Natural Beauty Card Folio

Here's another one of my card folios. This time I've stamped using an outline stamp set and coloured in with an aquapainter and my Watercolour Wonder crayons. It took a little longer than the other "one-sheet wonder" style cards but was still pretty quick really. You can be pretty haphazard with watercolouring if you want to - it doesn't have to be precise if that's the look you're going for. It's very easy to get different shades of colour just by adding a little more colour to make it darker or a little more water to lighten it up and spread the colour out. This set used a total of 4 sheets of cardstock!

Stamps: Natural Beauty, Curvy Verses
Inks: Whisper White, Staz-On black
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Always Artichoke, Night of Navy
Accessories: Watercolour Wonder Crayons (Rich Regals), Navy Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: Aquapainter

Requests...

Hi everyone,
What would you like to see more of or less of on my blog? What kind of projects and tutorials would you like to see? Please leave a comment under this post with your suggestions. I think a little prize might be in order for the person with the best suggestion!
Thanks in advance...

Nathan's birthday card

This is the card I gave to my brother-in-law Nathan recently. I actually made this card quite a while ago as part of a set from a Simply Scrappin' Kit. My lovely upline Liz created a set of instructions on how to make 20 cards from the Simply Scrappin' Kit Party Pieces. I'm happy to give a copy of these instructions to anyone who purchases the kit from me. They are fun and easy to make. The kit coordinates perfectly with the stamp set "Eat Cake" which is what I used to decorate the envelope.

Stamps: Eat Cake & Classic Alphabet (envelope), All Year Cheer
Inks: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise
Paper: Simply Scrappin' Kit
Accessories: Hemp Twine, Earth Element Eyelets
Tools: Slit Punch, Eyelet setter

Birthday Bird for Betty

This is the card I made for my lovely mother-in-law Betty. Her birthday is on Halloween and so is my sister's husband Nathan's birthday.
This card is totally CASEd from SplitcoastStampers - I doubt I would ever come up with this on my own!
It turned out quite well but I'd like to have another go at it. I couldn't find my watercolour paper and I had lent my Staz-On to a friend so I used Basic Black ink on Naturals Ivory cardstock. I think it would have been better on the watercolour paper. I definitely need more practice watercolouring. I'm slowly getting the hang of it but I'm not as controlled with the Aquapainter as I would like to be. The good thing about watercolouring is that it looks pretty good anyway even if you're not too good at it!

Stamps: Artfully Asian (branches and sentiment), Natural Beauty (bird)

Inks: Basic Black, Cranberry Crisp, Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Bordering Blue, Going Grey, Sahara Sand, Close to Cocoa.

Paper: Naturals Ivory, Always Artichoke, Recollections Designer Paper

Accessories: Hodge Podge Hardware (Antique Brass), Wine Grosgrain Ribbon

Tools: Aquapainter, Cutter Kit (distressing tool)

Sweet baby girl

This card was made for my friend Carmel and her family. I know Carmel from my mothers group and she now has a new baby as well as an 18 month old. I whipped this one up fairly quickly but I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I would have like to try the Paisley background stamp on it but I didn't have time to borrow it from Mum! So I used the little paisley stamp from the Polka Dots & Paisley set. This set is only available until the end of November in the Spring Mini Catalogue.

The elephant was stamped again on a spare piece of white so I could cut out the ear and stick it on top of the main image to give a 3D feel. The flower was inked with Certainly Celery and Regal Rose. The Certainly Celery layer has faux stitching. This involves piercing all around the edge and joining the holes with a white gel pen. (Easier for me than dragging out the actual sewing machine which is hidden away in the garage somewhere!)

Stamps: Wild About You, Polka Dots & Paisley, Everyday Flexible Phrases
Inks: Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Acessories: Soft Subtles Brads, White Gel Pen
Tools: Paper Piercer and Mat pack, Large and Small Oval Punches

Peace~Joy~Love

Another one from the Christmas Stamp-a-stack. You don’t even need an actual Christmas stamp set for this one!

Stamps: Greetings galore (tree), All Year Cheer (words)
Inks: Cranberry Crisp, True Thyme
Card stock: Cranberry Crisp, True Thyme, Confetti Cream
Accessories: Moss gingham ribbon
Tools: Paper piercer and mat pack,

Crazy for Christmas

Another quick and easy Christmas card.

Stamps: Crazy For Christmas
Inks: Old Olive, Basic Black, Stampin’ Pastels
Card stock: Old Olive, Bravo Burgundy, Whisper White
Accessories: none
Tools: Blender Pen

Merry Mellow Moss

This is a card I used at my Christmas in July Stamp-a-stack. It’s quick and easy and you can get 4 from a 12x12 piece of cardstock.



Stamps: Holiday Spirit, Only Ornaments wheel
Inks: Mellow Moss, Ruby Red
Card stock: Mellow Moss, Ruby Red, Very Vanilla
Accessories: none
Tools: Stampin’ around handle, distressing tool

All In The Family

Some of you may already know that our Australian General Manager for Stampin' Up! passed away last month due to a rare blood disorder. Stampin' Up! are such a family oriented company that they are selling this stamp set for the month of Novemeber and giving the ENTIRE amount to Dave's wife and three children. I am also giving up my 20% discount on this stamp set so that more of you can afford to contribute to this wonderful fund. If you do not wish to purchase the stamp set but would like to make a contribution, please contact me and I will give you the details.

Holiday Thyme Promotion

From the 1st Nov to the 15th December you can purchase these gorgeous double-sided 12x12 papers for only $14.95. Contact me for more information or to place an order.

Snowflake Joy

I borrowed the gorgeous ‘The Snowflake Spot’ stamp set from my friend Sheridan a little while ago and this is what I came up with.

I stamped some of the smaller snowflakes as a background by stamping off once or twice first to get a very pale colour and then stamped some in “full strength”. I stamped the large snowflake with Vintage Violet stamping off once first. The JOY was stamped “full strength. I actually fluked getting it dead centre but you can always use your stamp-a-ma-jig to get it just right.
The ribbon is white grsograin that has been coloured with Almost Amethyst chalk. I used the sponge dauber to wipe the chalk along the ribbon. I added some Dazzling Diamonds to the centre of the snowflakes.

Stamps: The Snowflake Spot
Inks: Almost Amethyst, Vintage Vioet
Card stock: Whisper White, Vintage Violet
Accessories: White Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampn’ Pastels (chalks), Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
Tools: Sponge Dauber