Revisiting the past

This is cased from one of the first cards I ever made at one of my upline's Jacque's classes - over 3 years ago. I always loved the original but lots of the products used at that time we didn't actually have available to buy, so it was put away & came out of the box last week for my Beautiful Cards class. The original was a Bashful Blue & Chocolate combo. I think the white gel pen shows up best on the blue but still pretty in pink!

Stamp set: Scribble This
Ink: Basic Brown (retired), Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Other: Vintage Wallpaper EF, large oval punch, jumbo Chocolate Chip brad, dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, blender pen, white Signo gel pen, sponge, Photo Corner punch, Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon (retired)

Just love the flourish with this set. See good things do take time - the Mainland Ad is right!

Which do you prefer?

My original take on this card was the "more traditional" Old Olive card with a Cherry Cobbler mat to pop it - see HERE - but last weekend I took part with my team in a swap of cards & ideas for Christmas - to be precise 21 of them & wow some stunning ideas - 3 of them are featuring in a class coming to you in November see my LHS side bar for further details.

I'd been making so many cards lately in Old Olive that I had just about run out of the colour when I went to make another 21 so I thought I'd reverse the colours around & I love how it's brightened up my original design - I like the new version best i.e. this one & so did my fab team as they voted for it to be most demonstrable card tied with Kate Tobeck's one - which chuffed me immensely as I love Kate's work!

How to create a perfect mat
Well we're stuck with metric paper A4 & A5 - so as much as I'm an inches girl in real life I find cm better to work with when preparing my "mats"

These are my favourite 3 sizes pinned up all over my craft room
10 cm x 14.3 cm
9.5 cm x 13.8 cm
9 cm x 13.3 cm
- otherwise 1/8" or 1/4" smaller increments. This card below has used an A5 Cherry Cobbler - cut in half lengthwise to create a mountain-fold, Old Olive @9.5 x 13.8 cm & Whisper White @9 x 13.3 cm. The beautiful flourish & star is found in the Baroque Motifs stamp set (set of 6 $47.95), one of the ornaments from Delightful Decorations and the message is from Many Merry Messages. This looks so much better in real life.

Last but not least finally I have my Retired Stamps For Sale list up - click on the link above for all my retired stuff.

So Swirly Christmas

This is one of the projects I demonstrated for Kirsten & her friend's last week. I love wheels - they're so quick & easy! The So Swirly wheel is so versatile  - perfect for a card or a scrapbook page. Dependent on it's colour & sentiment perfect for any occasion.

Looks great just as a monochromatic Old Olive. But definitely more pizazz with the addition of a Real Red mat & ink; the wee star is from the Priceless stamp set. The Sleigh Bells ribbon is on promotion at the moment & you can earn it for free - click HERE to see how.

Stamp sets: Priceless, Curly Cute, So Swirly wheel
Ink: Old Olive, Real Red
Paper: Old Olive (textured), Real Red, Whisper White
Ribbon: Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain or Sleigh Bells (for a limited time - promo)
Other: Dazzling diamonds glitter