People still have birthdays in December

Do you have a friend that has a birthday in December?  My poor sister is a December baby and always hated it when people said "This present is for your birthday and Christmas combined."  So when I was making a present for a young boy I know, I made sure his birthday was very separate from his Christmas present.

I made him a wooden letter and made a matching card.  For the card, I decided to use my Stampin'Up! pewter embossing powder and a greeting from the Hostess Set So Many Birthdays.  I must say, I was doubtful that the powder ould pick up something as fine and intricate as the 'Happy' on the stamp, but have a look at the close up- it worked perfectly.

Tiling Technique

I love the look of tiling on a card.  There is not much to it, but can be a little frustrating if you are not one to measure things (like me).  I stamped the image of the hydrangea from the Because I care Hostess Gift in Staz on Black.  I then cut the image to fit a 2" x 3" rectangle.  You then draw a grid dividing the image in 1" squares.  The frustrating thing is that I can never seem to get the squares the perfect size.  Anyway, I guess that may add to the rustic look of it.  You then get your black marker and run it around the very edge of the 'tile'.  Arrange the tiles so they are mixed up and attach to embossed cardstock.  I embossed the cardstock using the wallpaper embossing folder and distressed the edges.

A tricky card, but I'm sure the person receiving it will love it.

Ness

Two-Step Stamping

I wanted to have a play with a Two Step stamp.  We have quite a few of these in our current catalogue.  You stamp the first image (in this case I used Always Artichoke) and then you stamp the second stamp (which looks like a water colour version of the image) over the top of it.  Using the Stamp-a-ma-jig really helps with this.  The Stamp-a-ma-jig is this great little tool to help you line up your image correctly, so, if you want to do a continuous pattern or stamp exactly in a certain place, then the Stamp-a-ma-jig is your tool!  It's $22.95 well spent. I am really happy with the effect it gives.  As you can see, I made a few versions of this card as it can be used for different purposes.

The background is from the Designer Paper range called Newsprint.  The stamp is from a Hostess Gift called Fast & Fabulous.  It is a set of 6 stamps and is free to the hostess when she hosts a party and the sales are over $600 (also, she would get $60 to spend too!).

Ness

Ok, One More Baby Card(s)!

This is for my friend if she has a girl.  I love the combination of crumbcake and our 'In Colour' Blushing Bride together- very soft, muted colours.  The first card was copied from the Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalogue.  I just turned it pink!  I stamped Fox and Friend images onto Very Vanilla Card stock and then stamped a letter from the Schoolbook Serif Alphabet set, then punched it out using a circle punch.

Using the same colour combinations, I then used my Punch Potpurri set to make the card below.  The set is a Hostess gift for hostesses with party sales of $300 (easy!).  It is called Punch Potpurri as each image has a matching punch.  (this had to be pointed out to me!)  If you look carefully, you can see the background band has the flower images stamped all over the card, giving it a look of patterned paper.  I punched the bird a leaves from the Two step Bird Punch.  Of course, I stuck some Stampin' Dimensionals underneath the heart and the bird to give it a lift.

Another technique I have used here, is my favourite scrapbooking thing and that is inking.  Inking is when you dab a makeup sponge (or a proper dauber) into the ink pad and scrape it past the edge of the image.  It gives a nice vintage edge to the image.  You will see I used it around the heart.

Ness

Apple Blossom Hostess Gift

I absolutely love the Apple Blossom Hostess Gift.  Hostesses achieve this (for free) when they hold a workshop, and achieve $600 in sales.  This is easily achieved, as at a workshop, your guests get to try all of Stamin'Up!'s great products before they buy.  As well as receiving the set, the hostess gets $60 to spend too!

I have used three main colours here:  Real Red, Crumbcake and Old Olive.  I love this colour combination.  I think this set is suitable for a somewhat masculine card as the flowers are clean and simple.  You can see from the picture, I have made a Father's Day card (totally getting in early!)

Ness