Time to Rewind!

Today I am travelling back to the 80s - Rewind is back at Perth this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for "dryish" weather as we camp out for the weekend in the tent nicknamed the Very Hungry Caterpillar!

This was our tent set up last year.

So to continue with the 80s theme I have a wee PacMan card for you today.

The ghosts are made using the owl punch and the scallop border punch.

This also made me smile:

So what was your favourite arcade game of the 80s? I loved Frogger and Phoenix and a game called Q-Bert that I was amazed to find at Disney Quest in Florida a few years ago.

I also found this card hiding amongst some others in my completed projects basket and I don't think I shared it online yet. This was made using a saleabration set that is no longer available but the effect would work with any floral style stamp. I just stamped the image on Whisper White card using Island Indigo ink and then embossed the card using the designer frames embossing folder. 

Card: Whisper White, Pool Party, Island Indigo.
Lace Ribbon Border punch
Whisper White Organza Ribbon

The inside of the card and the envelope were stamped to match.

And don't worry even although I am away I have scheduled some more posts over the weekend.

A little get well card...

 Today's card was inspired by one that I saw on Pinterest (love that site). Unfortunately the link to the creator's site was broken so I had to recreate the card just from the picture.

 I used some retired designer series paper to make the little tissue box. Cut a hole in the middle using the large oval punch and trimmed this using the scallop oval die.

 The sentiment is from the Delightful Dozen set and the striped paper is from the Subtles Collection designer Series Paper Stack. Base card is Baja Breeze, mat is Not Quite Navy and trim punched out using the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch and Very Vanilla.

  If anyone knows who had this idea first please let me know and I'll be happy to give credit.:-)

And if you'd like to know how to make this card (a masculine version this time) I will be posting a tutorial next week when I'm back from my weekend away. So make sure and check back next week. If you "like" the Fine Art of Stampin page on facebook (button over that side <<<<<<) or chose to follow this blog (button over there >>>>>) you'll be notified each time I post and that way you won't miss anything. :-)

As promised here are a couple of quick cards using the Beautiful Wings Embosslit die. These are so quick and easy to make - really handy for that last minute card you forgot about!

I used the script stamp set from the French Foliage set to stamp the background using Crumb Cake ink. I'd completely overlooked this set until I was at Tartan Stampers training last year and Sharon had made her shoebox swap and also her scrapbook class layout using this set. It is really versatile - great for adding texture and interest to the background of your card or scrapbook page. It's on page 59 of the current catalogue and definitely worth a second look.

 

The flower is stamped in Pool Party ink and is from the ever useful Just Believe set. The butterfly is cut from Pool Party card stock using the Beautiful Wings die and the base of the card is Confetti White card (pg 95 - 106557 £8.25 for 40 sheets). I added some pearls too to complete the butterfly, and finally stamped the sentiment using the Birthday Wishes stamp from the Sincere Salutations set.

And here is the card made up using Wisteria Wonder instead of Pool Party.

A quick word about Sincere Salutations - This is one of the sets that I got in my starter kit - way back in February 2008. It's been used over and over again. But as it's not in the new US catalogue I wouldn't be at all surprised if this one retires at the end of September. So please don't delay if you need this very versatile set of greetings stamps.

To place an order please email me at: thefineartofstampin@gmail.com.
Remember the Everyday Enchantment offer is still available until the end of July with free ribbon (two full rolls) and brads if you order is £45 or more.

Beautiful Wings

I've been making a few cards using my Beautiful Wings embosslit die. I think this has to be my most used die since Stampin' Up! started selling dies. It really is such a pretty butterfly set.

I have also been trying to use up some of my old designer series papers. These two cards both use paper from Greenhouse Gala that was available last year. But the card could easily be recreated using some of our current papers. Beau Chateau would be beautiful.

The first card has Pool Party as a base, Basic Black for the main mat and Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon

The second card is just the same but in a different colour way using Daffodil Delight Cardstock and 5/8" Satin Ribbon.

Be back tomorrow with some more simple and easy butterfly cards :-)

Last of the swaps

This is the last of the swaps from the Tartan Stampers Mini Convention back in April.

As well as being a very pretty card I also learned a new way to make a flower embellishment. The best way I can describe it is that you cut scallops along a piece of satin ribbon and then attach the ribbon to a circle of cardstock. You then heat the ribbon with a heat tool until the edges start to melt - but not too much, we don't want it to go on fire!

And this sweet little covered notebook was Laura's swap. I loved the little 3d hearts and the colours really make it pop.

