Convention Swaps Part 1

Helloooo! Here I am at last, back from convention and with piccys to share. I do have to say that I have been trying to write this post since last Sunday, but for some reason blogger was refusing to upload my pictures - and let's face it, what's a card blog if it doesn't have pictures of yummy cards on it? Before that, I had not had a second to blog as life has rather smacked me in the face since I got home from convention, but you know, it happens sometimes...

So, as variously requested by quite a few of you - here are the swap cards that I made for the Stampin' Up! convention in Sydney a couple of weeks ago. The first one (above) uses the Echoes of Kindness hostess stamp set and Baroque Motifs. The background was made by dragging Pretty in Pink and Sahara Sand ink pads across the cardstock and the flowers were coloured with a White Gel pen. I just love the effect it creates. I was really chuffed as this one ended up on a display board at convention too!

This next one has a really opulent feel IRL (in real life). The stamps from Asian Artistry are embossed in gold and then coloured with reinkers that have been mixed with Crystal Effects. The overall effect is a bit like stained glass.


This card uses the emerging colour technique. The Medallion background stamp was stamped first, then I clear embossed the solid image from Organic Outlines over the top, then brayered basic grey over the whole thing. This card was inspired by some bed linen I wanted to buy from a friend's linen party (hi Tracey!) but I couldn't afford to buy it and go to Sydney! So I made this card instead...

This one is my tribute to the vintage style, and uses the Very Vintage wheel and Vintage Vogue stamp set from the Autumn mini catalogue. There was lots of sponging and distressing to do for this one!

Finally, and I have to say I was losing the will to live after creating 20 each of the previous 4 styles, I had a go at a clean and simple card. This one is my prototype - I can assure you that the ones I gave out at convention were more evenly spaced and straight! (lol!)

OK, so those were my swap cards. I hope you like them. If you would like any more details, or if you would like me to demonstrate one of these cards at a workshop for you and your friends and family email me , I would be glad to help!

I will be back soon with pics of the swaps I received and also of some of the wonderful people I met. Until then take care, and thanks for stopping by.

Claire

Mojo-a-gogo!

Goodness, I have just realised it has been 3 weeks since my last post! How terribly slack of me, my apologies to those of you that check in on me regularly to see what I have been up to. The answer to that question is of course - not much! Well not much crafting to be more precise. I have come to the conclusion that since becoming a Stampin' Up! Demo, I hate the month of March! There is so much hype around the retiring list and the new Ideas Book and Catalogue arriving, that my crafting mojo goes into hiding. I have sat down at my desk a few times in the last week or so, but with images of stamp sets yet to come looming large in my head, suddenly the old ones don't seem so inspiring.

Anyway, rather than disappear of the face of the earth entirely, I thought I would share with you some swap cards that I made. These swaps were made to send to a sister demo in Canada. The idea was to make 3 complete cards (preferably from sets that they don't have in their catalogue) and post them to your swap partner. I received three gorgeous cards from Cathy Jonstone a very talented SU demo in Canada, you can check out her blog, here. I will post them later in another post, it is too dark and gloomy today to get good pics.

Here are the three I made to send to Cathy (thanks to Lynda for the loan of the All Aboriginal and Happy Christmas Mate stamp sets!). I can post them here now, as Cathy has received them.

Card Recipe:

Stamps; Ocean Commotion, Baroque Motifs

Cardstock; Ballet Blue, Gable Green, Ruby Red, So Saffron

Inks; Whisper White, Gable Green, So Saffron

Acessories; Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware, Crystal Effects, Stampin' Dimensionals

Card Recipe:

Stamps; Happy Christmas Mate

Cardstock; River Rock, Real Red, Dashing DSP, Watercolour paper

Inks; Stazon Black, Old Olive

Techniques; Markers direct to watercolour paper

Accessories; Markers, Aquapainter, Corner Rounder punch, Double Slot punch, non SU circle cutter, Ribbon

Card Recipe:

Stamps; All Aboriginal

Cardstock; Chocolate Chip, Brocade Blue, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Spring Break DSP

Inks; Versa Mark, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red, Brocade Blue

Techniques; Emboss Resist

Sketch: Makeesha's Sketch Challenge No. 5

Accessories; Markers, Clear EP, White Gel Pen

Hope you like them. Please leave a comment and let me know you stopped by. It's alway nice to know who has visited. My preorder of goodies from the new catalogue has finally arrived, so I will have some new creations to share with you soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Claire

Quick n' cute!

