Well I was planning on having a lazy Saturday with lots of cardmaking but I ended up spending the day cleaning, and it wasn’t the fun cleaning of the craft room!  But I do have a quick and easy birthday card to share with you today.

The butterfly on the card is die cut using the Big Shot and a butterfly die and then it has been run through the Big Shot again with an Embossing Folder to dry emboss it.  When I’m doing something like this, I throw in a few pieces of cardstock at once to cut out mutliple butterflies that way I have a few spares to make some extra cards quickly next time I’m crafting.

So that’s it for me today.  I hope you get some crafting time in this weekend!

If you have any questions about the card or products I’ve used, or if you wish to purchase any Stampin’ Up! products, please feel free to email me.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Perfect Punches

Cardstock & Paper:
Baja Breeze textured cardstock
Very Vanilla cardstock
Beau Chateau Designer Series Patterned Paper

Inkpads/Markers/Paint:
Baja Breeze inkpad

Tools:
Big Shot
Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder
Beautiful Butterflies Die
Wide Oval Punch

Accessories:
Baja Breeze Seam Binding
Basic Jewels

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals (foam dots)

I have a confession to make   When I make a card for someone who’s not in the ‘card world’, I like to use heat embossing.  I remember when I first saw gold embossing and I was blown away that could be done by just anyone – not just Hallmark!  So now, I like to use gold embossing for non-stampers just so that I look extra clever, LOL.

It’s my Aunty’s birthday tomorrow and I wanted to make her a card that reflected her tastes.  The colours, the vintage style and images of fountain pens I think suits her perfectly.  It’s lovely to be able to dig through your stash of craft supplies and be able to find those bits and pieces that make a card individual for the person you’re making it for.

For this card I started with the patterned paper.  I thought the images on it were perfect so that was the starting point and theme for me.  The birthday greeting was heat embossed in gold and I’ll give you a little tip for when you’re wanting to heat emboss inside a frame.  I’ve tried this a few different ways and what I found the fastest and easiest way is to do your stamping and heat embossing first then do the dry embossing and die-cutting.  That way you don’t have to worry about stamping your greeting crooked.  To do this, I stamped the “Birthday Wishes” greeting with Versamark onto some Very Vanilla cardstock and dipped it into my gold embossing powder.  I like to keep my embossing powder in large plastic containers so that I can dip the whole cardstock in – it’s less mess than pouring your powder onto your image.  So, after your embossing powder is on, you use your heat gun to melt and emboss.  I then applied some Dotto (repositionable adhesive) on the back of the cardstock and placed it inside my embossing folder so that I could see the greeting nice and centred in the oval.  The Dotto kept my cardstock in place so it didn’t shift around when putting it through the Big Shot.  Once the oval was embossed I then die-cut around the oval with a Stampin’ Up! Framelit.  Sounds time consuming but it really only took minutes.

Some seam binding ribbon and a vintage brad finished off my card and kept to the whole ‘soft vintage’ theme I was going for.

Don’t forget, this gorgeous paper I’ve used is retiring in just over a week.  I’ve ordered myself 2 extra packs because I love it so much.

If you have any questions about the card or products I’ve used, or if you wish to purchase any Stampin’ Up! products, please feel free to email me.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Sincere Salutations

Cardstock & Paper:
Very Vanilla cardstock
Attic Boutique Designer Series Paper (retiring on 31st August 2012!)
Poppy Parade cardstock
Soft Suede Textured cardstock

Inkpads/Markers/Paint:
Versamark inkpad

Tools:
Heat Gun
Big Shot
Designer Frames Embossing Folder (two in the pack, I used the oval one)
Labels Collection Framelits Dies

Accessories:
Gold Embossing Powder
Very Vanilla Seam Binding
Antique Brads

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals (foam dots)

Maybe it’s this amazing weather we’ve been having in Sydney lately that has put me in the mood to make this light and airy card.  The sun has been shining and it’s been feeling like Spring.  I know I shouldn’t get excited yet, we’ve only just passed the middle of Winter here in Australia but for now I’ll enjoy these gorgeous sunny days and be inspired to create in some spring colours.

