Vertical Garden Gift Boxes

This post originally appeared on the Stampin' Up! Corporate Blog on 23rd February, 2017.

Hello, stampers! With succulents being so “hot” right now, I wanted to create something special for you all that had something to do with them. There was just one problem. I don’t as yet have the Oh So Succulent Bundle . Gasp, I know, but I do have the Vertical Garden Project Kit and the Vertical Garden Stamp Set so I’m here today using some of the items out of the Vertical Garden kit and stamp set for some gorgeous gift boxes. I’ve also pulled out a trusty old tool that has a million-and-one uses, the Envelope Punch Board. So I’m mixing up some of the old with the new

The Envelope Punch Board is not only fabulous for making your own envelopes, but you can also make your own boxes with them, too. What’s better than not only making a special handmade card for your special friends but also making the gift box, as well?

I’ve created three different-sized boxes for you with three different looks. I’m loving the mix of the Basic Black Solid Baker’s Twine with the soft Sahara Sand Cardstock to give the gift boxes a bit of a grungy, modern feel.

For the first box I marked and scored all my fold lines and then I measured approximately how wide the swirl stamp image was from the Vertical Garden Stamp Set. I wanted to make sure that I could mark even spacing across the top of the box to stamp and then heat emboss White Stampin’ Emboss Powder. Once the lid was embossed and the embossing powder was set I could put the box and lid together using Tear & Tape Adhesive. Tear & Tape is a strong adhesive and is fabulous for boxes and 3D items. I just wrapped the Basic Black Solid Baker’s Twine a few times and then decorated with the succulents from the Vertical Garden Project Kit. 

To give the succulents a bit more depth and colour I sponged each petal using the Stamping Sponges. Then I finished off the boxes with 5/8" Burlap Ribbon and Gold Sequin Trim just for some added elements and texture. 

How fabulous is that “Hello” from the Vertical Garden Stamp Set? I love the font and it looks so gorgeous stamped and heat embossed with White Stampin’ Emboss Powder on Vellum Cardstock. I trimmed down the vellum to a 2" strip using the Stampin’ Trimmer, then turned it into a gorgeous tag using the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch. That punch makes tag-making oh, so easy!

The second box is again made with the Envelope Punch Board and embellished in a way that is similar to the first one. I just changed up the stamped images and the size of the box.

The last box is again made with the Envelope Punch Board, but instead of making it in Sahara Sand Cardstock, this one is made using the Thick Whisper White Cardstock. This cardstock is not only fabulous for card bases but for smaller, 3D constructions, as well.

As I did with the first two boxes, I punched and scored the cardstock to prepare for making the box, but before I put it together, I first stamped the swirly image on the lid of the box using VersaMark ink and embossed it using Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder and the Heat Tool. The splatters over the top are flicks of Gold Wink of Stella. The Wink of Stella adds another touch and element to your creation and really looks fabulous splattered over...well, everything!

To flick Wink of Stella, give the barrel chamber a bit of a squeeze so the brush tip is quite wet. Then press the brush tip just in the top edge of the lid and push and flick the brush tip out of the lid away from you so that it splatters over your creation. Give the Wink of Stella a minute or two to dry or give it a quick blast with the Heat Tool. (If you don’t let your splatters dry, they will smudge and then not look so pretty.)

The little box is then finished off with some of the same ribbons and trims as the first two boxes as well as some Gold Metallic Thread tied around it for some more added prettiness.
Thank you so much for joining me today. I do hope that I’ve inspired you to dress up your gift boxes and to create a pretty package for your gifts.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Live in Australia? Shop for Stampin' Up! products with me

Shop for Stampin' Up! 24/7
 Recreate this creation at home using the following Stampin' Up! products. Click on the images below to see product information and to shop from my online store.

(Australian Residents Only)

Tweet

Just Add Ink #348 | Just Add Ombre

Welcome, welcome to another Just Add Ink Challenge. This week we are playing around with colour to create an Ombré effect.

So I looked up the word Ombré on the interwebs to see what it actually means.

Ombré /ˈɒmbreɪ/ (literally "shaded" in French) is the gradual blending of one color hue to another, usually moving tints and shades from light to dark. It has become a popular feature for hair coloring, nail art, and even baking, in addition to its uses in home decorating and graphic design. And also popular in card making too.

I know in the meaning of the word Ombré it says shades from light to dark but for my card I've changed it up and turned it upside down to have it from dark to light.

My card plays around with the black and white theme and then a pop of one other colour, with that being Bermuda Bay. I also had my first play around with the Sponge Brayers in the Annual Catalogue.

