Jan 21, 2019 | Love & Anniversary |
The Brief:
- Keep it simple
- Theme: Valentine’s Day
- Supplies: Stamps, ink and paper
- You may use a punch
This was the challenge given to us by Stampin’ Up!® for January #simplestamping
No embossing folders, no ribbons, no embellishments aaaah – this can get a bit tricky for me. I just want to add layers and detail but the whole idea of the #simplestamping challenge is to get everyone involved in this fun activity of stamping and enjoy the creative outlet it provides. It is so much fun and doesn’t have to be time consuming to get fabulous results.
I used to be so afraid of stamps and ink pads until I learned how to do it and it all started with simple projects. Simple doesn’t have to be boring and when you mix our stamps and inks with our gorgeous Designer Series Paper, simple cardmaking still produces beautiful projects.
This card will take you a few minutes to create. Cover the entire card base with the All My Love DSP. There are lovely sheets of flowers and hearts in this pack and I especially love this sheet.
Stamp the hearts right along the strip of Whisper White cardstock. Stamp the sentiment in Rich Razzleberry. Punch out the Pretty Label punch from Mint Macaron cardstock, cut in half and attach behind the Whisper White panel. Adhere this to the card base.
My first #simplestamping project completed. It took me out of my comfort zone and I’m glad I gave it a go. Watch out for more #simplestamping projects in the next few months. Projects focusing on stamps, ink and paper.
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Jan 20, 2019 | Step-It-Up Sunday |
Hi Everyone,
Step-it-Up Sunday is back with a Sale-A-Bration stamp set. The beautiful By the Bay stamp set is a free Sale-A-Bration production you can earn with any $90 purchase during this promotion. There are some lovely beach images of seagulls, a seashell and a house by the sea which is beautiful and tranquil. There are so many ways to feature these on cards either by themselves or paired with other stamp sets. This was one of the first sets that caught my eye in this catalogue and as I live close to the beach, it was a definite ‘must have’.
I’ve teamed up this stamp set today with Home to Roost which is another Sale-A-Bration offering. It’s got an image of a rooster, the reeds which I’ve used on these cards and some great sentiments. I think Stampin’ Up! have come up with a fabulous range of Sale-A-Bration items to choose from this season.
Basic
To create this card, layer the Basic Gray cardstock on your Balmy Blue card base. Stamp the image in Stazon ink on Whisper White cardstock. Highlight some areas of the image with some basic colouring in with water colours. Use an aqua brush to soften the edges of the lines (this is optional). You don’t need to spend too much time on the colouring. Just enough to bring out a few elements of the picture.
Stamp the reeds and sentiment in Early Espresso.
Intermediate
Add some texture to the Whisper White layer by embossing it with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder. Using the edge of the Smoky Slate ink pad (the edge without a lip) run the ink pad down the embossing of the cardstock. Run it bottom to top as well. Do the same with the Balmy Blue ink pad. This gives it a beachy feel with the distressed look.
Stamp the reeds on top of this with Early Espresso ink. I could have done this prior to embossing however I liked the look of this.
Die cut the circles, stamp part of the image and colour sections of it. Stamp the sentiment and punch out with the Classic Label punch. To shorten the label, insert one side back into the punch and this will give you a shorter label.
Advanced
To step this card up, colour in the image in detail. Die cut 2 labels and attach in the top right corner. adding the linen ribbon which has been frayed.
Hope you give some of these ideas and techniques a try. I’d love to hear from you with feedback and enquiries.
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Jan 15, 2019 | Other |
Sometimes a card starts off without a plan in mind and this was one of those cards for me. I just loved the Just Because stamp set. The simplicity of the images and the sentiments really appealed to me. The images are outlines and could be stamped as is or coloured in.
I first added colour direct to the stamp by using Garden Green, Cajun Craze and Blueberry Bushel Stampin’ Write Markers. All you need to do is colour the stamp well and then huff (breathe) on it which will activate the ink. Then stamp onto your cardstock. I then die cut it. I could have left it at this as it already had colour but I coloured it in with Stampin’ Blends.
