Bird Banter - 2018 Occasions Catalogue

Today I decided to play with the Bird Banter set from the Stampin' Up! 2018 Occasions catalogue. I love all of the birds featured in this set, I love the little cockatoo as it means there is an Australian animal in there. Here's a picture of the set:

And here is a picture of the quick and easy card I came up with.

I decided to get the sentiment from the 'A Good Day' set, which is also in the Occasions catalogue because I love the unusual font. I used a Crumb Cake 3 inch square card base, and then cut out Whisper White and Lemon Lime Twist squares using my new Layering Squares framelits. I cut the smallest square from a piece of Color Theory DSP I had in my scrap basket (it's Crushed Curry but I used the lightest end of the spectrum). The banner at the top was cut using the Bunch of Banners framelits (which I also just got), and adorned with the Glitter Enamel Dots from the Annual Catalogue. I'd use them on every card if there were dots to match every Stampin' Up! colour! The washi tape is from the Tutti Frutti suite in the Occasions catalogue. I added that on as I felt it tied all the colours together nicely. 

I hope you like my card, if you have any questions, just ask!

Crazy Crafters Blog Hop with Allison Okamitsu

Today I am participating in my first ever Blog Hop with the Crazy Crafters! Today we are CASE'ing Allison Okamitsu from Canada. I spent a lot of time scrolling around Allison's blog and having a lot of trouble picking a card because I loved ALL OF THEM! I finally made a decision and went with this one:

I don't have the Fruit Basket stamp or punch yet, but I really liked how the scalloped circles draw your eye to small elements. Having recently received the Magical Mates stamps and framelits dies, I had an idea for using an adorable little character I had noticed in the set. Here is what I came up with:

Aren't those little seahorses just adorable!? The banner at the bottom with the sentiment frustrated me a lot as I struggle with getting Whisper White ink to apply evenly, however I am hoping to buy a heat tool soon and if I was making the card again, I would use white embossing powder (thanks to my upline Louise for that suggestion!)

Here's a list of the materials I used:

Occasions Catalogue

• Myths and Magic Specialty Designer Paper
• Magical Mates Stamp Set 
• Magical Mates Framelits Dies
• Myths and Magic Specialty Washi Tape
• 1 3/8" Scalloped Circle Punch

2017-2018 Annual Catalogue

• Whisper White Cardstock
• Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad
• Fresh Fig, Tranquil Tide and Soft Sky Cardstock
• 2017-2019 In Colour Stampin' Write Markers (I used Fresh Fig and Tranquil Tide with the Blender Pen)

Thanks for dropping by! Make sure you check out the projects my fellow Crazy Crafters have created below!

Happy Wishes Sale-a-Bration Stamp Set

It has been quite a while since I last blogged any of my cards, partly as I am 29 weeks pregnant and have had one health issue after another, but also because my creative mojo has well and truly been off on holidays. I seem to be slowly getting it back!

Today I decided to make a card with the Happy Wishes Sale-a-Bration set, which I have decided I am totally in love with. More than anything, the sentiment options available with mixing and matching stamps are almost endless! The best thing about this set is it is free with an order over $180! Everybody loves free stuff!

Once I started cutting DSP and cardstock, I decided to make two variations of the same idea. Here's how they turned out:

For both cards, I used Night of Navy cardstock for the card base and a slightly smaller rectangle of Naturally Eclectic DSP on top. Although it was unintentional having the strokes going in opposite directions (I will stick with my standby excuse at the moment of baby brain!), it ended up working quite well with the shapes I used. Using Night of Navy ink, I stamped the sentiments before cutting them on my trusty Big Shot using Stitched Shapes framelits. Both were the largest of their shape.

The "best wishes" card was slightly more fiddly than the second one.

I used the Pretty Label punch from the Annual Catalogue to cut Soft Sky and Lemon Lime Twist cardstock, cutting each label in half through the long edge. This meant that I could slightly overlap them creating a 'border' when glued together. Then I attached them to the back of the oval using Tear & Tape. Before I attached it to the card using Stampin' Dimensionals, I attached the retired satin ribbon to the card using the same tape. 

The "you are the best" card was super easy.

Using the same base as the other card, I attached a one inch wide strip of the reverse side of the same DSP sheet accross the middle of the card. It was actually two scrap strips, however the gap is hidden under the sentiment 😊
I attached the Metallic Edge ribbon (a current item in the Annual Catalogue) using Tear & Tape before sticking on the sentiment with Stampin' Dimensionals. I decided to add the Lemon Lime Twist Bitty Bow to link in with the DSP.

