Wednesday 11 February 2015

Spots and stripes

Well three days on and I am still far from feeling tickety boo. However, armed with a box of tissues and sitting huddled under a blanket, I will share a couple more of our card fronts that were created using the stencils from the "Dots and Stripes"set.


This first card used both stencils. I masked off the part of the card I wasn't working on and lay the striped mask from corner to corner. I used the rich razzleberry ink pad directly to ink through the stencil, which is why the colours on this are deeper. I then masked off the other side of the card and lay the dot mask on and inked directly using the melon mambo inkpad. To make the toppers, I used the "Amazing Birthday" stamp set to stamp the birthday cake which I layered onto a circle punched from rich razzleberry card stock. I added white dots using the chalk marker. Using the same stamp set I stamped the Happy Birthday greeting and then layered it onto a tag punched from melon mambo card stock. The whole card front was then mounted onto melon mambo card stock.


This second example, used the stripe stencil. I lay it one way across my white card and sponged through with daffodil yellow ink. I then wiped the stencil before turning it around by 90% and sponged through with pacific point ink. I picked up those colours to create the tag, which is the striped banner stamp and the surprise stamp, both from the "Amazing Birthday" collection. I layered them up onto a die cut tag in pacific point card stock. I used dimensionals to attach it to the card front. I then added a piece of knotted yellow ribbon. The whole was then mounted onto a square of pacific point ink.

One of these cards is in quite "girly" colours, whilst the other is quite masculine. It is always fun finding different ways to creating tour own bespoke backgrounds, not just for cards, but for journals and home decor as well.

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

I am going to snuggle back under my blanket and continue to try and get better.

Helen

Sunday 8 February 2015

Ridiculously amazing


Another day, another stencil card. I really loved creating this background - very therapeutic. I got the idea from a You tube video featuring an American Stampin' Up demonstrator - Julie Davison (you can view it here ). She in turn had been inspired at a Stampin' Up convention. So now it is your turn to be inspired.
You simply take a selection of stampin' write markers and using the dots stencil and the thin end of the marker, you draw around the circle and then doodle in the centre -dots, stripes, spots, scribble, cross-hatch - whatever takes your fancy. For my card front I used daffodil yellow, tempting turquoise, melon mambo and pumpkin pie to create my doodled spots on a piece of whisper white cardstock. I backed my card onto a piece of melon mambo card stock. I then made the greeting tag by using the same markers to colour this fabulous stamp from the "Amazing Birthday" set (not forgetting to "huff" on the stamp before stamping it.) I then cut it out and backed it onto melon mambo card stock, before attaching it on an angle, with dimensionals. I finished off with a piece of  melon mambo cotton ribbon. A beautifully bright, yet simple card and a technique that the children might like to try (even if you don't let them use your stampin' write markers!)

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.


I am feeling very sorry for myself today - cough, headache, runny nose. It hasn't kept me away from my craft room though. Perhaps this is just the cure I need. Playing with my crafty toys and planning more classes and workshops. Do check out my classes page on the blog to see a current list of planned events.

Hopefully by the time I am back with you i shall be feeling tickety-boo. I have been watching old episodes of Call The Midwife - I love that expression! Perhaps we need a stamp?

Helen

Saturday 7 February 2015

Stencilling fun



We have had a great deal of inky fun at a couple of my recent classes using the Stampin' Up stencils to create backgrounds for a beautiful variety of cards, for different occasions and over the next few blogs I will show you some in more detail. 

With Valentine's Day only a week away, perhaps we should have a look at the heart one first.


I sponged through the heart stencil from the "hearts and stars"set with real red onto a square of whisper white card. I then stamped the "you + me" sentiment form the seasonal "you plus me" stamp set, using black memento ink. I punched it out with the 1 3/4" circle punch before backing it onto a real red scalloped circle that I had punched out with the 2 3/8" scalloped circle punch. I fixed this to the card front with dimensionals. I made a pleated strip of the black washi tape from the "stacked with love" collection. I finished by punching a banner using the banner punch, from black card and a heart from real red card, using the heart from the itty bitty accents punch pack. Again I used dimensional to add the resulting banner to the card front. I matted the card front onto black card and then real red card. These haven't actually been mounted onto a card base and currently remain as card toppers. 
I haven't got too many Valentine cards to make, as I have been happy to stick by the one man for over 30 years and neither do I anticipate that I shall receive too many. But even after 30 years it is good to remind each other that you are special and not only for this one day.

If you would like to have a go at some stencilling techniques, I think these stencils are good quality and I was surprised by how large they were given the price. 


Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.



Weekly Deals



There are some lovely goodies in this weeks weekly deals, so don't forget to check those out here

Lovely Ladies

If you would like to come along to the all day workshop on 21st February, entitled "Lovely Ladies" then there is still time to book. We will be using the "Forever florals" stamp set to create a variety of cards of different shapes, styles and techniques. All will be suitable for the special ladies in your life, including Mums for Mother's Day if that is appropriate for you and you get to take your very own stamp set home with you. Do get in touch via email, phone (07816996849) or my Facebook page here
 I have had a confused young man from the Middle East join the event on my Facebook page, but I am sure he would be disappointed by the fun I am offering on these lovely friendly and relaxing days.

I'll be back with some more stencils soon.










Wednesday 4 February 2015

Masking on a Monday


On my last blog post, I shared a card using a masking technique featuring the gorgeous lemon stamp which is available as part of the sale-a-bration promotion. At the Monday afternoon love-a-duckie craft group a couple of weeks ago, we used that stamp and some others to create a variety of cards using the masking technique to build up layers of stamped images that appear to sit behind each other.
For the card above, it was the shell image that was masked to create the border of shells.These stamps are from the "By the Tide" set and I choose colours from the subtles collection (blushing bride and wild wasibi).


For this very different card, we used the familiar looking building brick stamp from the "Boys wil be boys" stamp set to create a pile of bricks. This time we coloured the bricks with stampin write markers from the brights collection and used co-ordinating card and designer series paper.

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

Don't forget if you are tempted by any of these lovely stampin' up goodies, if your order totals £45, then you are entitled to choose one of the free items from the sale-a-bration catalogue. Do get in touch.