Fast Friday - Week 7

This week I have something different to share with you - a cute little notebook that only took a few minutes to decorate. I have used my favourite paper from this year's SAB selection - just love the colourway of pool party with black as it is so modern and fresh. (Although I think you might have guessed this already as I have shown a few other projects in this colourway - LOL!)

I even decided to stamp inside the notebook:

And this is what the notebook looked like before I altered it. I got it from a store called Tiger when I was visiting Riga (Lativa) last September. Before you think that is a long way to go to buy a notebook I should point out that Tiger is in fact a Scandinavian company and they have a number of stores throughout Europe including the UK!

To make this project you will need:

Cardstock/Paper: Pool Party, SAB Sweet Sorbet ♦ Stamps: Papillion Pot Pourri ♦ Ink: Black Stazon ♦ Tools/Accessories: Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, SAB Banner Punch, SAB Sweet Sorbet Accessory pack, Basic pearls

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

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

Stampin' Up! European Convention 2012...

I can't believe that 2 weeks ago today I had just arrived in beautiful Mainz by the River Rhine to take part in my 2nd Stampin' Up! convention (although it is the 4th European convention). I had a fabulous time with my fellow demonstrators from the Pink Ladies (& Lads!) and also got to meet other amazing SU demonstrators from across Europe.

As SU demonstrators it goes without saying that we love to craft, so whenever we get together we make swaps. These can be in the form of 3-D projects or card fronts, so if we make 10 we get 10 different swaps back using all current product. We can then share these with our customers and fellow demonstrators.  Here are the swaps I did for my fellow Pinkies:

You might think there was not any SU product used for these bracelets but you'd be wrong as the oblong beads are actually made out of SU's gorgeous Floral District DSP - yes really! So how did I make these paper beads you ask? They are actually quite simple. I cut some of the sheets of DSP into long thin triangles (6" by 3/4"). Then using a cocktail stick I rolled the triangle onto itself, fixing it in place with glue (taking particular care with the tip). Each bead was then sealed using clear nail varnish. The bracelet was then made by threading the dried paper beads onto elastic thread and accenting with some beads from my stash. Hopefully you can get the idea from these photos!

Of course I had to package the bracelets up so I made these sweet little co-ordinating boxes using the Big Shot and the Candy Wrapper Bigz L die.

I made a total of 20 of the bracelets for the Pink Ladies whilst the Lads got some keyrings (unfortunately I don't have any photos of these).

Recipe
Cardstock/Paper: Floral District DSP, Rich Razzleberry, Lucky Limeade
Tools/Accessories: Candy Wrapper Bigz L die, Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folder, Elegant Butterfly Punch, Pearls, Stampin Dimensionals, Clear Nail Varnish, Elastic Thread, Assortment of beads from stash

Please come back soon when I will share more about Convention and how you could join me there next year!

A la prochaine! Amitiés!

Nicole

More Birthday Butterflies

You may have noticed that a lot of my cards feature butterflies and this one is no exception! This card was actually my swap at Michelle Last's quarterly training last weekend. In fact I actually got the inspiration for this card from my own name badge that I had to make when I attended SU's Regional training in Leamington Spa in May.

Not sure you can see this clearly in the photo but I added SU's gorgeous champagne shimmer mist paint to the swirl stamp from the Everything Eleanor set before I stamped it on the card.

Recipe
Cardstock/Paper: SU Very Vanilla, SU Rich Razzleberry, SU Brushed Gold
Ink: SU Basic Black, SU Rich Razzleberry, SU Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint
Stamps: SU Everything Eleanor, SU Happiest Birthday Wishes (Hostess)
Tools/Accessories: SU Pearls, SU Stampin' Dimensionals, SU Beautiful Wings Embosslits, SU Labels Collection Framelits, SU Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder

If you would like to order any of these items and take advantage of SU's current Everyday Enchantment promotion, please contact me and I will be happy to help.

A la prochaine! Amitiés!

Nicole

Birthday Butterflies & Two Challenges

Yes I know - a card with more butterflies!  I do love them.  However, this time it was compulsory for me to use them as this is the theme for the latest Less is More challenge!  I have been following this blog since it started, but it is the first time I have entered one of their challenges.  I am also entering the card in the latest CAS-ual Fridays challenge where you must use "bling" - which I have done with the different colour pearls.

I visited my local garden centre over the weekend - just to buy a tomato plant which was a bargain at 99p (particularly as it is a hard to find variety and was quite well grown already).  However, it turned out to be a bit more expensive than that as I also bought ... some lilies, a pot to put them in as well as some gorgeous wrapping paper! So it was not quite such a bargain tomato plant in the end!  Does that ever happen to you?  Anyway I am sure you are wondering where I am going with all this - there is a connection (honest!).  Besides selling plants and anything horticultural, this particular garden centre also has a fabulous homewares department.  One of their latest additions is a range of gorgeous ecru cushions with pastel images appliqued on.  They were rather pricey so I didn't buy one but they did give me the inspiration for this card instead.

