October Christmas Stamp-A-Stack

The first of this year's Christmas Stamp-A-Stacks (SASs) will be held in October.  I am offering the same workshop on two different days.  The dates for this SAS are Wednesday 16 October and Saturday 19 October from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm on both days.  The same cards will be made at both sessions.

At these workshops, you will make 8 cards (4 of each variety) with matching envelopes.  Cost for the SAS is $20.00 (cash) which includes all materials and afternoon tea.

If you are interested in joining us for this SAS please contact me by email on larkinjones@grapevine.com.au or by phone on 6251 4346.

Flower Pot cards

I have been playing with ideas I have filed away over the years and these Flower Pot cards are one of those.

They have a base shaped like a flower pot and an insert with images on the top.  This insert is pulled up from the card and has room for a message.

They are fun cards to make and have lots of potential for variation.

Bunches of Flowers

I came across this idea on Pinterest one day and then my friend Allira showed me a card she had made along similar lines.

The base of the card is a "zig-zag" and you just stamp and cut out as many images as you can and layer them along the top of the base.  The middle section needs images on the front and back so that it matches when the card is both open and shut.

For these examples I have used the old "Fifth Ave Floral" set as well as the new "Secret Garden" stamp set.  The advantage of the Secret Garden set is that it comes with matching Framelit dies so the cutting out is much quicker.

Swallowtail

 

I cased these cards from Marelle Taylor's website.  The stamp is called Swallowtail and is a large stamp and is great for colouring.

 I have used Cajun Craze and Tempting Turquoise as base colours for these cards and I have coloured them in using the SU pastels (no retired) although markers or daubers would also do the trick.



Welcome back

Welcome back to my blog.  After a number of months tied up with family matters and work I am now in a position to return to my crafting life and get some more workshops happening.

Workshops will recommence in late August and I will keep you posted with up coming events.

Looking forward to catching up with everyone again soon.

Cheers

Raining Flowers

Finally I have had some time to get my stamping gear out and have a play.  I spent the last couple of weekends tidying my room so that I could find all my gear again.  Job still not quite finished but I decided I had to use my 'Stampin' Scrub' again which meant I had to get some stamps dirty.

Last year I bought the stamp set called Raining Flowers (now retired) and I found this oh so simple design on the Splitcoast stampers gallery.

Just love this design and will continue to play with the idea with other images in that stamp set as they can all be used in 2 step stamping.

All products Stampin' Up

Cardstock: Crumb Cake

Inks: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and Whisper White

Stamp sets: Raining Flowers, Flowering Flourishes and Sincere Salutations (retired)

Extras: clear embossing powder and versamark stamp pad

 



A Christmas Project

I made this 3D layout for my sister, Denise for Christmas.  I wasn't able to post it until after I had given it to her but now she has it here it is. 

I CASed the idea from Louise Edmonds after seeing in the Splitcoast Stampers gallery.  I used Rich Razzlebury and Lucky Limeade (retired) as my base colours and a variety of stamp sets, some current and some retired, to create this project.

I was pleased with the final result and so was Denise.




 

Dad's birthday card

I have made this card for my Dad who was so sick last year on his birthday we were sure he wouldn't see another!  But he has rallied and is back to his wonderful, chipper self at 83 years old in a couple of weeks.

The card uses a great stamp set called The Open Sea.  This stamp set came out in a mini catalogue last year and has reappeared in this year's regular catalogue.  I have used a colour scheme of Bashful Blue, Midnight Muse and Whisper White and I have also used some retired DSP that came out with the stamp set last year.

Let's hope this year treats Dad kindly and I get to make many more cards for him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Never Ending Card

I have prepared this Never Ending card for a small workshop I am holding with a couple of friends.

Never Ending cards are full of WOW factor. They fold and fold and fold and fold and each time they provide another wonderful combination of images.

On this occasion I have used one of my new stamp sets called Flowering Flourishes and a couple of images from the retired stamp set called Fresh Vintage. The colour combination is Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse and Very Vanilla which matches the pieces of the new DSP Comfort Cafe I have included on the card.

I have included images of three of the four stages of this card -  the fourth one keeps loading the wrong way round. I will try to upload it again later.  Even though you can only see three of the four folds you can see how each fold gives a completely different effect.

Concertina Card

Last week the Splitcoast Stampers tutorial was for a Concertina Card which sparked my interest.

I decided to have a go at making one and this is the result.  I have used a stamp set from last year's Sale-A-Bration called Fresh Vintage along with its matching DSP and the colour scheme used the retired Incolour, Peach Parfait.


The result is quite pleasing .  If you are interested in making this card Google Splitcoast Stampers tutorials and look for "Concertina Card".  One thing to think about though is that it takes most of a 12 x 12 sheet of DSP to complete.

November Stamp-A-Stack

The November Stamp-A-Stack (SAS) will be held on Saturday 17 November from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm.  This will be the fourth in the Christmas Series of SASs.  We will be making 8 cards with matching envelopes. 

The first card uses the new cutting die from the Holiday Catalogue called Snow Flurry.  It gives a real 3 dimensional effect to this card.

The second card combines images from the new stamp set Evergreen and uses one of the new Incolours called Gumball Green.

Cost for the SAS is $20.00 which includes all materials and afternoon tea.

