Hippity Hoppity Easter is on it's Way

A couple of weeks ago Ariane posted a very cute Easter basket on her blog. Many of us hounded her for a tutorial, and while we waited, and I studied her pictures, I got to playing and came up with a template of my own. Ariane has now posted her tutorial, and our templates are a little different but the made up baskets look the same to all but the closest observers. Anyway, here is the basket I came up with, all ready for Tiarna's guitar teacher tomorrow afternoon, filled with a whole bag of little Lindt bunnies



All supplies (except chocolate...) by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Baja Breeze
Stamp Set: Baroque Motifs
Ink: Baja Breeze
Accessories: Baja Breeze Patterns designer series paper, scallop edge punch, Whisper White 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Button Bouquet designer buttons, 5/16" Neutral brads, Sticky Strip

Again With The Punches

Earlier this week Ryn asked us to challenge her with a punch art request. I suggested a dragon, and it would only be fair if I took on the challenge as well. However, I did cheat a little because I had already made a dragon last weekend! I have been holding off on sharing this with you as I like the recipient to have received the card before I post it here so I don't spoil the surprise, this is for a 2yr old boy though and I don't think he is a regular reader . I was also dying to share because he's just so gosh darn it CUTE! After I made him I was a little stumped about what to do for the rest of the card, but Tiarna once again gave me the brilliant idea of a cave.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Kraft, Basic Black, Basic Gray, So Saffron, Whisper White
Stamps: none!
Ink: Basic Gray
Accessories: Wide Oval punch, 1 3/8" square punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, small oval punch, 3/4" circle punch, scallop square punch (for the notches along the bottom of the ears!), Horizontal Slot punch, 1/2" circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, Boho Blosoms punch, Heart To Heart punch, Cutter Kit, Square Ice rhienstone brads, Square Fire rhinestone brads, Circle Fire Rhinestone brads, dimensionals
Show Watched While Creating: Corpse Bride

Happy Moments

When discussing this set with a customer recently, I mentioned I had a few simple ideas come to mind just while we were talking about. However, it's taken me a while to get around to acting on those ideas. Here's one very simple idea: stamp the image randomly in the background with VersaMark, then use the same image for the focal point of the card. I've coloured the main image with an aquapainter - picking up ink from the lids of my inkpads - and I have jazzed it up a little by using some ribbons but it is still a very simple card that takes no time to put together.

The Happy Moments stamp set is one of four available free as part of the Sale-A-Bration promotion. Sale-A-Bration, and the Summer mini catalogue, end on March 31st so you have less than a week to get them.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Real Red, Summer Sun, Cameo Coral, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Happy Moments
Inks: StazOn; Pretty In Pink, Cameo Coral, Summer Sun used for watercolouring
Accessories: aquapainter, Real Red marker, Pretty In Pink 1 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Real Red 3/4" polkadot grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals
Show watched while creating: The Philadelphia Experiment

Cinema Saturday #71

This week's Cinema Saturday movie was 13 Going On 30 (which I think was called something else here in Australia). I hadn't seen it before, but was glad I got a shove in that direction from Brooke & Sankari... otherwise I never would have seen Gollum on the dancefloor! I had completely forgotten Andy Serkis was in this, and could not stop laughing when he joined in on the Thriller dance, moonwalk and all! Anyway, for my card I chose to base it on Jenna's dress from that party. The requirement for this challenge was to include geometric shapes, so I stuck with the stripes of the dress, and punched my images out in circles for good measure. There's one item on this card that is a sneak peek from the up-coming Autumn/Winter mini - can you tell what it is?

If I could have one do-over, I don't think I would have VersaMarked the wheel int he background, I think it looked better with just the stripes!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Orchid Opulence, Rich Razzleberry, Baja Breeze, Green Galore, Taken With Teal, Pink Passion, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Cheers To You, Cheers standard wheel
Inks: VersaMark, StazOn, Pixie Pink (watercolouring), Baja Breeze (watercolouring)
Accessories: 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, aquapainter, Green Galore marker, Real Red marker, Taken With Teal marker, Pink Passion Marker, Orchid Opulence marker, dimensionals
Show Watched While Creating: 13 Going On 30

I'll Owl-ways Have Punches

Yes I know, more punch art! But at least there is a bit of stamping this time!

