Banner Blast Birthday Card

I have been making quite a few birthday cards lately. And I have been trying out my new Stampin' Up goodies. The hardwood background stamp has become one of my favourites and it seems to feature in at least half of all the cards I make. I love the combo of the hardwood background and the banners. So fun and quirky. And you can modify it to no end by changing the colours. This time I went with the 2013-2015 in colours.

Inks: Stampin' Up Strawberry Slush, Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana, Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Pistachio Pudding, Strawberry Slush, Craft UK Kraft card
Stamps: Stampin' Up Hardwood, Banner Blast and See Ya Later
Other: Bakers twine from my stash

Happily ever after birthday

I love the Lawn Fawn stamps, they have to be the cutest stamps ever. And of them all, Critters Ever After is my ultimate favourite set. Obviously because there is an unicorn. And the cutest dragon ever. They are just so adorable, and if I could afford it, I would buy them all, every single set. I have had this stamp set for quite a while, but I just haven't gotten around to making any cards. So the other night I found some stamped images I had coloured and cut out and decided to finally put them together and make a card.

I used the Stampin' Up bright markers to colour the critters and I used Stampin' Up DSPs for the background. The sentiment is stamped using my ancient and ever so trusty Hobbycraft sentiment stamp set. I finished off with just a little bit of bling. I get happy looking at this card, it is so cute I just want to jump into that card and hang out with the critters. 

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After, Hobbycraft Clear Stamps General Sentiments
Inks: Hobbycraft Pigment Ink Stamp Pad Black, Stampin' Up markers brights, Stampin' Up Melon Mambo
Cardstock: Craft UK Kraft card, Hobbycraft white 160 gsm carstock
Paper: Stampin' Up DSP Sunshine&Sprinkles, International Bazaar
Other: Papermania adhesive gems

Leftover stash card

I have a stash where I put all sorts of leftover bits and pieces of carstock, designer paper, any backgrounds I have made but don't quite know what to do with. I keep them in a little box which I have covered in silver paper and decorated with punched flowers. And sometimes I just go through everything that has accumulated in the leftover box to see if I can get inspired. And sometimes random things just come together, like for this card. Everything except for the gems and white cardstock came right out of the leftover stash. I always feel very proud when I manage to create a beautiful card from random bits and pieces.

I made the card main motif using the Floral Wood Cut stamp from Inkadinkado. I stamped it onto white cardstock using embossing ink and heat embossed using clear embossing powder. I then used Chipped Sapphire and Seedless Preserves distress paints for the colour, which was resisted by the embossing powder. I matted the motif onto white cardstock. Also the background panel was created using Distress Paints (Picked Raspberry, Victorian Velvet and Picket Fence onto watercolour paper. The banners are created using scrap papers and cardstock from the stash, I added a few adhesive gems and attached onto Kraft card.

The technique I used for both the stamped image and background panel involve Distress Paints and water spritzer. I dotted Distress Paints onto my craft mat in random swirls, and spritzed with water from a mini mister until there was small droplets of water on the craft mat. I then swirled the cardstock around in the colour and water mix until the whole paper was covered. I let the paper air dry, but you can speed up the process using a heat gun. You can see the amazingly talented Tim demonstrating this technique in this video here. I really enjoy playing with the distress paints, it's so much fun, although I tend to end up with dozens and dozens of backgrounds which I don't quite know what to do with in the end. But it's all about the creative process and about playing with the colours and that's what counts.

Distress paints: Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, Chipped Sapphire, Victorian Velvet, Picket Fence
Stamp: Inkadinkado Floral Wood Cut
Cardstock: Daler & Rowney 190gsm watercolour paper, Hobbycraft white 160 gsm cardstock, Kraft card (and leftover scraps from Papermania Sizzling Red Hot set, Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry and the DSP Sycamore Street)
Other: Papermania adhesive gems, Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink, Ranger super fine detail embossing powder

Sharpie owls

I just realised I should celebrate my first crafting birthday. Although it feels like such a long time ago, it was only last year that I got my first pack of cardstock and a heart punch and made a few very clumsy Valentine's day cards. After that, this whole crafting thing has gotten just a little bit out of control. I shudder to think how much money I have spent on stamps, inks, cardstock and all sorts of other crafting equipment in these short 12 months. But also, how much joy they have brought me. Especially once I found the products that really work for me and the stamps and inks I'm most comfortable working with. Papercrafting is such a great hobby, it is relaxing and creative at the same time, and you are only limited by your own imagination (and all those cool new stamps and other products that keep going straight to the top of my "must have" list). 

