Hey Girl Let's Make a Border with Framelits

How many Thank You cards do you make?  I make hundreds every year and I love that I can show gratitude and share creativity.  My card was inspired by the Heather Nichols design  below.  I loved the fancy border and remembered a partial die-cutting technique that I had not done in a long time.

Created by Olivia Moore www.paper-escape.blogspot.com

Cardstock:  Crumb Cake notecards, Whisper White

Stamps:  Flowering Flourishes (retiring, now SOLD OUT), One Big Meaning, Summer Silhouettes (retiring)

Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Archival Black

Acc:  Pool Party Glitter ribbon (retiring), linen thread, Floral Frames Collection (retiring)

Do you live in Australia?  Shop online with me for your supplies: http://bit.ly/YGGVGt

Card by Heather Nichols

For my die-cut edge, I chose to use my Floral Frames Collection framelits dies, (not least because they are retiring on May 31st!) and the largest framelit gave me the look I was after.  My card front was 3 1/4" wide, so I laid each framelit over the top until I found one I was happy with.

The cutting part is super easy - lay your acrylic cutting plate on top of your multi-purpose platfrom and then weave your cardstock so the portion you want cut is UNDER the cutting edge if the framelit and have the area you want to leave uncut OVER the framelit.  Place your acrylic top plate on and run the sandwich through your Big Shot (either all the way or just enough to cut the edge and then roll back out again).  

* You can use your magnetic platform or use some washi tape to keep the framelit in place so you get an accurate cut.

Here is the same technique I used on a coloured image using the Deco Labels Collection Framelits (also retiring!).  The Hey Girl stamp set is also retiring but now SOLD OUT.

How will you use this technique to get more out of your dies?

Happy Stamping,

Groovy Love Sweetheart Punch with Ink Refills

My recent hostesses and I have had fun using ink refills and a simple baby wipe to create a multi-coloured custom ink pad.  This bright, fun card uses the Groovy Love stamp set and matching Sweetheart punch.  The patterning of this heart stamp really shows off the changing colours and any solid or closely patterned image stamp will work well with this technique.  I keep my baby wipe ink pads between two sheets of plastic a) to prevent the baby wipe from touching paper and cardstock it's not supposed to b) to stop it from drying out.  As long as your ink pad stays moist, it can last for days, so you can keep on stamping (you can reink as necessary). 

Here's a close up of those happy hearts.  I've used my oval framelits to frame the focal image and finished it off with some In Colour ribbon.  

If you would like to know how to create your own baby wipe ink pad, here is a great tutorial.  

To view the supplies used for this card, click on the links below.  Ink refills are just $4.95 per colour or $42.95 for 10 bottles, available in each (set) colour collection. The colours I used are all from the Brights Collection Ink refills.

Cardstock:  Daffodil Delight, Whisper White

Ink:  (ink refills) Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Memento black ink pad

Stamps:  Groovy Love

Acc:  Oval framelits, Sweetheart punch, tangelo twist satin ribbon, dimensionals

Groovy Love Stamp Set

Did you know that $4.95 ink refills would be so versatile?


Happy Stamping,

Floral Fusion with Double Embossed Frame

I {heart} my Big Shot!  This card was inspired by a beautiful Nikki Spencer creation and I just love the way it has turned out. Here is a link to a tutorial for the double embossed frame technique by Peg Coombes that provides the canvas for the sentiment.  My floral fusion sizzlets hadn't been used for a long time - and here they are so pretty!  I'm also loving the new colours from the In Colour collections and Bermuda Bay just makes me happy.  The sentiments from the Trust God stamp set are beautiful and inspiring - I've also used this same design to make a framed decor piece for my home.

Cardstock:  Whisper White, Crisp Canteloupe, Bermuda Bay, Raspberry Ripple, Pistachio Pudding

Ink:  Basic Gray

Stamps:  Trust God

Acc:  Perfect Polka TIEF, Designer Frames EF, Floral Fusion Sizzlets, Little Leaves sizzlet, adhesive pearls

Happy Stamping,

Faux Mother of Pearl for a Vintage Swap Challenge

Our latest Inksanity Swap challenge theme was "Vintage" and I didn't want to distress, tear or scrunch for this one...........which meant I had the chance to play around with a technique I haven't done in a while - faux mother of pearl.  The base ingredients here are glossy white cardstock, frost white shimmer paint, black staz on ink and some glad wrap (saran wrap).

