Perennial Birthday Stamp Set Easel Card

This lovely Perennial Birthday Easel Card - was a fun way to make a reasonably simple card with a difference... and once a gain I only used the one Stamp set.. Perennial Birthday (C Mount - 145760 - $38)..

With just a few different mat sizes of card stock and layering them you can make a simple easel card... adding a bit of bling and a few dimentionsals and Whoot Whoot.. there you go one pretty cool little number right there..

The flowers were stamped in Blueberry Bushel Ink (147138) and then using a dauber to colour in with Bermuda Bay Ink (147096).. then to colour in the leaves and the little flowers I used an aqua painter pen (103954) and the ink from the ink pads (Bermuda Bay and Shaded Spruce 147088)

I simply cut the A4 card stock in half long ways (10.5cm x 29.7cm) and folded it in half.. like a normal long opening card.. then taking the top layer you fold it back in half again..  and that is your easel part.. Adhere your card front onto it and you are in business...

 Here's a diagram of what I mean...







Have fun getting your Easel on!!

Clear Block and Ink Backgrounds

Your Clear Blocks can be used to put colour on so that you can come up with some awesome interesting backgrounds for your cards... here are just a few examples of using your blocks as a stamp to get and interesting look for your cards..

I put Tranquil Tide ink onto an F size block and then spritzed with water.. then I laid the Lemon Lime Twist Card mat onto the block allowing it to sit for a little while to soak up the water and the ink then I lifted it off and daubered around the edges to finish it off a little... 

With this one hear my Mat was actually White Card stock and I put both Tranquil Tide and Lemon Lime Twist ink onto the block then spritzed with water... let it run a little and then put the card stock on top of the block to soak up the ink and water...  I have found this to be a really cool way to get different effects for a relaxed looking background...

For this Lovely card I used a D sized Clear Block  and stamped teh block into the light blue and then rolled the edges into a darker blue and then spritzed...

Once i lifted up the card I noticed that there was a little more ink/water combo on the darker colour.. so i just blew it with a straw to get the splotch look...



It's so much fun to experiment with colours and arty techniques.. I hope you have fun experimenting too!!

Community Class Cards

I have a FANTASTIC group of ladies that I teach every week at the Kingston East Neighbourhood Group.

I learned last year that I have been teaching there for 7 years.. I was shocked to learn that.. As it really only feels like maybe a couple of years.. but let me tell you something... As much as the ladies love my classes I LOVE teaching them.. they are my saving grace!! If I did not have them to teach each week I have no doubt I would become a hermit and loose a massive purpose in my life... I love seeing them and spending time with them.. being inspired by them and teaching them!!! I look forward to our time together each week.. and when it is school holidays I miss them dearly!!!

So here are a few cards from the past 6 months or so.. as you know I'm catching up because of technical difficulties.. and well.. there are loads of FANTASTIC cards to share....

This cute card above here was a bit fiddly but looks so lovely made with the now retired Fruit Basket Stamp Set and Punches.... I love the dark polka-dot background it really makes the feature stamping pop!!



This one was inspired buy a pinterest post using the Picture Perfect Birthday Stamp set...  WE also made a little gift tag to go with this one... but I seem to have missed taking a photo of it!!









I love Sale-A-Bration time of the year cause
Stampin' Up gives you extra stamp sets for purchasing your normal stuff... Wahoo.. Who doesn't like FREE stuff?? and This Stamp set was COOL!!

Epic Celebrations was one of those stamp sets that I think I may have to just hang onto forever..  Cause it is cool for Teen cards... especially male Teens... 

There was quite a few techniques used in this card. First we stamped the guitar with Stayz On and masked the Guitar and then stamped the Splotches in the background in crumb cake ... then on a separate piece of card stock we stamped the shoes in Stayz On and then painted the images with Aqua Painter Pens and ink..Using Stampin' Markers we inked up the greeting by wiping the colour on a diagonal... Then in this 2nd card when I taught it again to another class you can see that the shoelaces are a little more pronounced.. We coloured them in with a White Gel ink pen...

