Susan Farrant

Back again!

Hi there!
Yes I have been away..so much going on!

I went to Convention in SLC and had so much fun..as well as learning lots of new stuff that I am dying to teach to you all!

OK..lets start with today. It was my Hostess Appreciation event today. Only a handful could make it but we had so much fun! Here is the special project they got to make:
I had kits made up in different combos using the new Bella Rose papers or Summer Picnic which was carried over from the last Mini Catalogue.

Then when you open it..Taa Daa...

It's a sweet little Stationary Holder.
The plans for this can be found

HERE

She has amazing tutorials!

I switched it a little by using Designer Paper for the holders inside also. There is a little post-it note holder instead of the address book. On the right are little love notes, the left are tags and there are cards at the bigger section at the back. I also scalloped the edge of the card holder. I'll be teaching this class later in the Fall again. Wouldn't this be a cute Christmas Gift for teachers etc?

Here I am telling Kathy how not to do it!! ROTF...Thanks for taking this one Izzy...NOT! (We were joking..I am really very nice to them all!)

Well...it's been a long day, the ladies enjoyed a lovely lunch and lots of chatter and fun! If you want to be a part of the fun next January be sure to contact me to host a workshop or join my Hostess Club and share the fun every month too! Call me for details!

better get to bed..one more day and I actually have to go back to my real job...

Thanks for dropping by! I'll share some of my favorite swaps from Convention during the week OK?

Sue

Indulge me...my garden through the lens of my new camera!

This plant grows in Ireland along the sides of the road..it grows along the side of my path in my garden. It is called Montbreshia (spelling??), now-a-days it comes in yellow and red but this it the one that takes me home to Ireland!

This is one of my very favorite plants. Hosta Patriot. I got my first plant at Van Deusen's garden show many years ago..it was a new introduction that year and I paid an arm and a leg for it but it is a stunner with it's broad white edged leaves and continues to give me so much joy every year...and all it's divided babies too!

I love this picture...my Ginkgo tree's leaves. Oh I am going to love this camera! :-)

Leeks gone to flower...the bees and wasps and humming birds LOVE these flowers....so make sure to leave a few over for them in your garden next time you grow leeks or onions! :-)

Sunflower!! WOW!

Busy bee!

Can you tell I love love love texture in my garden?

OK..I won't bore you any more. Hope you enjoyed the  little visit to my garden!

Sue

New Toys!

I really restricted myself this time around buying new stamp sets from the preview sets...I bought...NONE...you read that right! Zero, Zilch..Nada! However there is hope..I bouth the In-Colours and the punch and the new designer paper. I like the new colours...will grow to love them I know..it is already happening. I am not a big user of blue stuff and there are two blues this year...so will have to sit and make myself play at some point. I know I will love them all...but they are not Wasabi! :-(

This was the third card for Club members this month, using new colours, new DS paper, and the wonderful new scallop punch! This punch is so easy to use! You can line it up two ways...top side or (as I always do) by viewing from underneath. Again this card was inspired by a card I saw on a blog and because I have yet to work out how to track blogs with the RSS feeds on a Mac I cannot find the blog again..(update: FOUND IT!!! HERE ). This is another set I received FREE from SU..been wanting this particular stamp for a long time :-)

Anyone who owns a Mac who can help me to store the RSS feed please feel free to e-mail me. I will go take some classes at the Apple store after convention :-)

Here are a few pictures on how to use the scallop punch...WHAT??? Could this be my first tutorial? I know it has been done already but I have to start somewhere right? LOL

 First punch out the middle of the edge you wish to scallop.

You will get something like this....

Now looking from the TOP you would line up the punched scallop shapes with the scallop guide on the punch. Do this to both sides of the initial punch on card stock

You can also line the scalloped edge up with the scallop punch from the bottom.