I love the Stampin' Up owl punch. The owls are just so cute with their googly eyes. My sis loves owls, she has owl pillows on her sofa, and I have made an owl card for her before. But this one is better! I sent it to her for Valentine's day.

I used the owl punch to stamp owls from watercolour paper. I used my lovely set of 80's glam Sharpies my dear Culinary Consultant got me for Xmas to colour the owls. I love the colours, they are so bright. To create the tree, I used the Cracked Tim Holtz Sizzix folder to emboss white cardstock. I then fussycut the tree based on a template I drew free hand and inked it with Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo and Walnut stain distress inks.  Then I created the setting sun, again using distress inks (Fired Brick, Spiced Marmelade, Wild Honey and Mustard Seed) and die cut a circle. The background is inked (from top to bottom) using Broken China, Dusty Concorde, Worn Lipstick, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles. Then I attached everything onto Kraft cardstock. This is one card which actually turned out better than I ever thought, I love all the bright colours and the lightly crazy looking owls. It makes me smile every time, and I like the way the Cracked embossing folder makes the tree look really cool.

Distress inks: Broken China, Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Fired Brick, Spiced Marmelade, Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain
Cardstock: Daler & Rowney 190gsm watercolour paper, Hobbycraft white 160 gsm cardstock, Kraft card 
Other: Stampin' Up Owl punch, Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folder Cracked, 80's glam sharpies

Thank you cards with Wildflower Meadow

My most avid (and possibly only) fan, my Mum, asked me to make a few Thank You cards for her. Always eager to oblige should anyone have a need for my cards, I put together this little set of sweet cards using the Stampin' Up Wildflower Meadow set with matching stamp and embossing folder. It's so quick and easy to make embossed cards now that I have my Sizzix, compared to using the rolling pin method I have used before. Embossing is now a breeze and I want to make an endless amount of embossed cards. For these cards I chose to use the Stampin' Up seasonal colours for 2013-2015. I printed the sentiments as I don't have a Finnish "thank you" stamp. The font I used is called Xiomara and I downloaded it for free from here. I used this website which contains the RGB codes for all Stampin' Up colours to match the colours of the prints as closely as possible to the ink and cardstock.  I think I need to calibrate my printer colour profile as the Coastal Cabana didn't quite match up, the rest of them were great. 

I cut out Crumb Cake card in 10x20 cm to make eight 10x10 cm cards. I cut a mat of the coloured cardstock 9.5x9.5 cm. I stamped the image onto white cardstock and embossed using my Sizzix. I then cut the stamped and embossed image to 9x9cm. I printed the sentiments and cut using scissors. I also cut the banners using scissors. Finally I attached everything onto the Crumb Cake card and added an adhesive gem.

Inks: Stampin' Up Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe and Pistachio Pudding
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Crumb Cake, Hobbycraft white 160 gsm cardstock
Stamps: Wildflower Meadow
Other: embossing folder Wildflower Meadow, adhesive gems either clear and coloured using my 80's glam Sharpies or from Papermania Capsule verde.

Fresh Vintage Thank You

This card was inspired by this pin I found when I was doing a search for Fresh Vintage ideas. I coloured the stamp using Stampin Up' Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie and Melon Mambo markers and stamped twice onto cream cardstock. The stamps in the corners are stamped with Tangerine Tango. I fussy cut the banner from Tangerine Tango cardstock and stamped the sentiment onto cream cardstock and used a corner rounder to clip the corners. I matted everything onto a DSP from Sycamore street and then Tangerine tango cardstock. the card was attached to Kraft card and to finish it all off, I coloured two adhesive gems with my orange sharpie. This is a colour combo I rarely use, but I think it turned out quite good in the end.

