Stampin' Up! Get Together ...

...  Hello and good morning.  I've got several cards to share with you today.  Last Friday I attended a Stampin' Up! Get together with my upline, Karin, and several of the ladies in our group - it was such fun and the first one I've been able to attend for ages!!!  All the cards we make at our group meetings are CASEd from fellow SU demonstrators - such a talented group of people.

The first card is a thank you card - I always need to have a good supply of thanks cards in my collection:

Stamps: SU - Awesomely Artistic, Endless Thanks
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; SU - Crumb Cake
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits
Accessories: SU Card - Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Whisper White; SU DP - Neutrals Collection; Gold Glimmer Paper; Wink of Stella - Gold

This is a CASE of Sarah Poulton's fabulous cards - her cards are pretty much one layer, but with some embellishment.  We layered the stamped panel onto black card and then attached it to a crumb cake card base.  I decided to skip the punched flowers and instead added sparkle to the stamped flowers with my gold Wink of Stella brush.

The next card is CASEd from a photo in the SU catalogue, page 129.  We've changed up the colours and layered the card.

Stamps: SU - Watercolour Wash
Inks: SU - Wisteria Wonder
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Greetings Thinlets, Bold Butterfly Framelits, Butterflies Thinlets
Accessories: SU Card - Wisteria Wonder, Smoky Slate, Basic Grey, Whisper White; SU DP - Neutrals; Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper

And another thank you card - as you can't have too many!

Stamps: SU - Wild About Flowers, One Big Meaning, Gorgeous Grunge
Inks: SU - Delightful Dijon, Bermuda Bay, Blackberry Bliss, Sahara Sand
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Circles Framelits
Accessories: SU Card - Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Delightful Dijon; SU DP - Bohemian; SU Punch - Banner

This one is CASEd from Nancy Leedy's beautiful card.  I've been quite faithful to Nancy's card, but I decided that I liked the reverse of the spotty paper - love the little flourishes!

My final card is CASEd from my upline, Karin.  Love this card:

Stamps: SU - Remarkable You, Watercolour Wishes
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versamark
Accessories: SU Card - Basic Black, Marina Mist, Whisper White; SU/Sizzix EF - Brick Wall; SU Markers - Old Olive, Melon Mambo; SU Whisper White Ribbon; SU - Black Embossing Powder; Wink of Stella - Clear

This was a fun card to make.  We used a bleaching technique.  The flower was stamped in Versamark and embossed with black powder.  Then we used a Q-tip dipped in bleach to colour inside the lines of the flower and allowed the bleach to dry.  It was very interesting to see everyone's flowers - some dried with a pink tint, some had a blue tint and some were more ivory in colour.  I added some sparkle to my flower with a clear Wink of Stella brush.

I decorated the inside of all the cards made - as seen above.  And I also decorated the envelopes.  If you're interested in getting any of these Stampin' Up! sets - send me an email. That's all for today - see you soon.

Stampin' Up! Cards ....

... Hi!  Last week I attended a Stampin' Up! class at Karin's place.  We had lots of fun making cards and chatting.  Here are the cards I made.  The first card is a super masculine style birthday card and is a CASE (copy and share everything) based on Monica Gale's card:

Stamps: SU - By the Tide, Says It All
Inks: SU - Baked Brown Sugar, Marina Mist, So Saffron; Stazon - Jet Black
Accessories: SU Card - Basic Black, Whisper White; Gold Foil Sheet; Circle Punches - 1" and ¾" ; Chevron Ribbon; Linen Thread

We changed the style of the sentiment, although everything else is pretty much as Monica did it.  I can see the card working in other colourways.  The next card is a complete contrast and is totally feminine and is a CASE of Fran Sabad's beautiful card:

Stamps: SU - Simple Stems, Post Card, Four You
Inks: SU - Basic Grey, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Wild Wasbi
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Tasteful Trim
Accessories: SU Card - Basic Grey, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White; Pink Pirouette Ribbon

I've not got the Post Card stamp, but it's so nice and I can see it being quite useful.  I changed the sentiment on my card to make it a more general card - will probably go to one of my friends in the UK.  Again, I can see this card working in different colours and even a masculine style using different stamps.

