Category Archives: Cards

Apothecary Art thank you cards

15 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by in Big Shot, Cards, Labels collection, Thank you

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Hello – thanks for dropping by Caro’s Pretty Things!

I have been very lucky to have many people in my life I need to say thank you to recently.  So I sat down the other day to make a few thank you cards.   I wanted to do something a little out of my comfort zone and try and make some cards that would convey a little of how grateful I am to the recipients.

I used the largest image from the Apothecary Art stamp set cut out with my Labels framelits, and my embossing powders with VersaMark ink to make the stamped images really ‘pop’ off the page.

Here are the cards, I hope you enjoy.

Caro

Melon Mambo:

 

Apothecary Art thank you card - Melon Mambo

(I used the thank you greeting from the Simply Sketched stamp set and the tag is from the Designer Frames embossing folder)

Basic black:

Black embossed Apothecary Art card

 

Here’s a close up of the embossing:

Black embossing powder

Simple ribbon card front (stamping on the inside):

 

Simple black and white card

 

Black embossed Apothecary Art card

 

Chocolate chip and gold ink (with First Edition DSP):

Gold embossed Apothecary Art card

Winter Frost non-Christmas cards – Papillon Potpourri

14 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by in Birthday, Cards, General occasion

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Hello

Yesterday I showed you a 30th birthday card I made using the Winter Frost DSP. Today I wanted to show you two similar cards using the Papillon Potpourri set and my silver embossing powder:

Embossed Papillon Potpourri

Coastal Cabanna Winter Frost Papillon Potpourri silver embossed butterflyThe butterfly looks amazing with the silver embossing.  It’s a bit hard to capture in a photo but a close up might help:

Silver embossed Papillon Potpourri butterflyThe second card has an embossed message ‘Always thinking of you’ (from 2013 hostess set ‘Express Yourself’) on the bottom left:

Embossed Express Yourself

I learnt a tip when doing this embossing.  Make sure you emboss and THEN stick your paper to your card.    I decided to emboss this message after I’d already made the card and the heat gun made the glue come a bit unstuck which I had to go back and fix.  Lesson learned!

As I said yesterday, I really only bought this DSP to give myself a challenge by working with colours outside of my comfort zone (and it’s a bargain, a stack of 48 sheets, 24 each of 2 double-sided designs for $11.95)  As it turns out though, I absolutely LOVE these cards and can’t wait to try more using this paper.    I still can’t imagine using it for Christmas cards though!

I hope you enjoy.  Thanks for reading.

Caro x

 

 

Winter Frost 30th birthday card

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Birthday, Cards, Framelits, Labels collection

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Hi

I have been looking at lots of Christmas cards on the internet using Stampin’ Up!’s Winter Frost designer series paper.  It is gorgeous paper and the cards are beautiful – but for some reason it doesn’t really scream ‘Christmas’ to me.   The paper also uses colours that are usually a bit out of my comfort zone.   So I set myself a challenge of using the paper for some non-Christmas cards.

Today I wanted to show you a card I made for a good friend’s 30th birthday.

Winter Frost & Memorable Moments 30th birthday cardThe card is Smoky Slate with Winter Frost DSP in Smoky Slate, Coastal Cabana and Pool Party.   The ribbon is some I saved from the wrapping on a present I was given.

The label and stamping uses the Memorable Moments stamp set, which has to be one of the most versatile sets in the current catalogue.   The outline of the label perfectly matches the Labels Framelits dies.   Here’s a close up of the label:

Memorable Moments 30th birthday

Stay tuned and I’ll show you some other non-Christmas cards I made with Winter Frost.

Thanks for reading

Caro x

 

Post card birthday card

11 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by in Birthday, Cards, Curly label, Masculine, Modern Label, Punches

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Hello

I needed to make a card for a teenage boy on the weekend.  Always a slightly daunting thought. I have lots of stamps that are suitable for babies and young children, and teenage girls are covered – but I find teenage boy cards a bit of a challenge.

Here’s what I came up with:

Stampin Up post card stampI used Stampin’ Up’s post card background stamp as well as stamps from last year’s hostess set ‘Priority Mail’ for the happy birthday stamp and special delivery.  The card is Island Indigo with Crushed Curry details.

I added another post card on the inside of the card as a space to write a message.

Stampin Up post card stamp - card insertWhat do you think?  I’m not quite convinced it really worked, but I hope he likes it anyway!

Thanks for reading

Caro x

 

 

For you flower – and matching envelope

07 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by in 1 3/4 inch scallop circle, 1 3/8 circle, Birthday, Cards, General occasion, Kids cards, Punches

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Hello

For those of you that follow Stampin’ Up!, you would know that it is their 25th anniversary this year.  As part of their birthday celebrations, they are bringing back some of the most popular stamps from the past 25 years.    I am very pleased with the November stamps, as they include one of my favourite stamps from the past few years – the one I call the For You flower (I’m not sure if it has a real name!).

Here is a card I made last year using this stamp:

For You flower card

 

One of the reasons I love this stamp so much is that it coordinates with the scallop punch and the 1 3/8 ” circle punch.

When I found this card, I also realised I had some left overs of the stripy paper.   And ta da – I made a matching envelope with my brand spanking envelope board punch!!!

Envelope with Envelope Board PunchI can’t tell you how excited I am by this envelope board punch.   I have been checking the blogosphere and already have lots of ideas I want to try out – oh, and making envelopes with it of course!

Thanks for reading

Caro x

 

Wildflower Meadows and Simply Sketched

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by in Birthday, Cards, Embossing folders, General occasion, Wildflower Meadow

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Hello

The cards I have to show you today follow a similar layout to a baby card I showed you a few weeks ago.

