Magazine file cards

As promised, I have a few cards to show that I made to pop in the magazine file that I made for a friend.  

I was really happy with these first two.  They actually look so much better in real life rather than in these photos.  I have stamped the flourish from Baroque Motifs on here and then heat embossed in white, and then sponged over the corner with Pool Party to show off the flourish a little more.  There are two layers of Flower Shop flowers and then one of the stamps from Everything Eleanor was stamped behind.  A handmade button and string added and then a sentiment.

And this one uses the images from Postage Due stamped on Smoky Slate and heat embossed with white powder again, add some ribbon and a few "stamps" on top.  I really love this one - it's just a shame the image isn't a little bigger to cover the whole card.  But then I guess I would say it was too big.  

   

And last one for today, with Grunge Rock, probably something similar to what's already been seen on here, this time using Indigo Island cardstock. 

 

Another favourite to come.  Actually looking at all the cards I made, they are nearly all made with retired sets.  There are some sets I just can't part with. 

Magazine file card holder

I have had a very creative day today.  Apart from two loads of washing, the day has been spent in my room making things.  A friend from work helped me out last week, so I needed to make something for her to say thank you.  As she has bought a few cards from me in the past, I thought I would make a few cards for her and also a box of some sort to store them in until needed.  

I had printed out some instructions for what is called a magazine file ages ago, but unfortunately it was by an American demonstrator and therefore all measurements were suited for their sized cards which are smaller than our A5 size.  So with a bit of tweaking, this is the end result. 

 

The holder is 17 x 12 and 4 cm wide, and at the moment it holds 7 cards and envelopes.  I pulled out some First Edition DSP that I had stashed away to use as decoration.  I like this holder so much, that I plan on making a few more for myself.  Such a fun way to spend a day.  

Interested in seeing the cards?  Pop back again on Thursday.  

 

Christmas card Class - Holiday Home

I really loved the Holiday Home set when I first saw it in the catalogue, but wondered whether I would really get much use from it.  I'll pop up a few other cards using this set later, but you can use this set for a few different occasions.  You may recall a "Welcome to your new home" card I posted a few weeks ago.  Well, this is the Christmas version.  

We all struggled a little making this card.  The hardest part was getting the post it notes evenly arranged to form the mask before we started sponging.  Once that was done though, it was pretty straight forward.  I have used Night of Navy, then Marina Mist and finally Bashful Blue sponging for the background scene over a circle mask for the moon.  And because we were using photopolymer  stamps, we were able to make Santa and his sleigh travel in an arc instead of straight across.  

Yes, that is a smudge above my sleigh.  I must remember to pop the cards in plastic before class so they don't get damaged. Never mind.  

Christmas card class - Bright and Beautiful Stars

I'm back with another couple of cards from our class a few weeks ago. Bright and Beautiful is another very popular set from the Holiday catalogue, and what's not to like.  These stars look so "beautiful" when embossed, but are every pretty specky when they are not.  

For my card I chose to emboss with silver powder, and then added some silver sparkle behind in a larger size star with the framelits that match.  I wanted to use a "regal" looking colour as the card base, so chose Night of Navy.  At the class, I gave people their choice of cardstock colour to use, and also had a few different designs of cards using the stars, but most chose to replicate this one.  Makes you feel good when they do that.  

Christmas card class 2

Ready for another Christmas card, or am I just reminding you how soon Christmas will actually be here?  Drove past the local school in the holidays and they were counting down the days till Christmas.  Bit sad when the kids hadn't even come back from their break. 

This card was my next favourite from Saturday.  So simple, but looks good.  This was a combination of two ideas, the washi tape from Michelle le Breton, and another from Pinterest that I can't find now.  

When I first saw the washi tape in the catalogue, I wasn't really impressed.  But, it's actually not bad.  Easy to use and even though these colours are quite subtle, it's a good effect.  

