A Baby Card

Here's the newest member of our family, little Zac! Isn't he adorable? My cousin, Vanessa (or Ness as we call her) had her little boy just before Kate's wedding at the end of September. She missed out on the family get-together and all the fun ... but look at the reason, isn't he just gorgeous!

I've put together some baby-bits & pieces to mail off to London and made the card to go along with it.

Recipe
Stamps : Schoolbook Serif Alphabet
Cardstock : Naturals Ivory, Bashful Blue
Ink : Bashful Blue
Accessories : Cuttlebug 'swiss dot' embossing folder, brads, grosgrain ribbon, half pearl

Monogram

I love monogram cards! So I was very excited to see the 'Ways to Use It' challenge today on SCS was monograms! Hooray! I cracked open my new (well, new to me) alphabet set, Lovely Letters and came up with this!

There's a great tutorial on SCS showing you how to use your SU Scallop Punch to make a medallion (directions here). I had to have a go and combine it with my monogrammed E. So, I used Riding Hood Red cardstock and made the medallion, set it on it's points and layered up the monogram E using chocolate chip and naturals ivory. The card itself is 4.25" x 4.25" (I think the medallion looked best on a square). The only extra is the vellum sheet, cut 4" square to just lift the card, it was a little dreary without anything behind the medallion, and patterned paper was too fussy. A few half pearls for extra interest, and a monogram is born!

Recipe

Stamps : SU Lovely Letters

Cardstock : SU Naturals Ivory, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Green Vellum

Ink : Riding Hood Red

Accessories : Scallop Punch, 1.24" square punch, 1 3/8" punch, half pearls

Post It Note Holder Revisited

Back in May I shared a Post It Note tutorial with you and today I'm revisiting it. The colour challenge colours on Splitcoast this week were Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango and Kiwi Kiss. I had a stack of brightly coloured PINs so decided to use the orange one with this combo. The original tutorial can be found here ~ this version uses a slightly different mini pen (it was all that Staples had to offer on Tuesday!) and the centre is made up of the circle image from Boho Backgrounds stamped in Tangerine first, then a 2nd image was stamped in Kiwi ~ I punched out the centre of the Kiwi version and layered it onto the Tangerine one ... sounds complicated but it really isn't! A little button vamped up the centre and a piece of ribbon adorns the corner! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy!

Recipe

Stamps : Boho Backgrounds
Cardstock : Choc Chip, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss DSP, WW
Ink : Tango and Kiwi
Accessories : PIN, Mini Pen, Kiwi Ribbon, Button, Scallop and Circle Punches

H&M Stamps, Coffee's Brewing

Good friends of ours, Troy and Justyna, were just telling us that they're planning on buying a coffee grinder and French Cafetiere ~ so my brain started to work and I went to search out H&M Stamps' new set, Coffee's Brewing! I put together a mini pizza box which is the brainchild of Jen del Muro ~ her instructions are here ~ and I filled it with a glassine box full of coffee beans (the smell is just delish!). This little box is very easy to put together and you end up with a 4"x4" space for your gift ... people have been making them for gift cards, home made cookies, jewellery (sorry American friends, that's the English spelling!). They're going to be a 'go to' gift box for me this Christmas! Here's the recipe:

Stamps: H&M Coffee's Brewing
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Palette Burnt Umber
Accessories: Copic markers for colouring, Ribbon, Scallop Punch, Ticket Punch, Coffee Beans, Glassine Bag.

I'm Back

Hello everyone! I'm back from my whirlwind trip to England for my cousin's wedding and a much-needed family get-together. September has been so traumatic for me that I'm looking forward to being more focused on my stamping, both with Stampin' Up and with my Design Team commitments to H&M Stamps.

Firstly, a photograph of my beautiful cousin, Kate, on her wedding day last weekend. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed every second of her special day.

Secondly, I wanted to share with you a card I made as SCS's Featured Stamper Challenge. I chose to CASE this card of LoveStampin ... I changed the image and the colours but kept the layout the same. This image is from a set from H&M Stamps called 'Create a Bulb'. It's a beautifully versatile christmas set and I thought the cherub would look so effective embossed in gold ... and it does! Thanks Heather for a great set. Anyone interested in seeing the full range of H&M Stamps should look here.

Recipe

Stamps : H&M Create a Bulb, PTI Holiday Wishes (sentiment)

Cardstock : Linen Vellum, Basic Black, Shimmer Gold, PTI White

Ink : Palette Noir, Versamark

Accessories : Gold Embossing Powder, Organza ribbons in black and gold, Cuttlebug embossing Folder 'snowflakes'

Monogram

I wanted to try a monogram card today using my new Frames set 'Frames with a Flourish'. The colour challenge on SCS is to use Riding Hood Red, Basic Gray and Always Artichoke so I incorporated them into my design. The 'E' is stamped in RHRed in the centre of a frame stamped in Always Artichoke and then the card is simply made up of layers of the challenge colours. The 3 pearls were to add a little interest.
Recipe
Stamps : Defining Alphabet, Frames with a Flourish
Cardstock : Bella Rose DP, RHRed, Always Artichoke, Basic Gray
Ink : Artichoke, RHRed
Accessories: 1/2 Pearls

Glitter!

I've had my Essential Glue Pad from Tsukiedo for ages and I hardly ever use it ... so when I saw today's technique challenge on SCS it was too good an opportunity to pass up! We were to use glitter backgrounds ... to do it, I took my new Bella Background Stamp and glued it up, stamped it onto Mellow Moss and dumped a whole pot of glitter onto it! After a few mins, I tapped off the excess glitter and brushed it down ~ it sticks to the glue beautifully!

The main image is the stylised tree from Scandinavian Season (available Oct 1st from the Holiday Mini). This was embossed with Gold EP and layered very simply with Riding Hood Red and Chocolate Chip. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy!

Recipe
Stamps : Scandinavian Season, Bella B/G
Ink : Tsukiedo Glue Pad, Versamark
Cardstock : PTI Antique Ivory, RHR, Choc Chip, Mellow Moss
Accessories : Glitter, Gold EP