Monday, February 28, 2011

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS, CHRISTCHURCH

I am a little disorganised, but have every intention this week of bundling up a whole lot of cards to send off to Victim Support in Christchurch, New Zealand.  Please see this post at Just Add Ink to find out how you, too, can help, if you are a papercrafter. 

I am a New Zealander, and an Australian, and can hardly put into words how deeply affected I feel by last week's destructive earthquake in Christchurch.  As I am sure so many of you can relate to, I feel utterly helpless, but WANT to do something, anything, to show that I am thinking of all those living through the nightmare of the earthquake's aftermath. 

I made this card using a recent colour combination from an Inkspirations Challenge.  This is one of what I hope will be many cards that I'll be sending off to Christchurch.


Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, All A Flutter, En Francais
Card:  Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Early Espresso, Marina Mist
Ink: Tangerine Tango stampin' pad and marker, Early Espresso stampin' pad and marker, Jet Black Staz-on inkpad
Other: Tangerine Tango striped grosgrain ribbon (retired), Early Espresso 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Wide Oval punch, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, Stamp-a-ma-jig

EXTREME ELEMENTS FOR JUST ADD INK #57

As soon as I saw this week's colour combination over at Just Add Ink, I knew I wanted to use it to make my nephew's birthday card.  Challenging colours, but good for a boy, I think.




At first I struggled to incorporate the Daffodil Delight, but I'm pretty pleased with the way I ended up using it.  I stamped the grungy stars, from Stampin' Up!'s Extreme Elements stamp set, in Daffodil Delight, then 'rock and rolled' the stamp in Cherry Cobbler ink.  Cool, hey?!



Stamps: Wonderfully Worn, Extreme Elements, Birthday Wish (retired)
Card: River Rock (smooth and textured), Cherry Cobbler textured, Confetti White
Ink: River Rock, Cherry Cobbler and Daffodil Delight stampin' pads, Versamark inkpad
Other: Clear embossing powder, Small Star punch (retired), White brads, edge distressing tool, sponge dauber, mini glue dots

Saturday, February 26, 2011

"SALE-A-BRATION" BLOG HOP

Today I am taking part, with 10 other friends who are Stampin' Up! demonstrators, in a blog hop to share some ideas on using the gorgeous Sale-A-Bration stamp sets from Stampin' Up!  Sale-A-Bration is a very exciting time, for demonstrators and customers alike - free stamps are on offer, people!  For every $100 of Stampin' Up! product purchased before 31st March, you get to choose one free stamp set.  There are four exclusive sets, not available to purchase, to choose from.  Once the end of March rolls around, the sets will no longer be available.

You may have just come from the lovely Nikki Sadler's blog, but if not, don't worry - just click on the link at the end of my blog post, to visit Sue Madex's blog, click on the link at the end of Sue's post to visit the next blog, and so on .... you'll end up doing a complete 'circuit'. 

Now, for the projects I have to share with you.

On this first card, you'll see elements from two of the Sale-A-Bration sets - Sweet Summer, and So Happy For You.  The latter set has some great sentiments in a gorgeous font; love it!  In fact, I love all the sets, so I won't critique them - you can decide your own favourites!  I was inspired by Alisa Tilsner's card, in creating my focal point for this card.  I am very happy with this colour combination, and how the card turned out.


Stamps: Sweet Summer, So Happy For You
Card: Crumb Cake, Concord Crush, Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Perfect Plum, Concord Crush and Old Olive stampin' pads
Other: Blender pens, Stamp-a-ma-jig, 1 3/4" Circle punch, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle punch, Eyelet Border punch, Concord Crush poly-stitched ribbon, sponge dauber, stampin' dimensionals, paper snips


For Christmas, I received some new stamping goodies.  One of my new toys is Stampin' Up!'s Fancy Favor die, which cuts the cutest little box.  I've picked a colour combination from my Color Coach (great set of card swatches, with all Stampin' Up!'s colours, and suggested combos), and made a sweet little gift bag, by punching holes in the top, and tying ribbon to make a closure.  The 'tag' on the front uses the Punch Bunch Sale-A-Bration set.


