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Botanical Butterfly Birthday Gift

A friend was celebrating her birthday on the weekend and I up-cycled some coasters as a gift.

I used the Botanical Butterfly Designer Series Paper that is currently available as a free choice during Sale-A-Bration when you spend $110.  I sanded the coasters back to the hardboard and adhered the new paper.  Then I sealed them with a spray sealant I got from the hardware store.  This gives them a beautiful glossy finish which is waterproof and protects the paper from any liquid.

Thanks to Sharon Hashimoto Burkert for her idea for the card, also using this gorgeous Designer Series Paper.  Whilst she used the Poppy Parade ribbon for her card, which I think looks gorgeous - I love the contrast of the red against the black and white, I didn't have any.  I did however, have the Granny Apple Green ribbon so I went with that.  The green gives it freshness to my mind.

Supplies: 

Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black

Paper: Botanical Butterfly Designer Series Paper

Stamps: Picture Perfect Birthday

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Granny Apple Green

Dies: Layering Ovals 

Ribbon: Granny Apple Green Textured Weave Ribbon

Golden Wedding Anniversary

We had a Golden Wedding Anniversary in the family on the weekend.  When I started making a card I felt it was perhaps a little too much like a wedding card - despite it being a wedding anniversary, it felt like it was turning into one you would give when the couple first marry.

So I started a second one as well, and said I would decide which one when I'd finished both.  The second one turned out to be more elaborate than the first, but actually I liked it better.  My husband and girls had the final vote and they chose the same as me.

I used the Meant to Be Bundle from page 6 of the 2019 Occasions Catalogue.  Thanks so much to a fellow team member for lending me this bundle to make these beautiful cards.  

This one was a shaker card.  For the shaker pieces inside, I used the negative pieces from the bunch of hearts die in the set (see the arrow in the picture).  To avoid having any white bits showing I adhered two hearts the same size back to back.  I also added a few gold sequins from the gold sequin trim.

For the heart shaped hole in the shaker card I used the Puzzle Pieces Thinlits Die because I had already returned the dies to the demonstrator I borrowed them from when I decided to make a shaker.  The heart is a different shape - shorter and rounder, but it turned out quite helpful because it gave me more cardstock underneath to adhere the gold diecut heart over the top and allowed some of the white to show through.

The other card was quite plain in the end, despite how I felt about it to start with. 

I used the Be Mine Stitched dies and the Big Shot Embossing mats, to give some texture and detail to the background.  You can see that close up in the next photo.

On the inside of the card I used two of the smaller striped hearts with the lacy edge together, and I also stamped a heart on the outside of the envelope
(I didn't get a photo in the end).

I really liked this bundle once I started using it.  It was one that I hadn't really taken too much notice of to begin with, because I thought of it as Valentines and wedding, which I don't make a lot of.  

But the dies were actually really versatile.  Two of the dies make great accent pieces for any card.  One of them (pink arrow) I used on my shaker card to balance the design, but it would also be great under a banner with a sentiment.

 

 

The (blue arrow) one is a simple little flower that would have many different uses and could appear as a highlight piece in almost any project.  There's also the darling little rose which looks beautiful once it's cut.  It really shows, again, that you shouldn't discount sets without considering them carefully.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Gold Glimmer, Gold Foil

Stamps: Best Birds (sentiment)

Dies: Be Mine Stitched Framelits Dies, Little Numbers dies (retired), Puzzle Pieces Thinlits Die

Ink: Versamark

Other: Gold Embossing powder, Embossing buddy, Foam adhesive strips, Dimensionals

Cardstock: Whisper White, Vellum

Stamps: Meant to Be

Dies: Be Mine Stitched Framelits Dies, Little Numbers dies (retired)

Ink: Versamark

Other: Gold Embossing powder, Embossing Buddy, Big Shot Embossing Mats,

Infinity or Never ending Card

Have you heard of Infinity, or Never ending cards?  

At my class last month I taught this one using the Gingham Gala suite from Stampin' Up!.  We also used the Botanical Butterfly Designer Series Paper which you can earn free with Sale-A-Bration until the 31st March.

The measurements I used came from a Splitcoast Stampers tutorial but I changed them to suit what I needed as they were in imperial measurements. 

After teaching the class, I also created a video showing you how I made this fun card.  Check it out below

 

The second project we made used the Emboss Resist technique.  We heat embossed the butterflies from the Butterfly Gala stamp set with white embossing powder and then sponged the ink over the top.  

My samples were Lemon-Lime Twist fading into Daffodil Delight and Highland Heather fading into Coastal Cabana.  The photos are a little over exposed and you can't see how pretty they were.  During the class we had some Highland Heather into Pear Pizzazz, Balmy Blue into Grapefruit Grove and Balmy Blue into Daffodil Delight and they looked awesome.

 

This month we'll be making a sympathy card using the Lasting Lily from Sale-A-Bration and a masculine card using the Classic Garage suite.  Feel free to join us - see the Upcoming Classes page here on my website, or the Events page on my Facebook Page for details.

It was my Mum's birthday this week.  I couldn't decide which way around I wanted to colour my flowers so I made two cards and will keep the other for my sample board.

I used Stampin' Blends (alcohol markers) to colour the images.  I do enjoy using these markers, they colour so beautifully and smooth and I find they blend nicely for some shading.  

The pink foil is the Lovely Lipstick foil which is one of the free offerings in the Sale-A-Bration catalogue when you spend $110.  

The stamp set is one of the new cling stamps from the Occasions Catalogue (pg 11) called Wonderful Romance and it is part of a beautiful suite called Floral Romance.  Whilst I haven't used them on this card there is a set of framelits that coordinate with it too.  

Have you noticed that whilst I have used the stamp to stamp and colour the main image, I have also used it to create a subtle embossed look to the card base using VersaMark ink?  This technique is easy to do and adds to the overall effect of your finished card.

Talk to me about how you can purchase this set and get the free Lovely Lipstick foil.  

Supplies:

Cardstock: Soft Sea Foam, Whisper White, Lovely Lipstick Foil

Stamps: Wonderful Romance, Picture Perfect Birthday (sentiment)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Lovely Lipstick, VersaMark

Blends: Granny Apple Green, Balmy Blue, Lovely Lipstick

This week is my Nephew's birthday.  Both he and his brother play cricket so I got some punches out to make his birthday card.

To make this card I sponged the sky with a sponge and Balmy Blue ink.  The trick is to place your cardstock on some scrap paper and start sponging on the scrap first, then work your way in circles onto the cardstock.  Each time you reink your sponge start off the edge again.  

The wickets, ball and balloon I punched with punches.  I did use some retired punches - the Owl punch for the ball, and the Word Window (narrowed down) for the wickets.  You could easily use the Classic Label instead.  Sadly the Little Numbers dies are also retired but they were just the size I needed.  

The Take Your Pick Tool was invaluable for picking up those tiny little pieces - the top of the wickets particularly - and securing them into place.

Check out the list below for a full list of the supplies used.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Granny Apple Green, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler

Ink: Balmy Blue, Granny Apple Green (sentiment), Smoky Slate (string of balloon), White pen

Punches: Balloon Bouquet, Retired: Owl Builder, Word Window

Dies: Little Numbers Thinlits (retired)

Stamps: Tabs for Everything (sentiment on balloon), Balloon Celebration (balloon string)