Swallowtail Birthday

Welcome to another glorious Spring Day - so wonderful to have warm sun and blue sky and just a few little fluffy white clouds floating by. The garden is growing, the flowers are out and unfortunately so are the flies…..certainly one of the worst things about an Australian summer!

Today's card is for a good friend whose birthday is coming up and it is one of those "round birthdays" so it was time to bring out something a bit different and a bit special :-) I decided to rework a little a card I made for a challenge in March - you can read more about that card here - and yes, it was one of my first challenge wins so a special card for me :-)

I kept the colours from the challenge - as they go so well together - and kept the layered Swallowtail which is stamped twice of course and fussy cut and layered with some dimensionals. The beautiful Gold spotted Vellum is layered onto a piece of white card to help it to stand out and the greeting is also gold embossed and cut out with the Oval Framelits. For the numbers I used the gold foil sheets to stay within the gold theme - and a little hint - when using the Foil with the sizzlit dies is best to use new cutting plates if you have them as any scratch in the plate will show up on the foil…as I found out!!

Card stock: Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White, Gold Foil Sheets

Designer Series Paper: Vellum Specialty Gold

Inks: Pistachio Pudding, Versamark

Stamps: Swallowtail, Well Scripted (Retired)

Accessories: Big Shot, Oval Framelits, Timeless Type Alphabet Sizlits, Crumb Cake Seam binding ribbon, Gold EP, Heat tool, Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have a great day today wherever you are today and do go and check out the wonderful Eva Bussom today if you can as today she is taking part in the Creative Blog Hop that I was part of last Monday and I know you will love her projects!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Amazing Birthday for the Paper Craft Crew

Welcome to another Spring Wednesday in Melbourne - we have had a warm start to the day but the clouds are gathering for the forecast storms. I did manage to get some summer veggies planted before needing to retreat from the rising wind so that was good!!
And as it is Wednesday I have a card to share with you for the sketch this week at The Paper Craft Crew. The Team have come up with some fabulous cards this week so do go and have a look  :-)
So here is the sketch:

Quitte classical this week and really open to interpretation I think :-)

And here is my card:

I decided to go for a masculine card this week and use some images I stamped when I recently borrowed this set from a friend. Both the Midnight Muse images are up on dimensionals and I used the Large Polka dots EF on the white card to compliment the cake image :-)

Card stock: Midnight Muse (Retired), Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Maritime

Inks: Midnight Muse, Real Red

Stamps: Amazing Birthday

Accessories:Big Shot, Large Polka Dots EF, Midnight Muse ribbon, 11/4 and 13/8" Circle Punches

When I was at the garden centre the other day I came across this interesting plant called Pretty In Pink 

And was really taken with how unusual it is and had to bring it home where it fits in quite well in my "potted corner"  :-)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I do hope you have time to check out the Team's cards at The Paper Craft Crew this week and maybe you too might be inspired to join in the fun!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Creative Blog Hop

Welcome to a special post today! I was honoured to be invited to join in the Creative Blog Hop by my friend Vicki. We "met" virtually on our SU site some time ago and it is always fun to see the great punch art and beautifully put together projects she shares. I look forward to meeting her properly one day -we live about 3 days driving apart! Vicki is in Queensland in the north and I am in Victoria in the south so a fair way apart but never say never :-)

The Creative Blog Hop asks us to answer 4 questions about ourselves and is a way of introducing you to somebody else and learning a bit more about each of us.

What am I working on now?
Like most people I have several projects on the go right now. I have cards to make for my Design Team commitments at The Paper Craft Crew, some family birthday cards that are coming up soon and I am trying to get ahead of the Christmas rush and get as many Christmas cards done for other challenges etc as I can as last year (ok, every year!) December is a mad rush!

 How does my work differ from others in my genre?

To be honest I don't think my work differs really from many others. If there is one thing that may be slightly different from some crafters I have spoken to it is that where some may find making a male card a bit of a stretch, I am pleased to say I don't :-)  I find them just as fun to make as female cards - I do get lots of practice with brothers and other family and friends etc etc too And recently I have really gotten into the swing of making Shaker cards which of course are just as much fun to make as to give :-)

Why do I create what I do?

 I enjoy the challenge of creating something new and on occasion being able to personalise it to what I know about the recipient's tastes and likes. I like to push myself creatively just as much as in other areas of life :-) And I also like a sense of balance - despite my use of the "rule of odd numbers" when it comes to embellishments :-)

How does my creative process work?

