Stampin' Up!

Stampin’ Up are having an end of year cleanout.  Get in quick as some items are available only while stocks last.  Items will be from the Clearance Rack, Holiday retiring products, and current high inventory catalogue products.

Wonder of Christmas - Shaker Card

When I did my previous card I painted a few extra angels and was so pleased with the results, I just had to use them.

This time I cut around her and made her into a shaker card. Love it!
The background star stamps come from the same stamp set - Wonder of Christmas.

Love the Fancy Frost Sequins too!. They team beautifully with the main inks colours of Pool Party and Sweet Sugarplum. 

Wonder of Christmas - Watercolour Card

When I first saw this stamp set, Wonder of Christmas I knew it would be ideal to use with water colour. If you haven't water coloured with an Aqua Brush before then this card is for you.

Begin with stamping the image with Versa Mark and  dry emboss with Copper embossing powder onto water colour paper. Doing so, keeps the ink and water spreading to unwanted areas.

Use the top of your ink pad as your palette.  Press the lid before opening and this will transfer some ink  to the lid top.

Brush the image with your Aqua Painter. Wet but don't saturate. Pick up ink from the ink lid with your Aqua Painter and apply. Let the water on the paper work with the ink. Just touch the Aqua painter to the area where you want the most colour and see the ink spread.
For instance, the dress under the banner, touch brush to the left corner and side. Too much colour, dab off with paper towel. Too dark, apply more water and dab off. Dry off with a Heat Tool.

I used the following inks -

• Sweet Sugarplum   - dress and shoes
• Blushing Bride - skin
• Pool Party - background
• So Saffron - wings
• Pear Pizazz - banner and hair band 
• Cajun Craze - hair

Sunshine Wishes Thinlits - Christmas Present Card

Two different thinlits were used in this card. The greeting 'Merry' from Christmas Greetings Thinlits.
The ribbony bow at the top of the present uses the flower from Sunshine Wishes Thinlits. Cut the stem and use the flower top.

Twinkle Trees - Bokeh Style

This time I wanted to do some background stamping in a 'Bokeh' style. I used the three circular stamps alternating colours and sizes and stamping in clusters on Whisper White cardstock. Stamping a  rectangular block shape and drifting it down across the bottom. Then I came back and filled the gaps.
I love the combination of Pool Party, Mint Macaron and Sweet Sugarplum inks. The tree was then stamped over the bokeh layer. The sequins compliment the Silver embossed tree. Simply loving those Fancy Frost Sequins.
The top right corner was left plain for the greeting.  I used a greeting from the Wondrous Wreathe stamp set and it was stamped in Mint Macaron.  This layer was matted with Silver Foil and adhered to a Mint Macaron cardbase.

Twinkle Trees - Quick and Easy

This layout uses a variation on one of the templates featured in an earlier series of posts for making  quick and easy cards.
This uses three flags cut with the Triple Banner punch and tied with Whisper White Thick Baker's Twine.  This layout is great for using up scraps.
The 'Merry Christmas' stamp comes from Better Together. This is one of those must have stamp sets. It has paired greetings for the front and inside of cards for all occasions. It also has small stamp images to team with the paired greetings.
The inside of this card was stamped -  'One of the best parts of the year is keeping in touch with you.'
The tree, of course comes from the Twinkle Trees. It was stamped in Versa Mark and embossed with Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder.  Fancy Frost Sequins were adhered using the Fine-tipped Glue Pen. I cut the tree out by hand and used Stampin' Dimensionals to adhere it to the flag. 

Twinkle Trees in Blue

Silver, Pool Party and Whisper White is another colour combination I really like.
The 'Merry'  is cut from silver foil using Christmas Greetings Thinlits and could be teamed with any 'Christmas'  greeting stamp.  You may just need to mask over the merry on the stamp.The strip of DSP came from the Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack. The ribbon uses some discontinued stock but you can substitute it with Stitched Satin Ribbon in Pool Party which is available in the annual catalogue.

