Another Side to Sweet Soirée

Hi there

The Sweet Soirée Suite has to be one of my favourites from the Occasions Catalogue. I think it started when I was fortunate enough to get the stamp set for free from the box of goodies at the last Stampin' Up! OnStage event. It is one of the fun things about the event - all the new products used for the make and takes are divided up amongst the people at the table.

The bold floral papers with the silver accents really stand out in the Sweet Soirée Specialty Designer paper pack, but although not as obvious, is this pretty blue, yellow and olive spotted design. Blue, yellow and white is one of my favourite colour combos because it is fresh and bright and for those in the northern hemisphere, epitomises spring. I think it would also make a lovely Mother's Day card.

I've layered some of the pretty spotted paper onto a Marina Mist mat and then added a strip of Marina Mist card stock across the centre that has been embossed with the 'Simple Stripes' embossing folder. Some of the beautiful silver metallic edge ribbon was wrapped around the whole panel and finished with a knot at the right end and then added to the Daffodil Delight card base.

The focus of the embellishment is the silver embossed vellum flower spray, which I have coloured on the reverse with my Stampin' Blends alcohol markers (I thought I would give it a try), but you can use Stampin' Write markers as well. This die cut  and many more come from the Sweet Soirée Embellishment Kit. They are perfect to colour coordinate with other elements on your project. I adhered it to the stitched oval by placing a glue dot underneath the Clear Faceted Gem and in the centre of the yellow flower. The Stitched Oval was adhered to a Marina Mist scalloped oval and then onto a plain Silver Foil oval and popped up on the left side.

For the inside of the card, I have a Marina Mist mat for my writing panel, which I have decorated on the right hand side for a change. I've used a small strip of the spotted paper and a band of the olive and silver foil paper (unfortunately, it is the opposite side to the spotted design). At the top is a small cluster of stamped and die cut flowers and some coordinating greenery.

My clean and layered card fits well with the The Card Concept Challenge this week - 'Spring has Sprung'. This is the inspiration photo they have provided.

This scene certainly screams 'spring' with the bright yellow and white features and touches of blue and what looks like green to me in the striped carpet. 

  

Project Details
Stamps	Cake Soirée
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Lemon Lime Twist, Sweet Soirée Specialty DSP
Ink	Versamark, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight
Accessories	White Metallic-Edge ribbon, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Sweet Soirée Embellishment Kit, Clear Faceted Gems
Tools	Stitched Shapes Framelits, Layering Ovals Framelits, Simple Stripes TIEF, Big Shot, Silver EP, Heat gun, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Stampin' Blends

 

Thanks for visiting today!

Graceful Garden for Freshly Made Sketches

Hi there

I have a pretty and feminine card to share today, using this weeks sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  It is absolutely ages since I have participated in a sketch challenge and I'm not sure what it is about this sketch that got the creative juices going. However, I really enjoyed colouring the images and creating this card. Here is the sketch, so you can see how I interpreted it.

I have used the images from the lovely 'Graceful Garden' stamp set for my card. The flowers were stamped in Memento Espresso Truffle ink and coloured with the new Stampin' Blends alcohol markers. The dark brown ink gives a less bold/harsh look than Tuxedo Black, especially for soft colours. I have used light and dark Pink Pirouette with shading in light Rich Razzleberry for the flowers and light and dark Old Olive for the leaves.

I love how these markers blend and the Color Lifter is awesome if you go outside the lines - more effective than the Copic equivalent in my opinion. I strongly recommend that you use Whisper White card stock for colouring with Stampin' Blends as you will get a truer colour from the markers and I always give my stamped images a blast with the heat gun to make super sure the ink is dry before I start colouring. You only need a very light touch to get lovely streak-free coverage. The lids are air tight and easy to get off and on. Don't forget Stampin' Blends are now available to purchase in my Online Store as individual markers, colour packs of light and dark or the entire collection.

To add interest to the Whisper White background, I heat embossed the lattice image in gold in the bottom right corner and then stamped the birthday greeting from 'Happy Birthday Gorgeous' above and to the left in Rich Razzleberry ink. The fussy cut leaves were adhered (flat) under the large rose, which was  popped up on foam pads. The smaller rose and leaves were positioned in the opposite corner and attached in the same way to complete the elements in the sketch.

Here is a close-up of the large rose on the gold embossed lattice background. The finished art piece was layered onto Gold Foil and the panel popped up with foam pads onto the Rich Razzleberry card base. I finished with a scattering of Powder Pink sequins.