Well there are a variety of ways I find that work for me. Often, I will start with a colour combo or sketch - maybe from a Challenge or from the DSP I am wanting to use. And sometimes the hardest choice is the stamp set! Other times I will work in reverse - and search the internet for inspiration with a certain stamp set, usually late at night :-)The great thing with this is that I will often go to sleep thinking about the stamp or sketch and by morning I have the card "finished" in my mind :-) I am blessed to have a photographic memory and I think that helps me to picture the finished card. Then I just have to make time to actually make it! These days I can't sit and create for long periods as I used to do so the process of having the card "made" in my head is now something I rely on and yes, sometimes little details may not work exactly but it is usually pretty close to the finished product :-)

And now I have the pleasure of introducing you to another fellow card maker Eva Bussom :-) Eva has a great style and her own Challenge Blog  - Can You Case It. I first "met" Eva online on our SU site some time ago and I am so pleased she is able to join us for the Hop. Do go and check out her blog NEXT MONDAY to see her answer the four questions too :-)

Eva Bussom - www.evascardsandthings.com

My name is Eva, and I live in North Plains, Oregon (USA).  I am the mother of 5, and have a wonderful husband Bill. I joined Stampin' Up! in May of 2013 and love to create beautiful cards... and projects. I run a weekly challenge site, with 9 other wonderful designers, 3 private sites on Facebook all about stamping, the process and of course the people. Jan and I have a love for stampin' up! and that’s how we met (virtually) and hope one day to meet her in person : ) thanks for bringing me on this crazy ride!

Thanks so much for stopping by today to see my post for the Creative Blog Hop. It has been a pleasure to be involved and I look forward to seeing what Eva creates for the Hop next Monday.

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

First Feathers for FMS

Good morning and welcome! Today has the promise of being a wonderful Spring Day - you know the type, a cool night but a beautifully clear and warm sunny day :-) We are expecting a lovely 24 degrees Celsius - the warmest since Winter  - and it is time to get into the garden and get the summer veggies planted - am so looking forward to doing that later this afternoon with a couple of good friends who are popping over to help :-)

For today's card I was inspired to use the new Four Feathers stamp set after going to the Nutcracker Ballet on Thursday evening! The last time I saw this Ballet was for my 10th Birthday present  ( so a little while ago) from my lovely Uncle and Godfather who knew I had been studying the music and the ballet at school. I was treated like a Princess for the evening and I have never forgotten it :-)
And this time, I went with some lovely friends and we too had a great night :-) As soon as I saw the wonderful costumes of the Flowers -  a beautiful mix of white, pale to dark crimson pinks and silver and sequins - I knew I wanted to make a card using the feathers to try and capture the magic of the night :-)

And the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches helped my tie all the ideas together - here it is:

And here is my card:

I see I have mixed up the height of the side pieces of the sketch - oh dear!

To create the richness of colour of the feathers I embossed them all - the silver and Cherry on white card stock and the black on vellum to give it a soft feel :-) And for the Cherry embossed one I also sponged it with pinks to try and create an ombre type feel - Pink Pirouette at the bottom to Cherry Cobbler at the top.

And the background is stamped randomly using my favourite background stamp (of all time!) Gorgeous Grunge using the Encore Silver ink.

This was my first play with this stamp and it was such fun to do and so easy to cut out using the matching framelits. I can already see this stamp that I initially wasn't that excited about is going to become a favourite :-)

Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Vellum, Silver Glimmer

Ink: Versamark, Encore Silver, Pink Pirouette, Strawberry Slush, Cherry Cobbler

Stamps: Four Feathers, Gorgeous Grunge, A Dozen Thoughts

Accessories: Big Shot, Feather's Framelits, Square Framelits, Cherry Cobbler EP, Silver EP, Black EP, Basic rhinestones

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have time to check out the great cards by the Freshly Made Sketches team and maybe you too may be inspired to enter and join in the fun!

Also don't forget to pop back later today as I will be posting as part of the Creative Blog Hop and have a lovely friend to introduce to you whose work you will really want to check out :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

  

Just Sayin' for The Paper Craft Crew

Welcome to another Spring Wednesday in Melbourne - and yes, another Four Seasons in one day kind of day too! We had a mild night with sun shine this morning and then within a couple of hours the rain moved in - and out again - and so the cycle has continued…sun….cool with rain…warm and sun…! So we managed to get Sally out for her walk and briefly saw some of  her friends before the first rain fall which was good!
And I've spent  some time finishing some cards for a Christmas card swap that needs to be in the post today…so with that all done it is time for this week's Sketch from the Paper Craft Crew! I hope you have time to go and check out all the great cards from the Design Team this week.

What a fun sketch?! 

 For my card I opted for a feminine and Teen feel :-)

So I used a mixture of coloured Card stock, DSP and and some Silver Glimmer paper.

