Flower Sparkle: January 2019

Thursday, 24 January 2019

Black & White Birthday Wishes Card - RRCB102

We were without a laptop for a couple of weeks so it's been a while since I last posted a card on my blog. We're back up and running now - thank goodness, I really missed having a laptop!

Now that the new year is well under way I'm looking forward to getting back to some crafting. I wanted to make a card today and I checked out the current challenge over at the Retro Rubber challenge blog to find it was to make a black and white card. That's right up my street, I love black and white cards - and it's a nice simple way to ease back into card making mode!

The stamps I used on my card are well over a year old, the dies I used have been in my stash for a good long while too. The SU! 'Victorian Lace' background stamp is dated 1997 and the sentiment from the SU! 'Sincere Salutations' set is dated 2005. The sentiment on the inside of the card is from the SU! 'Blooming with Kindness' set from 2012.

I inked the 'Victorian Lace' background stamp with VersaMark, stamped it twice onto two panels of black CS and heat embossed with white embossing powder. One panel I trimmed to size for the card front and I used the second panel for the strip for the inside of the card and for the circle for the envelope flap. I added some black satin ribbon tied in a knot to the main image panel before attaching that to the card front. I die cut three flowers, snipped between each petal and used a large embossing stylus and the end of a piercing tool to add shaping and dimension to the flowers. I stacked the three flower shapes, added a button to the centre, die cut and adhered two leaves and then addded the flower to the card front. I stamped the sentiment, cut it out with a label die and popped the label shape up. To complete the card front I added two black gems to the label.

Here's the inside of the card and the envelope flap.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Victorian Lace' background stamp, SU! 'Sincere Salutations' & 'Blooming with Kindness' sets
CS: SU! Basic Black & Whisper White
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black, VersaMark
Tools: PTI 'Beautiful Blooms II' die set, Memory Box 'Fresh Leaves' die set, Spellbinders 'Grommet Tags' die set, SU! circle punches, embossing stylus, piercing tool, moulding mat
Embellishments & accessories: black button, black gems, SU! white embossing powder, black satin ribbon, Whisper White baker's twine, Dimensionals
Ruth

Wednesday, 9 January 2019

Butterflies Shadow Box Frame

Stampin' Up!'s Sale-A-Bration is under way now where you can choose from a range of free goodies with purchases of £45 and £90. There are some fabulous free goodies available in this year's offering! The 'Botanical Butterfly' DSP is just beautiful and a bonus is that you can cut some butterflies out from the paper with the SU! 'Butterfly Duet' punch. My friend Bev recently celebrated a birthday and as part of the gift for her I made a home decor piece - a decorated shadow box frame - using the patterned paper and the punch.

I used a piece of botanical foliage paper as a backdrop, punched out lots of butterflies and then chose the nine I wanted to use for the project. I punched out nine plain black CS butterflies and glued the patterned butterflies on top - making sure to apply glue only to the body. I have non SU! butterfly die sets in my stash that have antennae dies and I thought adding an antenna was the perfect detail! Once I'd assembled the butterflies I adhered the bodies in place with Mini Dimensionals. I then cut full size Dimensionals in half and attached a half behind each wing, leaving the backing paper on which keeps the wings popped up.

Another Sale-A-Bration offering is a set of wooden shapes called 'Butterfly Elements'. I chose a butterfly and coloured it by pressing each side down onto my Lemon Lime Twist ink pad a few times. Once the wooden butterfly was dry I tied it around the box frame with a length of Old Olive linen thread. Hmmm, I couldn't decide if I really liked that or not but I left it on as Bev can easily remove it if she decides she doesn't like it!

Here's a closer look at the pretty butterflies. I really enjoyed making this project, it certainly banished the post Christmas blues!

Supplies:
Stamps: none
CS: SU! Basic Black
Patterned paper: SU! 'Botanical Butterfly' DSP pack
Ink: SU! Lemon Lime Twist
Tools: SU! 'Butterfly Duet' punch, Memory Box ??? butterfly die set
Embellishments & accessories: wooden butterfly shape from SU! 'Butterfly Elements' pack, Old Olive linen thread, Dimensionals, Wilko 8" x 8" white box photo frame
Ruth

Monday, 7 January 2019

Needlepoint Elements People Like You Thanks Card

This fab card made by Jenny Hall I saw on Pinterest really caught my eye. I love the colour combo and the simple yet striking design. I wanted to make a thank you card for my friend Lesley to show appreciation for the smashing Christmas gifts I received from her. I've been on holiday from work and I am so enjoying being inspired and being able to dash off to my craft room immediately and make my own version of a card! Back to reality now though!

