Cards « Nicole Stalker

SURPRISE!!!!!!

Yes I’m actually here with a post for you all.

I’m still not quite out of my ‘lost mojo’ and ‘no creative desire’ phases but I’m slowly getting there. I’m almost finished the last of the 8 book series I’ve been reading on my Kindle this past 10 days but I’m going to take this last one a little slower and make some more time for creating. Once I finish this last book I think I’m going to take a break from reading for a bit too so I’m not taking all my time up. I also think if I put my Kindle away I might just end up creating more as I won’t have the distraction. It is school holidays here right now and I have a few things on this week with my girls including a trip to Kiama to meet up with my father and step mother tomorrow and then Disney on Ice on Thursday. In between I’ll be trying to get more done so I can return to some ‘more regular’ posting. I’ve also been planning our next trip for Christmas holidays but have to wait for confirmation tomorrow till we know which option we are going to be able to go with. I’m hoping for our first choice but the 2nd would be fun too just not as relaxing for hubby and I.

Now onto what you are all here for and that is to see what I’ve been creating.

The first card I’ll be sharing is from my May Stamp-A-Stack class which I have been slack and haven’t blogged yet. However, I don’t just have 1 card to share with you all but 5. I had 1 card kit (4 cards) left over from this class so I decided to challenge myself. What was the challenge?? Create 4 different cards using the contents of the original card kit. I didn’t have to use all the pieces in all cards, I could add additional embellishments, I could only add extra Very Vanilla cardstock for a sentiment if necessary, but I could not add any additional colours.

So here is my original card.

For this card I’ve used the Wonderfully Worn Background stamp, Extreme Elements stamp set teamed with the Extreme Guitar stamp and the sentiment is from Occasional Quotes which is a Level 3 Hostess set.

The colours are Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Marina Mist and Very Vanilla. The main colours are a colour combination for the Colour Coach.

The layout and inspiration for this card actually came from Nancy Riley.

So where to from here……

First up is a quick male card which ended up as a Father’s Day card.

With this card I’ve left out the Marina Mist and Basic Black layers creating a very simple and basic card. The ‘Motorcylcle’ stamp is from the current Autumn/Winter Mini which ends 31st July. I’ve stamp the ‘Happy Father’s Day’ sentiment from Teeny Tiny Sentiments and then punched out using the Word Window Punch and then layered onto Basic Black card which has been punched using the Modern Label Punch.

When I finished making this card I decided I’d use this stamp for the Father’s Day cards I make and donate to my younger daughter’s school P&C for their Father’s Day stall. I like something quick and simple when I need to create 350 cards. I have even created my sample and have all my cardstock ready to cut in preparation for making them. I’ll do them in stages and hopefully have them finished by the end our our Team Stamp camp in August. It’s a great way for me to use up my retired cardstock too. I’ll be clearing out my Vintage Violet and Blue Bayou cardstock this time around.

Next up is a ‘new baby’ card using Animal Stories which is a stamp set I hadn’t used yet.

For this card I’ve used all the pieces from the kit and added some paper piercing around the image. The sentiment is from the ‘Family Phrases’ stamp set.

My third card is made using the ‘Nature’s Walk’ stamp set from the Autumn/Winter Mini (remember this Mini ends 31st July).

I’ve embossed the Crumb Cake cardstock using the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder, left out the Cajun Craze DSP, added some Basic Black brads and have sponged the layers using Crumb Cake ink and a sponge.

I did make 1 booboo on this card which I only realised while typing up this post and listing the colours. For some reason I though the ‘blue’ was Baja Breeze instead of Marina Mist so the butterfly has been stamped in Baja Breeze instead of Marina Mist. That was an unintentional colour change though so I’m letting it go……lol

For my final card I decided to go with a catty CASE from the Autumn/Winter mini and that is the card on page 16 using the Clearly for You stamp set.

As I kept the DSP print to the spots I left off the butterfly stamped images over the DSP that the catty card has. My card also has the additional layer for the base card rather than the base being the embossed piece as in the catty.

I really like how this one turned out but I’m reasonably pleased with all the cards. It’s not one of the easiest colour combinations to create multiple different cards with but then again if it had of been something suitable for flowers I probably would have just done 4 different floral cards so at least there is some variety.

So what do you think? Did I do alright? Do you like a particular one more than the others?

I’d love for you to leave me a comment and let me know.

Till next time….

JAI 73

This is my final week of being a Guest Designer over at Just Add Ink.

This week we were give a sketch.

I found this one a real challenge. I’m not overly happy with my results and plan on spending some time today recreating it with a few different touches to see if I come up with something I’m happier with. I think if I could just have some ribbon in the colour I’d prefer to have used that would even have made a difference…… Oh well with any luck their might be some revamping of ribbon with the next IB&C which isn’t too far away really.