Twinkle Trees in Pink

The sequins do make this tree twinkle with the silver embossing, silver foil and glitter ribbon. The sequins are from the  Fancy Frost Sequins and the glitter ribbon is from the Glitter Ribbon Combo Pack which is in the Holiday Catalogue.  The card base uses my favourite from this season's In-Colours - Sweet Sugarplum.

Twinkle Trees

Over the week end I got out the Twinkle Trees stamp set.  I was drawn to this stamp set as the stamps in this set can be used in a 'Bokeh' effect.  There are 3 circular shapes and 5 cluster stamps that could be used to make a background or fill for the tree images.
I made 5 cards in all but only one using the 'bokeh' effect.  So over the next few days I will share them all.   The first I am going to share was my favourite and no 'bokeh' to it.

                                                                            I think the colour combination of Early Espresso, Sahara Sands and Very Vanilla with the Copper Foil and embossing was a winner!  

                                                

                         

Greetings from Santa with Detailed Santa Thinlits Shaker Card

This shaker Santa card was one of the cards made in my last card class.  Cards all completed with ease and no fuss, not like when I first tried to make mine - sequins everywhere!  The class went smoothly, now that I know the order of things and how to line up those narrow border edges. I know a little trick to help. No more pulling it apart,spilling sequins, trying to get everything aligned neat and evenly.

Flat Folding Santa Candle Card

This was simple and easy to make and folds flat to fit into an envelope. Of course not with the candle. The candle is  battery operated and can be picked up from any $2 shop.
Just cut one A4 Cherry Cobbler sheet in half and trim to measure  - 4 1/8th x 11 " and then fold in half to measure 4 1/8 x 5 1/2". Open out and proceed to die cut Santa using the Detailed Santa Thinlits Die leaving a small even border..
Adhere a piece of Vellum 4 1/8" x 4 1/8th" behind the die cut out.
Cut another piece of Cherry Cobbler to
3x 4 1/8th" and score every 3/4" and score to make a 'w'. Adhere to main piece.
Tie a piece of Silver Ribbon from the Glitter Ribbon Combination Pack.  Thread some Silver Thread through 3 bells (Mini Jingle Bells) and tie to the silver glitter ribbon.
Cut layering circles from Whisper White and Silver Glimmer Paper  using the Layering Circles Framelits. Stamp 'HO Ho HO' with Cherry Cobbler. Complete with Metallic Enamel Shapes.  

Square Santa Card Featuring Detailed Santa's Thinlits Die

I didn't start out to make a square card, it just evolved!
I cut two Santa thinlits out. One in Whisper White cardstock and the other in our gorgeous Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper. I glued down the Whisper White Santa thinlit onto some black cardstock and began carefully piecing  back all the tiny Glimmer pieces from Santa's beard and adhering them in place. My intentions was to use the Glimmer Santa on another card but I ended adhering it on top of the Whisper White Santa. I liked the added dimension.  I then realised I would need to add dimension to Santa's nose, glasses and hat band.  This required repeat die cutting and adhering.  A little bit fiddly but enjoyable for me!
The 'Naughty and Nice' from Greetings from Santa stamp set was stamped with Versa Mark and White Embossed.
The finished card size measure a 5" square.

Do More With Bokeh - 4

Go bold with black! Choose bright background inks and mount on black with a large black sentiment - Stylized Birthday.

Do More With Bokeh-3

I used all pink inks for this background and coloured it by sponging the usual way in patches before applying the Kraft ink but this time I cut the layer in panels.

The Stitches And Craft Show

I had a great day yesterday on the Stampin' Up stall at the Stitches and Craft Show.  The Stampin' Up stall was amazing! There were a lots of fabulous kits for sale, all put together from our creative crew. I met lots of lovely people, some new to stamping and many seasoned stampers - a big hello to you all.  I had a lovely time chatting to you and hope that I may get to see you again!
I am having a quiet day today but my stamps are not too far from my thoughts, as I am starting to think about my Christmas projects to come.

