Children's birthdays

1, 2, 3, 4, 5!

Thursday, July 18, 2019

When I see this card my head starts singing the 1970s numbers song from Sesame Street. (I just had to look it up on YouTube - it's called "Pinball Number Count." For those of you born in the 1970s and before, take a trip down memory lane and look it up! So many memories!!)  The little 5 year old this was made for will probably have his own numbers song stuck in his head, but one thing's for sure, he's so excited to be turning FIVE!



This card uses the Large Numbers framelits and the Itty Bitty Birthdays stamp set.  I used a brayer to colour each of the letters (or the background to them) in: Daffodil Delight, Mango Medley, Poppy Parade, Lemon Lime Twist, and Pacific Point.  Dug out some old enamel dots for extra colour, and popped the whole lot up on dimensionals.


This fun card is a CASE of Fran Sabad's gorgeous card.

Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Video Tutorial

Fun with Designer Series Paper

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Hands up if you hold onto your Designer Series Paper, safe guarding it "just in case"?  It's so pretty!  I don't want to use it up!  What if I need it for another project?  And then the end of the catalogue arrives, and that DSP gets forgotten in a drawer because you've ordered new designs from the new collection.  

No more!  We buy craft materials to craft, right?  So let's get crafty with that DSP!  I'm challenging you to use as much as you can before you order any new packs in the 2019-2020 catalogue.  

I went live on Facebook a few days ago to show you some cards I've been making up in that makes a star of the Animal Expedition DSP.  Use my tips from the video to do the same for any pack of DSP and remember:

1 - make them EASY!
2 - make the DSP do the work for you!
3 - ENJOY IT!


Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Friendship

So Happy To Have You In My Life

Monday, May 20, 2019

Create effective and colourful frames for your cards with the Rectangle Stitched framelits and a stamp set of your choice like I have done here with the Bloom by Bloom stamp set.


First cut your top layer so that it is 1/4" shorter and narrower than your base card.  Cut out the centre piece with the die.  Then stamp up your frame - I picked three coordinating colours: Mango Medley, Fresh Fig, and Calypso Coral and used the different flowers from the Bloom by Bloom Set.



Choose a sentiment that will fill your central area such as this one from the Amazing Life stamp set (one of my favs!).  I choose to colour the "happy" in Crushed Curry but do wonder if Mango Medley wouldn't have been a better choice.


You can pop the frame up with dimensionals or leave it flat as I have done.


Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Birthday

Black and White Birthday

Friday, May 10, 2019

 The Happy Birthday thinlits make a card all on their own!  I've put the same design into three different presentations to best suit different personalities of the birthday person, but I think my favouite is the white writing on black cardstock for an elegant masculine card.  How about you?  I'd love to know your favourite - tell me in a comment below.


And here is the card with the colours reversed.  Doesn't the washi tape work marvels?


The central panel is popped up which allows the dies to be cut into the layer of cardstock and then the opposite colour inserted into the cut out area so that the end product is a flush finish.


And just for fun, I created a watercolour one.  Because I wanted these cards to be masculine I choose Pool Party, Pear Pizzaz, and Highland Heather inks.  I think it would also look good with a yellow/orange/red combination.  Note that on this card I didn't cut into the watercolour paper, I just adhered the die cut to the top.


I used rhinestones on the black and white cards and pearls on the watercolour version for variety and to suit the colour themes better.

Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Friendship

A Flowery Hello

Wednesday, May 08, 2019

At a recent card class I showed my group how to achieve multicoloured stamping by colouring directly onto the rubber stamp.  I just love how these cards turned out with their array of colours.  Which colour base is your favourite?


I've used the Flourishing Phrases stamp set for the flower.  Each one has five different shades in it.  The sentiment is from Tabs for Everything.


This Blushing Bride card above is on an Australian card base, the others are on Amercian because I felt the shorter and wider ratio worked better for the design.


The beauty of the Iridescent Sequins is that you can pick out colours to match colour combos as I have done for each card here.


I even made a Christmas themed one, just for fun!


Why not try this technique yourself?  Just use your Stampin' Write Markers to colour directly onto the stamp itself.  Give the whole stamp a good "huff" with your breath to reactivate the slightly dried ink before stamping down and voila!  Gorgeous every time.

Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Sympathy

With Sympathy Double Up

Sunday, May 05, 2019

I had some requests to share some sympathy cards.  They aren't the easiest of cards to design, are they?  And I'm not convinced one design suits everyone.  So I turned to Pinterest to inspire both of my cards to give you two completely different types of sympathy designs.


This first one is a CASE of a card by Elizabeth Hill Rush.  I love the black and blue combo with the hint of aqua in the watercolour.  And the bits of the dandelion which are just floating away gently is such a lovely, peaceful, thought when someone has died.

Although it's a little hard to see in the photos, the dandelion is stamped first in Stayzon and then again in Versamark and clear embossed.  The aim wasn't to have the clear embossing directly on top of the black ink but just near is that it enhanced the whispy feel of the dandelion.


