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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Stampin' Up! Australia - Color Coach Card #66 - Stampin' Up! Stars Stencil Mask

Strawberry Slush #2


#ColorCoachJourney 


Hi

You know something, I absolutely love it when the Color Coach throws up a color combination where the three colours literally blend with each other. Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana and Crisp Cantaloupe are three of these colours....the Coastal Cabana blends with Strawberry Slush to give a gorgeous purple and Strawberry Slush blends with Crisp Cantaloupe to give a lighter pinky tone. SO COOL!

Of course I broke out my new Stampin' Up! Hearts & Stars Decorative Mask (stencil) and used the Stars stencil to make this cool ombre background.

I was inspired by the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch this week. I used the sentiment 'Make A Wish' from the Perfect Pennants stamp set as I thought it would tie in with the stars beautifully.

Instead of using a Banner Framelit, I used one of the Chalk Talk Framelits as it had a cute little space for my Coastal Cabana sequin!





Hope you like my card!
Cheers
Alison xx
Materials used:

Monday, July 28, 2014

Stampin' Up! Australia - Stampin' Up! Blackberry Bliss & Hello Honey!

Hi

I saw the sketch at Clean & Simple the other week and completely forgot to play along and make a card for it.

As soon as I saw the sketch I knew that I wanted to use the big sentiment greeting from Another Great Year....sadly it is retired but if you wanted to CASE this card, you could use one of the many 'big' greetings from the current catalogue....oversized sentiments are very hot right now....there's a heap to choose from. I have suggested a couple below in the gallery.

I used a couple of new In Colors...Blackberry Bliss for my base card, sentiment and DSP (from the Moonlight Designer Paper Series Stack) and Hello Honey on my ribbon.

I love these two colours together.....they are rich and vibrant!



Hope you like my card!

Cheers
Alison xx


Materials used:

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Stampin' Up! Australia - Color Coach Card #65 - Stampin' Up! Blendabilities

Strawberry Slush #1


#ColorCoachJourney 


Hi

I am skipping the Color Coach combination of Calypso Coral and Crisp Cantaloupe, but I promise I will come back to it. :)

Today I was inspired by the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and I really loved the Color Coach Combo of Strawberry Slush, Rich Razzleberry and Sahara Sand. I wanted to put my Rich Razzleberry Blendabilities to good use on the 'I Like You' stamp set, and what a great sketch this was to use it!

The recipe at Less is More this week is 'Anything Goes'...just have fun...and I certainly did! :)



If anything, I think this card really highlights the difference between a blender pen/marker and a blendabilities pen. The Rich Razzleberry is coloured with the Blendabilities and the Strawberry Slush flower was coloured with a blender pen dipped in the ink pad and then highlighted with the marker....albeit not fantastically. You can see how smooth and blended the Rich Razzleberry flower is compared to the Strawberry Slush which is just a bit blotchy really. Oh well, I still like the overall effect. :)

Hope you like it too. 

Cheers
Alison xx

Materials used:

Stamp - I Like You
Ink - Strawberry Slush, Memento Ink, Sahara Sand, Rich Razzleberry Blendabilities, Strawberry Slush marker. 
Cardstock - Whisper White, Strawberry Slush DSP, Rich Razzleberry
Tools - Circles Framelits, Big Shot, Blender Pen, Expressions Thinlit Dies (retired) 
Accessories - In Color sequins - Strawberry Slush


Friday, July 25, 2014

Stampin' Up! Australia - Stampin' Up Perfect Pennants - CASE-ing the Catty #2

Hi

Welcome to Week 2 at CASE-ing the Catty. I hope you will find time to join us this week as we explore the Memory Keeping section of the catalogue. 

CASE - The acronym stands for COPY AND SHARE EVERYTHING. The latest Stampin' Up! ® Catalogue certainly encourages crafters to do just that as it is jam packed with amazing, inspirational projects.

The idea is to feature a section of the Stampin' Up! ® catalogue each week using the projects in the catty as inspiration.


You can directly CASE (Copy and Share Everything) or use a sketch/layout, colour combo, embellishment, just to name a few examples, as a springboard for your own creations.


Here's a Badge to paste to your blog:

Guidelines


  •   Create a new project for the current challenge (no back linking)
  • Mention CTC Challenges in your blog post and link back to the challenge blog so others can join in on the fun.
  • Let us know what project you CASED and make reference to the page of your country's catalogue where you got your inspiration. 
  • SUO products (retired or current) may be used in your projects for CTC Challenges. 