Darius was too busy pestering Lily with his new found trick of getting on top of the TV cabinet (this was her respite area so she is far from impressed that he's figured out he can jump up!) I did have furry friend company though - Miss Penny's protector gene has really kicked in with me over the last few weeks - I think shes finally realised something is up with my ever expanding belly. When she can, she follows me EVERYWHERE! Well, she insists on getting past me a leading me to make sure there is nothing ahead that might be unsafe... Here she is asleep under my stool..

If you have any questions, just let me know! I am more than happy to help you with any of the products you are interested in and can show you the latest catalogue and order for you (provided you're in Australia).

Comments are welcome - I will always reply!

Sara and Penny 😄

Quilt Builder Framelits - with a not so Christmas twist

Hi everyone :)

I haven't posted for quite a while as there has been a lot happening in my world outside my craft room. Even though I haven't been creating as much as I would like, I did order some awesome goodies out of the 2017 Holiday Catalogue from Stampin' Up! The only thing is, I am a little bit 'Grinchy' when it comes to Christmas in general, so I decided to use the Quilt Builder Framelits for some not Christmas note cards in a little pizza box. Those pizza boxes had been burning a hole in my craft drawer and I had been dying to use them!

Here are the cards I made (excuse the slight glare issue with the foil sheet):

I used the Painted Autumn DSP and Lemon Lime Twist cardstock with the Framelits and glued it onto a Whisper White 3"x3" square card base. I also used some Gold foil sheet in the middle sections as I hadn't had a chance to try it out yet. It felt a little bit like doing a jigsaw putting all the little pieces into the quilt. I would say that the fine tip glue pen is a must when gluing down the frame part of the quilt. Then I added a gold faceted gem to the middle of each. The gems and fine tip glue pen are in the current Annual Catalogue.


Then to decorate the pizza box, I cut out an 8.8cm square of DSP for the lid and four 8.8cm x 2.4cm strips for the sides. This was still from the Painted Autumn set, just a different sheet to the sides. I used one sides pattern for the lid and the other side for the sides. I added a little orange and gold flower to the top which was cut from the Quilt Builder dies. 

Excuse my background mess :)

                             
Everything other than the fine sections was glued using Tombow - which I must say is the best smelling glue in the universe. If you have any questions, just ask :)

Sara (and no Darius because he's getting too big and was off hunting geckos rather than getting in the way!)

A clowder of cats!

Good evening again!

Stampin' Up! have carried one of my favourite stamp sets over to the 2017-2018 catalogue. It's called "Pretty Kitty", and features a bundle of adorable cat stamps and sentiments.

The school I work at is having an art exhibition next week and I've been racking my brain trying to decide what to do for the teacher section. Seeing I am a crazy cat lady, and everyone (including the students!) knows it, I concluded that a crate of cats was in order. Interestingly, despite the fact that i tell anyone who will listen that I hate fussy cutting, I ended up doing it again! It came out looking like this:

This project featured Darius' big sister Lily as well, although she was more interested in standing in the way and trying to eat my necklace.

To start with, I stamped a whole heap of cats with the "Pretty Kitty" set on shimmery white paper. Then I shaded them with a variety of browns, greys and black using the Stampin' Up! blender pen. After that I used the blender pen again to shade the ribbons in different colours, and the Powder Pink marker to shade the little noses and open mouths. The tangled up kitten got Bermuda Bay on a blender pen for the wool. I lightly shaded around the strands to try and make it look fluffy.

I made sure I included a "Lily", and attempted a Darius but it didn't look like him. Most of the other cats are based on cats I have had or known.

It was when I was fussy cutting all the cats that Darius appeared, and we had serious words when he started trying to eat one!

Using the "Wood Crates" die and a piece of the retired Tip Top Taupe cardstock (I'm sad to see that In Colour depart for greener pastures), I cut out the two crate sections and a couple of extras with only the base part under the die. I used those to create little tabs for inside to hold cats up. While I was at the Big Shot (which I keep on my computer desk for space reasons, I also cut 3 hearts from Real Red card using the small die from the same set.

I glued the crate sections using Multipurpose Liquid Glue, and then fiddled with the inside tabs (I had to add a couple of little ones to space out the cats evenly. Darius thought that was very interesting.

Last of all, I glued all the cats in place. I did use some Dimensionals in there to add depths (I doubled up in some spots to make them higher/deeper). Then I attached the cat brads to the hearts after I had used the Piercing Tool to make a hole for them. I picked the brads up on eBay for some ridiculously small price - an impulse buy just because CATS!

If you have any questions, just let me know! I was trying to keep this shorter than my epic first post. Even though I am a "hobby demonstrator", I am more than happy to help you with any of the products you are interested in and can show you the latest catalogue and order for you (provided you're in Australia).

