Bits 'n Pieces

Some stamping chicks got together last night for a paper crafting session.  I have been sorting through my left over bits and pieces and made two cards. . . I love it when you can combine several scraps and come up with a nice project.

Reduce, reuse, recycle is my motto.

This is a card that I made using Summer Solstice and En Francais.  I love the combination of Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla.  The flower in the centre was embossed using black embossing powder and coloured using Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive Stampin' Write markers - the flower looks a little darker than I expected.  I haven't put a greeting on the card as I will choose that closer to the time of giving it away but it will go in the bottom right hand corner to balance the layout.

Next card is a combo of products - I had some pieces left over from a class that I attended and I wanted to put them to good use rather than toss them out.  I think it will be a "sweet friend" card at the end of the day that I will send to one of my friends to let them know that they are in my thoughts. . .

En Francais and the Medallion background stamps have been combined to build the background of this card.  The colour scheme is Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla and Soft Suede for shading.  I have also used a mannequin die cut which I stamped with a flourish in Staz On Black ink, then texturised with a flourish embossing folder then daubed and made untidy so that it has an antique feel to it.  I wrapped lace around the waist, used crackle medium on the bodice and attached a fleurette with pearl centre brad as the finishing touches. . . Not too shabby!

Until next time

Shanni 

Team Swaps - March Meet

We had a dozen girls attend our Quarterly Get Together this month - it was nice to catch up with everyone. I said that I would upload a picture of all the swaps for the "metallic" theme, so here they are:

So starting at the rear left hand side - Coral has made an amazing flower on an embossed calendar which she daubed with Platinum Shimmer Paint (the centre of the flower is Champagne Chunky Glass Glitter and the feature butterfly is made with the Sizzix Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die); Jessica has embossed on Night of Navy card stock in silver embossing powder and then stamped in Not quite Navy on white card stock - with a cute little silver brad holding the arrows in place; Jodie has stamped the Best Dad Ever ties in Lucky Limeade and Basic Gray and made a feature tie and diamante pin with the brushed silver card stock.

Middle row starting at left hand side - Shanni has stamped Fabulous Floret silhouette flower stamp in Basic Gray and Platinum Shimmer Paint on white card stock and accented the image with aluminium foil on card stock embossed using the Stripes Embossing folder; Cheere has created a corrugated effect which she has daubed with black and Platinum Shimmer Paint, silver brads feature in each corner of the mount card and centres of the tiny red flowers that she has created using the Boho Blossom Punch and Real Red card stock. The Little Leaves sizzlet was used to make the leaves; Jenny has used the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder to form the background impression on her card,  She has stamped and coloured the flower from the Every Moment set and painted it lightly with the Champagne Shimmer Paint; Paula has embossed Basic Gray card stock using the Flower Garden Embossing folder, then daubed the whole impression with Frost White Shimmer Paint.

Front row left hand side - Sandra has created two wrenches using the 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Small Tag Punch and 1/2" circle punch.  She has mounted the tools on an aluminium foil back ground glued to card stock which was embossed using the Hounds Tooth Embossing folder; Liz has created the Sweet Friend card using the You Are Loved set.  The heart was embossed using silver embossing powder on Pretty in Pink card stock which has been cut out and dimensionalised on Velum card stock stamped using the rose stamp from the same set in Staz On White ink and run through the shottie with the Top Note Die.  The background card stock was embossed using the Polka Dots embossing folder and the Scallop Trim Border punch was used on the Rose Red card stock as a feature with the Brushed Silver card stock on the right hand side of the card.  Two little brads secure the banner "Thinking of You" across the heart.

Great work everyone!  Next swap theme is Childish Birthdays. . .

Shanni

Make it Monday

I love the rain. . . but we have had so much lately that I am beginning to question my sanity. . . but when the weather is so wet there is little excuse not to craft!

My favourite colour is black (although it is not a colour) and I love to create cards which are simple and clean in their contrast.  So this colour combination suits me down to the ground.

This is a newspaper inspired card ie black and white.  I have cheated by stamping the leaves from French Foliage randomly on Whisper White card stock then punched the images out with the 1 3/8 square punch, daubed the edges for a bit of depth and to make them pop off the white back ground and mounted the base card on Basic Black card stock.  I have then mounted the whole thing onto a Whisper White card base.

Simple but effective. . . no excuses now. . . have to tackle the washing.

Until next time

Shanni 

March Quarter Team Get Together

The Paper Belles have had a huge year - we have over 20 new members and have accomplished heaps of milestones in the past twelve months.  The Stampin' Up! year runs from 1 April - 31 March and is about to come to another close.

Today I am hosting my Team's Quarterly Get Together.  We generally have two gatherings a month to focus on different things and I hold a quarterly get together for those who live at a distance or who due to work and life commitments are not able to make it at other times.

We exchange swaps, have a chat and a drink of some nature - and there is always food - and I like to do a little project to show different techniques, styles and colours. 

The project I have created for today uses the French Foliage set.  I love trees and leaves and branches so these "nature" sets get extra work outs in my house!  I used every stamp in the set on this card and am quite happy with the outcome. I hope that gang likes it and that it prompts other ideas for everyone.

My colour scheme is Cajun Craze, River Rock and Very Vanilla card stocks and I have used these colours to stamp (excluding the vanilla of course). I have also incorporated Well Worn designer Series Paper.  The embellishments are natural hemp twine and the safety pin from Vintage Trinkets.

