One for the MIL

Todays card is for my Mother In Law's birthday. I love this image from the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set, but don't have the set in my collection. Luckily, I have recently converted my Mum to stamping (she has been a sewer & quilter for many years), and her first order included this stamp set. Mum was kind enough to let me stamp off several images before I gave it to her!

This card is BIG (about 15cm square). I didn't set out to create a large card - it just kinda worked out that way as I went along! The sentiment in the centre is another sneak peak from the Summer Mini Catalogue - a great set of Rub-on sayings called Chit Chat.

Materials

Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers

Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, So Saffron, Almost Amethyst, Whisper White, So Saffron Patterns DSP

Ink: Old Olive, So Saffron, Almost Amethyst

Other: Old Olive 5/8" Ribbon, Chit Chat Rub-ons, Corner Rounder Punch

Bright Birthday!

It is coming into Birthday season for my family (there are 6 of us with birthdays in December!), so I will be sharing a few birthday cards this week! First up is this one for my brother

This card was super quick - taking only 20 minutes from start to finish! It uses the fun Party Hearty stamp set, and you will also see a little sneak peek of one of the new items coming in the Summer Mini (I'll let you guess what it is!).

Recently I have had a few people asking how my pregnancy is going and wondering if they can see a pic of my bump. All is going very well, and we only have 9 weeks left to go! I will try and get DH to take a bump pic later this week.

Materials

Stamps: Party Hearty

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Washington Apple DSP

Ink: Ruby Red, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Basic Grey

Other: Riding Hood Red Double Striped Ribbon, Jumbo Grommet

Fishes in the water,

Fishes in the sea, we all jump up with a 1,2,3! We hear this rhyme at least once a day from our little Miss, and currently Goldfish are the big thing for her! If we are at the pet shop she wants to look at the fish, if we are anywhere that has a pond/waterfeature then we have to check it for fish, and the ultimate in fish love has happened the last couple of weeks as we have been looking after a friends aquarium and fish!!

So when it came time to choose a theme for little Miss's upcoming birthday it was a pretty easy choice - here are the invites I designed:

These were great fun to make, and using a great new tool due to be released in the Summer Mini, they were pretty easy too! The background was achieved using several colours of marker and the colour spritzer tool for the 'stones' and then sponging for the water. The 'bubble ribbon' is Stampin' Up!'s narrow twill tape which I have stamped with Only Orange ink and one of the images from the Circle Circus stamp set.

The stamp set I used for the fish is this one:

It is called Just Beachy which appears in the current Spring Mini Catalogue. You still have just over a week to order from the Spring Mini, so don't miss out on the sets you love!

Materials

Stamps: Just Beachy, Pocket Silhouettes

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Acetate

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Only Orange, Summer Sun, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery

Other: Stamping Sponges, Designer Brads, Spritzer Tool, Circle Scissors Plus, White Gel Pen

Christmas Cards - Variations # 2

Here are the other variations for the same card layout featured in my previous post. This time I have used the Winter Post and Tree Trimmings sets.

Well that concludes all of my festive creations for this year! I have finished all my gifts/cards/decor items that I wanted to make, so time to move on to other things. Later in the week I will be sharing the birthday invites for my little ones 3rd birthday. Other projects that will be appearing soon are some projects I am working on for the new baby's room, as well as some sneak peeks for the new Summer Mini Catalogue!

Materials

Stamps: Tree Trimmings, Winter Post, Many Merry Messages

Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White, Ski Slope DSP

Ink: Real Red, Baja Breeze, Old Olive

Other: Scallop Edge Punch, 1/16" Circle Punch, Mat Pack

Christmas Cards - Variations 1

This is the second style of Christmas card I mass-produced last week. The layout of these cards were inspired by a range of cards in the last Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft magazine. I took the sketch and then recreated the card 30 times using various DSP's and stamp sets. These are the first 2 variations using the Season of Joy Stamp Set.

Using the same sketch over and over allows you to quickly create all your Christmas cards with the minimum of stress! I will share some more variations with you tomorrow.

Materials

Stamps: Season of Joy, many Merry Messages

Cardstock: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White, Ski Slope DSP

Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Basic Grey

Other: Scallop Edge Punch, 1/16" Circle Punch, Mat Pack

Parade of Reindeer

Here are some of the Christmas Cards I created last week. I was on a mission to make a whole bunch in just a couple of days so I chose a couple of basic layouts and then re-created them many times over in different colour-ways or with slight adjustments. I will share some of the variations over the next few posts. Heres the first installment

I am certain that I saw this card design on-line somewhere whilst blog-hopping and was sure it was by an OZ demo, but for the life of me I can't find it again now - if you are the original designer, or know who it is, please let me know so that I may give due credit.

Materials

Stamps: Winter Post, Many Merry Messages

Cardstock: Whisper White, Ski Slope DSP, Holiday Harmony DSP

Ink: Real Red, Riding Hood Red, Basic Grey

Other: Eyelet Edge Punch, Corduroy Buttons, Button Latte, Riding Hood Red Striped Grosgrain, Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain

Notecard Gift Box

I demonstrated this little notecard box and matching gift cards at a workshop at the weekend. Little boxes like these are so easy to make, but are a really great little gift for someone.

Materials

Stamps: Petal Pizzazz

Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Pixie Pink

Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Pixie Pink

Other: White Gel Pen, Scallop Edge Punch, Corduroy Brad