Dad's Birthday

Tomorrow is Dad's birthday, happy birthday Dad! I wanted to make a card about golf since Dad loves golf. While I was looking for inspiration, I found a card design that I loved! It wasn't a golf card but I used what I had to make it kate-ified. The original design is from Create With Christy.

Materials:
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla.
Stamps: Curly Cute (on the inside as the sentiment).
Inks: Cherry Cobbler classic ink pad.
Other: Big shot machine, Lattice embossing folder, dimensionals, mat pack, paper piercing tool, 2 way glue pen.
Non Stampin' Up: The follow products were bought from Crafty Cards on Garling - golf ball brads (the big, round, white things - the camera doesn't do them justice!), brown grosgrain ribbon, 3D golf stickers by Wishmade. I also used Thickers Fabric chipboard letter stickers in Doll. The bronze brads were from Stampin Stuff. Clear stamps 'Golfer' from http://www.sullivans.net/ though I bought mine from Starfish Lane in Mt Lawley.

Tips and Tricks:
1. On the big tag, I used 2 way glue to adhere the blue cardstock to the red before running it through the big shot machine.
2. The big tag was cut with a paper trimmer. I tried to cut the corners off at right angles to get them even.
3. I used Very Vanilla cardstock to make the white golf balls stand out more. You could substitute that for Whisper White depending on your project.

Stuff Ups:
1. I used the guides that came with the mat pack to align my brads but I still managed to make them look wonky.
2. The tag is too long - if it were shorter, the word 'Dad' would fit better but I made the tag first and forgot to check the height of my letters.

Mother's Day

I simply adore this Mother's Day card, however, I cannot lay claim to the gorgeous design. This design is by the incredibly talented Angie Brown from Stampin' Dreams. I loved it from the second I saw it and knew it would be perfect for my Mum for Mother's Day. It also has a lot of elements to it and not a lot of stamping.

The main differences between my card and Angie's are that I didn't have the same sentiment stamp as Angie so I lowered the placement of the bird and branches, and popped my sentiment up on the modern label punch out (my fave!). Also my white embossing powder was clumpy so I chucked it out (it was useless) and as a result I don't have that pretty detail on the bird's wing. I used plain old Versamark instead.

Here's the procedure:

Materials:
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy. You could use Whisper White but the Shimmery White is much thicker cardstock and I feel it makes for a sturdier base card.
Inks: Bashful Blue ink spot, Night of Navy ink spot, Versamark.
Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Teeny Tiny Sentiments.
Other: Big shot machine, Top note die, Whisper White satin ribbon, Modern Label Punch, Bird punch, sponge, stick on pearls, retired triple flower punch, dimensionals, 2 way glue pen.
Non Stampin' Up: Polka dots embossing folder by Cuttlebug, black permanent marker.

Tips and tricks:
1. I sponged around the edges of the top note die cut, bird body and modern label punch out piece using Bashful Blue ink.
2. I punched 7 branches out of Night of Navy cardstock using the bird punch. I trimmed them to fit the way I wanted and glued them down with the 2 way glue pen.
3. I coloured a basic pearl with black permanent marker to create the bird's eye.
4. I've mentioned it before, the satin ribbon frays as soon as you look at it so handle it as little as possible.
5. I used Night of Navy ink to stamp the sentiment. I didn't think Bashful Blue was powerful enough.

Stuff Ups:
1. As I said, I was planning to emboss the stamping on the bird's wing in white and then sponge over it with Bashful Blue but my embossing powder was clumpy and no good. It wouldn't stick properly to the Versamark.
2. The Polka dot embossing folder was a little too small for the layer size that I wanted so one end is a little bit sparse with dots.
3. My SNAIL adhesive is really hard to use. It just doesn't want to turn and it is starting to dent my cardstock. It's very disappointing. I also left my back up double sided tape at work so I had to use my precious mini glue dots on the back of the polka dot embossed layer. Using tape rollers can flatten your embossing so it's always best to use peel-the-backing-off it tape (known as Sticky Strip in the Stampin' Up world).
4. My layers are always skewiff, never proportional.

Island Oasis Birthday

I made two of these cards for two friends who's birthdays are in April. Actually they are on the same day! The colour scheme and basic layout of the card was cased from Shaz's Card Table. I added my own style and elements to the card to make it kate-ified.

Below is the insert I will write on then stick into the card. That way if I mess up what I'm writing I haven't ruined the card. It also looks nicer and if your card base is dark, a lighter coloured insert will make reading your written message easier.



