In Colours at the moment, Vintage Violet. It's very likely this colour will soon be retired, which makes me immensely sad! I will be stocking up on cardstock and re-inkers for sure!

The design for this card was inspired by one Julia Stainton did back in August last year. Check out Julia's blog, she makes beautiful creations and there is lots to teach and inspire you there. The other thing that inspired me was my desire to try out some new colour combinations. There are many places I am inspired by colour; Stampin' Up! catalogues, in magazine layouts, patterned papers, creations by other people, colour challenges and also this website which allows you to browse and choose Stampin' Up! colour combinations. One of the great things about Stampin' up! patterned paper is that it is designed to coordinate exactly with their cardstock colours, so I can tell you exactly which colour cardstock to use with each. For example in the current mini catalogue, the colours coordinating with the patterned paper are:

Au Chocolate Designer Series Paper - Coordinates with Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla

Enchante Designer Series Paper - Coordinates with Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Certainly Celery, Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa and Very Vanilla

Loves Me Designer Series Paper - Coordinates with Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose, Taken with Teal. I have also used Pretty in Pink, Cool Caribbean and Chocolate Chip.

OK, back to the card:

This card features Stampin' Up! Both Way Blossoms Hostess Set which I am giving away this month (a new unmounted set - not parting with my own!). To see how you can win it, check out my post on 25th January. I have also used the Paisley Background, Seeing Spots (the thank you stamp) and Wild About You (the bird). My colour combination is Vintage Violet, Bordering Blue, Certainly Celery, Sage Shadow and Whisper White.

I started with a standard sized Vintage Violet card (half an A4 sheet folded crisply in half again using the bone folder). I sponged the edges with Vintage Violet ink for extra definition and framing. My next layer is Certainly Celery which is 3mm smaller than the card, and then another layer of Bordering Blue which is 1mm smaller again. This layer has been stamped using the Paisley Background and Vintage Violet ink. The horizontal piece is Vintage Violet which has been embossed using the Cuttlebug. I then rubbed Vintage Violet ink over the embossing to highlight it (using my fingers - it does come off!). I also sponged Vintage Violet ink on the edges using a sponge dauber to better define the edges.

The main image is a piece of Whisper White cardstock 10.5 x 5.5 cm. The image from Both Way Blossoms has been stamped in Basic Brown (which is waterproof) and then watercoloured using the ink pads in Vintage Violet and Certainly Celery. To do this you just squeeze the ink pads while they are closed and pick up ink from the inside cover using the Aquapainter (I prefer watercolouring with the Watercolour Wonder Crayons (TM) but these are not available for the in-colours as yet). I then sponged Vintage Violet ink right on the edges, and matted with a 1mm mat of Sage Shadow and Certainly Celery.

The circle greeting was made using three circle punches - a 1.5 inch (In Sage Shadow), 1.25 inch (in Bordering Blue with the greeting from Seeing Spots stamped in Vintage Violet) and a 0.75 inch (in Certainly Celery with the bird from Wild About You stamped in Vintage Violet). I added some highlights to the greeting and the birds eye using the White Signo Gel Pen. Just a tip when you are stamping things on punched out cardstock. Stamp the image first, and then turn the punch over so you can punch the image out straight. It's very easy that way!

The card was finished off with a Certainly Celery Brad and some ribbon for my stash (how I wished I had ordered the celery wide grosgrain from the Summer Mini as well as the chocolate and vanilla!).

Phew if you have got that far you have done well!

The circus was great last night. This was Sam (2yr 10m) first time at the circus and he nearly split his sides. How beautiful is it to watch your children laugh with pure delight. Josh also loved it and had been role-playing circus acts all day today. Today I am hoping to edit my holiday pics and upload to Snapfish so that I can do some scrapbook pages soon. If you haven't tried Snapfish (an online photo storage and photo printing service) try it out - www.snapfish.com.au for Australian readers. Make sure you tell them I referred you (I think you need to give them my email address).

Back tomorrow with another card. Since this months card a day was interrupted by my holiday, I am going to do it all again in February and see if I can make it through the month!

Have a great day,

Claire xx

Happy Australia Day ....

How lucky we are to live in this wonderful country. Hope you are all enjoying a patriotic long weekend. I did have a vegemite sandwich for lunch, does that count? Just a lazy weekend here. Rigged up a better grey water collection system to use the washing machine water. We now have one of the custom wheelie bins with the tap which are quite cool. It's good to be doing our part to save water. Tonight we are taking the boys to the circus which has set up less than 1km down the road.

Here's todays card. I wanted to try something different to my normal style, so I watercoloured onto kraft cardstock, and used the Signo Gel Pen for some highlights on the flowers. The flower set is Stampin' Up! Petal Prints. The flowers are watercoloured using Vintage Violet ink pad,  and my Rich Regal Watercolour Crayons with the Aquapainter used both times. The leaves image top left is random stampings of Stem Silhouettes in Chocolate Chip, with random watercolouring of Always Artichoke on the stems. I used the Lots Of Thoughts Saleabration set as the sentiment and highlighted with some Old Olive brads.

Have a great day and I'll see you back here tomorrow,

Claire xx

Time for a Giveaway!

Remember this beautiful level 2 hostess set Both Way Blossoms which I have used to make these cards:

   

You can earn this set of four double ended blossom images just by providing me with feedback. All you have to do is email me with the answer to this question:

What 3 things would you like to see more of on my blog?

You have until midnight 31st January to give me your feedback. I am only able to give this prize away to Australian residents. Other demonstrators are not eligible to enter either - sorry! You need to include your full name in the email and tell me which state you live in. The prize will be drawn February 1st and the winner notified by email. The stamp set will be posted or delivered to you at my expense. Please be nice, lol.

Here's a card for today featuring one of the free Sale-a-bration sets, Friendship Blooms. I have watercoloured the flowers and added Crystal Effects. The colour scheme was inspired by my downline Tanja. She is great with colour. Which reminds me I must link her new blog here.

and this is a little hard to post, but since I promised the lovely Catherine at my workshop tonight (and what a great night it was, thanks Michelle and guests!), here is the very first Stampin' Up! card I ever made (blush blush) ....

See you back here tomorrow. Stay happy,

Claire xx

**** Edited to add - Please email your comments through if possible. I have temporarily moderated comments to help me gather the information confidentially ****