Easter card using Forest Friends

I had planned to use the Mini Milk Cartons for packaging the Dads' Easter gifts but the gifts are too big - I'd need way too many cartons and I think they'd get fed up of opening them, so I'm rethinking the packaging.

Meanwhile I figured that the last few projects I've posted have had no stamping and it's about time the rubber came out again, so I'm sharing a quick Easter card. Forest Friends is my go to set for Easter because I just love the cute little bunny.

Recipe

Stamp sets: Forest Friends, Something to Celebrate (sentiment)

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White

Ink: Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Signo White Gel Pen, Stampin' Pastels

DSP: Sweet and Sour Specialty

Punches: Decorative Label, Itty Bitty Shapes, Scallop Circle

Other: Dazzling Diamonds

The card base is a 4" square of Crumb Cake, matted and layered with Rose Red cardstock and Sweet and Sour Specialty DSP. For the main image I coloured the tree direct to stamp with markers and stamped onto Whisper White card. The background was added with Stampin' Pastels (in Garden Green and Bashful Blue) using a Scallop Circle template to create the clouds. This was matted onto Rose Red card. The sentiment (from the Level 2 hostess set in the Mini Catalogue) was stamped in Rose Red ink onto Pretty in Pink card and punched with the Decorative Label punch. this was adhered behind the main image and all the layers were added direct to the card front. Little flowers were punched from Pretty in Pink and Pink Pirouette card using the four petal flower from the Itty Bitty Shapes Pack (a pack of 3 punches ideal for using up scraps). Each flower was shaped by rubbing the point of the bone folder in the centre, adhered direct to the main image and then Dazzling Diamonds added to the flower centres. The rabbit was stamped in Early Espresso ink onto Crumb Cake card and cut out. The little bobtail was coloured with the White Signo Gel Pen and then the rabbit popped up on dimensionals on the card front.

MIL and FIL are coming for lunch today so I'd better get back to finishing the housework, lol.

Bye for now.

Sara xx

Shaker card in autumn colours

An early post today as I'm off to our Regional Training event in Leeds. I can't wait to see up close the goodies we're getting in our new Mini Catalogue, learn some new techniques ... and of course we can't get together without doing some swapping. It's been a busy few weeks but I've managed to get around 30 swaps prepared. There are 70 of us going so I won't get chance to swap with everyone but I know I'll come away with some fantastic creations and tons of inspiration.

Back to today's crafting share. One of our March challenges over at In Love With Stamping is to create a card with movement and so I decided to create a shaker card. Now I know that this design is totally the wrong time of the year but I loved the idea of having the shaker bits be "leaves" from a tree and so that meant autumn and warm colours.

Hope you can cope with me switching the seasons round on you, lol.

Recipe

Stamp sets: Forest Friends, Lovely as a Tree

Cardstock: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Whisper White, Medium Window Sheet

Ink: Cajun Craze

SU Markers: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie

Punches: 1-3/4" Circle, Corner Rounder, Scallop Trim Corner, Scallop Trim Border, Eyelet Border (for shaker dots)

The card blank is a 4" square of Old Olive. The tree was coloured direct to stamp with markers and stamped onto Whisper White card. This was adhered direct to a mat of Pumpkin Pie that was punched with the Scallop Trim Corner and Border. A square of Cajun Craze was punched centrally with the 1-3/4" Circle and the corners punched with the Corner Rounder. Using the dinky leaf stamp from Lovely as a Tree and Cajun Craze ink this layer was random stamped. Medium Window Sheet was adhered behind the aperture and edge strips from dimensionals run around the outer edge of the aperture (ensuring no gaps for the shaker bits to get through). The shaker was filled with dots/"leaves" created using the Eyelet Border punch on Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard and Cajun Craze card (the strips punched are saved for future projects). The card was then assembled, popping the shaker sandwich up on dimensionals on the card front.

Have a great weekend.

Sara xx

My birthday cards from others

Well Thursday was my birthday and the day started with an exam :( but after that I went out for a champagne afternoon tea with my Mum :)

I don't feel like the exams went too well (how come they never seem to include questions on the areas of the syllabus that I revised best?) but then I never do and so all I can do is hope that I did enough to get a pass so that I can move on to the next ones. The results will be out in late August.

My mojo upped and left straight after the bloghop last week. I actually made a card for the MojoMonday challenge but I'm not happy with it and still not sure whether to post it or not.

For now here are the handcrafted cards that I received for my birthday from others.

First up this is what my patient hubby (he's suffered through all my exam stressing bless him) created all on his own:

He used Taken with Teal because he knows it's my favourite, teamed it with Creamy Caramel and used the I {Heart} Hearts set.

This one's from my MIL. She doesn't believe her stamping is good enough to put on cards and yet she managed some great stamping at the Tart and Tangy class last weekend.

And finally this one's from my downline Jan:

She's used Forest Friends and Oval All (for the sentiment) and her brayering is absolutely fantastic. She's running a class on brayering next weekend if you'd like to book.

That's all for now. Have a great weekend.

