Mix'n'Match for the Men

I have been asked by a work colleague to make her a set of small, simple cards suitable for men and this is the first one in the set. Actually the first one in the set was the one I posted yesterday for Simples Sunday but you've probably already seen that one!
I have called it mix'n'match because I've used a mixture of current, retired, soon to be retired and brand new products to make the cards.
This card uses Basic Gray ink and cardstock (current), French Foliage (soon to be retired) and a sentiment from SAB (retired) punched with the Curly Label punch (current) and matted onto a Decorative Label (current).
I masked a section of Whisper White, stamped the leaves from French Foliage and after removing the mask I drew a line down either side using a Basic Gray marker. The Whsiper White is matted onto Basic Gray cardstock and then matted onto a 4" square card blank.
Pop back tomorrow to see the next one in the set!

A very different style!

I have given this post it's title because, for me, that's exactly what it is - a very different style. Having said that, I really enjoyed making it and am surprisingly pleased with the finished card. It does look so much better in real life as the butterflies and leaves are both curled to stand out a little which gives more dimension than you see in a photo.
The reason behind the making of this card is that a demo on ILWS has decided to set up something new called 'Pinterest Challenge' whereby someone chooses a card they've seen on Pinterest and the challenge is to replicate it using SU products.
And this is the first one (far right)
The one thing that does annoy me about Pinterest is that when things are repinned so many times it can take a long time to get back to the original - if at all. However I think that the credit for this particular card should be given to someone called Nataliya Serova, but I could be wrong!
I'm sure you don't want to be bored by me giving you step by step detail of what I did so I will just tell you the products and leave it at that
Stamp sets - En Francais, Summer Silhouettes, In Stitches Wheel (which has been taken apart to make separate stamps), French Foliage and a retired sentiment
Elegant Butterfly Punch, Autumn Accents Bigz die
The background which the distressed panel sits on is a piece of Basic Black DSP from the Neutrals stack which has been sponged all over with Lucky Limeade - something I've never thought of doing but it does give a really nice effect.
If you would like to enter the challenge, or just take a look at what others have done, this link will take you there http://www.inlovewithstamping.com/forum/showthread.php?p=238630#post238630

I hope the next challenge card inspires me as much as this one did!

Simples Sunday

At the beginning of the week I needed a quick birthday card for a member of a card swap group that has recently started. The idea of the group is not necessarily to make new cards but to use up cards already made but, particularly for birthdays, I like to make cards specifically for that person (and my stash of 'already made' cards still sits there!) Anyway onto the card - made with Pool Party and Chocolate Chip, and in the style of Jenni Pauli whose work I absolutely love. I began by stamping the top section of a piece of Whisper White cardstock with the 'splodgy' stamp from French Foliage and matted this onto Pool Party cardstock. I then fixed a piece of Pool Party ribbon, from the SAB promotion, leaving a loop at one end before matting onto a card blank. The sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes was stamped and punched out with a circle punch then matted onto two larger circles before placing on top of the ribbon. To finish the card I punched a tiny flower from Itty Bitty Punch Pack and added a few Basic Pearls.  The card took about 10 minutes to make - quicker than writing this post I reckon!!!
Hope you've all had a great weekend and I'll be back soon x

Masculine Tri-Fold

This is the card I have made for my Dad, who will be 91 next week!! I always struggle with cards for men but the French Foliage stamp set saves me every time. I decided to make a tri-fold card for a change and used Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla for the colour scheme. The stamped panel is Chocolate Chip DSP, from the Neutrals Paper Stack, and the leaves were inked with Chocolate Chip and stamped off before stamping onto the DSP. The sentiment is from Made for You and the 'dad' is from the For My Family set. I added a knot of Bakers Twine below the sentiment which had been punched with the Curly Label punch and inked around the edges.

Six of Six and 3-2-1

What a lot of numbers - well this is the sixth card for the set I am making and I am cheekily entering it for the Less is More 3-2-1 challenge. I say cheekily because I think I may be stretching the boundaries a bit in that I am saying I have 3 squares, 2 words and 1 piece of Linen Thread, but I'm sure Chrissie & Mandi will put me right!!
To make the squares I stamped leaves from French Foliage in Basic Black onto Crumb Cake DSP, punched them out with the small square punch then matted them onto slightly larger Basic Black Squares punched with the large square punch. I cut a strip of Crumb Cake cardstock and randomly stamped the leaves in Crumb Cake and punched one end with a border punch that is now retired. Before fixing to my card blank I positioned the squares and tied a piece of Linen Thread around one end. The sentiment, from Curly Cute, was stamped in Basic Black at the bottom right.

Tearing around again!

