Four techniques – and seven cards – with Peaceful View

As soon as I saw the preview of the Stampin’ Up!® Annual Catalogue, the Peaceful View stamp set spoke to me. Even though it’s only one big background stamp, I knew I could get lots of mileage out of it.

These projects are just the start of my Peaceful View journey, I’m sure. Here I show you four different ways to use this lovely background stamp, plus some tips for getting the best impression.

Make this wow card using Musical Jamboree and Under the Moon - both retiring soon

Do you combine your Stampin’ Up!® stamp sets? I’m always looking for perfect pairings, as I showed you last week by using Wildflower Designs with Elements of Text. (linkg - https://allthingsstampy.blogspot.com/2025/03/three-amazing-card-ideas-for-wildflower.html)

This time I want to show you how I combined two more Stampin’ Up!® stamp sets; Musical Jamboree (163616) and Under The Moon (163531), two fabulous sets which are both retiring very soon.

I think these sets go together beautifully as that wolf dog is clearly howling at the moon.

Rustic new home card using Stampin Up!’s Humble Home bundle

The Humble Home stamp set and coordinating punch from Stampin’ Up!® are so versatile. 

I’ve already used them for three very different cards for Christmas and thank yous. 

It goes without saying that this useful Stampin’ Up!® bundle will also work for birthdays.

For today’s blog post, I have used the Humble Home bundle for a new home card, which is perhaps the most obvious choice.

Stampin Up Frames and Flowers card and scrapbook page - two in one.

Who likes a twofer? I do! This is when you get two projects in one go, and is what happened when I made this Stampin’ Up!® scrapbook page using Frames & Flowers Designer Series Paper.

Stampin’ Up!® is expanding its traditional scrapbooking range, following the rescue of scrapbook company Close to My Heart, so this is an excellent time to get back into scrapbooking.

Masking techniques with Musical Jamboree stamp set from Stampin' Up!®

When I saw the Musical Jamboree stamp set in the latest Stampin’ Up!® Annual Catalogue, I just had to have it because that wolf looks so much like my own dog.

So far I have made three cards using this fun stamp set, all of which you can see here.

A rainbow of colourful Wildflower Designs cards

I cannot get enough of Stampin’ Up!®’s Wildflower Designs stamp set at the moment!

This gorgeous stamp set lends itself perfectly to Blending Brush and masking techniques, so I had another play session with Wildflower Designs to create a set of colourful cards.

Sneak peek: three projects using Under the Moon, new Stampin' Up!® stamp set

Are you ready for a sneak peek? Today I have three projects using the brand new Under the Moon and Simply Said Stampin’ Up!® stamp sets plus two tiny peeks of two new colours. These fab products will be released to customers on Wednesday 1st May.

Grassy Grove Stampin’ Up! set gets the vintage and distressed treatment

 

 

Do you ever get a creativity block? This happens to us all, even Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators. Perhaps especially Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators because some of feel the need to create new content all the time for our crafty audiences.

I think we all need to let go of the idea that every creation should be brand new and original. After all, there is no point in reinventing the wheel. 

October Mood Board card ideas using Christmas Classics and Inked & Tiled from Stampin’ Up!®

Happy October! It’s a new month of new ideas from me, with the latest in my Mood Board series of Stampin’ Up!® projects. Please keep reading to see two projects I made using this board as my starting point.

I created this October Mood Board to inspire myself, my Stampin’ Up!® UK customers and team. But crafters everywhere can be inspired by the colours and/or images on the mood board – what will you make?

The colours on the mood board are Daffodil Delight, Shaded Spruce, Pretty Peacock, Calypso Coral and Real Red but, as always, use the nearest you have, or some, all or none of these colours. It really is just a jumping-off point.

Using two very different Stampin’ Up!® stamp sets – Christmas Classics and Inked & Tiled – I created two projects; one for Christmas and one for every day, to illustrate the broad range of projects which could be inspired by the mood board. 

Vintage distressing techniques with Inked & Tiled Stampin’ Up!® cards

 

 

Last week I showed you three Stampin’ Up!® projects I created using my September Mood Board for inspiration. Today I have three projects using the Inked & Tiled stamp set, taking inspiration from a colour combination. 

Let’s Go Shopping card ideas with Copper Clay colour combo

 

Do you love to shop? You know, in actual bricks and mortar shops where you can browse and make impulse purchases? I don’t visit actual shops as much as I used to but I do love to visit book shops... and cake shops... so the Les Shoppes Suite from the new Stampin’ Up!® Annual Catalogue really spoke to me.

