Sweet as a Peach cards

 

 I used the Sweet as a Peach set to create these cards along with the coordinating DSP.

I don't really get why you'd put fruit on a card, but this was quite pretty and it reminded me of Avon's Pretty Peach soap on a rope. I loved the smell of it. I'm giving away age now ha ha.

Many years ago S.U did a pair of edgelet dies with a coordinating embossing folders. I used these to cut and emboss the edge of the top layer.

I am not a fan of the Dist-ink-tive stamps because they leave a tiny dotty effective rather than a solid image, so I was in two minds about buying this set. The effect is rather like the old magic painting books.  To combat that effect I used a blender pen to smooth out those dots between the layers.

When I say layers, it's because I stamped the peach multiple times. First I stamped in peekaboo peach then stamped on top with pretty in pink twice and blended the colours together with the blender pen.  With a sponge dauber I added some cherry cobbler ink around the  very edges of the stamp only and stamped over the top again. I did this a couple of times more,  bringing the cherry cobbler ink in a little further each time and blending each layer of ink. Resulting  in a deeper more intense colour at the edges and no dots.

  I also used the blender pen on the leaves and flowers to eradicate those dots.

I kept the card below simple, I just used the blossom from the same set on the this card.

  Not a peach in sight.

An Easter card for a young man who likes Peter Rabbit. The Rabbit image is from the retired set Fable Friends. I stamped the rabbit on an oval die cut and coloured the image. I didn't want to mount the rabbit on a second oval layer , so I  rolled the edge of the die cut along the surface of the ink pad until I had a very fine border, just wide enough for it to separate the oval from the background.

 The background was created using a stencil from Lavinia stamps. Again I created the edge on the background panel by dabbing the edge of the card on the surface of the ink pad. This is a great way to give the impression of extra layers without actually adding  the layers. It also means the card weighs less saving you money on postage as well as saving you card.

Thanks for Renovating me.

 My step father asked me to make a card for his new neighbours, They bought the cottage next door which is in need of a lot of work before they can move in. He didn't want a traditional new home card. Instead he requested a Thank You card,  to thank the new owners for all they are doing to renovate the cottage. Signed by the house.   

I decided to make a card using die cut tools, tools they maybe using for the renovations. 

I used the retired Background Rules stamp. I blended ink over the front panel and the front of the base card. Then splattered water  over both pieces and blotted off the water after a few seconds to get the mottled effect.

Childs Card and Sweety Bags

 I needed a card in a hurry earlier this week for one of the children I work with, again I sought inspiration from the internet. This card was inspired from a card I saw on Pinterest by a lady called Kris but that's all that I know about her.  This not an exact copy of her card. I changed it up by adding clouds, I used glitter paper for the numbers and thread for the balloon strings rather than drawing them in.

I decorated the flap of the envelope with a paper that matched one of the balloons. Now I have to confess I really didn't plan this, I had stamped an image on the flap and I had intended to colour it but I messed up and smudged the ink,  not wanting to waste an envelope I  decided to cover the error with  DSP paper .

I usually give the boys a small quantity of sweets on a Friday for good behaviour throughout the week.   I had run  out of the small poly bags I usually use,  so I decided to make some small paper bags  and decorate them to make them more appealing to the boys. I have to say, I was right they did appeal to them and one of them even pointed out it was better for the planet....less plastic waste. I was impressed with his thinking and I was in total agreement but also dreading the thought of making them every week. 

I used copier paper to make these bags.   Cut to 7 x 6 1/2 inches.  

 Along the 7  inch side  I scored at  2,   2 1/2 ,   3,      5,     5 1/2,      6  inches    The last half inch is the glue tab to join the sides. 

  On the 7 inch edge  score at 1 inch. This will form the base of the bag.  These measurements will make a bag  2 inches wide by 1 inch deep and 6 inches tall. This may seem quite small but you can get quite a lot in them.

  I stamped jelly beans in  multiple colours many many times.  I used an edgelet die to  create the serrated edge along the top.

 Then it's just a case of snipping  all the score lines at the bottom up to the 1 inch score line, folding them over and gluing together to form the base.

Stencilled backgrounds.

