Does it have to retire...?

Hello, a while ago a dear friend and SU colleague kindly gave me a bag of spares and offcuts from cards she had previously made. Amongst the crafty stash were some flowers stamped and punched from the Petite Petals set. This set is sadly now retired, I really don't know why as it's lovely. I've since been lucky to find them on a selling site so they are sitting happily on the shelf in my craft room.

Close-up of the flowers

It was during the recent heatwave here that I thought I'd like to make a fresh summery card and remembered these flowers already stamped and punched, it saved me so much time.

I started by stamping the wreath from Wondrous Wreath using Old Olive and Pear Pizzazz and then die cut it. The flowers were added after shaping them, along with some small shapes that looked like leaves. I thought it just added a little more texture. My base card was made from Whisper White and I added a border in Daffodil Delight to match the flowers before embossing my top Whisper White layer with the Softly Falling embossing Folder.

The wreath was added using dimensionals. A couple of butterflies couldn’t resist fluttering down to settle either side of the wreath. Again, they were found in the stash.

I wanted a bow, but didn't want it to overpower the design so once again Linen thread came to the rescue. I tied a small triple bow, wrapping the thread around a fork before securing with a tiny blob of liquid glue.

Finally I added a sentiment, taken from Cottage Greetings, which is the only current stamp set used. “Hope your day is wonderful” is relatively generic so the card can be used for more than one occasion. 

Not quite Xmas in July...

I've been lucky enough to have a sneaky peak at the new Autumn/Winter Catalogue and I have to admit there are some gorgeous new stamps coming out; some even have dies or punches to co-ordinate. With so many to choose from I'm trying to work out my "can't live without list" and at the moment it's quite a list. The dilemma I have is that as a new demonstrator, I'm still trying to build up my core stock so I want the choices I make really work for me.

In the meantime as everyone is showing their Xmas makes, I thought I'd make a card using the Wondrous Wreath stamps and Wonderful Wreath die set. Luckily these stamps are extremely versatile, so if I wanted to, I can use them for other occasions as well.

First of all I decided on my colour scheme. I have a friend in mind to send this to during the holiday season who likes all her decor to match - and that includes cards when possible!
So for Chantelle, I've chosen Pool Party and Bermuda Bay with highlights of Crumb Cake.

Bermuda Bay

Crumb Cake

Pool Party

This uses up to 3 stamps to create the wreath, so first of all, I stamped the background leaves in Pool Party, then used Bermuda Bay to give a little depth. I finally did the berries in Crumb Cake and brushed them with clear Wink of Stella to add a little shimmer.

Layering the stamps is so easy as each one has a small tab to ensure correct placement, hence the small mark on the card. As I'm die cutting this, it won't be seen. Obviously, if this wasn't being cut out, I would use a light pencil guideline and erase.

To add interest, I took some bakers twine in white, separated it into single strands and coloured it with a marker before wrapping around the top layer of card before matting and layering.

The wreath and bow were fixed using dimensionals - double sided foam pads -to give a slightly 3D effect. The addition of a layered sentiment completes the look. I've placed a stamped insert in as well as stamped the envelope. A friend once said how nice it was to receive a card with a decorated envelope, that it ensured, depending on personality it was opened either first or last.

Inside and out

Circle of Spring

So today I decided to set myself a challenge. I bought Circle of Spring and the corresponding die set, Wonderful Wreath Framelits as part of my starter set. My lovely mentor and mama duck, Susan, gave me the Wonderful Wreath stamp set so today is the day I get to play. I've been wanting to experiment since they arrived but a temporary work contract and visit to see my daughters conspired against me.

I can see these two sets being used a great deal, there are some fabulous ideas on Pinterest. So many ideas, so little time.

First of all I decided to start with the Spring set. I stamped and heat embossed using white onto vellum before using the marker pens to colour from behind to give a very delicate image and then die cut it out.

At this stage I still only had a rough idea of how I wanted the finished card to look but I do tend to "wing it" with most of my designs.

Pear Pizzazz

Calypso Coral

Well, I appear to have departed from the look I was going for; I wanted the circlet to stand out a little. I chose Calypso Coral and Pear Pizzazz, colours I'd used from the subtle markers. Being very new to Stampin' Up, although I have all the card stock colours, I haven't yet bought any patterned papers, so to tie the colours together I used the small flower stamps and created my own to co-ordinate.

Now to put the elements together.....

Still contemplating a butterfly. Watch this space. ;)