 

The whole Suite is gorgeous but so far I only have the Let’s Go Shopping bundle (I forgot to order Les Shoppes Designer Series Paper – doh!) so I’ve been having fun creating cards with that. 

Six cards using Dainty Delight, with top tips for using Stampin’ Up!® Blending Brushes

My monthly Crafty Friday classes for 2023 are focussing on techniques. Each month on Zoom, crafters around the UK can learn a different technique to make beautiful Stampin’ Up!® cards. 

 

This month the focus was on our gorgeous Stampin’ Up!® blending brushes. We now sell blending brushes in two sizes; standard and small. The standard brushes are perfect for covering large areas, while the small are ideal if you want to add colour to smaller spaces. 

 

Today I have three projects to show you, plus some great tips for getting the best results using your Stampin’ Up!® blending brushes.

 

Five projects using the new Adorable Owls Sale-a-Bration stamp set from Stampin' Up!®

 

This Adorable Owls stamp set from Stampin’ Up!® is a real hoot! It’s one of the Sale-a-Bration stamp sets available when you spend £45 in the UK on Stampin’ Up!® supplies during January or February.

 

I predict that the set will be the most popular Sale-a-Bration stamp set of 2023 – you read it here first (or perhaps not). 

In the Moment meets Waves of the Ocean for International Women’s Day

When you planned to use the In the Moment stamp set to celebrate International Women’s Day but you also want to show off your new Waves of the Ocean Designer Series Paper... THIS is what you come up with. 

 

I love the marble patterns of this gorgeous paper in its rich blues on one side and tropical pastels on the reverse. Naturally, as someone who frequently shuns pastel shades, I am drawn to the richer colours so used this stunning green and blue piece as the background to this card. 

 

Rich Blue Foils (another new product only available while supplies last) add some shine to the horizontal strip and the image is cut out using Layering Circle Dies to break up the hard lines. 

I’ve coloured the image using a combination of Stampin’ Blends, including some of our new Natural Tones, and paper piecing. This is a simple technique which means you stamp the image again on to Designer Series Paper and cut out the shapes. Here I’ve cut out the shape of the dress and overlaid it onto the first stamped image; I love how this gives the dress a really natural look of printed fabric.

This is one of three images of women in relaxed poses in the beautiful In The Moment stamp set, available to Stampin' Up!® UK customers in the current Jan-June Mini Catalogue, is perfect for creating cards for all the fabulous women in your life. 

 

 

Waves of the Ocean is a new pack of Designer Series Paper which is only available while supplies last. The designs were created by Stampin’ Up!® artists who look like they’re having lots of fun in this video. This beautiful patterned paper is designed to coordinate with our new Waves of Inspiration stamp set and die bundle which is an early release ahead of the upcoming Stampin’ Up!® Annual Catalogue. However, it is versatile enough to work well with lots of other stamp sets, such as In the Moment as I’ve used here. 

 

  

For my second card I used the image from In the Moment of the lady sitting on the window seat enjoying a cuppa and a look at the view. I’ve cut this one out using Stitched So Sweetly Dies, which left the perfect space for this sentiment from the Rainbow of Happiness stamp set.  

To show off as several designs of patterned paper from Waves of the Ocean, I cut strips and overlapped them at jaunty angles. I finished off with some silver Metallic Mesh Ribbon and Rhinestone Waves Basic Jewels (trust me, there’s nothing basic about these!). 

 

I’ve used the paper piecing technique again here, adding pattern to the T-shirt and cushions to link the main image to the background designs. 

If you want to know where all those tiny pieces of Waves of the Ocean Designer Series Paper came from for the paper piecing, take a look at this card, which goes in a very different direction...

It’s a variation on the card on the Stampin’ Up!® website, which looks like this:

 

 

My version uses the same paper pattern, with the blending brush behind, but I don’t have the Waves of Inspiration bundle so I compromised by using Seasonal Labels dies and the small clouds from the Brilliant Rainbow dies. The greeting comes from In The Moment.  

The starburst pattern is created by making a starburst mask (or drawing lightly in pencil directly onto your patterned paper if you’re feeling brave). I explain how to do this in this blog post. 

This created lots of scraps of paper which I retained for the paper piecing you see above, to reduce waste. 