Basic Black

Whisper White

Bermuda Bay

Click to see all Stampin' Up!'s products in that colour

To get that Ombré look with the Sponge Brayer you just roll it on your ink pad to pick up the colour and then starting just off your cardstock roll the brayer back and forth till you get the desired colour effect that you are after. It's that easy. I spent about 5 minutes rolling the brayer till I got the colouring and Ombré effect that I was after.

I'm loving the graduation of colour and that this can all be achieved by using just one colour. The colour at the top is so vibrant and bright and then it fades out to a gorgeous soft colour tone.

I've teamed up my Ombré background effect with a portion of the Inside the Lines Sale-a-bration DSP. You may have seen a while back that I coloured a whole sheet in using the watercolour pencils but this time I thought I would leave it black and white to go with the whole theme and look of the card but to also show you that it looks just as fabulous without colouring it in. I'm loving it coloured and not coloured.

Across the background Ombré layer I embossed it with the Large Polka Dot E/F and then flicked Gold Wink of Stella across it, just where the Gold Sequins were to be placed.

I really loved having a play with the Sponge Brayers and the gorgeous effect that it created. If you haven't had play with them, stop by my online store and pick some up today. They are relatively inexpensive and are so fun to play with.

Make sure that you stop by and see what the Just Add Ink girls did for their Ombré creations! They are going to knock your socks off! What a clever lot they are!!! While you are there check out all the details on how to enter your creation! 


Thanks for stopping by!

Live in Australia? Shop for Stampin' Up! products with me

Shop for Stampin' Up! 24/7
 Recreate this creation at home using the following Stampin' Up! products. Click on the images below to see product information and to shop from my online store.

(Australian Residents Only)

Tweet

Stamp Review Crew | Lift Me Up

Hello. It's the third Monday of the month so that means it Stamp Review Crew time. This hop we are using the very popular stamp set from the 2017 Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalogue, Lift Me Up. What an amazing set and yes, there are co-ordinating Framelits. Oh yeah!

If you are joining us for the first time we are a group of International Stampin' Up! demonstrators that show one Stampin' Up! stamp set at a time, every first and third Monday's of the month. Be sure to make your way around the hop by clicking the next button at the bottom of each post. If you get lost along the way click on the banner at the top of each post and that will lead you to the list of hoppers so you can continue seeing all the fabulous creations.

I may be a few days late to the Valentine's Day party but I love the 'Love is in the Air' sentiment from this set and wanted to team it up with the hot air balloons in the clouds.

 I started this card making a sponged cloud background using a die cut out of the large cloud  and Soft Sky ink and then sponging it randomly across the cardstock. You start at the top and then move it down the card to get that cloud look. Make sure you move the cloud die cut around to different spots on the card so you get more of a random look to the clouds.

Then over the cloud background I layered some of the cloud images stamped and heat embossed on to Vellum mixed with some clouds die cut out of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper. The colouring of the glimmer paper makes for some gorgeous clouds. So pretty!

Next I die cut the large balloon out of Shimmery White cardstock and layered Watermelon Wonder cardstock behind it. And then the smaller balloon has been stamped also on to Shimmery White cardstock with Watermelon Wonder ink.

The sentiment is stamped also onto Shimmery White cardstock using Night of Navy ink.That is then layered on to 5/8" Burlap Ribbon and Watermelon Wonder Mini Striped Ribbon.

Loving the scattering of the little heart sequins from the Brights Sequin Assortment. And how cute is that little wooden heart from the Sending Love Embellishments. If I could have a whole container of just those little hearts I would be one happy crafter! They are just gorgeous and the most perfect size for cards.

I hope that I've inspired you some more with this stamp set and give you another idea to do with the Lift Me Up set.

Next on the hop is a fabulous Aussie friend, Nikki with some more Lift Me Up fabulousness.So hop on to her and show her some blog hop love.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Live in Australia? Shop for Stampin' Up! products with me.

Shop for Stampin' Up! 24/7
 Recreate this creation at home using the following Stampin' Up! products. Click on the images below to see product information and to shop from my online store.

(Australian Residents Only)

Tweet

TGIF #95 | Birds of a Feather

 Hello, Hello! It's Friday. Yay for the weekend and Yay that its TGIF Challenge time. We have a fabulous theme challenge for you - Birds of a Feather.

 I hear you asking, what does that actually mean. Your creation can be birds, feathers, the colours and patterns in the challenge picture. Whatever you see in the image that inspires you!

I've gone for a bright Crushed Curry and Dapper Denim card for you today using the Best Birds stamp set and the Birds and Blooms Thinlits from the 2016 - 2017 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue. I had been using a lot of products from the 2017 Occasions Catalogue that I nearly forgot that I had this set and thinlits. Bit of a first world problem, yes I know.

It's a quick card for you today with some bright colours.