 In the ten years I have been writing this blog, I don't think I have ever done a card using stencils.  Stencils have always been my nemesis. I think that's because they always seem to move as I apply the ink. It doesn't seem to matter how well I secure them down, they still manage to move. So I gave up on them... 

until now that is. I was wandering round the Range looking for envelopes, yellow beads and A3 heavy white card. Well I didn't find any of the items on my list but I did spot some small packs of  animal print stencils and a pack of  spots and stripes.   Going against my better judgement, I decided to give them a shot. Well they were only  £1.00 a pack, so I didn't have much to lose if I couldn't get on with them. After playing with these stencils I have come to the conclusion my problem has been my stencils   are mainly  narrow stripes  and very large stencils,  making them very flexible. Too flexible for my heavy handedness. 

 I was delighted with the out come using the giraffe print.  So much so I just had to combine it with the giraffe stamp  on the card below.  It also works well when used with stone colour inks to create a stone wall. As on the header card with the grapes on. I have tried the others stencils in the packs and found the animal prints and spots are easy to work with too, but the straight and diagonal stripy ones are still an issue for me. I  haven't won the battle  with stencils completely. But I am happy with what I have achieved so far.

 

Gift box idea

These gift boxes were created after I watched a video by my up line earlier this week, as it's half term I decided it was time to try it out. These boxes have been around for quite a while. I do  remember watching another  brilliant video on making a tall version of these boxes by the talented Sarah Hardy.  Sarah is no longer an S.U. demo, but her videos are still available on Youtube.

 I have to say, I do miss her FB live videos.

 I 'll  see if I can find the video and post a link at the end of this post.

Amanda's small box is cute, and it only uses just over half a sheet of card, (6 x 8 1/4 inches)  making it a really economical  project.  It's ideal for small gifts.  Such as cosmetics, hair accessories, small craft products, or small electronic items such as USB memory sticks and those tiny earphones,  and of course jewellery. To give you an idea of  the finished projects size and capacity, I managed to fit two bottles of nail polish in it.

So I scaled it up a little by adding an inch to the height. This enabled me to fit in a small tube of hand cream along with a bottle of nail polish and the box  still closed. 

By extending the height a little meant I could fit in slightly taller objects. Miniature bottles of alcohol for example. Two mini Gordons gin bottles will fit in comfortably. But that doesn't mean all miniatures will fit, even in the slightly taller box,  as the bottles tend to vary in shape and size which of course means you may have to make the box taller still.

I wanted a box I could fit an assortment of items in, so  I scaled the box up again. This time my card measured  10 1/2  x 8 1/4 inches. Which gave me a finished box  that roughly measures 5 inches wide and 7 inches tall.   Now I can fit quite a few more objects in. I had a winter care kit in mind when I was putting together the items for this box. So  this gift box contains: hand cream, a pack of tissues, hand sanitizer, Lip salve and if I had had a sachet of instant hot chocolate I would  have popped that in too as there was still enough room for it.

(468) FB LIve Replay Flower Fever Stampin' Up - YouTube

Here is the link to Sarah 's Video. I was going to add the link to Amanda's but I can't find her video on youtube. Maybe she hasn't posted it yet.

High Tide

I have been putting off buying this set called "High Tide" because it's a polymer set and I very rarely get good results with this type of stamp set. But I have seen so many lovely cards made with this set that I relented when it went on the retired list. The fact it was discounted was a bonus too. 

These two cards are my first attempts with this set and I am really pleased with the way they have  turned out, especially for my first attempts. Of course this could be a fluke and I may never get such good results ever again. Now You may think I am jesting but I kid you not I have several stamp sets where I have managed to get great results first time but never again.

To create the clouds, I cut cloud shapes in different shapes and sizes around the sides of a sheet of acetate to create a mask.  When I want to create clouds I select a section of the acetate sheet and lay it across  my card stock. Using a blending brush and a tiny amount of ink, I apply the ink to the mask and then lightly brush the ink over the edge of the mask to create the blue of the  sky, leaving the masked off area white and cloud shaped. 

 

Well, all I can say is....

Today I have a couple of LOTV images I've used on these cards.

 Although the images are cute they are not what I want to write about today.

 It's the sentiment!!

I can see me using this on  a lot of cards to make them multi purpose cards, so to speak.

The card above could be a birthday card  just by writing or stamping happy birthday on the inside to complete the greeting.  Equally it could be a congratulations card for a young lady that has learnt to ride or done well in an equestrian event, just by stampin congratulations inside.

 The card below  could easily be a "Welcome to your new home" card or it could be a "Thank you" card to someone that's helped you with your home décor.  All you have to do is to complete the sentence accordingly on the inside of the card. 

I think this has to be one of the most versatile  sentiment stamps ever and you can find it in the "Massive Thanks" Stamp set by Stampin' Up!.

