Grunge Water Colour Thank You Card

I have been wanting to dabble in proper water colour paints on cards for a while now, but never owned a paint set to do so. My kids recently bought me a large 'Winsor & Newton' set for my birthday, so now I have all the tools I need to give it a go.

I was very eager to test out some of the colours and found the perfect card to case from Iris Huber. This card has such a bright and summery feel to it, and it makes me happy just looking at it. The water colour paints are so much brighter than I thought they would, which I absolutely love and the orange really pops on this white background.

Products used

 

Stamps: Dictionary & gorgeous grunge
Dies: Non SU
Cardstock: Whisper white, & water colour paper
Inks: Basic black, versa mark, white embossing powder & water colour paints (non SU)
Sentiment: Petite pairs

Embellishments: Linen thread & enamel dots

 

Count on Me Valentine's Day Card

I'm making an early start on some valentine's day cards, and couldn't resist using the cute little bear from the 'Count on Me' stamp set. I was inspired by Helene Den Breejen's card, but made some minor changes to make it my own. This is also one of my favourite colour combinations, using a pale blue with real red, crumb cake and white to help balance it out.

Products used

 

Stamps: Count on me
Dies: Tailor made tags
Cardstock: Whisper white, crumb cake, basic black & real red
Inks: Basic black

Markers: Crumb cake & real red stampin blends
DSP: Neutrals

Sentiment: Well said
Embellishments: Resin hearts & crumb cake thick bakers twine

 

Wreath Builder Christmas Card

I cased this card from Steffi Helmschrott from a few years back. She is one of my favourite designers and makes stunning cards. I did use different dies for the wreath and sentiment. I also didn't do any stitching on my card, as that was just too fiddly for me.

Products used

 

Stamps: Christmas gleaming
Dies: Wreath builder
Cardstock: Whisper white, sahara sand, emerald envy & vellum

Inks: Basic black & sahara sand 

Sentiment: Christmas gleaming

Embellishments: Gold glimmer stars & red pearls

Tidings & Trimmings Christmas Card

Sharing a card featuring the star and foliage dies from the 'Christmas Tidings' die set. I loved this bundle in last years catalogue and will be sharing many more cards made using these stamps and dies in the coming months.

Products used

 

Stamps: Tidings & Trimmings
Dies: Christmas trimmings & finishing touches border
Cardstock: Crumb cake, soft suede & cherry cobbler, 

Inks: Crumb cake, versa mark & white embossing powder
DSP: Season of style

Sentiment: Itty bitty Christmas 

Embellishments: Gold brushed metallic dots

Tidings & Trimmings Christmas Card

This card uses several items from the 'Tidings of Christmas' Suite.

I was inspired by Berdien Weideveld's card but made a few subtle changes. I used a different swirl die (non SU) that I already owned, changed the sentiment and didn't use any bling, as I wanted to tone the card down a little.

Products used

 

Stamps: Tidings & Trimmings
Dies: Christmas trimmings, stitched rectangles & non SU
Cardstock: Whisper white, soft succulent, evening evergreen & real red
Inks: Real red & evening evergreen
DSP: Tidings of Christmas

Sentiment: Peace & joy

Come Sail Away Birthday Card

I have seen many of these life ring cards on the web, so decided to make my own version. I used the stamps, dies and embellishments from the 'Come Sale Away' suite.

Products used

 

Stamps: Sailing home
Dies: Smooth sailing & stitched circles
Cardstock: Whisper white, sahara sand, night of navy & pool party
Inks: Night of navy
Markers: Sahara sand & pool party
DSP: Tasty Treats

Sentiment: Bird banter
Embellishments: Sail away trinkets, bakers twine & clear epoxy shapes

Candy Canes Christmas Card

Who doesn't love a delicious candy cane at Christmas...I know I certainly do, especially the fruit flavoured ones! When I saw Mikaela Titheridge's card, I knew I had to give it a go.

This card looked easy enough, but to my surprise it was actually more difficult than I thought it would be. I had a few issues blending the red ink on the edges of my background piece of card stock and then getting the white embossing candy canes to stamp well over the top. 

The end result looks great, but it took me about 6 attempts to get it right. This was a hard stamp to work with, so either I need some more practice with this technique or I need to chose a different technique altogether.

Products used

 

Stamps: Candy canes & Christmas season
Dies: Seasonal labels & stitched rectangles
Cardstock: Real red, poppy parade, garden green & basic black
Inks: Real red, garden green, versa mark & white embossing powder 

Sentiment: Wrapped in Christmas

Tidings & Trimmings Christmas Card

I think my favourite Christmas DSP of all time would have to be the 'Tidings of Christmas' paper. I just love the colours and the patterns of this paper. The DSP looks best when it is used with minimal embellishments to really bring out the detail in the paper.