After spending a very long, very hot day gardening I needed a bit of relaxation (my idea of relaxation is doing something I enjoy not sitting around doing nothing!) so I had another go at the LIM challenge of 'Tearing'. This one was a very quick and easy card to make using Vellum Cardstock, Chocolate Chip cardstock, Early Espresso Taffeta Ribbon, 3 Metallic Brads, French Foliage and Sincere Salutations stamp sets.

The vellum and ribbon were attached to the cardstock using brads as I did not want glue showing through.
The panel is matted onto a Naturals Ivory card base.

French Foliage

 

Another super-easy card to show you today which I made for my son-in-law.  Using French Foliage I stamped the script stamp in Certainly Celery across a strip of Whisper White then, with Old Olive, I randomly stamped the leaves and stamped each one again without re-inking. This was matted onto a piece of Old Olive cardstock, some Linen Thread wrapped around and knotted then mounted onto a card blank. The sentiment is from Curly Cute and stamped in Old Olive.

I thought I would share a photo with you of this Magnolia Stellata which has just bloomed in my garden. Spring is definitely on the way (despite the freak summer weather we seem to be having at the moment) and I just hope we don't get any more hard frosts or these beautiful pink flowers will be a mucky shade of brown!!

French Foliage CASed

I try not to CASe cards too often but when I saw this gorgeous card made by an Australian demo, Annette, I just had to have a go. Annette's card can be found here and if you go to have a look you will see that, apart from the sentiment, I have pretty much made mine the same as hers.

It uses a blank made from Naturals Ivory cardstock and the stamp set French Foliage with a sentiment from Petite Pairs. The background stamp was stamped directly onto the card blank in Crumb Cake in a random fashion and the sentiment is stamped in Soft Suede. The script stamp was inked with Crumb Cake and used as a background on Very Vanilla before overstamping the leaf twice in Soft Suede and once more in Crumb Cake. This panel was matted onto Soft Suede cardstock and then positioned onto the card blank.

I am really pleased with the finished card so thank you Annette for inspiring and sharing.

Script Challenge

 

I have two cards today for the Less is More challenge, which this week is 'Script'. The card on the left is using French Foliage and En Francais with a sentiment from Petite Pairs and is all stamped in Old Olive. I began by stamping off the En Francais stamp before stamping the image down the left hand side of the card then I took the three leaves and stamped randomly over the script and, without re-inking, I stamped them again. A lot of the white card base is covered but I think that, because none of the images are solid, the white shows through and gives the impression of still having quite a lot of white space - well I hope so anyway!

The second card is made with a sentiment stamp from Happiest Birthday Wishes (a hostess set) and, because Chrissie & Mandi have said the script must not just be a sentiment stamp, I have adapted it a little. The original stamp starts with the 'B' and ends with a '!' and just above the 'T' it says happy, so I masked off the 'happy' and inked the rest of the stamp with Soft Suede and placed in the centre at the bottom of the card. Using my stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped again at either side to make a script border. I then took another stamp from the same set and inked just the 'Wishing you a happy' part with a Soft Suede marker and positioned this above. The mushrooms are from the Everybunny set and were stamped in Soft Suede and Old Olive then coloured in using a blender pen.

I hope you all have a great weekend and I look forward to coming round and visiting you all - when I've got the housework and the shopping done that is!!

Quick'n'Easy

Another quick and easy card, this time suitable for a man. I began by placing a post-it note on the inside front of a square card blank and scoring around it using my score board. I then turned the card over and placed the post-it onto the embossed square as a mask before randomly stamping the leaf from French Foliage in Crumb Cake. After removing the mask I stamped the text stamp, again from French Foliage in Crumb Cake, in the centre and then the bird from Notably Ornate was stamped in Early Espresso on top. Have you noticed the wiggly line under the sentiment? Well it wasn't meant to be there but when I inked up the stamp I managed to get a bit of ink on the edge of the rubber which left a mark that I didn't want. I took my Early Espresso marker and fashioned a wiggly line underneath to cover up the mistake. One disaster averted!!!!

And this one's for all you romantics out there - Happy Valentine's Day. This is a card I was 'playing' with yesterday, and I know it's rubbish but thought I'd show you anyway :0) I recently bought a white Stazon ink pad and wanted to experiment as it came with a refill and the pad had to be re-inked before use. Being impatient I tried it as soon as I had put the ink on and I think I should have let it soak in first because it didn't stamp very evenly. It is a stamp from the SAB set Outlined Occasions and the 'you' is part of another stamp. It doesn't show up very well in the photo but, before the ink dried, I sprinkled with Dazzling Diamonds just to see what happened and they stuck quite well. Anyway enough of my ramblings, have a good day and do come back tomorrow x