3d flowers

A special request was made for this card, I love the 3d flower and the sentiment used as a stem.

Its ATC time

My ATC group met today, the theme being "I ....., therefore I ....". I liked this because it can mean something different to everyone, there is no one obvious response, other than the original from Descartes, "I think, therefore I am". I hope the girls wont mind me posting their beautiful artwork, I wanted to show how varied the thinking and therefore the creations were. I love being part of this group and I thoroughly enjoy doing ATC's. Its a mini work of art and you dont have to put a sentiment on it ! lol

Captain America

Having all male children, its that challenge of boys birthday cards ! I cased this card from Alison Ohran, a talented SU demonstrator. I love the real red with the pacific point - so striking.

Teacher Thank you's

OK, so the last couple of teacher thank you's are done.

This one is for my school librarians, they are so supportive and encouraging to childhood literacy. They make each child feel special. The library is organised into 4 categories, the name of each I put onto each book - how perfect is that :-) I got the inspiration for this card from the Stampers Connection, the Stampin' Up! demonstrators website. So many GREAT ideas there.

The second card is for the school administrative staff, principal and vice principal. Its been a challenging year with the teachers action, so I felt they deserved a thank you. I love this 3d apple, which is the large heart punch, scored and glued together.

Open House

I hosted a couple of Open Houses to launch the new 2012-13 Stampin' Up! catalogue. The catalogue is crammed full of lovely items, stamp sets, embellishments, ribbon, dies, papers, punches etc, etc. I think the two most exciting things for me are : the new stamp pads and the new in-colours. So much inspiration, so many cards to make ..... lol

Here is the make or take card all the attendees made, simple and yet so effective :

SU recipe :
Stamp set : Word Play
Ink : Chocolate chip
Cardstock : white, floral district dsp
Accessories : Blossom punch, 3/4 inch circle punch, perfect polka dot embossing folder, big shot

June WMS blog hop - Inspire Me

Amidst the chaos of the day to day ... I found the time to take part in the WMS blog hop.

The instructions were simple, to take inspiration from this photo and to use Waltzing Mouse Stamps. I loved the idea of taking inspiration from a picture and the first thing that came to mind was : wainscoting. 

My wainscoting is all delicately scored and sponged so that it would show in the photo.

A close up of the newest addition to my stash : Stampendous aged ivory embossing enamel. Shown here, but more clearly on the hinge clip below. It is ivory with golden flecks - when heated they melt to give that aged look. I have to say it is absolutely fabulous and worked so well with my WMS stamps :-)

 Its great to play along in the blog hop - thanks for looking.

Supplies used : Marina Mist, Not quite navy and whisper white cardstock - Stampin' Up!, soft stone cardstock pti, Prima flowers, Lustre crystals, Stampendous aged ivory embossing enamel, Paris Nouveau Stamp set, Labels 25 die

Rock 'n' roll technique

Love this technique, its so effective on so may images, but especially nature ones, trees, flowers etc. This is my newest purchase from Waltzing Mouse Stamps. LOVE LOVE LOVE it ! I made this for a friend who has just moved house. My favourite colors appear again - orange and green - just cant get enough of them :-)

You may also notice the kissing technique on the tree trunk. I inked up the solid tree trunk in chocolate chip ink, inked my wood grain stamp in a lighter color and touched them together before stamping the trunk.

Thanks for looking x

S W I N G

Yet another swing card - I'm gonna be a pro at this, thats two I've done now ! lol I love the finished article but the cutting and scoring is torturous ! Next time I will try to use my big shot and a die to do it.

I used the SU set 'Lovely as a tree', very vanilla and night of navy card stock, crumb cake seam binding and chocolate chip ink. The sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse Stamps, and the patterned paper is Basic Grey Little Black Dress.

Thanks for looking and please come again :-)

Coloring with my SU markers

Coloring with my SU markers is not a thing I have done much of. I own the boxed set of markers (lucky me :-) but I havent really used them very much. I got the inspiration from watching a video on the Stampers Connection by Karen Barber.

SU recipe :
Stamp Set : Simply Soft, Itty Bitty Banners
Cardstock : Whisper white, pacific point
Makers : Bashful blue, marina mist, pacific point, wild wasabi, garden green, white gell pen
Accessories : ticket corner punch
Technique : Coloring, punching

Sympathy card

My first ever sympathy card !!!
Cards are for all occasions, not just the happy ones. Its touching to receive a hand made card at such a time.

The stamp set is from Just Rite Stamps, With Sympathy. The flowers are colored with copics, few dabs of white gel pen and cut out - yes it took quite a while, but I love how the roses sit on top of the frame and embossed cardstock.

Its Vivienne AGAIN !

Love this stamp from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps, she is a pleasure to colour with my copics and paperpiece :-) I came across this piece of reflective card amongst my craft supplies, and framed by the Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Square it made quite the ornate mirror. I would imagine Vivienne takes frequent glances at herself. lol

The last craft class

Gosh, I can hardly believe that 9 months has passed - could have grown another human being in that time, and in fact two of the group did ! Welcome Sophie and Marcus :-) The rest of us just managed a bit of crafting !!! lol

For the last class we made a male orientated card, suitable for Birthday or Fathers Day and there were a selection of sentiments available to the crafters.

The vanilla craft ink has been retired from the SU catalogue now, which is a shame. I loved embossing with it onto dark cardstock.

SU recipe :
Stamp set : Sincere Salutations, Natures Nest
Cardstock : Night of Navy, Very Vanilla
Ink : Vanilla craft ink, concord crush, sahara sand
Accessories : Scallop ribbon punch, large oval punch, corner rounder, clear embossing powder
Techniques : Stamping, punching, heat embossing

At the last class we also did some 'thinking on your feet'. I wanted the crafters to use their own supplies and imaginations. We did an Artist Trading Card Challenge. Everybody made two identical-ish trading cards, the title being 'Beauty' and then traded one. I thought it was a huge success and I loved seeing all of the individual and personal works of art that were produced.

If you dont know what Artist Trading Cards's are, here is a brief summary :

Artist Trading Cards (ATC's)

Is a 2.5 x 3.5 pocket size canvas. Originally designed to be an artists calling card, created in 16^th century Europe. They were considered the first pocket sized photo's – rich men often commissioned artists to do nude ATC's of their mistresses ! Also used during match making. Later used for advertising and for artists to study each others style.

They have gained momentum since 1997, when baseball and other sports cards were standardised, and were traded. A Swiss artist, Stirnemann, created and show cased 1,200 similarly sized cards, he told people who wanted one of his cards to come back and bring one of their own to trade.

Stirnemanns work spread through Canada through Calgary artist Don Mabie (aka Chuck Stake) who participated in the 1997 trade. In 2000 the two collaborated on an exhibition in Calgary, with 80 artists from 10 different countries. The concept spread across the globe like wildfire.

What is fun about ATC's :

You dont sell them, you cant buy them, you can only trade them.

Design, make and trade these tiny treasurers, using your imagination and all your craft supplies.

Join or start an ATC group, choose a title for each exchange.

Paper piecing a sofa !

What a lovely way to spend a few hours than stamping and paper piecing images..... ahhhh. This and my beloved copics must be my favourite crafty past time. I find it so relaxing and therapeutic. I find myself totally absorbed and the time just flies by.
I spent so long on the sofas, then when I had them I didn't know what to do with them ! lol Cards turned out ok, but not quite as I had planned.

Love the Clear & Simple Stamps set House Notes II and the Basic Grey Picadilly paper pad had papers in just the right scale for a sofa.
Thanks for looking :-)