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.

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.

Just for fun - another Top Note card

If you've seen a few of my previous posts you probably know by now I can't craft without the Top Note die - matter of fact, I keep it alongside the family passports in case there is an emergency and we need to leave in a hurry - just kidding!

But I DO love those curvy sides, its shape is just so pretty, and that's all there is to it really...you can dress it up nice and feminine, you can pare it down for masculine cards,  make it cute for baby cards etc - they all benefit from a little Top Note.

Anyway, as usual I had cut out a patterned top note shape that just was not providing any inspiration, so I flipped it over, added the left-over 'brackets' from yesterday's card, rummaged through some bags of punched shapes and voila, a card emerged.

What I used:

Card:  Tangerine Tango, recycled white card, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, So Saffron, Greenhouse Gala DSP (retired).

Ink:  Versamark Watermark inkpad

Stamps: Heard from the Heart

Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note die, Bird punch, Beautiful Wings Embosslits die, Floral Fusion Sizzlets die, Black embossing powder, heat tool, glitter, Stampin' Dimensionals.

Clean and Simple Owls

Have been playing around with background stencils a bit lately and thought of making one of clouds.... the original idea was to punch a bird and place it on the sky background but then I remembered these cute wee owls from Fox and Friends and here is the result.  Very easy to do, you just have to be good at guessing where your template goes though otherwise you'll end up with a crooked background!

[I'm usually quite pedantic about having birds feet firmly 'on the branch' - obviously these are the hovering kind LOL!)

No greeting yet, will add a suitable greeting when required...or may just leave it plain.

What I used:

Card:  White, Old Olive

Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip

Stamp Sets:  Fox and Friends

Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note, Stamping sponges, Bird punch, Scalloped Circle punch.

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.

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!

Treat box

Had fun making this little treat box last night using the Top Note Die - I had received a similar from Sharlene at Christmas last year and thought I'd use her idea with a different stamp set.  It fits 4 tiny Moro Gold bars just perfectly - yum!

Here my version, love the trailing vine stamp from Vintage Vogue, so delicate and pretty!

Chocolate bars just peeping out!

Here is the original one received from Sharlene.

What I used:

Card:  Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie

Ink:  Soft Suede, Old Olive

Stamp Sets:  Vintage Vogue, Fresh Cuts

Tools and other fun stuff:  Boho Blossoms punch, 1/4' circle punch, 1/8" Old Olive taffeta ribbon, Top Note Die,     Basic Pearl.

'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).

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