Bandana Technique Baroque Motifs

Well one set that I will be sad to see go in the retirement list is Baroque Motifs, but I know that Stampin' Up! are going to bring out lots of lovely new stamp sets so I refuse to be sad about it! I did this technique a while ago at one of my classes and it's a simple combination emboss resist and detail work with the white gel pen.

So I started off by embossing whisper white card stock with Versamark and black embossing powder

Then using stamping sponges cut into wedges I sponged a third of the area with Poppy Parade

I repeated this with Peach Parfait to get even more coverage of the card stock

And then I added the final colour Daffodil Delight

Generally once I've finished sponging I wipe over the embossed areas with a dry tissue to remove any ink from the embossed areas to complete the emboss resist technique. Now to take it one step further to look like an indigenous bandana design I used the white gel pen to highlight the design by doodling over it - the pen goes over the embossed areas just fine as well as onto the sponged card stock.

Isn't that cute???? I love this as it's a combination of a few techniques to give a great result and no two cards are ever exactly the same! Here's a finished card with it - if they ever retire Teeny Tiny Sentiments I am going to be in trouble!!!

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Ink: Versamark, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait & Daffodil Delight
Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Poppy Parade
Accessories: Black Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Modern Label punch, Word Window Punch, Dimensionals, White gel pen, stamping sponges.

Magazine Card Holder

There is a really cute mini magazine holder on page 132 of the Ideas Book & Catalogue (IB&C) that I thought would be perfect for use in my downline meeting this month, but I also used them as a hostess gift holder as well. They are sized to fit standard C6 sized envelopes and cards. For our meeting we actually decorated them using the wheels as we did a mini workshop on wheel techniques, but you can decorate them however you like or just use DSP as per the example in the IB&C. We decided that they would make lovely gifts containing a few handmade cards for elderly relatives or those that are challenging to buy for.

The new chocolate chip polka dot scalloped ribbon is definitely one of my favourites from the new catalogue and I continued the polka dot theme on the label with a white gel pen.

Stamps: Baroque motifs, Elements of Style
Ink: Not Quite Navy
Card Stock: Baja Breeze & Not Quite Navy
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Polka Dot scalloped grosgrain ribbon, curly label punch, 1" circle punch, white gel pen, Sticky Strip.

Rated 18+ Bra & Panties Card

From babies to well umm boobs!!! Apologies if this card offends it was made in jest as we had a friends 45th birthday to go to recently and I wanted to make him a stand out card that would definitely get a laugh so I found some inspiration on Vanessa Webb's blog.

It was an interesting card to make as it was double sided - I free cut the pattern onto blush blossom card stock (retired - sorry it was made in the hiatus between blush blossom retiring, but my new blushing bride card stock not having arrived) so the back was suitably decorated as well - although his wife did tell me the heart tattoo was on the other cheek!!!!!!!!!!! After seeing how well the Baroque Motifs came out on the card stock, I am thinking Stampin' Up! should release a lingerie line!

Stamps: Baroque Motifs

Ink: Versamark

Card stock: Real Red, blush blossom (retired), basic black

Accessories: Heart to heart punch, Paper snips, Black embossing powder, heat gun, powder pal, SNAIL, Boho blossom punch, Scallop edge punch, 1/16" handheld punch, basic black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, clear rhinestone brad.

Trendy Tree Wreath CASE

Okay so I am counting down the hours now until the NEW 2010-2011 Stampin' Up! catalogue will be released - noon tomorrow - and as Christmas seems to be fast approaching I decided to distract myself by making some Christmas cards. I saw a nice card the other day here and knew I just had to CASE it (copy and share with everyone). So here's my super similar version of it:

Stamps: Trendy Trees, Baroque Motifs & Contempo Christmas
Ink: Old Olive, Real Red
Card stock: Whisper White, Real Red, Old Olive
Accessories: Stampin' sponges, paper snips, SNAIL, Stamp-a-ma-jig. Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, 2 way glue pen, Boho Blossoms punch.

As you can see from the close up, I have just stamped the tree and punched it out with the large Boho Blossom flower from the punch, sponged the edges and layered them into a circle (I used 15 tree florets to make my wreath). Then I stamped the smallest flower from Baroque Motifs five times, cut them out and glued them on top of the wreath and added a little bow. Between the layering and sponging it has a nice depth to the card, which is probably hard to see from my photos!

Chocolate Slider

Are you ever stuck for a quick, unisex gift that you need NOW! Well a real favourite of mine is the chocolate slider box. It is super simple & needs just one sheet of A4 cardstock and a bar of chocolate (most of the time I stock up when these are on sale, but I have to make sure I hide them from my boys!). Basically for this one I had a 100g bar of Cadbury chocolate so I scored 1.5cm along the longest side of the A4 sheet, then along the shorter side I scored at 1.5cm, 9cm, 16.5cm, 18cm & cut it at 20cm. Decorate it as desired, use sticky strip to make it into an open ended box, add a slot punch at the top, thread the ribbon through, add the chocolate and tie the bow and you're done! Honestly it took me longer to write this blog post than to make it and the best thing is you can fiddle around with the bow as long as you like to make it perfect as the recipient never needs to undo it to get to the chocolate, they just pull the bow upwards.

and open......just pull the bow upwards

I added the word on the front and raised it up on Stampin' Dimensionals just to make the front pretty!

Stamps: Baroque Motifs
Ink: Old Olive, Melon Mambo
Card stock: Very Vanilla & Old Olive
Accessories: Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Slot Punch, Melon Mambo Polka-Dot Grosgrain ribbon, Sticky Strip, Stampin' Dimensionals.