So let's go!


My project was CASE-d from page 39 of the catalogue which features a gorgeous kraft page decorated with the Postage Due stamp set, some washi tape and paper doilies. 


Here's the original:

Here's my CASE:



I used Crumb Cake card stock for my base card and stamped layer. I stamped the Postage Due stamp using the new In Color of Mossy Meadow ink which is lovely rich deep green, I copied the original by using my Small Scallop Stampin' Trimmer Rotary Blade to create a scalloped edge down the left hand side. I added a strip of Epic Day Washi Tape. My sentiment is from Perfect Pennants, stamped on Very Vanilla in Mossy Meadow and die cut with the matching Banners Framelits. I decorated this with a peek of a Tea Lace Paper Doiley, a banner of Pear Pizzazz DSP and an Ampersand clip from the Essentials Hardware Clips pack.

I stamped my envelope too just to bring it all together nicely. :)

I hope you like my card and are inspired to play along with us....be sure to visit my online store to browse all these items and more! 

Cheers
Alison xx

Materials used:

Stamp: Postage Due, Perfect Pennants
Ink - Mossy Meadow
Cardstock - Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Pear Pizzazz DSP
Accessories - Tea Lace Paper Doiley, Essentials Hardware Clips
Tools - Big Shot, Banners Framelits, Small Scallop Stampin' Trimmer Rotary Blade, Stampin' Dimensionals, Multipurpose Liquid Glue. 



Friday, July 18, 2014

Stampin' Up! Australia - Color Coach #64 - Welcome to the CASEing the Catty Challenge Blog!

Crisp Cantaloupe #2


#ColorCoachJourney 

Hi

Welcome to the first challenge at CASE-ing the Catty. I am thrilled to announce that I am on the Design Team and can't wait see all the beautiful projects from my talented team members, and of course those of you following and playing along! :)

CASE - The acronym stands for COPY AND SHARE EVERYTHING. The latest Stampin' Up! ® Catalogue certainly encourages crafters to do just that as it is jam packed with amazing, inspirational projects.

The idea is to feature a section of the Stampin' Up! ® catalogue each week using the projects in the catty as inspiration.


You can directly CASE (Copy and Share Everything) or use a sketch/layout, colour combo, embellishment, just to name a few examples, as a springboard for your own creations.


Here's a Badge to paste to your blog:

Guidelines

  •   Create a new project for the current challenge (no back linking).
  • Mention CTC Challenges in your blog post and link back to the challenge blog so others can join in on the fun.
  • Let us know what project you CASED and make reference to the page of your country's catalogue where you got your inspiration. 
  • SUO products (retired or current) may be used in your projects for CTC Challenges. 


So let's go!

Here's my project:



I cased the gift box on page 16 of the catalogue. The Tag a Bag gift boxes (pg 201) are AWESOME and I always keep some on hand to decorate for last minute gifts. They are cool because they are pre-scored and cut so you just fold it together to make the box base, then the acetate tube slides over as the lid. Easy!

I added a flower made with the Spiral Flower Die as a main feature. I scrunched it up and separated the layers so essentially I had two spirals out of the one die and then I curled one up and then curled the second one up around it.....because the paper layers are separated, it gives a beautiful faux-suede look and it looks almost like a real flower!





In keeping with my Color Coach colours, I combined Crisp Cantaloupe with Soft Suede and Pink Pirouette. The Pink Pirouette can be seen on the little heart punch on the tag (from the Owl Builder Punch) and I scrunched up some brown paper (the stuff that we get in all our SU orders) and layered some Pink Pirouette paper strips on the top. 

I love this gift box as the decorations just sit on the top of the acetate, so even once the recipient opens it, the decorations stay intact and the box may be reusable. 

I really love the way this came together. :)

Hope you can play along with us this week and please leave a comment below and visit the Design Team...I know they would love to hear from you. :)

You can also visit my online store if you would like to order any of these supplies. 

Cheers
Alison xx

Materials used:

Stamps - Label Love
Ink - Crisp Cantaloupe, Soft Suede
Cardstock - Crisp Cantaloupe, Crisp Cantaloupe DSP, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette
Accessories - Tag a Bag Gift Box, Paper Doily, Organza Ribbon, White Bakers Twine
Tools - Artisan Label Punch, Owl Builder Punch, Stampin' Trimmer, Fast Fuse Adhesive, Stampin' Dimensionals, Paper Snips, Big Shot, Spiral Flower Die, Glue Dots. 