Masculine cards

I have been playing with inks again. Blending various colours of inks to create colourful skies  for the silhouette stamping. The die for the lighthouse is in the set that coordinate with the sailing home stamp set. 

Normally you would stamp the lighthouse and die cut the image with the matching die. But I needed the negative of the lighthouse die for a video tutorial, which meant the positive was waste. After some thought I decided to use it as a silhouette on my blended backgrounds.

But then  I decided there wasn't enough foreground on the die cut for what I had in mind.

 I didn't want my scene made up of lots of pieces.

So here's what I did.

I placed the die on black card leaving lots of space at the bottom of the die.

I placed the cutting mat over the die, leaving the base of the lighthouse uncovered and ran it through the bigshot.

This method cuts out most of the lighthouse but not all. Which means you can go in with a pair of scissors and cut the rocky landscape in a way that's pleasing to you.

To create the impression of the rocks, I blended patches of white craft ink into the card stock. and then blended a little black craft ink into the white until I had something that resembled  misty rocks.

Darling donkey meets woodland wonder

This sweet set was a gift from my upline for my 11th Stampin' up birthday. It's called Woodland Wonder. It's a photopolymer set and we all know I don't get along too well with this type of stamp. But I am thinking  either I  have excelled myself or these type of stamps have improved. I didn't have my usual issues so I am one happy bunny.

I have loved playing with this set. There is so much you can do with it. The tree comes in three parts, top foliage, middle trunk with woodland creatures and the base of the tree with grass. There are several accessories that go with the tree.  One of which is the cute rabbit. This could easily be the Easter Bunny when used with the short version of the tree and an Easter Greeting. 

On this card I used all the tree stamps together to create the tall version of the tree. All the woodland creatures are a part of the middle tree trunk, so you don't have to stamp them all individually.

 The banner and hanger are separate stamps, the wording is on the  banner stamp, but if you have small  sentiments that will fit and fancy doing a little masking, there is no reason why you couldn't change it to suit the occasion, as I have done on the card below.

 On this last card I changed the sentiment to make this a Thank you card for my upline. I added a Donkey from the Darling Donkeys set. There is no reason why you can't mix and match with other sets as long as the style of  the images are the same. The tiny flowers and the additional grasses I drew in, if you can call it drawing.  They consist of five tiny c 's in triangular shape. Using the very  tip of a marker I dotted in two colours of purple and then went over them again dotting in white using a fine tip white paint pen.

Treasures of life

This image is not really my cup of tea. I think it's because of the words on the heart.  I would prefer it without the words. I just don't think it needs them, the image says it all.   

Despite this stamp not being to my taste I decided to try it out.  I think it has turned out okay.

 In my experience I've found  the cards I make and really like, others don't like and the ones I hate others love. So I am sure there is somebody out there that will love this one.

Oh I almost forgot to say this stamp is in the set called  "Treasures of Life"   and it's in the new spring summer catalogue 2021.

Dave's Birthday

 Here's a card I made today for my brother in law. Dave has always had a liking for VW campers and has owned several  over the years. So this campervan stamp is perfect for him.  I bought the stamp many years ago,  but I couldn't get on with it very well, so it's been stashed in a drawer for years and has been badly damaged.   The front  wheel  (that would be behind the man) broke off this morning, but because I stamped the man first and masked him off, I could still use the damaged VW stamp by carefully positioning the stamp so that the missing wheel falls on the masked off man.   It doesn't show on the finished image, proving that damaged stamps can still be used with a little planning.  I die cut the image into a circle which meant I cut off the back end of the van.  I have to say , as much as I like using whole stamp images this van looks a lot better with it's rear end chopped off.

I masked off the van and stamped the trees and coloured the images.

I finished the van off by adding little gem stones on the lights. I used some travel theme DSP from S.U. for the background. I would have preferred the compasses were a bit smaller, but beggars can't be choosers... not without breaking the law that is. ha ha ha.

Giftcard/ cash holder card

 

It's a been a while since I  created a post  here due to having to go back to work after lockdown.  I have to say it was tough going back after 6 months off. I have been so tired, I haven't had the time or energy to spend in my craft room to make cards.

Anyway, you may remember I made some  6x4 versions of this card during lockdown. This time I have scaled it up to a 7 x 5 card and made it a masculine card.