I used the flower stamp from the Tropical Party stamp set and added a tiny pearl to the centre of each flower. You could layer the insert on another colour, such as Rose Red, but I want to conserve my cardstock.

Materials:
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron, Rose Red, Whisper White, Island Oasis DSP.
Inks: Pumpkin Pie ink spot.
Stamps: Tropical Party.
Other: Modern label punch, 6mm Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, Lattice embossing folder, big shot machine.
Non Stampin Up!: White stick on pearls from Kaiser, Versamark Dazzle - Frost, 'happy birthday' sentiment from Penny Black's Critter Party stamp set, Prima Flowers High Gloss Pebbles - Birds and Butterflies.

Tips and Tricks
1. The lattice embossing folder doesn't fully fit the length of card required for this project. I managed to press the card once, then align the impressions at the end of the card with the unpressed card inside the folder. Then I put it a little way into the big shot machine. That way it doesn't flatten the already embossed card. That all sounds wordy but I don't know how else to explain it.
2. Never press hard when cutting an embossed piece of card in a paper trimmer. You can crush and damage the embossing. Just use very gentle pressure, enough to stop it slipping.

Stuff Ups:
1. I forgot to allow extra card (only a few millimetres) for the embossing to 'shrink'. I had to trim down my base card to make it all the same length.

2. I wasn't too careful when peeling the pebbles of the backing sheet and the image ripped away from one of the pebbles. Always be gentle! They are a bit pricey for what they are so you don't want to waste them.
3. I would have heat embossed the palm fronds on the background if I hadn't lost my clear embossing powder. So frustrating!!

Our Anniversary

This is hot off the press! It's the anniversary card I have made for my husband. Tomorrow is our second anniversary! Yay us! I'm super proud of this card. No casing, an all Kate design! I used a lot of different stamp sets too.

As usual, the photo doesn't do justice to the card. I used the Colour Coach to get my colour selection - Pear Pizazz, Cajun Craze and More Mustard. I added Very Vanilla because it needed something else.

My gorgeous husband loved the card. The first thing he said was, "Ooh, I like the colours!" Well done Colour Coach! Jason gave me a stunning jewellery box for our anniversary! I have been wanting one for so long, it's just perfect!

Materials:
Cardstock: Pear Pizazz (in colour), Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Very Vanilla.
Inks: Pear Pizazz, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Versamark.
Stamps: Itty Bitty Bits (hearts on the tags), So Happy For You (background heart on pear pizazz), Teeny Tiny Sentiments, A Happy Heart (retired - big hearts).
Other: Big shot machine, Top Note die, Lattice embossing folder, Hemp twine, Itty Bitty buttons, mini glue dots, stick on pearls, modern label punch, dimensionals, paper piercing tool and mat pack, sponge.
Non Stampin Up!: Fiskars tag punch.

Tips and Tricks:
1. As in my last card post, I ran the Cajun Craze and More Mustard cardstock through the big shot machine together with the top note die. I trimmed the more mustard along the perforation to get that nice border of Cajun Craze. Next I used snail adhesive to stick them together before putting it through the big shot again in the lattice embossing folder.
2. You can't really tell but I put a round Itty Bitty button on each Cajun Craze heart on the tags and a tiny pearl in the centre of each More Mustard heart on the tags to tie in with the pearls on the sentiment. I want to buy the tiny tag punch from Stampin Up! because I find this Fiskars tag punch to be too big. Also the tiny tag punch punches a hole in the top of the tag and the Fiskars doesn't. I had to use my paper piercer which looked messy. I should have used my eyelet tools but forgot I had them till after I finished.
3. The 'Happy Anniversary' sentiment is stamped in Pear Pizazz ink but you can't tell in the photo. I also sponged around the label in Pear Pizazz ink.
4. The Top note die cut is popped up on dimensionals to compensate for the bulkiness of the twine. The sentiment is also on dimensionals.

Stuff Ups:
1. I pulled the twine too tightly when tying it and it cut into the cardstock a little.
2. On the insert that I wrote on inside the card, I accidentally wrote on it portrait-ways (standing vertically) when the card is made in landscape (stands horizontally). I hope I explained that correctly! I didn't want to rewrite it because it came from the heart and I didn't think hubby would care much less notice!
3. Overall the tags are very clumsy. I also forgot to sponge around them with pear Pizazz ink. I would have liked the tags smaller and more precise in their creation but you gotta work with what you've got.