I was inspired by a card that Teneale Williams did for a sketch challenge, but used completely different products altogether. I love the simplicity of this card and how the sentiments pop against the light background.

Products used

 

Stamps: Peace & joy
Dies: Christmas trimmings
Cardstock: Whisper white & evening evergreen
Inks: Real red
DSP: Tidings of Christmas

Sentiment: Peace & joy stamp set, and non SU Christmas word die
Embellishments: Linen thread, and mini red Christmas bells

Candy Cane Season Christmas Card

So Christmas is one week away today, so I will be sharing a few cards to get you into the Chrissy spirit!

The stamp set I used is from a little while back, and is easy to use to create some quick cards. I love how the colours pop against the crumb cake background.

Products used

 

Stamps: Candy cane season
Punch: Candy cane builder
Cardstock: Whisper white, crumb cake & silver glimmer
Inks: Real red, cherry cobbler, mossy meadow & old olive
DSP: Non SU

Sentiment: Candy cane season
Embellishments: silver rhinestones & mossy meadow thick bakers twine

Perfectly Penciled Birthday Card

I have one of my up-line meetings tonight, and have made the below card for our colour challenge. Whilst these colours scream Christmas to me, I decided not to go down that path and create a birthday card instead. 

I was inspired by one of the cards in the current annual catalogue on page 119, and made some subtle changes to make it my own. I used the 'Perfectly Penciled' DSP, and coloured one of the larger bunches of flowers with my blender pens, then fussy cut the whole bunch by hand.....yes this took time and lots of patients!

 

Products used

 

Cardstock: Whisper white & basic black
Inks: Versa mark & white embossing powder

Stampin blends: Evening evergreen, soft succulent & sweet sorbet

DSP: Perfectly penciled

Sentiment: Happy Birthday Gorgeous
Embellishments: Black enamel dots (not SU)

All Occasion Masculine Card

I have one last card to share for father's day this year, or for any occasion really.

The DSP is from several years ago, but still a favourite of mine for masculine cards because of the deep rich colours. I created the moon with large circle dies by die cutting a large circle, then using a smaller circle to cut away the inside of the shape. The sentiment is not from Stampin Up, but came free with a scrapbooking magazine I purchased years ago.

I used some tiny little gold rhinestones on the points of the stars constellations, but they are a little hard to see in the photo's...in real life they really do sparkle.

Products used

 

Dies: Large circles
Cardstock: Very vanilla & brushed metallic gold

Inks: Basic black
DSP: Going places

Sentiment: Unknown
Embellishments: Tiny gold rhinestones

 

Hat's Off Father's Day Card

Father's day is only two days away, so I have another great masculine card which uses the 'Hat's Off' bundle (now retired).

To be honest I struggled coming up with a card that uses the smallest hat die from the 'Hat Builder' die set, but am very happy with the finished product. I do like the colours that I used...My husband has a hat in each of these colours, so it turns out to be a perfect card for him!

 

Products used

 

Stamps: Hat's off
Dies: Hat builder
Cardstock: Crumb cake, mossy meadow, basic black, early espresso, soft suede & night of navy
Inks: Basic black, versa mark & white embossing powder
DSP: True love

Sentiment: Hat's off

 

Hat's Off Masculine Card

Sharing a last minute masculine card that can be used for father's day this weekend.

I really love the simplicity and colours used for this card. It is based on Michelle Last's card from back in 2016. Whilst I used the same DSP for the background, everything else I changed. I used the 'Hat's Off' bundle (now retired) for the hat and sentiment. I love how the sentiment ties in with the map and the hat for the next adventure.

Products used

 

Stamps: Hat's off
Dies: Hat builder
Cardstock: Very vanilla, basic black & mossy meadow
Inks: Basic black, versa mark & white embossing powder
DSP: Going places

Sentiment: Hat's off
Embellishments: Linen thread & silver basic metal button

 

Climbing Orchid Card

I am one of those demonstrators that holds onto most stamps sets that I have purchased, as you just never know when you'll need them. This card shows the use of the 'Jar of Love' and the 'Climbing Orchid' stamp sets...both favourites sets of mine! I love the colours and simplicity of the orchid sitting in the jar.

Products used

 

Stamps: Jar of love & climbing orchid
Dies: Orchid builder framelits & branch die (non SU)
Cardstock: Whisper white, crumb cake, water colour paper & silver glimmer
Inks: Basic black, pool party, tempting turquoise, wisteria wonder
DSP: Tasty Treats

Sentiment: Banner blast
Embellishments: silver rhinestones & linen thread

 

Mixed Drinks Father's Day Card

As father's Day is fast approaching, below is another card to share for the occasion. I was inspired by the card Shannon Lane made but only changed the sentiment.