So much easier than using the slit punch and the corner rounder like we all did last year :-)

Thanks for dropping by! Hope this tutorial helped someone !!! LOL
Sue

Simple and a fond farewell

Have I mentioned before that I LOVE Wild Wasabi? It is my all time favorite green ink. So sad to see it go.
I saw a card on SCS and knew this set would make a nice substitute for the set used. Very simple...and the ribbon is done in that style where you wrap the loop of ribbon to create a bow. Sits nice and flat.
The image of the leaves is stamped on white card stock and then you over lay it with vellum and I stamped the 'Thank You' on the front...but it actually looks great stamped under the vellum also onto the white card stock, the colour of the Thank You does not blend as well when stamped n the Velum for some reason.. The vellum is attached to the card at the top under the ribbon so nothing shows.
I am going to see if I can find the card again so I can link it here because it is almost a total CASE except a different stamp set was used.. When I find it I will post a link.

Thanks for dropping by! Sue

Where does the Time go?

WOW..has it been that long? A lot f flying and a lot of SU work..not to mention the garden needs constant watering in this hot weather...so much for the name "The wet Coast" for this location! :-)

Today I will share the cards we will be making at this month's Hostess Club events.

The first is a card I also have for swapping at Convention...thanks in large part to my friend Alison's elf who just apparently likes making swaps LOL! Thanks Allison B! Allison made close to 100 of these for me!  I have wanted this set for a long time but it always struck me as a little expensive for a set that only had 4 main images..what was I thinking? This is so easy to use, elegant, fun and definitely easy to create with. There is a beautiful wheel that matches this image also.

Another reason I have been away for a while ...  these....what a learning curve!!! But I am getting there!

 

I am officially a Mac  owner now!  :-)

Feels good to be back. My stamp room is all cleaned out (again!!!) and I am ready to create! I'll share the other Club cards over the next few days!!

Thanks for dropping by!

Sue

I know I am a day late with this one..but there is a reason!

I promised you my monochromatic card the other day and because I had to change it a little as I added too much white highlighting to it the first time it has taken this long to sit down to stamp! I wish there was a magic wand I could wave over my garden and all the weeds would go away to some weed land in the sky!

 Here is the card. I based this on a card I thought I saw on SCS but can't find it there..so if this is similar to yours (using the Tres Chic stamp on the background squares..please let me know and I will post a link here. Thanks for the inspiration too :-) )

I stamped the background onto Blue Bayou cardstock with Blue bayou ink and then cut it into squares, sponged the edges with BB ink and applied to the square BB card base. The image is also stamped in BB ink on BB cardstock layered on Whisper White. Watercoloured with an aquabruch and BB ink (I told you it was monochromatic LOL). Small highlights with white gel pen. I think I should have left them off altogether perhaps?

  Here is the last one I did..too much white...I am going to try using our craft white ink instead of our gel pen to make softer highlights next time I do this kind of image. Here is a detail of todays

Today we had such a fun day. My niece Charlotte (Charlie to me) has been a passionate rider since she was about 7 years old. I remember seeing her on a pony the very first time and saying to her mum what a beautiful natural 'seat' she had on the pony. Her passion has only grown. Last year she finally got her very own horse..and it has been a really bad experience...the horse has been sold now to a far more experienced rider. So she is now looking again, moved to a new trainer who is amazing and is currently riding this great horse named Toby who the trainerd is trying to convince her parents is the best horse for her...and I really agree! She is amazing on this horse. Well..this weekend  was her first "real" competition. AA level. Yesterday she won a 2nd place and a 4th place (Hunter Class). Today she did even better. One 2nd place...one 6th place and ...1 FIRST PLACE!!!   PLUS....when the calculations were done for the day today she had won top points to beat out others her trainer did not think she was going to be able to yet. Woo Hoo Charlie! She'll get that rosette tomorrow. I'll let you know how she does tomorrow too!

How happy does she look...so very proud and happy for her. Com'on dad...buy the girl the horse. I think I am going to make him a card

Cost of a Horse $$$$$$$ (You don't want to know)

Cost of caring for a horse and paying for entrance fees etc etc etc $$$$$$$$ (again...don't want to know)

Cost of that smile on your daughter's face when she takes first place? PRICELESS!!!!

Fun Fun day!

My First Decor Elements is up!!!

