Friday 28 July 2017

At Home With You!



Hello there, after a visit to my lovely upline, Susan, she suggested I take some die cuts home from the At Home With You photopolymer bundle to see what I could come up with.


Well, not one to shy away from a challenge, I started to formulate some ideas. We had stamped the door in Old Olive so that narrowed my choice of colours somewhat but that was OK as I had already decided I wanted the door to look as if it had seen better days.


I chose to make a 6"x6" card, quite rare for me these days so I had enough space to add the chair and table which were cut from scraps of Crumb Cake card stock. My base card was made from a piece of 12"x12" Pear Pizzazz card - I only have subtles in that size at the moment. Usually I can get away with A4 which I have a supply of in all the current SU colours.

I water coloured the door in Old Olive then when it had dried, I added a little Crumb Cake over the top. The door knocker and lock were coloured in Smoky Slate with a hint of clear Wink of Stella. I'm so pleased I have the Brick embossing folder for this type of card. I embossed white card then used a sponge dauber to apply a little Crumb Cake. For the decking I used the Hardwood stamp in Early Espresso and sponged over that with Chocolate Chip. Goodness, I think I'll soon be getting the ink refill out; I hadn't realised that Crumb Cake had featured quite so heavily!


Again, sticking to the theme, the branch was cut out in Whisper White and water coloured with Early Espresso and Chocolate Chip. Isn’t the little bird cute? I couldn’t resist putting him on.  Cajun Craze came in handy for water colouring the pot to look like terracotta.








Tuesday 25 July 2017

Christmas in July

That really does seem a tad strange for a title doesn't it. At Stampin' Up though they have given us a teaser of things to come; there is a new stamp set available for demonstrators and anyone choosing to sign up in July. We're also eagerly anticipating the Autumn/Winter catalogue so that we can pre-order in August to create lots of gorgeous things for you prior to general release on 1st September.


I've chosen to use the Star of Light set that I'm so pleased has been carried over to the Annual catalogue this year. I love this set, apart from the obvious Xmas cards and goodies, I've used it to create fireworks and also a little magic - the flourish was perfect for my Harry Potter inspired cards!

 I cut the largest square in the Stitched Shape Framelit set in Whisper White. I then stamped my sentiment so I knew where to place my star die from the Star of Light set. This square was then mounted onto Pool Party and I cut a border using my Perfect Layers ruler. I know they aren't Stampin' Up, however there are some things I can't manage without and this is one of them, alongside my precision press for accurate stamping.


Using Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper, I cut some stars, they really do sparkle. It's such a shame they don't show up too well . A quick tip; when die cutting Glimmer Paper, cut on the reverse.


These star die cuts were placed over the aperture using a mini dimensional with a rhinestone placed in the centre. This helps cover the fixing but I think adds a little more bling to such a simple card.

To make the box; 

Cut an 11" x 4⅝" piece of cardstock.
Score - on the long side at 3⅜", 4", 7 ⅜" and 8" 
and on the short side - ⅝" and 4"
Trim as shown in the photo.


The box before sticking. This time I chose to use velcro dots to close the flap which was shaped using an edgelits die.


 I also added a hint of white card behind the lid so that I could stick down my fancy star. Being a (sometimes) frugal crafter, I didn't want to use more of the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper as most of it would be hidden but I did want that effect. Then I had an idea, Before sticking the Whisper White card down, I ran some glue along the edge and sprinkled with Dazzling Diamond Stampin' Glitter. The same result... You can also see a hint of the heat embossing on the front too.


I think I already know the recipient for this little box of cards; the colours will match her lounge perfectly!




Friday 21 July 2017

Abigail's Birthday Again

Hello, have you ever sat in your crafting space, just waiting for inspiration to strike? Well that was me recently; I had started tidying it up but knew I needed to make a birthday card for my daughter, Abigail. The new me is trying to be organised. No leaving it until the day before it needs posting any more!


I wanted to incorporate heat embossing on vellum again after trying it out the other week. I chose to use Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive and Whisper White; more by luck than planning as it dawned on me while I was working that the Wimbledon tennis championship was due to start the following day. Does that give an indication as to how far in advance I was working?


I got my stamping press out to stamp the design on 2 tags in white card and vellum to ensure the design lined up. I used Versamark with white embossing powder for the vellum and black for the cardstock. With the card and vellum lined up I used the Scalloped Tag Topper punch which gives a very pretty top edge.  The corners at the bottom were rounder to continue the softness. I have more ideas flooding my brain using this punch. So many ideas, so little time.

While I coloured the design on the reverse of the vellum using ink pads and blender pens, I water coloured very loosely, going over the stamped lines, using the inkpads and aqua painters for an informal look. After matting and layering, I felt my card looked a tad too white; the tags needed to pop more. So, in keeping with the theme, I very quickly used my larger aqua painter to water colour the card, just running the brush backwards and forwards, leaving small area of white showing.

Neither ribbon in Old Olive or Elegant Eggplant showed up after a search of the craft room; wouldn’t have expected it to really as I have a very small stash of ribbons and embellishments. I did, however, have white! Although I now have very inky fingers, I also have Elegant Eggplant ribbon. So, my quick tip is to keep a supply of white ribbon of varying widths that can be coloured when needed.