Comments are welcome - I will always reply!

MEOW!
Sara, Darius and Lily

My first post!

Hi everyone!

As this is my first time posting, this is going to be relatively simplistic as far as blog posts go! I've been busy making a card in a box for a gorgeous friend of mine as she has just had her first baby. I have never been quite as happy with the outcome of a card, so I figured this was the best time to start a blog! The majority of the materials and tools used were from Stampin' Up due to their quality and durability. Here it is: 

To make this card, I started with Soft Sky cardstock from the Subtles Collection and used the Scalloped Box die from Lawn Fawn to cut the base and interior panels. I am so glad I got this die set from the US as I really am TERRIBLE at the measuring/scoring/cutting involved in the base components and it takes me forever! You can get it here.

Then I used the base die to cut the car paper in the background. I needed a full base section for the outside, and then I cut one down for the back of the inside. I picked this paper up at Spotlight a couple of years ago when it was reduced to clear, and I am so glad I did as it was exactly what I wanted for this card. I know that the new daddy is a car enthusiast, so I wanted to incorporate that in somehow. 

I glued the car paper to the cardstock before I constructed the box. I mostly used the Tombow Multipurpose Liquid glue from Stampin' Up! for this, however I did use some Tear & Tape for the inside panels as I find that I can never get it quite right with glue alone. While it was drying, out came the stamps!

Using black archival ink, the Moon Baby stamp set and shimmery white paper from Stampin' Up! I stamped two umbrella babies and three of the groups of animals, as well as the two sentiments. I also used Basic Gray and a sentiment from the 'A Little Wild' set for the tab. I used Stampin' markers and the blender pen to colour them all in with the following colours:

• Real Red for the umbrella and bunnies;
• Bermuda Bay for the babies onesie and the teddy bear
• Dapper Denim and Peekaboo Peach for the lamb
• Peekaboo Peach and a touch of Powder Pink for the babies skin
• Basic Black for the hair 
• Daffodil Delight for the stars (with just the marker)

To do this, I scribbled with the marker on an acrylic stamp block and used my blender pen on that as I don't have many stamp pads yet, but I have almost every Stampin' Marker under the sun.

Then came the cutting. So much cutting!

I used the coordinating stitched shaped that came in the Lawn Fawn set to cut the front and side panels, as well as the little banner in the background. I put two little Glitter Enamel dots on the post tips to help them stick. The name and little banner were cut with Kaisercraft dies (from before I was a Stampin' Up! convert) on Soft Sky, Night of Navy, Real Red and So Saffron cardstock. There are three little So Saffron circles behind the cars at the back that were cut using a circle punch.

Assisted cutting ended there and fussy cutting began (only because I love the person I was making it for - usually I avoid it like the Bubonic Plague!). On a side note, my husband thought I had made that term up. I digress. Using my precision scissors, I fussy cut the following:

• The two babies with umbrellas;
• Two rabbits
• Two teddy bears
• Two lambs
• Eight tiny stars
• Three cars from the paper I mentioned.

I used Mini Stampin' Dimensionals to mount the pairs together, some needed a half mini dimensional. Regular size Stampin' Dimensionals were used on the front panel. I glued the side panels on with Multipurpose Liquid Glue and then used half mini dimensionals to attach the stars. The glue also stuck the cars to the circles, as well as sticking them to the inside panel.

Finally, I used pieces of dimensionals to attach the baby, bunny and lamb to inside panels, as well as the bear hanging on to the umbrella.

That was all (I think!) Darius helped the whole way through and I am certain there are a few of his hairs hidden in there!

I am usually hypercritical of my creations, but this is the first one that I am completely happy with and willing to share. If you have any questions, I am more that happy to answer them. As I am new to blogging, I am not sure how to link all the Stampin' Up! products for purchase through me as a demonstrator, but if you are interested I can help you out. 

Here's a list of the products I used from Stampin' Up:

"Moon Baby" and "A Little Wild" stamp sets.  

• Basic Black and Basic Grey archival stamp pads
• 2016-2018 In Color Markers
• 2017-2019 In Color Markers
• Many Marvelous Markers Set
• Multipurpose Liquid Glue
• Tear and Tape Adhesive
• Big Shot Die Cutting Machine with Magnetic Platform
• Clear blocks C and E
• Stampin' Scrub and Stampin' Mist to clean the stamps
• Paper Snips (for the fussy cutting - they're the best!)
• Enamel Shapes - Subtles
• Glitter Enamel Dots
• Subtles Collection A4 Cardstock

Thanks for coming! 

Sara and Darius