I started with a Crushed Curry watercolour wash background on Shimmery White cardstock. I chose Crushed Curry over Daffodil Delight because I thought that it was brighter than Daffodil Delight and was a great match to the Dapper Denim.  And then you know what the rest of the card was put together from scraps or bits of scraps that were lying around on my desk after my recent craftermaths (means lots of crafting with lots of mess. Craft + Aftermath = Craftermath. Ha!)

I love how super quick this card was to make yet it is super fun. Maybe next time you are creating have a look around at the scraps near where you are working and try and put something together. You might just be surprised with what you come up with. Can't waste any crafting products.

Check out the other 'Bird' inspiration over at TGIF Challenges and then add your own creation to the challenge. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Live in Australia? Shop for Stampin' Up! products with me.

Shop for Stampin' Up! 24/7  Recreate this creation at home using the following Stampin' Up! products. Click on the images below to see product information and to shop from my online store.

(Australian Residents Only)

Tweet

Stampin' Up! Artisan Blog Hop | Lift Me Up Birthday

Why, hello there! I'm so glad you could join us. How amazing was Paula's card??!! I love her use of colour and colouring. I think I'm going to call her the 'Queen of Colour'! 

This week, the Artisan Design team is bringing you lots of fabulous inspiration using the Lift Me Up stamp set from the so fabulous, 2017 Occasions Catalogue.

How amazing are those Hot Air Balloons? Love the vintage look and flair to this stamp set and how amazing are the Up & Away Thinlits that go with this set. so delicate and so detailed. I love co-ordinating products and Stampin' Up! are so very good at co-ordination.

The colours for my card today all come from the co-ordinating Sale-a-bration DSP,  Carried Away,  that you can get for FREE with a qualifying order.

I decided to start with the Vellum layer stamping and heat embossing the super cute little clouds all over for a gorgeous background. Too cute!I marked out first with a pencil where to stamp each cloud and ruled some very faint lines to make sure that each row was straight. I'm a bit anal with things like that! Got to be in line and it all has to be straight! Ha!

Next I die cut the large balloon out of Watermelon Wonder cardstock and put behind it Gold Glimmer paper. The little bits of bling and sparkle poking through are super pretty and so sparkly!!! Love it! The glimmer paper looks amazing as it catches the light with movement. Pretty, pretty, pretty!

I stamped and heat embossed the smaller balloon with Versamark and Gold Stampin' Emboss powder. You may notice in a lot of my creations is that I use a lot of embossing powder and heat embossing. I just love the added look that embossing gives to any creation. Its another added layer of texture and I love my cards and creations to have lots of layers and texture.

Now normally clouds are either white or grey but because I was going with the colours in the Carried Away Sale-a-bration DSP they had to be Mint Macaron. I stamped Mint Macaron ink on to Mint Macaron cardstock and then very quickly poured over Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder for a shimmery/shinny look to the clouds.

Lots of my favourite ribbons and trims to finish it all off. Love that 5/8" Burlap Ribbon! I don't think I can make a card without it! More layers and texture.

Now on to Canada with the lovely and amazing, Shannon Lane.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Live in Australia? Shop for Stampin' Up! products with me.

Shop for Stampin' Up! 24/7 
Recreate this creation at home using the following Stampin' Up! products. Click on the images below to see product information and to shop from my online store.

(Australian Residents Only)

Tweet

Stamp Review Crew | Sunshine Sayings

Hello and welcome to this edition of the Stamp Review Crew. We are bringing (well, trying to) lots of sunshine your way using the Sunshine Sayings stamp set. This fabulous set also has some awesome framelits, Sunshine Wishes, that co-ordinate with it.

 If you are joining us for the first time we are a group of International Stampin' Up! demonstrators that show one Stampin' Up! stamp set at a time, every first and third Monday's of the month. Be sure to make your way around the hop by clicking the next button at the bottom of each post. If you get lost along the way click on the banner at the top of each post and that will lead you to the list of hoppers so you can continue seeing all the fabulous creations.

I love all the words in this set. Aren't they fabulous? Makes for a very versatile set.

My card today only uses the 'Happy Birthday' from the set but because of the nature of the card you can change up any of the words to make it your own.

I started with the random stamping of the 'Happy Birthday' using Sahara Sand Classic Ink on Shimmery White cardstock. I stamped it either in full strength, stamped off once or even stamped off twice to get a variation in colour. I then used the Stitched Shapes Framelits to created a rectangle panel. This is oh, so easy to do and makes your Stitched Shapes Framelits even more versatile again. Just search Stampin' Up! Stitched Shapes Framelits on You Tube and there are loads of tutorials on there on how you too can do this. What would we do without You Tube?

 I then stamped the floral image using Watermelon Wonder Classic Ink on to Watermelon Wonder Cardstock. I love the tone on tone for the flower and it creates such a fabulous look.