 This next card is fab as well. This was Lorraine's swap and another new technique! The background is En Francais and then the floral stamp from Just Believe was stamped in Versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder using the heat tool. The next bit was the clever bit. Colour was added to the background using shaving brushes! I really liked this effect as it was softer than brayering and there was no danger of any hard edges when you use too much ink! Or is that just me!

 And last but not least was Carolyn's elegant scrapbook page that uses the Mocha Morning papers. Can you believe I have a pack of this paper that I have not even opened yet! I think that will have to be added on to my (ever increasing) list of projects to use/make.

 

And remember there are just two weeks left of the Everyday Enchantment promotion.

For every £45 you spend on Stampin’ Up! products, you’ll get a FREE Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad pack—exclusive to this promotion and only available while supplies last. Contact me today to place your order!

Gerberas

Gerbera are my favourite flowers so I was delighted when I stumbled across this fabulous tutorial for making a paper version whilst browsing the internet (as you do!)

Sweet Pea Stamped Art Gerbera Tutorial

I was really pleased with how they turned out. Basically I used pretty much every blue that Stampin' Up! has across the main colour families and the in-colours. There's also a Very Vanilla flower in there which has been stamped with the En Francais background stamp.

Another selection of shoebox swap cards

This card uses a set from the Summer Mini catalogue called The Open Sea. It's another multi purpose set. really good for masculine cards but also fantastic for travel journals and summer holiday scrapbook pages.

 

And inside the card...

 

 A bright cheery card that uses the square scallop die as its base, and lots of punches

And another card using the classy Vintage Vogue set. I love the "rock & roll" stamp technique used on the flowers. That's where you ink up your stamp with the lighter colour and then roll round the edges of the stamp using the darker ink to get the two tone effect.

And the final card I am sharing with you today was designed by my lovely friend Diane who is really creative and always has stunning designs. This one uses Apothecary Art again and the gorgeous colour combo of Island Indigo and Lucky Limeade. So pretty.

A quick card

 This card was a CASE (which means "copy and share everything") from US demo Dawn Olchefske who I believe included it in her presentation at SU convention. We don't have all the products (yet!) that Dawn used in her card so I have adapted it slightly and made my own modifications.

 If you are making this card yourself I recommend using plenty of Stampin' Dimensionals to make your frame stand out. As you can see above I used the pieces from along the side of a sheet of dimensionals - use everything on that sheet!

And using the bits and pieces that were lying about on my craft desk I made this little post-it note cover.

And just a quick reminder that if you want to get your hands on the gorgeous Everyday Enchantment papers you will need to be quick as they are only on sale until the end of July.

Remember if your order is more than £45 (before P&P) then you will get the matching ribbons and brads FREE.

Yet more swaps

This is a very pretty, delicate card that uses a small stamp set that I think often gets overlooked called French Foliage. Its a fantastic set great for adding backgrounds to cards and scrapbook pages as well as using the leaves to go with all the various flower sets.

This next card has a really interesting fold that I hadn't seen before and I loved the bright and cheerful colour combination.

And inside the card...

The last card I'm sharing today was designed by Lorraine and uses the Apothecary Art and Curly Cute stamp sets (although I added the Curly Cute stamp later at home). I loved the little rosette flower that was included in this swap as I hadn't made one of these before and I was pleased at how easy it was to get a good result. I'll definitely be making more of them.

The card also uses the brushed gold card. I have to admit here that I am not a big fan of gold so this was one product I hadn't yet seen in real life. However I was pleasantly surprised to see it is a very subtle gold, not particularly shiny, so I may well buy some of this after all!!

Check back again tomorrow for more Everyday Enchantment projects!

As promised here are some more swaps from the Tartan Stampers mini convention.

This first card however was actually a class taught by the very talented and lovely Lorrain Harrison-Rogers. Lots of distressing and very vintage. Really loved this one.

This one was Tooty's card using the fabulous Everything Eleanor stamp set. I love the colour combination of concord crush, lucky limeade and crumbcake.

Fiona provided a canvas, instead of a card for her swap, that shows off some of the gorgeous cardstock colours in Stampin' Up!'s colour families. I've just noticed as well that I need to add some more Rhinestones to bling up the top half as well.

This was Carol's card and we got to try out the new Stampin' Up Simply Scored Scoring Tool.

I have not long acquired my own Simply Scored and I have to say that so far I am very impressed with it. Previously I used the Scor-Pal but the Simply Scored has many more grooves as you can score at every 1/8". This makes it much more versatile for 3d projects, mini-scrapbooks and for adding definition to cards.

 And you can also purchase a diagonal plate is well which is amazing for making matching envelopes from the Designer Series paper.

And this last one for today is a pretty card made using Vintage Vogue stamp set (one of my very favourite sets) and the Manhattan Flower embossing folder.

More swaps tomorrow!