Holly Berry Christmas with Stampin' Up!

I host a daytime class every Tuesday - we call it Crafty Tuesday so I am always designing cards that use different Stampin' Up! products and themes. It is such a fun class  and the ladies will try anything I give them!

This week we used a combination of Holly Berry Happiness stamp set and the Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies. I purchased both of these products in Bundles  (saving myself 10% on the price) and therefor have stamps and framelits to match each. I love to demonstrate how versatile and coordinated products from Stampin' Up! can be by mixing and matching different products.

With Christmas on my mind, we made this card. 

It uses papers from the Warmth & Cheer Paper Stack and  the Christmas  Specialty DSP along with the stamps and Thinlits, plus Burlap Ribbon and I've added some retired Seam Binding.

Techniques include: torn edges, stamping off, Wink of Stella (gold) and layering of different elements. It is so much fun to see the variations the class achieves - they are a talented group.

 We fussy cut the Holly Branches and the greeting is stamped using Memento Black Ink.

If you would like to order any of these products to make your own cards you can do so at my on-line store, or contact me and I will place the order for you.

If you are looking for a part or full time job, working from home and at your own pace, AND you love craft, then you should consider doing what I do.

To learn more details, visit my website
 

Until Next Time

Happy Stamping

Flowering Fields Versatile Cards For All Occasions

Flowering Fields is one of the most versatile Stampin' Up!® Sale-A-Bration stamp sets available this year.  For today's post I've used the same set and the same basic layout to create different cards. 

As usual I like to challenge my class attendees a little and I included a tiny bit of brayer work. Yes, they all grumbled about it, but as I say - "Practice Makes Perfect".  Seriously tho', the thing about brayering is that it has such a serendipity effect that  all we can do is try to get to know how our colours will work and work a little on our technique each time we try. 

Here is the first card -

I really enjoy the tryptic effect - it gives the original composition a whole different feel.  I have brayered the top part of  a Whisper White piece of card with So Saffron, then stamped a variety of images from the Flowering Fields stamp set, using Archival Black Ink.  The images are coloured  with a Blender Pen and Classic Ink. The card is made from Thick A4 Whisper White.

The next card uses the same techniques - just different colours and a fine mat around each piece of the tryptic.

Just change the greeting, the colour range, add a little punched flower and some Linen Thread and you have a different card.

For the next card I decided to try repeating just one of the flower Images and I really like that effect too. What do you think?

 I have a few more versions of this card on the go and find it fun to change things up a bit. I don't like making lots of the one card, so combining the techniques of this card along with the versatility of choosing just one stamp or combining different stamps from this set gives lots of opportunity to create different results. 

Do you love this set? It is a Sale A Bration set and therefore only available until March 31. If you want it you'll need to act quickly to place an order for $90 AUD and then you can choose it for free. Go to my On-Line store to place an order and add the item code 141300 (wood blocks) or 141303 (Clear Mount)
Don't forget to add the Hostess Code (top right side bar on this blog) to be in the running to win the Hostess Rewards for next month. It's free and fun!

I hope you are inspired by these cards ,

Until next time

Happy Crafting

Bokeh and Stampin' Up! = Very Cool Results

Hello, hello.

Are you in the mood for a little serendipity? Then you must give the Bokeh technique a try using some of your Stampin' Up! supplies.

What is Bokeh? And how do we translate that to our stamps and inks?

In photography, bokeh (Originally /ˈboʊkɛ/, /ˈboʊkeɪ/ BOH-kay — also sometimes pronounced as /ˈboʊkə/ BOH-kə, Japanese: [boke]) is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light".

Card created by Suzan Visentin

 At our team meeting this month we focused on experimenting with the Bokeh technique. It was a first for all of us and the results were quite diverse. See the circles of white on the background - they are created with Stampin' Up! Whisper White ink sponged through a mask cut with different sized circles. I used Window sheet and the Circles Framelits  to make the masks. Don't try to use your punches as they don't cut window sheet very well!!!

Card created by Patricia Arentz

To create the background we spritzed some water colour paper with water, then dropped 2 - 4 colours of re-inker onto the paper. Spritz again to disperse the colour more. If the colour is too intense for your liking, simply blot with some paper towel, then dry with the Heat Tool.

Load a sponge with Whisper White, and starting with the largest circle, sponge through the mask moving it randomly over the background. Next sponge through the next smallest circle and continue until your background looks like it is spotted with light. Hasten drying by using the heat tool, because you just will not be able to wait to continue with your creation! You will start to see some very interesting effects now. 

Card created by Ann Craig

The 3 samples above show the varying degrees of intensity that you are able to choose when adding the white ink. We used the gorgeous Butterfly Basics stamp set and Framelits dies which we bought as a bundle and saved some $'s. The stamps are gorgeous and so adaptable.

When the background is thoroughly dry you can add stamps, die cuts, embellishments or ribbons to complete a unique card. 

Card created by Ceshton Hanns

Contact me if you would like further information on this technique. We will be doing a class on this method of creating in my Techniques Class some time later in the year. You are welcome to join the class.

Here is a list of the products used:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

You can order these products at my On-line Shop 

Or contact me for assistance.

Quick Stamped Backgrounds for Christmas Cards

One of the cards I designed for the September Christmas Card Stamp A Stack uses the CHEERFUL CHRISTMAS stamp set that can be found on p. 15 of the Holiday Catalogue. I've also used the greeting stamp from the same set.

 It is a simple task to ink and stamp the image randomly over the page. Hint: stamping off the edge of the page gives you a better overall coverage.

You can add variety by stamping multiple times without re-inking thus obtaining different tones of the one colour. 

For this card I used Coastal Cabana, Memento Tuxedo Black and the Dark shade of Coastal Cabana Blendability (to colour the rhinestones)

I placed a Tea Lace doily to the right side of the card base, then matted the greeting onto Silver Foil. The corners were shaped with the corner rounder punch from the Project Life selection and the Rhinestones are coloured then applied aver the large black dots on the greeting stamp. A few strands of Pool Party Bakers twine have been tied in a knot and adhered with a glue dot. 

Very quick, very easy and very effective. I've made these in a variety of colours and will be making more as they are so much fun.

You can purchase any of the products used through my on- line store or feel free to contact me for further information

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