Stamps Ahead

Today I created another layout from our cruise in April.  Here my sister and I are dressed for a cocktail party that our group had on our final evening of cruising.   I was inspired by a 2013 layout by Marie-Pierre Capistran   that I found whilst web surfing. Thank you for your inspiration and I have left her some thanks on her blog. Using Distress Stains I diluted them and applied to paper with brush in long random strokes.  A Mason Jar Stamp by Heartfelt Creations was then added when the ink had dried.  At the same time as painting I also painted onto a scrap of paper to use for embellishments.   Splotches of the paint were added randomly. I do not usually work in pastel colours and overall I love the result.  I just need to add some journaling. Thank you for looking, Margaret :)

Last week I made some Christmas cards for the Australian Troops Overseas with a group of ladies from a community group.  This is one of the clean and simple cards I designed for them to make. I have used Dove of Peace stamp set by Heartfelt Creations.  Now, I did not have the coordinating die so it was back to cutting bird by hand and the greeting with a punch.   After stamping and cutting the bird ink was sponged around the bird and greeting - a great way of disguising maybe an imperfect cut!!  The card base is white. Thanks for looking and no I do not think it is too early to start on Christmas cards.    Margaret :)

My camera is still not home, so these cards are once again photographed using my mobile/cell phone.  I wanted to share them with you and not wait for camera return. I recently went to Stampin' Up! (SU) card making at a friends place, and these are the cards we made.  They use some retired product (paper and ribbon).  The stamp set Butterfly Basics and also uses the Butterflies Thinlits Dies.  Of course, I did buy them - just could not resist.  First time I have ever used black cardstock on a card - I think I like it and may play around a bit more with it. This is a card I created for a class that I volunteer at (now really sorry for the colour - it is more navy than the blue here),  I have used Heartfelt Creations Jean Pocket/Ball Can stamp and the shells from SU By the Seashore. This is a great card for a male and the pocket could have a gift card or money put in it! This card was inspired by one I saw on the internet, now unfortunately after searchi...

I have been busy over the past few days - I did attend a crop day at a local store yesterday that spurred me on to get more layouts completed.  This layout uses all Stampin'Up! product including On Film Framelit dies. The quote is "Celebrate Life - each day is a gift waiting to be unwrapped" and it comes on Philsophy brand soaps etc. A bright and colourful page to be put in my USA 2014 album. This double page layout is a complete kit from Basic Grey - Lucille Collection.  I amended it slightly to enable photographs taken on my sister's birthday to be included.  Morning tea - tick; Dinner - tick; River Cruise to come. I completed the background to this layout back in October  when I used many layers to create it.  It has been on my desk since then just waiting for the right photograph.  The circle of flowers and ribbon was inspired by a layout by Cat Burchmore in Scrap 365 magazine of June/July 2014. My flowers include a stamp...

I have been busy designing cards for classes I have been leading at two community groups over the past two weeks.   Here are just a sample of some of the cards created. Several of the ladies in one of the groups are elderly and have trouble with their hands so I kept the cards quite simple - I pre-cut the shapes prior to the class. These cards are an adaptation of cards in previous post - I substituted the Impasto (as it would take too long to dry in a 2 hour time-frame) and went with random misting and misting using Stampin'Up! (SU)  stencils - stars and stripes.  The stars I die cut from Sizzix Framelits and the squares from Spellbinders Nestabilities.  This card was one of many made by participants in one of the classes for donation to Australian Troops overseas. This card design is an adaption of technique called 'pressed flower' that I found whilst blog surfing one wet afternoon.   It is great as it can use scraps of paper. ...