Skulls

Mitchell had his first birthday party today for one of his new school friends so I made this card. First I sponged a piece of Whisper White with So Saffron, Always Artichoke and Close to Cocoa. Then I used the new scary skulls wheel with black ink. The eyes on the skulls are hearts so I covered them up with google eyes but my 5 year old told me they would have been cooler with no eyes. I did punch them out with my cropodile first so maybe next time I wont bother with the google eyes.

Stamp Club

The baby wipe technique on the cards below is one I will be teaching at our stamp club on Wednesday 1st April along with some other fabulous background techniques. If you would like to learn a new technique each month and are prepared to drive to Berwick, come along and join us. We meet on the first Wednesday of the month at 8pm. There is no cost to attend, just place a merchandise order for a minimum of $30 each month. Along with learning new techniques, you will also receive a free Ideas book and catalogue for joining. So send me an email and grab one of the few remaining spots or get your own group together during school hours and if you aren't too far, I'll come to you anemarie@bigpond.net.au

Out with the old and in with the new

It's that time of year when the new Stampin' Up! Ideas Book and Catalogue is released and some of the current stamp sets are retired. The other thing that changes are the 'in colours' so it's time to say goodbye to Blue Bayou, Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky and Groovy Guava and Welcome our NEW in colours: Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango, Pink Pirouette, Pacific Point and Riding Hood Red. As demonstrators we are able to order a few items from the new catalogue so we can prepare for the catalogue release and one of the items is a sample of the new in colours. Here are a couple of cards using the retiring Groovy Guava and the new Tangarine Tango. The top one is using the new Cheers to You set.

Crayon Resist - Fishy friends

Another example of crayon resist. This time I used a dauber to ink up the jelly fish and the seahorse. I used varying shades of blue on the jelly fish starting with the lightest. With the seahorse I added river rock, creamy caramel and really rust to give him a bit of depth. Oh and to get the soft sky on the ribbon I just used a white ribbon and rubbed it along the edge of the soft sky ink pad.

Crayon Resist - Baroque Motifs

At our stamp club this month we did the Baroque Motifs card in Night of Navy and Groovy Guava using the crayon resist technique.

We stamped gloss card with the baroque swirl stamp in night of navy and allowed to dry. It takes a little longer than we are used to as it's gloss card. We then drew crayon on the places we wanted to keep white. Different crayons will give you different results, for me the cheapest ones from The Reject Shop worked better than the crayola or texta brand ones, but any crayon will work. Next we brayered over the top with Groovy Guava ink until it was covered, allowed a moment to dry a little and rubbed with a tissue so that the crayon residue came off. Then we finished our cards.

Versamark resist or Ghosting

At our stamp club this month we did a couple of new techniques, Versamark Resist, also known as Ghosting and Crayon Resist. The cards above are done with Versamark Resist. The top one in Always Artichoke and Groovy Guava was one I did at Gail's when she held a Stamp-a-stack to raise funds for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal. The second one in Perfect Plum and Pale Plum is the one we did at stamp club.

Load a wheel up with Versamark and wheel it onto gloss card, then brayer over with a mid to dark ink colour. That's it, couldn't be simpler.

Time Well Spent

This is another card I did on the Demonstrators weekend away. The set, Time Well Spent is a level 3 hostess set that I hadn't had much chance to use. I like the ribbon on this one. I punched either side of the flower stalk with the double rectangle punch and threaded the certainly celery ribbon tied it in a not, then I threaded the wider very vanilla ribbon behind it.

Polka Dot punches and Dashing paper

I was playing around one night and thought I would try stamping on the Designer Series paper. I stamped the flower from polka dot punches on the dashing paper and punched it out with the flower punch. To do the leaves I used the flower punch and cut the petals off. The vases were done with the large oval punch and then I just trimmed the top and bottom. I love the simpleness of this card and think it looks great on the black. Who said dashing paper was just for Christmas!

Botanical Blooms and Congrats Sale-a-bration sets

The blue is bashful blue the lighter brown is close to cocoa and the darker brown is choc chip. I just love these colours together! I like the effect of the two step stamping in this one, as you can see you don't need to line it up perfectly to get a great look.

Time well spent magic card - take 2

I really enjoyed doing the magic card and thought I'd have another go at it. I like the strong colours on this card.

True Friend and Apple Cider paper

A few of our demonstrator group "Gail Force Stampers" had a weekend away and naturally we took our stamping stuff. This is a set and paper from the Spring mini that I hadn't had a chance to play with yet. Here is a card that I did while I was waiting for the others to arrive. It took time to cut it all out and layer it but I wasn't in a hurry at the time and I'm really pleased with the result. It also gave me a chance to use some of the gorgeous silver hodgepodge.

Construction birthday card

Here is a card I did for Brodie's 3rd birthday. The 3 is done with a tyre track wheel. The bulldozer is from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Construction that I just can't part with.

Wild about you pop up card

I did this card for Noah's 4th birthday. I got the idea from a pop up card book that Mandy had borrowed from the library, thanks Mandy! The clouds are stamped with the top of the cupcake stamp from 'Big Bold Birthday'

Magic Card - Time Well Spent

For our stamp club in January we made a magic card. When it is closed it's black and white and when you slide it out it's in colour. It was a very fiddly card to make but the result was great.

It's been ages

Hi,

Christmas is well and truly over and the shock of the new school routine has finally subsided so I thought it was time to update on here. Since Christmas I have also started a new part time job and my new boss has gone on maternity leave. She had a little girl Ashlee the day after I finished my training. Here is the card I made for her.