The stem from the flower is from the is from the fabulous thinlits set that co-ordinates with this set. I just cut the top off the floral die cut so I could use just the stem part.

All finished off with some of the Watermelon Wonder Mini Striped Ribbon, Basic Black Bakers Twine and the super cute Sending Love Wooden Embellishments.

Just a little something that you can easily re-create with any of the other words in the set.

Now on to fellow Aussie, Jess Williams. I'm sure she will knock your socks off with her creation.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Live in Australia? Shop for Stampin' Up! products with me.

Shop for Stampin' Up! 24/7
 Recreate this creation at home using the following Stampin' Up! products. Click on the images below to see product information and to shop from my online store.

(Australian Residents Only)

Tweet

Stampin' Up! Artisan Blog Hop | Sale-a-bration 2017

Hello and welcome to you all! A very warm welcome to you visiting here today! You may have arrived here from my lovely friend in New Zealand, Paula Dobson. How gorgeous were here chickens? 

This week the Artisan Design Team is featuring the stamp sets that you can get for FREE during Stampin' Up!s Sale-a-bration 2017. Who doesn't love Sale-a-bration and FREEBIES? There are lots of fabulous products on offer this year, something for everyone. I'm going to show you a cute quick little creation using the Any Occasions set.

This set has 20 gorgeous photopolymer images to create some fabulous little banners for any occasion. The possibilities are endless.

I've created a 'For You' card but you can change it up to any occasion that you need a card for.

How cute is the gorgeous little heart stamp over the background? I love the scattering of the hearts and you may think that I just randomly stamped them around because that is the way it looks but in fact I didn't. I put the Hearts Mask from the Hearts & Stars Decorative Masks over the Shimmery White cardstock, and because that gorgeous heart stamp is so small I was able to stamp it inside each heart in the mask to create a 'random' look.

Over the hearts is a splattering of Gold Wink of Stella. The best way to splatter the Wink is to use the lid of the Wink of Stella to 'flick' the brush end off the inside lip of the lid, away from you of course, and it will create a gorgeous, sparkly splattered look.

To make sure that I got everything in the right place I traced the outside of the circle Stitched Shapes Framelits just so I knew how big the circle was. 

I love the stamping of the 'lacy' banner on the Sahara Sand cardstock.The tone on tone is a beautiful soft look. The Basic Black just stands out beautifully and the Melon Mambo streamers still have their vibrancy stamped on to the Sahara Sand cardstock. I would normally use Whisper White for the circle layer but I found that the white got lost with the white background where as the Sahara Sand creates a lovely contrast.

I hope that you've enjoyed my Sale-a-bration project today for another idea on how your can use the Any Occasions Sale-a-bration stamp set. 

Now on to the Queen of Colour, Shannon Lane in Canada and her fabulous Sale-a-bration creation.

Live in Australia? Shop for Stampin' Up! products with me.

Shop for Stampin' Up! 24/7
 Recreate this creation at home using the following Stampin' Up! products. Click on the images below to see product information and to shop from my online store.

(Australian Residents Only)

Tweet

Just Add Ink #345 | Just Add a Sketch

Welcome, Welcome. It's Just Add Ink time and we have a new sketch for you. Just love me a sketch.

I've combined an image from the Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration stamp set, Delicate Details, with some of my other favourite Stampin' Up! products.

I started with the Basic Black layer, splattered some Gold Wink of Stella over it and created a stitched border using the sewing machine. To get a straight line with the sewing machine I like to mark out the lines, very faintly, first to give me a guide as to where to sew. It may be a bit pedantic but I like straight lines, ok! Ha!

The lace image comes from the Sale-a-bration stamp set, Delicate Details. Its so pretty. All you have to do to get your hands this stamp set is spend $90 AUD on any Stampin' Up! products (not including P&H) and it can be all yours for FREE! Click on the product images below for my Australian Online Stampin' Up! store.

I've layered the Pop of Pink DSP with the new Lace Doilies and a Circle from the Stitched Shapes Framelits. I love those Framelits, a lot! I don't think I can use the plain circles anymore. The stitched shapes are just so gorgeous! 

Don't recognise the 'leaf' image in the Shimmery White Circle? That comes from the Vertical Garden stamp set. It looks fabulous stamped in the Basic Black ink.

I really enjoyed creating this card and finishing it off with some sequins, Enamel Shapes, Basic Rhinestones and some Gold Metallic Thread.

Head on over to Just Add Ink to see what the rest of the incredible design team have for your viewing pleasure. We hope to see an entry from you!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Live in Australia? Shop for Stampin' Up! products with me

Shop for Stampin' Up! 24/7
 Recreate this creation at home using the following Stampin' Up! products. Click on the images below to see product information and to shop from my online store.

(Australian Residents Only)

Tweet