Pear Pizzazz and Ribbon Lace

After making my daughter's wedding stationery earlier this year, I ended up with a large pile of full length A4 strips of Whisper White card. How convenient then, that the new catalogue coming out on October 1st has a punch ideal for using up all those strips!

The lacey border on this card is simply threaded with the narrow ribbon, and finished off with some pearls. I just added a few white flowers and a spray of leaves to finish off at the top.

The flowers are made using the largest shape from the Boho Blossoms punch. I snipped in between each petal to make them longer, and then shaped them a little bit with my embossing ball tool. The centres are just the largest circle from the Cropadile, shaped into a cup shape and then inverted in the centre of the flower over a blob of glue.

Card/Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Old Olive

Stamps: Sincere Salutations

Other: Basic Pearls, 1/8" Taffeta Old Olive, Lace Ribbon Border Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Cropadile, Little Leaves die

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

New Colours

I can't believe that it's less than a week now, until the new Stampin' Up! catalogue goes live in the UK! The year since the last one seems to have gone so fast. So I thought I'd show you a little sneak peek of the new In-Colors - all five of them on this card. Also a tiny bit of a new punch is in there - the idea pinched from a display sample I saw at an SU training meeting. Not the usual use for that punch, but quite nifty!

Each strip of card has had the bottom corners rounded with the Corner Rounder punch, and then was embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots folder. The little centre piece punched out of the larger design of the new punch was added to the end of the strip of card, with a pearl to finish.

Just a little bit of scoring on either side of the greeting to finish off. Quick and easy card!

Card/Paper: Shimmery White, Island Indigo, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral

Ink: Island Indigo

Stamps: Curly Cute

Other: Corner Rounder punch, Lace Ribbon Border Punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Basic Pearls

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

Two Frame Cards

More photos from the archives! These two cards were both made using one Marianne die set called Straight Frame LR0111. A couple of additional punches - the leaves on the one above were from a Martha Stewart punch, the little butterflies were a Woodware punch and the centres of the smaller flowers on the card below were a Woodware snowflake punch.

On the card above, the frame was cut out of a single layer of card, and sponged before sticking to the base card in the centre and on all of the points. Under each curve there is a foam pad, so that the frame has a ripple effect up and down around the edge. Not that easy to see on the photo, but adds a nice bit of dimension. On the card below the frame was cut out of a folded piece of card, with the fold just skimming below the top of the curves to create the hinge. A layer of card has been added to the centre of both the front and the inside back to add a bit of strength and stability to the card base. The die cut base, and the centre layer have both been sponged to bring out the detail of the embossing (which is done by the die as well).

I still can't decide which one I prefer!

Flowers Round the Gate

I was looking through some older files of cards and found this card I designed last summer for a class I gave at my local craft shop. I can't remember what the stamp is called, or who it's by, but I do remember that as soon as I saw the stamp, I saw it as a gate with flowers growing around it!

Sorry about the lack of detail on which punches I used, but I can't remember them exactly now, and I no longer have the card because I left it on display in the shop. But I thought you might like to see it anyway!

Get Well Card

I love this colour combination - Marina Mist and Crumb Cake. Very soothing!

The card base has three lines scored across it, and has been spritzed using the Color Spritzer Tool and Marina Mist marker.

The image is from the Hopeful Thoughts stamp set. I used my markers to colour it, and added some Galaxy Champagne glitter to the centres. Just adds a subtle bit of twinkle. Punched one corner with the Scallop Trim corner punch. I used a marker again to ink up just a portion of one of the greetings stamps and stamped in the corner. Inked the edges using a sponge and Marina Mist ink pad. Matted onto a crumb cake layer, and finished off with a little bit of gathered Crumb Cake Taffeta ribbon with a Marina Mist 1/4" grosgrain bow on the top.


The inside of the card is finished to match, and has been stamped with the other part of the greeting stamp from the front.

Card/Paper: Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Ink: Marina Mist, Crumb Cake

Stamps: Hopeful Thoughts

Other: 3/8" Taffeta Crumb Cake, 1/4" Grosgrain Marina Mist, Galaxy Champagne Glitter

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

Pink Birthday Flowers and a Long Pillow Box

This is a really pretty two step stamp set. The large flower outline is one stamp, and then another solid one to fill in with colour. A quick and easy shape to cut out as well. The centre flower is popped up with a dimensional. It doesn't really show in the photo, but the white areas on the butterfly and the centres of all the small plum flowers have Dazzling Diamond Glitter on them, so along with the rhinestones, it's a pretty, twinkly card.

Inside decorated to match:

This card was another project for my stampers ten group, and we made a matching pillow box to go with it.