I decided today it’s time to let that humble little tag shine!  I would usually use this tag die at the bottom of one of my cards for the sentiment but this time I’m letting it take center stage.

This is a great card to make if you have lots of little scraps of paper – just die-cut them with the Big Shot and one of the Lots of Tags die.  You could use a mixture of patterned papers but I just used all the scraps that I had from one paper.  Any little word stamps can be used to set the theme of your card.  So you could make it into a birthday card, thank you, or because of the pretty pink doily pattern on the paper, it would make a modern engagement card with a little twist… just something a little different from the usual champagne glass images and such.

Just stamp up your greetings and punch them out with the Word Window punch and adhere them to some of the tags.  Use whatever little embellishments you have to match your paper on the rest of the tags.  A little Baker’s Twine at the wrapped around the bottom finishes off your card nicely.

If you have any questions about the card or products I’ve used, or if you wish to purchase any Stampin’ Up! products, please feel free to email me.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Fabulous Phrases

Cardstock & Paper:
Melon Mambo Textured cardstock
Whisper White
Pink Pirouette Textured cardstock
Flirtatious Designer Series Paper

Inkpads/Markers/Paint:
Melon Mambo inkpad
Tangerine Tango inkpad

Tools:
Big Shot
Lots of Tags die
Word Window Punch
Heart to Heart Punch
Trio Flower Punch (I just realised this is retired but any little flower punch would work great – it’s the flower under the glimmer brad)

Accessories:
Designer Buttons – Brights
Itty Bitty Buttons
Circle Fire Rhinestones
Basic Jewels
Glimmer Brads
White Baker’s Twine

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals (foam dots)
Crystal Effects

Something a little different today!  I thought I’d post a little gift I made with the Big Shot.  You could whip up a whole lot of these very easily. For those who sell cards at markets, this is something else you could also make to sell as a gift item.

This notepad holder is made from chipboard and cut out with the Big Shot using Stampin’ Up!’s Top Note Die as is the patterned paper which I then used a glue stick to adhere to the chipboard.  I prefer to use a glue stick to stick paper onto chipboard because it gives me ‘wiggle room’ so that I can get it in the right place before it sticks permanently.

Chipboard tip: The other thing you can do is to glue patterned paper down on the chipboard first then cut it – doing it that way helps the paper stick down really well onto the chipboard as the Big Shot squeeeezes the paper down firmly onto the chipboard.

After I prepared the chipboard I made a hole at the top with the Cropadile then created a reinforcement for it.  To make the reinformcement I first made a hole in a scrap piece of Poppy Parade cardstock then positioned the Itty Bitty flower punch over the hole and punched it out.  Doing it this way makes it a whole lot easier than punching the flower first then making a hole in it.

The notepad was made by cutting out some pink cardstock at 6cm x 6cm. You can stamp each piece of cardstock in the corner with a little stamp or leave it plain.  I then made a hole at the top of the stack of cardstock with the Cropadile and tied it all together with some Baker’s Twine.  To adhere the notepad to the chipboard base I just used some Dotto.  Dotto is strong enough to hold the notepad in place but it’s repositionable so that when you finish the notepad you can peel off the back and stick another one on.  You could also use Sticky Strip which is super strong – when you finish the notepad you can just stick another one on top of the last note.

Depending on how you want to use your notepad holder, you can attach some magnetic tape on the back to stick it to the fridge or you can tie a little twine to the back of the ribbon to hang it from a hook on the wall.

So that’s my little notepad holder.  If you have any questions about how I made this card or wish to purchase any Stampin’ Up! products, please feel free to email me.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Clearly for You

Cardstock & Paper:
Pink Pirouette cardstock
Poppy Parade cardstock
Attic Boutique Designer Series Paper (this paper is retiring at the end of July 2012.  It’s also the paper I’ve used in the background to photograph the notepad on)
OnBoard Chipboard Sheet

Inkpads/Markers/Paint:
Regal Rose inkpad

Tools:
Big Shot
Top Note Die
Crop-a-dile
Itty Bitty Shapes Punch (flower)

Accessories:
Blushing Bride Stitched Poly Ribbon
White Baker’s Twine

Adhesives:
Glue Stick
Dotto
Magnetic Tape (optional – not SU! but can be bought from stationery stores)

I was flicking through the Stampin’ Up! catalogue today and once again I surprised myself by things that I’ve missed.  I don’t know how – I must go through that catalogue a dozen times a day but nearly a year later I’m still finding inspiration.  Today I thought it might be fun to copy a card from the catalogue and this is the card I made.  It’s a copy of the one on page 38 of the Australian Stampin’ Up! Idea Book & Catalogue.

