We have had the most beautiful late summer weather lately - lots of blue skies and sunshine! I have been doing a variety of things BUT I have also been scrappin cards - continuing the task of being inspired by cards created in January's UK Magazine CARDS.  I have tried some new techniques and learnt a few things that I cannot do as well as can do - and expanded my repertoire in thinking about what can be done where along the way.  Here goes:

This one is made of strips of paper embossed in some of the few embossing powders I have - it was SU Confetti with a punched edge (Fiskars) layered onto grey-blue card, and then lilac and a base card of pink. Three buttons and a sticker completed it. It didn't take long to make and I think it looks really classy.  My embossing powders are all subtle and so it has a vintage look.

This does not look as good as the one in the book - that was lucious - but I had a go at freehand cutting and making flowers and while it is not a technique I am confident with, with the proper papers I think it would be good. These are scraps and I stamped them with background stamps - SU Sanded and Lace and an Image Tree script stamp.  I used SU inks that were about the same colour or deeper than the card.  I cut out the flower shapes freehand and then sprayed then with water, scrunched them and flattened them again to made up two flowers, with a pair of brads from Cloud 9  - Brittany's Castle. The Friends square brad came from the same set. Some pink ribbon over some brown card, which had a scalloped edge top and bottom (cannot see the top) and my sentiment was from Waltzingmouse's set - Irish Blessings. So is the shamrock and both are stamped in SU Pink Passion on craft.

This one looks simple but took me hours - I was running out of steam!!! I had the teapot in a set of stamps by Tim Coffey, called Daisy Delight.  It has a pretty little butterfly in the set as well, and I have used that a few times and a leaf once but not anything else - and this is one of my first ever stamp sets. Anyway, I stamped the teapot in SU Ballet Blue, on Whisper White card, cut it out and then stamped the image onto the background card, masking the teapot first. This left the steam curls on the background paper (I used scraps), and I then layered the teapot next to it using dimentionals. My sentiment came from a pack of clear polymer stamps (no idea) and the stitches were from a packet of rub-ons. A couple of buttons, and some pretty ribbon, and it was done.  The casing of this can be seen clearly but it is not at all like the origional - I thought mine was a bit 'mmmnn - bland' myself....... BUT, I did have a go!

This was my attempt at a very pretty scallop card in pretty vintage cards of pinky fawn and blue, with green highlights.  Mine is not as dainty. I had a DP piece from Rhonna Farrer called In the Round so used that to get some scalloping going - I had a scrap piece of Vintage Moon collection - Moon Glade by Holly McCaig which I used and a sticker for the sentiment.  I stamped a flourish using SU Baja Breeze ink from the SU Baroque stamp set and a chipboard flower which I had painted, sprayed with vintage mica inks and then wiped this off and decided to lightly emboss with a bronze embossing powder. All on the yellow card SU Barely Banana, with a ribbon trim on the base of the card and some bling bits as well as yellow satin ribbon.

This next card had been made back in January, but never completed. I used a peel off on to acetate sheet, then coloured with alcohol inks (I tried severl different types of pens before I got some to stick and stay) and then put into a window in a plain white card.  I use gold trim peel-offs to make a window frame.  Inside the card I stamped a 'branch' using a flower from the SU Oh , So Lovely stamp set and SU markers.  I made it so the bird seemed to be perched on the branch when the card was shut. An interesting experiment.  The inside of the card was then covered with DP scrap. The sentiment comes from SU Pocket Sillhouettes.

More Valentines....

I found some acetate sheets and so had to make another box, but this time I thought I would make it for Valentines Day rather than Easter, so I fiddled with the templates and created this!

It is filled with Colombines, and as their packaging is pink and blue (girls and boys?) I decided to stay with those colours and use a blue card insert (SU Tempting Turquoise) and some paper from a ministack from Creativ - Romance Series (it was pink!) I picked up cheaply at K-Mart. I stamped a stamp from SU's I (heart) Hearts using SU ink Pink Passion rolled in Ballet Blue and then stamped on Whisper White card and cut out. The ribbon solved the way I was going to close the box as I had not allowed quite enough foldover to keep the lid down and was contemplating having to use sticky fixes when I realised I could use the SU punch and thread the ribbon through it and tie a bow on the top! Easy-peasy....

I used a Waltzing Mouse sentiment stamp on the back from the Sweetheart set.

Then I thought I would put up some cards I made a few weeks ago using a paper that was free in the back of my magazine Australian Scrapbooking Memories - it was very muted pastels and pretty design with heart flowers and nice swirls.  I had several different bird stamps and I saw a card in another magazine that used a stamped bird image on a printed background.  So I got them all out and had a play.  This is what happened.

This card used stamps from SU set called Always and a sentiment from Waltzing Mouse's set Blessed by You.  A few flowers, some SU Chocolate Chip ink and it was done!  I put the paper front onto a long card made from SU Very Vanilla. 

Same paper background but from the other end so colours were different.  Here I used a stamp from Elusive Images that was free on the UK magazine Craft Stamper recently.  I tried to stamp over the existing heart on the pattern and then used the flowers over the blue hearts on the pattern. The ink was Su Chocolate Chip. The white flower has a pearl centre and the sentiment comes from Waltzing Mouse - Blessed by You again.  A bit of green organzy ribbon to finish and I thought it looked quite good! the background card is a piece of blue bazzil and then this is attached to a card created from SU Confetti White. You could use this card for Valentines if you wanted to or simply as a Thank You card.

The third card was made by stamping many flower stamps I have from a variety of places (too many to name) and a little bird from T J Designs - Song Birds set.  Add some flowers and some jewel brads from SU, backed the grey paper on a piece of green scrap and then all of it on another piece of the background paper and stamped 'thank you' from the SU set For a Friend, mounted it all on a white card blank and 'Bob's your Uncle'!

On a Roll.................

While I was on a roll, I also made another card that is from a template off Splitcoaststampers called an easel card.  Again this is 'cased' from Crafty Squirrel. 

The card is SU card - YoYo Yellow - and a Bazzil card scrap of green.  The edging on the bottom of the green was punched using a Fiskar's punch. The yellow card has been embossed by a Cuttlebug folder Hearts and the green card through a Cuttlebug folder Floral Fantasy.  The circle was cut out and embossed using a Spellbinders nestie - standard circles small. The heart is stamped in SU Riding Hood Red on Whisper White card and then cut out and layered on another stamped heart, from the same SU set - I (heart) Hearts. The first heart was then coated in Dimentional Magic to make it shine and pop. The sentiment on the red circle is stamped with white ink and embossed and comes from Waltzing Mouse's set Sweethearts. The glittery 'love' word is in foam and came in a packet of pink lips and pink and red hearts, all glittery, from K- Mart. Three bits of bling were added to also make it pop. and some ribbon. 

Inside the card is some marbled paper and another heart. The ribbon keeps the card from sliding shut and makes the front sit up, like on an easel!!

I think I would do this in another colour combo next time - I was really just using scraps I had to hand with the embossed card, and the red circle and it seems a little stark. However,.....that's it folks!