'Upcycling' works for cards too!

I went to a craft fair at the weekend and it was all about 'upcycling' - taking something old and with a little crafting making it into something new and useful.  So: old woollen blankets become trendy cushion covers, teeshirts become baby leggings, broken crockery becomes brooches, vintage buttons become jewellery, the list goes on and on - it was great seeing so many different ideas under the one roof.

Anyway, remember my post from yesterday?  I told you my sour cream container contained a chocolate bar - so I got hungry!  Rather than simply removing the bar and disposing of the container I decided to have a go at 'upcycling' myself and this is the result!  The DSP was of course double sided, so now I'm featuring the other side of it, a lovely Regal Rose print, which I ran through with the Top Note die to give me a background for the tag and a couple of leaves.

What I used:

Card:  Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Rose Red, Old Olive, Sew Suite DSP, Kiwi Kiss (retired)

Ink:  Regal Rose, Old Olive

Stamp Set:  You're a Gem

Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note die, Little Leaves Embosslits die, Fancy Flower Extra Large punch, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Square Lattice embossing folder, button (sneak peak for July Special).

"Sew Suite" Sour Cream Container

We had our monthly meeting last week and I finally had a chance to try my hand at making the 'sour cream' containers that you often see online.  It was a lot of fun and there is actually a chocolate inside it believe it or not (thanks Suzy!).

It uses a 6" x 6" piece of Sew Suite DSP, only available until the 30 of June.  It has a gorgeous wee tag made with the Extra Large Tag flower punch, and a couple of round punches.  The ribbon and button is a sneak peak of what's coming in July and the greeting is from the a stamp set also available until the 30th June.

Lots of fun to make, but not easy to photograph - sorry about that!

What I used:

Card:  Rose Red, Old Olive, Whisper White, Sew Suite DSP

Ink:  Old Olive

Stamp Sets:  You're a Gem

Tools and other fun stuff:  Fancy Flower Extra Large punch, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, crimper, sticky tape, linen thread, ribbon and button is a sneak peak of products coming in July!

Birthday greetings for a friend

I'm off to a morning tea into town today to celebrate a friend's birthday - I have a strange feeling she is quite minimalist - but is definitely into buttons (makes lovely button jewellery for sale - so I tried to make a card with buttons and it just did NOT work!  So after a couple of days looking at it and not at all happy, I carefully removed the buttons and replaced them with some Boho Blossoms instead and am so much happier with the result now.  I really wanted to add buttons to her card as I feel it would have been quite appropriate, but maybe will re-think that project and leave it until Christmas time hehehe...

So, I tried to make it as CAS as possible, no ribbons or bows this time.

The end result after swapping buttons for flowers

(The card as it was with the buttons.....)

What I used:

Card:  Red, Kiwi Kiss (retired), Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight.

Ink:  Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron

Stamp Sets:  Sweet Summer (retired), Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note die, Boho Blossoms punch, Scallop Border punch, Stampin' sponges, Stampin' Dimensionals, Stamp-a-Majig

Mid Winter special - one week only!

I thought I'd celebrate the fact that we are coming to the end of the 'shortest' day with a little special for all of you! (NZ only, sorry)

What I'm offering between today and next Tuesday 28th June is 15% off your purchases (excluding cost of freight) - just a little something to help you get through those cold months ahead.

Remember too that the Autumn/Winter Mini comes to an end on the 30th of this month so if there was something you were wanting to purchase from it now would be the best time to do so.

Some examples of what 15% off would mean for you:

Ornament Punch Extra Large, catalogue price $41.50, my special price to you: $35.28

Delightful Decorations Stamp Set (Wood Mount) catalogue price $46.95, my special price to you $39.91

Pack of A4 cardstock (25 smooth sheets) catalogue price $17.50, my special price to you $14.88

Classic Stampin' Pad catalogue price $14.25, my special price to you $12.11

Even the Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, catalogue price $220.50, my special price to you $187.42

These are just some examples to give you an idea - the 15% off applies to any catalogue item, excluding the starter kit and hostess sets.

Email me at frances.poff@hotmail.com with your order - I'd love to hear from you!

Too early for Christmas cards??

I know Christmas is a few months away but came across this little snowman amongst a collection of stamped images and thought I'd give him a proper home!  Isn't he cute?  The basic layout and colour combination idea came from a card I saw ages ago on Splitcoast Stampers,

What I used:

Card:  Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Whisper White

Ink:  Garden Green, Riding Hood Red, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Baja Breeze

Stamp sets:  Loads of Love, Punch Pals

Tools and other fun stuff:  Scalloped Oval punch, 1/4" Real Red grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals.

The Top Note Die is here!

One of the very first Stampin' Up! cards I made was using the Top Note die - I've always loved it's 'curviness' such a soft shape that can easily be left 'clean and simple' or dressed quite a lot.  Anyway, it arrived on Friday and here is the first card I've made with it!  You may recognize the embossed Nature Walk - it was one of the images I stamped when I made my Aunt's Golden Wedding card.

What I used:
Card:  Very Vanilla, Pacific Point
Ink:  Soft Suede, Versamark Watermark pad.
Stamp Sets:  Nature Walk, Sincere Salutations
Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note die (obviously!), 5/8" Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon, Stamp-a-Majig, gold embossing powder, heat tool.

Ruffled Ribbon

Sorry it's been a bit quiet on my blog lately, I have been busy making curtains which has kept me out of mischief for a good while, and the're still not finished...!

I was looking through my stamp sets and came across this SAB one, I know it's retired but it's just so pretty I had to pull it out.

I wanted to practice a technique we learnt at our last team meeting, which was the scrunched ribbon treatment.  I had seen it many times on other blogs but had never quite got around to trying to figure out how to do it myself, so thanks Kelly for showing us!

What I used:

Card:  Regal Rose, White, Crumb Cake

Ink:  Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Soft Suede, Regal Rose

Stamp Sets:  Sweet Summer, Whimsical Words (both retired).

Tools and other fun stuff:  Scalloped Oval punch, Wide Oval punch, 5/8" grosgrain Certainly Celery ribbon, watercolour pencils, double sided tape, dimensionals.