The greeting is from the fun Just Sayin' stamp set and it is cut out using the Bitty Banner Framelits and then layered onto another of the word bubbles.

And the white layer is stamped with Gorgeous Grunge using some Encore Silver ink to add a neutral though bright layer :-)

Card stock: Strawberry Slush, Whisper white, Silver Glimmer, Coastal Cabana

Designer Series Paper: Moonlight Stack

Inks: Coastal Cabana, Encore Silver

Stamps: Just Sayin', Gorgeous Grunge

Accessories: Big Shot, Word Bubble Framelits, Bitty Banners Framelits, Basic rhinestones, In Colour Sequins, 3 heart punch (Retired)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have time to go and check out all the great cards from the Design Team this week and I lo forward to seeing what you too will create :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Second Trees Shaker

Welcome to those who have stopped by from Vicki's blog as part of the Creative Blog Hop - and a big thank you to Vicki for inviting me to join in! Please come back next Monday to see my answers to the four questions as part of the Hop.

Today I am in the middle of working on some swaps to send out as part of a a Mail Swap….only two days to go before they need to be in the mail…. So of course I am taking a little break to do something different - it's one of those ideas that wouldn't go away - so sometimes its good to just go with the flow and make it. So this is not the card I'm making for the Swap….I will share that soon though!

Recently I made a Shaker card with the new Festival of Trees stamp set and a friend asked me what I was doing for the second one….so the Challenge was set LOL! Hopefully this meets it ok :-)

The card colours came from the beautiful All is Calm DSP  that forms the back of the Shaker window. So the card base is one of my new favourite colours - Lost Lagoon - and is topped with a white layer embossed with the On Point EF. Such a fun folder I can see it will likely have good staying power after the Holiday Catalogue - I hope!

For the Shaker itself I used the wonderful On Film Framelits - it does mean a decent sized window so is good to fill it up :-) Using the new Confetti Stars punch I managed to use up so many scrap pieces of card stock! There is a mixture of Silver Glimmer, Silver Foil, Pool Party, Lost Lagoon - and a few sequins as well.

Inside the window is also some trees embossed with White EP. As long as these are adhered flat they won't impede the shaking…and yes it is rather full isn't it -)

Card stock: Lost Lagoon, Whisper White, Pool Party, Silver Glimmer, Silver Foil

Designer Series Paper: All is Calm

Inks: Lost Lagoon, Versamark

Stamps: Festival of Trees, Bright and Beautiful

Accessories: Big Shot, On Film Framelits, Starburst Framelits, On Point EF, Hexagon Punch (for flag ends), Window Sheets, Confetti Stars punch, White Embossing Powder, Shaker Frame Adhesive, Silver Basics Buttons, Silver Twine, Frosted Sequins, Blue sequins (Non- SU)

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by today!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Holiday home for the Paper Craft Crew

Good evening everyone! We have had a lovely but cool Spring day here in Melbourne! And such a busy day it has been too so am sorry this post is a little late than usual So here were are - its time for another sketch from The Paper Craft Crew so here it is :-)

Quite interesting isn't it with all those layers and shapes! The Design Team have come up with many varied themes for this sketch so I do hope you have time to check them all out.

Here is my card:

For the card base I used some Lost Lagoon and then some Pool Party and some of the beautiful All is Calm DSP for Christmas. I was hoping to keep the background rather neutral so the main panel shines :-)

And I've coloured the lovely house from the Holiday Home stamp set with Blendabilities markers and added it with dimensionals and the trees the same with a little bit of bling on top of course :-)

Card stock: Lost Lagoon, Pool Party, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: All is Calm Specialty

Inks: Pear Pizazz, Smoky Slate, Momento Tuxedo Black, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight and Smoky Slate Blendabilities markers

Stamps: Holiday Home, Gorgeous Grunge

Accessories: Big Shot, Decorative Dots EF, Homemade Holiday EF, Project Life Corner Rounder, Basic Rhinestones, Silver Ribbon

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I do hope you have time to check out all the great inspiration from the Design Team this week and I look forward to seeing what you will create this week!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Upcoming Special Wedding

Good afternoon! I hope you are having a relaxing afternoon wherever you are in the world today? Here in Melbourne it is Father's Day and a gorgeous sunny Spring Day it is too - 21 degrees Celsius with a slightly cool wind….so not quite Summer yet :-)
In our family there is another special day coming up soon  - my baby sister (Ok, she's obviously not a baby anymore…) is getting married to her partner of almost 10 years.