Stamps: Stampin' Up Fresh Vintage, Hobbycraft Clear Stamps General Sentiments
Inks: Stampin' Up markers Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo and Pumpkin Pie, Stampin' Up Tangerine Tango inkpad
Cardstock: Hobbycraft cream 160 gsm cardstock, Stampin' Up Tangerine Tango, Kraft card
Crafting paper: Stampin' Up Sycamore Street DSP
Other: Stampin' Up adhesive gems, 80's glam Sharpies

Blue Birthday Card

Why does it always rain on Thursdays? Friday is our bin day, and I have a recollection that for as long as I can remember, I have been dragging those bins around in the pouring rain. I cannot wait for this dreary cold wet darkness to end. The reason I love papercrafting is because it makes me forget all my worries. It takes me away from my normal life and helps me forget everything that is troubling me. I just stamp or colour and empty my head of all thoughts that aren't about crafting. This card was born almost by mistake when I was playing around with the Stampin' Up Fresh Vintage stamp set, just stamping away. 

The card is monochrome in Stampin' Up Pacific Point. I made the background by stamping two different stamps from the Fresh Vintage set freehand on white cardstock. I matted it onto Pacific Point cardstock. I used two stamps from the Chalk Talk stamp set for the sentiment, I stamped the background onto Pacific Point cardstock using Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink and heat embossed using white embossing powder. I stamped the "Happy Big Day" sentiment onto white cardstock in Pacific point. I fussy cut both stamps using scissors. For a finishing touch, I added some blue ribbon from my stash and added three adhesive gems. Sometimes random stamping can give really nice results!

Ink: Stampin' Up Pacific Point, Tim Holtz distress embossing ink

Stamps: Stampin' Up Fresh Vintage for the background, Chalk Talk for the sentiment

Cardstock: Hobbycraft white 160 gsm cardstock, Stampin' Up Pacific Point cardstock, Kraft card

Other: Blue ribbon from stash, Stampin' Up Basic Rhinestones, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

Die cut Valentine's day card

TGIF - Thank God It's February. January was rough this year, but hopefully February will be easier. At least the last week of the month will be happy, as I am on holiday before starting my new job in March. 

So what does February mean for a card crafter? Valentine's day of course. In Finland, Valentine's day is called Ystävänpäivä, which translates to Friend's day. It's more about celebrating friendship instead of romantic love. I made this card for my Grandma to wish her happy Friendship day (the sentiment on the card says "Happy Friendship day".

Looking at the card, can you guess who just bought a die cutting machine which came with a set of alphabet dies? Bet you can never guess. I used my new Sizzix Big Shot to die cut the letters from white cardstock using the Sizzix Bug in a Rug Alphabet die set. I then coloured the letters using my 80's Glam Sharpies set which I love both because the colours are so happy and bright, but also because my dear Culinary Consultant gave the set to me for my Christmas Present. I then attached the letters onto Stampin' Up Basic Grey cardstock. I used the Stampin' Up owl punch for the hearts from white cardstock and coloured them with the Sharpies too. 

I rumbled around in my leftover stash and found some different coloured scraps and I used the Fiskars butterfly punch to punch out the small butterflies. The big butterflies are stamped onto vellum using the butterfly stamp from the Tim Holtz Heartfelt set using Distress paints in Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Broken China and Brushed Pewter and fussycut using scissors. I matted the card onto bright yellow cardstock and Kraft card.

Dies: Sizzix Bug in a Rug Alphabet Sizzlits
Stamps: Tim Holtz Heartfelt
Punches: Fiskars butterfly, Stampin' Up Owl punch
Distress paints: Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Broken China, Brushed Pewter
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Basic Grey, Hobbycraft three shades of yellow 160 gsm cardstock, Kraft card, Dovecraft Premium Vellum 110 gsm
Other: 80's glam Sharpies