Show Off Fold

Ingredients:

Card/Paper: Bravo Burgundy from Stampin' Up, plaid, patterned strip & tea bag papers computer designed.
Ink: Bravo Burgundy
Stamps: Cheer & Wishes Stampin' Up
Other: Papermania pearl brad
Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm

Method:

Haven't made a tea bag card in ages! This one was made for a swap. The fold used is called Show Off Fold by Carole. Has a nice 3d effect. The medallion is mounted on a burgundy Nestability scalloped circle, and is finished with a brad in the centre. The patterned strip is made from a matching tea bag tile design repeated in a line, matted onto the burgundy card. The greeting was inked with a burgundy marker, stamped onto the plaid paper, and again matted onto burgundy card. All on a linen finish card base.

I am also posting the elements that I used in this card, in case anyone would like to use them. Private use only please - no selling of the designs. You are welcome to sell any cards made using them though. The images are a higher quality than I use for my card photos. The tiles will need resizing to whatever size you prefer to work with.

This is the tea bag tile used for the medallion:

The tile I used to make the patterned strip - just printed four in a row:

And the plaid background:

Butterfly Wishes

Ingredients:

Card/Paper: Perfect Plum, Bordering Blue, water colour paper for image
Ink: Old Olive, Perfect Plum, Bordering Blue, Chocolate Chip, Black ink pad
Stamps: Touch of Nature, Sincere Salutations, Canvas Background
Other: Bashful Blue brads, Ballet Blue Stampin' Pastels
Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm

Method:

Stamped the branch image three times in black ink, using Stampamajig for accurate positioning. Coloured using an aquabrush and markers scribbled onto the Stampamajig sheet. Stamped the greeting with Perfect Plum, again using the Stampamajig. Chalked the background with Ballet Blue. Used markers to ink the butterfly stamp with Perfect Plum and Old Olive markers, and stamped onto a scrap of watercolour paper. The branch image is matted onto Perfect Plum. Stamped the background with the Canvas stamp inked with Bordering Blue, onto Bordering Blue card. Cut a strip of the same blue, and inked up the end of the branch and stamped twice with the blue, rotating 180' after the first stamping. Stuck the strip across the bottom of the background. Punched three holes with a 1/16" hole punch, and added three brads. Mounted all on to a Perfect Plum card base. The butterfly was cut out, and just the body glued on to the card. Cut a foam pad in half, and stuck one piece underneath each wing close to the body. But I didn't peel off the paper and stick the other side to the page - just used the pads to keep the wings lifted.

Apricot and Celery Card

Ingredients:

Card/Paper: Whisper White, Certainly Celery Designer Paper, Apricot Appeal & Certainly Celery card
Ink: Certainly Celery & Apricot Appeal
Stamps: Petals Jumbo Wheel, Sincere Salutations
Other: 5/8" Certainly Celery Gross Grain Ribbon, Three For You punch, 1/2" circle punch, Pretties Kit Pearls

Method:

Stamped with the wheel across the top of the card base using Certainly Celery ink, and then coloured in 'open' parts of the image with Apricot Appeal marker. Wrapped ribbon round top of designer paper and glued both to the bottom of the card. Stamped greeting on white, and then matted onto three alternating layers of celery and apricot card. Used 1/2" circle punch to shape the corners before stacking. Finished with three punched flowers with flat backed pearls. Very quick and easy!

All items used available from Stampin' Up. Designer papers on special offer this month. Click on the Stampin' Up tab below my blog header for details.

Blue Tit and Damsons

Ingredients:

Card/Paper: Bordering Blue & Perfect Plum. Water colour paper for image.
Ink: Bordering Blue, Perfect Plum,Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Ballet Blue, Night of Navy, Yo Yo yellow, Close to Cocoa, Black Onyx Versamark, Whispers Black watercolour marker
Stamps: Touch of Nature, Canvas Background
Other: Stampamajig, Aquabrush, Ballet Blue Stampin' Pastels.
Card Size: 9.5 cm x 9.5 cm

Method:

I stamped the images using the black Versamark and Stampamajig for placement. The stamps were lightly stamped off once before stamping the image to get a lighter effect. Coloured the images in using markers scribbled onto the Stampamajig sheet, and the aquabrush. I decided to try the bird as a blue tit, and worked from a photo of a real one to try and get approximately the right colours and markings. I used Ballet Blue and Night of Navy for his back and head. Mixed a little bit of Old Olive on his back to green up the blue a little - you can see that in the enlargement better. For his tummy I used Yo Yo yellow, and mixed with a little blue to make it a greeny yellow. Close to Cocoa for his legs, and the black marker directly on the paper for his head markings, with a little taken back off with the aquabrush to lessen the intensity. The branches were coloured in with Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, and Perfect Plum for the fruit. Chalked a blue sky with the pastels. Matted onto Perfect Plum card. Background stamped with the Canvas Background stamp in Bordering Blue on Bordering Blue card. All mounted onto a Perfect Plum card base.

Seeing Spots for a Challenge

Ingredients:

Card/Paper: Whisper White, Apricot Appeal
Ink: Apricot Appeal, Only Orange, Brocade Blue
Stamps: Seeing Spots, Birthday Cheer & Wishes, Petals Wheel
Other: 1/2" & 5/8" circle punches

Method:

Used the wheel with apricot ink pad, to stamp the apricot card. Stamped two different circle designs on scraps of white using marker pens in the blue and orange. Punched out and arranged in a random pattern, popping some of them up with foam pads. Inked the greeting stamp with orange and blue markers and stamped directly on the card base.