It's been a while since I have done someone else's challenge (for those of you who don't know, I create the monthly challenges over on the Elite Challenges blog), so when I finally got caught up on my Google Reader and saw a couple of challenges freshly posted I thought I'd take some time out and put something together. This card is based on Taylor's sketch #105 and Keesh's Inspiration Challenge #19. After seeing a few comments that Keesh's challenge would result in a lot of flower cards I decided to do things differently, so I just took the colours. I didn't stick to the colours completely, just wanted a lot of green and purple. The owls were inspired by some fabric I saw the other day, where I had a lightbulb moment and realised the Round tab punch could be used to shape the top of other punches for owls. The Curly Label punch can be used too, however it has wider curves so I think he works better on larger shapes (ie the 1 3/4" circle and larger). For something I pretty much just winged, the branches worked out perfectly with a pretty seamless join... that I then went and covered up! It would have been fine if i had stuffed it and used it for an "embellishment opportunity", but I guess it's always good practise for the next time I want to lengthen that branch...

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Old Olive, Whisper White, Lovely Lilac, Orchid Opulence, Elegant Eggplant, Lavender Lace, So Saffron, Summer Sun, Basic Black
Stamp Sets: Cheep Talk, Owl Together Now
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Wide Oval punch, Scallop Oval punch, 1 3/8" Circle punch, 1 1/4" Circle punch, Round Tab punch, 5-Petal flower punch, Boho Blossoms punch, 1/2" Circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, 3/16" Corner Rounder punch, Cutter Kit, Crystal Effects, dimensionals
Show Watched While Creating: Four Feathers

Punch Bunny

Up for some more punch art? Here's a bunny rabbit in the same style as the cat & dog ones I posted last week. Subscribers to my monthly email newsletter received a detailed tutorial on how to create him. I felt the ackground was going to be pretty boring if I just used plain cardstock, so I went to town with the patterned paper, using two papers from the Washington Apple pack for the sky & clouds, one paper from the Good Morning Sunshine pack for the grass (double punched with the scallop edge punch), and papers from Sweet Always, Haiku and Raspberry Tart for the eggs.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Tangerine Tango, Going Gray, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Basic Black
Stamps: none!
Inks: none!
Accessories: Full Heart punch, Heart to Heart punch, 1/2" circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, small oval punch, large oval punch, scallop edge punch, Going Gray marker, dimensionals

It's In The Bag

Monday night was the Inklings Cyberstamp for March, hosted by Ryn. The first challenge she presented to us was to create something inspired by a reusable shopping bag from Target. She didn't mention what she felt were the closest colours, so I erred on the side of purple and went with Almost Amethyst, Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery. The bag had butterfly designs on it but I felt like something different so I went back to an old favourite and pulled out A Beautiful Thing and didn't worry about getting the outline image remotely close to the solid colour as the original bag had the outlines well and truly offset... in fact it was almost a challenge in itself to not automatically try and line the limages up closely!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Almost Amethyst, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: A Beautiful Thing, Frames With A Flourish
Inks: Almost Amethyst, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Elegant Eggplant 1/4" grsograin, dimensionals
Show watched While Creating: Picnic At Hanging Rock (ah the memories!)

Punchy Scotty

This little guy has been mistaken for a kitten, but he's really supposed to be a Scotty Dog (I thought the short tail and long ears would give it away but maybe not!). Maybe he needs a bone too? He doesn't look too upset about not having one though

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Basic Black, Whisper White, Regal Rose
Stamp Set: none
Inks: none
Accessories: Full Heart punch, Heart to Heart punch, 1/2" circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, scallop edge punch, 1/16" circle punch, red gingham ribbon, linen thread, Urban Oasis DSP

Punchy Dog

Here's my little punch doggie. I've had a few comments about him looking sad, and I didn't mean to make him that way... my kids say he is sad because he doesn't have a bone, and they were even making suggestions about how I could make one with punches! You could easily punch a ball for him to play with and that would perk him up a bit . I wanted to make the background different to plain cardstock that I probably normally would have used, so I was rather happy when I came across the Bashful Blue flowers in the Washington Apple DSP pack, the Good Morning Sunshine sun just capped it off!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Close To Cocoa, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Basic Black
Stamp Set: none
Ink: none
Accessories: Full Heart punch, Heart To Heart punch, 1/2" circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, scallop border punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, Washington Apple DSP, Good Morning Sunshine DSP

