January Birthdays!

One of my many indulgences was the Cottage Garden Set (IB&Cp53) and here I've used the In Colour Inks (IB&Cp81) Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Concorde Crush and Blushing Bride. I also used the retired stem sayings for the front of the card with the leaf from the Vintage Vogue set (IB&Cp62). I cut out a second butterfly and raised it on a dimensional and added basic rhinestones for the body of the butterfly (IB&Cp99). The Birthday Greeting comes from the Perfect Punches set (IB&Cp66) and then punched out with the extra large oval (IB&Cp105). I think when I do this type of card again I'll use clear embossing for the large flower on coloured card stock - but definitely food for thought!

Next is a neutral card using the Just Believe stamp set (IB&Cp57). Being a fan of all things neutral I've used Sahara Sand and River Rock Inks (IB&Cp85). I have printed the circle on Naturals Ivory card stock (p87), and then punched out the circle and scallop circle to make the embellishment for the soft suede polka dot Grosgrain side ribbon. Then as a simple embellishment I used a strip of the small basic pearls (IB&Cp99), which are sticky backed, making them incredibly easy to use. I really love this flower set and it would be a great set for toppers :-)

Finally for the end of January I used one of my other new stamp sets from Convention - Party This Way (IB&Cp31). Here I've used a simple silver background card to highlight the simple birthday balloons using my new 1 1/4" Large Square punch (IB&Cp106), using Not Quite Navy ink on white and blue card stock. The Happy Birthday Greeting is a quite funky and with the simple stripy ribbon, hopefully not too home made for the trendy teenager it went to. As always I've used my motto Keep It Simple :-) Keep on Crafting! More to come soon, GenGen ;-)

Catch Up Queen!

Having had a crafty afternoon today, with my fellow crafter Mandy she has managed to nag me sufficiently to update my blog with the few cards I've managed to produce! I am embarrassed to admit that these cards are from December 2010 and as you can see I still have a real weak spot for all things relating to stars and as there are quite a few male December Birthdays, I have kept to Blues and Greens. More specifically in this card you see the Classic Stars (Idea Book & Catalogue p69) Jumbo Wheel in Night of Navy ink printed on Tempting Turquoise card stock with some stripy ribbon I have lying around. I have punched small and large stars (IB&Cp105), out of some retired card stock in blue and white. Then the greeting is framed by the Word Window Punch (IB&C p105).

Continuing my star fetish, here I've used Night of Navy card stock, punching the extra large star at the bottom of the card and then placed 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon (IB&Cp97), in stripes behind the cut out - here I've used tempting turquoise and elegant eggplant. I have then used Whisper White Ink for the stars and Birthday greeting - a real case of less is more :-)

Lastly in this update, but still along the same theme I've added another ribbon colour of Old Olive, this time with Not Quite Navy card stock and three small stars punched out at the side. I've used a retired greeting stamp set in Whisper White Ink. As always all of my envelopes have been stamped to keep the Postman cheerful. Will post again soon, as the backlog is rather huge, and perhaps one day I'll be up to date - slowly catchy monkey!

Catch Up Continues - Convention 2010

So having never been to a SU convention I thought I'd go along as this year it was in the UK - incredible Croydon! As we were all going to have the same bag at convention here is the name tag I did to distinguish mine from others. I've used Soft Suede background card then craft with Sahara Sand background flower stamp from Vintage Vogue set. The double flowers printed from the hostess set Punch Potpourri in soft suede ink, then punched out by Boho Flowers and secured by an antique brass brad. Then for the name I used the first initial from the Broadsheet Alphabet then the remaining letters from Just perfect alphabet. I put the eyelet into the largest flower and then threaded some of the gorgeous organza ribbon for the finishing touch.

This is the general swap I took for the convention. As you can see I carried on with the same colour theme and got to play with new punches - woo hoo! I am truly hooked to the scallop trim corner and border punches that work well on a 10cm square. I used the bird and flower stamp from the Punch Potpourri set and then the Two step bird punch - et voila!