Do More With Bokeh -2

I think Bermuda Bay, Tempting Turquoise and Pool Party made one of my favourite background colour combinations.
The tiny white matt made the bokeh layer really stand out.

Do More With Bokeh -1

Big bold stamps look great stamped on a bokeh layer.  The stamp is new from the Holiday Catalogue,Happy Ornament. It is stamped and embossed with Copper  and has a Copper Foil matt as well.                                                                       For this card I sponged the background colours of this bokeh layer a little differently.  I chose three blue inks - Dapper Denim, Pool Party and Soft Sky, and sponged diagonal bands of colours.

The Stitches & Craft Show

The Show starts tomorrow and runs through until Sunday. I am really excited! I have just returned from helping to set the stall up and seen all the wonderful things that are available to you from all of the other Stampin' Up demonstrators that are participating.  All of the demonstrators have put some wonderful kits together.

For this show, I put some card kits together that feature the 'bokeh' technique.  Bokeh being, layers of overlapping shapes, applied over a background of colour.  With this kit you get to learn this technique and make two cards. I have designed 9 different layouts in all.  Here they all are!

Hope you like them! I had lots of fun making them. Over the next four days I will have more Bokeh cards to share. All with a different feature.

Designer Series Paper - Make Quick and Easy Cards using Template 3 from Stampin' Up.

Having fun using the templates with your DSP? Here is another template that can be used with either a circle or square shape. Take out a punch or use your framelits.

Designer Series Paper - Make A Quick and Easy Card using Template 2 from Stampin' UP

Now that you have your DSP out, I have another template from Stampin' Up for you!

Take a punch or use a circle framelit to create a "window" on your DSP, then layer an image or greeting underneath and finish off with ribbon.

Designer Series Cardstock - Make Quick and Easy Cards using Templates 1 from Stampin' Up

Make some quick and easy cards using this template with your newly purchased DSP.

Cut strips of DSP and punch the ends with the Triple Banner Punch. Stamp a greeting and add a ribbon  to complete.  Here are two examples from Stampin' Up.

Designer Series Paper

If you are running low on DSP or after a bargain - check out the latest offer from Stampin' Up.

Jar of Love - Wishing You Happiness.

Another card from Pinterest by Kylie Bertucci.  Loved the design, only changed the greeting.

Jar of Love - Wreathe

Another card I saw on Pinterest by Louise Sharpe and had to make it.
So easy to make.  Die cut out a circle in the same colour as the background and then fill around it with flowers and stem to maintain the shape. Can apply this to making any wreathe card.

Jar of Love - Serene Scenery DSP Background

Paper from the Serene Scenery DSP made the perfect background for this bouquet of flowers.

Having lots of fun with the Jar of Love Stamp Set.  Saw a card by Jo Anne Hewins on Pinterest and had a go of making it.

Jar Of Love Bundle Tips

Wow! This bundle  consists of 37 photopolymer stamps and co-ordinates with the Everyday Jars Framelits and they have 17 dies. A lot of components.

I suggest sorting the stamps and identifying what they are.
For instance group together -

flowers (1 large, 2 joined two step stamps plus one other flower), flower stamen, flower stem, leaf stems (3 in all)

the bow with the band that stamps around the neck, string with bow

3 jars, jar handle, jar lid, hessian label, water band

fish, bee, heart,colour dot

phrases and sentiments

Now match the framelits to their stamps. Of course, not all stamps have matching framelits.  The framelit which looks like a jar is the framelit which cuts out the middle section of the largest jar for making a 'shaker jar card'.

TIP - For  perfect stamping  and die cutting of the flower stems and leaf stems.
Lay the stamp in the framelit, then press the stamp  to your stamp block. Remove framelit and now you will have a perfectly shaped stamp which will give you a  perfectly white border when the framelit is cut out.