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Stampin' Up! Australia - Less Is More - The Very Hungry Caterpillar Card

Hi

The challenge at Less Is More this week is Adapt a Fingerprint on a One Layer Card. HOW FUN!!!!!

I knew exactly what I was going to do.....and that was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

The book just happened to be near my craft table when I saw this challenge come through, so it was quite the happy coincidence. :)









I took a Whisper White notecard and a selection of Stampin' Up! green inks....Gumball Green, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Garden Green and Lost Lagoon for a shot of blue tones. 

I inked up my trusty fingerprint and stamped the caterpillar pattern using different ink colours and overlapping and stamping off now and then. The caterpillar's face was stamped using Tangelo Twist and the feet and eyes drawn with a Baked Brown Sugar marker.

This card is going to the daughter of a friend of mine for her birthday so I thought the Wish Big sentiment would be appropriate and then it struck me that a butterfly in the background would complete the caterpillar's 'story'. Cute yes?

I hope you like my card. 

Cheers
Alison xx

Materials used:
Stamps - My wonderful fingerprint!, A Dozen Thoughts (for the sentiment), Papillon Potpourri (for the butterfly)
Ink - Gumball Green, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Garden Green, Tangelo Twist, Lost Lagoon, Baked Brown Sugar Marker. 





Sunday, July 13, 2014

Stampin' Up! Australia - Color Coach Card #63 - Stampin' Up! I Like You - Thank You Card

Crisp Cantaloupe #1


#ColorCoachJourney 


For this card, I was inspired by the 'Distress Ink' look and the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. Instead of the second banner, I chose a heart shaped Crisp Cantaloupe element stamped with one of the flowers from 'I Like You'.

To get my "Distress Ink" feature panel, I inked up my acrylic block with Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding and Coastal Cabana. I then spritzed it with water so that little beads formed over the block. I then stamped my Whisper White card stock (punched into a tag shape with the Scalloped Tag Punch), blotted the excess ink and then let it dry. I flicked water droplets onto my tag to get some lovely mottled effects and then I stamped the same flower stamp that I used on my heart onto the edges of the tag. 

I love how the tag ended up - the colours blend beautifully and the random effect of water reacts so well with the inks and card stock. LOVE IT!

My Crisp Cantaloupe sequins that I ordered haven't turned up just yet, so I used some random cantaloupe-coloured sequins that were sitting in my 'bits & bobs' jar. 




Hope you like my card!

If you don't have a 2014-2015 Annual Catalogue yet, just email me and I will send you a copy for FREE! 

Cheers
Alison xx

Materials used:
Stamps - I Like You (New Hostess Set)
Ink - Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana, Versamark
Cardstock - Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Sweet Sorbet DSP (for background mat layer)
Accessories - Sequins, Pistachio Pudding Ruffled Stretch Trim (retired), Crisp Cantaloupe Thick Bakers Twine, Wooden Elements Embellishments
Tools - Scalloped Tag Punch, Glue Dots, Heart Punch, White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Paper Snips, Stampin' Trimmer, Stampin' Dimensionals, SNAIL

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Stampin' Up! Australia - Color Coach Card #62 - Stampin' Up! Sketched Birthday

Coastal Cabana #2


#ColorCoachJourney 

 Hi!

Today's card is based on a diagonal sketch layout from Clean & Simple Stamping.  

The color coach colours are Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral and Smoky Slate. The DSP is from Eastern Elegance which is some DSP from last years catalogue that featured Coastal Cabana. I liked the geometric pattern on it. 

The dots are from Perfect Pennants....the horizontal stamp isn't quite as wide as the card so I stamped it twice in a line - can you believe I stamped that without a stamp-a-majig..talk about lucky!

The stars were punched from Calypso Coral and then embellished with Smoky Slate candy dots. I threw on a couple more Rhinestone jewels for effect. :)

The sketch called for the sentiment to be across the top of the diagonal patterned piece but I just couldn't make it work so I opted for the dots and put the sentiment panel at the bottom.






Hope you like my card!