Will follow up soon with the two organised swaps I did for convention and other forms of inspiration - hope you're all having fabulous festivities and 2011 brings your hopes into realities! Keep on crafting Gen x

Training swaps

Should of mentioned this in the last post! Here are the swaps that I took along for the training event. Here I've used Pocket Silhouettes stamp set with Melon Mambo base card and Ink with Tempting Turquoise on Whisper White card stock, punched out with the circular and oval punches and 1/4" grosgrain ribbon. Then Rich Razzleberry base card and Ink with Old Olive and Always Artichoke ribbon - a colour mix that I wouldn't have tried, but having been having lots of fun with the colour coach to try out different colour combinations and I'm finding it a really useful tool! Keep on crafting! Gen x

Catch Up Queen!

This is the fabulous card we did at the Manchester regional training in September. Here we've used a Chocolate Chip base card then tearing the overlying Whisper White and rather delicious Cherry Cobbler. Then stamp set here is Contempo Christmas, sentiment stamped in Whisper White and then the bauble printed and punched out three times, folded in half and glued together for the three dimensional effect, finishing with the new 5/8" Organza Ribbon (IBC p97) - simply fabulous ;-)

This was followed by a Christmas tree treat bag with the same colour scheme and then a cellophane bag attached to the decorated header, to put your Gingerbread goodies or whatever sweet things take your fancy. I think this will be an added treat to my Christmas tree this year, a little surprise for my Nephews and Niece - any excuse for treats!

September Birthday Wishes!

Just a quick update - or at least in an effort to beat the backlog! Further indulgence into my passion for Pink and Turquoise and of course cakes! Birthday Girl Jordan let my girlie tendencies come to the surface ;-) Here I've used Tempting Turquoise card stock and ink, side punched with the eyelet border punch. Stamps were Vintage Vogue flower stamp as a Background and then also for the Regal Rose Ink flowers on the right with Rhinestone brads as centres. The Crazy for Cupcakes stamp is done in silver emboss then water coloured with Aqua painters and decorations coloured with stampin' write markers. Birthday Wishes from Sincere Salutations and then punched with oval and Regal Rose scalloped oval. Her presents were presented in a colour co-ordinating improvised bag - any excuse for the Melon Mambo polka dot bows - more projects to follow soon - honest, keep on crafting, Gen x

New Catalogue Launch!

Hooray! October is here and the NEW catalogue is launched - see the sidebar for details :-) Needless to say I have been seriously tempted and will be posting my newest lovelies here soon! Before all that excitement starts I have a few things to catch up with . . . A BIG thank you to all the lovely ladies at Llandrindod Card Club last September - we had a Christmas theme so that allowed us to do 2 cards and some tags.

First we tackled the Dasher card seen here on the right, this a simple white card with a 5cm Old Olive textured card stock with the scallop edge punch on the right side. I decided to put the fold of the card at the top allowing 5 small 1/2" holes to be punched and allows the red satin ribbon to be threaded in and out of the holes. Then Dasher was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink onto Whisper White card stock, trimmed and then placed onto the Real Red card stock to create a thin border. The Christmas sentiment came from the Season of Joy stamp set done again in Chocolate Chip ink punched out with the oval punch and then mounted onto the scalloped oval Chocolate Chip card stock, and glued into place overlapping the textured card stock.

The second card was an Easel card using the Season of Joy stamp set - using my favorite Old Olive ink for the So Swirly Jumbo wheel that I ran along the top of the 15x15cm Very Vanilla card stock and then the bottom of the inside of the card. I coloured the tree individually with the Stampin write markers to allow a yellow star, green tree and brown trunk. Then I used clear emboss for the red square sentiment and the poinsettia button to keep the easel upright - tah da!

Then we ended the workshop with these simple tags. I used the Sparkling Jumbo wheel on Very Vanilla as the background in a now retired colour. Then I printed the Sparkly & Bright motifs onto Whisper White card stock in Christmas colours - Chocolate Chip for Rudolf and then Garden Green and Real Red with some linen thread for the finishing touch.

The only other indulgence, was as we were doing Christmas themed things I did a little decoration display on white painted birch tigs for the workshop table to get everyone in the mood - let me know what you think ;-) Keep on Crafting Gen x