Apothecary Art - Card number 3

Hi everyone, I don't want you to get bored with this stamp set and my posts so I won't keep repeating the same information. I'll just say that this card uses the same colours, designer papers and tools as the other cards I have already shared with you. Here's the third card:



This one uses the pleated satin ribbon in Blushing Bride and in this photo you can finally see I really did use Rich Razzleberry card:

Here's a close up of some of the colouring. I used Rich Razzleberry and Pear Pizzazz inks with a blender pen:

Well, I've nearly shown you all the cards we made in card class. Check back soon for the last one soon. x

Apothecary Art in Pear Pizzazz

Morning everyone. This is another one of the cards we will be making today. This one is in Pear Pizzazz with a Rich Razzleberry base card (although it looks brown in these photos):




The paper is from the Twitterpated designer papers and the ribbon is the lovely pleated satin ribbon, in Pear Pizzaz. Here's a close up of the stamped Apothecary Art panel, die cut using the Framelits Label dies and coloured with ink pads and a blender pen:

The edge was created using the Scallop border punch and this photo shows how I added a few pearls to the centres of the flowers:

I'll show you another card in a few days time. Hope you like this stamp set as much as I do. Contact me if you want to buy any of the supplies. x

Apothecary Art 70th Birthday

Hi everyone, I thought I would share this 70th birthday card with you today. I made this for my mother-in-law's birthday a couple of weeks ago. This card happens to use the Apothecary Art set which we'll be using in class on Wednesday:





Photos never seem to do cards justice but this is an A5 card, using Perfect Plum for the base colour. The strip down the middle is Crumb Cake, embossed using the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder aand the Big Shot. You can see the embossing in more detail in this photo as well as the '70' which was die cut using the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet, and decorated with pearls.


I used Pink Pirouette for my contrast colour and added a Pretty in Pink bow with one of the beautiful vintage brads in the centre:

I stamped the image from the Apothecary Art stamp set in grey ink and coloured it using ink pads and a blender pen:

I cut out some of the flowers to 3D them. Fidddly, but worth it I think:

As before the Framelits labels dies match the stamp shapes exactly. I hope you like this card, my mother-in-law did. I'll be showing you the other projects from card class over the next few posts. Check back soon. x 

Apothecary Art card classes Wed 27th

Good evening everyone. I have been very remiss and not told you about the next card class. It's on Wednesday 27th June and we will be using the lovely Apothecary Art stamp set. Here's one of the cards we will be making:




I have used lots of lovely products on this card. Can you see how the new framelits dies match the stampset shape exactely? Stampin' Up! are doing this more often now and I'm sure there will be more matching products when the new catalogue comes out in October. Also, what about the sumptious pleated ribbon? Here's a close up: 

For this card I have used Pear Pizzazz as the base colour and Rich Razzleberry as the contrast. The ribbon is also in Pear Pizzazz. The papers are from the Twitterpated designer series papers (remember there's a special offer on the papers during June - buy three packs and get a fourth pack free). We will be doing some colouring in this class using the ink pads and blender pens. We don't often do any colouring so if you enjoy colouring your stamping, then this is the class for you:

If you would like to join us then please contact me on 07970 708348 or mapleleafstampin@yahoo.co.uk
The class is only £12 which includes everything you need to make the projects, except for adhesives. I hope you will decide to join us. Keep an eye on the blog as I'll be posting more of the projects soon. x

Elegant Mixed Bunch

Hi everyone, this is the last card from the Mixed Bunch class and my favourite. The photo doesn't really do it justice but some of the close ups are better:



For this card we used some of the lovely Twitterpated designer papers to create a background layer. I embossed a piece of Whisper White using the Stripes embossing folder and the Big Shot. The Blossom punch was used to punch the flower shape and the layer was stuck onto the base card, using 3D pads. The colours we used are Blushing Bride and Cherry Cobbler.

Additional flower shapes were cut using the Blossom Party die and the Big Shot, the Boho Blossom punch and the Itty Bitty punches. Flower centres were stamped and added:




A strip of Pleated Satin ribbon in Blushing Bride was added. This ribbon is truly gorgeous and comes ready pleated - all you need to do is stick it on your projects. We'll be using more of it soon: 

There is plenty of room to add a greeting although I quite like it left with 'white' space. I'll be back soon with more projects. x

Mixed Bunch Butterflies

Good morning. Today's card from card class is a bit more intricate than the last one. In this one we have used the ornate flower from the Mixed Bunch stamp set to make butterflies:



To make the butterflies, I stamped the flower twice in Versamark ink onto Whisper White. I then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Using daubers and Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight ink I covered the flower image. The bits that have been heat embossed will stay white and show through. The rest will have a lovely soft colour. Punch the flowers using the Blossom punch.

