Stationery gift basket
Posted: November 2, 2008 Filed under: Baroque Motifs, Designer Paper, Gifts, Paint Prints 8 Comments
This basket was the reason things were a little quiet on the blog earlier this week. A friend asked me if I would make a gift basket for a bridal shower and this is what I came up with. I had two evenings to get it done and really needed to work with what I had on hand. Other than the candles it is filled with stationery. It contains five greeting cards (mainly thankyous, as brides usually have many people to thank), a notebook, bookmark, place cards, two candles and a calendar. It was the first time I had done a calendar, so it was a little bit of trial and error working out how and what I would decorate. I ended up decorating the inside cover, so that when it is hung up the decorated page is showing. I perforated the top edge of all the months so they can be torn off leaving the decorated page showing all year.
The candles are done with tissue paper and wax paper as explained in my tutorial here. All the paper items are made using Brocade Background designer paper, River Rock, Confetti Cream or Vanilla cardstock. I had some lace in my lace basket which co-ordinated perfectly so that is featured on a couple of cards as well as the notebook.
Thanks for dropping in.
Supplies:
Stamps:With Gratitude, Baroque motifs, Paint Prints
Inks: River Rock, versmark, Always Artichoke
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, River Rock, Confetti Cream, Brocade Backgrounds designer paper
Also: Cuttlebug formal squares embossing folder, Lace, Olive Organza ribbon, Embroidery thread, notebook from Staples, basket from Bulk Barn, candles from Ikea, Cherished Memories and Chateau Bella rub-ons
Snow swirled greetings
Posted: November 1, 2008 Filed under: Snow Swirled Leave a comment
Here is another take on sponging the Snow Swirled set. When I did this one, there was no sign of snow, but now we have piles in our yard, melting after a 15cm snowfall earlier in the week. Hopefully it will all disappear this week as we have a large amount of leaves to rake up.
To make this one I stamped the tree and the snowflakes in versamark and then embossed in clear e.p. I then outlined some of the flourishes on the tree with an eggplant marker and sponged with pale plum. The sky is sponged with pale plum, perfect plum, eggplant and a bit of black. The effect reminded a little of the northern lights that I am yet to see. The sentiment is just one line from a Merry Messages gretting
Supplies:
Stamps: Snow Swirled, Many Merry messages
Inks: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Eggplant, Basic Black, versamark
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White
Also: Clear embossing powder
Cards for my birthday boy
Posted: October 29, 2008 Filed under: By Land, My Kid's cards, Season of Friendship 2 Comments
You would think that, as a card maker I would always have cards ready for my own children’s birthdays! But again and again I get to the night before and think, “Oh no, I don’t have a card ready!” For the girls there are always some pretty cards in the stash that I could use, but they have usually seen and maybe critiqued them for me, so what I really want is one designed especially for them. For my boy I don’t even have any in the stash, as I don’t own many boy stamps, only one set actually, By Land.
So this year, true to form the night before the birthday arrives, I am about to go to bed and I realise, no card! I cannot use By Land again, and besides one of my daughters used it for her card. (below) My solution was to make a scruffy skate theme card for my skateboarding eight year old. It came together surprisingly quickly and I popped it in with the gift. The next day he started opening his presents, reading every card before opening and examining every gift. It was only when he came to the one from my husband and I that I realised that the card was there, but I hadn’t written a word in it…
A little flatter
Posted: October 26, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized 2 Comments
Sharon’s stamp simply challenge this week was to make a flat card. That doesn’t mean no layers but rather that the card would sit very flat in the envelope, with no lumps and bumps. Even before I saw the challenge I was trying to design a simple card for a workshop on Friday night. I wanted to show off Snow Swirled but didn’t want to emboss or sponge this time. This is what I came up with. I did incorporate the ribbon, but as there are no bows or knots it still meets the “flat” requirements. The snowflakes in the background are stamped multiple times without reinking to give the different tones of artichoke.
Supplies:
Stamps: Snow Swirled
Inks: Always Artichoke, Real Red
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Whisper White
Also: Red gingham ribbon
Two favourites
Posted: October 25, 2008 Filed under: Designer Paper, Lovely as a Tree 1 Comment
I pulled out two old favourites for this card and combined them with a new favourite of mine, Riding Hood Red. Lovely as a Tree is definitely a favourite set of mine. I’m not sure where I read it but I believe it is the most popular set Stampin’ Up has ever had. I admit I don’t usually stamp it in red, but I wanted to use some of another old favourite, the Cerise designer paper from a year or so back. The patterns in this set of paper were perfect for making Christmas cards, the designs reminded me of Scandinavian embroidery.
