Punch Potpourri sitting on a Bright Blossom

Phew with few challenges in mind I've made this card.  

Wings - Less is More One Layer this week

Night -  CASology

Off the edge - CASual Fridays

I did have one eye on the CASe this sketch challenge but think I should have had two! As I've strayed a little too far from the sketch.  But hey ho 3 challenges is pretty good for me.  I'm hoping I've still retained the essence of each of them.

It all centred on this little bird actually, which is from Stampin' Up!'s retired set Punch Potpourri.  There is an equally fabulous set in the new catalogue called Language of Friendship which pairs up with the Bird punch and Boho Blossoms.  No punches on this card because it's a one layer to fit with Less is More.  

I sliced off one edge and cut round his tail to fit with Casual Fridays off the edge.  Then created a mask for the moon and one to cover my bird.  I sponged Perfect Plum and Elegant Eggplant for my night sky.  Also sponging a little onto the moon for dimension and spritzed with my Elegant Eggplant Stampin' Write Marker over the top to create my night sky for Casolgy. 

So now my bird was floating in the night sky and I thought of Chrissie from Less is More.  She would not be happy to see him just floating so how could I create a branch for him to sit on?  I realised that I don't have any branches without using a punch.  However I spotted Bright Blossoms and with my stamp a ma jig and a marker I managed to create this branch with some lovely berries on it.  I added Crystal Effects to the berries to make them all nice and shiny and gave my bird a twinkly eye with a Basic Rhinestone. 

So thank you to all these wonderful challenges, I really like my resulting card. 

Hope you are having fun to.  Take care. x

Supplies Used

All Stampin' Up!

Card - Whisper White

Ink - Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant

Stamp - Punch Potpourri, Bright Blossoms, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Other - Sponge Daubers, Basic Rhinestone, Crystal Effects

If you would like to order any of the above or the other supplies from the current catalogues then please get in touch either by e mail ails300@btinternet.com or call 07827923123.  I would be delighted to help you with your crafty projects.  A parcel of lovely goodies could be winging it's way direct to your home in the UK, Deutchsland, France, Nederland or Osterreich.  

Fancy becoming a demonstrator and receiving your goodies at a discount, get in touch for more info and you could also receive a free pack of papers every month for 6 months! 

Gold, Silver and ..... Dimensionals!!

This weeks challenge at less is more is metallic.  Mmmm so I really only have gold or silver embossing powder which would fit the bill.

My first card above was using some spares that I'd embossed a while ago in gold just to see what they would look like.  The tree from Season of Joy and the bird from Punch Potpourri.  I added some leaves, also spares, from the 2 step Bird Punch and popped my gold bird onto Dimensionals.  I embossed my sentiment from Occasional Greetings in gold.  (This set is currently reduced from £30.95 down to an amazing £18.57!  If you haven't already done so you can check out the retiral list on my side bar)

So, showed my hubby this morning and he was "it's OK but not wow".  "Metallic should be something with metal", he said.  Mmmm back to the drawing board, of course the Motorbike stamp sprang to mind but firstly out of rebellion I embossed in gold something definitely not metal.  The leaves form Lovely as a Tree.  And here is the card -

I liked all the intricate designs on this stamp and it embossed really well.  Of course gold fits into Autumnal which we are experiencing up here.  I cut round the leaves and before popping onto Dimensionals, I stamped the same leaf pattern in Versamark straight onto the card blank.  I then stamped my sentiment from Occasional Quotes in Old Olive.  Here's a close up of the leaves -

My last card is the Motorbike, all shiny metal!  I've stamped this before with silver embossing powder and it is wow.  This time I decided to highlight the different metal parts of the bike so stamped and embossed it twice.  Then cut up the parts I wanted.  I coloured a little red onto it using my Real Red Stampin' Write Marker and added Crystal Effects to give some shine.  They were mounted onto Basic Black and each panel popped up on some dimensionals.  On this photo I tried to show the shine -

The sentiment from Occasional Quotes was stamped in Basic Black. 