I always knew I would have to purchase Endless Wishes stamp set right from the start, even though it doesn't really suit our Aussie Christmas theme.  There are a lot of sentiments in this set for Christmas which can be re-arranged to make lots of different greetings. 

So three levels of washi and some stamped snowflakes, with one and the greeting embossed in silver.  Add a bit of bling, and ... nice!

Christmas card class

We had our (maybe) final card class for the year on the weekend, and of course the theme had to be Christmas cards, so some of the products in the latest Holiday Catalogue from Stampin' Up got a bit of a work out.  

The first card was my favourite.  It was cased from Michelle Andrews and as I loved the design so much, I copied it down to the last detail, inside and out.  Have a look at her blogsite for a couple of great ideas using the Festival of Trees set.  

The embossing folder is a new one too for Christmas - Lucky Stars, but you could also use this for birthdays, or pretty much any occasion where you want to add a bit of texture.  Santa has been coloured in with Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities, which I am just starting to get the hang of, and the JOY banner popped up on dimensionals.  

As I said, my favourite, so thanks Michelle for the idea.

 

Curvy Keepsake box

Last week we also got to have a play with the Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlits Dies and make this cute little penguin.  There are so many cute little animals being made with this box floating around Pinterest, and I am tempted to add this to my wish list.  

 

 

Now this little box was made with the Gift Box Punch Board, and using this you can make lots of different sized boxes, up to 10.2cm each side.  Ours was made with a 15 x 15 cm (6 x 6 inch) square and Michelle gave us all a little candle to pop inside as a gift. 

There is no glue or tape needed with this box, as you can see it all just folds together and has little slits to hold it together.  What do you think?  Do you need it now?

Get togethers with other demonstrators are a great idea.  At this occasion I got to use lots of things I didn't own, hadn't done before or was considering buying.   

Christmas cards

I was fortunate last week to be able to get together with a group of Stampin' Up demonstrators to share some ideas and create a few cards.  This week I will be showing you what we made there, which hopefully may give you some ideas for your Christmas cards, or at least showcase some of the products from the latest Holiday Catalogue. 

This first card uses the Ornamental Pine set, one I'm still debating over whether I really "need".  Instead of a white background, Michelle used Naturals White cardstock for a softer effect.  Lots of sponging around the edges also help with the vintagey feel.  Pine cones and tag have been popped up using dimensionals, and the rhinestone was coloured with one of the blendabilities to tie in with the colour scheme. 

 

 

Next card by Naomi uses the very popular Festival of Trees set, one that also has a matching punch to make everything so easy.  The dots are stamped on in Whisper White for a lovely subtle background effect, and the cardinal has been stamped and once stuck in place, we used Glossy Accents to make it stand out and shine. 

 

Now this one was a little bit more of a challenge, and one that I didn't quite meet on this occasion.  It's done with brayering, and I have never used a brayer before, so I don't actually like the way it turned out, but Angela's card looked so much better.  The brayering was supposed to have been a little more gradual and show more colours, from Cajun Craze, to Pumpkin Pie and finally Daffodil Delight.  The set is called Beauty of the Season, another one I debated over.  Once the image was stamped, we coloured him completely with a black marker and also a few of the blossoms on the branch to give the night effect.  The lines you can see are supposed to be beams from the moon, but you are forgiven if you thought it was just a mistake.  I think I need more practice. 

 

Will show you some cute little boxes we made shortly. 

 Just a quick one today cause I forgot to take photos of cards in the daylight, and the night ones weren't the best quality.  

My card has been made with one of the recent additions to Stampin' Up - photopolymer sets.  These are stamps made of a clear material, which is great because as it's clear you can see where you are placing the stamp and therefore don't need to use a stamp positioner for perfect placement.  Another great thing is that you can reshape the polymer and can bend them when placing on your clear blocks.  I'll show you a "bent" one shortly.

 

This was just a simple card to make, add the border, colour with markers and fancy up the edge.