Using Pastel colours - a blast from the past

Over at 365 Cards the challenge today is to create using pastels only - my first reaction was "hmmmmm, I'll bypass this one I think!"

Then of course I remembered the easiest way to get over a tricky situation - in cardmaking at least - is to use punch art, so went to my little bag of pre-punched shapes.  [I'm that kind of crafter who only throws out the tiniest card scraps, everything else gets punched out starting with the larger punches, ending up with a 1/4" circle punch LOL!  After that, it goes in the bin....

The card I have here today is tiny, 2"x3", and the punches were 3/4" circle, 1/2" circle and 1/4" circle.  The strip at the bottom was a leftover from punching yesterday's piece for the tag - how thrifty is that!?

Colours used are:  Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Certainly Celrey, Pear Pizzaz, Crumb Cake, Pool Party.

Nature Walk Tag

I made this with Keryn's Friday challenge in mind : Ducks!

I know it's pushing the boundaries a bit, but seeing as I don't own any duck images I thought I'd use this delightful bird instead.

And I finally figured out how to make the banner bow out in the centre - use a Dimensional under the middle part and glue down the two ends!

What I used:

Card:  Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Ink:  Soft Suede

Stamp Sets:  Nature Walk, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Tools and other fun stuff:  Vintage Wallpaper EF, Scallop Border punch, Stampin' sponges, Stampin' Dimensionals, Vanilla Taffeta ribbon, Bakers' Twine, Basic pearls.

Razzleberry Melon Contempo Christmas

I got a chance to use my new Contempo wheel the other day when I designed this card for a shoebox swap last week at Keryn's Krew monthly meeting and I really like how the card turned out.  I based it somewhat on a Clean and Simple Sketch I used some weeks ago for this card, and love the sparkle the silver glitter paper gives to the finished product.

I had been playing around with a few different versions of the ornament when I was designing this card, which I then used for the second easel card - waste not, want not I say!

This is the card for the shoebox swap.

And this is the card made from 'left over' ornaments!

"Poinsettia" Christmas tags - we all need to have some on hand!

I made these little flowers to add to the card I posted yesterday but then changed my mind and added the ribbon and brad instead - so what to do with pretty glittered flowers??

I punched the shapes out of patterned paper, the stamped some "To: From:" sentiments on plain white and punched those out and sandwiched them together to make them a bit firmer.

Then it was all a matter of arranging the flowers and various leaves, adding the gold cord and hey presto, they were finished.

Leaves punched with Bird punch

Leaves hand cut - freeform.

I made the green shape {looks a bit like a heart} from spare wings punched with bird punch.

What I used:

Card: Old Olive, Riding Hood Red

Ink: Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker

Tools and other fun stuff: 1 3/4" circle punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Ornament punch, Decorative Label punch, 1/16" punch, non SU cord and patterned paper, MS gold glitter.

Bird Punch Christmas tree

I went a bit mad with the bling today - I love lots of sparkle on my cards and Christmas is the one time of the year you can go really indulge these 'secret passions' without all the guilt - a bit like Christmas dinner really: the diet goes out the window and you go for it!

It's another card from the Australian Papercraft and Cardmaking mag, a companion to the bird card.

My interpretation of the card [click for a larger view]

Card in magazine

What I used:

Card:  Chocolate Chip, White, Old Olive, Play Date DSP [retired]

Ink:  Chocolate Chip

Stamp Set:  Sincere Salutations

Tools and other fun stuff:  Square Lattice EF, Bird punch, Small Star punch [retired], Lots of Tags Sizzlets die, Spellbinders Label 1 die, rhinestones and glitter paper, Stampin' Dimensionals.

Autumn Days Christmas Card

I've always loved this pinecone image from the Autumn Days stamp set, earlier in the year I used it to make another Christmas card.

What I used:

Card:  Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake, Holly Jolly DSP [retired]

Ink:  Old Olive, Chocolate Chip

Stamp Sets:  Autumn Days, Best yet [retired]

Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note die, Spellbinders die, 1/8" Old Olive ribbon, Square Rhinestone Brad, Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Bird punch Christmas Card

As you may have guessed, I'm in full Christmas card making mode lately.

Last year I bought an Australian Cardmaking mag and it had this lovely trio of cards which I meant to make last year but never quite got around to it, so this year I will.

For 365 Cards challenge "making a list and checking it twice": paper, ribbon, pearls, embossing powder.

[This is my version]

[This is the card from the magazine]

What I used:

Card:  Chocolate Chip, White, Holly Jolly DSP (retired)

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark Watermark ink.

Stamp sets:  Contempo Christmas

Tools and other fun stuff:  1/4" Chocolate Chip grossgrain ribbon (retired), 2-Step Bird punch, black embossing powder, heat tool, Spellbinders Label 1 die, sewing machine.

Contempo Christmas Top Note

Was playing around with some retired Jolly Holly DSP from last year and to start with was going to use some Delightly Decoration ornaments, but in the end decided that this cute Christmas tree was the way to go...

If you look very carefully you'll see I used a snippet [aka left-over] of Old Olive card on the centre join - it was from a previous Top Note shape, thought the curvy shape went quite well!

What I used:

Card:  Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Holly Jolly DSP (retired)

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive

Stamp Sets:  Contempo Christmas, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note Die, Stamp-a-ma-jig, corner rounder punch.

Delightful Decorations

I was having a look over at Splitcoast Stampers yesterday and came across a couple of sketches that I thought would be great with the Delightful Decorations set - I'm always on the lookout for new ideas to use this set.

Afterwards I realised I sort of amalgamated two different sketches SC356 and SCS290 - but here is the result anyway.

I used the red 'sticky tape' to attach the glitter and it is just fabulous - nothing falls off it!  I also run the 2-way pen around the circle of DSP and added some more glitter to that - what I meant to do and forgot was to add some gold cord to 'anchor' the decorations the the Top Note diecut.....

What I used:

Card:  Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla

Ink:  Riding Hood Red, Old Olive

Stamp Set:  Delightful Decorations

Tools and other fun stuff:  Ornament punch, Top Note die, Vintage Wallpaper EF, 3/4" circle punch, sticky tape, MS Gold Glitter, 2 way pen.

Emboss Resist Birthday

I had this idea in my head about how this card would work out but it wasn't quite to be - I don't think the clear embossing was thick enough as I was visualizing quite a contrast between the black and white embossed images, but I still like the end result.

What I used:

Card:  White, Rose Red, Old Olive

Ink: Versamark Watermark ink, Rose Red, Old Olive, Basic Black

Stamp Sets: Easter Blossoms, Sincere Salutations

Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note die, Vintage Wallpaper EF, Clear embossing powder, black embossing powder, 1/4" white grossgrain ribbon, square rhinestone brad, stampin' sponges.