Hubby approved of this one but why wasn't each part in a line to make up the bike?  Sigh!  Do tell what you think.  I'd be really interested in your opinion.

Thanks for looking through this post, if you would like any of these supplies or anything from the sales list give me a shout on ails300@btinternet.com.  I'd be happy to help.  I still have 4 places left for my Stampers 6 starting in October when the new catalogue becomes available. There's loads of lovely new goodies in it! x

Supply List
All Stampin' Up! supplies unless otherwise stated

Card - Real Red, Old Olive, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink - Basic Black, Old Olive, Versamark
Stamps - Season of Joy, Punch Potpourri, Occasional Greetings, Occasional Quotes, Lovely as a Tree, Motorcycle
Punch - 2 step Bird
Other - Dimensionals, Crystal Effects, Real Red Stampin' Write Marker

Punch Potpourri Best Wishes

A simple post tonight.  This card uses the Punch Potpourri stamp set which is available as a hostess set only.  Each of the stamps has a matching punch.  Super easy! 

On this card I've used basic black as the card blank.  A swatch of real red with a strip of whisper white for the background.  I stamped the heart in real red on whisper white and punched it out.  This was then attached over the white strip.  The bird is actually stamped in versamark then heat embossed with black embossing powder and punched out.  I popped up the bird with a dimensional.  The sentiment is Best Wishes from Silhouette Sentiments and was also stamped with versamark and then black embossed.  

I'd like to enter this as my second card for less is more. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to comment.  I love this challenge blog, everyone is so friendly and there's loads of inspiration.  See you next time. x 

Four Frames - Card No. 3

Happy Easter everyone.   I hope you have had a lovely day today.  We have had some gorgeous weather recently.  I could get used to this!

My card today is No.3 in the Four Frames series.  I love the way this card came together.  It was a complete surprise.  Not even the frame I'd originally intended to use!

The flower panels are made with the blossoms stamp from Punch Potpourri.  I inked the stamp with old olive.  Then using my Blender Pen I picked up ink from my elegant eggplant stamp pad (after squoshing the ink pad to create a pool of ink on the lid) and highlighted some areas of the stamp.  This was stamped onto whisper white and mounted onto elegant eggplant.  The birdie label was also stamped with elegant eggplant and punched out with the Decorative Label punch then a couple of dimensionals to pop it up.

Thanks for looking and hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. x

A touch of elegant red

Last card for Less is More I promise.  

My idea for this card started with the bird from Punch Potpourri, a hostess set.  I wanted the pattern on the bird to be my touch of red so I stamped using whisper white craft ink on real red card stock, then clear embossed it.  I punched it out using the 2 step bird extra large punch.  Then just to make things more difficult for myself decided it didn't look white enough.  The white on the red looked a little pink!  So using my stamp-a-ma-jig I lined up my stamp, securing my bird on a post it, and stamped again in whisper white then another layer of clear embossing.  Whew tricky bit over!   

Next was layering up.  I matted whisper white onto a real red card base.  I cut a smaller rectangle and matted it again but this time I embossed an edge around the whisper white using my bone folder.  I used the decorative label punch from the mini catalogue to punch out a label in whisper white.  I used dimensionals to pop this up and finally added my bird using dimensionals again.  I've swithered about a sentiment but really like the clean front of the card so I think for this one it will be in the middle.

Below is a photo to hopefully show the embossing on the bird.

Thanks for looking and thank you to all the comments I have received recently.  A warm welcome also to my new followers.  I'm off now to try and catch up with the other entries to this fantastic blog. x 

Less is More: 3 squares challenge

Several false starts later and this is the card I'm entering into this weeks challenge at Less is More.  The challenge is to follow a recipe and this week it is to use 3 squares.  Not as easy as it sounds.   

I used the heart from the Hostess Set Punch Potpourri and sponged the edges with pear pizzazz and blushing bride.  I tried out the rock and roll technique when stamping the hearts using the same colours of ink.  The squares are mounted onto blushing bride card stock and a pearl added to each heart.  The "for you" is from Occasional Greetings. 

