Monthly Archives: February 2016

Balloon Celebration for GDP021

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Okay, I know I said that I was going to ban myself from using melon mambo for a while, but the challenge this week at Global Design Project includes it! It’s a really happy combination too. I may have said that same about Balloon Celebration but these colours cry out for balloons! If I were a bit more mobile, I’d probably have started by flipping through the Have a Cuppa DSP stack, but I’d already had my brother bring me countless things and I can’t carry paper whilst using my crutches. The good news is that the ankle sprain is improving and the swelling is reducing so I feel okay sitting at the table and crafting for a couple of hours. The other good thing is that Martin’s photography is better than mine – I’ve been taking the cards face on and his slanted method gives more light on the card without washing it out. I’ll be adopting that. But for now, he’s taking the photos because kneeling down in front of my light box is a bit beyond me currently.

Stampin' Up! Balloon Celebration and Mini Treat bag thinlits dies

Here’s the colour banner for the challenge:

I lined the two bubbles stamps up on a clear block, matching it with the punch – it required a little adjustment after the first go, but it was a quick way to punch out a dozen balloons. I then decided that I needed a few plain ones and punched out another 6. The idea was to have masses of balloons but I had to agree with Martin’s assessment as he passed. It was messy. So instead I made two bunches of balloons, with the  top most one popped up with dimensionals. It was only then that I really started looking for the sentiment. It’s clearly a birthday card but none of the stamps to hand worked for me. Then I noticed a cut out of “enjoy” that I’d cut for another project and that was perfect. Of course I had to cut it out in a couple of colours whilst deciding which I liked best. After bermuda bay won, I kept that colour for the lining of the envelope.

See you tomorrow,
Liz

Paper Pumpkin

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You have until Wednesday to sign up for Paper Pumpkin and get this month’s box. Why would you? Well, it’s a kit in a box, you don’t need anything extra (apart from adhesive on occasion) and you have a professionally prepped kit to work on. The pieces are cut, where necessary, and everything is ready. You get a ink spot (or two) and a stamp set that will obviously last past the Paper Pumpkin kit. There are always extra pieces that you can use on other projects and if you sign up with me, you get to come and put your kit together with my group and get an extra project free. If you’re not local, I’ll send you the product that you need for the extra project. So why wait?

Even better, until the 31st March, you can prepay for 3 months saving almost $5 AND get a free item from the Sale-a-bration catalog. You can’t ask for more than that! By the way, the last three items in the SAB catalog are for a limited time only (until 16th February) when three new items are availab.le. Which to go for? It’s a hard choice. I really love some of the items that are going away, but I am excited by the new ones too. I’ve put my order together ready so that I can get the new items on February 16th. I hope you have too! If not, take a look at the catalogs – the links are on your left.

See you tomorrow,

Liz

Sky is the Limit for 11 more days!

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Here’s a birthday card which I’m really happy with – especially as it targets that hard to make type of card – the masculine one.

Stampin' Up! Sky is the Limit and Endless Birthday Wishes and Going Places DSP and Hello You thinlits dies

I stamped the biplane from the Sky is the limit set on crumb cake in archival black and, presumably because I was at a crop and had loads of time, fussy cut it out. Actually this was the second biplane – the DSP says it’s sahara sand but crumb cake was a warmer tone and looked better with the DSP. So I need to find another use for a snipped out biplane soon. I liked the Going Places DSP very much and this one gives an impression of mountains which fits rather well with the plane. I matted this in black and mounted it on a crumb cake card base. Then I used the Hello You thinlits to cut out a happy sentiment in basic black. Before sticking this down, I stamped the birthday greeting from Endless Birthday Wishes in crumb cake. Just in case there was an issue. But happily it worked out okay, stamped on one of the mountains and then I could position the happy. I used the 2 way glue pen to stick this down – it seems the easiest method. It doesn’t ooze and the angled tip makes it easy to apply to small places. After putting the matted piece onto the crumb cake base, I attached the plane, popped up on stampin’ dimensionals. I’d say that this card was a success judging by the reaction from the nearby ladies. I used the leftover piece from the 6″ by 6″ DSP to line the outside flap of the matching envelope.

And why only for 11 more days? This is a set that you can get for free as part of the Sale-a-bration promotion but this particular set is only available through February 16th. So if you need this one, you need to spend $50 on product and then select this as your free item. If you don’t have the Hello You dies or the Going Places DSP, might I suggest you add them to your basket right away as a start?

See you tomorrow,

Liz

Balloon Celebration for CC&S

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It’s Thursday which means it’s time for another challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches. It’s the beginning of a new month too so the hostess duties change over – this month it’s Stef’s turn to set the challenges. I went to the crop at the weekend armed with the upcoming challenges hoping to get ahead. And here I am typing this on Wednesday night! But at least I got my card done. Actually, I got next week’s too although I used this week’s colours. I was quite amused when I produced my card to realise it fit both challenges. I figured that people would notice if I reused it two weeks in a row, so I started over for the colour challenge.

Stampin' Up! Balloon Celebration and Sky is the limit and Softly Fallling TIEF

Here’s the banner which inspired this card:

This challenge set the stage for a lot of my weekend cardmaking – I’m thinking about banning myself from using pink on my next card! Balloon Celebration got quite a bit of use too. I first stamped the balloons with their bubbles in their matching inks and then punched them out with the matching punch (which this time, I’d remembered to pack, thank goodness). I then came up with an arrangement I liked and then stamped the strings in basic black more or less where I was planning. Then I stamped the sentiment from the Sky is the Limit stamp set because I’ve found (through making an error) that it doesn’t work brilliantly trying to stamp when there are things popped up on the card. The pink pirouette and pumpkin pie balloons are glued to the whisper white card base (which has the fold at the top for a change) and the melon mambo one is popped up with a few dimensionals.

I decided to dry emboss the envelope and used the Softly Falling TIEF which sort of reminds me of balloons with all the bubbles.

I hope that you’ll pop over to the CAS Colours & Sketches site and check out the rest of the inspiration from the Design Team. And then have a go yourself.

See you tomorrow,

Liz

Grateful Bunch without the punch

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As you know, I was at a crop last weekend. Crops are great fun, it’s a dedicated time for paper crafting so other tasks don’t intrude, you get to hang out with like minded people and you get a lot done. One of the hard parts is the packing. There is, shall we say, a fair amount of stuff that you acquire and it’s hard to ensure that you don’t forget something you might need. It’s not just trying to decide which stamp sets will strike your fancy but you need the tools that go with them. Which I forgot this time! I was in the middle of making this card with the Grateful Bunch stamp set when I looked for my matching blossom bunch punch and I finally realised that I’d left it at home on the kitchen table. And of course nobody had thought to bring theirs. So I actually fussy cut these flowers and I will be so extra grateful the next time that I use this punch!

Stampin' Up! Grateful Bunch and Rose Wonder

I used garden green to stamp the stem onto whisper white and then rose red for the sentiment which comes from the Rose Wonder set. Then I stamped some flowers in rose red and wisteria wonder and as you can see, I decided to have just one colour of flowers. In a display of laziness, once I’d decided that I was only using rose red, I turned over a fussy cut wisteria wonder flower and stamped another rose red on the back! I’m so happy that this set is in photopolymer because that would have been hard otherwise – and I’ve had had to cut out another flower. I attached the flowers with glue dots and then decided that they needed a little sparkle and put some clear wink of Stella on them. The envelope is lined with the retired backgrounds DSP from the regals collection cut with the envelope liners thinlits.

See you tomorrow,

Liz