I gave the card texture using the Square Lattice embossing folder with the shottie.  And of course I couldn't resist distressing and daubing the edges using Early Espresso ink. 

Because the Well Worn DSP is so versatile and beautiful I had to use several pieces of it and made the exact same layout with three other prints from the set.  They all look slightly different of course but the overall flavour is masculine!

Got some great swaps too - will take some photos and upload them soon.

Hip love

Shanni

Productive day crafting because it is still raining. . .

Got together with my Tuesday crafting friends today and had a productive time - got another 50 Convention swaps underway and also made some other cards because the mojo was in 6th gear!

So here is a card that I have made for a friend who is moving away soon and will be in my thoughts often. She and I both like the vintage themed cards so thought that I would try out a stamp set that most people think is only for Valentine's Day - the You Are Loved set from the Summer Mini which will not be available after 31 March. . .

The card is a 6 x 6 square and nice and heavy (thank goodness I am giving it away and not posting it!).  I have used some of my favourite colour combos - Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke.  The daubing on the edges was done with Soft Suede ink.

I used the Music Notes Stampin' Around wheel  for the top of the card, stamped the En Francais background stamp on an angle 2/3rds of the way across the card; I stamped off the ink first.  I distressed and daubed the edges and then sprayed the whole base card with Champagne Shimmer Paint diluted with Isocol alcohol.  I mounted this base on Cherry Cobbler card stock (which I had distressed and daubed with Soft Suede). Then mounted both onto the Early Espresso card base.

The small rose stamp in the You Are Loved set is beautiful.  I inked it up with Stampin' Write Markers, stamped them on scraps of Very Vanilla and then cut them out and stuck them strategically.  The lace doillie at he back was dirtied up with soft suede ink, using a dauber.  I purchase my doillies at second hand shops whenever I see them as they come in handy for cards and scrapping pages.  I needed to stick this down with sticky strip to make sure that the fabric secures well to the card.

I then punched eleven Fancy Flower shapes out of Cherry Cobbler card stock, distressed the card stock, daubed them with Soft Suede and twisted them into roses using Tom Bow glue (you can see in the centre of the top one that the glue hasn't quite dried. The largest rose uses four punches, the smaller three punches, next size down two punches and then the two buds only use one punch each.

I mounted the roses using dimensionals and inserted Sizzix Little Leaves that I cut out using Always Artichoke card stock - I basically poke these in where needed to balance the arrangement.  Finally I sprayed the whole card with the Champagne Shimmer Paint solution and added the little pearls in diagonal corners. The sentiment comes from the You Are Loved set too.

Love 'n hugs
Shanni

I have some creative elements. . .

Rain has lessened today and the skies are clearing so it must be a sign that the big wet is retreating.  I have been trying to come up with some ideas for swaps for Convention because I go insane making a huge number of the same one. . .

I decided to use Creative Elements and to combine a heap of the stamps from the set in a random fashion.  To add a further challenge to the project I also selected a "creative combination" of colours - these are colours that you wouldn't necessarily put together but when you do they work!  So the combo is Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery.

Pretty in Pink is the base card, mounted with Soft Suede (10cm x 14.3cm) and the stamped background is on Very Vanilla. 

Of course I felt like it needed something more so I included the En Francais stamp in the background
added some pink flowers with the mid sized flower from Language of Friendship (inked up using a Stampin' write Marker) and using a frame from the Stampin' Up! Four Frames Sizzlet pack I mounted the sentiment which came from the Sale-a-Bration Elementary Elegance set.

Distressing, tearing and daubing softened the whole effect and the little bit of ribbon is to balance the design - nice and easy and quite pleasing to the eye.

72 sleeps until Convention. . .
Shanni

Beau Chateau Trinket Box

Loving the rain as it means that I have no reason to not be crafting. . .

I decided to recycle a King Island cheese box today by covering it with some Beau Chateau designer series paper and then building some roses for the top of it.  This is such an easy but effective project.

Basically I trace the box and lid that I am covering being sure to add an additional 1 cm around the circumference to draw over the lip and give the project a "finished" look.  This is easy to do if you use a Stampin' Up!Circle Scissors tool.  Next I stuck the paper to the actual project using Tom Bow multipurpose glue. Then I snipped the overlap around the box and glued the lip down using Tom Bow.

To cover the pleated appearance of the paper cover I chose to stick a card stock collar around the perimeter of the lid and base.  I stuck this down using Stampin' Up! sticky strip (I think it is stronger than a welding joint!).  I then covered this with a piece of Pink Pirouette satin ribbon and tied a standard reef knot so that it sits nice and flush to the lid.

Next I cut some Sizzlet Little Leaves using the Shottie in Soft Suede card stock and 10 of the smaller flowers from the Blossom Party die in Pink Pirouette card stock and folded them into roses.  I stuck the leaves down once I had creased the centres with snail adhesive and attached the flowers using dimensionals.

For the final touch I sprayed the whole project with some Frost White Shimmer Mist and Pretty in Pink re-inker that I had thinned down with Isocol alcohol for a beautiful pink shimmer effect. . . I added a few drops of Crystal Effects to appear like moisture on the petals and added a few pearls for the same effect on the paper background.

Not bad. . .
Shanni