Yet again another Sale-A-Bration card made with the

Beautiful Peacock Photopolymer Stamp Set.... there were so many things you could do with this one... the one on the left has rock n roll an heat embossing and the one on the right has  ribbon fringing and fraying...

Oh and this little PARTY PANDA S-A-B Set.. oh my word... So Cute!!! 

The background is on watercolour paper and we just used some re-inkers and aqua painters to drip the colour onto the page.. then you stamp the Panda on extra card stock and cut him out... He is just so cute!!!

And this one was done just for fun because it was one of my ladies Gym Trainers Birthday.. adn she wanted to make him a quick little card but had no stamp sets to suit...

Turns out neither did I.. so we came up with this little (QUICK) punch art set of hanging boxing gloves..

She was very happy with the result... Phew.. Talk about pressure... all goods.. I love to be challenged and to think outside of the box...

Colour with Brusho - MAGIC!!!

Have you discovered the MAGIC of BRUSHO???

When we were introduced to it at the On Stage Event I knew I just had to get it!!! I love the random effect of colouring with it..  there are so many tutorials on the net for how to use it but what i have discovered is it is just through playing with it you learn what you can do... It is so much fun watching the colour magic happen right before your eyes... If you have not played with these wonderful colouring products you need to get onto it right away!!!

This was one of my first plays with Brusho... by embossing with white and then spritzing with water and sprinkling Brusho on you can come up with this BEAUTIFUL effect!! It is so easy.. just e sure not to sprinkle too much Brusho powder as a little goes A-LOOOOONGG Way!!!










Using just one colour you can make some fantastic backgrounds for sky or clouds.. this card was inspired by a pinterest post.. I just had to copy... Some people are just so clever!!

And then when you just want a really random ball of MAGIC COLOUR.. you can add all the colours to your pallet... to see how it turns out!!!












Have FUN getting your Brusho on!!!

Rocking Horse

This is a cute easy lay out that just adds a little oomph to your project.. you can use this with any style stamped image.. It's just fun...

The horse is coloured with re-inkers and an aqua painter pen...

 Here's your challenge... Using this template set out come up with your own design of cards..

Happy Layering!!!

Artful Techniques

Don't you just love experimenting?? It makes me so happy to be arty farty.. get messy and creative.. I have a saying that a truly creative person does not create in an organised space.. I don't know about you but when I start everything is lovely and clean.. but by the time I have finished a couple of hours of creating I have EVERYTHING out on the table and you can see that I have had a BLAST!!! Ive left my mark for sure!! So here a a few cards that I was experimenting with...





This first one is with water colour paper, aqua painters and re-inkers... just place a little reinker on a piece of acetate then pick up a little of that colour with your aqua painter and drop the colour onto your watercolour paper... Squeeze out the body of your aqua painter until the water is clean and then you can repeat this process with as many colours as you like..
 Then dry off with your heat tool and stamp an image or greeting over the top with Stayz On (or another colour ink you might like)








This card is called chalk board... So what you do here is stamp your image and your greeting in white craft in onto a dark coloured card stock.. (BLACK) and then using your watercolour pencils colour over the image to give it that professional chalk board artsy look...  Simple and EASY!!






This final card is shadowing.. using your die cuts cut out the shapes in acetate.. then using a dauber make your cutouts like a stencil.. and dauber the colour onto your card stock...

Then you can cut out the die cuts in coloured card stock and layer it over just a little off center to give you that cool effect...

I've also done a little spritzing with an aqua painter filled with Espresso re-inker and alcohol rub... take off the cap and then flick the brush to get fine little drips and splats of ink... This is a great technique for aging things.. and just adding a little more interest to your projects. 

Have fun playing..

Using Scraps - Card Making

SCRAPS... Man I have HEAPS!!!.. So last year I made many of my classes FOCUS on Using up some scraps..

here is how I organise my scraps.... I have folders of coloured card stock... Scrap bits... and some retired colours... all in PVC envelopes sorted into individual colours and close ish colours...

