Loads of Love Birthday

Hi there, here is a very simple card I made a couple of days ago - simple because some time ago I'd made the striped, embossed and die cut background when I was experimenting with this technique so all I had to do was glue it down and add the Loads of Love Truck to it and it was almost done.  This little truck is really useful as you can 'load' lots of different things on the back of it to suit almost any occasion.

A much simpler card than I usually make, but we all need a change now and then!

What I used:

Card:  Crumb Cake, scraps of Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, So Saffron and Soft Suede

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler

Stamp Sets:  Loads of Love, Punch Bunch (retired).

Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note die, Square Lattice embossing folder, Scalloped Square punch, Paper Piercer and mat pack.

Rosette tutorial

Oh dear, last year I posted a photo of the Christmas card I made my mum and dad on a Stampin' Up! Facebook page and only today realized there had been quite a few people asking how I'd made the rosette!  So, apologies for the delay in getting back to you, and without further ado here is what you were all asking for!

Start by scalloping a length of Old Olive card and scrunch it up carefully.  I used two lengths to make the rosette.

Colour in your image with Stampin' Write markers (I used the Christmas tree from the "Loads of Love" Stampin' Up! set and Chcolate Chip and Old Olive pens) and punch it out with the 1 3/4" circle punch.

Sew along the non-scalloped edge of your scrunched up card with the largest stitch possible, and gather as you would a piece of fabric.  Now, I must add that it was quite hard to do this, so you may want to skip this step and hand pleat your card for the next step (I was experimenting at the time with gathering card on the sewing machine)

This is what the back of my image looked like after I'd stuck the  card frill around it.  You need to use a very strong adhesive like SU's Sticky Strip to hold the folds in place.

Here is the finished rosette, ready to be placed on your project.

Gather the rest of your supplies:  Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla cardstock, Play Date DSP and Real Red 5/8" grosgrain ribbon.

The greeting is from Contempo Christmas - love that set!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, happy crafting!  Needless to say this technique works for lots of different occasions, not just Christmas.

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.

Driving by to say hi - trying my hand at interactive cards

Well, what a lot of fun this was to make!  Definitely not a 'make and take' option but made for the pure pleasure of it.

I had purchased a cardmaking magazine which advertised interactive cards and after much reading and re-reading the instructions here is the result.  I think I will put a small greeting somewhere down the bottom, but will leave as is for the moment.

What I used:

Card:  Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Soft Suede,Play Date DSP, Haiku DSP (retired)

Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black marker.

Stamp Sets:  Loads of Love, Fox and Friends

Tools and other fun stuff:  Scallop Oval punch, Square Lattice embossing folder, Scallop Border punch, 1/4" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon (retired), stamping sponges and quite a lot of glue!

Loads of Love

Another card for a sketch challenge, it looked quite simple to start with but I tend to have a habit of complicating things sometimes!  So after deciding to use the truck image I thought of building a scene to go with it and after some stamping, masking, stamping again, sponging on 'hills' and clouds, etc here is the result!

I used a sketch from Stamping 411 again, you're most welcome to pop over to their blog if you want to see what other people made with the sketch.

What I used:

Card:  White, Riding Hood Red, Soft Suede

Ink:  Soft Suede, Riding Hood Red, Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point.

Stamp Sets:  Loads of Love, Basic Phrases

Tools and other fun stuff:  Large Oval punch, blender pens, Stampin' sponges, non SU embossing folder.

Gray, blue and purple?

I came accross this colour combination at Color Lab and it's one I would never have thought of using of my own accord.

The challenge was to use Bashful Blue, Perfect Plum and Basic Grey.  Now, I've had three sheets of Perfect Plum since May last year and have never used them as purple just isn't really my colour, so today it finally got to see the light of day!  I actually made two cards with it, the second one I will show you tomorrow.  The other colour I've never had a chance to use before is Basic Grey so am pleased I got a chance to try it today.

I really like the stamp set I used, Loads of Love, I used it to make some Christmas cards last year, and my daughter has taken ownership of a Valentines card I made with this set as well, now it's time to make a masculine card with it.

I also love my new Sizzlits die as I'll never run out of co-ordinating "buttons" thanks to it!

I took a series of photos as I made this card to show you how I did the checkerboard background (please excuse the rather well loved aka 'grotty' green cutting mat, after all I've had it for about 25 years..!) - here they are:

 I cut six each Bashful Blue and Basic Grey 1 1/4" squares.

 I placed them in the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder in the order they would be glued onto the base card, I was hoping to achieve a continuous pattern by doing this.

 Here they are after embossing.

 Glueing them down on the Bashful Blue base card, start with the four corners, them fill in the edges and finally the middle two.

 Here is the finalized checkerboard pattern.

 Cutting my 'button's with the Sizzlits die in Perfect Plum.  The black slivers are offcuts from other projects which I kept expressly to thread through the buttons to simulate thread.

First I coloured the pickup truck using watercolour pencils and the truck ended looking rather pink.  I slept on it and this morning I had another go at it and here is the result of my "adjustments":

 I stamped the truck image on a scrap of Perfect Plum card and with some fussy cutting I ended up with a Perfect Plum truck!  Much better I think.

What I used:

Card:  Bashful Blue, Basic Grey, Perfect Plum, watercolour paper.

Ink:  Basic Black

Stamp Sets:  Loads of Love, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Tools and other fun stuff:  Buttons #5 Sizzlits die, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, corner rounder punch, Stampa-ma-jig, Stampin' Dimensionals, acquabrush.