I made my own background paper for these cards by putting my son's jeans in the photocopier and printing. I have done this before for papers for scrapbooking. I was scrapbooking my son's baptism day and I didn't have a suitable paper, so I photocopied the floral dress I was wearing in the photos. It looked great and I loved the end result. 

Blossoms abound

I was digging through one of my cupboards of old stamps when I came across the Blossoms Abound stamp set.  This is a long since retired set. I am not sure if it was ever in the UK catalogue. I bought this set from a lady in the USA about eight or nine years ago. I used it a lot initially, but I wasn't really happy with the results. Probably because I didn't have two purple inks that worked well enough together to look like lilac.
 Until now that is... S.U have brought out two lilac /purples that go together brilliantly.  So I have been playing with this set again today, along with the Perfectly Penned sentiment set, The Birch background stamp and the very old  En Francais background stamp Inks,.. Highland heather, Gorgeous grape. Mossy meadow, Old olive, Smokey Slate, and Grey granite.

I started by stamping the background in Grey granite with the Birch background stamp and Smokey slate with the script.

 Blossoms abound is a two step stamp set. If you're unfamiliar with these sets.  I'll explain,   the lilac blossom is made up of two stamps. The base is a less detailed stamp,  which I stamped in the lighter purple.  The second stamp has the detail and I inked up the detail stamp in the darker purple and stamped on top of the lighter purple image. It's as easy as that.
The leaves on this set are done the same way as the blossoms, although you have to stamp the stem before stamping the leaves. The stem also has the veins of the leaves and  this shows you where to stamp the leaves.

The sentiment is from the Perfectly penned stamp set and I stamped this in black Versafine.  I finished the image with some sponging to vintage it up a bit.   If you want a closer look click on one of the photos.

celebrate sunflowers.

This sunflower stamp set is called Celebrate sunflowers and is new from Stampin'up. I ummed and erred over buying this set for a while, as it's not really the sort of thing I would go for normally. But I am so glad I did. I didn't buy the die set that goes with this stamp set, but after fussy cutting a load of sunflowers and leaves I am beginning to wish I had.
To create these cards I stamped the sunflowers  and masked them off before stamping the leaves. 

I coloured the images  with Copic markers and using the splatter stamp from the French Foliage set, I stamped the splatters randomly around the panel.  I must add,  I used the second  and third generation stamping technique  to stamp the splatters. What that means is .... You ink up the stamp and stamp it on scrap paper, then without adding more ink you stamp your work. By doing this you get a lighter shade of ink. Third generation stamping is when you stamp the ink off twice before stamping your work.  You will get a very pale image when you use  the 3rd generation stamping technique.
I then lightly  sponged the edges for a slight vintage look.

I stamped the sentiment last as this needed more drying time. I used a pigment ink because I wanted an intense  black that stands out and they are very slow drying. I could have used memento and stamped it over and over again to achieve a deeper black,  but I thought I'd save time and use Versamark as it turned out by the time the versamark had dried I hadn't save any time at all.

sponging/ brushing technique with silhouette scenes stamp set

This morning I created a card that seemed to be quite popular on the Demonstrator website. 

 I was asked to do a tutorial on how I created it. But I am still having issues with uploading videos so I have decided to do a photo tutorial instead. The stamps I am using in this tutorial are different to the card I made this morning  but the process is  the same.

Before starting  I'd like to share some tips to help you get better results first time.

Brush and card tips.

 I would normally use sponge brayers or daubers to do sponging, But my daubers are starting to disintegrate  and  leave streaks, the brayers hold so much ink it seem wasteful  to use them.  So I chose to use  microfibre make up brushes  that I bought from Amazon that retail at around £10 per set.

  I have been trying these brushes out on various  types of card stock with varying results and... not all good. But the same  could be said for the brayers and daubers.  I think it's just a case of getting the combination right.

 For an air brushed look,  Stampin Up's  Whisper white card stock is a good choice  when working with these and so is the A3 300gsm card stock from the Range. It has a bit more tooth than the  usual stamping card, but it's great with these brushes. Some other cards give you a grainy look which is not a look I like.

  

 Another tip is not to over load the brushes  just a gentle tap or two on the ink pad is more than enough, then dab off most of the ink in the lid of the ink pad before applying it to your card.

You need next to no ink on your brush to start with, If you need more, use the ink you deposited in the lid.  You don't waste  ink by doing this.

 I watched a video review of craft and make up brushes,  including the sets I had bought. The lady said "you don't have to  start working off the card."  But I have to disagree with her.  You get a far better almost air brushed look if you  remove most of the ink and start working off the card and work towards the centre, as you would with sponges.

