Ready for another round of intense Cardmaking Ideas and Inspiration?

Hey everyone - you'll be pleased to see I'm taking a break from the Black & White projects and bringing you something different (just for today!! LOL).

Yep, today I am joining back up with my demonstrator buddies to bring more Stamping Inspiration in another easy to follow blog hop and our theme this week is EASTER!!

In fact, you may well be joining me here from the blog of my good friend Genna Gifford. Or you may be starting here - welcome! At the bottom of each post you'll find a link to take you to the next blog - follow all the links to do a full circle and don't forget to leave us all a comment as we love hearing how clever you think we all are :o)

There are THREE Easter stamp sets in our current Occasions Catalogue - and as there are 11 people in the blog hop, you are bound to get lots of ideas for how to use all three sets.

I started with the gorgeous Indescribable Gift stamp set, stamped in Smoky Slate ink onto Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper (that's the FREE Sale-a-bration DSP you can claim with any $90 order - ask me how - Sale-a-bration is still running until end of March) - I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig so I could line it up perfectly with the edge of the paper.

I then lightly coloured the leaves with Pistachio Pudding Stampin' Write Marker and Soft Sky ink applied with a blender pen.

Here's a close up of that for you - SOOOO pretty!

My next step was to stamp the greeting from the same set onto Vellum Card - again, I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to get it exactly where I wanted it. I stamped with Jet Black Stazon and stamped it towards the left-hand size of the card so I could balance it up with the cross on the right hand side.

I then attached this to the DSP with a piece of Lost Lagoon Ribbon and attached the Cross from Blessed of God Stamp Set onto the right hand side. I secured the vellum on the right to the card, by adding some snail under the vellum, hidden by the cross.

Did you notice I also used the Essentials Paper Piercing Template and Paper Piercing tool to draw a shape around the text and cross, tying them together?

Of course I just had to do a gorgeous co-ordinating envelope for the card - this one is destined to go to a very special person, so I stamped the blossom flowers in Smoky Slate on the envelope flap and inserted more of the Best Year Ever DSP inside.

I bet you thought I was finished there?

Oh no! For such a special card, I had to stamp the inside too!

Here's the inside panel.

While I was looking at ideas for Easter Cards, I happened to flick through all my PLxSU (Project Life by Stampin' Up!) card kits and its amazing how many of those cards are perfect for card fronts, rather than just scrapbooking pockets.

I had picked out another of our Occasions Catalogue Easter Stamp sets to use, and was delighted to find it co-ordinated with cards from the This Day PL Mini Card Kit (another Sale-a-bration Freebie - why not buy $90 worth of PLxSU products to build your scrapbooking kit and get the cards free).

I wanted to keep the vellum theme going too, so I stamped the cute image from Happy Easter Bunny stamp set on vellum in Stazon, then flipped it over and coloured the back with Markers.

I then stamped again on Whisper White card and fussy cut the super cute bunny with my paper snips and a craft knife, and added some touches of shading with the Soft Sky, Coastal Cabana, Sahara Sand and Crumb Cake markers. The idea was to layer the cut out under the vellum.

This was then framed with Rich Razzleberry card, and one of the PL cards with an oval window cut in.

The lot was then mounted onto a Soft Sky base card. How cute is that bunny!

Well! That's more than enough from me, it's my team night tonight so I am off to prepare some fun Sale-a-bration stamping for the lovely ladies - we're all inviting more people to join our lovely team during Sale-a-bration - how would you like to be able to participate in Blog Hops like this one with your stamping friends? Ask me how!

Please leave a comment below - and click on the heart picture to go on to the next blog in the blog hop - that of the very creative Ros Davidson.

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 Baptism Card Ideas

At our little kiosk at Chirnside Park Shopping Centre last month, a lady asked me if I could make her several Baptism cards - not for baby baptisms, but for older teens, young adults, making their own choice to dedicate their lives to Jesus.

She picked out the Blessed by God stamp set from the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue and asked could I do a variety of cards in several colours.

Here are some of the ones I came up with - using inspiration from actual cards in both our current catalogues for inspiration.

This Wisteria Wonder and Blackberry Bliss card uses stamps from Blessed by God stamp set, Chalk Talk Stamp set and from our Holiday Catalogue - For All Things stamp set, along with a scrap of paper from the Color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper (DSP) and some of our delicious Burlap Ribbon.

Oh, and a little trick - see the Baker's Twine in the button? It's roughly coloured with the Blackberry Bliss Stampin' Write Marker.

The second card uses two of the same stamp sets - Chalk Talk and Blessed By God, and combines Early Espresso ink, Under the Tree Specialty DSP, Crumb Cake Ink and Card, Marina Mist card, Pearl Jewels, the retired Eyelet Border Punch, the new cute flower from the the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack and the Window Frames Collection of Framelits.

Love these colours together!

I made four feminine cards, but my customer also asked for one male card, in blue tones. Love our card stock Vellum and haven't used it much lately, so it was perfect for creating a subtle effect card front.

Layered beneath the vellum is Soft Sky Pattern Stack Paper, stamped with the grass from Wetlands stamp set, and a wooden cross, made using panels from the Hardwood background stamp, stamped on Soft Sky card and sponged in Marina Mist Ink.

The greeting is stamped in Jet Black Stazon on top of the Vellum Card Stock.

Love how this softens the cross, and helps the greeting to be the focal point for a simple, elegant card.

I loved that I got to experiment with these designs, and play around with colours, and I guess most of all, I love that someone told me what she needed, and that my "job" allows me the freedom of creativity, the awesome tools and plenty of inspiration, so that I can now go back to my customer with several cards that fill her need.

In this case, Blessed by Stampin' Up!

Did you know, you too, can be a member of the Stampin' Up! family and enjoy the satisfaction of making beautiful things to bring smiles to the faces of others?

In the coming week, from Tuesday 25th November until Tuesday 2nd December (only), the Stampin' Up! starter kit is being reduced in price by 25%. You still get $235 worth of products, plus an $80 business pack, but instead of paying $169, take 25% off the kit price! PLUS get an extra 5% cash back on any orders placed in December! How good is that?? Not just a discount on the great value starter kit, but extra money back on any orders in your first month.

Ask me how - it's an offer too good to refuse when you realise you also get the Summer Autumn Catalogue Sneak Peak in December, AND like other Stampin' Up! Demonstrators, will be able to earn free Sale-a-bration gifts during December too - how exciting! Message me today to find out more!

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