Mellow Yellow

With Summer just around the corner I felt it was time to coax the sun out of its hiding place behind the clouds with a splash of yellow. The folks down at Crafty Boots Challenges are clearly on my wavelength as they've made it their challenge to use yellow this week too! I chose to team the yellow with Kraft and white, as inspired by the OCC Colour Trifecta challenge. I think it gives a really fresh look.

I also added some faux stitching with a white gel pen, as inspired by Crafty Ann's Challenge #64. To make it look more realistic I added a black dot at the beginning and end of each 'stitch'.

The flower is made by stamping one of the petals from the Stampin' Up! Pick-a-Petal set in Daffodil Delight onto white card and mounting them on dimensionals. I've added a black centre made from a simple circle punch. The background is the retired SU Friendly background stamp, stamped in Daffodil Delight again. All of the Kraft sections are SU Crumb Cake, raised using dimensionals to create depth. I've added a couple of strips of SU patterned paper to tie in with the spotty flower. The sentiment is from Afterthoughts, with more of the friendly background, cut out using the Decorative Label Punch.

I usually tend to forget about decorating the inside of my cards, so I've been making an effort lately to make the insides as pretty as the outside. I've repeated the petal stamp and added a sentiment from the Cheer and Wishes retired set. A pretty flower from Baroque Motifs adds a lovely touch...as well as covering up a mark I accidentally made while stamping the sentiment ;) I decorated the envelope in the same way for a lovely finishing touch.

Catch up on cards

I realised that there are a few cards I've made recently and not posted on my blog so I'm catching up and putting that right.

First up is a card I made for my Sister-in-law's birthday. One of my fave colour combos is Melon Mambo and Black as it just POPS!

I have a stamp set from the US called Up Up and Away, which features hot air balloons. However, I really wanted to see if those balloons could be used as petals on a flower and yes they can! I stamped each one and added ink to the edges and lines to the middle to add depth. I cut them out then curled them slightly with my bone folder. I stamped the large flourish from Baroque Motifs and assembled the flower at the top using Stampin' Dimensionals and Tombow glue, adding a black faux brad as a centre.

For my Father-in-law's card I chose a masculine combination of River Rock and Night of Navy, with accents in Basic Gray, River Rock, Soft Suede and Night of Navy. The accents are stamped using the Circle Circus set and punched out with a circle punch.



Finally, I was challenged to make a card featuring snowflakes and lots of sparkle. I followed a tutorial from the latest Impressions magazine (exclusive to Stampin' Up! Demonstrators) that showed how to make a snowflake using the Lace Ribbon Border Punch. For the base of the card I embossed some Whisper White card with a snowflake background and then highlighted some of the snowflakes by adding glue and a mixture of Tempting Turquoise embossing powder and glitter. The main card is Pool Party cardstock and I've added a pretty bow from matching Ruffled Ribbon.

It's A Date! - Class Update

Last Thursday was the last Papercraft Session of 2011 and I decided to push the boat out with regard to the choice of stamp sets available to use. We were making mini desk calendars and I brought in a total of 20, count 'em, stamp sets for everyone to play with, together with inkpads and markers in every single colour in the Stampin' Up! range!! I think some of my ladies were a bit overwhelmed by the choice, oops!

Although the desk calendars didn't look anything special when we started, by the end of the evening everyone had produced 12 individual pieces of art to see them through 2012 in style. I'm so proud of everyone for the designs they came up with; I was blown away by some of them. Typically, I forgot to get pictures so I'm afraid you'll just have to manage with my offering -sorry! Here's what all 12 months looked like together...

...and the following are my personal favourites...

 

The Papercraft Sessions will be back on Thursday 19th January and I'll be posting details of the 2012 sessions next month.

Although the Sessions are taking a break, I will still be crafting away and posting my efforts as always so please keep popping back!

'Cracking Up' Class Update

I loved this Papercraft Session as everyone was able to make the projects right from start to finish due to it being a smaller group than usual.  I'd deliberately brought a selection of stamps and colours for everyone to choose from and it was great seeing everyone's take on the design.

For the main image there was a choice between Young Vermillion (as used on my card shown) and the Pear image from Faith in Nature.

The background was stamped using the small flower from the Baroque Motifs set in Chocolate Chip ink. All the flowers are the same ink but I've given them a different look by stamping the images several times before re-inking, resulting in a lighter shade each time. I used Baja Breeze cardstock for the base and Chocolate Chip card punched with the Lace Ribbon Border Punch. See that ribbon? I love the pretty scalloped edge and those funky dots. The best thing is it's available in 10 different colours!

