Stampin' With Michelle Pepper

It's one of my sister-in-laws' birthday in two days, and I am not going to be able to get a present to her in time, so the least I could do is to send her a card, hopefully for her to receive on the day! Please NZ Post, don't let me down... In the process of designing and thinking about ideas for this card, I quickly realised I don't have birthday/celebration theme images like balloons, champagne glasses, party hats. Really? !!! Fortunately, I do have some star images...and this, The Christmas Star (retired unfortunately), is the biggest star stamp I have. Well, despite its name, I figured this stamp would be ideal for my card because the recipient is the biggest star of the occassion, after all. As for the colour choices, having not really an idea of what my SIL's favourite colour is, I searched Google and found that according to wiki answers, the traditional colours for 40th birthday are black and white. For some reason, embossing with white or black spring

Miss Resourceful K10 came bounding in today, announcing excitedly, "I've got to do some stamping today." She had just received a journal from her dad's cousin and on the front cover is the quote which she remembered I have a stamp of. We set to play after our families' weekly science get together. I talked her into making a framed art that Aunt A could have on her dresser to remind her of Miss K. Once she decided on the patterned paper to use, the rest of the design came together fairly easily. Except the decision of whether to use butterflies or birds or flowers or a combination. I'm happy to say Miss K left this evening with not only the framed art but also a thank you card. The Wisteria Wonder layer, if you hadn't noticed, is the "negative" of the flowers used in the framed art. Well, I just noticed that one of the leaves was in the wrong green colour - ha! Kinda goes with the crooked sentiment then - which you probably wouldn't ha

Baby Wipe stamping? Yes, you read that right! It's a technique I have heard of before but I have never actually attempted it until now. In a nutshell, you drop inks onto a piece of baby wipe, and the wetness will move the colours to blend. Ink up your stamp image by pressing it on to the baby wipe and then stamp on your card stock. That's it. Doesn't this technique work fabulously well with this blossom image from the Betsy's Blossoms stamp set?  I just wanted to keep the card simple, with the beautiful colours of the blossom taking centre stage. I had in mind to show this technique at my June's monthly night class so I made it a set of three cards, and tried different ways to make the card CAS. My samples: I love quick simple cards to make like these. I love layers and vintage too, but I think I am a CAS (Clean and Simple) girl at the heart when it comes to card designs. When done well, CAS cards are cool, elegant, and says more than it actually does

How versatile is this card? Woo-hoo! It's your birthday! Woo-hoo! You did it! Woo-hoo! You are engaged! Woo-hoo! Congratulations! Woo-hoo! You have a new baby! I love cards like this - you can have them on hand, then when the time comes, just put the right sentiment on it and away you go. This card also shows ways to use up scraps of pretty paper using the Owl Builder punch (#118074) and the Banner punch (which was a SAB offering but if you missed out then, you'll be delighted to know it is in the new catalogue therefore available for sale from 1 July in the South Pacific). Even the strip of Pool Party was a scrap that I had saved up from previous projects. I stamped the "Happy" using the Alphabet Rotary stamp (another sneak peek from the new catalogue!) Add a matching bookmark to take this card to the next level of cuteness and make it truly a "one-of-a-kind" card. I am entering this in the Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge 318 Not ex

A birthday card for a friend - not a style that I usually make but one which I like, and hopefully I  will gain confidence to make more of. I started with the negative of the heart cut out from the Heart Framelits and the cute banner piece - both were discarded pieces from previous projects. I really like those two colours (Pool Party and Calypso Coral) on the Naturals Ivory card stock base. I looked through the scrap pile and eventually fished out the retired Lucky Limeade DSP piece. I cut off a piece on the right and turn it over to use the polka dots side. Now I was wanting to participate in the current Create With Connie and Mary sketch challenge  however I couldn't get it to work, and I wanted to finish the card tonight :-) Ha, as it turned out, I just checked, the challenge was over anyway. Nevertheless, that sketch served as a starting point, till I finally settled on the above design. One of the questions I get asked by newbies to Stampin' Up! is if I have to do