Fast Friday - Week 5

This week's quick card was inspired by a card I originally made for a blog hop for the Spring/Summer 2014 catalogue launch. This time, however, I needed to make a really quick card to thank my fellow demonstrator Gill for helping one of my customer's who was looking for some retired product. (Hopefully Gill has already received her card and is not seeing it on screen here first!)

Using a blender pen gives a much softer image to the inks and also you can get a more "natural" effect with mottling/shading of colours.

To make this project you will need:

Cardstock/Paper: Whisper White Notecards & Envelopes ♦ Stamps: So Very Grateful ♦ Ink: Black Stazon, Old Olive, Perfect Plum, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo ♦ Tools/Accessories: Blender pen

You can order from my online shop 24/7 or if you prefer contact me directly. Don't forget you can choose a free product from the Sale-a-Bration promotion for every £45 (before P&P) that you spend on catalogue items until 31 March 2014.

If you have longer than 10 minutes then you could also stamp part of the image onto an envelope and colour it to match the card.

A la prochaine! Amitiés!

Nicole

Fast Friday - Week 4

This week I have quite a different card which I am entering into the latest challenges on Simply Less is More and CAS on Sunday where the current theme for both of them is Masculine cards. One of the principles of challenges (the clue is in the word itself - LOL!) is to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and I do find masculine cards difficult (you only have to look at the projects on this blog to see there aren't that many)! You may wonder which Stampin' Up! set the wine bottle comes from - well actually none of them. This is a stamp that I created using the Undefined Stamp Carving Kit. When I attended Stampin' Up's European Convention last November I was given (along with all demonstrators) a sample kit to have a play with and the wine bottle is what I came up with in a short space of time (another challenge!). Anyone that knows me will be familiar with the fact that I attend a wine tasting class so will not be surprised by my choice of design! The image is a bit rustic but hopefully it adds to the "charm" (and after all it was my first attempt at using Undefined)!

To make this project you will need:

Cardstock/Paper: Whisper White ♦ Stamps: Bring on the Cake (greeting), Teeny Tiny Sentiments (the word 'happy'), Undefined ♦ Ink: Black Stazon, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Basic Black marker ♦ Tools/Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Undefined Stamp Carving Kit

You can order from my online shop 24/7 or if you prefer contact me directly. Don't forget you can choose a free product from the Sale-a-Bration promotion for every £45 (before P&P) that you spend on catalogue items until 31 March 2014.

If you are wondering how I got the bottles to line up so neatly I used a pencil and ruler to draw a feint line on my card base and then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to ensure they were accurately placed and lined up. Incidentally, the creation of the stamp was not included in the 10 minute project time limit as I had already made this previously at Convention.

So how will you be starting your weekend? I'll be at wine tasting - santé!

A la prochaine! Amitiés!

Nicole

Fast Friday - Week 3

Happy Valentine's Day!

I have another project for you that you can make in under 10 minutes. The design for the card was inspired by one I saw on the blog Smitten with All Things Stamping via Pinterest (don't you just love Pinterest - although you can waste a AWFUL lot of time on there....)

To make this project you will need:

Cardstock/Paper: Basic Black, Pool Party, SAB Sweet Sorbet DSP, Silver Glimmer Paper ♦ Stamps: SAB See Ya Later ♦ Ink: Black Stazon ♦ Tools/Accessories: SAB Sweet Sorbet Accessory Pack, White Signo gel pen, Owl Builder punch (for the little hearts)

You can order from my online shop 24/7 or if you prefer contact me directly. Don't forget you can choose a free product from the Sale-a-Bration promotion for every £45 (before P&P) that you spend on catalogue items until 31 March 2014.

A la prochaine! Amitiés!

Nicole

Pinkies Stampin' Up! Spring Summer 2014 Blog Hop

Thank you for joining us on another Pinkies Blog Hop! We're showcasing lots of gorgeous projects using products from the new Stampin' Up!® Spring/Summer Catalogue. Simply use the buttons at the end of each post to keep hopping!

Welcome to those who have joined me from Clare's blog - wasn't her sweetie cone gorgeous? I just love how she has used the gold vellum and the sequin trim!

I have focused on two new products from the new seasonal catalogue – the So Very Grateful stamp set, and the Angled Tag Topper punch. I have used these to turn a plain white bag (see yesterday's post) into a (hopefully) pretty gift bag. I stamped the images from the new So Very Grateful stamp set in black stazon and then coloured in using a blender pen, which gives a more muted effect. The tag topper punch is fab – you can create a tag or topper any length you want and it even creates the hole for you!

I also used the new spiral flower die to quickly accent the tag with a stunning 3D flower (I used Crystal Effects to hold it all together).  

Of course you can’t give a present without a card, so I made a card (and envelope) to match and incorporated a tag (using the Angled Tag Topper punch once again)!

As you can probably tell I am very matchy, matchy – I even went so far as to wrap the present in the gift bag in co-ordinating tissue paper onto which I have stamped the flower images from the So Very Grateful set in black stazon. You might notice that it looks like I stamped the images a 2nd time to get a fainter image in the background. Actually no – this was not planned (the tissue paper was folded in half when I stamped the first half and because the paper is so thin the original image bled through – oops!). But as all good crafters know – there is no such thing as a mistake!

To make this project you will need:

Cardstock/Paper: Naturals White, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry ♦ Stamps: So Very Grateful, Bring on the Cake (greeting), Tag It (for reverse of tag - not shown) ♦ Ink: Black Stazon, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry, Perfect Plum, Pink Pirouette ♦ Tools/Accessories: Blender pen, Chevron embossing folder, basic pearls, Stampin' Dimensionals, White Stampin’ chalk marker, Angled Tag Topper punch, Spiral Flower Originals die, Silver ribbon, Crystal Effects, plain white paper gift bag, tissue paper

You can order from my online shop 24/7 or if you prefer contact me directly.  Don't forget you can choose a free product from the Sale-a-Bration promotion for every £45 (before P&P) that you spend on catalogue items until 31 March 2014.

Have a great weekend huddled up and make you sure you stop by Nina's blog as I know she has a fab project to share with you. Click on the next button below to take a look....

Have a fantastic weekend!  A la prochaine! Amitiés!

Nicole

Fast Friday - Week 2

Yay - I've kept it up (ok it's only week 2)! I'm returning once again with a project that you can make in under 10 minutes. The design for the card was inspired by one I saw on France Martin's blog.

To make this project you will need:

Cardstock/Paper: Basic Black, Pool Party, SAB Sweet Sorbet DSP ♦ Stamps: SAB See Ya Later, Memorable Moments ♦ Ink: Black Stazon ♦ Tools/Accessories: Basic pearls, Stampin' Dimensionals, Elegant Butterfly punch, Bitty Butterfly punch, 2½ Circle punch

You can order from my online shop 24/7 or if you prefer contact me directly. Don't forget you can choose a free product from the Sale-a-Bration promotion for every £45 (before P&P) that you spend on catalogue items until 31 March 2014.

Why not come back tomorrow to see how I have totally transformed this plain white bag into something special?

A la prochaine! Amitiés!

Nicole