Some retired SU! stuff found its way onto the card - the Pool Party glitter ribbon and the Fancy Frost sequins - along with my brand new goodies. I popped up the sentiment label on Dimensionals.

Here's the inside of the card - quickly and easily done with the help of the SU! Stamparatus!

Here's the envelope. I embossed the piece of Crumb Cake CS with the Needlepoint Elements design, adhered the piece of CS to the envelope flap and trimmed off the excess. Then I thought a contrasting Pool Party flower would look nice - yeah, this was definitely one of those "it seemed a good idea at the time" ideas! I embossed a Pool Party piece of CS and fussy cut the flower portion and nearly got to the end when I got too close to the holes and it acted like a perforation and I ended up with a very ragged edge. Having got the idea firmly in my head I stubbornly carried on - and the same thing happened a second time! The third time I fussy cut oh, so slowly and carefully and it turned out fine. I rather think I won't be doing that again though! I added a sequin to the flower centre and the card was finished.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Needle & Thread' set
CS: SU! Crumb Cake, Pool Party & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Crumb Cake & Pool Party
Tools: SU! 'Needlepoint Elements' Framelits die set, SU! 'Pretty Label' punch, SU! Stamparatus
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Pool Party glitter ribbon, Fancy Frost sequins, Dimensionals

Ruth

Friday, 4 January 2019

Rainbow Bow Wreath Birthday Card

I just loved this bright rainbow wreath card made by Lyssa at Song of My Heart Stampers when I saw it! Lyssa has very helpfully produced a fab video tutorial for the design if you want to check it out and have a go yourself. This bright design is absolutely perfect for a winter birthday I think - and it's my friend Bev's birthday on 6th January so I made this card for her!

I've used SU! Pacific Point and Melon Mambo for the card base and mat layer. The card measures 4 3/4" square. For my colourful rainbow wreath I've used Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Gorgeous Grape, Granny Apple Green, Melon Mambo, Pacific Point and Real Red inks. It's vital to keep your stamp clean when you're changing ink colours so I made sure I had baby wipes and kitchen towel handy! I added a few very pretty iridescent sequins to complete the card front.

Of course, no card of mine is finished until it has a decorated inside and envelope! I decided to have a bow rainbow inside the card as well - but down the side rather than as a wreath. I stamped and fussy cut a Pacific Point bow to decorate the envelope flap. This bright, cheery design just screams happy so I thought the 'sending you lots + lots of happy' sentiment was ideal! I used the embossing die from the SU! 'Needlepoint Elements' Framelits set and then cut out the shape with the SU! 'Pretty Label' punch. A touch of detail I like muchly!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Wishing You Well' & 'Southern Serenade' sets, inside sentiment from SU! 'Lots of Happy' card kit
CS: SU! Melon Mambo, Pacific Point & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Gorgeous Grape, Granny Apple Green, Melon Mambo, Pacific Point & Real Red
Tools: SU! 'Needlepoint Elements' Framelits die set, SU! 'Pretty Label' punch
Embellishments & accessories:iridescent sequins

Ruth

Wednesday, 2 January 2019

Needlepoint Nook Thank You Card

This is a thank you card for a friend I made using the SU! 'Needlepoint Nook' suite of products available from the 2019 Spring/Summer catalogue. I absolutely love this beautiful suite of products! I made my version of the Get Well card shown on page 38 of the Spring/Summer catalogue.

There were quite a lot of ink pads out on my desk for this card - Berry Burst, Crushed Curry, Flirty Flamingo, Gray Granite, Highland Heather and Old Olive! After stamping the flowers I used the dies from the 'Needlepoint Elements' set to cut them out. I stamped and die cut the leafy design and I cut that apart into two pieces so I could tuck the leaves where I wanted them. I die cut three Old Olive open leaves and glued those in place. The flowers are all popped up on Dimensionals.

Here's the inside of the card and the envelope flap. I popped the sentiment label up inside the card and I also popped up the Berry Burst flower on the envelope flap.

One of the dies in the 'Needlepoint Elements' Framelits die set embosses stitch marks but doesn't cut - however, the clever thing is that you can then cut out the shape using the SU! 'Pretty Label' punch - brilliant, I love that! Here's a closer look at the label.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Needle & Thread' set
CS: SU! Whisper White (regular & thick)
Patterned paper: SU! 'Needlepoint Nook' DSP
Ink: SU! Berry Burst, Crushed Curry, Flirty Flamingo, Gray Granite, Highland Heather & Old Olive
Tools: SU! 'Needlepoint Elements' Framelits die set, SU! 'Pretty Label' punch
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dimensionals
Ruth

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