Punch Art birthday card

A few days ago Dawn Olchefske published a video tutorial on 'viewmaster cards' and it looked quite simple and fun so thought I'd try it out.  Of course I soon realised I didn't have any number stamps for my age wheel so had to die cut some and glue them through the whole - not so much fun!

The night before I had made a little creature - I think he's a teddy bear - so slowly it all came together, though the teddy evolved from an Old Olive one (which explains the Old Olive 1/2" circle under the brad!) so then I had to add a strip of the same colour at the bottom just to balance things out.... and yes, I'm rambling on again!

My biggest fan is my 4 year old and he DEFINITELY approves of this one, I can assure you it has been  thoroughly child-tested and nothing has fallen off so far - that's a relief!

What I used:

Card:  Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, White, Pool Party

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip Marker

Stamp Sets:  Bold Birthday (retired)

Tools and other fun stuff: 1" circle punch, Ornament punch, Word Window punch, 1/2" circle punch, 1/4" circle punch

Bright Birdie Birthday

I came across a very bright colour combo in Colour Q last evening, and I thought that punches would be the way to go this time.  The only substitution I made was I used Old Olive instead of Green Galore which is a retired colour I don't have - but I think Old Olive worked very nicely as a substitute.

I have been very restrained with glitter lately, so today I got it out and sprinkled the centers of the flowers with it, not sure if it will show up in the photos though.

What I used:

Card:  Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, White, Old Olive.

Ink:  Rich Razzleberry

Stamp Sets: Sincere Salutations

Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note Die, Bird punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Stamp-a-majig, glitter.

Why don't you pop over to Colour Q to see what other interpretations of these colours people have come up with!

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

CAS Birthday card

Lovely sunny day here today so felt inspired to go looking for a challenge and found one at the Clean and Simple blog - hope you like it - pretty and feminine was the outcome today!

What I used:

Card:  Regal Rose, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight

Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip

Stamp Sets:  Petal Pizazz, Sincere Salutations

Tools and other fun stuff:  Stamp-a-Majig, Stampin' dimensionals, Scallop Border punch. Buttons #5 Sizzlits die

And there was one more after all!

This is definitely the last card of the challenge, even though I still have the negative shapes from the Old Olive and Cajun Craze I think I'll call it quits for now!

As I used up my last flower shapes in the previous card I resorted to using one of the negative shapes as a stencil to prepare a background for today's card.  I chose the small daisy shape and the circle and sponged them onto Very Vanilla using Regal Rose, Daffodil Delight and Certainly Celery.  I ran the finished design through the Square Lattice embossing folder, matted it with Certainly Celery and then agonized over a card base colour.  In the end I went with Very Vanilla.

For a focal point I used the new Cupcakes stamp set and punch, with a Cherry Cobbler cherry, mat and greeting.

(Click on photo to enlarge)

What I used:

Card:  Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Certainly Celery

Ink:  Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight

Stamp Sets:  Create a Cupcake (NEW, available in the Autumn/Winter mini catalogue)

Tools and other fun stuff:  Build a Cupcake punch, 1 3/4" Circle punch, Word Window punch, Square Lattice embossing folder, Blossom Party 'stencil', Stampin' Sponges, Stampin' Dimensionals, non SU glitter glue and scalloped circle die.

Happy Birthday Keryn

Yesterday was Keryn's birthday and as I know she has already received this in the post I can show it to all of you now!

I received the latest Impressions magazine a few days ago and wanted to try out a new technique they showcased on the cover regarding mixing embossing powders to create a dappled effect.  They used black and white but I chose to mix gold and black (you guessed it, I don't have white!) to try and recreate the effect.  You may not be able to see the results too well in the photos but it did work and looks very nice.  As I was using black and gold I decided to go for a vintage/shabby chic look so used Rose Red, Crumb Cake and a hint of black to finish off the card.

(Click on cards for larger view)

What I used:

Card:  Very Vanilla, Black, Rose Red, Crumb Cake

Ink:  Crumb Cake, Versamark Watermark.

Stamp Sets:  Fresh Cuts, Sincere Salutations

Tools and other fun stuff:  Floral Fusion Sizzlets die, Basic Pearls, Stampin' Dimensionals, gold embossing powder, black embossing powder, embossing buddy, heat gun, Scalloped Border punch, Scalloped Oval punch, Wide Oval punch.

More from the challenge...CAS this time

You can tell this was the last card, can't you?!  All I had left by this stage were two flowers and was craving for something relatively 'clean and simple' - hope you like it!

I embossed the last Night of Navy flower with the Square Lattice embossing folder, added the cork flower and a rhinestone as a centre.  I did a 'partial embossing' on the Very Vanilla with the Framed Tulips folder (not sure of the proper name for that technique!) so I ended up with a smaller embossed square than I used for card number two,

I added a snipped of Old Olive Ribbon, sponged the edges with Night of Navy and used my Stamp-a-majig for perfect positioning of the greeting - and voilà!

{PS - did you notice the window in the background has finally been cleaned??  Which also explains the scaffolding outside that window - Carlos was doing some work which involved cutting quite a few branches off the neighbours' trees (shhhh... don't tell the neighbours!) and then cleaning the gutters in readiness for the winter - and it was too good an opportunity to pass up so he also cleaned that window - now I won't have to jump up and down with a wet broom trying to clean it this season and that's got to be a good thing LOL!}

What I used:

Card:  Night of Navy, Very Vanilla

Ink:  Night of Navy

Stamp Sets:  Sincere Salutations

Tools and other fun stuff:  Big Shot, Blossom Party Originals Die, Square Lattice embossing folder, Framed Tulips embossing folder, 1/8" Old Olive tafetta ribbon, sheet of cork, Stampin' dimensionals, rhinestone, Stampin' sponges, Stamp-a-majig.

Birthday Bakery - Happy Waitangi Day to all!

This is the last of the cards I made at Keryn's last Sunday and it uses yet another Level 1 Hostess set called Birthday Bakery.  Very bright and summery, just the thing to accompany some homemade goodies for someone special!  It is a lovely stamp set, full of cakes and 'sweet' sentiments, it can be yours when you host a qualifying workshop!

What I used:

Card:  Daffodil Delight, Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, Pretty in Pink

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink and Daffodil Delight Stampin' Write Markers.

Stamp Set::  Birthday Bakery

Tools and other fun stuff:  1 1/4' Square punch, Stampin' sponges.