My next two cards feature the Starburst Sayings stamps, but they are are quite different.  The first is fun birthday card based on Heather's lovely card:

Stamps: SU - Starburst Sayings, Yippee Skippee, Remembering Your Birthday
Inks: SU - Primrose Petals, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Starburst Framelits
Accessories: SU Card - Whisper White, Primrose Petals; SU DP - Patio Party; Gems; Sm Heart Punch

I changed the background paper on my card from the cakes to the banners and I added a tiny jewelled heart too.  On the inside is a fun birthday greeting.  Again, I can see this layout working for lots of other colourways and also for masculine cards too.

The final card that we made was a little more complex being a fold-out card.  It is a CASE of LeeAnn Greff's card, LeeAnn has also provided a tutorial to follow:

Stamps: SU - Starburst Sayings, Timeless Talk, Geometrical
Inks: SU - Bermuda Bay; Stazon - Jet Black
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Starburst Framelits, Circles Framelits
Accessories: SU Card - Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Basic Black; SU DP - Brights, Neutrals, Kaleidoscope; Banner Punch; 1¼" Scalloped Circle Punch; White Twine

As with the other cards, I can see this one working in different colours too!  That's all for today.  I'm meeting up with a friend of mine for lunch and a long chat today - should be lots of fun!  See you soon.

A one for two .....

..... Good morning!  I hope you all had a good weekend.  I've had a very good time - more of that later.  I've a card to share with you now - it's been made with a couple of challenges in mind:

• Colour Q - cQc213
• Freshly Made Sketches - FMS110

Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Love Potion; There She Goes Stamps - Chemistry
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Pear Pizzazz, Wisteria Wonder, Peach Parfait; Memento - London Fog, Tuxedo Black
Dies: Spellbinders - Pinking Circles Sm (S4-172) #2; Die-namics - Fishtail Flags Layers Stax #2; PTI - Love Potion
Accessories:  White Lustre Card; SU Card - Basic Grey, Wisteria Wonder; Sakura Stardust Pen; SU Marker - Wisteria Wonder; Clear Embossing Powder; Copics - V25, YR20, G21

I struggled a bit with these colours, but while going through my stamps yesterday I came across the Love Potion set which I got as I just LURVE chemistry!!  Transition chemistry is one of my favourite areas, partly because transition elements give solutions (see the picture below) with the most fabulous range of colours - hence this card!!  I die cut and stamped the various containers and mounted them onto some dark grey spiky circles, on the last circle I stamped a "molecule" and embossed it with clear powder.  I finished the front with the sentiment stamped and embossed on vellum and a tiny flask which I attached with dimensional tape.  The inside has a mat layer of dark grey, a group of glassware and a simple sentiment.  Obviously this is the perfect card to send to me!!!  However, I think it's likely to be slipped into Jonathan's bag at some point.

The image below shows a selection of solutions made from different transition elements - such pretty colours!

So, as I said, the weekend was lots of fun!  I spent most of Saturday in my craft room - you've seen the firework card - and the rest of the time I was sorting and tidying! I can even see the floor in places :)  Saturday evening we all headed to the cinema to see Ender's Game.  I'm not going to give away any spoilers, just to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Kathryn really liked the film too and even plans on reading the book!!  Yesterday Jonathan was out at a photo shoot, Kathryn was listening to her music and I did more tidying - I really should sort out catalogue pages as soon as I get new stamps!!  Would be so much easier.

That's all for now - I'm determined to finish sorting out my craft room!  See you soon.

Teal snowflakes .....

