Final Days of Weekly Deals from Stampin Up

Many of you have been enjoying the savings from the Weekly Deals offered by Stampin' Up!® , but sadly it is time for them to finish.

There are just 2 more offerings and there are lots of products in those offerings. This week April 6 - 12 have some excellent stamp sets, so I thought I'd just show you a couple of samples I made for a class this week to help you envisage how useful they can be. 

I've chosen 2 Christmas sets: 

Reason for the Season

and

Holly Jolly Greetings.

I chose these sets because they are really versatile and at such a good price, you may decide you need them too!

Images from both sets can be used to stamp randomly on your paper, creating lovely backgrounds for a simple Christmas Card.

We'll start with the Reason for the Season set.

It is photopolymer so very easy to place the stamps in the 2 step stamping process.

 I stamped the outline image in Archival Black Ink, then stamped  real red for the petals and Pear Pizzazz for the leaves.

I really like how this gives a "casual" feel to the images as they are not meant to line up perfectly.

I added a little bling - because I just cannot do Christmas without bling - using a 2-way glue pen and some Stampin' Up! Gold Glitter.

The next card is made from the snowflake image from the Holly Jolly Greetings stamp set.

I made the background with my brayer, (Pear Pizzazz) ensured it was really dry then randomly stamped  the snowflake images using Versamark, over the background. I heat embossed with Gold Embossing Powder

I cut the image into 3 equal parts, matted it onto Gold foil and then added a greeting (not from this set) 

I tried this technique in a few colours and matted them differently. Here is one using cherry Cobbler.

These cards are really quick to make a bundle of, and show just one way you can use these versatile stamp sets

If you would like to order them you will need to be quick. Use the Hostess code when ordering on-line via my website. The code for this week is: CJHFWTPN
You will be entered into a draw to win additional product if you use the code - Good Luck!
These sets are on special until April 12.

If you prefer you can email your order to me.

Until Next Time

Happy Crafting

Wonderland Christmas

If you are looking for a classic stamp that will be useful for years to come, you cannot go past WONDERLAND by Stampin' Up!

I started playing with this stamp the other day and just kept playing!

I was inspired by a video technique tutorial by Tami White stampwithtami.com/blog/2015/09/silent-night

Take a look for great instructions on how to do this technique. 

Here is my first card.

I brayered the background, using a Post It Note circle as a mask. The ink colour is  Island Indigo.

I have done lots of these cards in different colours, with  Island Indigo being one of my favourites.

The Wonderland image is stamped in Memento Jet Black ink and the greeting is heat embossed with White Embossing Powder and Versa Mark. 

I used the technique described in the video above to apply the Silver Glitter and just love how it brings life to the card. It's also a great way to use up all those last little bits of Multi Purpose Glue - you know the ones where the container has become sticky and not much fun to handle!!!

The next card is just a variation of the first one, with the addition of more trees from the Wonderland stamp, and I have  re-positioned  the "moon" to the other side of the card.

I used Silver Foil Sheets for the mat - this adds elegance to the finished product. The card base is Thick White A4 card.

The detail photo shows the gorgeous effect of the Stampin' Up! silver glitter when sprinkled over the spattered glue. Don't you just love the silhouette of the tree tops against the moon? So pretty!

I will post some other colours and designs using this technique in the next few days,

Until then .... Happy Stamping

Here is a list of products used for these cards. You can purchase them via my on-line store
or contact me  for further assistance

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Stampin Up Hawaii Achievers Swap

Hello or should I say Aloha! 

We'll be leaving in a little over an hour, so I just have time to do a quick post on my swaps before I leave. I'm going to schedule the post so it doesn't spoil the surprise for the recipients, But I'm going to be flat out catching up on classes when I get home, so now is a perfect time. 

A sneak peek of the finished card fronts. I love how my colours turned out - they are so bright and summery.

Lots of techniques were needed to achieve the finished card front. I started by using a brayer on A4 size sheets of Whisper White. I love playing with colour and I used combinations of Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Tangerine Tango and Daffodil Delight. The other colours came about by overlapping colours.