Stamps: Very Vintage jumbo wheel, Punch Bunch
Card: Poppy Parade, So Saffron, Whisper White
Ink: Poppy Parade stampin' pad and marker, So Saffron stampin' pad, Baja Breeze stampin' pad and marker, Pear Pizzazz marker
Other: Fancy Favor XL Bigz Die, 1 3/8" Circle punch, Scallop Circle punch, Crop-a-dile, Whisper White taffeta ribbon, sponge daubers, stampin' dimensionals


I've also used Punch Bunch to create a tag to hang off the pram handle on this baby card:


Stamps: Baby Bundle, Punch Bunch
Card: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Regal Rose textured, Watercolour paper
DSP: Rose Red Patterns Designer Series Paper
Ink: Daffodil Delight stampin' pad and marker, Regal Rose stampin' pad and marker, Rose Red stampin' pad and marker, Basic Gray marker
Other: Aquapainter, Square Lattice embossing folder, Scallop Edge punch, Whisper White taffeta ribbon, Daffodil delight brad, Tag punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, kitchen string


Lastly, I've made a card using a sentiment, and tiny butterfly stamp, from So Happy For You.  I was inspired by this week's Inkspirations Colour Challenge to use the colours that take me back to the 1970s! (I'm sure I had clothes in these colours!)


Stamps: So Happy For You, Punch Potpourri (hostess set)
Card: Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Early Espresso
Ink: Early Espresso, Tangerine Tango and Marina Mist stampin' pads, white gel pen
Other: Basic Rhinestones, Scallop Edge punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Early Espresso 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Early Espresso brad, Paper Daisy


The next blog on today's blog hop is that of my lovely friend Sue Madex.  Go see what gorgeous creations she has to share, then continue hopping, to get inspiration for using this year's beautiful Sale-A-Bration sets.  We all have lots to show you!


Here's a complete list of all the participants in today's hop, in case you lose your way:


Ros Davidson

http://www.rosdavidson.typepad.com/


Nikki Sadler
http://www.inkyart.com.au/


Christine Blain  (that's me)
http://www.christineblain.blogspot.com/


Sue Madex
http://www.madexcreations.com/


Di Dunk
http://www.stampartbydi.typepad.com/


Tina Gillespie
http://scissorspapercard.blogspot.com/


Kathryn Mangelsdorf
http://klm55.blogspot.com/


Judy May
http://www.judymay.typepad.com/


Amy Buchanan
http://www.fashioninggreatimpressions.com/


Kathryn Ruddick
http://www.katlodesigns.com/


Alisha Watson
http://www.ratherbstampin.typepad.com/

Thursday, February 24, 2011

POCKET SILHOUETTES "THANK YOU" CARD

A friend, who I haven't seen enough of in recent years, attended one of my card-making classes this past weekend, and I'm pleased to say her love of stamping seems to have been re-ignited!  Theresa has ordered Pocket Silhouettes and Sincere Salutations, two stamp sets that I love, and get a lot of use out of.
With this in mind, I thought that I'd pop a card in the post to let her know I am really pleased she came to my class ..... hopefully we'll share many more stamping sessions in future!  Now that the card should have safely reached its destination, I can put it up here to show you.

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Sincere Salutations
Card: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
DSP: Elegant Soiree Designer Series Paper
Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Marina Mist stampin' pads
Other: Wide Oval punch, Eyelet Border punch, Lots of Tags sizzlits, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Beautiful Wings embosslits, sponge dauber, Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, mini glue dots, Basic Pearls

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

"HELLO, YOU" BUTTERFLY CARD

I have a couple of classes coming up, in which we'll be making cards with butterflies on them.  Stampin' Up! has a number of stamp sets, and Sizzix dies, with a butterfly theme ..... it wasn't easy to design only 4 cards to showcase the products, I can tell you!