I paired this technique with the clock from the "Forever Young" stamp set and used "Kindness Matters" to create the background and sentiment.  The embossed designer frame crated the focal point and the clock centre was punched out and layered atop of some champagne glass glitter - so chunky, so luxurious.  Be sure to use your liquid multipurpose adhesive (Tombow) with this glitter, it's so chunky that tape or 2-way glue won't work well.  You really have to give this technique a go and see the gorgeous shine in real life.

Pour a little shimmer paint onto a plastic plate or other non absorbent surface.  Scrunch up your plastic wrap and dab it into the paint, tapping off excess before dabbing it randomly around your cardstock.  Don't cover the entire surface, be sure to leave gaps.  Allow the paint to dry for a minute or so, then sponge colour over the top of the shimmer paint to create your desired background.  Each piece you create will be unique but beautiful.  I stamped my butterflies BEFORE dabbing the shimmer paint on. 

You can also watch a video by Dawn Griffith's here to see how it's done.

Cardstock:  Basic Black, Glossy White

Ink:  Crumb Cake, Black Staz On, Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink

Stamps:  Forever Young, Kindness Matters

Acc:  Frost white shimmer paint, glass stampin glitter (champagne), 3/4" circle punch, pearls, designer frames, sponges, sponge daubers

Happy Stamping,

Homemade Tinted Pearl Embellishments

A few days ago I promised to share how I custom tinted my adhesive pearls to match my Pool Party colour scheme.  I had read about another method using our shimmer paints, but I found the colour rubbed off when I did mine.  So as I was thinking of a more permanent solution, I saw my much loved bottle of Crystal Effects and tried this out.

All you need is your pearls, some crystal effects and the reinker in your desired colour as well as a small paintbrush.

Squirt a small amount of crystal effects onto a plastic plate, acetate or other non-porous surface (I used my handy clear block) and then drop in a few drops of reinker to tint.  Mix this together and paint directly over the pearls to tint and then let dry.  Voila, custom tinted adhesive pearls.  Make as many or as little as you like. I did the whole pack as I love Pool Party and will have no problem using these up.

Imagine making up tinted packs in each of the colour families........... a rainbow of tinted pearls!  

Happy Stamping,

Pool Party Wedding in Paradise

A few weeks ago I posted about using our Stampin' Up ink refills to dye paper and fabric - I had decided to dye the white flowers for my daughter's flower girl dress.  Well the photo below shows the end result, a lovely tinted row of petals along the hem of her dress to match her sash.  The pool party colour theme continued throughout the wedding, which was fitting as the wedding took place on the beautiful island of Koh Samui, Thailand.

More Stampin' Up love was shared at the wedding with the placecards and table numbers to greet guests.  The guests' names were printed onto Very Vanilla cardstock and then I stamped the border in Pool Party ink before punching out.  The oval border is actually from a Christmas stamp set, but it was ideal for this.  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up all of the frames around the pre-printed names.  

Have you ever wondered how to get the lovely Stampin' Up colours on your home printer?  I set my text to print as close to Island Indigo ink as possible by using the RGB colours listed here.  

The heart-patterned adorning accents folder was perfect for the bottom edge of each placecard and of course we used the matching pool party ribbon. The flower was punched from the Itty Bitty Punch pack and then a tinted pool party pearl applied to the centre.  Stay tuned for a post about tinting our pearls to match!  The table numbers were very similar, I used the (almost retired) Simple Numbers Big Shot die to cut each table number from Island Indigo cardstock.

Cardstock:  Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Island Indigo, Rose Red

Ink:  Pool Party

Stamps:  Joyous Celebrations 128066 (Holiday catalogue from Sept 1st 2012)

Acc:  Pool Party ruffled ribbon, Adorning Accents embossing folder, Extra-Large Oval punch, Simple Numbers bigz die, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Adhesive pearls

Happy Stamping,

Dyeing with Stampin' Up reinkers

Do you know you can use reinkers to easily dye paper flowers and other fabric trims and embellishments?  Paper trims will dye well, but results will vary depending on the content and finishing coating on any other fibres. Dyeing trim to match your project is very useful when you cannot find the right colour to match.

Today, though I am using my reinkers completely off the page:

My daughter will be a flower girl in an upcoming wedding and the bridemaids dresses are very similar to Stampin' Up's Pool Party colour.  The flowergirl dress includes white fabric flowers between two layers of netting.  The white flowers are OK, but I have decided to dye them using my pool party reinker to match in better with the other dresses and to soften the whiteness of the dress.  