The second card was CASED from Su Mohr and uses the gorgeous Butterfly Gala stamp set. The sentiment was from the Itty Bitty Greetings double stamp set which isn't retiring thankfully because it has so many great sentiments for a whole range of occasions.


I find the Blends or Markers are good for colour small areas like this butterfly.  I opted for my Blends for this one.  The background Soft Sea Foam layer has been textured using the Subtle Dynamic Textured Embossing Folder.  It just adds enough of a touch of interest so that the card doesn't have a large blank space without distracting from the simplicity of the design.


Happily neither of these stamp sets are retiring so no need to panic!  Plenty more cards with them coming to you over the next year because I love them both.

Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Training Tutorial

My Top 5 Tips for Approaching the Catalogue Changeover Period

Wednesday, May 01, 2019

We are now into the final month of the 2018-2019 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue, can you believe it!  How you approach this time can have a big impact on your Stampin' Up! business, so take a look at my top five tips for this month to make the most of farewelling the old and welcoming the new in the video below.


I will be highlighting these points over the coming months so if you have't already subscribed to my newsletter, Facebook, and YouTube channel, now's the time to do it!  Plus, if you're in my Stampin' Up! team you'll get this training and loads more so if you're interested in joining, click here, or send me a message to chat about it.

Crafty hugs,
Fiona

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Birthday

Ink it! Stamp it! Blog hop: Technique

Friday, April 26, 2019


A few days ago I posted this video on how easy making cards in bulk are with an individual lettering stamp set such as the Hand Lettering Alphabet and the Stamparatus.  Today I wanted to show you firstly how to line the lettering up in the first place, and secondly how to return to that same lettering if you need to clear your Stamparatus plates to do other projects.

Here's the video tutorial:


And this is the card that matches this lettering.  I just love that you can have the same design and mix it up so much by using different colours and DSP.


Blog hop line up:


Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Birthday

Birthday Lettering with the Stamparatus

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

How often do you make a card and then decide to make a stack more because you like it so much?  With this card, I'd never make multiples if I had to individually stamp each letter and so hurrah for the Stamparatus which takes out all the pain of making your own sentiments up by keeping the place of each of the letters.


Not only did I make up two cards to begin with, but I easily made another couple as I shot a video (further down) showing you how easy it is to make multiples of these cards that use the same lettering placement.


The rainbow card is stamped in Balmy Blue, Highland Heather, Poppy Parade, Pumpkin Pie, Blueberry Bushel, Lemon Lime Twist, Daffodil Delight, and Blushing Bride.  


The layers for the rainbow card are: 
3 1/8 x 5 3/8 Whisper White
3 3/8 x 5 3/8 Basic Black
4 1/8 x 5 3/8 DSP of your choice


The layers for the black and yellow card are: 
3 3/8 x 5 3/8 Whisper White
4 1/8 x 5 3/8 DSP of your choice


Don't forget to clear emboss the main sentiment!  For tips and all instructions click on the video below (if you are reading this in an email you will need to click on the blog post to see the video).  Then come back on Friday for a further tip using this same lettering!


Edit: Check out my next blog post and video where I have shown you a neat technique for how to reposition your stamps in the same place after you've had to use your Stamparatus for something else.

Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Easter

Easter Daffodils

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Happy Easter!  Here in Melbourne we are mid-autumn but that doesn't stop Easter being about new life and so the spring theme carries well here.


When I lived in Scotland, spring was always a blaze of gorgeous wild daffodils that would spring up en masse everywhere you looked.  Their bright colourful heads brought much needed colour after the long, cold, dark winters.  So they are always a favourite of mine for Easter.


The You're Inspiring stamp set has these lovely daffodils in a row so I stamped them twice in Crumb Cake to stretch against the length of the card, popped up the sentiment with a border of Soft Sea Foam (Subtles DSP) and layered everything on Merry Merlot.


Wishing you a joyous week of Easter!
Fiona x

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3D

Quick Easter Egg Treat Boxes

Friday, April 05, 2019

I am making up a hundred of these little boxes for Easter this year.  Some for me and lots for friends who are buying them as gifts.  They are a great project to make in bulk becuase there's not too many steps to them.  I've made up one of my quick videos so that you can see how easy it is to put them together.  And as usual, all the measurements are at the bottom of the page.


Each box contains four Easter eggs ( you could possibly squeeze in a fifth if you left out the shredded paper.)

Here's the video tutorial (for those of you looking at this in your email you will need to go to the blog post to see the video).


Easy huh?  You can obviously use patterned paper of your choice, and even make them into treat boxes for other occasions by switching up the image on the front.


Measurements:
Cardstock: 4 x 4 1/2" - score at 1" on all sides
DSP: 6 3/4 x 2 1/2" - score at  2 1/16, 3 1/16, 5 1/8, 6 1/8


Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Birthday

Happy Birthday on Vellum

Friday, March 29, 2019

Who doesn't love a quick card that makes good use of our gorgeous Designer Series Paper?  This layout will work with so so many of our papers that you can swap the patterned paper for pretty much anything of your choice.