The mosaic itself was made by firstly stamping the image and watercolouring it using an AquaPainter brush. Once dried, the image is then overstamped with Versamark using an acrylic block covered with offcuts of foam mounted rubber. Clear embossing powder is added and heated with a heat gun. Finally, a dark ink is applied all over using a sponge dauber and then wiped off with a paper towel. The ink is left in the spaces between each embossed section, giving the mosaic effect.

Here you can see what my lovely ladies made with the materials. I love how the Whisper White looks on both the Cherry Cobbler and Island Indigo cardstock.

Jot Jot Jot class update

It was a tense week at The Papercraft Sessions. One of my ladies was just 2 days away from her due date and we were all a little worried that she might give birth at any minute! Fortunately, she didn't, but I'm thrilled to say that she had a lovely little baby girl last night and both Mum and baby are doing well.

This week the main project was a cute double jotter pad with matching pencil and holder. I showed my age by saying it was ideal to keep by the phone... but was told that most folk have cordless phones now and so they were never in one place for long! Not restricted to phone messages though; these notepads would be great in your handbag or even for your grocery shopping lists.

Once again, everyone turned out smashing work and I just love that moment at the end when everyone's projects are put together for a photo.

The main feature of the co-ordinating greetings cards was the gorgeous flourish from the 'Baroque Motifs' set. The small telephone stamp used on the jotter cover is from a US Stampin' Up! set. The colours we used this week are, from l-r, Garden Green with Certainly Celery, Real Red with Regal Rose (2 in this colourway), Elegant Eggplant with Perfect Plum (2 in this colourway). If you're wondering why one of the last two jotters is lighter than the other, it's because one lady fell in love with the pattern on the other side of the double-sided patterned paper! I can't blame her, it's printed with the text from Shakespeare's Sonnet 83 - beautiful words.

Peterborough Training July 2011

I was lucky enough to be able to go to the quarterly training event held by Monica Gale and Bekka Prideaux this month.

I'd been asked to make up to 40 'swap cards' on a Christmas theme, using stamps from the current Ideas Book & Catalogue. After the initial shock of making 40 swaps wore off I got my thinking cap on and got to work. I really wanted to do something that I hadn't seen done before, and I only had one set of stamps that were specifically Christmas stamps. In the end I decided I should stick to a simple design, for ease of replication, but have the 'wow factor' by using a stamp in an original way. Then it came to me... mistletoe stamped using part of the tree stamp from the 'Hopeful Thoughts' set!

The beauty of Stampin' Write markers is that you can use them to ink up as little or as much of a stamp as you like, making partial stamping a breeze. I used my Old Olive marker and stamped onto Crumb Cake card. It looked a little bare as it was so I added white berries using the Signo Gel Pen (which is amazing on dark colours too). Voila! Instant Mistletoe...


I used Versamark to stamp the flourish from Baroque Motifs onto Concord Crush CS and then punched out a frame for my sentiment using the Decorative Label punch.The sentiment is from Contempo Christmas and I've used the markers again to colour 'Merry' in Real Red with the rest in Old Olive.

Just take a look at all the gorgeous swap cards I received in return....

They were all fab but I'd like to give a special mention to the following:-

Cutest = Carole Claxton's cheeky snowman and Sandra's (C&S Cards) super sweet candy cane mouse.

Most original = Elaine's (Sassy Stampers) wine glass charms and Jo Press' punch art choir boy.

Designs with hidden gems = Ann Willis' treat holder with xmas owl inside. I love the button fastening that is actually made of card and stamped. Last but not least, Ali Wilkins' gift card holder.

Here's a look at the inside of those last two...

Just a Note class update

Here's a much belated look at what my creative bunch of ladies came up with during the 'Just a Note' session...

I love how, given the same materials and example cards to work with, everyone came up with their own designs, ranging right from chic and minimalistic through to elaborate layers! It was great for me to see everyone crafting away with such enthusiasm.

Just A Note

Our next Papercraft Session takes place on Thursday 30th June and the theme is Just A Note.

We'll be using a technique called 'One Sheet Wonder' to make a set of co-ordinating notecards. We'll then create a pretty box to put them in, so that they can be given as a gift, or you can just keep them to use yourself!

Because the technique is so versatile, it can be used with so many of Stampin' Up's rubber stamp sets. I'll be demonstrating with the Tart & Tangy set but you can choose from the following sets to use on the night:-

Baroque Motifs

Circle Circus

Tart & Tangy

I hope to have some pics for you after the weekend.

Don't forget, you don't need to attend the classes in order to buy any Stampin' Up! products. You can order direct through me at any time by sending me an e-mail or calling me on 0757 848 6669 and goods will be sent direct to you for £4.95 (P&P flat rate). If you only need one or two items and would like to save on postage, please ask me as I may be able to add your items to my class order and then send them onto you at cost.