Jar of Love - Watercolour Block Wash Background

Love this colour combination. Using markers, bands of Sweet Sugarplum,Flirty Flamingo and Peekaboo Peach were coloured onto a size F clear block. Then it was spritzed until beads of water formed and then pressed onto a piece of water colour paper to make up the background for the bouquet of Sweet Sugarplum  flowers.
The watercolour paper was mounted on a layer of Pink Pirouette cardstock. A strip of Sweet Sugarplum ruched ribbon on a 2" panel of Sweet Sugarplum In-colour DSP stack  with a Sweet Sugarplum cardbase made up the card.

New from the Holiday Catalogue - Petal & Paisley.

Stampin' Up haven't forgotten anything in this suite.  There's a stamp and framelit bundle, Speciality Designer Paper, co-ordinating cardstock pack, a matching embossing folder, matching trio ribbon collection and new copper foil sheets. Lots of projects to make!  For one project, see page 46 of the holiday catalogue -'You Can Make It', everything to make a lovely card featuring the Emboss resist Technique.

Holiday Catalogue - Handmade for the Holidays Plus September Special Offers from Stampin' Up!

You can now purchase from this new catalogue.
I will start featuring products from this catalogue soon!

From 1st-21st select annual catalogue products will be discounted by 25%. Check back weekly as they change.

Fairy Celebration - Fancy Fold

I wanted to make a special fairy card.  I think this card could stand on any little girl's shelf long after her birthday. It also is a great card to send through the mail as it folds up flat and fits into a C6 envelope.
Although it looks complicated, it is really easy to make.   I found this card fold on Youtube. See 'Dawn's Stamping Thoughts' video titled 'Pop Up Birthday Card with Confetti Celebration' Stamp Set'.
The fairy image was stamped with Basic Grey Archival ink onto water colour paper and coloured using inks and an Aqua Painter.  The flowers were die cut from Botanical Builder Framelits.

Fairy Celebration - Happy Birthday

I used Fairy Celebration and Number of Years stamp sets to make this card. I stamped the fairy on Shimmery White cardstock using Basic Grey  Archival Ink (so the ink won't run) and used an Aqua Painter to colour.  I used Dimensionals on the fairy to make her look like she is
flying over the flowers.  Of course, magic fairy dust was stamped and Dazzling Details applied. Love a little glimmer!  Wink of Stella could also have been used. The flowers and sentiment were stamped to finish.

Fairy Celebration - Water Colour Block Background

I couldn't resist purchasing this stamp set. I have many fond memories of fairies.  I used to chase butterflies believing they were fairies and look for them in the bottom of our garden when I was little.  I passed this love of fairies onto my two girls and we still have our fairy garden!


The new In-Colours - Sweet Sugarplum, Flirty Flamingo and Peekaboo Peach make a perfect colour background combination for this fairy card. I used markers to colour the E acrylic block which was then spritzed with water and then stamped onto some water colour paper. The images and sentiments were stamped in Rich Razzleberry.  The water colour paper was trimmed and then adhered to the card base (Pink Pirouette) with some silver glitter washi tape

Affectionately Yours - Dapper Denim

I love looking on Pinterest and I found a card by Nina Janssen using Dapper Denim that I really liked.  So I based my card on hers, made some changes and came up with this.

Affectionately Yours - Watercolour

I really enjoyed making this card. I do love water colouring. I first stamped with Versa Mark (leaves, large and small outline flowers only) on water colour paper and then heat set with white embossing powder. The flower middles were stamped after water colouring. The little flowers and leaf twigs were stamped to fill in the gaps.  I did originally intend to stamp a sentiment but opted with the ribbon.

Hello Baby Bear - Z Fold Card

The colour scheme uses Dapper Denim - ink, cardstock, paper from the In-Colour Designer Series Paper Stack and ribbon.
The decorative element in the right hand corner was made by punching a 1" circle from a scrap of Whisper White cardstock, sponging the edges with Dapper Denim, stapling a punched heart to the front and ribbon to the rear before adhering with a glue dot.
The sentiments and bear were stamped on Whisper White.
I found Dapper Denim to be a little dark, so I 'stamped off' once before stamping  the first layer, twice for the second and so on, progressing from dark to light.

