Stampin' With Michelle Pepper

I still have time to participate in  this week 's challenge at Freshly Made Sketches: I was looking at the samples by FMS' Design Team for quite some time before it dawn on me what was it that is different to what I'd normally do. It was the layering which I don't usually do.  So that's like a challenge within a challenge for me today. And here's the end result: I remember that I had a lot of Tempting Turquoise "off cuts" from a project a year ago, so that's the borders you see on the layers. Since the Wild About You stamp set was out, it was just too handy to use it, even though it is retired. The other thing I had in mind was that this card could be a "thanks for your support", or just simply "Hello" or perhaps "Welcome Baby" card. I used the 2013-14 In Colours because then I didn't have to think too hard about colour combination. I haven't got any 2013-14 In Colours DSPs, so I made m...

Boy, have I missed participating in challenges! I have been busy this July month working on birthday projects for it seems to be a very popular birthday month among my friends/family.  I have bookmarked my current favourite challenges blogs and the first one I looked at today was Less is More. As soon as I saw what this week's challenge was I got so excited because I had been wanting to make this Heels card all week ever since I first came across it.  Fellow SU! Demo, Tanya Bell, is the genius behind this design - and for AUD2.00, this template is a steal! All of us must know at least one person who loves heels, to whom this card would be just the perfect card to give. Click here to see some variations that Tania has shared, and she even made a video to show us how to put the card together. Why did I choose these colours? Well, that's easy - the second challenge blog I visited today was Fab Friday and this week's challenge is a colour challenge using Te...

More waterfall cards? I'm afraid so...we're on to a good thing here, so, why not? Seriously... The reason I have to share this one is simply because my little 4 year old made this and he is very pleased with it. Proud Mama here thought he had such an eye for co-ordination, picking out that background paper (from the retired DSP stack Print Poetry) to co-ordinate with the "waterfall" part of the card.  I have decided that Waterfall cards are the way to go when I next do a Children Stamping Workshop/Party. The children really only need to stamp on 4 little squares of card stock, so that should be very manageable, right? The WOW thing though is this is an interactive card and the children just get so delighted playing with it. Go on...if you haven't already made a waterfall card, even after seeing all these samples I have blogged about, what are you waiting for? A word of warning though - it can be addictive!

This is the third Waterfall card sample for my monthly class last Wednesday. The stamp set is the retired Wild About You, which can easily be substituted with the gorgeous Zoo Babies set in the current catalogue. Oh, the monkey in the last segment is actually from Fox & Friends stamp set, which is also retired. He is just too adorable and stamped upside down, seems the perfect cheeky image to go with the sentiment. By the way, yay, I have had word that the new post email is working on my blog now. I think the first one was filled with lots of posts that I have been making in the last couple of weeks. Tonight's when it goes out it should only be about this one post that I am putting up now. Now I just need to work out why the widget that recommends other posts that readers might like doesn't appear to be functioning on my blog. It might be that it doesn't work well because I haven't yet build up enough posts on my blog? Off to investigate some tonight.....

Here is the second of three samples of waterfall cards for my monthly class this month. This time I wanted to feature one of my all time favourite SU!'s DSP (designer series paper) called Everyday Enchantment from 2012's SAB (sale-a-bration).  Followers of this blog are still not getting new posts :-( Tomorrow I will be able to tell if this attempt to fix it is successful. If you are a follower, and you get an email notifying you of this new post, please please comment here to alert me - ta muchly!

For my monthly class on Wednesday, we made an interactive card called a waterfall card. Pictured above is one of three samples I made for the class. The internet is littered with video and photo tutorials of how to make a waterfall card, so I'll just link you to one . As with many fancy fold cards, this is an easy card to make, once you have been shown how to :-) I just noticed recently that people who are "following" my blog aren't actually getting email notifications of any new blog post. So, I'm on a mission to work out what the issue is, thus, as a way of testing, I will make a new post for each of the other two samples of waterfall card that I had prepared for the monthly class. This blogging business is quite technical after all!

I haven't been able to participate in any challenges these past two weeks...however preparing and making projects for birthdays and my monthly card class kept me busy stamping and crafting. As for these beauties, yep, they were a distraction too. I saw these on Stampin Connection, a Stampin' Up! forum for SU! demos, gave it a go and well, I didn't stop at making one...nor two...nor three...you get the idea....I now have a container-full of these beauties. I wonder if it's practical to use these as cupcake toppers, hmm...Coco M, if you are reading this, I wonder if these would come in handy for Dream Hub  Women one day? I made these a little different to Diane Dimich, who posted a video tutorial on how to make these, in that I left the very bottom layer whole, without a circle punched out in the middle. I just found it easier to work with the hot glue gun this way.

Today's card is a fancy fold card known as a Never Ending Card. It is sooooo much fun to play with this card. The above shot is the front cover of the card. It opens up from the centre to reveal the next page/side as below: It's the purple page - the recipient of this card, my lovely niece's favourite colour. You then flip open the middle two square panels to reveal the third page/side as below: The reason for the occasion, and the card, was to celebrate her turning 16 years old, hence the 16 candles. I wanted it colourful, but would have trouble choosing the colours if it weren't for SU!'s In Colours range. SU! releases a new In-Colour range every year - there are 5 co-ordinating colours. This year's range, just released this month, are as yummy as they sound: Baked Brown Sugar Crisp Cantaloupe Pistachio Pudding Strawberry Slush Coastal Cabana Finally, you flip open from the centre to reveal the final page/side. Then you flip ...

This week had been a busy birthday week - so not only did I make three birthday cards this week, but I actually got round to putting two of them in the post! This is quite a feat for me, who has been known to make cards for people, only to forget to mail it, in time, or at all!!! As for the third card (see the next blog post), I gave it the lovely recipient tonight. This one is for Erica (hi lovely, if you are reading this :-) you should have received it by now!) See that flower embellishment? That is SU!'s newest product offering, the Simply Pressed Clay (#130685) used in the Buttons & Blossoms Simply Pressed Clay Molds (#131272) - both products on p167 of the Annual Catalogue just released this month. The clay is so lovely to work with and oh, these are quite possibly the products I am most excited about from this new catalogue. And believe me, there are many products that I am excited about, lol. This one is another variation, and it's for Pippa. I know s...

Do the leaves on this card look familiar? It is the "left over scrap" from this Freshly Made Sketches winning card . The leaves in that card were cut out from a piece of Pear Pizzazz card stock. What did I do with the "negatives", ie the part left over? By laying it over a piece of Basic Black card stock, I made it the main feature on the card pictured above. Let me encourage you, next time you go to use your dies or framelits or punches, think strategically about using the "negatives". By the way, this card was promptly sold about two days after I made it. I was still deciding whether to put a sentiment on it, and if so, what kind (birthday, thinking of you, thank you, sympathy, get well...oh the decisions!). Apparently, "blank" cards can be popular too. I'd love to hear your feedback - cards with a sentiment, or no?