Thanks for looking. x

Materials Used

All stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated

Card Stock - Very Vanilla, Blushing Bride, Whisper White

Stamps - Punch Potpourri, Occasional Greetings

Ink - Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz 

Embellishments - Basic Pearls 

Spring has sprung at Less Is More

Another Saturday, another challenge from Less is More.  This weeks challenge has the theme of Spring but still in a Clean and Simple style.  

I'm really enjoying the challenges and having a look round blogland at everyone's entries.  There is a lot of serious talent out there and I can only hope to learn and continually improve.  It definitely makes me want to stretch myself. 

And this week was a definite stretch as I don't own any traditional stamps that would say Spring to you.  So after a rummage I came up with one of the stamps out of the Punch Potpourri Hostess Set because they reminded me of new buds.  I then decided to stamp them in bashful blue and night of navy to represent bluebells.  Tenuous maybe but that was my thought process. 

 

I stamped the bashful blue on the whisper white, then stamped with night of navy on bashful blue before using the boho blossoms punch to punch them out.  A little pearl in the centre finishes them off.  The "Just for you" is from the hostess set Afterthoughts but with "so you don't have to share" masked off with a post it. 

I made the above card this morning whilst it rained and then snowed outside.  Although some of the bulbs I planted last year are valiantly trying to come through, it couldn't have looked less spring like.  So it came to me that perhaps the next card more represents Spring here.  I thought it would be funny to use snowflakes and then I saw the little tortoise and it fell into place from there.  

I tried out the tutorial of printing straight onto the card.  I haven't managed quite an elaborate text style as was shown.  I think I need to add some more fonts to my computer.  Also I wasn't brave enough to just go for it so to speak so did a practice run on printer paper then cut to the same size and stamped it all out first.  I'm glad I did because I did a little tweaking before using my whisper white card stock.  The inks I've used are night of navy, bashful blue, and crumb cake.  I added a tiny amount of dazzling diamonds glitter on the butterfly's wings.  The stamps are from Serene Snowflakes, Fox and Friends, and So happy for you provided the little butterfly. 

Thanks for having a look and thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to post comments.  I'm off to see what everyone else has posted. x

A very special Valentine's card

This Valentine's card looks more complicated than it is, as my card class found out.  It's really very easy.

Oh dear I think I could open a Valentines Card shop with all the cards I've made!  Never mind it was fun making it.

The cherry cobbler card base is folded in a Z fold and the front panel can be tucked behind the butterfly or left open.

The inside sentiment reads "love is like a butterfly it goes where it pleases and pleases where it goes".  I stamped the heart from the Hostess Level 1 set, Punch Potpourri and sponged the edges with riding hood red ink.  It was then matted onto riding hood red card stock and mounted again onto basic black.  I used the scallop trim border punch along the bottom.  Love Letter designer paper was used to put two panels on the card - one under the front panel and one on the inside of the card.  The butterflies are from the Butterfly Print stamp set and punched out using the butterfly punch.

Materials used
All supplies are stampin' up! unless otherwise stated

Card Stock - Cherry Cobbler, Red Riding Hood, Basic Black, Very Vanilla
Ink - Basic Black, Riding Hood Red
Stamp Sets - Butterfly Prints, Punch Potpourri
Paper - Love Letter Designer Paper
Punches - Butterfly, Scallop Trim Border

Stamping up your art!

I have been itching to have a go at making a picture using stamps since I joined with Stampin' Up!  Luckily a friends birthday gave me the perfect excuse.   She was absolutely delighted when I gave her it.

I bought the frame from a discount store.  The images were stamped using the hostess level 1 gift set Punch Potpourri.  Don't you just love stamps that have a matching punch?  It makes it all so easy.  The colours I used were Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy.  I finished off the accents with some self adhesive pearls which I had in my stash.

Looking at the colour of my wall in the background I think I'll have to make one of these for myself!

Would you like to earn this stamp set for free?  Would you like to learn how to make one of the panels?  Then contact me to host a workshop on  ails300@btinternet.com and remember during Sale-A-Bration you can earn even more stamp sets for free.

Feel free to leave a comment if you like my Stamp Art!