Carry-over Pansy Punch: Give it some Pizzazz!

I really love using punches as a quick pop-up on a card, and wanted to do something extra special with the Pansy Punch, as it is carrying over into the new catalogue. I stamped using the Flower Shop stamp set onto whisper white, once in crushed curry, and once in melon mambo. Using my blender pen I darkened the inner half of the petals, then punched them out with the pansy punch.
I stamped the "thanks" greeting from Thankful Thoughts using emerald envy towards the bottom of a smaller piece of card stock and cut it out using the stitched framelits.

I arranged this on a plain whisper white card base to decide where I wanted to stamp the images from Touches of Texture.

Once I had my layout planned I stamped the bouquet image twice using emerald envy, then the larger splashes in melon mambo, and the finer splashes in crushed curry. I coloured the bouquet image with my blender pen, but going a little outside the lines to give a soft watercolour look.  

Everything was popped up on dimensionals and I stacked 2 dimensionals together for the pink pansy, after curving the petals with my bone folder. Coordinating bling in each of the 3 colours completed my card. I love how it turned out. It is cheerful and pretty, and gives the pansy punch a whole new lease of life. I also decorated the inside of the card with the emerald envy bouquet branch.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 Thanks so much for shopping with me!  Vicki  x 💝

Hostess Sets: Gift of Love Cards. Stampin' Up! Australia.

If you haven't taken a look at the hostess sets on page 198-201 of the catalogue, then you are missing the best buy in stamps! These stamp sets are priced well below retail value and are a great way to spend your Stampin' Rewards.

To make these cards you will need the Hostess stamp set Gift of Love #141796 , $AUD17.00, which can only be purchased with Stampin' Rewards (which you receive after your order totals $250 excluding shipping and handling)

*On a card base of Basic Black add a panel from the Pop of Pink Specialty Designer Series Paper #141648.

*Add a layering panel of Whisper White, and stamp your image with Basic Black Ink.

*Stamp Daffodil Delight flowers, then Cucumber Crush for the leaves. 

*Using an aqua painter, pick up some ink from the lid of your pad and flick some Daffodil Delight across the page. 

*Wrap some linen thread around the panel and staple a small edge of doily onto the front. 

*Use versamark ink to stamp the greeting on a small piece of basic black card stock, then emboss with white embossing powder (be sure to use your embossing buddy first). 

*Adhere all the pieces with fast fuse or snail.

The thing I like the most about this next card is the pretty, soft colour.
*On a panel of Watercolour Paper using your aqua painter do a quick wash of Pink Pirouette and So Saffron inks. Set aside to dry.
*Next stamp Basic Grey archival ink onto a seperate piece of watercolour paper,   and using your aqua painter colour the flowers in Pink Pirouette. Add a tiny amount of Rose red in the centres and blend outwards.
*Colour the stems in Old Olive ink. Set aside to dry.
*Come back to the original watercolour washed piece and stamp the greeting in Soft Suede Ink.
*Flick some Soft Suede ink across the page using your aqua painter.  Set aside to dry.
*Cut out the floral image with your paper snips.
*Adhere a strip of Very Vanilla Lace Trim #141672 under the greeting with mini glue dots.
*Pop up the floral image on dimensionals.
*Adhere to a Watercolour paper card base with dimensionals.

These are really pretty projects and I hope you give them a try!
Happy Crafting,
Vicki x  💝

Copic Puppy and Kitten : Pretty Kitty meets Bella And Friends!

Hello, and thanks for visiting my blog today!

 Aren't these little guys too cute! Our dog Koby is a Maltese Poodle Cross and I just had to have the Bella and Friends stamp set, as well as the Pretty Kitty set.

I decided these two needed to be best friends, so I tied a balloon to each of their tails and coloured them with my Copic Markers, after stamping in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.

I also gave them both rosy cheeks, and made the puppy a boy and the kitty a girl, with their blue and pink collars!

I added some shine to the balloons with a white Gellyroll marker. 

I have an ever-expanding selection of markers and pencils, as well as my Copics (I am an Intermediate Copic Designer), and love watercoloring as well. Over the last two years I have been studying watercolour painting at the Regional Gallery at Hazelhurst and I will be showcasing some of my work here on the blog from time to time.

To finish the card I matted the sentiment onto a crumb cake base using the Stitched Framelits, then adhered everything to a Basic Black Card base.

Of course I love to finish my cards on the inside as well, so I chose the seated version of the kitty and the puppy and simply stamped them on either side of the inside layer in black, and left them uncoloured. I wanted the outside to steal the show.

What do you think? Pretty cute, right?

Here are the supplies you will need, plus whatever you choose to colour your card with.

 Pretty Kitty Wood Mount #141861   Clear Mount #141864

Bella And Friends Wood Mount #141867  Clear Mount #141870

Stitched Shapes #145372

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink #132708

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Have an awesome day. Thanks for shopping with me.

Vicki x  💝

Home Decor Dream Catcher

                           Sometimes an idea brews away until you just HAVE to go with it.
        The first time I saw the Feather  Together Stamp set, I knew I would make a dream catcher.

I had been hoarding the beautiful background paper from Serene Scenery with the beach scene, and always had a home decor piece in mind. Rather than buy a glassed frame, I wanted something more beachy to go with our home decor (we live on the river that runs out to sea at Cronulla Beach and I have a love of seashells and all things nautical).

