Fabulous You

Good morning, I hope you are all enjoying the new catalogue as much as I am!  I have just had a UPS delivery and I am so excited, but I am trying to contain my excitement long enough for a quick blog update for you all. 

It is another birthday month this month with lots of birthdays and other occasions to celebrate for.  It's also my birthday month for a big special birthday, but let's not mention that just yet as I am trying to put it off for a bit longer!

Today's cards are all products from the yummy new catalogue.  The two cards here are the Fabulous You stamp set.  No matter how many times you look through the catalogue (and I do lots!) there is always stamps that you miss, but this is a stamp set a customer bought and after that it just kept popping out at me from the catalogue.  What a great girlie set for wedding/engagement congratulations, friendship or birthdays.  It is a small set of 3 stamps so a great little purchase without too much guilt!  I just love the shoe in the embossed silver as I have done for these two cards. 

 

The colour for the card is  Rose Red which has moved from the Subtles collection and is now in the Regals, I am so glad this colour did not retire as I do like it a lot.  The background is the Ex Libris background stamp, it provides an instant card front design in just one inking and stamping, such a time-saver!  The butterfly is so delicate too in this set and with the sentiment it is a really lovely set to have in your collection. 

 

I have dressed the shoe with a little Boho Blossom and a Vintage Button with some pearls and sparkles.  The large pearls we now have are perfect for the centre of the Boho Blossom small flower and they also fit perfectly in the centre of the larger vintage button (not used here). 

 

After my Rose Red card, I thought I would use a different colour scheme for another card.  This time I have used Daffodil Delight.  The image is still embossed silver here, but I have made little daisy flowers with the smallest Boho Blossom flower and just a standard hole punch for the centre.  The 'Happy Birthday' for this one is from the Create a cupcake stamp set.  This one was a postal friendly card so I used a rolled ribbon instead of a tied bow and secured the ends inside the middle loop with a brad.

 

I used some vellum cardstock overlay on the card which was embossed with the Polka Dot emboss folder.  Just a little warning if you do this, you might want to be a bit careful with your glue as I found after when mine was a little visible on the top edge.  You could create a little decorative strip to cover it here.

 



Look at these new colours on the last card I have made, these are the new In Colours 2013-2015 again.  This is also the Mosaic Madness stamp set and co-ordinating punch from the new catalogue.  I have added some embossed pieces too and layered it over a background made up of white punched pieces.  The 'Happy Birthday' you will recognise is again from the Create a cupcake set.  I am loving the Strawberry Slush colour.

 

I even added a little extra saying inside the card from the same stamp set.

 

If you are excited about all the new products or you just need something topping up, to place an order, book a party or come to a workshop held by me email me at craftyinkbuds@sky.com

Mother's Day - Ex Libris

I am just loving that feeling that Spring is on it's way!

Today I have a post of cards made using the Ex Libris stamp.  I must admit I had overlooked this stamp so many times when browsing through the catalogue (hard to believe as 'browsing' makes it sound so much more casual than the memorising of every page that takes place each new catalogue!).  I tend to focus on the stamp sets of several stamps, but one day when I had some hostess pounds to spend this stamp caught my eye and it came to me, a single stamp for an almost instant card front, fantastic!  All it needed was a little dressing up in different ways and it was a perfect addition for cards, background stamping and even elements on a journal or scrapbook album.

I loved the initial design Stampin' Up! had in the catalogue with this stamp (page 128) so the first thing I did, to get the creative juices flowing, was to CASE their design - cheeky!  That is the great thing about the Catalogue as it really is an 'ideas' book too - just as it says on the tin (well, cover!).

Here it is - my colours were Lucky Limeade - what a fabulously vibrant spring green - and Marina Mist for the flower.  So, I really did have to go outside my comfort zone of Mrs Neat and Tidy for the flower with all that scrunching of the card.  It didn't turn out quite as scrunched, but it almost looks good enough to pick! 

My flower was made with the 'Fun Flowers' die for the Big Shot. I added a So Saffron brad to secure it together before the scrunching began and also created the middle stems with this colour.  A tip for the scrunching: mist your cardstock with water until damp and more pliable.

Now for a more vintage style with the same background stamp and a slightly different feel. 

Back to Crumb Cake - I think I should have given this up for lent, I am so addicted. I This card uses the 'Wishing you a day as perfect as you are' stamp again from the Sale-a-Bration set 'VintageVerse'.  I thought this was a great sentiment for Mother's Day.  I trimmed round the shape and then popped it on the card with dimensionals to make it stand out. 

I added lots of little springtime flowers with help from the  'Boho Blossoms' Punch and also the butterflies using the 'Beautiful Wings' embosslit for the Big Shot.

Not got a Big Shot (yet)?  Why not?  Don't worry, if you are not ready to commit to one yet there are plenty of punches to get these fabulous shapes too. Check out the punches on pages 184-185 in the main catalogue.  Want some baby butterflies too? Don't forget the new 'Bitty Butterfly' in the Sping Mini Catalogue - perfectly petite! 

To get the 'Vintage Verses' I have used here from the Sale-a-Bration sets, all you need to do is place an order for £45 or more. Don't forget too, if you are local, there is a card workshop next Thursday 7th March.  See the 'Workshops' page for more details and contact me now to save your place!

To place an order, book a party or come to a workshop email me at craftyinkbuds@sky.com