I {heart} Punches

A few years back when my kids were in playgroup, one of the craft activities I organised was from DLTK. Since the heart punches came out in the Stampin' Up! catalogue I have been dying to replicate some of these creations substituting punches for a lot of cutting. Here is the first one of these, a made largely from heart punches - ain't it just the cutest?! The tail was even made by punching a scrap with the Full Heart punch twice to make just a sliver, but with a nice curve to it. I have a few more of these punch critters to share with you over the next few days, so don't forget to come back and check them out!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Bordering Blue, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Basic Black
Stamp Set: Think Happy Thoughts
Ink: Bordering Blue
Accessories: Full Heart Punch, Heart to Heart punch, 1/2 circle punch, Crop-A-Dile, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Pink Pirouette taffeta ribbon, Flower designer brads

Elite Sketch Challenge #29 Redux

Back in January I enjoyed playing with Sketch Challenge 29 from the Elite Challenge blog that I wanted to use it again. It worked so easily with this set I'm surprised I didn't use it the first time! I took the opportunity to indulge in a lot of purple with this card too, which is always fun

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Lavender Lace, So Saffron, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Butterfly Prints
Inks: Laender Lace, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Tea Part DSP, Butterfly punch, So Saffron striped grosgrain, 3/16" corner rounder, mini glue dots.

Better Late Then Never

Some weeks ago, the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge was Australia. I made my card, on Australia Day to boot, photographed it but just never got around to uploading it... so here it is! I hadn't seen this movie before, so I was happy to see it come up. I knew it had got a bit of a bagging but that doesn't always match our own personal views does it? I actually found it very funny, though that suddenly stopped about half way though (understandably, but then it would have been nice for it to be revived more at the end), it did seem a bit long but that may just have been because it seemed like the film was wrapping up and then there is another half hour to come! I also had no idea that David Wenham was in it so that was a nice surprise (even if he doesn't play the nicest of characters). Anyway, while I naturally had the temptation to base my card on a costume, the required element was to use the colour "Kraft" which lead me to do a more masculine card. I did sneak some ribbon on, but kept it all pretty simple. I did have a point behind picking that particular quote but it was so long ago I have forgotten it now!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue, Kraft, So Saffron, Whisper White
Stamp sets: Wanted, Best Yet
Inks: Really Rust, VersaMark
Accessories: Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain, Button Latte designer buttons, linen thread, 3/16" corner rounder, 1 1/4 circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch
Show watched while creating: Australia, cricket

Colour Challenged Bird

This morning I have uploaded another card over at the Elite Challenges blog, this time for the "Barely a Breeze" colour challenge. In quite a contrast to yesterdays card that was full of colour, todays card has a lot of white space. In the above snippet you can see the little bird that I paper pieced, by first stamping it on patterned paper, trimming, then sticking it over the same image stamped on white. To see the full card and product details, check it out at the Elite Challenges blog.

Sketch With No Stamping

For this months sketch challenge over at the Elite Challenges blog I decided to do something I don't do very often: I made a card with no stamping on it! Above you can see a snippet of my card. The feature piece was made by shaping scallop square punches into cones. Something to note about the centre of the flower that these cones made is the rhinestone brad. I removed the rhinestone from the brad so it would sit right in the depression in the middle of the button. Normally I don't bother taking the brad part off, but on this occasion I realised the prongs were going to be in the way and while it was a bit of fuss it ultimately worked out better than the alternative!

Pop over to the Elite Challenges blog to see the full card and all the product details.

Wonderful Challenge

Thursday night was the Inklings February Cyberstamp, hosted by Kari Hughes. Challenge 1 was a colour challenge, to use Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip and Kiwi Kiss - you could also include a neutral (White or Vanilla). Well, I guess I cheated a little as I used both Whisper White and Very Vanilla but never mind! Went with a style I haven't done a lot of lately and I like how this turned out.

All products by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Stamp Set: Occasional Greetings
Ink: Whisper White
Accessories: Dots & Designs Rub-Ons, Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla satin ribbon, Blooms II die-cuts, Antique Brass Build-a-brad, Urban Oasis DSP, Flower Fusion II