So of course  I want to make her and her lovely husband to be a special card. I know she doesn't have time to check out the blog so it is quite safe - if I thought for a moment she might then this post wouldn't be here :-) But two weeks out from her wedding…..well, you get the picture!!

And I also wanted to update a card I made some months back that actually won a challenge at Just Add Ink - and meant I had an exciting opportunity to be a Guest Designer for them for a challenge too! So you can see that post here but here is the original card:

So whilst I still like a lot about the card the flower stamp has now retired and I wanted to update it with a current one and less sponging on the chevrons.

So here is the new version:

Quite similar isn't it? So how many differences can you see?

There are only four :-) Firstly the flower has been changed,; also the card base is now Pink Pirouette; and there is an addition of a Brushed gold card layer  - and now NO sponging on the chevrons :-)

Card stock: Pink Pirouette, Pool Party, Brushed Gold, Gold Foil Specialty, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Gold Vellum specialty

Inks: Versamark, Strawberry Slush, Pink Pirouette

Stamps: Sassy Salutations, Flower Patch

Accessories: Big Shot, Flower Fair Framelits, Oval Framelits,Beautiful Wings Embossilits,  Gold EP, Gold Sequin Trim, Chevron border punch, Heat Tool, Hemp Twine (Retired)

This is one of those cards I have been meaning to update for some time and so it feels good to get it done especially with some time to spare! As you can see there were lots of elements of the original I kept but just a few little changes can make a big impact.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy happy happy Father's Day

With Father's Day being this weekend it seemed the perfect theme for my Stamp and Chat evening last night. Just a couple of good friends made it but it is more about the chat and fun of catching up with friends than numbers. And I see that the wonderful Just Add Ink team are also having a "Just Add Dad" theme this week to celebrate Father's Day too! Do go and check out the great inspiration they have for you this week if you have a moment :-) And I will share the card I designed for the ladies to make last night -  they did have fun :-)

As I have been making a few Shaker cards of late there was a request for one for this theme so the Ladies could join in too. And so here is what I came up with: And apologies - this card has been shaken A LOT!! :-)

Now the process did contain a few elements which kept them busy for a little while but for these Ladies who stamp and scrap all the time I like to provide a bit of a challenge - and they do keep coming back for more :-)

The card base is Bermuda Bay embossed with the Arrows EF.

To make the shaker frame I used some Real Red card and cut and embossed it with the frame in the On Film Framelits. So great that this adds a bit of texture as well as cutting the frame! The base and the acetate to place in behind the Framelit are simply cut to the outside measurements of the Framelit.  Next the Happy's are stamped once in each colour and fussy cut out and adhered to the white base. 

For the adhesive to contain the "goodies" I have tried several things lately but my favourite is indeed the SU Shaker Frame adhesive (silly me, it's all in the name isn't it?!) These come as different sized circles but I just snip one side of the circle, and remove the paper backing and then you can mould it easily to any shape you like. And because they are all the same thickness and height it gives some uniformity too. 

The colourful shaken not stirred additions are mainly punched with the new Confetti Stars border punch: lots of card stock scraps and a few sequins for some always present bling!!

Then a little more fun with the greeting - stamped using the Alphabet Rotary stamp! I just thought the script looked like it was echoing the Happy's and it was fun to play with though is good to practice a little first :-)

Card stock: Bermuda Bay, Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Real Red, Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point
Stamps: Amazing Birthday, Alphabet Rotary
Accessories: Big Shot, On Film Framelits, Arrows EF, Shaker Frame Adhesive,Window sheets, Confetti Stars Punch, Hexagon Punch (for flag ends), Silver buttons, Cherry Cobbler Twine, silver and blue sequins (Non-SU)

With our Stamp & Chat nights the usual plan is I provide and prepare everything for one card (this one last night) and then they get to play with any other Stamp, ink, or tools I might have for the rest of the evening. But as an added extra last night we also had an introduction to using Photopolymer stamps - such fun! I love them and how easy they are to line up etc - a true convert as they say! So a fun night - lots of chat and lots of stamping!

Thanks for stopping by today and please do go and check out the great challenge and inspiration at Just Add Ink this week and maybe you might be inspired to be the next to enter :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Flower Fair for FMS

Today began chilly and foggy but eventually blossomed into a gorgeous sunny Spring day! I do love Spring - it's like a sneak peek of summer :-)
And when I saw the great sketch by Cindy at Freshly Made Sketches this week I knew which stamp set I wanted to use. Here is the sketch:

And eventually I decided on this colour scheme for a friend whose favourite colour is "purple" followed by pink :-)

So the card base is Blackberry Bliss to match the piece of DSP used across the card.  The flower images are from the wonderful Flower Patch stamp set that are so easy to cut with their matching framelits and are layered on dimensionals.