I picked up a set of 4 primed canvases from Kmart for $5.  The canvas measures 7 3/4" square by 1/2" deep, and I cut the Designer Series Paper to 6" square. I adhered it to the canvas with Tombow Multi adhesive, then flipped it over and pressed firmly from the back to ensure a good grip.

                                Now I could go about the dream catcher construction process!

The Lace Doilies from the Falling In Love suite were the perfect size and I loved the detailed design. I started with some thick twine and wound it through the outside of the doily, then tied it in a knot from the back.
Next I tied some doubled Linen Thread to 3 places on the doily that would provide room for 3 of the feathers to hang from.
I stamped  the feathers on Very Vanilla using Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo ink, then fussy cut them, adding some extra cuts to the sides to mimic a feather shape.
I also flossed the edges of the Linen thread where I had tied the linen thread to the feathers.

                          This photo shows the cuts I made down the sides of the feathers.
I coloured some pearls with my Copic Markers (you could use sharpies for this if you don't have Copics). They look like beads threaded through a woven dream catcher! How cool is that!
I used Foam Adhesive Strips to mount everything...that stuff is super convenient for round shapes like this, and it all came together really quickly.

My Dream Catcher now has pride of place on our fireplace mantel in the Living Room, and I am one happy stamper!

Supplies used:

Serene Scenery DSP #141642

Feather Together Stamp Set #141597

Foam Adhesive Strips #141825

Linen Thread #104199

Pearl Basic Jewels #119246

Lace Doilies #142793

Tombow Multipurpose Liquid Glue #110755

Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo Inkpads

Very Vanilla Cardstock

Canvas and thick twine from Kmart

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 Thanks so much for shopping with me!  Vicki  x 💝

Using a vellum overlay and how to adhere it to your card.

Hello, and welcome to today's project. Flu season has arrived, and I was down for the count with coughing and sneezing all last week. Luckily for me, Paul took over some of the grocery shopping while I was ill, and kept me well-provided for with lovely cups of tea and sympathy. Gotta love that man!

I love stamping on vellum, and this card using the Get Well Soup stamp uses a couple of neat techniques I wanted to share with you.

Firstly, the background is Designer Series Paper, adhered to a whisper white card base.
 The image is stamped in versamark ink, then white embossing powder is sprinkled over the top (remember to swipe the vellum with your embossing buddy first) and heat set using the heat tool. When doing this make sure to heat the back of the paper quickly as well so it doesn't curl up!
Colour the soup with a so saffron marker, then adhere the vellum with a strip of washi tape.
Adhere a thick bakers twine bow with a glue dot or liquid tomboy multi adhesive.

Another way to  adhere a vellum overlay would be with some glue dots, and then cover the dots with rhinestones, pearls or enamel embellishments.

I hope you found this helpful.
Have a wonderful day,
Vicki x  💝

Fruity Gift Bag

Hello my friends, I absolutely love cafe bags....I have used these for giving away goodies in my classes, and they have a nice long, flat front profile so you can really go crazy with a big tag.
Make sure to stock your bag with goodness, then fold over the top and wrap it around, so that it is tightly sealed. Loop some ribbon, then use dimensionals or Tombow to adhere your tag.

This tag is made using the gorgeous Fruit Stand stamp set.

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 Thanks so much for shopping with me!  Vicki  x 💝

From my Garden to Yours

I am a keen gardener and have lots of favourite spots in my garden. It's so peaceful having a place to sit and reflect after a busy day. These are some of my favourite places in our garden.

I also love to give away cuttings to my friends and neighbours, and like to add a card as a thank you for the happiness friends bring into my life. We live in such a close-knit community here, and I love our street! We spend much time socialising, and there is always someone to chat with when I am out walking Koby, our dog.

From the Garden stamp set

Have a wonderfully creative day!

 Thanks so much for shopping with me!  Vicki  x 💝

Happy Mothers Day Card with Letterpress Effect

                                                    Hello, and welcome to my blog.
Today I have another Mothers Day card, and I love this one so much it is going to my own mum, who lives in Lake Macquarie.
She always displays my cards on a shelf she reserves for special things, and some of them are still on display from years ago, and I couldn't be happier!

I wanted a lovely sentiment for inside the card, and "sending love" is from the Designer Tin of Cards set. The "Happy" debossed word is from Happy Celebrations, and has the matching embossing folders, which actually DE-boss the words to look just like a letterpress card.
If you have ever seen a letterpress machine they are in the tens of thousands of dollars to buy, and you would need a massive work space as they are HUGE machines, but you can get a very similar look with your trusty Big Shot. How cool is that?

The colours I chose matched the Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper : Marina Mist, Crushed Curry and Melon Mambo, and I used some co-ordinating bling to finish off the card.

The words Mothers Day are from the Crazy About You stamp set.

                           Celebrations Duo Textured embossing Folders # 142760 $16.00
                                      Happy Celebrations Stamp Set #143012 $61.00

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I hope you give this stamp set a try. To be honest, I almost overlooked it in the catalogue but I am so glad I splashed out and added it to my order. I see lots of Happy Celebrations cards in my future!

Have a great day,

 Thanks so much for shopping with me!  Vicki  x 💝