There’s a couple of very slight colour changes as I used what I had but other than that the card is the same.

The base of the card is embossed using the Big Shot and the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  I’m always impressed with this embossing folder as it’s one that I use often for men’s cards as it goes well with masculine colours and images but then it still seems to work really well with this bright and fun birthday card.

The ‘Happy Birthday’ greeting was stamped in Black Stazon ink and then coloured in using my inkpads and a blender pen.

I really enjoyed making this card so I’ll definitely be copying some more from the catalogue when I’m a little stuck for ideas or looking for something different.  If you’d like one of these 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalogues then let me know and I’ll send you one (Australia only).  This catalogue will only be current until 31st of August and then the new 2012-2013 Stampin’ Up! catalogue will be released on 1st September.

If you have any questions about how I made this card or wish to purchase any Stampin’ Up! products, please feel free to email me.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Bring On The Cake

Cardstock & Paper:
Pool Party cardstock
Whisper White cardstock
Melon Mambo cardstock
Designer Series Patterned Paper Stack – Subtles (I used Certainly Celery as I had run out of the Wild Wasabi that was used in the original card)
Soft Suede cardstock

Inkpads/Markers/Paint:
Stazon Jet Black inkpad
Pretty In Pink inkpad (for colouring)
Certainly Celery inkpad (for colouring)
Pool Party inkpad (for colouring)

Tools:
Big Shot
Square Lattice Embossing Folder
Scallop Border Punch
Blender Pen

Accessories:
Designer Buttons (Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery & Rose Red)
White Bakers Twine

Adhesives:
SNAIL adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals (foam dots)

Here’s another simple card I made recently.  I didn’t put a greeting on this one so it could be used for a few different things, like a thank you card, thinking of you or get well.

There’s not much to explain about this card other than the blue card was embossed using the Big Shot and the butterflies were cut out on the Big Shot with Silver Glimmer Paper then glued them onto squares of patterned paper that I punched out.  These were then layered onto some Crumb Cake (Kraft) cardstock that I punched out with a postage stamp punch  Just don’t look at the fact that I forgot to put a pearl on that first butterfly, oops! just noticed that.

If you have any questions about how I made this card please feel free to email me.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Cardstock & Paper:
Soft Suede Textured cardstock
Crumb Cake (aka Kraft) cardstock
Baja Breeze cardstock
Newsprint Designer Series Paper
Silver Glimmer Paper

Tools:
Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine
Polka Dots Embossing Folder
Beautiful Wings Sizzlet
Postage Stamp Punch

Accessories:
Linen Thread
Basic Pearls

Adhesives:
SNAIL adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals (foam dots)
Tombow Multipurpose Glue

I’ve got to get a move on with my Christmas cards if I’m going to have enough to mail out by the end of the year.  Every year I say I’ll start in January and well, you know how it goes.  So today I thought I should get in the Christmas spirit in the middle of the year and whip up a few Christmas cards.  Here’s the first one I made.

I’m not good at ‘clean & simple’ cards because I never know if the card looks too bland or boring but I think I’ve hit a happy medium here.

To make this card I started with a regular A5 base folded in half but then put another layer of white on top.  It’s something I tried a couple years ago, putting the same colour on top of each other to make it look a little framed without it being too fussy and just discovered again looking back through my blog.  The top layer of the card has been embossed with an oval embossing folder.  Sometimes people find these a little difficult to use because the folder is small and can leave a mark on the cardstock showing the perimeter of the plastic folder, so here’s a tip for you to help that:  I take one layer off the Big Shot mult-layer platform (emboss on Tab 2 rather than 1) so that it’s not such a tight squeeze, and I also add a piece of scrap paper between the folder and my cardstock.  That way you get a nice smooth embossing without any marks showing the edges of the folder.