The box is made using two of the pillow box die cuts. One end of the green section was trimmed straight, and then punched with the Scallop Trim punch, and embossed using the Perfect Polka dots embossing folder. The plum half was stamped all over with the small flower stamp in plum ink before sticking the two halves together, and then assembling the box. Finished off with a flower, ribbon and tag.

We used a handy little time saver for inking up the two plum flowers on the tag stamp. Rather than ink up the whole stamp with two markers - which we could have done, we inked up the whole stamp with a Wild Wasabi ink pad, removed the green from the two flowers using a blender pen, and then inked them up using a Perfect Plum marker. Where you only want a little bit of a stamp a different colour, this saves time in inking up the larger part with a marker.



If you are in the UK, and are interested to hear more about my stampers ten group, have a look at this page.

Card/Paper: Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White

Ink: Perfect Plum, Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi

Stamps: Cottage Garden, Curly Cute

Other: Basic Jewels Clear Rhinestones, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Whisper White 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Scallop Trim Border punch, Pillow Box Die

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

Butterflies and Boxes

This is a recent-ish make and take I designed for my stampers ten members.

The background is created by using a piece of pink card, and then embossing it with a folder that has been brayered with the matching ink before putting the card in and running through the Big Shot. The same for the inside of the card as well.

We also made a matching box using the Mini Milk Carton die. You need two die cuts for each box, and you cut one section off each die cut (not the end with the flap on as you need that to construct the boxes). I am planning to do a quick tutorial on how to do the box, so watch this space!

If you pull the top together with the points up it looks like this:


A little more tricky, and less space in the box, but if you make the points go down it looks like this:

Card/Paper: Perfect Plum, Pink Pirhouette, Very Vanilla, Springtime Vintage DSP (retiring this month)

Ink: Pink Pirhouette, Pear Pizzazz, Perfect Plum

Stamps: Fast Flowers, Fresh Cuts (both retiring this month) Sincere Salutations

Other: Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, Basic Pearls, Pretty in Pink 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon, Silver Cord (no longer available)

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

Cherry Cobbler Flowers

Card/Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive

Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Cheer and Wishes

Other: Scallpo Trim Border Punch

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

This is a stampers ten make and take that we did a while back. One of my favourite sets, I love the flowers on this set, and the leafy flourish. The flowers were stamped on to scrap, cut out and then given a little shaping before fixing to the card. Below I have shown two options for finishing the centre of the large flower. The first one is more practical for posting, with just a little shaped circle inverted over a blob of pva. The second has stamens made by snipping a strip of card into a fine fringe, then rolling up and spreading the fringing to make a much more dimensional centre.

a little stamping to finish off inside . . .



A couple of days ago, I think I somehow pinched a nerve in my back or hip, and was in a lot of pain, and was having trouble bending, sitting down and standing up. I was very slowly and painfully working my way out of bed a couple of mornings ago, and saying to Amy (8 years old) that I was like an old woman. Her reply: "Well, you're kind of old - you are 50!"

Feeling much better now though. This afternoon I leaned forward whilst sitting at my desk, and felt something go twang - all of a sudden the pain and stiffness was vastly reduced, so guess whatever was pinched is un-pinched now . . . thank goodness!

Wedding Gift Thank You Cards

Card/Paper: Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Stamps: Wedding Sweet, Sweet Swirls

Other: Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Cosmos Orchid glitter, Scallop Trim punch, Curly Label, Cropadile

Card Size: 15cm x 10.5cm (approx 4" x 6")

These are the thank you cards I made for my daughter's wedding. Somewhere between these and the save the date cards I posted the other day, there was some wedding stationery, but I still have to work on getting photos of that!

Fairly simple design because I had to make 50 of them. And I finally found a use for my vacuum cleaner! The glitter is stuck on with pva, and once it had dried and hardened overnight, I used the dusting brush attachment on my vacuum to suck off the remaining traces of loose glitter. Normally I use a soft paintbrush to do the job, but 50 cards was proving to be a bit tedious until I switched to the vacuum. It worked really well, and was ten times quicker. My family didn't even bat an eyelid at mum vacuuming her cards!

Misplaced Mother's Day!

No, I haven't lost the card - it's just misplaced in time whether you're in the UK or US! But I found it in my files, and thought that I would post it anyway. This is the card that I gave my mum on mother's day this year. At the time I made it, it was pretty much all new products from the mini, so I was having fun experimenting with them.

The sentiment stamp is from the SU set Occasional Greetings which is retiring this month.


I decorated the inside to match.

Just a little close-up of the flowers to finish with.