Paper Doll Design

August / September is a busy time for birthdays! One of my crafting buddies had her birthday at the end of August.  I try to make it a point to send her a card that she hasn't seen me make before, post or demonstrate.   In other words, one that is all hers! She tells me she keeps all these cards in a box and she looks at them for inspiration - awww! I knew for sure she hadn't seen my new stamp set - Jar of love so I set about coming up with a design, just for her! Spring was just around the corner too so I wanted to use fresh and vibrant colours. A  bouquet of flowers, delivered by the postman! That was it! Using the Jar of Love, I made a bouquet in a jar using Calypso Coral, Bermuda Bay, and Lemon Lime Twist.   Love, love, love!! Touch of gold in the centres and it was ready for the post box. Hope she likes it as much as I do!!

With my sister living overseas, I like to send her a special card to let her know I am thinking of her, on her birthday. Yes, I could message her or pick up the phone - both of which I do, but the card is like a little present really. I always make it a one off - just for her. I was thinking rustic glam for this one. I am in love with the Wood Textures Designer series paper ( DSP) Stack. So many different textures to choose from and each 6 x 6 sheet is double sided - what value!!   This would be my rustic. The flowers from the Whole Lot of Lovely DSP would add the feminine touch. And gold would add the Glam!! I set about fussy cutting ( yes, again!) some lovely orange blooms to use, picked out my wood finish and die cut Happy Birthday in gold. Here's how it turned out!!!  Added some blooms inside too. Think I achieved Rustic glam with this one? Hope she likes it.  Will have to  wait a couple of days and ...

Sorry for the delay in my posts. Recently I have had to make the sad journey home to farewell  my beautiful mother. She had been ill for some time but, never-the-less, took us all by surprise when she passed away in the middle of the night. Never having had to make these arrangements, I didn't realise how much there was to do in such a short amount of time.  Luckily, with my sister and brother all working together  we were able to put in place all my mothers wishes and send her off proudly amidst many, many tears. Back home with the dust beginning to settle, I  set about making some Thank you cards for those that helped us out, ensuring that everything was in place, people were able to enjoy a beautiful morning tea, and to those that shared beautiful, heartfelt tributes. The cards  featured Mums favourite colour, lilac. I hope they like them.

Another colour challenge was put up by Colour Inkspiration  and the colours were rich and vibrant. (Sorry about the screen shot) Turquoise and red makes for a very interesting combination - Pinterest was full of inspration.  It seems to be a popular wedding colour theme. My first card was inspired by a photo I had seen of a walkway in Portugal where they have the gap between the buildings filled with open parasols of bright colours and painted the park benches bright colours too. I used some of the Brights and Subtles Designer Series paper and made rosettes, using a different design on each. To make the rosette, cut strips of paper and fold concertina style.  When all folded, join the ends together and push into shape.  I like to glue mine to a small card circle so they hold their shape. Before adding them to my card, I stamped the sunburst from the retiring Kinda Eclectic stamp set onto the card.  I then added the rosettes and...

With the new Stampin' Up catalogue comes new colours! These ones are delicious! We have Fresh Fig, Berry Burst, Powder Pink, Tranquil Tide and Lemon Lime Twist. They even sound delicious! Check them out...... The new ink pads New cardstock in the In Colours The very pretty new Fresh Florals Designer Series paper stack And so much more coming your way in just a few days - Jun 1st!! Because everything goes together, and with things you may already have in your stash, it makes creating so easy! When I get my 12 x 12 DSP I make sure that I take one sheet of each and CHOP IT!! I chop the sheet into 6 so I have card fronts at the ready, making it quick and easy to whip up a card when I need one. If we don't chop it straight away, we tend to leave it and not use it.  We all seem to love our paper so much but we would be doing it a favour by chopping it and using it on our projects. So make su...

As the old annual catalogue ends, we have a new one waiting, ready and full of exciting goodies. I am sure there will be many wish lists filled once the new catalogue is released 1 Jun. Stampin Up have released a beautiful suite of product early - Eastern Palace. The options are endless with the dies, and the stamp set, at first glance looks simplistic, but it is made to build combinations.  The dies create cut outs, doillies, and medallions. The stamps compliment and highlight the cutouts, make beautiful borders and backgrounds.  This set will surely keep you busy. Watch this video to get a sneak peek! https://youtu.be/qF02FybBBO8

A new colour challenge last week had lovely soft pastels to play with. I played around with a couple of themes trying to mix up my stamps. Each of the cards had a different feel to it and amazing how different they can look when you mix up the amount of one or two colours. The first card uses the Kinda Eclectic with the sentiment from Sweet Cupcake Kinda Eclectic for those stamped off leaves and  Falling flowers for the feature flowers on this next one.  The sentiment is from Beautiful You. Banner blast gave this a party vibe so I die cut the "congrats" sentiment from the Sunshine Wishes out of fun foam and then again from white card to make it pop from the card.  Of course, a coating of Wink of Stella to give it some bling.  Unfortunately my photography on this one doesn't show how good the colours looked together against the craft background. These colours were fun to play with and there were some great entries th...