Flower Shop

The other night I woke in the wee small hours with an idea implanted for a card. Unfortunately I didn't have the customary notebook and pencil nearby as I'd been sketching designs in the craft room earlier in the evening. I felt so lucky that when I finally got up, I could still remember what I wanted to make!

Pink Pirouette

Pear Pizzazz

Whisper White

I wanted a soft background so created my own using clear powder to heat emboss one of the flowers out of Flower Shop all over the white card. My sentiment was stamped and heat embossed on a stitched Framelit circle. To get the pale pink text I inked up the stamp first using Versamark before then inking in Pink Pirouette immediately afterwards. Clear embossing powder was heated over the top. I used dimensionals to raise the sentiment slightly.

Using a scrap of white card I stamped, heat embossed and punched out one flower. It was coloured using a pencil with blender pen before the petals were shaped. A couple of leaves were punched and strategically placed but I still felt it lacked something. I personally think the loop of mini silver sequin trim just finishes it off. It really doesn't take much; there numerous ways to use just a small amount of special trim and still get a fabulous finish.

Have you Scene the Delicate Ornaments?

Hello, have you started your Christmas projects yet? Normally, in spite of all good intentions, I leave my Xmas cards to the very last minute. Oh each year I say it will be different next year but usually it isn't. That is until now. I have started my Christmas cards; I've made a few, started them in July! I think I may need to lie down due to shock.

Now I know some of you will be wondering why I'm not using products from the new Autumn/Winter catalogue. Here's the confession, I actually made this card at the end of July, before my new crafty stash had arrived. I know, it's September already but I've been crafting and scheduling blog posts since I'm on the 7 week Summer break from work. Yes, working in education does have some bonuses. I've gone from posting once a week to scheduling 3 times a week as I've created so much. I only hope this time that once I'm back to my day job I can keep up.

I haven't taken Delicate Ornament Thinlit dies off the shelf until now. I was so disappointed it was retired in January. For this project I decided to combine it with Lovely as a Tree and Holiday Home.

Night of Navy

Whisper White

Silver Foil

Using the "onion" die, I cut an aperture and created a winter scene behind it.

As I wanted my sentiment to be heat embossed but in a colour that that Stampin' Up don't do I followed a tip by Sam from Pootles. First of ink up your chosen stamp in Versamark and then your chosen ink colour before stamping. Sprinkle clear embossing powder over it, remove excess and then heat until set. It really does work.

I still feel this needs a little extra, maybe either a sprig of holly and berries or other greenery around the hook. Chris, my friend suggested some snowflakes dotted around. What do you think? If you have any thoughts, please leave a comment below. Thank you for looking today.

Spotlight on Lovely as a Tree

If you've read any of my previous posts, you'll know that I like a stamp set to be versatile so that it earns it's keep. Well, there is one set, Lovely as a Tree that can be used for almost any occasion, either on it's own or in conjunction with other sets. Had you thought of using it for Christmas though?

I decided that I'd make a Christmas card using the negative spotlight technique and Lovely as a Tree. As with many of my cards, it's simple and uncluttered. I often feel that with cards less is more.

Whisper White

Night of Navy

As you can see, I only used 2 colours. First of all I stamped the row of trees onto both Whisper White and Night of Navy using Versamark ink and then heat embossed in white. It immediately had a wintery feel to it. I also took some stars from the Star of Light set and stamped randomly  for a twinkly sky on the navy card. These were also heat embossed for a cohesive look.











A circle was cut out of the navy card, I used a die although a punch would work just as well. I very lightly sponged the area of white that would be revealed through the hole and used dimensionals to layer both pieces of card. It took a little while to line up both images as there is so much detail on this stamp. I do think it's worth the effort though.

A little silver metallic thread was wrapped around my fingers to loop it and place on the base card. I used a couple of glue dots to hold in place. My design was then mounted onto white card before adhering to the navy base card, allowing the silver thread to show diagonally, top and bottom. I took a sentiment from Star of Light and once again stamped and heat embossed it.

Whilst playing with this technique, I also made a second card, this time with no heat embossing. It uses the same spotlight method but with a coloured background. Another male oriented card I think. I'm so pleased I managed to get the Sky is the Limit; this one was so much easier to line up!

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.

So Saffron

Pear Pizzazz

Whisper White

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

Flowering Flourishes.

Hello again, apart from sentiments, if there is one type of stamp set I would recommend every stamper to have in their stash it's a set of flourishes. They are so versatile, from adding background interest to becoming the main focus.

Today I've shown how one flourish taken from Flowering Flourishes can be used to different effects. Sadly this set has now been discontinued.

Simple yet elegant

First of all I stamped the flourish multiple times acoss the card to create a striking background, It was mounted onto a slightly larger piece the same colour as the stamping to create a border. A band of ribbon with sentiment was added to complete this simple, elegant card before attaching to the base card
.

Mounting each layer onto matching cardstock

For the second card, I used a precision stamping press to ensure my image was stamped in exactly the right place for each layer. And for the eagle eyed, yes it has been placed slightly to the right. I am considering putting a dragonfly in the top left hand corner. As usual I've stamped inside the card and also on the envelope.

And finally for a more dramatic look I heat set gold embossing powder onto Cherry Cobbler. Although this would be a perfect card for an  anniversary card I've used a generic sentiment so that it's suitable for more occasions.