Anniversary

I didn't realize just how many cards I hadn't posted last year. Here's last year's anniversary effort for my husband. For some reason I have made food themed cards for him for our anniversary and Valentine's Day for the last three years. I blame the cuteness of Lawn Fawn stamps!

I was really happy with this card because it was my first attempt at Copic colouring and I like how it all came together.

Materials:

Card: Basic Grey, Brushed Gold, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Xpress for Copic markers
Ink: Versamark, Tuxedo Black, Cherry Cobbler, Copic markers - N1, E57
Stamps: Good Fortune, Sophie's Sentiments, both by Lawn Fawn. I don't know the name or brand of the background stamp, sorry.
Tools: Antique Gold embossing powder, embossing buddy, heat tool, dimensionals, Good Fortune Lawncuts by Lawn Fawn.

MIA

Yep, still here! I went through a stage where I totally lacked creativity and was just casing other people's cards but I've found my mojo and I'm back to making up my own designs.

I probably won't post the cards in as much detail as before but these cards are not difficult to work out. Let's start with these two:

Same card, different colours.

Materials:
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Basic Grey, Brushed Silver, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Cajun Craze
Ink: Basic Grey, Not Quite Navy marker, Cajun Craze marker.
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Tool kit both from Stampin' Up, Chevron background by Hero Arts.
Accessories: Grey baker's twine from The Twinery, silver washi tape.
Tools: Big shot machine, top note die, dimensionals, Sakura clear glitter pen, Modern Label punch, Diamond plate embossing folder.

Hubby's Birthday

Well it's two male birthday cards in a row! It's my husband's birthday in two days time and we will be in Bali celebrating it! This is hot off the press, just finished. I'm giving Jason his presents tomorrow so I don't have to take them on the plane. This is a pure Kate creation:

I'm thrilled with the result because it was looking decidedly dodgy for a while. It all came together in the end.

Materials:
Cardstock: Basic Black, Basic Grey, Going Grey, Whisper White.
Stamps: So Happy For You, Cheers to You.
Ink: Versamark, Chocolate Chip ink pad, More Mustard marker.
Other: Circle punch, big shot machine, dimensionals.
Non Stampin' Up: Paper by Kaiser craft, Glitter and white embossing powder, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Ranger Perfect Medium Pens, Cuttlebug diamond plate embossing folder, Coke Zero can.

Tips and Tricks:
1. To get the metal how you want it:

• Do be very careful! Jagged or not, this metal can cut you easily.
• Wash out your aluminium can. With sharp scissors, cut off the top and bottom of the can, then cut the cylinder up one side so you end up with a long rectangular piece.
• Dry off any water with a tea towel and cut a piece to fit inside your diamond plate embossing folder. Run it through the big shot machine.
• Trim the metal to the size and shape you want. I couldn't cut it straight with my scissors so I ended up using a circle punch to make the round discs. The punch cut the metal quickly and efficiently.
• I used double sided tape to secure the discs.

2. To heat emboss the beer mugs I first inked the stamp with Versamark then inked the stamp with Chocolate Chip ink before stamping on Whisper White card. Next I used clear embossing powder and the heat tool. After that I used a Perfect Pearls Medium pen (a Versamarker would be great too) to colour the beer foam and then used the white/glitter embossing powder to make the foam pop and shine. I used a More Mustard marker to colour in the beer mug.
3. The same beer mug is stamped in Versamark on the grey card to give interest to the background.

Stuff Ups:
1. I originally used a cactus stamp and green ink for the background but it looked terrible. The beer mug image works so much better.
2. As I said before, I couldn't cut the metal straight so I used the circle punch in desperation and it worked.

Wedded Bliss

Let's start with my favourite card. I made this last week for my good friend's Catherine and Anthony, to celebrate their wedding. I matched the colours to the colours Catherine had chosen for the wedding - the pink for the bridesmaids' dresses, grey for the groomsmens' suits and white for Catherine's dress. As luck would have it, she also had pearls on her dress, veil and accessories. Truthfully, I didn't think my skills were up to the task of making a wedding card. I am surprised and pleased with the results. I wouldn't have given them the card if I felt it was dodgy. This card makes it to the decent end of the scale.

Ooh, a scale! I should rate my own cards! Ok then, here's the scale: Disastrous, Dodgy, Decent, Delightful.

So if that's the scale, I'm gonna bump this card up to delightful. I don't think I'll create much better than this.

All photography featured in this blog is done by me and has a firm 'dodgy' rating.

Rating: Delightful.

To create this card I used products from Stampin' Up. I don't sell Stampin' Up but the colour coordination is something that can't be beat.

Materials:

Card stock: Shimmery White, Blushing Bride, Basic Gray.
Inks: Blushing Bride, Versamark, Versamark Silver Frost (I'll need to confirm that name).
Stamps: Punch Potpourri (hostess level 1) for the heart and Curly Cute for the word 'congratulations'.
Other: Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, big shot machine, silver embossing powder, Pearl accents, 2 step Bird punch, Whisper White satin ribbon, corner punch, dimensionals (foam adhesives).
The mini easel is from Jacksons Art Supplies.

Tips and Hints:

1. Stamp Basic Gray and Blushing bride card stock with the Versamark silver frost stamp pad. Cover enough to punch out a bird and a wing using the 2 step bird punch. The versamark gives a nice shimmer to the card stock. This will need a while to dry or the wing won't adhere to the bird.
2. Wrap a piece of satin ribbon around the 2 layers of card, just enough to reach around the back and stick it down on the back. Cut a smaller piece to tie on the front. Touch the ribbon as little as possible because it frays as soon as you look at it.
3. You might not see them but I used the smallest stick on pearls on the vintage wallpaper background to give the card a lift.

Stuff Ups:
Corner punch - sometimes it nips in too deep so you get a jaggedy bit on either side of the punch instead of a smooth rounded corner. I tried to round it off with scissors which worked this time but not always.
Versamark silver frost - I didn't wait long enough for it to dry so some sparkle came off of the wings.
Pearl placement - I put on too many and taking some off was difficult. They stick down too well!