Both of these cards were inspired by a demonstrator in the UK called Sam Donald who has an awesome blog/YouTube channel called Pootles Papercraft.   I encourage you to check it out – I get so many ideas from there.  Here’s the card she called ‘Elements of Wildflower Meadows’.

And here are my versions, using the Wildflower Meadows stamp and a greeting from the Simply Sketched set (my favourite hostess set in the current catalogue):

IMAG0102

 

Wildflower Meadows & Simply Sketched

 

Embossed Wildflower Meadows with Simply Sketched greetingHere’s a little close up of the embossing:

Embossed Wildflower Meadows elementsThere are so many things you can do with the Wildflower Meadows stamp.  I hoped you enjoyed having a look at some of the things I’ve made with it.

Thanks for reading

Caro

 

 

 

Embossed Wildflower Meadow cards

29 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by in Birthday, Embossing folders, General occasion, Wildflower Meadow

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Hello

Yesterday I showed you some cards I’d made with my Wildflower Meadow stamp and matching embossing folder.    Today I wanted to show you some cards I’d made using the stamp with Versamark ink and embossing powder.

Here are some Crumb Cake cards with Versamark ink and clear embossing:

IMAG0118It’s a little hard to see the details of the sheen but it is easier to see in a close up:

IMAG0120It also looked pretty amazing with silver embossing powder:

IMAG0121Here are some made from Pretty in Pink (retired) card stock, Versamark ink with clear embossing powder:

Embossed Wildflower MeadowHere is a close up:

IMAG0114

 

I had so much fun embossing I am going to have to try some more soon.

Enjoy!

Caro

 

 

 

Wildflower meadow cards

28 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by in Cards, Embossing folders, Framelits, General occasion, Labels collection, Wildflower Meadow

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Hello

Sorry for the long gap between posts.  Life has been a little hectic lately (to say the least!)   I haven’t had any chance to make any cards lately, but I do have a few photos to show you from the last time I managed to spend a few hours on my card making.

One of the card sets that most caught my eye in this year’s Stampin’ Up! catalogue was the Wildflower Meadow set – and it has a matching embossing folder!  Who could resist?

It is such a beautiful set and the extra depth from the embossing means you can get an amazing effect from the simplest card.

This card was just stamped with Whisper White ink on Crumb Cake card stock:

Wildflower Meadow - whisper white on crumb cake

I was thinking about how to ‘step it up a bit’ and decided to use my Stampin’ Write markets to add some highlights over the white ink:

Wildflower Meadow - white ink with markersIMAG0108

The markers over the white ink gives a really lovely, soft effect.  Here’s a close up which gives you a better idea:

IMAG0112

You can also use your markers to colour directly onto the stamp to give a multicolour effect:

IMAG0109Here’s one where I used the off-cut from a labels framelit to act as a border:

IMAG0110 I had such a lovely time playing with this stamp set.  I’ll show you some more of the results of my experimenting over the next few days.

Thanks for reading

Caro

Simply Sketched bird cards

07 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by in Cards, Framelits, General occasion, Labels collection

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Hello!  I hope you’re having a great day.

Today I wanted to show you a card I’ve made with one of my favourite stamp sets from the new Stampin’ Up! catalogue – Simply Sketched.   This is a hostess set so you can only get it by hosting a workshop or party (or doing a REALLY big order all by yourself!) I’d like to get back into doing a few workshops, so please let me know if you live in the Wollongong or southern Sydney area and would be interesting in hanging out with your friends and making cards 🙂

Here’s the card I made:

IMAG0187I used Crumb Cake as the base card with matching seam binding ribbon.   The bird is coloured with my Stampin’ Write markers.  The blue layer is from a pack of corrugated cardboard I bought at a $2 shop but I think this card would also work beautifully with some of the new Soft Sky card stock from Stampin’ Up!  The watercolour paper is cut out with a Labels Collection framelit.

Here are another couple I made:

Simply Sketched bird

IMAG0163See the ribbon on the last card?  You know those ribbons that are sewed into shirts to keep them onto coat hangers?  Those ribbons which, if you’re anything like me, you cut off before you wear them for the first time?  Well, this ribbon came off a tshirt I bought recently.   So don’t throw them away – see what you can make out of them!

Thanks for reading

Caro x

Cut out cards with the decorative label punch

06 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by in Birthday, Cards, Decorative Label, General occasion, Punches, Thank you

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Hello

Just a quick post today. Yesterday I showed you how to make a cut out card with a circle punch. Today I want to show you 2 cards I’ve made using the same technique but using the Stampin’ Up! decorative label punch instead. The stamped images are from the Stampin’ Up! Fancy Frames set. This is a really versatile set – if you are looking for ways to add sentiments to cards I’d really encourage you to think about this set with the matching punch. The ‘happy birthday’ and ‘thank you’ come from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments set. Another indispensable one for your collection.

Decorative label punch out card

 

This card is made with Island Indigo and Whisper White (embossed with the square lattice embossing folder). I’ve used matching Island Indigo ribbon and sponged in ink around the white layer for extra depth.

Decorative label cut out thank you card

This one is made with Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White and Perfect Plum with the Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder.

Here are close ups of the cut outs:

IMAG0221

 

You can see I’ve used the reverse side of the polka dot embossing for something different. I used my Stampin’ Write markers to get the multicoloured image on the stamp.

Decorative label and fancy framesI’ll let you in on a little secret with this one. See the rhinestone? It is actually covering up a small smudge in the stamped image, but I actually think it works! Someone once told me that “A mistake is just an excuse for an embellishment”. In this case, they might be right!

Enjoy

Caro x