Clever hubby strikes again with valentine

Hope you had a good day yesterday. I had a lovely valentines day from first thing in the morning when he gave me his handcrafted card to the great meal and movie in, in the evening.

To tell the truth I'm getting a little worried by the competition in our household. He designed and made this all on his own - though he did say he liked it better when I was in the next room to shout questions to, (like the best way to stick the letters on). Phew! I'm not redundant ... yet.

I did check with him how he made it, so that I can share it with you here.

Recipe

Stamp sets: Bella Toile, Fine Flourish

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze, Whisper White

Ink: Versamark

Punch: Full Heart

Other: Clear EP, White EP

Non-SU: Die-cut letters

The card blank is an A6 portrait of Cherry Cobbler. Bella Toile was stamped onto Baja Breeze card with Versamark and heat embossed with Clear EP. This layer was adhered direct to the card front. The hearts were punched from Cherry Cobbler card then stamped with the Fine Flourish using Versamark and heat embossed with Clear EP. Using Versamark ink and White EP, he heat embossed the die cut letters to give them a gloss, then adhered them direct to the hearts (with Tombow - my suggestion heehee), which were popped up on dimensionals.

He did decorate the inside too (using the Baroque Border wheel) but his personal messages are inside too, so I'm not sharing a photo ;-)

I'm such a proud wifey.

Sara xxx

July inspiration challenge at In Love With Stamping

This is our inspirational challenge for July over at In Love With Stamping:

Certainly a challenge! The wallpaper reminded me a little of Bella Toile and so I took that for my starting point and created this:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Bella Toile, Oval All

Cardstock: Pink Passion, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla

Ink: Pink Passion, Close to Cocoa

Punches: Scallop Oval, Large Oval

Taffeta Ribbon: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla

Other: Hat Pin, Beads, Halfback Pearl (Pretties Kit)

With the lush hatpin and beads from the Pretties Kit and the taffeta ribbon as my focus, I decided to keep the layout of the card fairly simple. I stamped Bella Toile onto Very Vanilla card with Close to Cocoa and matted this flat onto Close to Cocoa card and then a Pink Passion card blank. The Best Wishes sentiment was stamped onto Very Vanilla card with Pink Passion ink and punched with the Large Oval. This was matted direct onto Pink Passion card punched with the Scallop Oval. The hatpin was made up with Pearl and Clear beads (and spacer beads in between) and tied with Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon. I rolled glue dots around the stem of the hatpin to keep the beads in place. The sentiment was popped up on a double layer of dimensionals and adhered over the hatpin to keep it in place. A halfback pearl was added to the sentiment to complete it and tie in with the hatpin.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Sara xx

A bookmark card for the June ILWS inspiration challenge

It's a new month (how can we be halfway through the year already) and so we have a new set of challenges over at In Love With Stamping. This month we have:

• Inspiration Piece
• Colour Combo
• Sketch
• Technique

and you can play along at any time.

Over the next six days I'll take you through each of my DT samples.

Now I noticed from my Current Stamp Set listing in the right hand side menu that some of my stamps haven't been used very often and so I set myself an extra challenge this month to dust off those overlooked stamps and include them in my samples. And I'm so glad that I did. They're all great stamps but I've got into a rut recently of reaching for my favourites (did anyone say Vintage Vogue *blushes*). Do you have overlooked stamps too? Which ones are they? If they're SU and I have them, then I'll try to include them in my posts later this month.

So, first up - our inspiration piece:

Although it's a fancy tag from a pair of jeans it reminded me of bookmark and so it inspired me to make a bookmark card. I also tried to use a similar colour scheme and pattern and came up with this:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Bella Toile, Oval All, Tiny Tags

Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Lavender Lace

Ink: Basic Gray, Lavender Lace, Basic Black

Punches: Large Oval, Scallop Oval, Scallop Edge

Taffeta Ribbon: Whisper White

Other: Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelet, Cutter Kit

I started with an A6 Sahara Sand card blank and trimmed 3.5cm from the right hand side of the card front. Using a brayer to get even coverage, the Bella Toile background was inked with Basic Gray, stamped off once (onto coloured card which I put aside to use elsewhere) and then stamped onto the closed card so that it covers the card front and the exposed card back. With the perforating tool of the cutter kit I created a perforated line along the back of the card for the bookmark. A scallop edge strip of Lavender Lace was added up against the perforated line. The Just For You sentiment was stamped in Basic Gray on Sahara Sand card and punched with the large Oval. It was popped up on dimensionals onto a Scallop Oval of Lavender Lace. These ovals were also popped up on dimensionals and added to the front of the card. An Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelet was set at the top centre of the bookmark. Whisper White taffeta ribbon was coloured with a Lavender Lace marker and tied through the Jumbo Eyelet. The bookmark was finished by stamping the damask type image from the Tiny Tags in Basic Black at the bottom centre of the bookmark.

Once the recipient is finished with the card they just bend and tear off along the perforation and they have a bookmark.

Please don't forget to leave me a comment if you have any dusty SU stamps (or just want to comment generally of course - I appreciate them all).

Sara xx

February sketch challenge at In Love With Stamping

Regular readers may know that I recently joined the Design Team over at In Love With Stamping. The introduction of a Design Team was part of some exciting new changes to the site, including swapping to monthly challenges and the start of a quarterly Crafters Cup challenge (next one is in April).

Our first set of monthly challenges have gone live today and I'll be showcasing my own samples for these challenges every day this week (if you just can't wait, then you can head over to ILWS right now, but please come back, pretty please?).

First up we have a sketch challenge:

Now I also happen to be the first new DT member in line to provide a tutorial (we'll be taking it in turns to make sure there's at least one new tutorial on the forum for you every month). Mine is a pocket tissue pack holder and I combined it with the sketch challenge:

Recipe:

Stamp sets: Bella Toile, Vintage Labels

Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla

DSP: Bella Bleu

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel

Punches: Scallop Circle, 3/4" Circle

Other: Filigree Brad

Just click here to be taken to the tutorial.

Here you can see the tissue pack inside:

I hope you feel inspired to have a go at the challenge or the tutorial, or both! If you do have a go then please share your piccie with us in the gallery at ILWS so that we can see what you've made and leave you a nice comment.

Have fun.

Sara xx