Other than layering the designer paper strip with red and vanilla cardstock all I did was make a tag to be tied on with red hemp twine and also drag the edge of the vanilla rectangle on the Riding Hood Red stamp pad. I have one more gift set of cards which I will post soon, then I will be moving onto to other gift ideas.
Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Fundamental Phrases
Inks: Riding Hood Red
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Cerise d.p.
Also: Red Hemp twine
Christmas gifts (2)
Posted: October 24, 2008 Filed under: Designer Paper, Gifts Leave a comment
The second set of cards I put together as a Christmas gift were all made using Bella Rose paper and Riding Hood Red cardstock. In my hurry to get them completed and posted off I didn’t photograph the box but it was the same style as the box in this post. The set included cards posted here, here and here.
Supplies:
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, All Year Cheer, Garden Silhouettes
Inks: Riding Hood Red, Pretty in Pink
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Bella Rose designer paper
Also: Red Hemp Twine
Star Wreath
Posted: October 22, 2008 Filed under: Best Yet, Designer Paper 2 Comments
This is a simple way to make a wreath using the small star punch from Stampin’ Up. To give myself a guide circle I pressed the lid of a container of eyelets into the versmark and stamped it onto the card. Then I punched out stars from the red and green designer paper in the Bella Rose pack, glued them down and added a hemp twine bow. Last year I also made star wreath cards by punching stars out of old Christmas cards.
Supplies:
Stamps: Best Yet
Inks: Riding Hood Red
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Bella Rose designer paper
Also: Red Hemp twine
Christmas Gifts
Posted: October 20, 2008 Filed under: Designer Paper 4 Comments
I posted off four parcels of Christmas gifts today. To send gifts to Australia by surface mail and have them arrive by Christmas they have to be posted in October. I have lived in Canada for eight years now and I am getting better at the early Christmas routine, but I still find myself scrambling to take advantage of the surface mail prices rather than the more expensive airmail rates. As well as sending early, packing light also keeps the postage costs down. This year I made several packs of greeting cards in matching boxes.
I went through my stash of cards and sorted out cards made using the co-ordinating designer papers and then made more matching cards so I had sets of five cards in a box with a designer paper lid. The cards above (along with this one and this one) completed the set I made using Le Jardin designer paper and co-ordinating cardstock.
I will post a few pictures from the other sets as soon as I can. I plan to do a box tutorial when I get a chance but Sharon has an excellent one and so does Leslie.
Supplies:
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Paint Prints, Art by Design
Inks: Always Artichoke, Bashful Blue,
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Le Jardin Designer paper, Almost Artichoke, River Rock
Also: Olive Organza ribbon
How Silently
Posted: October 19, 2008 Filed under: Season of Friendship, Uncategorized, Wondrous Gift 2 Comments
After I made the Snow Laden Tree a week or so ago I wanted to make a similar card, but one that I could make more quickly and demonstrate easily. This is what I came up with. I have used some of the same techniques but there is definitely less sponging and less embossing steps. I stamped the snowflakes first in versamark and embossed in clear e.p. I then sponged with bashful blue and brocade blue, taking care to build up the sponging toward the right hand side. Once I was happy with the sponging I stamped the tree in navy and a few snowflakes in brocade blue. Lastly I stamped the sentiment and embossed it in white.
Supplies:
Stamps: Season of Friendship, Wondrous Gift
Inks: Brocade Blue, Versamark, Bashful Blue
Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Night of Navy , Whisper White
Also: Clear and white embossing powders, sponges
Silver on silver
Posted: October 18, 2008 Filed under: Baroque Motifs, Snow Swirled 3 Comments
I’m not sure where I saw this first but I know someone designed a beautiful silver on silver wedding card a while ago, and I have kept it in mind to try some time. After playing with the Snow Swirled tree and the flourish from Baroque motifs I decided they would be perfect for this colour( or lack of colour!) scheme. It was a very quick card to make, the only real decision was whether to stay entirely silver or add some red. I think the red works because it is a Christmas card, but it is the silver on silver which I really like. Thank you to whoever first gave me the idea.
Thank you for stopping by, there will be another Christmas card tomorrow. A big thank you, also to those people who dropped in yesterday for the first time, while I was a cohost for Sharon’s Stamp Simply challenge. I am having a wonderful time looking at all the different takes on my “No Pictures” challenge and have discovered some inspiring blogs that I hadn’t visited before.
Supplies:
Stamps: Snow Swirled, Baroque Motifs
Inks: Versamark
Cardstock: Real red, Brushed Silver
Also: Red gingham ribbon, silver cord, silver e.p.
Heather Telford 
