Back from Retreat
Last weekend I had a fantastic time at a Stamping Retreat organised by my fabulous upline Stephanie Pike. It was held at the Shearwater Resort at Kings Beach, Caloundra. I was able to spend this great weekend with my Mum and also my friend and downline Shirley and her sister-in-law Lorena. We had access to the most amazing library of stampsets, big shot accessories, punches and all sorts of bits and pieces to help with all of our creating. Just look at the mess on our table. If you pop on over to Shirley’s blog she has some great photos of our beautiful room and our gorgeous view of the beach.
Shirley is a very talented papercrafter and she made Mum, Lorena and I these gorgeous little purses. Inside was a notebook, matching pen and also some chocolate (wonder where that is?). She used some gorgeous designer series paper called Greenhouse Gala. Now this designer paper will be available in the new catalogue being released on the 1st September. If you would like a copy of this fabulous new catalogue then contact me and we can made some arrangements. The note book came in very handy over the weekend for jotting down ideas. Thanks again Shirley for such a gorgeous, thoughtful gift.
Here you can see Lorena, Shirley and Mum hard at work at the Christmas card Stamp-A-Stack. This was just one of the many optional classes run over the weekend. Because these retreats are so fantastic you get to catch up with many of the wonderful people that you met the year before. I also get to catch up with some of my fellow team members from Steph’s downline.
This photo of the four of us was taken on the verandah outside our stamping room. This is where our gorgeous meals were served on Saturday and Sunday. It is just such a pleasure to be able to spend all of my time creating without having to stop to prepare meals. By the time Sunday rolls around you have made friends with everyone and it is quite sad to have to pack up and go home. I can’t wait for next year’s retreat but Steph won’t let us book in yet.
Bye for now, Kris.
A Cased Father’s Day
I had this card by Mary Fish saved on my computer for ages and finally got around to making it. I hope my Dad likes it.
I love the clean lines of this card and the cute tie. I changed Mary’s card only slightly because it was so perfect. The decoration on the right hand side of the card is made using 1/2″, 3/4″ and 1″ circle punches. The tie is 1/4″ black grosgrain ribbon “tied” around the main panel. I used Mini Glue Dots to keep it in place and trimed the ends to look like a tie. The Whisper White card has been run through my crimper. Three black brads and the greeting complete the card. I love Red, White and Black together. The greeting panel has been added using dimensionals. The only stampset used is Occasional Greetings for the “Happy Father’s Day”.
Bye for now, Kris.
A Lovely Challenge
Well today I am sharing a card with you that I made for the current LNS Challenge. The challenge is to use a stampset in a different way to the one it is meant for, e.g. a Christmas stamp to make a birthday card. I am not quite sure if I have pulled this off or not but you can be the judge.
I started by using this week’s Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge. I love all the layers in this sketch. I used Baja Breeze card for my base layer and then added a Basic Black layer. I stamped Noel (from Many Merry Messages stampset) using Riding Hood Red ink onto the Whisper White card before I ran through my Big Shot (how did I manage without this) using the Perfect Polka Dot Impressions Folder. The next layer is again Basic Black and then a layer of Ridinghood Red and again Whisper White which has been embossed with the Perfect Polka Dot Impressions Folder. Using dimensionals I added a layer of Baja Breeze.
To create the image panel I firstly stamped the tree image from Lovely as a Tree using Baja Breeze ink onto Whisper White card. I layered this onto Ridinghood Red card and then a layer of Basic Black which has one edge punched using the Scallop Edge Punch. I added this layer to the card front using dimensionals. Lastly I added the Whisper White half pearls from the Pretties Kit using mini glue dots.
I am really pleased with this card and I am sure that I will be using this sketch to make more cards in the future.
Bye for now, Kris.
A Fond Farewell
Recently I held a Technique Class to show how to make the gorgeous pansies that are everywhere on the internet at the moment. We made 3 cards during the class and a 6 x6″ scrapbook page, but I also gave the instructions and materials to make a Holder for the cards and matching envelopes. Most of the cardstock we used for this class will be retiring at the end of the month.
This is the front of the Holder. I experimented before the class with several different ways of colouring my pansies and was happiest with the result when I used my Stampin’ Write Markers. So how do you make the pansies? Well you punch two butterflies from Whisper White card using the Butterfly Punch. You take two makers (in the case of the Holder I used Barely Banana and Summer Sun) and using the lightest first you colour from the centre of the butterfly out towards the edge of the wings and then you take the darker marker and colour just on the edges of the wings. The next thing you have to do is spritz the butterflies with water and then you scrunch the butterflies up into the smallest ball you can, and then very carefully open them up. You do have to be very careful at this stage as you can quite easily tear the butterfly in half (speaking from experience here). You do not flatten the butterflies but leave them slightly scrunched and let them dry. I use my heat gun to hurry this up a bit. Once the butterflies are dry you punch a hole in the centre of each butterfly and attach them together with a brad. Very simple but very effective. I love the way each one turns out quite different to the last.