You can see my high-tech equipment:

A glass bowl filled with water and drops of reinker, a spoon to mix, tweezers to help fish the flowers out and paper to set the dyed flowers to dry.  I would recommend paper towel to dry the flowers on, but I had none left!  The amount of reinker to use will depend on the colour saturation required, I started with 15 drops and increased it to 20 after my first flower came out.  

Completely immerse the flower and when it has been tinted, remove it from the bowl.  As you can see, they're not white anymore!  Yay.

Here you can see the flowers drying, I like to leave them to air dry and I also stand them up on the petals so the ink will pool at the petal edges - if I need more colour I can daub some pool party ink directly into the flower centres and I also used my Big Shot to cut a few organza flowers from the leftover bridesmaid fabric and I have started stitching them into the flower centres.  I can tell you, dyeing the flowers is much easier!  I'll post a pic of the finished dress when it's all done!

Happy Stamping,

Mixed Bunch Butterfly Inspired by Nature

The Autumn-Winter mini catalogue has 2 weeks to go and the Mixed Bunch stamp set and matching Blossom punch are so versatile and easy to use!  Here is a butterfly made from the punched out patterned stamp with two simple snips and a bit of bling for the body.  

Cardstock:  Whisper White

Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo

Stamps:  Inspired by Nature, Mixed Bunch

Acc:  Blossom punch, markers, 2-way glue, dazzling diamonds glitter, dimensionals

Happy Stamping,

A Pocketful of Posies

Well, my pack of "Pocketful of Posies" designer series paper has sat unloved for this whole catalogue until now.  This pack has several bold, eclectic prints, but they were perfect for the card and altered tea box project I made recently.  I channelled a Japanese-style theme with the card, adding little yellow blossoms made with my often-used Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack.  This punch pack is three separate punches and once you have it, you'll find it very useful.  Directions for the centre step card can be found here, I changed the measurements slightly.

Cardstock:  Early Espresso

Ink:  Early Espresso

Stamps:  Apothecary Art

Acc:  Pocketful of Posies DSP, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, Adhesive pearls, velvet ribbon (retired).

I found this lovely pre-painted tea caddy in a homewares shop and covered the sides and frame with DSP to match the paint colour.  To add to the rustic charm I distressed the paper with my sanding block and then glazed the whole wooden box with a craft glaze (like modpodge).  I then used my *new*  elegant bird die to create a bird from some Attic Boutique DSP (reinforced with some cardstock) and stuck it directly onto the pre-painted glass top.  The painted flowers were crying out for a little embellishment, so I stuck a pearl in the centre of each blossom.  A retired hodgepodge frame completed the look and complemented the lovely Fabulous Phrases wording.  This whole project came together easily - I love finding premade items and upcycling them!  This could be used as a tea chest as originally intended or for displaying any little treasures.

Happy Stamping,

Label Framelits Favour Bags

During Convention 2012, Carrie Cudney showed us some gorgeous favour bags using a strip of DSP and the label framelits die, so for our last team meeting I had to make them. I also used the lovely "Reason to Smile" stamp set which can be earned FREE this month with an order over $125.

Cardstock:  Pear Pizzazz, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Whisper White

Ink:  Riding Hood Red

Stamps:  Reason to Smile (free set in June only)

Acc:  Twitterpated DSP, Label Framelits, Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die, XL Oval punch, 1 3/4" Scallop Circle punch, clear rhinestone brads

I used a strip of DSP 4"x 12" folded in half.  To cut out the top shape, I used the label framelit as an edgelit by putting it through the framelit so only the top edge would be cut - the folded edge lay on top of the framelit.  I also cut a window using the same framelits - having a nesting set of 6 is so useful!  I used the XL oval punch to make the handles, popped a strip of the jumbo scallop trim cut with the Tasteful trim die on the front edge then adhered the handle edges only.  I stamped the flower and punched it out, cutting between each scallop to create more movement in the single layer flower, and secured the whole flower through the treat bag with one of our lovely clear rhinestones.  I filled a cello bag with chocolates and slid it into the pouch for a yummy and cute treat bag.

Happy Stamping,

Handmade Birthday Cards Make Me Smile

I celebrated my birthday recently, and here are some lovely handmade cards that I received.  

What a clever use of the designer frames embossing folder inside the label framelits!  The matching pool party ruffled ribbon adds the perfect touch.  Love it!

This card just screams fun and friendship.  Bold leaves from the Sweetheart set topped with gorgeous scallop circle flowers.  Soft sponging along the top and bottom adds to the gorgeous design.  

This was a lovely surprise in my mailbox - very clever use of punches and designer paper.  My stack of presents wasn't quite that high - but what a super way of stretching your patterned paper further.  If you would like to see how to make the cute penguin from the owl punch - read this earlier post.

