A Duo of Thanks

Sorry this is a bit late for December but as you can imagine with two excited children and the advent of Christmas, my blogging has had to take a back seat! I have been doing very well this festive season, selling my cards and gift boxes at local Christmas fairs plus have had lots of commissions so it has been a busy time.
So here we are with the two cards we made at Decembers class.  In preparation for the lovely Christmas presents we all hoped we would receive, we made two 'thank you' cards!

The first uses the For The Birds stamp set and the blending technique. Instead of using markers, the image outline is stamped in Early Espresso and then blender pens are used by taking the ink from the classic ink pads to colour it in to give a more subtle colouring.  The main colours that were used are Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, Blushing Bride, pear Pizzazz and Smoky Slate.  The background flower was taken from the Create a Cupcake stamp set and the greeting from the hostess set, Express Yourself.  Some Wisteria Wonder chevron ribbon adds a fitting backdrop to the Wisteria Wonder/Elegant Eggplant Boho Blossom flower.

Our second card used the Oh Hello stamp set and we used the stamping-off technique plus the card is a z-fold design.  This is when a standard A5 piece of cardstock is folded to create an A6 size and then back on itself.  I hope you can see this effect on the photos, although the lighting isn't great at this time of year. The stamping-off technique is when the image is inked and then stamped several times onto the project without re-inking in between.
As for the previous card the main colours are Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant and Pear Pizzazz with a So Saffron Bitty Butterfly.  The co-ordinating Designer Series Paper for this stamp set is Afternoon Picnic.  The Oval Collection framelits were just the right size for the greeting to fit into and the Elegant Eggplant surround was pierced using the occastions Paper Piercing Pack.
I hope you like these two designs, they are almost too nice to send!
I hope I shall be better organised for my January posts so see you then!

Novembers Class, Christmas is on its way and the New Year is not far behind!

This week we made a card to celebrate 2014 and a gift box – just the right size for a few Ferrero Roche and ideal for teacher gifts/hostess gifts or for something you have created or a small gift that needs that extra bit of packaging!

 First the gift box.  This makes good use of the Big Shot and the Top Note die, Circles #2 die, Labels Collection  Framelits and Polka Dot Embossing folder!  I love this years festive paper stack – Seasons of Style and the colours go well with Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake and Whisper White.  The tree was made using the folded tree technique and topped off with a star punched using the star punch from the Merry Minis punch pack and Champagne Glimmer paper.  The greeting is taken from More Merry Wishes.  Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon keeps the box closed.

 

To celebrate the coming new year, we made a card with a bit of added sparkle! This card uses Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Whisper White cardstock with Silver Glimmer paper.  The numbers were created using the Typeset Alphabet Bigz die set, not a cheap set but a worthwhile investment as the lovely letters and number can be used for all occasions cards, scrapbooking, gift labels badges etc etc.  We used the champagne glasses from the Embellished Events stamp set and added some rhinestones for the bubbles and stamped using StazOn ink.  To give some texture to the backgound, we used a profile from the Esstentials Paper Piercing Pack.  The greeting was taken from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamp set again in StazOn ink and some silver 1/8" ribbon completes the effect.

Saturday Stamp-a-Stack Class

On Saturday 19^th October, I held my first Satruday class at Frampton Village Hall. Six ladies from both my Rodborough monthly classes and two friends came along to create 3 cards and a small gift box. The class was based around the Wishing You stamp set and Season of Style DSP stack combined with Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Crumb Cake and Whisper White cardstock and Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive ink.  Everyone enjoyed making the projects and there were requests for other similar classes so watch this space for more in the future!

And so to the projects:-

Double Banner card. This uses several techniques:- heat embossing in gold for the greeting and patterned scoring with the Simply Scored Scoring tool and Diagonal plate.  Cherry Cobbler bakers twine and Rhinestones finish this design.

Three Panels Card.  This is a basic but effective card made with 3 panels of the Season of Style DSP backed by Cherry Cobbler cardstock. The ‘parcels’ have been independently inked with the Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler marker pens and topped off with Rhinestones. The greeting is taken from More Merry Wishes.  The card is finished off with a bow made from Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon.

Tumbling Presents.  This card was a bit more tricky (and needed a bit of patience) as several ‘parcels’ had to be stamped and then cut out to decorate the main panel, as well as all being individually inked.  Plus a bit of nifty dexterity to ‘wrap’ one of the presents in Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine! 

Cracker Gift Box. This is such a simple and effective gift box to make. The sizing enables 4 to be produced from a single sheet of A4 cardstock. The sides are decorated with strips of DSP and the greeting is taken from More Merry Wishes.  Instead of going with a ‘bang’ the crackers can be undone to reveal the gift by untying the Old Olive Taffeta Ribbon.