Balloon Valentines

It's coming up to that time of year again... when I think "what kind of card can I make that is obviously Valentine's but not over the top". Yep, I've got one of those people in my life. There have been times he's been dubbed "Mr Brown Paper Bag". Anyway I did go with some pink and some lace, let's see if it gets any comment from him!

I went with a very simple design, because... well, "Mr Brown Paper Bag" and all! Even though I was thinking "Love Is In The Air" with the heart balloon, I thought adding that sentiment from the stamp set would busy the layout a bit too much. With all the product coordination that Stampin' Up! have it was almost odd to hand-cut the balloon out.

Now I certanly think this is quite a pretty colour combination, but I think I played down the pretty factor enough for this, hehehehe.

Balloon Builders stamp set 140645,  Lost Lagoon A4 cardstock 133686, Soft Sky A4 cardstock 131292, thick Whisper White A4 cardstock 140490, Blushing Bride stamp pad 131172, Tip Top Taupe dotted lace trim 138422, Whisper White Bakers Twine 124262, dimensionals 104430

Party Animal

Happy New Year everyone! Hopefully there aren't any of you regretting being so much of a party animal this morning... which leads me to todays card, another look at the Balloon Builders set from the Occasions catalogue - which launches tomorrow!

You may have noticed in the Occasions catalogue there is already a lot of inspiration for this set:

When I returned home from OnStage - where everyone received this set - I decided to see what other animals and things I could come up with:

Yeah, I think this set is going to be a lot of fun!

Normally I have a vision in my head of the card I want to make before I start - though things often get changed along the way. For this card I made it up as I went along. Working from my sheet of test stamping, I replicated the horse for my card, stamping the ballons on Whisper White cardstock with Crumb Cake ink. I then used So Saffron and Calypso Coral on the long and short skinny balloons respectively, stamping the images in a rough circle to create the sun rays. The sentiment was stamped on So Saffron cardstock with Calypso Coral ink then punched with a 1 1/4" circle punch. I laid it in position without adhesive so I knew where I wanted to trim the top edge, and once trimmed I attached it to the cardfront with a couple of dimensionals.

Todays colours are:

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Occasions Catalogue Sneak Peek

As I mentioned last week, over the weekend I attended one of the new events put on by Stampin' Up!, OnStage Local in Melbourne. Other than the usual catching up with old friends and making some new ones, we got to see a lot of new product from the upcoming Occasions catalogue - oh boy I think this one is going to be as popular as the current Holiday catalogue! We also got to see product the upcoming Sale-a-Bration catalogue. Everyone received a few of the new goodies, and I had to get stuck in and have a little play yesterday. Another perk of attending was being able to purchase more product before the pre-order period offically begins, so I am crossing my fingers that arrives before the weekend so I can have more of a play. I know, I know, I am teasing you horribly. So here's a glimpse of what is in store:

This is the Balloon Builders set, which has a variety of balloon shaped stamps that are fabulous for combining to create other images - it's a great one for letting your imagination run wild! Along with the stamped images I used some sequins (just like those that were scattered on the tables at OnStage, that felt fitting) to jazz the card up a little. I even tucked some clear ones behind my cardstock layers, which you might be able to see a little better below (above the T and diagonally up to the left from my watermark):

I also decided to make a stripped back version, for those who don't like the jazzing-up:

Like what you see? Let me know if you'd like to receive a catalogue, when they become available I can pop them in the mail for you to drool over. If you book a workshop you could even earn some of the products for free!

Colours used:

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