Here’s my end creation (so far).

See what I mean?

I’m sure it would like nicer straight away if we had some ‘Not Quite Navy’ ribbon to replace the Very Vanilla. I’m also thinking I should have layer the smaller pattern paper piece onto Not Quite Navy rather than the Sahara Sand so that will be something I’ll change. I also have some other thoughts about changes too so we’ll see what I can come up with later.

Supplies:
Stamp sets: Word Play
Card: Not Quite Navy, Sahara Sand, Blueberry Crisp DSP
Ink: Not Quite Navy
Accessories: Very Vanilla 5/8” Satin Ribbon, Basic Jewels – Pearls.

Check back later today to see how my ‘revamped’ card turns out.

Edited to add:

Here’s my revamped card.

I’ve added some stitching, a layer of Not Quite Navy behind the print piece of dsp and changed out the Very Vanilla ribbon to some Not Quite Navy cardstock.

I don’t know what you think but I think these changes lift the card more than the original.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Till next time…..

JAI 72 – Just Add Some Colouring In

It’s the 3rd week of my Guest Designer status over at Just Add Ink and this weeks challenge is to use some colouring in your creations. That means to use things like Stampin’ Write Markers, inkpad with blender pens or aqua painter, watercolour crayons, Stampin’ Pastels, shimmer paint, etc.

I actually love to watercolour but haven’t done much of it in a while. Mind you I guess I haven’t really done much of anything for a while…..lol. When I watercolour I’d have to say my favourite way is to use an inkpad with an aqua painter so that’s what I’ve opted to do for my ‘add some colouring’ part of the challenge this week.

I decided to use the ‘Every Moment’ stamp set for my creation. I hadn’t used this image yet so now it’s been inked.

Supplies:
Stamp sets: Every Moment
Card: Not Quite Navy, Watercolour Paper, Brights Pattern Stack – Old Olive
Ink: Stazon Jet Black, Old Olive, More Mustard, Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy
Accessories: Marina Mist 3/8” Taffeta ribbon, Basic Jewels – Pearls, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Snail Adhesive.

I’m hoping to get some more things made for this challenge so check back to see what else I’ve done. Just need to get a few things done around this house this morning and then I’m planning on spending the rest of the day creating.

Now it’s your turn. So get creating and hop on over to Just Add Ink Challenge 72 and upload your creation before 12 midnight Wednesday 22nd June.

Till then…..

JAI #71–Black & White

This weeks challenge over at Just Add Ink is to use Black & White only in your creation and is Challenge JAI 71.

I’m really happy with how my card turned out this week, especially since it was a bit of a rush job as I’d left it ‘last minute’ to complete. I do mean ‘last minute’ too as I was making this card at around 11pm the night it was due to be submitted. That’s not usually like me but I’d overlooked it till around 2pm that day and had other things on with my family that afternoon and evening before I could sit down and create something. I’m just glad the idea and card all came together reasonably easy. The hardest part was deciding on what words/sentiment to put on it.

Anyway enough rambling, here’s my card.

I went for a nice clean look with this card.

Supplies:
Stamp sets: Tiny Tags, Punch Potpourri (Hostess set)
Card: Basic Black, Whisper White, Neutrals Pattern Stack – Basic Black
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Two-Step Bird Punch, Jewelry Tag Medium, 5/8” Basic Black Satin Ribbon, Basic Jewels – Pearls, Two-Way Glue Pen, Snail Adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Crochet Cotten (non-SU)

So what do you think??

Till next time…..

Kindness

Well I’m slowly getting back into the swing of things in regards to creating again. This hopefully will mean I’ll be back into more regular posting again.

I have another Challenge card to share with you. It’s another colour challenge and this time it’s the Inkspiration Colour Challenge #72.

Here are the gorgeous colours provided for this week.

I started to think about this one last night but nothing was flowing so I decided to finish up the latest book I was reading and call it a night. However while I was having my shower this morning I was thinking about the colours and an idea came to me. So after getting some washing done and on the line, I then sat down to create my card and it flowed from there.

Here’s what I ended up with.

I’m really happy how this turned out. It’s a pretty clean and simple looking card but I think that’s why I like it so much. Of course those gorgeous colours have a lot to do with it too…..

So what do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Supplies:
Stamp sets: Awash With Flowers, Occasional Quotes (Hostess set)
Card: Pear Pizzazz, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, In Colours Pattern Stack – Peach Parfait
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Pear Pizzazz & Peach Parfait Inkpads and Stampin’ Write Markers
Accessories: Pear Pizzazz 1/2” Stitched Poly Ribbon, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Stamp-a-ma-jig

I’ve added a little bit of stamping to the inside to carry through the card.