For the inside, I have heat embossed a small part of the lattice in the top corner of the writing panel and popped up the small rose image on 1mm foam pads. At the base is a strip of Rich Razzleberry washi and the narrow gold washi adds a border above. The writing panel was layered on a Pink Pirouette.

 

Finally, a view from the top.

Project Details
Stamps	Graceful Garden, Happy Birthday Gorgeous
Card stock & Papers	Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Gold Foil
Ink	Versamark, Memento Espresso Truffle, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories	Basics Pack 1 Washi, Iridescent Sequin Assortment, Year of Cheer Specialty Washi
Tools	Gold EP, Heat gun, Dimensionals, Tombow glue, Stampin' Blends Alcohol Markers (Pink Pirouette, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive)

Thanks for looking!

Christmas Cutie & MM#172

Hi there

I haven't participated in a challenge for ages, so I am going to remedy that by linking up this card at the  Merry Monday #172 Challenge. Here is the challenge this week.

"Remember...have fun creating a Christmas card using some form of watercolor on your card." Have fun!

I am using the 'Christmas Cuties' stamp set for the first time. This is a set I wasn't going to get, but I caved and I'm not disappointed! The images are really sweet and so are the sentiments and they are really quick and fun to colour. I have used a regal Christmas colour combo of purple and silver and I watercoloured the angel with an Aquapainter and ink pads.

Dazzling Diamonds glitter was added to the wings with a glue pen, for extra sparkle. For the inside, I finished it off with the bells from the 'Cozy Christmas' set and some striped DSP from the Subtles Backgrounds. 

This was my first use of the new Basic Black Archival Ink and it worked beautifully for water colouring. You have to clean it off really quickly (Stampin' Mist) otherwise it stains and even Stazon Cleaner will not take it off.

Project Details
Stamps	Christmas Cuties, Cozy Christmas
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Silver Glimmer paper, Watercolour paper
Ink	Basic Black Archival, Wisteria Wonder, Angel colours - Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Crushed Curry (Hair); Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride (Face, hands, feet); Elegant Eggplant (Sash, shoes); Smoky Slate (Robe)
Accessories	Silver Metallic Doily, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
Tools	Ovals Framelits, Softly Falling Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Washi Label punch, Glue pen, Dimensionals

Thanks for looking!

Bright & Beautiful

Hi there

I broke out my new Holiday Catalogue preorder goodies to make this card, which I am submitting for Lesley's Challenge #13. I have only made a few Christmas cards this year so I desperately need to get cracking with them and this was a good opportunity. I love these colours for a contempary Christmas palette.

I have taken a bit of liberty with the sketch and colours, but hopefully she won't mind. I wanted to make something with these gorgeous star stamps and matching framelits. I know they are going to be a favourite for my Christmas cards.  I wanted to keep this card very CAS and managed to avoid the temptation to add extra embellishments.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Bright & Beautiful
Card stock & Papers	Island Indigo, Pool Party, Silver Foil, Silver Glimmer paper
Ink	Versamark
Accessories	Basic Rhinestone (coloured with Blendabilities), 1/8" Silver ribbon
Tools	Stars Framelits, Wonderful Wreath Framelits, Stylish Stripes Embossing folder, Big Shot, White and Silver embossing powder, Heat gun, Dimensionals, Simply Scored Board, Xyron

Don't forget that you have until 31 August to get the 'Bright & Beautiful' stamps and matching Stars Framelits as a bundle with a 15% discount. The clear mount bundle is $75.50 AUD (138200) and the wood mount bundle is $87.25 AUD (138644).

Thanks for looking!

Bright & Beautiful Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$42.95

Stars Framelits Die

$45.95

Wonderful Wreath Framelits Dies

$42.95

Silver 1/8" Ribbon

$8.95

Stylish Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

$13.95

138644

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

 

Try Stampin' on Tuesday #161

Hi there

I haven't made a wedding card for a long time, but my lovely podiatrist is getting married shortly so I have used this week's sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday to make her a card. Here is the sketch:

I have gone with the 'less is more' principle for this card, using silver and white and of course, some bling. I hope the result is elegant rather than boring!

The frame was cut with the Square Framelits and the 'Mr & Mrs' silver embossed and popped up on the white base behind it. The frame does have a different look to matting the white card stock with silver, that really like. I have dry embossed a single line either side of the hearts to define the centre panel.

 

 

Project Details
Stamps	Label Love
Card stock & Papers	Silver Foil, Whisper White
Ink	Versamark
Accessories	1/8" Silver Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones
Tools	Artisan Label punch, Square Framelits, Adorning Accents Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Simply Scored Board, Silver embossing powder, Heat gun

Thanks for looking!