Baby Bear

My Baby Bear card today is my take on the card from the catalogue. I used Mint Macaroon and Sahara Sand in the colour scheme. The paper came from 'Blooms and Bliss Designer Series Paper.
'Hello Baby' came from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamp set.
The bear was stamped with Sahara Sands using the 'stamping off method' to achieve the different shades of colour.

Baby Bear Tips

When you first set eyes on this stamp set you immediately think of babies and young children but it can extend to a wedding card with 'to hug and hold' and a 'thank you' card with the sentiments supplied. This stamp set is described as a Two-Step stamp set in the catalogue (p 61) which means you need to stamp multiple times to complete the bear and ribbon images with the clear photopolymer stamps. They are clear for easy alignment. The photopolymer stamps need to be used with  clear blocks (b,e,g) found on page 183 of the catalogue.
Stamping multiple times builds depth.  It appears that more than one ink is used but this is not so.  By stamping off and stamping over builds layers of light and dark ink tones to complete the image.
Choose one ink colour.  'Stamp off ' onto scrap paper and then stamp again without re-inking. The result is lighter in the ink shade. So that is how the different shades are achieved.  With dark ink shades you may even stamp off three times to achieve the desired lighter tones.
I found that it is best to work from dark to light in ink tones. It is much easier to line up when stamping. I also found that stamping the lest detailed stamp first, then to next detailed stamp and so on. Looking at the baby bear stamps opposite, stamp in sequence from top to bottom. Same with the bow.
 

Wetlands and Serene Scenery DSP Stack

Today's card uses another sheet from Serene Scenery DSP Stack.
Love this sheet. Takes all the hard work out of getting a fantastic background for the Wetlands stamp set.  I have tried to get this effect by dragging the stamp pads across paper without luck. Now I don't have to agonise about it! It's done for me!
Here's two cards that I made from one 6x6" sheet. Used up some of my old Candy Dots!

Serene Scenery DSP

This designer series paper stack measuring 6"x6" features 4 each of 12 double-sided designs (48 sheets).

The designs from this stack have been inspired by nature - one side features photographic artwork, then flip for co-ordinating paper designs. The stack teams well with the bold Scenic Sayings stamp set seen on page 103 of the SU catalogue.

Here are two cards I made from one sheet.

  

Quilt Cards - Using Up What's on the Shelf!

More often and not we focus on what's 'new', but for the last week or two I have been looking at what I have and haven't got around to.  I played around with making some quilt designs and creative card folds.  My intent was to also to clear or use up craft supplies that having been sitting awhile on my shelf.
I always find creative folds challenging.  I always seem to have to modify the card size or not have the pattern  and so it  ends up in a 'trial and error' task.  I  do like a challenge!
I will share some of these creative folds in future projects.
Today I have two quilt cards. Both easy to make! The first a simple basic square pattern, the second  a little more intricate known as 'Cathedral Window'.  In both double sided DSP was used.  Choosing the pattern design took a little time. I found less busy or small designs worked best.  

Basic Square  Quilt Design

Punch or cut - First DSP  - 2 x 1" squares
                        Second DSP  - 2 x 1" squares. Then cut each in half to make 4 triangles.
                        Third DSP - 2 x 1" squares. Then cut each in half to make 4 triangles.
Adhere squares and triangle onto quilt base measuring 2 3/4 x 2 3/4. Choose a co-ordinating colour as two squares show through.
Optional - emboss with an embossing folder
Layer up on cardstock, add Candy Dots, adhere to card base, attach ruched up ribbon border, and complete with sentiment.








Cathedral Window
Punch or cut a 1" square from thick card.
Punch out 9 circles using a 2" circle punch from DSP.
To fold - place square cutout in middle of circle and fold sides in. Repeat with each circle.
Assemble - adhere to a 3 1/4" base, layer up, adhere to card base, add Candy Dots, attach ribbon tied with Linen Thread and complete with sentiment.