.... Morning all!  It's the first Saturday of October and here in Michigan we're having an Indian summer - not exactly conducive to making Christmas cards, but that's why we have challenges!!!  This month's challenges at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown are being hosted by Danielle and her sketch is really super - lots of scope here.  This is my card:

Stamps: Stampin' Up - Festive Flurry, Sassy Salutations, More Merry Messages
Inks: SU - Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Island Indigo; Versamark
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Framelits Festive Flurry
Accessories:  SU Card - Island Indigo; SU DP - Winter Frost Speciality; Cuttlebug EF - Christmas Stars; White Embossing Powder; Piccolo - Pure Sparkle Silver Glitter; White Lustre Card

I love snowflakes on Christmas cards and this SU set is just fab, so nice to have the co-ordinating dies too.  Initially I was going to make this card in shades of blue, but I remembered that I had the Winter Frost paper and that included all the shades of teal.  I made the base from Island Indigo.  I cut the design paper to 2¼" square and the white card to 2" square.  I embossed the white squares with the little Christmas stars.  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to position the sentiment stamped it in Versamark and heat embossed with white powder.  I stamped the largest of the snowflake stamps in Pool Party and the second smallest in Coastal Cabana (second generation image) and die cut them both.  On the smaller snowflake I added a touch of glitter to the central star.  For the inside I cut a panel of white card, randomly stamped the smaller snowflake and finished off with a sweet verse.

As there are a few stars on this card, I'm submitting it to the current Festive Friday Challenge - FFC18 to feature a star.  I haven't played along with this challenge for ages, then I make two cards in two days!!

Now that I've made this card, I think I may make a couple more - I'm going to do the one in shades of blue, but I think it will work in greens and pinks too!  Don't forget to visit the blog and check out the inspiration cards from the rest of the Team.

It's World Card Making Day today - what are you planning to do?  I'm going to a craft class at my local shop - Stampeddlar - we're going to be making some little (can't really call them cute) Apothecary Halloween bottles.  I'll post pictures later this week.  Jonathan has been in Phoenix all week - and today is his last full day - he'll be taking lots of photos.

That's all for now.  See you soon.

PJ Party feathers ...

....  Hi, it's me again!  I've another card for Claire's Pajama Party - this time I've used feathers.

Stamps: Fine Feathers, Funky Feathers
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Garden Green, Pear Pizzazz, Smokey Slate
Dies: Spellbinders - Labels 18 (S4-310) # 2, Labels 24 (S4-353) # 2, On the Edge (S5-168)
Accessories:  SU EF - Cloudy Day; SU Card - Pear Pizzazz; White Lustre Card

I had lots of fun making this card.  I stamped the feathers onto white card and then cut them out by hand (haven't got the cut files yet).  They are actually really easy to cut out.  I made the card base from Pear Pizzazz, cut a small panel in white card onto which I embossed these super dotty clouds.  I sued some of the textured Pear Pizzazz card to make the bottom panel and die cut the edge to, sort of, match the clouds.  I cut a couple of die cut shapes, stamped the sentiment on the green card, layered them and adhered the label with dimensional tape.  I using this card to send a thank you note to another of my UK friends - they're a bit late, but it's taken a while to get back into the swing of things!!  Here's the inside:

As well as the feathers theme, I used a couple of other challenges to make this card:

• Dynamic Duos - DD#63
• Clean & Simple Stamping - FTL251

I love all shades of green so I had to play along with this week's Dynamic Duos challenge.  The layout from Clean & Simple Stamping is just super - there are so many possibilities, and I turned it upside down!  I think that's all for this evening.  I'm going to go check out the cards at the Pajama party - see you soon.

PJs at Waltzingmouse ....

....  Good evening everyone - Claire's having a Pajama Party over at Waltzingmouse Stamps.  At the beginning of July Claire launched some wonderful new stamps and this is the perfect opportunity to play with them.  Claire has given a list of challenges here.  Here's my card:

Stamps: WMS - You're a Doll, Folk Art Medallions, Crackle Background
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Coral Calypso
Dies: Spellbinders - Ovals Sm (S4-112) #5, Scalloped Ovals Sm (S4-113) #5
Accessories:  SU Card - Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral; White Lustre Card; SU Glitter; Promarkers - Pear Green, Mango, Soft Peach; Copics - E00, E01, G42, R20

I've been itching to play with all the new sets - they are just fab!  And I particularly like the sweet little Russian Dolls - so I decided to make a thank you card with them.  This card is for one of my friends in the UK who was kind enough to have Kathryn over for a sleepover when we visited.  I decorated the inside too - keeping it simple.