Sara xx

Some projects from last nights workshop

Last night's workshop was great fun as usual, though it was a bit hairy getting home afterwards. It had started snowing a little before the end and there was a light covering when we came out. The closer I got to home, the thicker the snow and there's a steep road to go down on the last mile. I'm not sure who was most worried, me or the car in front that was going even slower than I would have preferred to do. Anyhow, I got home safe and the workshop was well worth it, I just love getting together with other crafters.

If you've stopped by for a look ladies then - Hi, nice to see you here! *waves* Please leave me a comment so that I know you were here.

Here are a couple of the projects we covered.

Recipe

Stamp sets: Greenhouse Garden, Occasional Greetings

Cardstock: Regal Rose (plain and textured), Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Ink: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip

Punches: Eyelet Border, 1-1/4" Circle, 1-3/8" Circle

Wide Grosgrain Ribbon: Regal Rose

Other: Pretties Kit

I used the stamp-a-ma-jig to line the flower detail up within the solid flower stamps. A piece of ribbon is wrapped around the chocolate border and then a shorter piece of ribbon tied around the first. The textured card and the halfback pearls (which I nearly forgot to add, lol) give the card a luxury feel.

This little Easter basket was the make and take that everyone had a go at. I had wondered if it was too early in the year to share it but I was assured that it was ideal timing.

Recipe

Stamp sets: Vintage Labels, Forest Friends, Occasional Greetings

Cardstock: So Saffron, Almost Amethyst, Whisper White

DSP: Tea Party

Ink: Perfect Plum

Punches: Scallop Circle, 1-1/4" Circle

Vintage labels was used to decorate the scallop background. The Easter bunny is on one side of the basket and on the other, is the sentiment Easter Wishes from the Occasional Greetings set.

The snow's melted here now, thank goodness.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sara xx

A lucky money tree for the good luck theme challenge at SWU

Our challenge today on Stamp With Us is the theme Good Luck. I have a good luck sentiment in my stamp box but couldn't really think of any "lucky" image stamps. Searching through all my stamps I decided I could create a "money tree" - that's surely got to be lucky! I used sparkling glitter on the branches and leaves to represent the shiny coins. Bit of a stretch? Possibly.

Recipe

Stamp sets: Forest Friends, Sincere Salutations

Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Ink: Always Artichoke, Versamark, White Signo Gel Pen

Ribbon: Chocolate Chip Double Stitched, Certainly Celery Twill

Other: Heat and Stick powder, Dazzling Diamonds, Hodgepodge, Circle Ice Rhinestone Brads, Crafter's Toolkit

The "money tree" was made by inking just the crown of the tree with Versamark and then inking with Always Artichoke all over and stamping onto Whisper White card. I sprinkled Heat and Stick powder over and that just sticks to the areas that were Versamarked. The powder is heated gently, glitter added to what is essentially warm glue and then gently heated again to set the glitter. I paper pierced the Chocolate Chip mat using my Crafter's Toolkit and added faux stitching with my White Signo gel pen to co-ordinate with the double stitched ribbon. The Certainly Celery twill ribbon is from last month's special offer ribbon bundle but you could switch with Old Olive if you missed out on it. Rhinestone brads have been used to attach the Hodgepodge and look rather more sparkly IRL.

Please stop by the rest of the DT creations, they've come at this challenge from totally different directions. And I really hope that you'll have a go at this one (so I can steal your ideas for future good luck cards lol). I do stop by every entry that gets linked.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Sara xx

A fantasy scene on a stair step card for a little boy

Ever since I made my first stair step card a few weeks or so ago, I've had in mind to create a little scene on one with the Forest Friends set. Originally I was going to make it in "true" colours and I'm sure that I will do, one day soon. I decided though that for my friend's little boy, who is 2 tomorrow, I'd do a fantasy colour version.

Recipe:

Stamp sets: Forest Friends, Oval All, Occasional Greetings

Cardstock: Whisper White

Ink: Lovely Lilac, Pixie Pink, Green Galore, Glorious Green, Stampin' Write Markers

Punches: Large Oval, Scallop Oval

The stair step design is from over at Splitcoaststampers. Trees and bambi were layered flat to the base card, behind the "grass" to make them a little more secure. I snipped the grass for the middle and back layers but just matted the card on the front sentiment layer. The grass was just teased forward a bit by running my finger behind it and pulling forward gently. I used markers direct to stamp for the trees. The owl, bunny and sentiment were raised on dimensionals.

The side view shows the stair step design a little better.

I matted some Whisper White card onto the back for a message.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

A tree in pink and why not?

Here's the recipe for today's card:

Recipe

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Rose Red

DSP: Tea and Crumpets

Ink: Regal Rose, Versamark

Ribbon: Regal Rose wide grosgrain, Pink gingham

Punches: Scallop Edge, Large Oval, Scallop Oval

Other: Heat & Stick powder, Dazzling Diamonds, Halfback pearl from the Pretties Kit

Non-SU: Nesties

Fairly straightforward to reproduce with all the ingredients but if you have a question then please include it in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

Origami Easter box of chocs using Forest Friends

I've made one of these little chocolate boxes for each set of parents as an Easter gift.

