Farewell To 2012-2014 In-Colors!

For this months class projects, I decided to concentrate on using the 2012-2014 In-colors that will be retiring at the end of June. These are Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple and Summer Starfruit.

Our first card was designed with Fathers Day in mind but could also be used as a birthday card for a male or female.  The greetings we used came from the Delightful Dozen set with has a nice combination of greetings in different fonts. The 3D balloon was made by punching out 3 Large Ovals from I Am Me DSP and then folded and glued together on to a 2" diameter circle.  The basket was made using the Create a Cupcake stamp set chosing one of the cupcake 'cases' stamped in Baked Brown Sugar and punched out using the Create a Cupcake punch.  The sky effect was creating by using the masking tape technique with Soft Sky ink. This is done by coating a piece of masking tape with ink and then rubbing it onto the card stock several times. You can re-ink as required to give a blended 'sky' effect.  A piece of Gumball Green cardstock embossed using the heart folder from the Adorning Accents embossing folder was used in the background. Finally a piece of  Night of Navy 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain was tied across the bottom of the front part of the card. The other main colours used were Midnight Muse, Gumball Green and Whisper White.

 Our second card was CASEd from an American demonstrator (whose name I have now forgotten!). You can't tell from the photo but the front of the card is cut across the middle and the Happy Birthday greeting (taken from the Perfectly Penned stamp set) is on the inside.  This is a good card for using up pieces of dsp, the one used here was taken from the I Am Me DSP set.  The flowers are stamped in Primrose Petals using the Flower Shop and Petit Petals stamps sets and punched out using the Petit Petal punch and Pansy punch.  Some Whipser White organza ribbon and basic pearls finish off the design.  You could use any colour combination on this card or keep it to one basic colour to give different effects.

 

At this months class we also made a small gift box and we will continue to make a small 3D project at our classes as time allows.  This one is such a simple design and uses 1/2 sheet A4 of Summer Starfruit cardstock and just two glue dots to stick it together.  The pattern on the front of the box was made using the Amazing Accent wheel in Gumball Green ink on Whisper White cardstock.  The background card is Raspberry Ripple.  The flower was made using two pieces of card, one Whisper White and one Raspberry Ripple and cut using the Blossom Party Originals big Shot die. The centre of the flower is a 3/8" Glimmer Brad.  Finally the hole for the handle was punched using the small oval.

Aprils Punch Art Class

One of my favourite ways of making cards is using the technique Punch Art.  This is where multiple punches are used to create the card designs.  At this months class, both cards used a variety of common punches to create quite effective results.

 

The first, a piano card also used a Stampin' Around Wheel with the Music Notes Wheel to give a background image.  The only colours used were Whisper White, Smokey Slate and Basic Black with StazOn ink.  The main keyboard was cut using the Top Note Big Shot die and the keys were punched out with the Word Window punch.  The greeting was taken from the Perfectly Penned stamp set.

 By popular request we made a neutral birth contragulations card with a pram treat holder designed by the fabulous Brenda Quintana.  This American designer has created so many Hershey Chocolate treat holder designs that are just so easy to make but look wonderful.  The card is a step-design and used So Saffron, Pistachio Pudding and Very Vanilla card stock with Gingham Garden DSP as the background.  The panels were embossed using the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing folder ( my favourite folder and I apologise that I may seem to over use this!). The pram was made using 3 circle punches:- 3/4", 1" and 2 1/2",  and the Scallop Trim Border punch with the handle made from a sliver of card cut using the Large Oval Punch.  Hearts made from scraps of Pistachio Pudding, So Saffron and Very Vanilla card stock were punched out using the small heart punch to add to the card. The greeting was taken from the Itty Bitty Banners stamp set and stamped using Daffodil Delight ink.
The pram treat holder was made with Daffodil Delight card stock.  A perfect card and gift to give to new parents!

Sale-a-bration is here!!

Yes, its that time of year again where you can get free products from the limited edition Sale-a-bration catalogue with every £45 you spend from the main catalogues! At this weeks class we made two cards using the free products.

The first one used the really versatile stamp set Banner Blast and its coordinating Banner punch from Sale-a-bration.  This set can be used to celebrate any occasion and as well as the 'banner' stamps, there is a heart, star and flower perfect for adding as an embellishment to the banner or as a background! The Banner punch can be used to cut out any DSP as well as card stock!  The colours used in this project were Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo.  The background was embossed using the Chevron Embossing folder and the greeting taken from the Perfectly Penned stamp set.  Linen thread tied into a bow and placed at the end of the banners finishes off the card.

The second card we made was based on an idea I found from an American demonstrator, Mary Fish who has lots of lovely, crisp design ideas.  This one uses another Sale-a-bration stamp set See Ya Later and the Sale-a-bration DSP, Sweet Sorbet.  The design of this card is called an easel and the main colours used were Whisper White, Basic Black and Pool Party which compliment the colours of this sheet of DSP perfectly.  The black flowers were punched out using the Petit Petals punch from the new Spring/Summer catalogue and the Pool Party flowers from the Itty Bitty punch pack and finished off with a Basic Pearl Jewel in the centre.  Another flower was used on the strip of DSP backed with a piece of Basic Black card punched using the Scallop Trim border to act as a 'stay' to keep the card up giving it the appearance of being an easel.  I love the crisp clear design and use of colours of this card (even though I do say so myself!!)

Cards from Truly Madly Stampin's First Class

Sorry for the delay in posting these cards from our first card class and apologies that this is not in date order..better late than never!! Happy Easter everyone!

Here is the card we made at our first class using the beautiful butterfly set Papillion Potpourri. This set has a co-ordinating punch, Elegant Butterfly which can be used to punch out the larger butterflies or any DSP to co-ordinate with your design.

The colours were taken from the current In-Colors 2012-2014, Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals card stock and Raspberry Ripple ink along with Whisper White card stock and Whisper White 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon. The 'Happy Birthday' greeting comes from the Perfectly Penned stamp set with is one of my favourites as I like the curve and font because I think it suits all types of cards.  The small butterflies have a small rhinestone attached to add a bit of bling to the ensemble!
Below are a few other cards that I have made using the Papillion Potpourri stamp set to show just how versatile a set this is.

The second card created was to show off the lovely Madison Avenue stamp set that you could get for free during the Sale-a-bration (SAB) promotion. I used the 2011-2013 In Colors - Wisteria Wonder, Calypso Coral, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade and Pool Party. The Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack was used for the centre of the flowers which were punched out of coordinating card stock. The ladies were introduced to the Stamp-a-ma-jig to enable them to perfectly align the stamped images directly onto the card. The greeting is from the Petite Pairs stamp set, a great set as it encompasses so many different greetings - you will find a sentiment for most occasions. To add the final touches a pearl was added to the centre of each flower and the gorgeous ribbon (again free during SAB) in Pool Party finished the card off beautifully.