When I came across this gorgeous card by Lucy Abrams, I knew I wanted to incorporate the colours and layout in one of my class cards.  Here is the simple, but I think rather sweet, result of my efforts:

Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly; Music Notes wheel; Hello,You
Card: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Pretty in Pink
DSP: Very Vanilla Patterns Designer Series Paper
Ink: Crumb Cake stampin' pad and marker, Pretty in Pink stampin' pad, Versamark inkpad
Other: Butterfly punch, Rhinestone brad, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Paper Piercer and Mat Pack, Very Vanilla satin ribbon, mini glue dot, sponge dauber


Please ignore the fact that I have stamped the Music Notes wheel upside down (apparently) ... not being of a musical bent, I decided I'd use artistic licence!


If you live in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne, I'd love to have you join in one of my classes ..... see the CLASSES tab up the top of my blog for details!

A SWEET BLOG AWARD

I have been awarded, by Kasey, this lovely award:





which translates, from German, into "Dearest Blog".  How nice is that??  The premise behind this award is to draw attention to new blogs, or blogs with fewer than 3,000 followers.  I've been blogging for a while now, but my humble (yet loyal) band of followers number only in the 30s, so I definitely qualify!

Thanks, Kasey, for being inspired enough by my creations to show this recognition - I am very touched.


Now it is my turn to pass this award on, to a few other people whose 'fan base' is not (yet) overwhelmingly large.  It is always difficult to narrow down bloggers to pass awards on to.  Some of my favourites do not have a function on their blogs, to allow followers.  However, I would encourage you to check out the following gorgeous blogs, of some of my dear stamping friends, and super-creative women!



Helen Heil - H2 Designs

Tammy Hanlon - Stamp with Tam

Rachel Jackson - Stamping with Rachel

Leonie Hegarty - A Stamper's World

Nikki Spencer - My Sandbox


Please visit each of these blogs, and share some comment love; I am always inspired by these women.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

INKSPIRATIONS COLOUR CHALLENGE #58

I'm back with yet another colour challenge card; just love having a palette decided for me!!  My mind is full of ideas for this week's colour combination at Inkspirations ... I can see myself using these colours together again and again.





My most urgent task in the card-making department is to have a card made for my brother-in-law.  I'm not sure that I'm going to have it reach him by tomorrow (his birthday - yikes!), but it'll get there soon after.  I kept it simple, given that it's for a guy, who doesn't like fuss, and probably doesn't keep cards! 


Stamps: Medallion, Seeing Stars, So Happy For You (Sale-A-Bration set)
Card: Early Espresso, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
Ink: Tangerine Tango stampin' pad and marker, Early Espresso stampin' pad and marker, Marina Mist stampin' pad
Other: Star brads, Colour Spritzer tool, sponge daubers, Star punch, Small Star punch (retired), Stamp-a-ma-jig

Friday, February 18, 2011

COLOR THROWDOWN #129 : BABY BOY CARD

I just love these days, on which my stamping plans come to fruition!  I've been itching to use my Baby Tees jumbo Stampin' Around wheel, that I just HAD to have, but until now had not actually inked up (y'know, yet another one of "those" purchases!).  The colour challenge over at Color Throwdown is, I think, perfect for a baby boy card.  Take a look at what inspired me:




I don't have any Ballet Blue cardstock or ink left (I was a bit ruthless in culling all my retired Stampin' Up! products!), so I've used Marina Mist.  My 'dark' green is Wild Wasabi, and the light green is Certainly Celery.  Here's my cutie-patootie card:


Stamps: Baby Tees jumbo Stampin' Around wheel, Baby Bundle
Card: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Marina Mist
DSP: Certainly Celery, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi and Crumb Cake Patterns Designer Series Papers
Ink: Jet Black Staz-On inkpad, Crumb Cake stampin' pad and marker, Certainly Celery, Marina Mist and Wild Wasabi stampin' pads
Other: Scallop Edge punch, Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, sponge daubers, paper snips, Linen Thread

EASTERN BLOOMS FRIENDSHIP CARD - JAI #56 and COLOUR Q #72

Phew - that's a bit of a long title for today's post, hey?  I have inked up a couple of my 'flowery' stamp sets that have been sitting unused for far too long.  I wanted to make a 'rustic' looking card for this week's Colour Q Challenge #72, using these scrumptious colours:




Plus, in an effort to improve my time-management skills, I made a card that fits Amanda's sketch challenge at Just Add Ink this week.  Here's the gorgeous sketch that I based my card on:



............. and, here's my card:



Stamps: En Francais, Wonderfully Worn, Eastern Blooms, Friends Never Fade
Card: Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, Baja Breeze
Ink: Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango, Not Quite Navy and Cherry Cobbler stampin' pads, Versamark inkpad
Other: White embossing powder, sponge dauber, Scallop Edge punch, paper snips, stampin' dimensionals, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, kraft taffeta ribbon (retired), mini glue dot

Monday, February 14, 2011

CURTAIN CALL COLOR CHALLENGE: {ACT 69}

I've had an "at home" day today, which I love.  Well, I did endure an interminably long school assembly, and some grocery shopping first, but the last few hours have been spent at home, catching up on ironing, washing (I'm kidding myself if I think I can ever 'catch up' with that!), and some stamping.  Apart from lunching with friends, this is my favourite kind of day!

Ethan, my youngest, has a birthday party to go to this coming weekend; his friend is turning 11.  I've used the colours in Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge to make the birthday boy a card.





...... and here's the card:



Stamps: Extreme Elements, Party This Way, Punch Bunch, Rough Type Alphabet
Card: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Real Red
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Real Red and Crumb Cake stampin' pads
Other: Scallop Square punch, paper snips, Linen Thread, Stampin' Dimensionals, sponge dauber, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder


Two of the stamp sets I've used on this card are available only until the end of March.  The Rough Type alphabet set, that I've used on the 'flags' is in Stampin' Up!'s Summer Mini catalogue, and is a great buy at only $47.95 for wood mounted stamps (there are 28 in the set), or $37.95 for clear mount.  The letters are sized perfectly to fit on the Mini Vintage Tags, also in the Summer Mini, so check them out!  You can view the Mini by clicking on the image in my blog side bar ..... contact me if you have any questions.  The sentiment on Jarryd's birthday card is stamped using Punch Bunch, one of the four gorgeous Sale-A-Bration sets that you can get for FREE, if you purchase $100 worth of Stampin' Up! product from me.  This offer ends 31st March (and is valid only in Australia).

Sunday, February 13, 2011

COLOR ROUND UP #21

In my search for even more colour challenges to take part in, today I found Color Round Up #21 .... when I saw the colour combination, I couldn't pass it up.



Holly, who has set the challenge, has okayed the use of Very Vanilla in place of Whisper White; that's what I've gone with.  I have made another 'love' card for a special friend ..... must be all the Valentine's Day talk that has spurred me on to tell my girlies how much I love them!  Not really - I don't need an excuse.  Life is too short to not appreciate those who mean the most in our lives, isn't it?

Here is my card for this challenge:


Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts
Card: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
DSP: Cherry Cobbler Patterns Designer Series Paper
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso and Crumb Cake stampin' pads
Other: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Full Heart punch, Heart to Heart punch, Pinking Hearts border punch, paper doily and Basic Grey brads (from my stash), sponge dauber

Saturday, February 12, 2011

THREE CHALLENGES, ONE CARD

I'm hoping I haven't missed the deadline at Stacey's Stamping Stage for this week's Curtain Call #68 (not too sure on time zones, but I have my fingers crossed that I'm scraping in!).  Stacey has put forward this colour combination to work with:



For the first time in a while, I was inspired to also work with a sketch (you might know that I find these particularly difficult!).  Here's the sketch challenge from Inkspirations:



Now, I also want to enter this card in this week's SUO Challenge, which is to use Stampin' Around wheels in our creations, but am unsure if it qualifies.  I don't have any of Stampin' Up!'s oval dies, so I used Nestabilities to cut the oval and scalloped oval on my card.  I'll link it up anyway, in the hope that this is okay!


Here's what I made; the layout is a bit outside of my comfort zone, but I really like how it turned out, and hope you do, too!

