Blossom graduation card

When I saw this amazingly beautiful card from Peg Coombes I knew I had to recreate it for one of the graduation cards I'm making. I love the flower stamps with matching punches, it's so easy and quick to create an impressive card, much quicker than die cutting. I like the cascading fold and the flowers all over the edges. Still the card fits in a normal size envelope. I also love the understated neutral colours which make the card very elegant.

For this card I used Stampin' Up Whisper White cardstock for the base and stamped the flowers in Sahara Sand. After punching them out I added Ranger Ice Stickles in Coffee Ice in the middle of the flowers for a little understated bling. I heat embossed the sentiment in white embossing powder onto Crumb Cake cardstock, and die cut the letters using a Tim Holtz die from the same card. After assembling the card I stamped a matching envelope.

Card folded and the envelope

Card: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Ink: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand, Tim Holtz Embossing Ink
Stamps: Stampin' Up Flower Shop, Petite Petals, TPC Studio Graduation Clear stamp set
Other: Tim Holtz Alterations Inside Out alphabet die, Ranger Ice Stickles in Coffee Ice, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, Stampin' Up Pansy and Petite Petals punch

Come fly away with me

When I won the Ebay bid for the Tim Holtz Remnants stamp set I was delighted because I knew it would solve my problem of making the second male graduation card for my Sis' graduating Doctor friends (you can see the other one here). I love Tim Holtz stamps, they are so detailed and beautiful. From this stamp set I particularly love the hot air balloon, it is just dreamy. So I wanted to hold on to that slightly dreamy feeling by the colour scheme and the white edge around the balloon. 

I was sitting with the balloon stamp in front of me thinking about the best way to make it into a card. This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge is themed "Paint" so I decided to watercolour the image. I am also entering this into the current Addicted to CAS challenge which is themed "Transport". I know the card might not be very CAS in the eyes of purists, but it's much more CAS than I usually do. I am also entering the card in this week's Addicted to stamps challenge, which is also themed CAS. Last but not least I'm also entering it into The Pink Elephant challenge which is themed "Father's day/Masculine".

I heat embossed the image with ultra fine, clear, embossing powder onto beige cardstock and painted with Stampin' Up inks and a Aqua-Flo brush. I then sponged the edges with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink. The die cut letters were also sponged with Vintage Photo, and are the same Teal card as the matting.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 350 gsm Smooth White Card, Coloured 240 gsm Craft Card in Beige and Teal
Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Remnants CMS130
Inks: Hobbycraft black pigment ink, Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink, Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, Marina Mist, Pacific Point and Wild Wasabi, Whisper White Pigment Ink
Other: Tim Holtz Alterations Inside out alphabet die, Ranger ultra fine clear embossing powder

Butterflies in a box

Just a quick post before I crash into bed. I made this box of butterflies a while ago. I used the same measurements for the box as I have used before here, here and here. Once you have made on card-in-a-box it's actually quite quick and easy to make more of them, although they look like hard work. What is hard work though is all the fussy cutting. For this card I cut quite a few butterflies. But it was all worth it in the end.

Cardstock: Leonardo Stationery 350 gsm Smooth White Card, Hobbycraft white 160 gsm cardstock
Paper: Dovecraft Princess Fairytale Designer Paper Pack
Inks: Stampin' Up Pear Pizzazz, Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Wisteria Wonder
Stamps: Stampin' Up Bloomin Marvellous, Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Heartfelt

The elusive male card

The elusive creature we call the male card... We build Pinterest boards for it, have courses and challenges to help us make one. And yet every time it's so hard to get going every single time. Thankfully I sorted out my only UK Father's day card a while ago (Finnish Father's day isn't until November). But I am still faced with the dilemma of male cards as I've promised to make a few cards for my Sis' friends when they graduate Medical School in little over a month's time. There are two male cards on that list, and I thought now is the time to tackle at least one of them. Off I went to the Interwebs to find some inspiration. I was inspired by this card I found on Pinterest, as well as the wonderful DT creations on Stampin' Royalty and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge as both blogs are running male themed challenges this week.

I have to admit it, I went for every single male card cliché out there. Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, neutral colours, banners... But if it works, it works. I wasn't sure whether it would really work or not, but I think it turned out to be a decent card after all despite it's apparent simplicity. The photo doesn't quite do it justice as it doesn't show the dark grey and chocolate chip brown quite as vibrant as they are in real life.

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Smoky Slate, Crumb Cake, Basic Gray and Chocolate Chip
Paper: Stampin' Up Tea For Two DSP
Stamps: Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grunge and Hardwood, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Inks: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand, Smoky Slate and Early Espresso, Tim Holtz Distress embossing ink
Other: Tim Holtz alterations inside out alphabet die, Papermania Seafoam White Embossing powder

Magazine freebie cards

When I left my previous job, my wonderful colleagues gave me the most thoughtful present - a year's subscription of Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine. The June issue arrived yesterday and it came at a perfect time. I was stuck in catastrophic traffic congestion for about four times as long as it usually takes me to get home after work. When I saw the magazine had arrived, I made myself a large glass of Pimm's and took a deck chair out into the sunshine in the garden a browsed the magazine to forget about my traumatic drive home. 

The magazine came with the cutest Oscar the Owl & Pals stamps, and I immediately had to try them. I used some papers that came free with the magazine and used Tim Holtz distress markers to colour the cute critters. I used a punch for the banners and die cut the letters. The pink card says "baby" and the owl card says "congratulations" in Finnish. I used a bit of Distress ink around the edges of the stamped panels and finished with adding some faux stitching around the edges. I also stamped and coloured a little inside the cards and made matching envelopes. I think that's the finishing touch, making sure the envelopes and insides of the cards are not just left blank but given a little touch up.

