Sympathy card.......

 

Thought I'd share a card I made to go to the parents of a lady who passed away too young....I spent today with extended family and friends celebrating her life.

 

 

I masked off the white boarder with my favourite large post it notes, and then brayered the background.

 

Not sure if you can see them, but there are three little pearls under the watermark :-(  .

 

And here's my trick for making the butterfly look like it's flying.....stamp it onto the cardstock, then mount a second image popped up, and then bend up the wings slightly.  There are some baby pearls in the centre of this cutie too.....

 

Colours: Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie, Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Papillion Potpourri, Serene Silhouettes, Thoughts and Prayers

Other: Basic Pearls

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda xx

CASEing Marelle.....

 

Ever since I became a demonstrator, way back in 2008, I've followed a blog written by a fellow SU! Demo call Marelle Taylor.

 

She posted this card back in May that I've been wanting to CASE...just been waiting for an opportunity to use it....

 

And here is my take on it.....

 

Hope you like it.....

 

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Colours: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White

Other: Boho Chic Embossing Folder, Bohemian Washi Tape, Elegant Butterfly punch

 

Happy Stamping....Manda xxx

Casing Myself.....

 

Have you ever heard the term 'CASE' used in reference to stamping and wondered what it meant?  Well CASEing means to Copy And Share Everything.   It's the ultimate form of flattery to a cardmaker or stamper to have someone CASE our work.  It's just important to give credit where credit is due to the creator of the inspiration card.  I take a lot of inspiration from the Stampin' Up! catalogues, and will often springboard my creating with a new set from the catties.

 

But this time I've CASEd myself. 

 

You might remember this card from a post I did in May.....

 

I used it as a CASE idea for the card I taught at my latest technique class, where a tech we learnt was how to 'kiss'......with stamps!!

 

Here's my new card.

 

 

As you can see, the sketch is basically the same.....I've changed the colours and sentiment stamp, and omitted the larger yellow splodge stamp. The focal image remains the same, as does the technique and fussy cut flowers.

 

Colours: Watermelon Wonder, Mint Macaron, Cucumber Crush, Delightful Dijon, Whisper White

Stamps: Crazy About You, Happy Birthday Everyone, Gorgeous Grunge

Other: Basic Pearls, Stamp-a-ma-jig

 

Happy Stamping....Manda xxx

And a slight variation of technique......

 

I shared this card yesterday.....and thought I'd share not a complete card, but another variation on the technique I taught that goes with the Melon Mambo Butterfly card.

 

Here's a close up of the technique.....can you guess what I did instead of watercolouring?

Yep.....brayered.  Same colours, but they blended on the brayer, causing the cool graduated look you see below.

 

Which technique version do you prefer?

 

Colours: Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Shimmery White

Other:  Crystal Effects, Brayer

 

Happy Stamping....Manda

Here's what you missed.....

 

 

I held my monthly technique class yesterday.....Here's what you missed.

 

The inspiration for this card came from a card that a friend and class member saw at the recent craft show in Brisbane.  She took a photo of it, and then my challenge was to recreate it. While I admit, the colours and sketch of my card are totally different  to the inspiration card (which was purples and greens), it did meet with the approval of the girls at the class. :-)

 

I've dubbed this one......Crystal Effect Resist......   Tricky I know!!!  Basically, I took a sheet of shimmery white (LOVE IT) cardstock and swirled my crystal effects all around the sheet.  I left it to dry overnight, and then watercoloured it the next day using my aqua painter. You can see a Melon Mambo patch above, and a Tempting Turquoise patch below.

 

 

And another teaser........

 

 

And here's the full card.

 

The girls also loved the new Banner Triple punch that I've used to cut the horizontal banners.

 

Stamps: Petite Pairs

Colours: Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Very Vanilla, Shimmery White

Other: Butterflies Thinlits, Basic Rhinestones, Banner Triple Punch, Crystal Effects

 

Happy Stamping....Manda xx

Remarkable Gifts.....

It was my BFF from work's birthday, and I wanted to give her something special to celebrate her special day. 

 

Surprise, surprise......I used Remarkable You!!  I've heat embossed the water lily images, and then watercoloured it with an aquapainter and stamp pads.

 

 

Then I've framed the image, in this fantastic embossed photo frame....I love the classic and clean white of the frame.

 

 

Stamps: Remarkable You

Colours: Cucumber Crush, Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Smokey Slate

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda xx

More Remarkable....

 

On the weekend, I was asked to make a 60th birthday card for  lovely lady who works with my mother at her office.

 

I decided to use my new favourite set, Remarkable You. I fussy cut the flowers out, and mounted them on dimensionals above the leave background stamping.