The black strip to the left can also be any matching colour for the DSP.  I recommend using a lighter, not too fussy DSP so that your sentiment will stand out, and then a contrasting dark coloured cardstock for that strip down the side.  Stamp your sentiment onto vellum and if possible use the Stamparatus so that you can stamp down a couple of times to get a really solid black sentiment.


Adhere the vellum using glue dots in the same position you put your rhinestones so that they stay hidden.

I've used the happy birthday from the Perennial Birthday stamp set.

Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Card Challenge

Daffodils for Easter

Sunday, March 24, 2019

When I saw this week's Global Design Project challenge I knew exactly what I wanted to make.  It calls for you to make a card with these gorgeous colours:

and instantly I thought: daffodils for Easter!


I wanted the flowers to speak for themselves with the sentiment on the interior for this card.  In Shimmery White cardstock I cut a shape with the Rectangle Stitched Framelits (and used a card base in the American size to match).  


Then I used the three inks in this week's challenge to colour in the image from the You're Inspiring stamp set using my Aqua painter.  Popped it up on dimensionals and stamped the interior of the card with Happy Easter.


Hey presto!  Gorgeous Easter card at the ready.  Thanks to GDP for the challenge!

Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Blog hop

Ink it! Stamp it! Blog hop: Favourite Colour Combo

Friday, March 22, 2019


This month's blog hop with the Ink It! Stamp It! Design Team was a toughie. What's my favourite colour combination.  It's tough becuase it changes, all the time!  Usually it revolves around one colour though, and at the moment that one colour is Mango Medley, I just love it!  So, here's my current favourite combination.
And I've used it in force in this month's card with block pieces of it.  Each colour measures 1 1/4" x 3 3/4" and is stuck onto an American size base (5.5" x 4.25") which is slightly wider and shorter than the Australian card size.  This sizing just fits this design a lot better.


I stamped the image onto the strips of coloured cardstock to get the placement of the balloon (which I had fussy cut and then coloured in Daffodil Delight Blends because I don't have the Mango Medley ones...yet!).  The little dog is coloured in Crumb Cake Blends and the collar in Balmy Blue.


Now check out the fav colour combos of all my fellow design team members as you hop your way around their blogs:



Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Celebration

Soaring Congratulations

Monday, March 18, 2019

I'm always on the look out for a design that suits making cards in bulk.  Whilst I wouldn't have any reason to make up dozens of congratulations cards, I will be keeping this in mind for Christmas when we get a bit closer to it.  It would also make a beautiful thank you card if you have to make up a stack of those for customer orders, or after a party.


The balloon DSP is from last year's SAB freebies, but that doesn't mean you can't create this card by picking your own DSP and matching a sentiment with it.  That's how versatile this design is!  I do think though that you need to stick with the Crumb Cake cardstock as your base so pick DSP that will go with that and work from there.


Cut your DSP 1" shorter than the width and hight of your base cardstock, and layer it on a coordinating colour which is 1/8" larger in both length and width (so, 1/16" larger on all four sides).  Stamp your sentiment and cut into a flag, pop on some twine, or an embelishment, and raise up with dimensionals.  EASY!

Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Good Luck

Luck of the Irish

Thursday, March 14, 2019

We're two days away from St Patrick's Day so I've gone green for this week's card and I'm spreading the luck of the Irish.


Everything stamped on this card comes from the Amazing Life stamp set. The Stampin' Blends came in handy here to give me different shades of green to bring some point of difference to the clovers.  I went for dark and light Granny Apple Green and dark and light Old Olive.


I love that the sentiment can be tied into the leaves by colouring in the work luck.

Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Friendship

Wishing you Brighter Days to Come

Monday, March 11, 2019

I'm quite a fan of black/white/grey with a pop of colour and thought it fits the sentiment of this design perfectly.


This card uses Basic Grey, Smoky Slate, Grey Granite, and Mango Medley inks for the background design.  The sentiment is Versamark with white embossing powder on Basic Black cardstock jazzed up with a bit of silver twine.


I didn't have a punch or die to cut the sentiment the way I wanted it to look so I just snipped off the four corners myself!

Design CASEd from Eva Pauline with thanks!

Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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Card Challenge

Stained Glass Thank You

Wednesday, March 06, 2019

I'm playing along with CAS(E) this Sketch! Challenge #311 this week.  The brief is to come up with a card based on this layout:


So I dug out the Graceful Glass Vellum DSP, my Layering Squares framelits, and my Many Marvellous Markers and came up with this card.


I cut the frame for the image from Basic Black cardstock, and I added a layer of Whisper White behind it so that it'd stand out on the page.  Then I popped it up on dimensionals and finished the card off with a stamped sentiment from the Painted Glass stamp set.


A great layout to CAS(E).  Be sure to check out what other crafters came up with by heading to the challenge page linked at the top of the blog.

Happy crafting,
Fiona x

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