 I used a few challenges in the making of this card:

• Colour Q - cQc199 - for the colours
• Fusion Card Challenge - FUSION 14 - used the sketch
• Addicated to CAS - ATCAS18

I had to adapt the colours a bit as I don't have the shades listed on the cQc graphic, but I think the colours are close.  I love the simple sketch at this week's Fusion challenge (so pleased to finally get to play along).  I turned the sketch on its side as it worked better for my card. I added just a touch of glitter to the doll - which is the challenge at Addicted to CAS this time.

I'm going to get a coffee and get into my PJs and check out all the cards.  See you soon.

Oops, I missed it ....

.... Morning!  I've made it - two posts in a row!  I've made this card using three challenges:

• CAS-ual Fridays - CFC110 - to use a number(s) on your card
• CAS(E) this Sketch! - CTS38
• Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#55

Stamps: CAS-ual Friday Stamps - Tech Talk, Brickworks
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight; Brilliance Banner - Green, Blue; Stazon - Jet Black
Accessories:  White Lustre card

I like the rainbow candles in Addicted to Stamps' photo inspiration, so used that to create a rainbow of bricks using the layout from CAS(E) this sketch.  This card is actually the second attempt as the first was a bit of a mess - the sentiment was too pale and not sharp enough.  So on this card I used Stazon for a clean, sharp and dark image.  This card is going in the post tomorrow - it's for my great nephew who had his birthday last Friday (and I forgot!). 

Hope you're all having a good weekend.  It's been quite cool in Northville - which does mean that my morning walks are much more pleasant, but I'd quite like the warmth to come back.  I'm off to a craft class this morning run by Valerie Brincheck - we're going to be making a mini Collage Canvas.  I'm really looking forward to getting inky and messy!  I'll post pictures later today!  See you soon.

Remember me?

.... well, hello all!  It's been a while since I wrote a "live" post! I got back to Northville a week and a half ago and fully intended to get straight back into my craft room, but real-life intervened!  I had to unpack, tidy, do the laundry and basically catch up with all the outstanding house stuff!  I'm almost up to date.  And, as it's Kathryn's summer holiday, we've been out to the cinema a few times too.

However, today I finally got to make some cards.  I attended Karin's monthly Stampin' Up! Card Class.  Here are the cards I made today.  The first one is a birthday card - perfect for a guy.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Chalk Talk, Make A Wish
Inks: SU - Smokey Slate, Summer Starfruit
Dies: SU - Chalk Talk Framelits
Accessories:  SU DP - Soho Subway, Gumball Green; SU Card - Basic Grey, Smokey Slate, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White; SU - Twine

The inside of the card  - I do like this stamp!

The next card we CASEd was originally a birthday card, but I switched up the sentiment and made it a "Thinking of You" card - could be used for a sympathy or just for when needed.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Wetlands
Inks: SU - Early Espresso

Accessories:  SU DP - Etcetera; SU Card - Early Espresso, Old Olive, Very Vanilla; SU EF - Woodgrain; SU Markers - Early Espresso, Old Olive, Crushed Curry

Next we made a thank you card - a very feminine card.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Flower Shop, Four You
Inks: SU - Sahara Sand, Wisteria Wonder, Soft Sky

Accessories:  SU Card - Sahara Sand, Wisteria Wonder, Soft Sky; SUEF - Woodgrain; SU Punches - 2½" Circle, Pansy; SU Markers - Wisteria Wonder, Soft Sky; SU Pearls

Our last card was such fun to make - an easel card.  I don't often make easel cards - don't know why, as they really are very easy to do.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Flower Shop, Label Love, Sweet Essentials
Inks: SU - Smokey Slate, Crushed Curry, Coastal Cabana

Accessories:  SU DP - In Colour 2013-15; SU Card - Smokey Slate, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White; SU Punches - Pansy, Artisan Label; SU EF - Chevrons; SU - Pearls

All these cards have been CASEd.  I will get back to my regular challenges from tomorrow - I'm getting withdrawal pangs!!!  I've started to visit friends blogs - I've discovered a few new challenges and I'm trying to catch up on commenting. 

That's all for now - see you tomorrow!