Card stock: Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: Moonlight Stack

Inks: Lost Lagoon, Strawberry Slush, Crushed Curry, Pear Pizazz

Stamps: Flower Patch, Four You

Accessories: Big Shot, Flower Fair Framelits, Hexagon EF, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have time to go and check out all the great inspiration at Freshly Made Sketches this week and maybe you too might be inspired to join in the fun!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Oh Baby

It has been another gorgeous sunny day today although a little cool after a very chilly night! But it was lovely to be able to enjoy the sunshine :-)
The card I have to show you today is one I made a little earlier :-) (Sounds like a cooking demo!!) and was for a friend who came to visit us early this week. We had a lovely relaxing afternoon full of celebratory food and full of chat and fun and I made her a little card to go with a small gift to celebrate the news that she is expecting her first Baby boy! So exciting!

So without further ado, here is the card:

Yes, I couldn't resist the idea of a shaker card :-)

For the card base I sued some Soft Sky card and also stamped the pram image from the Something for Baby in the same ink. I used the co-ordinating framelit to cut the window in the top layer before embossing it with the On Point embossing folder.

To fill the shaker part I used a combination of Blue and Silver Sequins and some Silver glimmer paper punched with the Confetti Stars punch. I also used the Coastal Cabana Blendabilities to colour the shoes and the Little Letters dies to cut out the Baby :-)

Card stock: Soft Sky, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer

Inks: Soft Sky, Coastal Cabana Blendabilities markers

Stamps: Something for Baby, Baby We've Grown

Accessories: Big Shot, Baby's First's framelits, Little Letters Framelits, On Point EF, Confetti Stars Punch, Window Sheets, Blue and Silver Sequins (Non-SU)

Thanks so much for  taking the time to stop by today 

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

World Map for the Paper Craft Cew

Welcome to a lovely Spring day in Melbourne! As usual in Spring, the mornings and nights are a bit chilly still but the days themselves can be glorious - and that has been the case today. So wonderful as we had another long trip to the Vet surgeon today for Sally's suture removal after a biopsy on a mass found in her leg two weeks ago. I will share the card I made for them tomorrow but it was lovely to be able to make the drive in good weather :-)

But in the meantime it is time for another sketch from The Paper Craft Crew! The Design Team have really outdone themselves to show the variety of cards you can make with the sketch this week so I do hope you can take a minute and check them out :-)

For my card I was keen to ink up a new stamp : the World Map for the first time :-)

and to pair it with the Starburst Sayings set!

Maybe not the best Map colours but this is the first play :-) I may need to brush up on my geography to get the colours right for the next one :-)

And the blue looking dots are Basic Rhinestones coloured with the Blendabilities markers.

Card stock: Pacific Point, Pear Pizazz, Whisper White

Inks: Pear Pizzazz, Pacific Point, Baked Brown Sugar, Crushed Curry

Stamps: World Map, Starburst Sayings

Accessories: Big Shot, Starburst Framelits, Large Polka Dots EF, Basic Rhinestones, Navy Blendabilities Markers

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I do hope you can check out the rest of the Team's inspiration at the Paper Craft Crew  and we look forward to seeing what you will make this week too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Joy Case

Good evening! Well it has been a cold and wet day today for the first day of Spring! I have the odd new plant in the garden so am not that unhappy about the rain but poor Sally has spent the afternoon hiding in the bathroom from the rain and hail! Of course she came out for food - ever the food loving Labrador :-) - but quickly returned there. At least she is happy!

So I decided to break out some new stamps - the Wondrous Wreath bundle and for my first card I wanted to CASE the card in the Holiday Catalogue :-)

For the card base I used some Pear Pizazz and for the background used the berry image in Pear Pizazz ink. The long tartan banner is cut from DSP in the beautiful Trim the Tree DSP Stack - it's perfectly sized for cards so easy to use!

And the white banner is also run through the Big Shot using the Woodgrain EF for some added texture.

To stamp the actual wreath, I kept close to the original colour mix - Pear Pizazz, Mossy Meadow and Versamark ink and Cherry Cobbler embossing powder.

The beautiful Joy is cut from gold foil card stock and is so shiny and adds a beautiful texture.

And the gold ribbon is literally two bows folded and affixed to the sides of the card.

Card stock: Pear Pizazz, Whisper White, Gold Foil Specialty

Designer Series Paper: Trim the Tree Stack

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Meadow Moss, Versamark

Stamps: Wondrous Wreath

Accessories: Big Shot, Wondrous Wreath Framelits, Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder, Woodgrain EF, Gold Ribbon

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Jan