Stamps: Confetti, Friends 24-7, Take A Sip Stampin' Around wheel
Card: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi textured, Pink Pirouette
DSP: Melon Mambo Patterns Designer Series Paper
Ink: Crumb Cake stampin' pad and marker, Jet Black Staz-On inkpad, Whisper White craft stampin' pad, Pink Pirouette stampin' pad and marker, Melon Mambo marker, Wild Wasabi marker
Other: Finial Press embossing folder, Basic Pearls, sponge daubers, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Nestabilities


Happy Saturday, everyone!  Isn't it great that it's the weekend?!

Friday, February 11, 2011

JUST ADD INK #55 - JUST ADD LOVE

I made a happy discovery this afternoon when I decided to make a card for this week's Just Add Ink challenge.  The theme this week is to "just add love" to a papercraft project.  Well, since I've already made a Valentine's Day card for my beloved, and have decided not to make one each for the other two littler loves of my life (since previous efforts have not been appreciated), I chose to make a card for one of my very special girlfriends.  I am blessed to have a number of loving, supportive friends who help to make my life a truly happy one.  For this reason, I like to make 'friendship' cards.

The 'happy discovery' I mentioned, was some Martha Stewart eyelet cards (with adorable matching, lined, pink eyelet envelopes) I bought in the States a few years ago, and had put away because I thought they were too pretty to use .... I'm sure I'm not the only one who's done that!  Life's too short to not use our special things every day, don't you agree?  The cards are single layer, and - how's this for serendipity? - the perfect size to fit on top of Stampin' Up! note cards!!  Yippee!!  Not only that, but check out how close in colour the card is to Stampin' Up!'s Blushing Bride ribbon and paper.  I found a brad, in my extensive stash (my Mum commented the other day that walking into my craft room is like walking into a shop, LOL), that was the perfect colour to use.  I whipped up this card in about 10 minutes, which is SUPER quick for me ... my cardmaking endeavours often stretch to an hour or more!

Stamps: Bella Toile, Picture This (hostess set, retired)
Card: Whisper White note card and cardstock, Martha Stewart eyelet card
DSP: Greenhouse Gala and Blushing Bride Patterns Designer Series Papers
Ink: Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz stampin' pads
Other: Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, Fleurette II, Birds and Blooms sizzlits die, Basic Rhinestones, sponge daubers, Blushing Bride stitched-poly ribbon, pink brad, mini glue dots

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

INKSPIRATIONS CHALLENGE #56

I think this might be a personal record - three blog posts in one day!  I'm enjoying an 'at home' day today, just pottering around, trying to catch up with washing and, oh, some stamping and blogging :)

I'd planned to take part in Makeesha's Inkspirations Challenge this week, but thought I'd missed the deadline.  I normally work only on Thursdays, so when I checked out the challenge last night (after returning from a day at work), I thought I had left it too late.  Oh dear; seems the old brain's not working quite as well as it might!  Thankfully, it's only Wednesday today, so I had time to make something using this colour combination:




Here's the card I came up with:


Stamps: Growing Green, Perfect Punches, En Francais
Card: Baja Breeze, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Baja Breeze and Cherry Cobbler stampin' pads, Cherry Cobbler marker
Other: Modern Label punch, Basic Black satin ribbon, Flower Fusion Too felt flowers (retired), Basic Black brads, Scallop Trim border punch, blender pen, sponge daubers, stampin' dimensionals, mini glue dot

COLOUR Q CHALLENGE #71

Take a look at the colour 'challenge' (I use that term loosely, because they are so beautiful together) over at ColourQ this week:


What a great inspiration pic, to go all flowery and girly.  My entry is a 10cm-square card for a friend. 