Thanks for the handmade love girls. 

Happy Stamping,

Convention 2012 Delicate Doilies Swap

Stampin' Up Convention 2012 was inspiring, motivating, fun and rewarding.  I had 3 of the best roadtrip companions (my upline Lisa and two of the best customers you could hope for), highly important when you are on the road for 8 hours and room sharing!  We had so much fun that when Convention 2013 was announced for Brisbane, all four of us booked in for our next holiday together.

Part of Convention is sharing ideas with other demonstrators through "swaps".  We each make something that we can swap with others so we come back with lots of ideas and samples and new friends.  I love the perspective this gives to my creativity.

My swap was fast, easy and effective - the kind of swap where you can make 50 of them in two hours the night before you leave LOL. This swap shows how highlighting a portion of a stamp can completely change the effect.  The same stamp has been used in the corner as on the "flowers".  I stamped the flowers using night of navy ink onto pool party cardstock, punched them out with a circle punch, then cut each circle into 4 pieces.  The hardest part was selecting the right stamp for the stems - you could just hand draw stems, but since I had the Flower Fancy stamp set available I decided to use that. I have to say thank you to my wonderfully supportive husband who put dimensionals on the back of pieces and added adhesive, it was a team effort and a different way to spend time together. 

Cardstock:  Night of Navy, Pool Party, Whisper White

Ink:  Night of Navy, Pool Party

Stamps:  Delicate Doilies 124960, Short and Sweet 116410, Flower Fancy 115800

Acc:  Two Tags die 115954, 1 3/4" circle punch 119850, Basic rhinestones 119246, Dinensionals, Multipurpose liquid glue, corner rounder (non SU)

Happy Stamping,

Nursery Nest Frame

This fabulous frame is filled with sugar and spice and all things nice - including our Nursery Nest DSP and lots of co-ordinating pieces.  Having co-ordinated stamps, papers, inks and accessories made this come together easily, the fun part is working on all the little details.  The colours used throughout are Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder and Blushing Bride.

Here in the top corner the printed bird from the Nursery Nest DSP was cut out and given some dimension.  I just rubbed the reverse side with a rounded stylus tip (top of a pen would work too) on a cushioned mat (mouse mat underside) and added a wing using the Bird Builder punch.  A pearl eye, a bit of glitter and some lovely ruffled ribbon complete this square.

Acc:  Blushing Bride DSP (retired), Nursery Nest DSP, Wisteria Wonder Ruffled ribbon

Banner and pennants (shortened slightly) accented by matching twine and handmade Itty Bitty embellishments.

Cardstock:  Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz

Ink:  Wisteria Wonder, Blushing Bride

Stamps:  Just Perfect alpha, Fabulous Phrases, Itty Bitty Bits

Acc: Nursery Nest DSP, Pennant Builder punch, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Wisteria Wonder baker's twine, adhesive pearls, stampin' write marker

The little squares I love making - I always try to personalise this as much as possible.  How cute is the baby carriage?  I layered two pieces of cardstock for strength and stuck it to the frame outer, with about 7 dimensionals stacked under for support.  Crystal Effects and glitter added extra dimension to this square.

Cardstock:  Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Blushing Bride

Ink:  Wisteria Wonder, Poppy Parade

Stamps:  Baby Bundle, Calendar alpha, Tiny Tags, Picture This (retired)

Acc:  Scallop square punch, 1 1/4" square punch, 1" square punch, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Heart trio punch, Jewelry tag punch, DSP In Color stack, DSP Flirtatious,  Blushing bride DSP (retired), adhesive pearls, crystal effects, glitter, stampin' write markers

These lovely flowers are made from the Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer punch.  I cut between each petal to give extra fullness.  The lovely new Twitterpated designer buttons make excellent flower centres, and I paper pieced the tiny leaves using a scrap of Nursery Nest DSP.

Stamps:  Sweet Summer (retired)

Acc:  DSP In Color stack, Twitterpated DSP, Nursery Nest DSP, Twitterpated designer buttons, Wisteria Wonder baker's twine

I added the name to the frame outer - love the 3D look of cutting the letters first in Whisper White and then offsetting them with the Wisteria Wonder.  

Cardstock:  Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder

Acc:  Timeless Type Junior Alphabet

I know this frame is going to a good home and I hope that all the little details will be enjoyed.

Now, who's up for a boy version?  The Nursery Nest DSP also has Marina Mist, Basic Grey and Pear Pizzazz, perfect for a young man.

Happy Stamping,