Gift Card/Money Holder

This is one of the gift card/money holders that we made at class today and is made with the Jolly Holiday DSP which, sadly, is now unavailable. I did love this paper as it co-ordinates with two of my favourite SU colours - Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive. The outside 'packet' is made with DSP, open at one end, and the holder is made with cardstock, edged with the Eyelet Border punch and a tab made with the Round Tab punch. The flower is Cherry Cobbler cardstock punched with the 5-Petal Flower punch and the large flower from Boho Blossom with a centre of So Saffron punched with the small Boho Blossoms flower and the tiny flower from the Itty Bitty Punch pack. I made the holly leaves by cutting an oval in Old Olive, scored down the centre and folded in half before punching along the outside edge with a 3/4" circle punch. It was then opened out and inked, with a sponge dauber, around the edges and down the central spine. The tag is from Tiny Tags, punched with the Jewlery Tag punch

Variation on a Theme

A couple of weeks ago I showed you a little gift box I made for a small box of After Eights and here are some more which I have made as gifts for the ladies at my class today. An open topped box was made with cardstock to hold the chocs and the wrapper was made with co-ordinating DSP from the colour family Paper Stacks. The colours used are Perfect Plum, Rose Red, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and More Mustard. The flowers were made with the Fancy Flower punch, 5-Petal Flower punch, Boho Blossoms punch and the tiny flower from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch pack with a Basic Pearl in the centre.

Blossom Petals Punch Baubles

I'm afraid I can take no credit at all for the design of this card as it was copied from an original design by a very talented lady at Valita's Designs & Fresh Folds. I thought it was so gorgeous I just had to have a go myself and, although quite fiddly so I wouldn't want to make a lot of them, I was very pleased with the result. It always amazes me when people come up with a use for a punch that is a million miles away from what it's intended for and I am very grateful for those clever people sharing their ideas. The baubles on the card are made from the Blossom Petals Punch, which are scored and then stuck together and if you would like to learn how to make them then click on the link to the blog above where you will find a brilliant tutorial. My card differs from the original in that I glued the edges of the petals and dipped them in Dazzling Diamonds, the string hangers were a line of glue with Dazzling Diamonds sprinkled on and the bow was made from some Silver Elastic Cord (sadly no longer available). The sentiment is from Contempo Christmas.

Birthday Flowers

Another graduated colour card for a lovely lady who had a birthday on Saturday. This one is made using Rose Red, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink and Pink Pirouette cardstock. The flowers were made with the Boho Blossoms punch and the tiny flowers from the Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack with a Basic Rhinestone in their centres. Think it's all self-explanatory so no need for a long drawn out post today. In hindsight I think maybe I used a few too many flowers and that it would have looked better with less but once glued on there was no going back!! Busy week ahead so may not post again until Thursday so come back then to see some money wallets and gift card holders which the ladies are making at a class this week - all ready for Christmas!!!!

Another of the birthday cards which I made for my sister and this time I was inspired by an idea in the brand new SU catalogue. It is called an Ideas Book & Catalogue because it is exactly that, not only are there fabulous products in it there are also some great ideas for using them! If you would like to purchase a copy then please do not hesitate to contact me.
The base colour for this card is Wild Wasabi and this time I used the lovely textured cardstock, teamed with DSP in the same colour and Crumb Cake. The large flower was made with 5 petals stamped with one of the stamps from the Build a Blossom set and punched with the Blossom Petals punch with a circle and a button in the centre. The leaves are a piece of cardstock folded and run at a slant through the crimper before cutting with the Blossom Petals punch and the small flowers are made with Boho Blossoms and Itty Bitty Shapes punches. For the sentiment I used a stamp from Four Frames and punched out with the Decorative Label punch and then added the 'happy birthday'. For the inside I cut a piece of Whisper White with the Top Note die and stamped with a retired stamp which co-ordinates with Boho Blossoms in the corners.

Card with a difference

It is my lovely sister Linda's birthday today and, of course, I have been asked by all of the family to make cards for her. I always find it so difficult to make several cards for the same person so, after making everyone else's, I was looking for something a bit different for mine. I came across a gorgeous flip-flop card on Dawn's blog (a fellow member of the Pink Ladies) which can be found here, and decided to have a go. Dawn is a lovely lady who makes some beautiful cards and 3D items, so do go and pay her a visit and I promise you won't be dissappointed.
I found a template of a shoe on the internet and drew this onto a folded piece of Wisteria Wonder cardstock (a new 'In Colour available from 1st Oct) and cut out, then made 2 straps from strips of cardstock and glued on. Ooh sorry before I glued the straps in position I stamped the flip flop with a stamp from Trendy Trees. I added a butterfly to the front of the straps, made from the Beautiful Butterflies die and Beautiful Wings Embosslits die with a row of small Basic Rhinestones down the centre,  and a tiny flower from one of the Itty Bitty Shapes punches to the side of the straps. The faux stitching was done with an Elegant Eggplant marker and the inside of the card was a piece of Whisper White cut slightly smaller than the original template size and stuck on - again with some faux stitching added. I made a box to put the card in from plain white cardstock with a piece of Elegant Eggplant cardstock on the top, and added paper ribbon and a paper bow made from Whisper White cardstock stamped on both sides with a stamp from Baby Blossoms (sadly only available until 30th Sept). If you would like to know how to make the paper bow then a tutorial is available on YouTube here. I gave Linda a Stampin'Up! voucher as a present, all ready for her to spend in the new catalogue on October 1st, and put it in a matching handbag gift card holder which I will show you tomorrow.

Welcome Christmas

I really would rather not be thinking about Christmas just yet but, having already seen selection boxes et al in my local supermarket at the end of August, I suppose I had better!
I got the idea for this card from my lovely upline, Michelle Last (her card can be seen here), but have adapted it to make a Christmas card. It was realatively easy to make the card, the hardest bit was cutting out the wreath which is a stamp from Welcome Christmas. I stamped the wreath in Old Olive then coloured in the berries with a Real Red Stampin'Write marker and added some Dazzling Diamonds for a bit of sparkle then punched a hole with a circle punch in the middle (I did this to give me a head start on the cutting!) and cut around on the inside and outside of the image. The card was an A6 blank of Real Red and I cut some strips for the door panels and embossed the lines to give some texture before putting on to the base card with dimensionals. The letterbox and door knob was cut from a piece of plain white cardstock which had been covered with Versamark and heat embossed with gold powder. I stamped the sentiments onto Whisper White and added what is supposed to look like a postage stamp, before cutting out and positioning so it looked like the cards were posted through the letterbox. I have to say that the card with 'Christmas' on must be a very large card if you look at the size in comparison to the door, but that was the smallest 'Christmas' stamp I have!! Looking back at Michelle's card I think it may have looked better cut and mounted onto a plain white card blank just to give a frame around it - bit too much red methinks :0)