 The brushes seem to  release the ink quickly and basically clean themselves as you're working. This means you don't have to have one for every  shade of every colour.   ( I have one for all yellows, one for  all reds , one  for all light  blues, and so on.)

All you have to do to clean them,  is just brush it on scrap paper until no ink comes out.  

My verdict on these brushes is they are great for creating a lighter, air brushed look.  I think we all know just how strong the Melon Mambo colour is,  but with these brushes and almost no ink on the brush you can achieve a very pretty pastel look.

 Of course if you want strong vivid colour ignore everything I have said. 

Another thing that is worth mentioning is  the fact you don't get that awful round dauber mark that you just can't get rid of when you have just loaded it with ink and applied it without thinking directly to your card... Yes,  we've all done it.

 Here we go......

I am giving instructions for using the brushes but the technique stays the same if you use sponges or daubers just don't load the sponge with loads of ink if you want a lighter airbrushed look or you'll  waste a lot of ink dabbing it off.

On whisper white card from S.U. I loaded the brush with daffodil delight ink and then dabbed the brush in the lid of the ink pad several times to remove a lot of the ink, by dabbing it in the lid of the ink pad I can come back and reload the brush from the lid. Starting on scrap paper  work in a circular motion and work your way into the centre of the card.  Keep applying the ink in this way until you have the density of ink you like.   I rather like the soft pastel look.
 You can achieve  this look by having the minimum amount of ink on the brush/sponge.

 Work in the same way as you apply the other colours around the edges. I used  Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo , Balmy Blue, Highland Heather and Lucky Limeade.

To add a hill in the background tear a piece of paper into a hill shape and  and using the negative hill shaped paper, place it where you want your hill to be  and using a light lilac  or pale grey,  brush over the the edge of the scrap paper onto you card stock. You just want a light impression of a hill or mountain in the distance so don't apply too much ink.

Once I had completely covered the card with ink I filled a cheap and nasty aqua painter style brush with bleach and gently splattered the bleach over the card to form the white spots.

Unfortunately... I forgot that step  when making this tutorial sample so I splattered the bleach after I had stamped the girl. 

Luckily for me the bleach didn't have much effect on the black Versamark.  You could just about see where the bleach had landed,  so I took a small stiff paint brush and brushed over the areas with the same Versamark ink.

 For this sample, I chose the girl on a swing, from the Silhouette scenes stamp set from S.U.

 I haven't used this stamp before, so I am curious to know how this will turn out.

Stampin' up don't have a branch stamp big enough to hang this swing from, so I resorted to using a branch stamp from Lavinia stamps. The other alternative was to draw it in myself .

This looks like a summer scene to me, so using a tiny leaf stamp, again from Lavinia stamps,  I put a few leaves on the tree. I sponged some black ink at the bottom  to create the foreground.

Then I began to stamp in some plants using the  pocket silhouettes stamp set (a long since retired set that I wouldn't be with out)  and a grass stamp. There are a couple of S.U sets that have grass stamps in, but I can't remember the names. If you don't have a grass stamp it's easy to draw in grass. With a fine black pen you just start at the bottom of the blade of grass and flick the pen  upwards in multiple directions many times. Clumps of grass tend to look best. (You can see grass clumps I have drawn in on the cats card in a post below this one.)

I blended the ink from the tall plants that over laps the foreground into the foreground.

Just for cuteness I added  Pippin the rabbit from Lavinia stamps. That's where it all went wrong.  My card moved  when I lifted the  stamping platform plate,  so when I stamped over him again, he had four ears.  I decided  to stamp a second rabbit very close to the first to cover the excess ears. 

I applied glitter to this sample. I don't like lots of glitter on small images. I think it overwhelms and distracts from the image. So I like to use the fine glue pen, but I always have problems with these pens. I use them once or twice then they cease to work. No matter what I do I just cannot get them working again. so I have a glut of non working fine tip glue pens.

I hate wasting products, so as not to waste the glue, I take the pen apart tap the end of the  tube on a rubber mat to get a little the glue out, then I apply the glue to my image with a cocktail stick. 

Sometimes I need  to start the flow off by inserting a pin in the tube and give it a wiggle to loosen it up. When I 've got enough glue out I replace the nib until the next time I need it.

And here is the finished card. I am afraid you can't see the glitter. Glitter is hard to photograph at the best of times and when it's subtle it's even harder.