I used the stamp set 'Mixed Drinks' which is a really old retired set, but this card could easily be replicated by using the new 'Brewed for You' stamp set and coordinating dies.

 

Products used

 

Stamps: Mixed drinks, touches of texture, perfect pennants & playful backgrounds
Cardstock: Smoky slate, crushed curry & whisper white
DSP: Neutrals paper assortment
Sentiment: Labeler alphabet
Embellishments: Smoky slate stitched ribbon & black metallic thread

 

Kindest Gnomes Christmas Card

Today I have another cute little gnome card that uses the 'Gnomes Dies'.

The background tree paper is from the 'Rings of Love' DSP, which is a free sale-a-bration item if you spend $90 on products before 31 August. The sentiment is from another stamp set I own (not SU) and same with the stitched edge dies I used to create the snow layers. 

In regards to the little arms and hands I made for this gnome, I used three lots of dies from the 'Spellbinders Shopping Spree" die set. They are a perfect size for this little guy and very easy to create. I also shared another way to make the little arms and hands using other stamping up products, which you can see my original post here.

Products used

 

Dies: Gnomes & tree rings
Cardstock: Whisper white, crumb cake, poppy parade, soft seafoam, basic black, pacific point & blush blossom
DSP: Rings of love & celebrations
Sentiment: Other (non SU)

 

Happiness Abounds Birthday Card

Sharing another card using the gorgeous 'Happiness Abounds' bundle and DSP. I was inspired by Michele Jutrisa's card, but made lots of changes to make it my own.

Products used

 

Stamps: Happiness abounds
Dies: Blossoming happiness & wonderful floral framelits
Cardstock: Crumb cake, basic black & whisper white
DSP: Hues of happiness
Sentiment: Happiness abounds
Embellishments: black pearls

 

Happiness Abounds Card

So my favourite products in the new annual catalogue is definitely the 'Happiness Abounds' stamp set and matching dies, as well as the coordinating DSP. I love how the dies fit perfectly to cut out the beautiful flowers on 4 sheets of the DSP. I really hope Stampin Up continue to make their DSP coordinate perfectly with dies for all future products, as this just give another option to making super quick cards...specially suitable for time-poor people.

I have seen many teacup designs recently using these lovely flowers, so decided to make a few quick cards using this process. I don't have the new teacup bundle, nor am I going to purchase it, as I already have the 'A Nice Cuppa' stamp set with the coordinating dies which I prefer. This card can be used for many occasions.

Products used

 

DSP: hues of happiness
Stamps: a nice cuppa
Scalloped edge: penned flowers dies
Sentiment: a nice cuppa
Embellishments: brights enamel shapes

 

Splendid Thoughts Card

I really love the 'Splendid Thoughts' stamp set and coordinating dies, and the matching DSP is beautiful. Below is a card that uses all three products, and I used the purple 'Glossy Dots' for the bling, which finished the card off nicely.

Products used

 

Stamps: Splendid thoughts
Dies: Splendid stems
Cardstock: Fresh freesia, smoky slate & whisper white
DSP: Splendid day
Sentiment: Splendid thoughts
Embellishments: Glossy dots

Note Cards with Matching Envelopes

I do love how Stampin Up produces some cute little note cards with matching envelopes. These envelopes are so sweet, so I wanted to make some nice little matching cards to go with them. They were very quick to make as the background wash was already part of the note cards, so all I had to do was embellish it and add a sentiment.

Hello Cupcake Birthday Card

Who doesn't love all the colours of the rainbow.....I know I do, especially together! It has been raining here for the last couple of days and now the sun is trying really hard to shine through the clouds, so I am sure there is a rainbow close by somewhere.

So today's card is a bright and cheery one which I cased from Kaylee Den Breejen. I made some slight changes to my card, and my overall cupcake is not as tall with less frosting on top.

Interactive Father's Day Card

So Father's Day is just around the corner, and I wanted to share an interactive card using an old stamp and die bundle which I still love. I am using the 'Nailed It' bundle, as well as the little jar stamp from the 'Jar of Haunts'. 

My husband loves to tinker in his garage and is quite handy on the tools, so this card is perfect for him. The front is a shaker card with the little nuts and bolts as the shaker pieces, and the inside is a pop up card featuring the tools. The idea was to make the pop up part look a little like a tool-belt. It also includes a pocket for a gift card or money.