Using Sweet Always Designer Series Paper I made an origami box following the instructions over at Splitcoaststampers, altering the size to fit 2x2 chocs. I covered the backing card from a pack of papers with Chocolate Chip patterned DSP and folded it around the box, securing the box to the base with sticky strip. I added dividers of Chocolate Chip card to keep the chocs in place.

The chocs were made the same way as the Christmas decorations here.  I stamped the bunny from the Forest Friends set with Regal Rose ink onto Whisper White card and matted onto Pretty in Pink card and stamped the Owl with Chocolate Chip ink onto Whisper White card and matted onto Close to Cocoa card. Elizabeth Shaw mints were sandwiched between the scallop circles.

I added jumbo eyelets to the lid and base at centre front and threaded Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon through, to tie the box closed. For the lid I used markers and stamped a little scene using the tree and the deer from Forest Friends. I then added the Easter Wishes sentiment from the Occasional Greetings set in Regal Rose ink. The scene was matted onto Close to Cocoa and then Pretty in Pink card, with all corners punched with the corner rounder.

Not sure what I'm going to do when Easter's come and gone and I don't have an excuse for making these little gifts.

Keep Stampin'

Sara xx

Dinky Easter baskets for the team at work

Yesterday afternoon was a bit of a crafting production line to make 9 little Easter baskets ready for our team meeting today. It was worth it though - how cute are these? And they went down well, it was fun to see who ate their chocs first and who still had them at the end of the meeting to take home.

I made the baskets using this tutorial here over at Jennifer's Sweet Designs but as I was just putting a Cadbury's Creme Egg and some mini eggs in each, I altered the size down to a 4.5" square.  A corner rounder punch was used on all four corners before folding them up to form the basket. I made some of them using So Saffron card, with So Saffron Designer Series Paper to decorate the handles and for the others I used Almost Amethyst card and the new Tea Party DSP (so scrummy). Rather than gluing the basket together as described in the tutorial, I secured the basket sides and handle with a brad through all layers. The side decorations were made by stamping the bunny from Forest Friends or the Easter Wishes sentiment from Occasional Greetings in Always Artichoke ink onto Whisper White card. They were punched with the 1-1/4" circle punch and matted onto Certainly Celery card punched with the scallop circle punch. A sentiment and a bunny were added to either side of the basket with dimensionals. I put some strips of crimped Certainly Celery card "grass" in the bottom of each basket and added the eggs.

Hope you have a cracking good time crafting too. Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

April's Fool trick free zone - mini catalogue products now shipping

No - no April Fool's jokes from me today. I'm not that unkind.

Don't forget that that we're now shipping orders from the mini catalogue - no more waiting.

Here are the other cards I promised to show from the training event and they use a stamp set from the mini. Both of these are dinky little things that are also great to accompany a gift  - Easter eggs or a little thank you present, maybe.

The card blanks are both Whisper White. One was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink with the Easter Wishes sentiment from the Occasional Greetings set. "Thumper" from the Forest Friends set was stamped with Chocolate Chip ink onto Whisper White card and punched out with the 1-1/4" circle punch. The scallop circle punch was used on So Saffron card and the edging created with the crop-a-dile. Both circles were mounted with dimensionals. A piece of Old Olive card was torn across and then snipped to create the grass. The new So Saffron striped ribbon was wrapped around and this was added to the front of the card.

For the second card the tree from the Forest Friends set was coloured direct to stamp with markers, huffed on and stamped onto the card blank. The thank you sentiment from the Occasional Greetings set was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on the front of the card. More Old Olive grass was added, this time cut straight across rather than torn and the card was finished with a piece of Moss gingham ribbon. 

The birthday card in the middle is the one that I gave details for on Monday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

Birthday card using a new stamp set from the mini catalogue

OK - I promised the other day to share with you the cards that we made at training last week, just as soon as I knew that I wouldn't spoil the surprise for others. Well it looks safe to share now.

This one's a birthday card using the deer from the new Forest Friends set out of the mini catalogue. First, "Bambi" was stamped using chocolate Chip ink on Whisper White card.  The reflection is made by stamping again onto the plastic sheet that comes with the stamp-a-ma-jig and turning it over and pressing the image down onto the card. The ink pools a little on the plastic but that helps give it a watery effect. 

Grass was added with an Old Olive marker using a piece of torn card to get the uneven effect. A Bashful Blue water colour crayon was scribbled around the reflection and then softened out with an aqua painter. The image was mounted onto Old Olive card and a semi-circle punched out with a 3/4" circle punch. A piece of So Saffron card was trimmed with the scallop edge punch and matted behind the Old Olive. So Saffron striped ribbon was tied across Chocolate Chip card and the reflected deer image added over the top with dimensionals.

Finally this was all added to a Bashful Blue card blank stamped with the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Occasional Greetings set in Chocolate Chip ink.

In the bottom left corner I've included a sneak peek at one of the other cards we made. I'll give details later in the week.

Keep Stampin'

Sara xx