Inside and envelope for the fox card

Inside and envelope for the owl card

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch as an inspiration for the layout of the owl card. My inspiration for the fox card was this week's Color Throwdown with a lovely pink colour theme, and I'm also entering it into the Shopping our Stash challenge, which this week is "Critters". I think these cards go to show that although most crafters (me included) end up spending fortunes on crafting equipment, card making can be done on a budget and it's about the imagination more than the expensive stuff you buy. I used free goodies and leftover scraps for almost everything in these cards. The stamps and paper were free with a magazine, and the banners and letters were all die cut from left over scraps of paper. Also, the matting paper was leftover bits and pieces left over from other projects and taken from my stash box. Pretty much the only thing that is "new" is the white card used for the card base. And I still think these turned out great!

Cardstock: Leonardo Stationery 350 gsm Smooth White Card, A4 Coloured 240 gsm Craft Card in Pink Raspberry and Pink Sorbet, brown cardstock from my stash, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Paper: Free paper from Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine
Stamps: Free Oscar the owl & Pals stamps from Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine
Inks: Tim Holtz Aged Mahogany, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Worn Lipstick inks, Tim Holtz Distress markers in Aged Mahogany, Bundled Sage, Evergreen Bough, Gathered Twigs, Mowed Lawn, Picked Raspberry, Ripe Persimmon and Worn Lipstick, Stampin' Write marker in Blushing Bride
Other: Stampin' Up Banner punch, Sizzix Bug in a Rug alphabet die

G is for graduation card

I have a list of graduation cards my sister has asked me to make for her fellow medical students when they graduate this summer. For some reason I have struggled finding inspiration, but today I decided to bite the bullet and cross off another card on the list. I went in search of inspiration and found this week's Retro sketch. And it is just amazing! I really loved the sketch, I love sketches with elements with rounded corners, I think it just makes everything look so much more serene and peaceful and friendly. I immediately knew I wanted my top layer to be vellum, it gives such a cool look, but at the same time it's quite challenging to create with as you have to figure out ways of attaching it in place without leaving visible glue marks anywhere. 

I have also had The Card Concept challenge on my mind for a few days, it is so far outside my comfort zone I knew I just had to give it a shot. It's a colour challenge with yellow, black, white and grey. I am so bad with yellow. Seriously, I rarely use it on my cards unless I'm doing a colour challenge with yellow included. And this time, only yellow and neutrals? I had no idea what to do with it. But I think in the end it turned out quite elegant. Unfortunately it doesn't quite come across as good on the photo as it does in real life, photographing cards with vellum can sometimes be a bit tricky, and this was certainly one of those times. The Card Concept asks you to classify your card into one of their categories, I think this is "Clean and Layering". 

I also found a great new challenge blog called The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers (how great is that) and their current challenge is "R is for ribbon", so I'm entering my card in their challenge as well. Particularly as I finally managed to tie a bow that doesn't point in all possible different directions. And I won't tell anyone I actually used quite a few glue dots to make it look like that, as I'm incapable of tying a bow...

I started by picking out card in Smoky Slate for my background, and a DSP from the xx set for the background panel. I stamped the pretty flower stamp from So Very Grateful in black ink and heat embossed using clear embossing powder and coloured with markers, adding a few layers of yellow to make it bright enough. I die cut the letters using Tim Holtz alterations die. Then I attached everything into place, making sure the adhesive for the vellum panel went under where the ribbon was going to be, as well as under the die cut letters. I then tied the yellow ribbon and secured in a few places with glue dots. As a finishing touch, I added a few adhesive gems which also help keep the vellum in place. I also stamped, heat embossed and coloured the flowers in yellow and grey onto the envelope and inside the card. I really like how the card turned out and hope that my Sister's friend will like it too.

Card: Stampin' Up Smoky Slate, Basic Grey, Basic Black, Dovecraft 110 gsm Premium Vellum

Paper: Stampin' Up Sunshine and Sprinkles and Patterns Stack - Brights collection

Ink: Hobbycraft black pigment ink, Stampin' Up markers in Daffodil Delight, So Saffron and Smoky Slate

Stamps: Stampin' Up So Very Grateful

Other: Tim Holtz alterations inside out alphabet die, Papermania adhesive gems in Capsule Sunshine, Dovecraft Tea Party grosgrain ribbon

Flower shop

I am continuing my exploration of my new Stampin' Up goodies that arrived a few days ago. Along with the SoVery Grateful stamp I tried out yesterday, I also ordered the Flower Shop bundle with stamps and punch. It seems like I have a thing for these flower stamp and punch combos, as I now have three of them. I sat staring at my stamps for a while with my neurons firing on empty. Then I had a quick browse through my trusty inspiration source, the great crafting challenges out there. The colours of this week's Color Throwdown are amazing - Coastal Cabana, Sahara Sand and Strawberry Slush. I also liked this week's Freshly Made Sketch, although I ended up taking some liberties with the interpretation of it. I was also inspired by the Shopping Our Stash challenge which this week was "Stamp your background". 

Card: Leonardo Stationery 350 gsm Smooth White Card, Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana and Sahara Sand

Inks: Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana, Sahara Sand, Strawberry Slush

Stamps: Stampin' Up Flower Shop, Petite Petals, Yippee-Skippee, En Français

Other: Stampin' Up Pansy punch, Petite Petals punch, Tag topper punch, Melon mambo striped organdy ribbon, Papermania adhesive gems Capsule Red Hot