This week I’ve used a sentiment stamp set from the new July-December 2021 Mini Catalogue that could be easily overlooked, but I was lucky enough to win from my upline Claire, the Well Defined stamp set.
I’m not sure why I hadn’t used this stamp set before as I love dictionary definitions. In fact, I’ve just finished reading an amazing novel called “The Dictionary of Lost Words”, based on the true story of the women who were involved in the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. It’s a part of history I had never heard of before, beautifully told in one of the best books I’ve read this year.
Although these stamps have been created to look like an official dictionary entry, I’m not sure they would have been included in either the official Oxford Dictionary or even in the Dictionary of Lost Words!
I’ve got plenty of ideas for cards to make with each of the dictionary definitions, however I’ve just used the “holiday” definition stamp today because I wanted to pair it with the Sweets & Treats stamp set for a fun, festive and food-themed card.
Stampin’ Blends in light and dark Old Olive, Real Red and Soft Suede give my card a traditional Christmas colour scheme, with scribbles of the light Crumb Cake Stampin’ Blend to anchor the images.
The sentiment is stamped in Soft Suede before being mounted onto the chopping board die from the Cookin’ Dies. I love how this little die embosses the card stock at the same time as it cuts out the shape of the chopping board.
I stamped two extra the holly sprigs from the plum pudding image and fussy cut them out to add a little more festive cheer. Red Rhinestone jewels are the perfect fit for the little holly berries and add a touch of bling to the card.
I must admit, although I adore the plum pudding stamp, I actually hate plum pudding, Christmas cake or any desserts that include dried fruit. I would, however, happily eat the cupcakes, toffee apples and definitely the cherry pie!
I had a lot of fun making this card – I hope it puts a smile on your face too!
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the incredible talented Michele Taylor. I wait to see what Michele shares with us today!
If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s Host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Tina Gillespie, as she has the full list of links for everyone who is participating.
You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight here.
Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
Hello to all my crafting friends! Do you enjoy being challenged with your crafting? I certainly do!
Today I’m sharing my entry for the inaugural “G’day Fri’yay’ Card Making Challenges” group, who are hosting fortnightly Card Making Challenge with Aussie Themes.
The theme for this challenge is koalas, however, although I don’t have a current Stampin’ Up! set with a koala imageI wasn’t going to let that stop me from entering.
So how did I create my koala? It was a combination of dies, punches and an embossing folder. Let’s just call it “die and punch art” and be done with it!
To make the tree I embossed some of the In Good Taste DSP with the Bark 3D embossing folder and used the long, curved Basic Border dies to create the shape of the trunk.
Evening Evergreen and Soft Succulent cardstock die cut with Forever Flourishing dies make for pretty realistic eucalypt leaves, don’t you agree? I hope the koala agrees because he doesn’t eat anything else!
I cannot believe how easy it was to make the little koala from Smoky Slate cardstock with the Pansy Dies! These Pansy dies emboss and cut at the same time, making my little koala even more realistic!
The feet of the new Penguin Builder Punch were punched in Blushing Bride for the inside of the ears.
The curve in the stem of one of the Pansy dies was die cut in Basic Black cardstock for the mouth and the nose was made by trimming a punched piece of Basic Black cardstock with the Symmetrical Stems Border Punch.
Two Matte Black Dots worked perfectly for the eyes!
I hope my “die and punch art” koala inspires you too to take a fresh look at your crafting supplies too and find new and creative ways of using them!
Thanks for visiting my blog today. I’ll be back next Monday with Heart of christmas inspiration and our weekly AWH Colour Creations Showcase – we are creating projects with Cinnamon Cider this week.
When you shop online in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store don’t forget to use my monthly Host Code (if your order is between $50 – $250) and I will send you a thank you gift the following month. If your order is over $250 don’t use the host code because you will qualify for your own stamping rewards.
My August Host Code is AHQUWNVQ and it is valid until midnight August 31.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
Welcome to week 10 of our 2021-22 Colour Creations blog hop! Tonight we are showcasing Cherry Cobbler, from the regals collection.
I normally use Cherry Cobbler to make Christmas cards, however, as I’m already making a Christmas card every Monday for our Heart of Christmas blog hop I decided to make a non-Christmas project instead that uses the Sweet Strawberry bundle and the stunning Cherry Cobbler & Gold 1/2″ (1.3 cm) Ribbon.
Have you seen the the Scalloped Kraft Treat Boxes in the Annual Catalogue? They are covered in tiny gold foil dots and they are perfect size for packaging up a selection of 3×3 inch notecards. They also coordinate so well with the Cherry Cobbler & Gold 1/2″ (1.3 cm) Ribbon.
The Sweet Strawberry stamp set was the perfect stamp set to be coloured in with my light and dark Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Blends. I’ve also used light and dark Old Olive Stampin’ Blends for the leaves.
There’s a lovely selection of sentiments in this stamp set and I’ve used a different one on each notecard.
Here’s a closer look at each note card. For the first two notecards I added a layer of Cherry Cobbler Cardstock behind the stamped layer and I stamped directly onto the top card stock layer.
