Fine Feathers for Father's Day

Father's Day is just one month away.  If you are on the look out for some masculine card ideas to help you celebrate this special occasion, the Australia Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft magazine's latest edition has a great feature - I know, I'm in it with a 'Life in the Forest' themed design lol...

In the meantime,  I'd like to share with you this card I made for my own Dad.  It was one of the last projects I designed with the Fine Feathers and Delightful Dozen stamp sets before I sadly sold them to make way for new catalogue goodies.

What imagery do you have in mind for your Father's day creations this year?

Fine Feathers for Father's Day

August 8, 2014

Tag a Bag Mother's Day

This stunning pattern from the Watercolour Wonder Designer Series Papers requires very little embellishment.  I featured the sentiment from the Delightful Dozen Stamp set on a banner of coordinating Smoky Slate grey card stock.  I was initially going to heat emboss the sentiment in white directly onto the grey but my children had just gone to bed and I didn't want to risk disturbing them with my heat tool, so I added a layer of vellum to the banner and stamped in StazOn Opaque White instead.  The effect is softer but works in this project.  

I then finished the card with a small embellishment - this little butterfly from the Papillion Potpourri set, stamped on the same DSP to ensure a colour match with the roses, and then punch cut and adhered over a little loop of twine to the banner.

What Mum doesn't love a homemade breakfast on Mother's Day?!  Part of my gift to my Mum was some homemade sugar-free Granola (an 'I Quit Sugar' recipe by Sarah Wilson, http://iquitsugar.com/recipe/coco-nutty-granola/).  Hidden away on page 158 of the current Stampin' Up! Catalogue are some little gift boxes. One of these made the perfect package for my little gift.  I only had a short window of time to decorate - lucky that was all that was needed!

I stamped directly onto the acetate sleeve with the "Fabulous is what you are" sentiment.  I wanted to add an embellishment to tie in with the card, so I put on same butterflies and a little vellum in the form of die cut leaves from the Secret Garden framelits collection.

Some members of the Creation Station design team showcased different uses for these Tag-a-Bag gift boxes in last week's blog hop.  To see their creations please visit here.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Tag a Bag Mother's Day

May 11, 2014

In Class - October 2013

I am super grateful to Lisa Taylor for opening up her home and accommodating us for all again for class this month.  With the festive season just around the corner I thought it would be fun to have a Christmas card theme this session.

For this first card I wanted to go back to basics and show a design that could be put together quickly and easily in bulk if need be.

Stamps: 122652 Delightful Dozen, 130297 Happy Day.
Card: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Paper: 132181 Season of Style Designer Series Paper Stack
Ink: 101406 StazOn Jet Black Ink Pad, 126975 Crumb Cake
Embellishments: 132140 Burlap Ribbon, 124262 Bakers Twine Whisper White
Punches: 119869 1/2" Circle punch

This second design features the other pattern available in the Season of Style DSP stack.  I've white washed it here to lighten it slightly to allow the gold heat embossed doily and burlap ribbon strip to stand out more.

Stamps: 120024 Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Card: Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White
Paper: 132181 Season of Style Designer Series Paper Stack
Ink: 126953 Old Olive, 102283 VersaMark
Embellishments: 132140 Burlap Ribbon, 129399 Tea Lace Doilies
Dies: 132171 Expressions Thinlets
Punches: 120907 Decorative Label

For our third project I shied away from the browns and golds and went for a silver instead.  By special request we practiced brayering ink directly onto embossing folders and running them through the Big Shot to achieve the two toned background.  A 3D star featured prominently on the front.

Stamps: 128075 That's the Ticket
Card: Midnight Muse, Basic Black
Paper: 126926 Modern Medley, 124005 Silver Glimmer Paper, 130132 Neutrals Designer Series Paper Stack (the original pattern featured is retired but this would be a great substitute)
Ink: 102283 VersaMark
Embellishments: 104199 Linen Thread
Punches: 126883 Ticket Duo Builder

If you have any questions about classes, these projects or would like to purchase Stampin' Up! products like those used in these projects please don't hesitate to contact me!

In Class - October 2013

October 27, 2013

Christmas Coredinations

Yes, it is that time again - time to start planning for Christmas!  This card design was made in workshops last week.  It showcases the coredinations papers embossed with the beautifully baroque embossing folder.  The colour scheme was inspired by  the dotted strip of patterned paper from the Season of Style DSP stack currently available in the seasonal holiday catalogue.  

Christmas Coredinations

October 3, 2013

In Class - April 2013

In honour of Mother's Day which is just around the corner, we created three very floral and feminine cards in class this month.  All three cards feature imagery from the Secret Garden Stamp set currently available in the Stampin' Up! mini catalogue.

This first card design allowed us to practice our heat embossing with a spray of lovely flowers in white on Crumb Cake card.  We then coloured these flowers with whisper white ink lending a beautiful soft feel to the design.  A pop of colour was layered over the top of the flowers once the white base had dried.

Our second card had a very different, arty feel to it.  We stamped the large outline flower from the Secret Garden set across the whisper white front and added a spritz of colour with the colour spritzer and some Stampin' Write Markers.  The ink splatter stamp from the French Foliage stamp was the perfect way to add some additional colour.  A strip of Floral District DSP, some coral calypso bakers twine and a sentiment layered on the Modern Label punch shape finished the design off nicely.

You may recognise this third design, I originally featured the layout in March as it was initially created in the Pattern Play online class I took.  I've changed the colours so I could feature current DSP from the Floral District paper pack.  Again, class participants were able to practice some more heat embossing, this time with black to create the sentiment on the front of the card.  

If you have any questions about these projects or about future class dates please don't hesitate to contact me.

I am hoping to be able to schedule classes again later this year - hopefully in Spring.  My husband and I are expecting our second baby this June so I will need a little time to adjust to life with our new addition before I can get another class organised.  I will continue to take orders during this little period of 'maternity leave' and I am also open to enquiries for workshops from August onwards.  I know it is ambitious but I would also like to have a new catalogue open house in July sometime if possible - keep an eye on my e-newsletters for more information.  

32 weeks and counting...

In Class - April 2013

May 5, 2013