If you are interested in joining me for this workshop please contact me by email or phone on 04111 57969.

Birthday Fun

I was reminded how wonderful tri-shutter cards are when my sister posted one on her blog a couple of weeks ago.  So out came the instructions and you will see here the second special birthday card I have made in this style recently.

This is for my niece's birthday in a week or so.  I hope she's not into reading this blog!  I have used another retired stamp set called Sunny Fun.  The thongs in this stamp set are perfect for Livy's birthday card as she seems to have a different pair of thongs for every occasion.

I have also used a combination of card stock, paper and brads from my collection - you know those bits and pieces you keep for a rainy day!  I am happy with the final product and hope Liv likes it too.

Happy birthday Livy!!!

Tags til Christmas

There has been a revival of this design of card called Triple Time Stamping.  This idea comes from Marelle Taylor's blog and also my sister's blog.

I decided to give it a Christmas theme using the ornament stamp from the Tags til Christmas stamp set.  The flourish is from the retired stamp set called Season of Joy.  I have used Cherry Cobbler, Certainly Celery and Whisper White as the colour theme with some Baker's twine and a button to finish it off.

I am happy with this attempt at this style of card but will keep working with it to see what other combinations I can come up with.

More Christmas Ideas

I think I mentioned that I spent some time playing with a friend coming up with lots of ideas for Christmas cards.  I often find when I am just talking about ideas with others that great ideas emerged.

I know own the Snow Flurry die that goes through the Big Shot.  I read on someone else's blog that even though we don't have snow at Christmas they still enjoy the idea.  Having spent a couple of Christmas's in the northern hemisphere, snow at Christmas is really special but it does restrict the "beach holiday" idea that we associate with Christmas time.

Anyway, here are a couple of cards I have made using the Snow Flurry die.  The card stock used for the snowflakes isn't Stampin' Up but it is very sparkly and reminds me of the glitter of snow.

A special birthday card

One of my friends is having a special birthday this week, you know the kind when you have to renew your license!

I decided a birthday of such significance deserved a special card so out came the wonderful Fifth Ave Floral stamp set, now retired, but a definite keeper.  I made a similar card a couple of years ago for my sister and was very pleased with the result then.  I am also very happy with my remake on this occasion.

I used various products, some retired including the old DSP Elegant Soiree and, of course Fifth Ave Floral.  Colours used are Crumb Cake, Marina Mist and Not Quite Navy.

I hope Jen has a great birthday this week.

Playing with Christmas ideas

I spent some time playing around with various ideas and products with a friend over the weekend.  When I do this I tend to venture beyond my stock of Stampin' Up products and on this occasion I decided to see what I could do with some shimmer paper I have had in my cupboard for ages.

These cards are using the same basic technique and layout as in the Holiday Catalogue using the stamp set Joyous Celebrations.  The shimmer paper embossed beautifully and I was delighted with the results.

More to come from this play session as we ran lots of card and paper through the Big Shot using the Snow Flurry die.  I just have to get some cards made now.

Playing with Evergreen

I have spent quite a bit of time playing with one of the new stamp sets from the Holiday Catalougue called Evergreen.

This stamp set has a series of Christmas trees including a solid image, an outline image and an image that uses the words from Silent Night.

These are two of a series of cards I have made so far.  The first is a 'Z fold' card and I have used a combination of Old Olive card stock and the new Be of Good Cheer Designer Series Paper.  The tree on the front uses Old Olive ink for the background image and I have embossed the outline image with white embossing powder.  The image on the inside of the card is the one using the words from 'Silent Night'.


The second card uses Real Red, Whisper White and Basic Black card stock as well as a piece of acetate overlay.  I have stamped the outline image of the tree as a background and sparkled it up with Dazzling Diamonds.  I have then stamped the 'Silent Night' words onto the acetate with black StayzOn ink.  Lining the two trees up was a bit of a challenge but I was happy with the final result.

Back by Popular Demand

Each year I get asked about these two cards which we first made 2 or 3 years ago so I have decided to offer these cards as a Stamp-A-Stack (SAS) on Saturday 27 October from 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm.

Both cards use the largest tree in the Lovely As A Tree stamp set.  The first card uses Night of Navy card stock and Craft White Ink.  The second card is a combination of the new colour, Midnight Muse and Basic Black.  Both cards are sparkled up with Dazzling Diamonds so you can expect to go home sparkling with glitter.

Cost for the workshop will be $20.00 which will include all materials to make 4 of each of the cards with matching envelopes and afternoon tea.

If you are interested in joining us for this SAS please email me or give me a call on 04111 57969.

October Stamp-A-Stack

Our next Stamp-A-Stack (SAS) will be held on Saturday 13 October from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm.

We will be making 8 cards with a Christmas theme.  We will be using the new stamp set, Joyous Celebrations to create our cards.  I have included an image of possible cards we might make on the day however, you are at liberty to put together any combination of the images in the Joyous Celebration set to create your cards.

Kits will be prepared to make four Riding Hood Red cards and four Old Olive cards and the embossed background image will also be prepared in advance.  After that it is up to you to put together whatever combination of designs you can create on the day.

Come along and join in the fun to see what people come up with.  You never know who will have the next great idea.

Cost for the SAS is $20.00 which includes all materials to make 8 cards with matching envelopes and a light afternoon tea.