For the base of the card I got my laser cut specialty DSP and had a bit of light bulb moment and decided to colour it. As I said earlier,there was no plan in mind. The closest to Blueberry Bushel in Stampin’ Blends was Night of Navy. So I got to colouring the entire piece and the Night of Navy worked so well you can hardly tell the difference. When you colour make sure you do several layers – once in one way and then the other direction so you get good coverage. It didn’t take long to colour with the brush side of the Stampin’ Blend. The effect of the paper when coloured got me so excited as it gave me other possibilities of using this DSP.
The card didn’t need much more as I really wanted the beautiful paper to feature with the stamp. Try this technique to make more use of this beautiful DSP.
The Just Because stamp set is a Host stamp set and can be purchased with Stampin’ Rewards. For more details on how you can earn Stampin’ Rewards contact me on Ph: 0404 255 001 or click on the Shop Online link below.
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Jan 11, 2019 | Promotions |
You’ve seen the catalogues and made wish lists. Have you considered joining Stampin’ Up!? Sale-A-Bration is the best time to join.
Stampin’ Up! have come up with 2 special offerings for anyone who joins during the Sale-A-Bration period. Your Starter Kit is selected by YOU and you can choose anything from the the Annual and Occasions catalogue. So you could make a selection of products from cardstock, designer series paper, ink, markers, stamps, dies, ribbons, embellishments – anything you like. It’s also shipped free to you.
Apart from this initial benefit, you also receive an ongoing minimum of 20% off all your orders. Imagine all the extra crafty goodness you could get with that.
Option 1 – Gives you $315 worth of Stampin’ Up! products for just $169
Option 2 – Gives you $315 worth of Stampin’ Up! products PLUS the very stylish Craft and Carry Tote (valued at $87) for a total of $210. This tote is not available for sale and can only be purchased through a Starter Kit. It is so spacious and holds stamp sets and paper and a whole lot more and would be great to take away with you on a holiday.
Don’t miss out on this fabulous opportunity to join an amazing company either as a hobby demonstrator or to pursue it as a business venture. It’s fun and always interesting.
This offer is only available during Sale-A-Bration so join today to get the benefits. I would love for you to join my Stamping Flair team and be part of your Stampin’ Up! journey.
Jan 10, 2019 | Tips |
Yes it can be done and it doesn’t hurt the stamp one bit although it takes a bit of courage to do it the first time.
I have a little tip for you today using the Butterfly Gala stamp set. This stamp set comes with 4 sets of butterflies – large and small – joined together. So when you stamp, you get 2 images. The benefit of this is that the Butterfly Duet punch will punch these 2 images at the same time.
However, there are times you may want to just stamp 1 of those butterflies. You could mask it off with a post-it-note or washi tape and that would fine for a one-off but if you wanted to stamp a background of butterflies flying in different directions, it could get messy and you would need a few post-it-notes. Today I was creating a card and wanted a background of stamped butterflies and I really couldn’t be bothered masking each time. So after a bit of thought, I took scissors to stamp, and cut them apart. It felt good. My butterflies were free.
How to Cut Apart Your Stamps
As these are photopolymer stamps, fine tip scissors work fine. You just need to make one clean cut across. If you need to stamp it together, they will fit back like a jigsaw puzzle (see last picture) and you will be able to punch both images together. No harm done. If it’s a rubber stamp, I recommend you use a sharp scalpel and the same method of a nice clean cut so you can put it together when needed.
This is the card I was working and it shows how I’ve used the larger of the butterflies as a background image. This would also come in handy when you want to add an image to the inside of your card or the envelope.
I hope this inspires you to look at your stamps to see what options you have if you cut them so you can get more use out of them.
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*free with qualifying purchase during Sale-A-Bration.