I have had this for a few days and was worried about applying it...can I say EASY PEASY! You just have to take it slow and steady. I was starting to jump ahead of the instructions and then caught myself..and realized I only got one chance at it...so slowed down and took the time to do it well (I think)

We have gray walls in our entrance hall and towards the kitchen area, with black slate floors and red accent pieces...so although I would have loved it in black or RED I choose the Large Size White Long Stem Silhouette and honestly from start to finish maybe 15 minutes max to have it up! :-) I did it all alone too and it was Ok even with this large image. Hubby even likes it! YEAH. I would have liked it to be even taller. Wish the stems were extra long so you could cut them to the length you wanted the grass heads to reach. Behind a piece of furniture you could put it higher so it appeared taller as you would not see the bottom of the stems.

Call me to order you Decor Elements! I have another order going in on Sunday!

OK..I better redo that monochromatic card quickly as I promised..be right back to post shortly!

Thanks for dropping by again!

Limited Supply Challenge

Another challenge from last week. For LSC174 you had to use brads on your card but they had to be incorporated into your image. So I took out Chef Johnnaay (say it with a bad french accent) and paper pieced him a nice jacket and hat, added black brads for buttons, he then whipped up a pretty birthday cake and the rest as they say is history!

Here is a detail of his jacket buttons...I used Western Sky designer paper for the jacket and hat

Monochromatic tomorrow I promise..I want to change one thing on the card...not happy with my white highlights so have to redo that part...come on back y'all!

Sue

One of a Kind Colour Challenge...?

I decided just before I was heading to bed that I would make some cards as I have not had time to play this last week. I had written down all last weeks SCS challenges and so took that list and ran with it. It's now 1:30 so I will post one card now and another tomorrow (well..actually later today!!) and maybe get the last one over the weekend. Trying to spread them out so there is something new to peek at when you come visiting! :-)

The colour challenge CC172 called for Wild Wasabi, White and Taken with Teal. I am going to mourn Wild Wasabi's demise as i think it is the best green we have ever had with SU. We have lovely greens, Old Olive, Mellow Moss and  Certainly Celery to name a few but Wasabi is my all time fav. Maybe if you ALL write into SU and ask to take away ..lets say...Glorious Green and keep Wasabi...what do you think?

Anyway...I am ranting....here is the card I came up with, which also incorporates the technique challenge TLC174 of using Reinkers for watercolouring. It is so bright and cheerful. I used the Hodge Podge hardware which is retiring in August but is on SPECIAL this month...you should stock up. You save about $10 on each set! Thats a big savings!

Check it all out HERE

Here is a close up for you. You can see I am very "open" with my watercolouring, I like the look of going outside the lines a bit and inside the lines leaving gaps

Thanks for dropping by....come back tomorrow for a lovely mono chromatic card...maybe you are the inspiration for it?

Fresh Cuts is TOOOO much fun..and you can still play too! But Hurry!

I am just finishing up the prep work for this class and I have to say it is so addictive! These little Laser Cut cards and the stamp set in the special this month are fantastic! There is still time to book a seat in my class on the 11th. You just have to confirm by tomorrow at 6pm and living in Vancouver/Lower Mainland would also be helpful LOL However for those of you further afield I will make up a package to go kit that will be mailed to you. Please note that the samples above may not be exactly as you will do in class (some of the above are not my originals) but they will all be beautiful I guarantee!

Here is a close up of one of the cards you WILL be making for sure:

Here are the deets:

What: Fresh Cuts Class, includes Stamp Set and Package of Laser cut cards with envelopes. You will complete 10 cards and have 5 left to get creative yourself.

When: July 11th in my Studio - Cost $50 (3 Spots left - other dates will be made available if there is enough interest)

Time: 4pm

Class in the Mail: $60 includes Stamp set, card & postage. Instructions will be e-mailed to you. (Canada only please)

Instruction Sheet in your IN-box for those of you who have the set and cards already - $10 (Worldwide)

The special deal on the stamp set and cards ends tomorrow night at midnight so you need to contact me tomorrow to book at this price.

Call your friends and get a group together and earn hostess benefits too! I'll come and teach at your home too if you wish!

Thanks for stopping by...back to the drawing board to create a few more cards for tomorrows class (The first of three of this class that I will be teaching...don't miss out!)

Sue