While my butterflies were drying I stamped the right hand side of the holder using my En Francaise background stamp and ink to match the cardstock (in this case Barely Banana) and sponged the edges using the same ink. I rolled a piece of Whisper White card using my Very Vintage Wheel and Always Artichoke ink. I sponged the edges with the same ink and attached it to the left hand side of the Holder cover. Before attaching the pansy to the front right hand side, I ran some Always Artichoke card through the Big Shot using the Little Leaves Sizzlet twice. I attached the leaves and then added the pansy over the top using Mini Glue Dots.
This shows the inside of the Holder. The two pockets have panels which have also been rolled with the Very Vintage Wheel and Always Artichoke ink for decoration. One pocket holds the cards and one holds the envelopes. I rolled the envelopes using the Very Vintage Wheel and green ink to match the one used for each card.
The colour combinations for the cards were taken from the Colour Coach. I have used Barely Banana/Summer Sun/Always Artichoke, Apricot Appeal/Pumpkin Pie/Mellow Moss, Cameo Coral/Ruby Red/Old Olive and Pale Plum/Perfect Plum/Mellow Moss. I absolutely love the way this set has turned out and I will be donating it as a raffle prize at the next monthly meeting for a group to which my husband belongs.
The only colours out of all of these that will be in the new catalogue are Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Pumpkin Pie and Perfect Plum, the others will be retired as part of the new colour renovation. I will be sad to see these colours go, particularly Mellow Moss, but I am sure that it will not be long before I am absolutely in love with all the fabulous new core colours that are coming.
Hope you like this little Holder. I am particularly proud of it because I designed it myself.
Bye for now, Kris.
A Sneak Peak and
a couple of challenges. I love the Sketch Challenge at Stamping 411 this week and decided to play along using the colours for last week’s Cards & Things Challenge.
I started with a base card of Night of Navy. The Baja Breeze cardstock was run through my Big Shot using the Vintage Wallpaper Impressions Embossing Folder which I was able to pre-order from the new catalogue being released on the 1st September. I love this folder. The impression is very deep and very detailed. I added a strip of Basic Gray cardstock with the edges punched using my Eyelet Edge Punch. Next I stamped the words from a stampset called Perfect Punches (also part of my pre-order) using Baja Breeze ink and punched it out with my Wide Oval Punch. I attached this to a tag which was cut with my Big Shot using the Lots of Tags Sizzlet Die. I added a Flower Brad and underneath some strips of Night of Navy 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon. This whole piece was attached to the front of the card using dimensionals.
I love everything about this card – its simplicity, the colours and the layout.
Bye for now, Kris.
A Wheely Good Cause
This week’s challenge at Just Add Ink has been set by Genna from the Helping Hudson crew. Helping Hudson is all about helping a little boy get a Kid Walker to enable him to interact with his family as much as possible. The Helping Hudson website has some great challenges, prizes and possibly the best value tutorials around. I myself have purchased all 6 tutorials and I am thrilled with all the great things that I am going to be able to make. Anyway back to the challenge which is – Just Add Wheels.
I used an old Mojo Monday Sketch (week 77) for the layout for this card and I love it. I can see me using this one a lot more. I started with a base card of old olive. My next layer is Whisper White card rolled with the Very Vintage Wheel using Rich Razzleberry ink. I also sponged the edges using the same ink and then layered it onto a piece of Chocolate Chip card. I added 3 Old Olive Brads on the right hand side. My next layer is Whisper White card which I ran through the Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dot Impression Folder and this is also layered onto Chocolate Chip Card. I used my Big Shot and Old Olive card to cut the leaves using Little Leaves Sizzlet Die. I stamped the large flower from the Vintage Vogue Stampset onto Whisper White card using Rich Razzleberry ink and cut it out. I added a Chocolate Chip 5/16″ Brad to the centre of the flower and then using a dimensional attached it over the leaves.
I am happy to say that all of the product that I have used on this card is carrying over to the catalogue being released on 1st September. Yes, I have seen it and I love it and I am sure you will too. If you would like to get your hands on one of these catalogues free, just send me an email with your details and I will give you a call and we can discuss how.
Bye for now, Kris.
Special Blessing
My granddaughter Ava was Christened on Sunday and I thought I would share the card I made for her.
I love this stampset Special Blessing, I have made some lovely Christening Cards using it. Unfortunately this stampset is retiring at the end of the month, so there is not much time to purchase it. I used Pretty in Pink and Whisper White Cardstock. I have also used the Eyelet Edge punch on the Pretty in Pink Card. The “designer paper” which is wrapped with the Pretty in Pink Taffeta ribbon was made using the Baroque Border Standard wheel rolled on the diagonal and then I sponged the edges. I added the greeting which comes from the same stampset using Pretty in Pink ink and my stamp-a-ma-jig and by leaving the “T-piece” in place was able to overstamp the greeting twice without messing up. This makes the words stand out a little more. My cross was also stamped in Pretty in Pink ink. I dyed the small flower by pressing it onto my Pretty in Pink ink pad and layered it onto a white flower. Three white pearl halves from the Pretties Kit on the left and another to the centre of the flower complete the card.
