Tuscan Vineyard

What a picturesque stamp set the Tuscan Vineyard is!  My card uses one of the images, mounted onto Kraft card - but Crumb Cake would be equally good - and coloured with some Stamp n Write markers directly onto the red rubber stamp.  This is the best thing about red rubber stamps - you can colour on the stamp, and using the Stamparatus, can repeatedly colour and stamp until you are happy with your result.

The oval was cut with a stitched frame lit, and the base of the card is stamped with the olive image.

Magical Mates

Just sharing a bit of creative fun I had using the Magical Mates and Magic Day products by Stampin Up!.  They are both retiring soon, which is a shame, but I couldn't resist putting them to use - and I'll be keeping these sets, for those birthday cards I need for youngsters.

Firstly, I must credit all the ideas I've seen on Pinterest - by such talented crafters, and especially to Bronwyn Eastley, and Australian demo, who has produced a fantastic tutorial on an absolutely amazing castle scene.  However, I don't own all the little extra dies needed to recreate her 3D diorama, so here I have a largish step card, using the Magical bundle, SU blends, but paper and stencils from my stash.

I've used the whole A4 card for this card - the middle step is 3.25" wide, and the side steps are 2.5" wide.  I've made an intermediate step to give 3 layers.  I've added the turrets (a MFT banner die trimmed to remove a little of the points) and the roof of the castle - just triangles cut to adhere to the top of the castle keeps.  The door is cut from woodgrain paper using a tag shape, trimmed a little at the bottom, and the trees are a bit of fantasy - as if there wasn't enough!  I sponged the slits for the windows using the same stencil as the brick facade, carefully masking the area around it.

Nowhere near as authentic as Bronwyn's but I had such fun.  I hope you like it!

Happiest of Birthdays

The other day while browsing Pinterest, I came across a beautiful stamped card made by Poppaea, UK, using some of the loveliest SU stamps available.  I was so taken by the effect, I immediately tried to CASE her cards - this is the link to her post.

My effort is not so neatly executed, but I did have a lot of fun creating this card - the square card is 6" x 6" and the smaller card is the standard A6 card size.

I love the whimsical style Catherine has used, and the colour scheme is so soothing.

Stamps used:  Blooms and Wishes, Painted Harvest, Number of Years

Inks:  Flirty Flamingo, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Sky Blue, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, Lemon Lime Twist, Island Indigo, Crushed Curry

Card:  Dapper Denim, Whisper White

Best Wishes

I'm joining in again at Freshly Made Sketches for their sketch # 323  - just in time I think!

I really like the design of this sketch - the alternating colours or textures or DSP - it can be anything.  I originally had one section embossed white card as below, and the alternating card is Very Vanilla.  It looked too flat against the leafy vine, so I covered it with some retired vellum in gold - I think this lifts it up!  My flower from Eclectic Layers thinlets is also backed by the vellum  Added some punched leaves and the sentiment is from Blooms and Wishes.  I think I will be using this design again - it would make a great masculine card with bold colours and say a square sentiment in the centre.

Party Pandas

Sale-A-Bration is underway at Stampin' Up!  which means that for every $90 you spend in an order, you choose an item from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue for free!  How good is that!  Of course, if you spend $180 you can receive 2 free items, 3 free for $270 and so on!

One of the cutest stamp sets in Sale-a-Bration, in my opinion, is the one I've used today - it's called Party Pandas. Three cute panda bears, a couple of sentiments and a little pattern stamp which fits into the balloon, or can be used to create a decorative border.  I used Basic Black to stamp my pandas, after trying Memento Black at first, but the coverage just wasn't deep enough.  You will see the difference below.

Memento Tuxedo Black used in the card above and the one below

 SU Basic Black used in the card above and the card below

Lots of ideas here, and I had such fun playing with this set.  If you would like to view the SAB catalogue, or the Occasions Catalogue please click on the pictures in the side bar, which will take you to the pdf of each catalogue.  Please message me if you would like to receive the hard copy and I will get it in the mail for you.

Painted Harvest - 2 ways

I first used the Painted Harvest stamp set to create Christmas cards, using the flower background as a wreath.  They made very pretty but simple cards to create in a hurry.  I'm sure you've all seen them on Pinterest, so will just post my photo here.

But once the rush of Christmas was over, I took another look and created a couple of cards using Calypso Coral and Peek-a-Boo Peach for the flowers.

My style is usually clean and simple, so I tend not to put a lot on my card - these I feel have just enough!

Christmas Quilt stamp set

When Stampin' Up! recently offered free shipping, I jumped right in and ordered the Christmas Quilt stamp set.  The reason I had not bought this at the start of the Holiday Catalogue, was that I already owned a quilt die or two, and didn't think I could use another one.  However, when you look more closely at the stamp set that coordinates with the quilt dies, you see there are some really interesting effects that can be achieved with this stamp set.  Sadly, it is retiring at the start of the new year, but I have really enjoyed making cards with it.

The star outline was stamped in Fresh Fig, and the pattern fills in Lemon Lime Twist and Sweet SugarPlum, then stamped a border around it with a stamp that looks like blanket stitch.  This was mounted on a top fold card, and the pattern adhered below between strips of Fresh Fig card. 

I used the triangle pattern pieces to create these small trees - that is the same pattern stamped in pink above - a strip of DSP below and Merriest Wishes in Real Red from the set Merriest Wishes.

Another stamped quilt - Smokey slate and Flirty Flamingo and this time mounted at an angle over Flirty Flamingo card.