Stamps: Printed Petals, Daisy Dash jumbo Stampin' Around wheel, Tiny Tags
Card: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride
DSP: Pretty in Pink Patterns Designer Series Paper
Ink: Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink and Pink Pirouette stampin' pads, White Staz-On inkpad
Other: Paper snips, Whisper White satin ribbon, Medium Jewelry Tag punch, Scallop Border punch, Fancy Flower punch, Birds and Blooms sizzlits die, sponge dauber, Whisper White brad (from Neutrals assortment), Corner Rounder punch

PURPLE "AVIARY" BIRTHDAY

A lovely friend celebrated her birthday recently, and (cardinal sin amongst cardmakers - or, do we just put too much pressure on ourselves??) I wasn't organised enough to have made her a card in time.  Sorry, Rach!  Hope you like the card now that you have it :)

I really loved a card made by Michelle Mummery; see the second one in her blog post here.  I've CASEd the design, putting my own spin on it.  Thanks for the inspiration, Michelle! I've gone for a slightly vintage-y look with this card, using Crumb Cake and Perfect Plum as the main colours, with Elegant Eggplant accents.  I don't know if it's clear in the photo, but I have stamped the vine image from the Vintage Vogue stamp set on the main Very Vanilla panel - I stamped it off first, to give a subtle impression.  LOVE these colours together; what do you think??

Stamps: Aviary, Vintage Vogue, On Your Birthday
Card: Crumb Cake, Perfect Plum, Very Vanilla, Elegant Eggplant
DSP: Perfect Plum Patterns Designer Series Paper
Ink: Crumb Cake and Elegant Eggplant stampin' pads, Perfect Plum stampin' pad and marker
Other: Chantilly Crochet Trim, Word Window Punch, Birds and Blooms sizzlits die, Neutrals buttons, mini glue dot, Basic Pearls, Stamp-a-ma-jig, sponge dauber

Monday, February 7, 2011

COLOR THROWDOWN #127

If you're a regular visitor to my blog, you might know that I just love colour challenges.  They never fail to get the ideas going, if I am feeling stuck.  This week's colour combination at Color Throwdown really appealed to me; take a look at these gorgeous colours:


I received for Christmas, from one of my darling friends, Papertrey Ink's Mat Stack 1 Collection stamps along with the co-ordinating die.  My friends spoil me! I thought I'd break out of my Stampin' Up! only mold for a short while, and show you the simple card that I came up with.  All of the stamped images are PTI, and I've used Stampin' Up's inks, butterflies die, and border punch.


Stamps: PTI Mat Stack 1 Collection
Card: Crumb Cake, Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Early Espresso
Ink: Versamark inkpad, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and So Saffron stampin' pads
Other:  Beautiful Wings embosslits die, Scallop Trim border punch, Tombow multi glue, PTI die (to cut label)

Did you notice - I haven't sponged ANYTHING on this card???  It took some restraint to leave the sponge daubers alone, but I'm glad I did; I like the clean look of this card.


Today is the 2nd anniversary of the devastating Black Saturday bushfires that destroyed so many lives and properties in Victoria.  It's a very emotional day for me, because my brother and niece and nephew escaped their home only minutes before it was engulfed by fire.  We are blessed to have our family, and my thoughts are with them, and all others affected by this tragedy.  May we never forget, but may we never lose sight of the promise of a good and hope-filled future.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

JUST ADD INK #54 .... "LOVE DEFINED" VALENTINE

Here's the colour challenge over at Just Add Ink this week:



LOVE what the girls come up with, week in, week out.  Now, I know this combination has been touted as a "girly girl" one, but I decided it'd be perfect for a Valentine's card for hubby.  He's a bit of a no-nonsense, non-card-loving (sacrilege, I know), unsentimental guy.  He'd prefer not to get a Valentine's Day card, since we really don't recognise Valentine's Day.  But, hey, it's another excuse for me to create, so I'm running with it!

I've just bought some of Stampin' Up!'s cute little Note Cards, in Whisper White (thanks Bron Eastley for MAKING me get these!!).  They are a gorgeous size - just shy of 9cm x 13cm.  They come with envelopes, and cost only $9.50 for 20.  Contact me if you don't have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, and would like to order some!

Here is the un-girly card I've made for this week's challenge:


Stamps: Love Defined, Itty Bitty Bits
Card: Whisper White, Note Card, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Regal Rose textured
Ink: Soft Suede stampin' pad, Early Espresso marker, Rose Red stampin' pad and marker, Regal Rose marker
Other: Itty Bitty Shapes punch (circle), aquapainter, Linen Thread, 1 3/8" square punch, sponge dauber, Nestabilities, edge distressing tool