I made this card for a colour challenge on In Love With Stamping.

Elegant Eggplant Flowers

Ingredients:

Card/Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Orchid Opulence, Whisper White card, Certainly Celery Prints Designer Paper
Ink: Certainly Celery, Elegant Eggplant
Stamps: Seeing Spots, Petals Jumbo Wheel, Cheer & Wishes
Other: Scallop Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch

Method:

Stamped using the wheel directly onto the card base. Punched the edge of the Elegant Eggplant, and Certainly Celery with the corner rounder to make scallops. Layered onto the card base - offsetting the scallops on the two layers. Punched scalloped circles from the Orchid Opulence. Stamped flowers from the Seeing Spots set with Elegant Eggplant ink onto Whisper White. Punched out the images with the circle punch, and glued onto the scalloped circles. Mounted these onto the card with foam pads. Stamped sentiment with Elegant Eggplant.

I made this card for a colour challenge on In Love With Stamping.

Three Little Unfrogettable Cards

Ingredients:

Card/Paper: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Ballet Blue, Ruby Red, water colour paper.
Ink: Old Olive, Ruby Red, Pumpkin Pie, Ballet Blue, Creamy Caramel, Summer Sun markers, and Stazon ink pad.
Stamps: Unfrogettable
Other: Stampin' Pastels - Ballet Blue and Old Olive.
Card Size: 9.5 x 9.5 cm

Method:

I used post it notes to make masks for some of the images. Stamped the arrangements with black Stazon. Some of the colouring was done by scribbling with the marker onto acetate, and using an aquabrush, and some was done using the markers directly to the paper. The sky and grass were chalked in using Stampin' Pastels and a sponge. Matted onto coloured card, and then onto the white card base. Hand doodling in matching colour of marker using the fine nib end. Click on the images for a closer look.

Unfrogettable Birthday

Ingredients:

Card/Paper: Old Olive, Really Rust, Summer Sun, Whisper White, water colour paper for images
Ink: Old Olive, Ruby Red, Bordering Blue, Really Rust, Black Stazon
Stamps: Unfrogettable
Other:Cuttlebug, Tiny Bubbles Folder, googly eyes, SU scallop punch, SU 1 3/8" Circle

Method:

Stamped main images onto watercolour paper, coloured in with aquabrush and marker ink scribbled on to acetate. Stamped second set of images and coloured and cut out wings, frogs back legs and snail shell and tail. Punched out main images with circle punch. Punched out scallops from olive, stuck on image circles and glued extra image parts on top. Cuttlebugged yellow strip. Stamped mushrooms and flowers on backing. Used post it to mask left hand mushroom before stamping the one next to it. Used Stampamajig to position greeting. Googly eyes to finish!

My Craft Space

Thought that I would post a few pictures of my new crafting space as it is reasonably tidy at the moment! (Click on the pictures if you would like to enlarge them.) I finally have the furniture that I was after. The stack of drawers I already posted about here.
I now have this lovely new table. It's sold as an office meeting table, and is nice and sturdy. The legs fold up underneath, which means that if necessary it can be cleared out of the room for parties, and can also double up as an extra table for barbeques etc. The two stacks of plastic drawers fit nicely underneath - they are my original craft storage, and at the time I was wondering if I really needed two!
The 12x12 tote that you can see underneath the table between the chair and the filing cabinet houses all of my 12 x 12 paper/card - don't have much of that at the moment! I have a lot of A4 size though, and that is in the filing cabinet in hanging folders. Really pleased with that - so much easier to find what I want, and put it back again afterwards. And all away out of the dust. My chair must be about 15 years old now, and is still comfy!

The last picture shows my area (bottom right of the picture) in relation to the room. This is our family room. I like to be in here, and not shut away in a separate room or shed. I'm right where my youngest is with all her toys so easy to craft and keep an eye on her. In the evening I can craft and be sociable with people watching tv etc. And a nice view of the garden. And as we have another room which is our sitting room, I don't have to put things away for visitors.

I am working on how to store my SU stamps. At the moment I only have a few sets, and they are stood up like books in a shoebox on top of the filing cabinet. But something tells me that I need to plan for more!!

Blue Flower Trio

Ingredients:

Card/Paper: Night of Navy, Ballet Blue, Sage Shadow, Whisper White, Water Colour Paper for the Main Image
Ink: Ballet Blue, Sage Shadow, Versamark
Stamps: A Touch of Nature
Other: 1/4" Whisper White Gross Grain Ribbon, Distressed Lines Cuttlebug folder, Clear Embossing Powder

Card Size: 13.5 cm x 13.5 cm

Method: First stamped the image on to post it notes twice, overlapping the sticky part as much as possible, then cut out to use as masks to layer the flower in the main image. Inked up the flower stamp with markers, and stamped onto the watercolour paper - first stamping the bottom flower, and worked my way up. Left the image to dry well, and then used a blender pen to draw colour from the stamped lines to fill in the petals and stem. Distressed the edges of the paper, and matted it onto the Ballet Blue and then the Night of Navy card. A piece of Ballet Blue was torn down one edge, and then run through the Cuttlebug in the Distressed Lines folder. Tied with the ribbon. Stamped the Sage Shadow backing with the fern leaf and Versamark, then embossed with clear powder. All mounted on to a Whisper White card base.

This card was inspired by, and CASEd, from this one made by Helen of In Love With Stamping.