I decorated the inside of the card to match, again using the Whisper White and Pretty in Pink cardstock, eyelet edge punch, Baroque Border standard wheel and the Special Blessings stampset.
Now to make this day extra-special, Ava’s dad was also Baptised.
I wanted to make him a card to celebrate this special occasion for him but didn’t want it to look too “young”. So I used the Special Blessing stampset again but this time I used Old Olive ink to stamp it onto Whisper White card. This is sponged around with Chocolate Chip ink and then layered onto Chocolate Chip card. I used Old Olive as the base card and added a piece of Windsor Knot DSP which is also layered onto Chocolate Chip card. The strip across the middle is So Saffron card and I again sponged the edges with Chcoolate Chip ink. The words were stamped using Chocolate Chip ink and the stamp-a-ma-jig.
I am really happy with the way both of these cards turned out. What do you think?
Bye for now, Kris.
Waterfall Workshop
Last Saturday I held a workshop for a good customer and friend of mine (hi Karen). Now she requested that her make and take be a waterfall card. YIKES. I had steered clear of these cards because I thought they looked so complicated to make. Well I was wrong.
I followed the tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers and I love the way this card turned out. I used a base card of Rich Razzelberry (love this colour and so glad it will be one of our new core colours). I used the ever versatile Pocket Silhouettes stampset (which will be in the new catalogue). The designer series paper is from the lovely Cottage Garden DSP which is in the current Autumn/Winter catalogue (which ends on 31st August). I used Old Olive ink to stamp the images and Rich Razzelberry ink to sponge around the edges. A few Clear Rhinestones, a bit of Old Olive 1/4″ grosgrain and there you have it.
We decorated the inside again using Pocket Silhouettes and the greeting is from On Your Birthday.
So don’t be afraid like me have a go you will love playing with these cards. I have a few ideas running around in my head already to make variations of this type of card – birthdays, Christmas, the possibilites are endless.
So this is how it works, you pull on the ribbon at the bottom of the card and the images cascade over the top revealing the one underneath until you get all the way to the bottom of the card. So cool. I think this is such a fun card to make.
I hope that you are inspired to have a go yourself.
Bye for now, Kris.
Last Chance List
We are at that most exciting time of year again. The new Stampin’ Up! Catalogue is being released on the 1st September. WOOHOO. I have had a little sneak peak and I don’t think any of you will be disappointed. However, hand in hand with the new catalogue comes the list of what WON’T be in the new catalogue and this year’s list is long. Of course most of the retiring product is related to the fact that we are having this huge colour renovation and so lot’s of colours are actually disappearing. Anyway if you click onto the image at the left you can download the list so that you can have a good look. Now remember that everything on this list is on a “while stocks last” basis, so if you want something, do not delay ordering.
Now back to re-organising my work space. I have lots of stock to remove to make way for all the fantastic new goodies I have arriving soon.
Bye for now, Kris.
Boho Birthday
I thought I would pop on and show you a card that I will be demonstrating at an upcoming workshop. I knew that I wanted to use Boho Blossoms but couldn’t get the design straight in my head. Then I saw this week’s Stamping 411 sketch which was just perfect for my card.
I started with a base card of Close to Cocoa (unfortunately this is no longer available as it has completely sold out). The next layer is Whisper White which I ran through the Big Shot with the Impressions Folder Perfect Polka Dots. I wrapped this layer with some of the gorgeous Melon Mambo Polka Dot ribbon (in the current Autumn/Winter catalogue). I also tied a bow with this ribbon and added it using Mini Glue Dots. I stamped Birthday Wishes from the Sincere Salutations stampset onto Whisper White card using Melon Mambo ink and punched it out with the wide oval punch. I mounted it onto a tag cut using my Big Shot and the Lots of Tags die set. I used Mini Glue dots to attach it to the Whisper White card. Then I stamped the trio of flowers from Boho Blossoms onto Whisper White card using Melon Mambo ink and punched them out using the Boho Blossoms Punch (two sets). I stamped the large flower image from Boho Blossoms onto Whisper White card, once using Melon Mambo ink and once using Close to Cocoa ink. I cut out the small Close to Cocoa flower and the large Melon Mambo flower. I attached the Close to Cocoa flower to the Melon Mambo flower using dimensionals and attached the whole piece to the Whisper White card also using dimensionals. I attached the two largest flowers that I punched out using a pewter brad and added them to the Whisper White card using dimensionals. The small flowers were attached using Mini Glue dots.
I absolutely love the way this card turned out. I am especially in love with Melon Mambo and I am so glad that it will be one of the new Core Colours in the new catalogue being released on September 1st.
Bye for now, Kris.
Stamping with Kris 