Cheers
Alison xx

Materials used:
Stamps - Perfect Pennants, Sketched Birthday
Ink - Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate
Cardstock -Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Eastern Elegance DSP.
Accessories - Neutrals Candy Dots, Rhinestone Jewels
Tools - Stampin' Trimmer, Big Shot, Itty Bitty Framelits, Merry Mini Punch Pack (retired)

Monday, July 7, 2014

Stampin' Up! Australia - Color Coach Card #61 - Stampin' Up! Work of Art

Coastal Cabana #1



Hi

Addicted to CAS have a cool theme word at the moment - Sky!

I was messing around on some scrap paper with these color coach suggestions of Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry and Pumpkin Pie and thought that they looked like a tropical sunset over the sea.

I decided to use the stamps from the "Work of Art" stamp set like the paint brushes they resemble and painted this landscape using stamps only......pretty cool huh! I used a lot of partial stamp inking and stamping off....SO FUN!

I was SO happy with the result. 

I haven't put a sentiment on the card as I like the landscape the way it is and thought a sentiment would clutter the card too much. 

I think it would make a lovely sympathy card or even a thank you card. 







Hope you like my card! Can you believe this was done with just one stamp set! Work of Art is so versatile I tell ya! :)

Please contact me for a new Stampin' Up! catalogue if you don't already have one. I will send you one for FREE! 

Cheers
Alison x

Materials used:
Stamp - Work of Art
Cardstock - Whisper White
Ink - Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie
Tools - Stampin' Trimmer, SNAIL

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Stampin' Up! Australia - Color Coach Card #60 - Stampin' Up! Flower Shop

Pistachio Pudding #2



Hi

I was asked to make a retirement card for one of the lovely people at work and I thought that the Color Coach combo of Pistachio Pudding, Strawberry Slush and Smoky Slate would be perfect! 


I used a retired card kit (Simply Fabulous Simply Sent) for my base and then adorned it with Pistachio Pudding Designer Series Paper and a flower stamped from the Flower Shop stamp set + an embellishment, some ribbon, leaves and a sentiment banner stamped with the "Happy Retirement" stamp from Teeny Tiny Sentiments.




Do you like it!? It is certainly much 'prettier' than the cards I usually do....and there are a lot of layers, but it feels and looks quite special so I hope the recipient will like it. :)

By the way, have you got your new Stampin' Up! 2014-2015 Annual Catalogue yet?....if not, drop me an email and I will send you a copy for FREE in the mail (Australian customers only). 

Cheers
Alison xx

Materials used:
Stamps - Flower Shop, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Ink - Smoky Slate, Pistachio Pudding
Cardstock - Pistachio Pudding Cardstock and DSP, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Vellum
Accessories - Simply Fabulous Simply Sent Card Kit (retired), In Color Boutique Details embellishment, Strawberry Slush ribbon, Smoky Slate ribbon (in kit)
Tools - Pansy Punch, Bird Builder Punch, 7/8 scallop circle punch, SNAIL, Stampin' Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Sticky Strip. 



Thursday, July 3, 2014

Stampin' Up! Australia - Color Coach Card #59 - Stampin' Up! Work of Art

Pistachio Pudding #1


Hi

Pistachio Pudding is teamed with Crisp Cantaloupe and Baked Brown Sugar for this color coach card. 


CAS(E) This Sketch have the cutest sketch this week but I couldn't come up with any kind of fun image to use, so I went with using the new Work of Art stamp set and referencing the heart in the sketch instead and using the brush strokes & sentiment as the 'creature'. 

The Paper Players have a 'Tic Tac Toe' challenge this week so I chose patterned paper, a shade of green (since I am using Pistachio Pudding) and thank you as my elements. 

I am sending this card to a customer who placed an order the other day. I hope she likes the card. I really like how this came together. :)

If you are wondering how I got the two shades of green, I stamped in Pistachio Pudding first and then did a second stamp next to it without cleaning my stamp. This technique is called "stamping off"...where you do a repeat of the stamp using the rest of the ink left on the stamp. You can get many shades of your colours this way. :)




Hope you like my card!

If you haven't already heard, the BRAND NEW 2014-2015 Annual Catalogue has just been released in Australia, so if you would like your very own hard copy for FREE to stick post-it notes all over, hug in bed and gaze at lovingly, then just send me an email and I will get one in the post pronto for you. :)

Materials used:
Stamp - Work of Art
Ink - Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Baked Brown Sugar
Cardstock - Whisper White, Pistachio Pudding, Pistachio Pudding Designer Series Paper
Tools - Stampin' Trimmer, SNAIL, Stampin' Dimensionals. 
Accessories - none