Hello, me again! Two posts in one week, I must be having a sudden rush of blood to the head. Just a quick post to share a mega cute card with you. I have been playing around trying to devise a card suitable for both boys and girls for our upcoming Inkydivas Stamp-a-stacK. (You can find the details here if you are interested). Anyway I was inspired by the incredibly talented Heather (Stamp with Heather) to have a go at this too cute little monkey she created with punches. You can see Heather's video tutorial here.

I had to adapt a little as we don't have the three hearts punch here in Oz yet, so I used the 3 flower punch and trimmed one for the hands and feet instead. What do you think? Is it too fiddly for a Stamp-a-stacK group? Would love to hear your thoughts, please leave a comment and let me know you stopped by.

Claire

Evolution of a card KW CI 38

Wow! This was so not the card I set out to make for this Colour Inspiration challenge!
I have been racking my brains since Kristina posted CI 38 about how on earth I was going to successfully combine them. Eventually I decided that maybe they would work for a "brayered sky" type of thing. So I set off to Michelle Zindorf's wonderful blog tutorials to refresh myself with the finer points of the technique. I often find my brayer more than a little challenging! Anyway, whilst browsing I happened upon this tutorial, and decided to give it a go in the inspiration colours. I am really surprised and pleased with the way it turned out! It actually reminds me of the enormous Emperor Bush moths we get down here in Tassie.

Card recipe:

Stamps: Natural Beauty, Carte Postale, Baroque Motifs

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Ruby Red, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip

Inks: Ruby Red, Pretty In Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Versa Mark, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Versa Marker, Stamp and Write Markers, Clear Embossing Powder, Sponges, White Gel Pen, Jumbo Eyelet, Ribbon

Technique: Emboss resist

Hope you like it. I would love to hear your comments. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Claire

More cards more techniques …

Well here we are again. Some new cards, experimenting with some more techniques! This first one was made for a friend and former neighbor for her birthday. This friend has recently been creating a black and white scrapbooking album for her daughter. It was a real challenge but the results have been spectacular! Anyway inspired by this thought I checked out the Split Negative Technique on Split Coast Stampers. You can check out the tutorial here. I created this card using black and white cardstock and embossing powder with the Baroque Motifs SU stamp set. I couldn't do just black and white though, so I caved in and added some touches of real red.

Next was another go at Split Negative. This time I used the Voila and Voila ala carte Stamp sets teamed once again with black and white cardstock and embossing powder. Once again I felt compelled to add a touch of real red and the whole thing is matted on some of the gorgeous new basic grey SU textured cardstock. So, I have a chef with a "dark side"… Gordon Ramsay perhaps?! That being said, it begs the question "What is under the lid?!!"

The third card I created for a recent workshop hostess. As I had demonstrated the Spotlighting technique at her workshop, I thought it would be fun to create her card using the Reverse Spotlighting Technique. For this card I used an Almost Amethyst cardstock base, stamped with the little flowers from the Polka Dots and Petals SU stamp set. Then I used the Paisley from Polka Dots and Paisley for the reverse spotlighting stamped on So Saffron and Close to Cocoa. I really like this colour combo. I finished the card by dying a piece of white ribbon with So Saffron ink and stamped my sentiment on a So Saffron scrap in Close to Cocoa ink and punched it out with my oval punch.

Thanks for dropping by!