Cut 2 petals out of one of the flowers in a 'V' shape, making the buttefly shape. The 2 petals that you cut away can be attached underneath the butterfly to give it a 3D effect. Cut another 2 petals from your second flower to 3D the other wing. Here's a close up which hopefully explains it a lot better than I can:

I used Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight for my base card with a layer of First Edition Speciality paper. Calypso Coral ruffled ribbon was glued across the card front and the greeting, from Petite Pairs, was punched using the large oval and layered onto one of the tags from the Sizzlets Lots of Tags set, cut using the Big Shot.

I hope all of this made sense. If you would like to try any of these techniques then why not book a party to take place at your own house where you can have a play with some of these products. x

Simply Mixed Bunch

Good morning everyone. Today I'm sharing the first of the cards we made at card class this week. This card was quick and easy but very effective:



Once again, the colours are not showing up very well but this card was made using Concord Crush and Whisper White card stock, Concord Crush ink and the Mixed Bunch stamp set. The stamp set has a matching punch so there's no need to do any fiddly cutting out. The greeting has been stamped using the Curly Cute stamp set. The stamp set comes with several different centres which I used to create the background and the middle of the flower.

Here's a close up. I think the rest is fairly self explanatory:

 

If you'd like to buy this stampset and/or the punch, please contact me. I'll be posting another one of the cards made with the same stamp set soon. x

Training name badge

And now for something completely different.... I attended a Stampin' Up! regional training event a couple of weeks ago and, for the event, we were all asked to make our own name badge. Wow, there was so much creativity on show that day and here is my effort:

 

I love the colour combination of Island Indigo, Pool Party. Concord Crush and Lucky Limeade although the colours haven't shown up very well in the photos. I used the Top Note die and the Big Shot to make the base of my name badge and cut the letters for my name using the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies. The flowers were cut using the Flower Daisies die and the butterflies were cut using the Beautiful Wings embosslits die. The leaves were punched using the Bird Builder punch (the only thing not a die, I think) Here's a close up:

It's hard to see but I covered the centres of the flowers with glitter. Do you know, I hadn't realised how much of a 'Big Shot' project this was until I typed this post and listed all the various dies I'd used.

Stampin' Up! events are grreat fun. We get to do Make & Takes, swap samples with other demos, learn from head office and other experienced demos and we often get to see new products. On top of this we get a free stampset - this year we got 'Mixed Bunch' which is the set we used in card class this week.

You have to be a demo to be able to attend these events but remember you can join by buying the starter kit for only £99. If you want a chat about joining, then please contact me. I will definitely not put any pressure on you but it may be the best thing you ever did. Check back soon for a closer look at the projects we made in card class this week.x

Simply Scored Birthday

Hi everyone, as I've mentioned we had 2 birthdays at the weekend. Not only was it my father-in-law's birthday, it was my son's 23rd birthday too. I made him this card, using my new Simply Scored tool:



Now I have to confess that I'm not totally sure about this card - I couldn't decide whether it was missing something or whether it was fine as a 'clean and simple' card. Anyway, I resisted the temptation to mess with it and left it as it was.

I used the Simply Scored tool to score 2 strips of Big Top Birthday designer paper every 1/2" . I glued the strip together and then flattened it into the rosette shape. The greeting is from the Up, Up & Away stamp set which is in the Summer mini catalogue. 





For the greeting inside the card I used the Happiest Birthday Wishes stamp set which is a hostess set. I coloured each line with marker pens which matched the paper colours and added 'son' from the For My Family stampset.

Well, that's it for the birthday cards from the weekend but my mother-in-law's 70th is fast approaching. I'll post her card on here in a couple of weeks. x

Happy Birthday Bike

Hi everyone, we had 2 birthdays in our family yesterday, so here's the card I made for my Father-in-Law. I used the  Pedal Presesnts stampset which is a hostess set and I love it. The bike comes with a variety of things you can put in the basket, so it can suit any occassion. For this card I've used the presents and balloons:



I've used another hostess set, Happiest Birthday Wishes, for the greeting and added 'dad' from the For My Family stampset. This stampset lets you personalise any greeting and I think it worked really well. I used the Decorative Label punch to cut out the greeting and then mounted it onto an Old Olive punched Decorative Label:

The card base was made out of Tempting Turquoise cardstock with a Whisper White panel mounted on a Daffodil Delight layer. I used a strip of Big Top Birthday designer paper, which has lots of bright colours in it. The edging was made with Old Olive cardstock, punched with the Scallop Edge border punch. Finally, I covered the balloons in Crystal Effects to make them lovely and shiny:

I hope you liked this card. If you fancy hosting a party to earn some of these hostess sets, please get in touch and don't forget you can earn an additional £30, during June and July. Check out my post from the 2nd June, if you missed the details. I'll be back soon with the second birthday card. x

Notebook gift

This is the last item from the Masculine card class. We covered this notebook to match the cards and to make a practical, small gift:

We cut a strip of Riding Hood Red cardstock slightly wider than the notepad and left it as the full length of A4. The top end was punched using the Scallop Border punch and a strip of the One Sheet Wonder was glued across the top. The anchor was stamped onto a piece of Very Vanilla and punched with the large tag punch, which was then glued to a piece of Not Quite Navy, punched with the extra large tag punch. Linen thread was wound around the top and the anchor tag was tied to it:



The pencils were tied together with linen thread and 2 small tags were punched with the Jewelry Tag punch. Here are all the projects together:



I hope you've enjoyed these. I'll be back with something different soon. x

Anchor card

Here's the second of the Masculine cards we made last week. It uses the same colour scheme of Not Quite Navy and Riding Hood Red. This was a smaller A6 card:



Again we have used a piece of the One Sheet Wonder to create the background panel. I stamped 3 anchors and the ship in basic grey and cut them all out. Sadly there are no matching punches for these but I quite enjoy a bit of hand cutting:

I used Linen thread to tie the anchors together. For my Husband was stamped using the For My Family stamp set again. I stamped 'husband' on to a Large Oval and popped that onto a label punched with the Modern Label punch:

 If you would like to buy any of these products, then please get in touch. Next time I'll show you the notebook we made as a small gift. x

Large father's day/birthday card

 Hi everyone, this is the first of the masculine cards we made in the last card class. This was a large card, A5 size, which we don't do very often:



For some reason that I can't work out, there seems to be another photo superimposed onto the photo above. We used the Open Sea stamp set to create a background sheet (often called a 'one sheet wonder') I used Crumbcake, Basic Grey, Soft Suede, and Marina Mist ink and used all of the stamps included in the set.

I used Not Quite Navy and Riding Hoodl Red cardstock to give it a slight nautical (and patriotic) feel. The boat was stamped in Basic Grey which gives it a softer look than black. We used the wide Marina Mist Grossgrain ribbon and added a strip of Not Quite Navy card punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch. Here are a couple of close ups:

'To my dad' was stamped using the For My Family stampset which is a very usual set for adding family titles to cards.

And here's exactely the same card, just with a different greeting. This 'Happy Birthday' is from the Curly Cute stamp set.

I have to admit that this card was almost a straight copy of one that Sally-Jo showed at the Stampin' Up! regional training event in Leeds. She's a truly talented, artistic lady and you can see some of her work on her blog here.

I hope you've enjoyed this card. I'll be back with another one soon.

Mixed bunch class

Hi everyone, I hope you're all enjoying your bank holiday weekend even though the weather isn't great. I want to give you plenty of notice of the next class. We'll be using the Mixed Bunch stamp set which is a lovely versatile set. It has a matching punch so cutting out is a dawdle. Here's a sneak preview:

Have you spotted top left, where the flower has become a butterfly?

The class will be held on Wednesday 13th June, 7.00-9.30pm, at my house in West Bridgford.

Cost is £12 as usual which includes everything needed to make the projects except for adhesives.

We'll be using different techniques in this class including the 'emboss resists' technique used for the butterfly and the 'rock and roll' technique which has been used on the gift box:

The gift box has been cut using the Pillow Box die and the Big Shot, using Calypso Coral cardstock. The flower has been inked with Daffodil Delight ink and the edges of the stamp were 'rolled' on the Calypso Coral ink pad giving the edges a separate, blended edge of more intense colour.

I've cut a strip of Daffodil Delight paper using the Lace Ribbon punch to go round the box and the leaves were punched using the Bird Builder punch.

I hope you'll decide to join us. Just give me a ring or email me. x

Fabulous new Stampin' Up! offers

Wow, Stampin' Up! have done it again. A new month, a new offer. Actually, there are 2 offers.

First we have a special offer for hostesses of Stampin' Up! parties. This offer is valid for 2 months until the end of July.
If you host a party that has more than £325 in sales, not only do you get the usual £50 of FREE products plus 1 item of your choice at 50%, you will now get an additional £30 of FREE products. So you get £80 FREE and 1 item at half price.
This is a great offer and very achievable when hosting a party, depending on the number of people you invite. If you would like to host a party, just get in touch.

The next offer is for the month of June and give you a FREE pack of designer paper worth £9.95, if you buy 3 packs.

Stampin' Up! designer papers come in packs of 12, 12" x 12" double sided sheets and they are all gorgeous. The paper is sturdy enough to make boxes and bags so you can make a matching giftbox to go with any card. This offer is a great way to increase you sales during a party, to get those extra free hostess pounds, so why not book a party during June. Here are the papers you can choose from:



To get a better look at these papers, please click on the catalogue pictures at the side of my blog. All of these papers are in the main catalogue, except for the last 2  - Twitterpated and Attic Boutique, which are in the Summer mini.

I'll be back soon with news of my next class, and to show you the projects we made in the Masculine cards class. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the Jubilee weekend. x