 

Hope you like it!! 

Stamps: Remarkable You, Memorable Moments (retired)

Colours: Cucumber Crush, Watermelon Wonder, Whisper White

 

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda

Remarkable You.....

 

This is an amazing set.....I just love the bold outlines of the images, which are just great to colour.  May favourite way to colour them is to emboss the outlines and then watercolour the image.  I've used this technique in the cards for this weeks CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.

 

Here is a close up of the colouring for the Elegant Eggplant water lily......

 

And the Watermelon Wonder flower......(not sure of the bloom, but please let me know if you do......I'm florally challenged!!)

 

And here are the full cards......

 

 

Stamps: Remarkable You, Happy Birthday Everyone

Colours: Watermelon Wonder, Cucumber Crush, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Very Vanilla

Other: Black Embossing powder, Watercolour Paper, Aquapainter

 

Happy Stamping....Manda xx

Gorgeous Eleanor.....

 

I CASEd these cards from Pinterest......sometimes I just want to whip up something without thinking too hard about what to do.... this is where CASEing is great. 

 

Here it is in Bermuda Bay....

 

 

Real Red......

 

And Rich Razzleberry.....

 

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge, Everything Eleanor, Well Scripted (retired)

Colours: Whisper White, Real Red, Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry, Memento Tuxedo Black

Other: Large Oval Punch, Basic Pearls.

 

Happy Stamping.... Manda xx

Christmas in July.....

 

I've been playing around with designs for my next Stamp-a-Stack, which will have a Christmas theme..... unfortunately this card will need a bit of tweaking to be a SAS card, as the paperclip embellishment is retired, but other than that I love it!!! 

 

Here's the card....

 

And a close up of that pesky paperclip...

 

 

But I do love it!!!  It's very me... :-)

 

I'm entering this card into Just Add Ink Inspiration Challenge #270 , where I've taken inspiration from the colour scheme of the first photo, and I've also used the tree and star idea on my tag.

 

I've also taken the sketch from TGIF Challenges, but I did flip the sketch horizontally, to allow for the sentiment to flow more smoothly.   

 

Stamps:  Festival of Trees

Colours: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Mossy Meadow, Cherry Cobbler, Smoky Slate, Old Olive

Other: Merry Moments DSP, Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, Bitty Banners Framelits, Lucky Stars Embossing Folder, Silver Metallic Thread, Old Olive Simply Styled Embellishments (retired)

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda xx

Celebrating Today....

I love it when a stamp set inspires lots of cards, even when the variations are subtle.  Mr 711/12's had to go to a birthday party yesterday, so I whipped this card up for the birthday boy.

 

 

Quick and easy, but with some technique with the shading of the balloon. I inked in Daffodil Delight, then stamped it off on scrap then onto the cardstock.  I kept reinking and adding more ink each time,  but instead of stamping off, I used a tissue to remove the ink from the stamp.  Here is the shaded result...... with some Night of Navy bunting over the top!!

 

 

Here is the Pumpkin Pie and Black version, with some pearls this time.....

 

Back to Daffodil Delight .....

 

But with some Crushed Curry spots......

 

Daffodil Delight with rhinestones.....

 

Then for something a little different, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red and Pacific Point....

 

More shading and a little bit of Crystal Effects to add a high light.....

 

and again on the blue.....

 

Then for something completely different.....Soft Sky and Marina Mist.....  I'm imagining this as a baby card......

 

Love those little stars and spots.....

 

Stamp Set: Celebrate Today

Colours: Whisper White, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Soft Sky, Marina Mist, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Pacific Point, Night of Navy.

Other: Basic Peals, Basic Rhinestones, Crystal Effects

 

Happy Stamping....Manda xxx

Build a (quick) birthday....

Hi Everyone.... I'm back!!  Did you miss me?  We have had school holidays, and I've been away from my craft desk, visiting parents, lots of friends for play dates for the children, and tripping interstate to catch up with life long friends to celebrate our mutual '0' birthdays.

 

Anyway, sat down tonight, and whipped these two cards up.   Literally, maybe 5 minutes each.  Not much technically to them, but sometimes, a super easy and quick card is what you need.

 

The first is for TGIF

 

 

And the second is for CAS Colours and Sketches

 

Don't you love the little bit of added detail at the bottom of each card with the scored lines, highlighted by the pearls?

 

Stamp Set: Build a Birthday

Colours: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry, Tempting Turquoise, Smokey Slate, Blackberry Bliss, Island Indigo

Other: Basic Pearls, scoring blade on my trimmer.

 

Happy Stamping.... Manda xx