Archive | May 2010

My Convention swap

Well, Convention has been and gone this year.  It was my first time, and it sure lived up to my expectations!

This was the swap I made, using the stamp sets En Francais, Medallion and Teeny Tiny Sentiments.  I made a few different versions of this card, but this is the one I liked the best after they were all done.

I love this colour combo together, and I’m relieved that both Pink Pirouette and Sahara Sand will follow us into the new catalogue when it launches in September 2010. Phew!

I was trying for a shabby chic look and began by stamping En Francais in Sahara Sand.  Then I stamped my Medallion in Versamark ink and then tapped my Pink Pirouette over the already Versamark-inked Medallion.  Then I stamped the Medallion half over the En Francais image.  And then I embossed the Medallion with clear embossing powder.   This is a close up:

I used the Scallop Oval, Large Oval and Small Oval punches to stamp my Teeny Tiny Sentiment and layer it.  Then I sponged all edges with Sahara Sand ink.   The strip was punched with the Scallop Edge punch and the thin strip of paper that was left after I punched my scallop edge is the piece I used to layer over the Sahara Sand strip (and that was textured Sahara Sand).  I love using up scraps!

Convention was amazing this year, and I’m grateful for all the amazing swaps I received in return for mine – thanks for sharing, ladies!

Thanks for looking 🙂

Top Note purse

There are lots of these cute boxes floating around the net, but this is the first one I’ve made.  And I made quite a few because they were one of my free gifts for my guests to my Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue launch, a couple went to my daughter’s school as gifts for the Mother’s Day stall, and one was a gift to my cousin for hosting a stamp-a-stack.

I made the box using Melon Mambo cardstock, which was embossed using the Big Shot with Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder and then cut out with the Top Note Die.  The sentiment comes from Teeny Tiny Sentiments and was stamped in Melon Mambo.  I punched a large oval from the leftover of the polka dot Melon Mambo cardstock and layered it onto Pink Pirouette textured cardstock, punched from the Scallop Oval punch.  I finished off the box with a pink rhinestone brad and Pink Pirouette grosgrain ribbon.

This is the side view:

Thanks for looking 🙂

The INKlings’ Team’s first ever blog hop

 
Welcome to The INKlings’ Team’s first ever blog hop.  You may have arrived here from Rachel Jackson’s blog here or just be visiting my blog, whichever way, once you’ve checked out my cards and tutorial you can continue the hop through the link at the end of this post to the next team member. 
 
What style of cards do we frequently get asked for inspiration for? More often than not it’s masculine cards, be it little boys or grandfathers everyone seems to struggle with cards for the males in our lives.  So as a team we thought we’d help you out by providing you with 20 team members’ fantastic blogs that you can hop through and get lots of fantastic ideas from.    
 
Want to win some Blog Candy?  Simply leave a comment on each blog and then email Michelle Dyson here and let her know you’ve done so and you’ll be in the running for a fantastic prize of 20 handmade cards plus other goodies.

Sorry Blog Candy prize not available to SU! demonstrators.
 
I’ve created a punch art electric guitar!  Here is the first one:
 
 
And if you’d like to create your own punch art electric guitar, here is a tutorial.  You’ll need these punches: Large Star, 1 3/4″ circle, Curvy Label, 1 3/8″ circle, Oval and Horizontal Slot.  Plus you’ll need one piece of cardstock 0.7cm x 9.5cm for the neck, 2 pieces of cord 25cm long (I’ve used retired SU silver cord) for the strings and 4 brads for the tuners and bridge.
 
 
Punch out one each of the 1 3/4″ circle, Curvy Label and 1 3/8″ circle for the guitar’s body from cardstock of your choice.  Stick them together like this:
 
 
 
 
You need to punch the Oval punch twice, like this:
 
 
 
Then punch out one Large Star in the same colour cardstock as your neck piece of cardstock.  You will need to cut the star like this:
 
 
 
Then stick the cut piece of star to the neck cardstock, and insert your brads.  Push your brads on through the bridge and the headstock of the guitar:
 
 
You can see from the above photo, I used the cut piece of my Large Star to make the bridge.  You can make it with a punched out piece from the Horizontal Slot punch, if you choose.I found it easier to use the cut out piece from the Large Star – the paper is stronger once you pierce it and stick your brads on.
 
Then stick your neck to the guitar body:
 
 
 
Then stick your bridge on the body of the guitar:
 
 
Then comes the fiddly bit!  You need to wrap your cord around the brads on the bridge and tie the cord in a knot around the brads that are the tuners. 
 
 
Then trim your cord.  Next punch out three pieces of cardstock with your horizontal slot punch and glue them (I used 2-way glue) under your “strings” , like this:
 
 

And then stick your guitar to your card!

Here are a couple of other ideas:

 
Well that’s all from me.  Next stop on the INKlings’ Team Blog Hop is Carolyn Campbell-McLean here.  Have fun and don’t forget to leave a comment on each blog to win some great Blog Candy.
 
Thanks for looking 🙂
 
In case a link isn’t working, these are the fabulous participants in The INKlings first ever blog hop:
 
 
1. Clare http://craftycowcreations.blogspot.com/                 
2. Janice  www.janicespencer.blogspot.com                
3. Dani http://www.daniholland.wordpress.com/                 
4. Kylie http://kraftykylie.typepad.com/blossom_designs/               
5. Amy      http://amyandersonsblog.blogspot.com      
6. Kari     www.karigail.wordpress.com        
7. Jayne      http://www.jaynemercer.com/blogs 
8.  Joanna   http://www.joannawassens.com  
9. Michelle D  http://stampinkpaper.blogspot.com  
10. Christie   http://christiescreativecorner.blogspot.com    
11. Ryn    http://rynscraps.blogspot.com  
12. Fiona B.  http://www.fionajanestamping.blogspot.com
13. Beth    www.elisabethstewart.com             
14.  Nicky A    http://nickyadamson.blogspot.com/
15. Dani F http://danifender.blogspot.com               
16. Michelle FS http://stampinground.wordpress.com

Medallion make-and-take

This is the last make-and-take card my guests made at my Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue launch party.

The card is made with the colours Taken With Teal, Regal Rose, and Close to Cocoa.  Don’t you love these colours together? I know, I do!  I stamped the Medallion in Versamark ink and then popped the colour with my pastels – I love this soft effect!

The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Sentiments, which is stamped on Whisper White in Taken With Teal and layered on a the Curvy Label punch, cut in half and sponged in Taken With Teal.  Naturally, the card is finished off with Dazzling Diamonds and a rhinestone brad!

Thanks for looking 🙂

Riding Hood Red Two-Step Punch Bird

This is another make-and-take card we made at my Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue launch party. 

We used the new Extra-Large Two-Step Bird punch and Bella Rose DSP.  Of course, the Bella Rose DSP is based around the colours Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette and Chocolate Chip.  The card base is Riding Hood Red (textured cardstock), the Whisper White is also textured cardstock, there is a touch of Kiwi Kiss grosgrain ribbon and a Kiwi Kiss corduroy button (retired).  The linen thread adds depth to the card, and the sentiment is from the ever-versatile Short & Sweet.

The card is deceptive in its size in this photo – it is a 6″x6″ card!  Again, as my numbers were small on the night of my launch, I was able to spoil my guests 🙂  I hope they liked their cards, I know my 5 year old daughter, who also participated for the first time on the night with gleeful joy, loved her cards – she clutched them all the way to school the next day for show-and-tell! 

Thanks for looking 🙂