In the middle of the oval I’ve stamped a Christmas bauble in Cherry Cobbler.  You can stamp right in the middle but I stamped it on some scrap paper then punched that out with an oval punch simply to a) add a little dimension and b) not have to worry about stamping straight.

The bottom of the card has two lines scored with Stampin’ Up!’s Simply Scored Board.  I found it adds a little interest without bulk and also helped me with my placement of rhinestones.  To finish off the card I stamped the ‘very merry’ sentiment down the bottom and tied a knot in a piece of left over ribbon and adhered that with a glue dot onto the card.

So that’s my fast, simple & clean Christmas card.  I think I might make some more of these but in some other colours, maybe with silver embossing for the bauble.  Hope this gives you some inspiration for your Christmas cards

If you have any questions about how I made this card please feel free to email me.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Tree Trimmings (Christmas bauble)
Short & Sweet (Christmas greeting)

Cardstock & Paper:
Whisper White cardstock

Inkpads/Markers/Paint:
Cherry Cobbler inkpad

Tools:
Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine
Designer Frames Embossing Folder (two in the pack, I used the oval one)
Simply Scored

Accessories:
White Organza Ribbon
Basic Jewels

Adhesives:
SNAIL adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals (foam dots)
Glue Dots (to glue the ribbon down)

I once heard that “a card is a hug with a fold in it”, so I made this card for a lovely friend who I unfortunately don’t see often but I wanted her to know that I am thinking of her.  I wanted something subtle but still with a little bit of a ‘ray of sunshine’ if that makes sense.

The paper lace strip that you see across the card was made using a punch.  Because the patterned paper underneath is a bit busy I adhered some ribbon under the strip of paper lace to show it up a bit and then I added some self-adhesive pearls to show off the pretty flowers in the lace.

The frame was embossed using the Big Shot machine and the Designer Embossing Frame Folder.  Frame embossing tip: if you’re finding that your frame isn’t coming out as clean as you like (that is if the cardstock around it is creasing) then try embossing it with “no tabs” on your Big Shot platform and also add a piece of scrap paper (I just use photocopy paper)  on top of your cardstock when you’re embossing it.  In this case it didn’t matter if the cardstock around my frame creased as I cut it out but I use this method of embossing anyway as I find it gives me a lovely clean impression.  With this card I actually used the frame back to front – well back to front compared to the way I think it would usually be used – so that the part that I’ve stamped on stands up while the frame part is debossed.  The border of the frame stands out even more because I cut around the whole frame.

The butterfly was cut out with the Beautiful Wings Sizzlet die – I use this little die heaps.  I used it with Glitter paper which is quite thick but it did the job fine, you can even see a little embossing on the left butterfly wing.

Hope my card has inspired you to also make a “hug with a fold in it”.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
You Are Loved

Cardstock & Paper:
Poppy Parade
Very Vanilla
Silver Glitter Paper
Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper (only available until 31st March 2012)

Inkpads/Markers:
Baja Breeze inkpad

Tools:
Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine
Beautiful Wings
Designer Frames Embossing Folder (these come in a two-pack with an oval and the rectangle which is shown in this card)
Lace Ribbon Border Punch

Accessories:
Baja Breeze Seam Binding
Basic Pearls (self-adhesive pearls)

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals

Just want to send out a huge thank you to all my blog readers for perserving and coming back to visit me.  Recently my blog got hacked and while everything looked normal to me and some people, others were getting strange messages.  It was pretty nasty with malicious coding in every single file but thankfully it’s all fixed now.

Well on to more pleasant stuff!  Here’s a card I made today for one of my Stampin’ Up! team members.

It’s too bad you can’t see the shimmer in the photo (just on the right above the largest butterfly) but the background has been first run through the Big Shot to give the embossed striped and then I’ve spritzed with with Vanilla Shimmer which is a fabulously quick and easy way to add shimmer to anything.