Card Recipe
Cardstock/Paper: SU Crumb Cake, SU DSP Springtime Vintage
Ink: SU Whisper White Craft, SU Basic Grey Marker
Stamps: WMS Frame-It
Tools/Accessories: SU Embosslits Beautiful Wings, SU Basic Pearls, Assorted coloured pearls from stash, Signo White Gel pen (available from SU), SU Sponge Daubers, SU dimensionals

As you can see I have once again used the SU Embosslits Beautiful Wings die.  To create the 4th butterfly, I drew dotted lines around a spare die cut with the white gel pen (available in the SU catalogue) and then I used the negative of the die to make a mask which I then sponged with white craft ink (I did it that way round to ensure it lined up correctly with the other butterflies).  In order to ensure the butterfly wings stay slightly raised when I post this card, I have stuck small pieces of SU dimensionals under the butterfly wings.  One other tip - I have lightly curled the top edge of the wings using my "pokey tool" (officially known as a paper-piercing tool).

Did you know the Beautiful Wings die is exclusive to Stampin' Up?  Also it both cuts and embosses at the same time - how cool is that!  If you would like to own this gorgeous die please email me to find out more.

A la prochaine! Amitiés!

Nicole

Wedding Day

My cousin got married at the weekend, so of course I had to make her and her new husband (by the way this is her first and (hopefully) only husband!) a card to celebrate their wonderful day!

Recipe
Card/Paper: SU Shimmery White cardstock, Silver satin card from stash, Printed vellum from stash
Stamps: PTI YOF: Roses
Ink: Versamark
Tools/Accessories: SU Beautiful Wings Embossilits, SU Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folder, SU Basic Pearls, Silver embossing power, SU Dimensionals

Hope they have a long & happy future together!

I am submitting this card for the latest challenge at the Lily Pad, which is to make a card using embossing (heat or dry or both - (I managed both!)).

EDITED TO ADD: A photo of the happy couple and the amazing cake made by my aunt!

Amitiés! A la prochaine!

Nicole

Quick card

I suddenly remembered this morning that I needed to send a birthday card today to one of my colleagues.  I didn't have much time as I needed to get to work but I managed to pull this card together card in just 10 minutes (this includes design time) which must be some sort of miracle for me (LOL!) - although it was made up mostly from leftover elements from other projects!

Recipe
Stamps: PTI Anniversary Set Round and Round
Cardstock/Paper: White A6 card blank from stash, PTI Stamper's Select White, PTI Green Boutique
Ink: PTI Hawaiian Shores, PTI Aqua Mist, PTI New Leaf
Tools/Accessories: Self-adhesive gems from stash, SU circle & modern label punches, PTI Mat Stack 3 die, PTI Hawaiian Shores classic grosgrain ribbon, SU Stampin Dimensionals

I started off with a die cut I had made using PTI's mat stack 3 die with one of PTI's Green Boutique paper (by the way I absolutely love this die - I bought the All Booked Up stamp set almost just because of the co-ordinating stamp!).  I had planned to use the die cut with another card but it didn't work (will show what did work in a couple of days!).  I then wanted to use an image I had stamped using PTI's latest anniversary set Round and Round (am just loving this stamp set it is SOOOOO versatile!).  The stamping had gone slightly wrong on the leaves, so I had restamped the leaves part of the image and then cut them out and mounted them with 3D foam to cover up the original mistake and give it more dimension.  Even the ribbon had been left over from another card and you know how us crafters never like to waste anything!  The only "new" bit was the "Birthday Wishes" sentiment punched out using SU's modern label punch which I acquired via a friend of a friend as this punch is not (currently) available in the UK SU catalogue.  And just time for a quick photo (apologies as it is not the best) before I was out the door to work.  Et voilà!

It made me realise that it is very useful to have some elements ready on stand-by to help out when I need to put together a quick card.

As I have used some punches and a die, I thought it qualified for the latest challenge on A Passion for Papertrey - punch it!

Whilst I am not claiming this is the best card I have ever made, I am nevertheless happy with the outcome!  Not bad for 10 minutes!  What do you think?

A la prochaine!  Amitiés!

Nicole

Butterfly Birthday Wishes

Apologies for the lack of posts - life just gets in the way sometimes!  Thought I would post a card (as this is what this blog is about) that I made about a month ago (just haven't had time to post it).  I took the basic idea for this card from one I had seen on the Paperlicious blog and put my own spin on it.

Recipe
Stamps: PTI Anniversary Set Round & Round
Cardstock/Paper: SU Whisper White, Basic Grey Wisteria 6x6 pad
Ink: PTI Plum Pudding
Tools/Accessories: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, PTI Plum Pudding satin ribbon, SU circle punch, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, SU Stampin Dimensionals, Purple self-adhesive gems from stash

And this is the arty angle!

A la prochaine!  Amitiés.

Nicole