Birthday eScape

I started this card with the intention of using the Circle of Friendship stamp set and the 1 1/4" circle punch from the eScape bundle which is a special Stampin' Up! offer during the month of June. I've also used the flower stamp from the All Natural stamp set, as I'd previously cut and coloured a batch of several (see previous post!) with the Earth Elements set of Watercolour Wonder Crayons. The flowers have been adhered with dimensionals and the petals have been curled slightly to give a more 3D look (which is difficult to see in the photo).

The base cardstock, ribbon and patterned designer paper are the same as those used for the previous card. The cardstock to which the Circle of Friendship "birthday wishes" stamp has been adhered is Pumpkin Pie and I've used the small circle punch to punch and adhere a second Pumpkin Pie piece to the centre using a dimensional. I've also used the 1" circle punch to punch out the circular stamped image itself (the Pumpkin circle was punched using the 1 1/4" punch which comes with the eScape bundle), although you could trim the stamped image with scissors instead if you don't have the 1" circle punch at the moment.

Love

An anniversary card made for my dad's youngest sister and her husband, who have been married for 32 years.

The base card is SU So Saffron cardstock, with a strip of Close to Cocoa patterned designer paper and a strip of Creamy Caramel cardstock. The Creamy Caramel cardstock has been distressed at the lower edge with the distressing tool from the SU cutter kit and the top edge of the same piece of cardstock has two rows of holes made with a paper piecing tool and the template from the SU tool kit. I've adhered small simulated pearls along the centre of the Caramel piece.

The "Love" stamp is from the SU Wonderful Words stamp set and was stamped with Chocolate Chip ink, whilst the flower stamp is from the All Natural stamp set and was stamped on Whisper White cardstock with Black Stazon. The ribbon is Stampin' Up! Taffeta ribbon in Chocolate Chip... I love the taffeta ribbon, despite not having purchased it for ages as I didn't think I'd fancy it! (I have no idea why; pre-conceived notions are often a dangerous thing!). It's superior quality and so soft and easy to tie.

I coloured the flower stamp with a couple of shades from the Earth Elements set of Watercolour crayons, cut it out and added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter along the petals. I've adhered a citrus green gem (non-SU) in the centre of the flower.

The base card was created using half a sheet of A4 cardstock, albeit by cutting the cardstock lengthwise (at 10.5cms). I quite like this shape of card. I've used the corner rounder punch to round the front and rear lower corners.

I'm back!

Hello... I've been on holiday... I was in America for almost two weeks (Cape Cod, Boston area and Boston itself) and then in Rome for four days... But, I'm back!

It was Ian's birthday whilst we were away, so I managed a grand total of one post in my absence i.e. his birthday post... not a great effort, I know.

I've got some holiday photos and some card photos to post... I'll be back shortly! In the meantime, here are two photos of a brilliant stamp/scrap store in Hyannis, Cape Cod, which I visited a couple of times and melted my credit card. It's called "Colorful Creations" and it's an amazing store - so much wonderful stock! The location is lovely too as it's right on Main Street, Hyannis and, as you can see, we were fortunate enough to have some brilliant, sunny weather whilst we were in Cape Cod. The store even has "man seats" - two sets of two turquoise painted wooden deck chairs for husbands to sit in if they don't fancy browsing... The first thing Ian looks for if he's shopping with me is a "man seat" (as he calls them), so he was quite pleased too.

Happy Birthday

A beer card for my husband, created using the Stampin' Up! Cheers to You stamp set... Happy birthday, Ian!