The coordinating Strawberry Builder punch punched out the strawberry, the large and small leaf and the strawberry flower that I’ve used for these notecards below – the large flower I fussy cut with my paper snips. Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels add a tiny touch of bling.
These Stampin’ Up! square envelopes come in a pack of 40 and are designed to fit 3″ x 3″ (7.6 x 7.6 cm) notecards. To coordinate with envelopes with my Cherry Cobbler notecards I’ve simply glued a strip of the Peaceful Prints FREE Sale-a-bration Designer Series Paper to the envelope flaps and trimmed the DSP with paper snips to fit the curve of the envelope flaps.
Although this DSP has Christmas designs on one side, the other sides are all background patterns you can also use on non-Christmas cards, like I have done here, using the Cherry Cobbler and Basic Black check pattern to decorate the envelope flaps.
The final touch for my gift box of Cherry Cobbler notecards is to tie it up with the new Cherry Cobbler & Gold 1/2″ (1.3 cm) Ribbon.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, Rachel Palmieri. I can’t wait to see what she’s made this week!
If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the the full list of participants below:
The new July-December 2021 Mini Catalogue and SALE-a-bration catalogues go live tomorrow so I’m sharing another card that uses some of these beautiful Christmas products.
I’m not really a sparkly girly girl at all but I just can’t stop using this FREE Be Dazzling specialty designer paper from the SALE-a-bration catalogue. I’ve taken a zillion photos of my card to show you just how gorgeous this Be Dazzling specialty designer paper is!
I’ve also used one of my favourite bundles from the July-December 2021 Mini Catalogue – the Happy Holly-Days Bundle. Last week I shared this card with you that featured the adorable bird coloured in – this week I’ve used the holly stamp and the Holly Border Punch from the Happy Holly-Days Bundle.
What’s that stunning striped Designer Series Paper I hear you cry? It’s my favourite DSP from the new July-December 2021 Mini Catalogue, called Whimsy & Wonder Designer Series Paper.
I cannot begin to tell you how stunning this DSP is. The colour combination is: Polished Pink, Blushing Bride, Mossy Meadow, Mint Macaron, Misty Moonlight and Iridescent. It is foiled on one side, with gorgeous background patterns (like the stripes I’ve used today) on the other side.
This card layout would work with any Designer Series Paper – just pick up the colours in the DSP for when you colour in the holly. I used light and dark Polished Pink, Mossy Meadow and Mint Macaron blends to colour the holly and then I fussy cut it out. If you don’t enjoy fussy cutting just use the holly punch to punch out cardstock in colours that co-ordinate with your DSP.
An added bonus of this punch is the little dots it punches out – don’t waste them! Just like I did with the Deer Builder punch on this card, I’ve used these dots as tiny embellishments.
These tiny dots can be tricky to adhere as they are so small. I find the easiest way to do this is to place a small amount of multipurpose glue onto the silicon mat and then insert the sharp tip of your “Take your Pick” tool into the glue. Use this tip with the glue to pick up the back of the embellishment, place it on your card and gently press down as you slide the “Take your Pick” tool out from under the embellishment.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the incredible talented Theresa Gerrard. I wait to see what Theresa shares with us today!
If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s Host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Rachel Woollard, and she will have the list of all who are participating.
Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday. If you’d like a copy of the forthcoming July-December mini catalogue and the Sale-a-bration catalogueplease get in touch.
Welcome to week 9 of our 2021-22 Colour Creations blog hop! We are showcasing Calypso Coral, from the subtles collection.
My Calypso Coral card showcases a FREE product from the upcoming SALE-a-bration catalogue, available from 3rd August. The Summer Shadow dies are free with any purchase of $180 and there are 11 dies in the pack.
Although 3 of the 11 Summer Shadow dies die cut the flower and sprig images from the Shaded Summer stamp set (p75 of the annual Catalogue) I’ve deliberately made a card that uses the other 9 dies to show why these dies are still worth getting even if you don’t own the Shaded Summer stamp set.
My card design was inspired by a gorgeous card that Artisan Design team member, Martin Stone, made using the now retired Brushed Blooms bundle. As well as using different dies for my card, I’ve changed his Night of Navy card base to Basic Black and used different colours for my flowers and leaves: Calypso Coral, Petal Pink and Old Olive.
The white dots on the Basic Black layer were made with the Chalk Pen and the sentiment is from the Shaded Summer stamp set.
These Summer Shadow dies would also be perfect for the die inlay technique or they could also be used in a single layer, instead of layered as I’ve done on this card. I’ve used the smaller flower and leaf dies to adorn the back of my envelope.
When I made this card I just wasn’t happy with it but I couldn’t work out what I needed to fix. After I slept on it I realised the middle of the flowers needed another colour and the Matte Black dots were the perfect embellishment to finish my card. Embellishments really can make or break a card!
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, Rachel Palmieri . I can’t wait to see what she’s made this week!
If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the the full list of participants below:
