Safari Bus Arrived at Last!

My turn to drive the safari bus, and of course it's late! One or two little hitches, and of course, being me I had to stop and look at the flowers. So it's now late afternoon instead of morning - but we've turned up eventually, so hop on board for my tour!

Today we're visiting the Autumn Harvest set from the new Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalogue. I love this set. It has a lot of potential for cards throughout the year. Christmas, masculine, pretty - it can do them all. My first card uses the pine cone stamp from the set for a kind of rustic masculine Christmas card.

Card/Paper: Close to Cocoa, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke
Stamps: Autumn Harvest, Season of Joy, Sanded
Card Size: 12.5cm x 12.5cm (approx 5" x 5")

I inked the stamp using my markers in Always Artichoke and Close to Cocoa. Then I just randomly dabbed the tip of the Chocolate Chip marker over the pine cone to give a slight variation in shading. This was then stamped onto Very Vanilla. Using a sponge dauber I put a little Close to Cocoa around the edges of the vanilla card. The background is Always Artichoke card, stamped again with the pine cone around the edges in Always Artichoke ink. Matted onto Very Vanilla. The base card is Close to Cocoa stamped with the Sanded background stamp in Close to Cocoa ink, and again sponged around the edges using the dauber with Close to Cocoa.

Having stopped to look at the flowers, my second card had to include some of them! This time I used the ivy/maple leaf and dotted flower spray stamps as a background to the punched flowers, and also to frame the ribbon.

Card/Paper: More Mustard, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Whisper White
Ink: More Mustard, Always Artichoke
Stamps: Autumn Harvest, Sincere Salutations
Other: More Mustard 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, 1/8" Circle P
Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

The large flower was made from one punched Scallop Circle. I cut between every other scallop towards the centre, lightly sponged on some More Mustard ink, then used scored down the centre of each petal. The centre of the flower uses two of the Boho Blossoms punch shapes. I'll do a step by step when I get the chance!


Continuing with our tour of the catalogue, let me show you a couple of the new things that caught my eye:

There are some lovely new designer papers - some bright and cheerful, and some more subdued. Being on the more subdued side of the fence, here's one of my favourites Bella Bleu. Can see some very restful, elegant cards and scrap pages made from this.



Designer Brads - mmm, yummy. Love those Filigree Flower ones - of course!



And finally, not quite as thrilling as new stash perhaps, but if you are tired of your wheels rolling all over the place, here are some nice boxes specially designed to keep them under control.



If you're still with me after all that, it just remains for me to say that Natalie is our driver tomorrow - so fasten your seatbelts!