The card is fairly straight forward but for those without much cardmaking experience, I’ve cut the patterned paper in the middle using my Big Shot die-cutting machine and then cut the scallop circle under it the same way – don’t you love the way they fit each other perfectly?  The sentiment was stamped in Pool Party onto Very Vanilla cardstock and then I just used my thumbnail around the edges of the cardstock to distress it and then ran the inkpad over the top of the distressing to add some colour to the edges – the inking makes the sentiment stand out a bit more.

All the butterflies were cut out and embossed in one go – the Beautiful Wings Sizzlet Die that I used cuts and embosses all those butterflies so once they were cut I simply glued them to the card and added the rhinestones – super super quick and easy embellishments

Hope you like my card – I have a few more of these to make at least! but I might experiment with some different colours.

Thank you again for visiting my blog, I really appreciate it

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Curly Cute

Cardstock & Paper:
Poppy Parade
Pool Party
Very Vanilla
Everyday Enchantment Patterned Paper (free! out of the Sale-a-bration brochure)

Inkpads/Markers:
Pool Party inkpad
Crumb Cake inkpad (for sponging around the Vanilla cardstock)

Tools:
Big Shot Die Cutting Machine
Stripes Embossing Folder
Clear Circle Die
Scalloped Circle Die
Beautiful Wings Sizzlets

Accessories:
Glimmer Brads
Chantilly Crochet Trim
Vintage Safety Pin (Vintage Trinkets)
Rhinestone Jewels
Stripes Embossing Folder

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals
Tombow Multipurpose Glue (just squeezed a thin line on the back of the centre of the butterflies to glue them down)
Glue Dots (to glue down the crochet bow)

Have you seen Breaking Dawn yet? I imagine if Bella and Edward had Wedding Favours (Bonbonerie) then this box with the black & red theme would work well.  Although it seemed that in the movie a large number of guests colour-coordinated themselves in soft purple colours, red & black still screams Twilight to me.

And look at this… the pattern is also very reminiscent of Bella’s bedding from the Twilight movies

Photo from www.squidoo.com

And if you can see past that gorgeousness that is Edward Cullen you can see the bedding pattern in the background.

Photo from www.twilightlexicon.com

By now you’re probably thinking I’m a bit weird to notice all this.  But it’s just a “Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator” thing to notice things in the shops, movies and wherever you go that remind you of a particular stamp or colour.  I’m forever seeing t-shirts and cushions and other home items with Stampin’ Up! style images like bird cages, swirls and crowns and similar flower designs.  Of course it’s difficult to pass by clothes without saying “ooh, love that Cherry Cobbler top”, rather than “ooh love that red top”.

Aaaanyway.  The box that I created above was super super easy to make.  And not sure if it’s even possible to tell in the photo but the box is made of fabric so it’s really beautiful to hold and touch – but still very quick to make.

Gift Box Instructions:

1.  Take a piece of white cardstock and cut it to fit the Box #2 die (this will be a sheet of A4 cardstock cut down to be narrower).

2.  Cut a piece of Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet to measure the same as your white cardstock, peel off one side of the protective covering and place it over your cardstock.

3.  Peel off the other side of the protective covering from the Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet and place your fabric (cut to the same size) on top.

4.  Now you have your fabric backed by cardstock it’s easy to run through your Big Shot using the Box #2 die to cut out the box shape.

5.  The box comes out in one piece with scoring so simply fold and assemble your box – there’s only one place to add a little adhesive (Sticky Strip) to keep the box together.

6.  Decorate your box as you please.  I’ve tied some Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding around the box and stamped a frame, punched it out, wrote “for you” on it then adhered it to the box.

Easy! Done in less than 10 steps

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Four Frames

Cardstock & Paper:
Whisper White Cardstock

Inkpad and Other Colouring Items:
Cherry Cobbler Inkpad
Black marker to write message

Tools:
Big Shot
Box #2 Die
Decorative Label Punch

Accessories:
Timeless Portrait Fabric
Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding

Adhesives:
Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets
Sticky Strip