Saturday, 30 June 2018

Giving Animal Outing an Outing

I was so lucky to be given this stamp set at OnStage in April.  This is the first time I inked it up - and I've really enjoyed it!

I was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest for this creation, however I changed it up a little.  Unfortunately the link wasn't working, so I can't give credit.



I stamped the main card front on Whisper White cardstock.  I used Memento Black Ink, and then coloured with various Blends.  For the giraffe I used both light and dark Daffodil Delight Blends, and both dark and light Crumb cake. For the leaves I used both dark and light Old Olive, and for the frog I used light Daffodil Delight then layered light Old Olive over it.

The sentiment is stamped onto Crushed Curry, framed with Soft Suede Card Stock.  I used the very corner of the Every Day Label Punch to punch the corners.


This picture is a little wrong - let me explain.  The first time I did this, I cut the corners of the Crushed Curry cardstock, then separately cut the Soft Suede cardstock.  When I went to layer the two together, I found that the angles of the cutouts didn't match.  

My solution was to adhere the Crushed Curry (with the corners already punched out) onto the Soft Suede, then I could judge the angles better to cut out the corners.  My Soft Suede was only 3mm wider and longer than the Crushed Curry, as I wanted to have the layer quite close.

Once the sentiment was adhered to the card, I stamped the corner decoration from the set Around the Corner - this is another set I received free during OnStage!

If you live in New Zealand and would like to purchase any of these items (or anything else) from Stampin' Up! please click on a picture below, and you'll be taken straight to my online store.

If you don't already have a demonstrator, I'm very happy to send you a complimentary copy of the current Annual Catalogue - this is only open to those who live in New Zealand.  Email me here with your address details.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Thursday, 28 June 2018

Tufted Embossing Folder done three ways

Good evening!  Thank you for stopping by.

Today I decided to put my brand new Tufted Embossing Folder to good use. I had an idea of a different way I could use it, so I did some experimenting.

Here's my first card - the embossing on the Crumb Cake card stock is quite subtle, and I couldn't photograph it very well.  The embossing is over the entire card, but the photo only shows it over the top part.



As you can see, it's very subtle.  In real life, it's kind of like a quilting affect. 

The flower stamp is from the Love What You Do stamp set, stamped in Memento Black Ink.  I then coloured the flowers in using Stampin' Blends.  I cut the flower out using the Stitched Shapes framelits, and the Layered Oval dies.  

The first thing I did was to colour each of the lines of the quilting - to do this I folded the Crumb Cake card stock on each line, then sponged Early Espresso ink on both sides of the line.  I did this over the whole card.  

After that I adhered sequins to each of the intersections.


This is the outcome.  I like this look, however because I was quite picky about what colour sequins I wanted, picking those out and then sticking them in place (using the Fine Tip Glue) was a very long process.

So I thought about it again, and tried something a little different.

What if I embossed each intersection with Copper Embossing Folder?  It would be quicker (wouldn't it?) and it might look just as good.

Erm - no!


Ok - let's be honest, it kind of looks like it might have a very uniform case of Chicken Pox!  I didn't have anything like a tiny dauber I could put the Versamark on with (pre the Embossing Powder), so I used a tiny paint brush I found at home. The problem with that (for me) is that the dots then aren't a uniform size or shape.  It also took at least the same amount of time to emboss these than it did to do the sequins.

It perhaps looks slightly better in real life, as you can see the quilting affect of the embossing folder, however I won't be sending this particular card to anyone!

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only crafter to make this sort of mistake - and I really do think I learned from this.  I also still quite like the sequinned card.

I promise to use the tufted folder again, hopefully to better affect!

If you would like a complimentry copy of the current Stampin' Up! Catalogue, please email me here (if you live in New Zealand), and I would love to be your demonstrator.

Clicking on the picutres below will take you to my online store, where you can have a look at all the Stampin' Up! products, and you can shop at whatever hour suits you best (this is only open to those who live in New Zealand)

Take care, and I hope your Friday runs smoothly

Andrea


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Friday, 22 June 2018

Any Occasion Card

Hi there, thank you for stopping by!

I watched a video yesterday talking about how to colour with the Blends, and I wanted to put my learnings to practice.

This is the card I made



The cardstock I used is Lemon Lime Twist - I love how fresh and bright it looked.  And it was ideal for my experiment.  The stamp set is Perennial Birthday. The only green Blends I have so far is the Light and Dark Old Olive ones.  They wouldn't really go too well with the Lemon Lime Twist, but first I coloured the leaves with the Light Daffodil Delight, then went over with the Light Old Olive.  It was still a little dark for me, so I went over it again with the Light Daffodil Delight.  I think the colour of the main leaves is amazing!

I used the Light Daffodil Delight again under the Light Pumpkin Pie that is on some of the flowers - I really like the more subtle tone that it made.

The other thing I did with these flowers, which you can't really see properly on the card, but which I think makes the colours pop a little more, is I went around each of the elements with Light Smoky Slate, and then lifted some of the colour with the Colour Lifter.  

Last time I showed my husband a card I'd made, he commented 'Why do you always put writing on your cards?'  And so, especially for Andrew, I made a card with no sentiment - so it can be used however the giver wants to use it.

If you live in New Zealand, and you would like to purchase any of the products I've used to make this card, please click on the pictures below and you'll go straight to my online store.

If you don't already have a demonstrator, I'd love to be your demonstrator!  Contact me here and I'll send you a complimentary copy of the new Stampin' Up! catalogue.

If you'd like to join my team of Absolutely Awesome Crafters, and be a demonstrator, contact me here and we can talk!

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Wednesday, 20 June 2018

I Love What I Do!

I feel so lucky - I love what I do! I get to create really cool things, and I get to share them with other people. 

My card today is simple, but lovely in it's simplicity. It uses one of the new In Colors too, I'm falling in love with all of them!



See what I mean?

I've used Grapefruit Grove cardstock, layered with Whisper White.  The black stamping is with Memento Ink, and the very gentle colour on the flowers is Grapefruit Grove stamped off once.

Love What You Do is the stamp set I used, and I finished my card off with some of the new Faceted Dots, which are just gorgeous.  They come in 4 colours (Black, Blackberry Bliss, Grapefruit Grove and Mint Macaron), and in 3 sizes. When you look at them closely they appear to have a matte finish, but when  you move them around in the light a little the facets make them look shiny as they catch the light.

So simple - anyone can do this!

If you like the idea of sharing what you love, and if you also love Stampin' Up!, then you might want to have a chat with me about becoming a demonstrator.  It's fantastic fun, and you can work to build it up into a business, or you can join just to get the joining kit (which is $189 and has $96 worth of free product for you), and then the Demonstrator Discount which is 20%.  There's no obligation to sell products if that's not your thing.

If you live in NZ and you'd like to purchase any of the items I've used to make my card, then click on any of the pictures below and you'll go straight to my online store where you can shop to your hearts content!

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