Of course, because this birthday card is for Abby, it HAD to include a bee! I was so lucky to win Dragonfly Dreams; the bee is just perfect.

The finished design - I hope she likes it






Tuesday 18 July 2017

Joy of Sets Designer Challenge 2 (Letter S) - Flower Shop

Hello again, do you ever have a design in mind and find as you're busy creating, it totally changes? For The Joy of Sets Challenge this week I chose to use Flower Shop. I used a gorgeous card I'd seen on Pinterest by Becky as my starting point.


created by Becky at
 scrappinandstampingj.blogspot,co.uk

 I love the simplicity and softness of this card; white on white with a touch of colour is so elegant.

First of all, I used Versamark to stamp 3 flowers onto vellum before heat embossing in white. I coloured a piece of vellum with Pear Pizzazz before cutting some leaves using a leaf from Swirly Scribbles Thinlit dies.

Using the smaller of the butterflies from Watercolour Wings I again stamped on vellum and die cut it out. The beautiful quote is from Butterfly Basics; I bought this stamp set specifically for the quote! It was stamped onto a piece of Whisper White card stock and die cut with a circle from the Stitched Shape Framelit die set.






I also used the fern from this set to create a background, stamping off to get a paler version of Pear Pizzazz.

As you can see from the close-up. my card has much more colour! There is a narrow border of So Saffron card which helps to tie in the colours. I'm really still not sure how I went from the card above to the one below! Yet another happy accident. It just shows that it pays to be open minded and experiment as you go along.



The finished card








Tuesday 11 July 2017

A Little Place To Work

Hello, I'm so excited, my new desk from Ikea should arrive today! This got me thinking about about craft spaces...
                                 ...are you lucky enough to have a room solely for the purpose of crafting or do you have to "share" a main room and hide your things away?

Since becoming single again I now have my own, albeit small, craft room; we did use the largest bedroom - him for his model making, both static and RC and me tucked in a corner with my papercrafts. Sometimes our hobbies even overlapped but I digress.

My little room is more of a hobby/chillout space. I keep all my DVD's in there too. It's also supposed to double up as a spare room so I have a futon I can pull out when needed. It has to be said that I really am not the most organised of people, I wish I was, I really do. I try to keep everything as ordered as I can and in the great scheme of things, I haven't much in the way of craft supplies. I think part of the problem may be that although I have some good storage, it isn't necessarily the right type!

So, what does a craft room need?
My number one is a bank of Gnedby DVD racks flanked either side by 2 narrow Billy bookcases from Ikea. I did have them in my lounge for quite a while until I decided on a less cluttered look; at one time we had around 500 DVD's between us! Now I keep all of my A4 cardstock in storage drawers on one bookcase but that may change in the future. The other bookcase has all of my stamp sets, arranged in alphabetical order; my stock of stamps, dies and punches has increased considerably since these photos were taken.. I put a red sticker on any item that has retired so that I can distingush between retired stock and current. One of the DVD racks houses my punches, too.

Next is good lighting; I'm working on that still. I have a temporary set up until I can get the lighting that I really like but it will involve daylight bulbs.

Now some would say that you need a big table - this is where I confess that I am more likely to make my cards on a lap tray downstairs. Oh I know the purists would be horrified, it isn't as if I haven't even got a craft table although it is smaller than I really wanted. The difference in Ikea delivery prices meant it made sense to go with the smaller desk and add some drawer units!


It's funny as I'd started typing this up when Caroline Helwigh Wright - CraftyCarolineCreates - showed her craftroom on You Tube. And because of that, I realised what I was missing. Yep, I have shelves and small drawers but no cupboard and no proper drawer set. Ikea, I'm here; please can you send me a couple of pieces from the Alex range? You never know, with those in place I might even venture upstairs and work in there.


Tuesday 4 July 2017

Joy of Sets 1st Designer Challenge (Letter F) - Floral Phrases

 Hello, well here it is, my first card made for The Joy Of Sets Challenge Blog. Please hop on over by clicking on the link to see the other fantastic designs. In my last post I mentioned I’d been asked to join the design team in this exciting new venture so it was with some trepidation that I set about coming up with a plan of action. I wanted a card that looked pretty and neat but wasn’t overly complicated.

The brief was set; a stamp set that had at least one word in its’ title starting with the letter F. Luckily I have a few sets, both current and retired. It really was a close call between Bella and Friends and Floral Phrases and I had ideas for both sets. In the end though I went with Floral Phrases, a set I used frequently in the past. It always looks elegant and even using it for a wedding hasn’t put me off it.


I’m fortunate to have the coordinating dies as shown in the phot above. I’d decided on an easel card so used some scrap non SU cardstock to make sure my measurements were correct and the design worked before starting. I chose Soft Sky, such a pretty blue and for a fresh look, teamed it with Whisper White.


While the card is easy to make, it was just a bit fiddly ensuring the die cut layers matched exactly

A narrow piece of ribbon added a little more interest before putting the sentiment stamped onto a stitched oval on the front.

I added a bow and 3 tiny flowers that I salvaged from the die cutting. For a little sparkle I placed a rhinestone in the centre of each flower. I have a feeling I’ll be making this card again soon but adapted slightly for an anniversary that’s coming up soon.


Sentiment on Whisper White card
inside to help the easel card stand