I stamped the swirls in Cherry Cobbler and the leaf and flower image with Memento Black as I just wanted a hint of the images, then I used Pacific Point for the zig zag stamp. I had to leave all this to dry over night then the embossed Gorgeous Grunge stamps in both Gold and White.

The butterflies are also stamped in Memento then water coloured  with an Aqua Painter and classic inks. This is such a quick technique and I think gives a really gorgeous effect.

Finally here is a selection of the finished card fronts. I'm really hoping the recipients like them.

You can probably see the variations brought about by using the brayer in a random and "modern" way without trying to blend the colours perfectly. I really like the feeling of light that shines through on a lot of these, and put that down to the inclusion of Daffodil Delight ink. 

These are very colourful and remind me of the tropics (and the 80's) 

You can find a list of the items used below and if you'd like further information please feel free to contact me via my Demonstrator Business Web Site

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Crafty Tuesday Brayer Class

More fun with the brayer at Crafty Tuesday morning class today. Liz, one of my Stampin' Up! team members is moving to Cairns so she had the choice of what she wanted to do and Brayer techniques is what she chose.

I admit that I had a few "students" who were not happy during the early part of the class. I spent some time demonstrating using the brayer on Whisper White, Shimmer White and Glossy White card stock. Unfortunately Stampin' Up! no longer stocks the Glossy White (which happens to be my favourite base for brayering) but I wanted to show them the variety of finishes that could be achieved. 

I also wanted to stretch the creativity of the participants so challenged them to work "outside their comfort  zone" and try a variety of methods. As many of you know Brayering can be quite difficult and take a bit of practice, but by the end of the class we had some really great results.

I really like the effect achieved on this card using classic inks on Whisper White. Almost everyone tended to apply too much ink too quickly but this crafter used a lighter rolling motion and although she thought it was not good because it was not smooth, I soon convinced her to "see" various scenes in the colours. She added a couple of stamped images from "Wetlands" stamp set by Stampin' Up!, tied a piece of Linen Thread around it and matted on Black and White card. Lovely! I love the colours and balance achieved in this sample.

When the ladies got a bit heavy handed with the ink, I suggested they turn these samples (on the right above) into modern abstract cards that would be great for the men/boys in their lives. There are no better stamp sets to do this than Gorgeous Grunge and Work of Art stamp sets. You can find both of these in the Annual Catalogue - page 165. We actually used a very old Kaleidoscope stamp pad that I have had for  9 years as I purchased it when Stampin Up stocked this item. I wish they would bring these back too! But, by adding some Cherry Cobbler images and embossing with gold and white, an attractive abstract card has been achieved. Again the choice of mat and card base colours is important in the finished product.

 

These 3 images above are brayered onto Glossy White and you can see the difference in smoothness. It is much easier to get the colours to blend on the smooth surface of the Glossy White, and easier again if paler colours are used. 

 

By the end of the class everyone was looking into the brayered backgrounds, seeing different scenes or images. We all agreed the lower one is a face ( a little abstract but none the less - a face) Turn this sideways and you see a great mountain ranged or a rocky outcrop near the ocean - you just have to let your imagination run free, and I'm pleased to say I think everyone was doing that by the end of the class. 

Finally I have my example that I created on Whisper White.

You can see the build up of layers and variety of colours used. Also the combination of techniques:- brayer background; stamped images: heat embossed images. I really enjoy collage stamping and found this morning lots of fun and quite satisfying. Class went way over time but we all had a really good learning experience.

I hope you gain some inspiration from these samples and will give this a try. Experimenting is the basis of creativity - try something different - whether it be a combination of techniques, combining unusual colours and patterns or simply creating images and matting them in unusual ways.

Below is a list of many of the products used in these samples. If you would like to take advantage of the last few days of Sale A Bration and place an on-line order at my store, just use this code: 7VTN9W2P for the chance to win an ENVELOPE PUNCH BOARD. Make sure you leave your contact details in the order as everyone who participates this week will go in the draw. 

Orders close on Monday March 30. 

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