 

 I have a 12' X 12' BOX FULL of scrap DSP... if it is less then a 6' the bits go in there... and sometimes it can be a real nightmare to find something you may like to use... so then I can do this to help more..





SO then If you want to be kind to your customers.. or save yourself a little bit of a head ache... you can further sort your scraps into colour PVC folders... this is an example of a folder that I sorted into pink and purples... It makes it MUCH easier to find a colour you may be looking for when you have gone to this extent.. But I must warn you.. this kind of thing is VERY time consuming... It takes forever!!! SO just do a little at a time.. otherwise your will have scrap sorting burn out!!!


Then you can easily pair your card stock with your DSP scraps to match...

Here's another sorted PVC folder I did ages ago... with neutral colours..

This sorting makes it super easy for you and your customers to make up a card that you have a sample of for them to copy... and they can choose their own.. And it REALLY is a HIT!!



Here are the example of the two cards that were made from these scrap colour combos...


The only limitation is ones imagination!!

GO forth and be TOTALLY creative!!

Oh and I have a scrap container of ribbon also.. everyone loves picking through that to see what ribbon they will use..

Here's some more SCRAPPY inspiration...

I hope these inspired you to use those scraps more..

April 2017 Artful Angels Training

Our April meeting had a challenge .. I was to create a variety of craft items with the one stamp set...

This is what Rosa did... She made a beautiful gift box, gift bag and card... 



I was kind of cheating with my samples as I had had a few classes in April  so I double dutied.. by making my classes based on the one stamp set...




This is what I did with the Lift Me Up stamp set (142896 - $37) and Up & Away Die cuts... (142748 - $50)


 
And this is what I did with the Floral Phrases (141767 - $31) and Detailed Floral Thinlet Dies (141482-$49)

A couple of cards... A Chockie holder.. A Pop Up card.. a Napkin ring and a Survival box of goodies.. It's good to challenge yourself to do different things.. think outside the box.











Rosa had a stall at a retirement place and had made a few things to go sell on the day... She was kind enough to share her ideas with us..

These peg have retired DSP, Card stock or Washi tape on them with a magnet on the back side so you can use them as note holders on your fridge... COOL idea!! And packaged up so nicely!!!






And she made these two little boxes of chockies








This was one of the projects we did.. a cute little pop out card..

Pull the ribbon side and out pops the greeting and a space to put a little flat treat like a heart chockie or after dinner mint...

LOVING the new In-color Lemon Lime Twist it is such a GORGEOUS colour!!!
The technique on this card is double daubering.. dauber in a light colour first and then dauber in a slightly darker shade of similar colour. The outer edge of the white card here has lemon Lime Twist and Tranquil Tide.. Daubered..

The flower image has been inked up at first with Lemon Lime Twist and then with a Dauber you can add a little of the Tranquil tide to the stamp and then Stamp as you would normally -being sure to hole the image to the card stock a little longer than you normally would...


This was the 2nd project we did.. The lovely Rose Wonder Stamp Set (140697 -$47) and Rose Garden Thinlets (140619 - $54) ..

Using old XRays (or Acetate Sheets) you can cut out with the thinlets and make your very own masking sheets... We daubered with our ink to create the colour of the flower and leaves.. and then we stuck the matching card stock over the top a little off skew. We also used reinker and isicole in a Aqua Paint pen to add the splashes of ink... It's a nice distressing technique...

We decided on the stamp set for our July Fundraiser day... (Seaside Shore 141625) and we talked about possible projects to do...
I made this card on a getaway with a friend and just fell in love with the stamp set..
I took inspiration from picture of a card on page 122 (2017-18) Catty.. Star of Light .. I loved the daubering and thought I could do something like that with many colours to create an ocean look...





One of the projects we really want to do is to stamp on tiles... these were a few I had a play around with...




We are hoping to do this with tiles.. if we can find the right ones for the right price...  And of course use the Seaside Shore stamp set on the tiles..

I can't wait to do the projects... So much fun..