I hope you like my In the Moment/Waves of the Ocean cards for International Women’s Day and are inspired to create your own. If you are a crafter in the UK and would like to order any of the products you see here, you can order at any time, day or night, via my Stampin’ Up! store. If you do this and use the March host code UDVDUXFH I will send you a thank you gift next month. Plus I will donate 10% of the purchase price (excluding shipping) to the British Red Cross Ukrainian Crisis Fund.

To make it easy for you, please shop using this link

Does your wish list come to more than £99? Please get in touch and I will help you get more for your money and unlock discounts all year round.  

 

Please message me via my website

Floral Squares Dies fancy fold and slimline cards

Don’t you just love black, white and purple? Or do you prefer the black, white and pink? I think this gingham ribbon from Stampin' Up!® really sets off both of these colour combinations.

We made this card at a recent Zoom class for my Stampin’ Up!® UK customers, using the Floral Squares Dies These Stampin’ Up!® dies are really fabulous, and can be used with or without the coordinating All Squared Away stamp set.

However, it is worth buying the bundle because during March 2022, the All Squared Away Bundle is part of Stampin’ Up!'s Savings Are In Bloom promotion, which means an extra 20% off on top of the usual bundle saving. This means the stamps and dies will cost you just £36.75 instead of the usual price of £46.

See all the products in the Savings Are In Bloom promotion here

I designed this class around white and neutral cardstock so I could send out kits to people taking part on Zoom. This meant they could use whatever ink pad they liked to add colour. Here it is using Gorgeous Grape...

And here’s another version using Polished Pink, one of our 2021-2023 In Colors. 

This is a Pull Tab Flip Card fancy fold with a fun secret element. Take a look at the video here to see how it works.

It looks complicated but it was actually quite easy to make, once I’d adapted the measurements to metric, following a video from US demonstrator Tami White. Check out her video here. 

We used blending brushes/sponges to add colour, along with some spattering (I used Quiet Meadow). Timeworn Type 3D Embossing Folder adds texture to the main panel. It’s a really fun card to make with any square image as your focal point and I would love you to have a go so have added a PDF of instructions to my website. 

 

Download a free tutorial here

 

Our second card was much more straightforward and uses our new Stampin’ Up!® Slimline Envelopes. Slimline cards are really on trend right now so these envelopes are a welcome addition to our collection.

 

 

Again it’s made from all-white cardstock; the colour is added using Blending Brushes, which make it easy to create a lovely ombre effect by adding more colour to one end of the cardstock, and tapering it off to a paler shade on the right. 

 

I could have simply added the squares to this panel but I decided to make a slightly longer panel to leave room for a gap for some more gorgeous Gingham Ribbon. The greeting is small and subtle and comes from the Sweet as a Peach stamp set. 

I’d love to know what you think. Do you prefer the pink or the purple? Will you have a go at this fun fancy fold card, or will the simpler slimline card be on your to do list instead?

 

And please do let me know if you are in the UK and would like to purchase any of these products. You can do this through me if you wish but it’s really easy to shop online at my Stampin’ Up! store. If you do this and use the March host code UDVDUXFH I will send you a thank you gift next month.

To make it easy for you, please shop using this link

Does your wish list come to more than £99? Please get in touch and I will help you get more for your money and unlock discounts all year round.  

 

Please message me via my website 

 

Friends of the Forest card ideas – night and day

I love animal images so was instantly drawn to the Friends of the Forest stamp set in the Stampin’ Up!® January-June 2022 Mini Catalogue. I love the stylised fox and rabbit and when I discovered the the deer image coordinates with the Deer Builder Punch which has carried over from the July-December Mini Catalogue it went straight onto my shopping list.

Today I have two versions of a similar card design to show you using this gorgeous Friends of the Forest stamp set. The cards feature a variety of techniques, including colouring with Stampin’ Blends, masking and colouring with Blending Brushes. 

 

 

I made the white card a few weeks ago, having fun colouring the images using Stampin’ Blends. I coloured the deer using the Ivory marker, creating a paler area on her back by missing that area out and blending it slightly using the Color Lifter.

The tree is coloured using Ivory for the trunk and branches and light and dark Granny Apple Green for the leaves. This was quite a laborious/therapeutic task, depending on your views on colouring! It is fussy cut and glued flat to the card front.

The rabbit is Smoky Slate on a Crumb Cake log, the flower is Daffodil Delight and the toadstools are Poppy Parade.

To finish off, I used a strip of Bloom Where You’re Planted Designer Series Paper as it has the perfect woodgrain effect to go with the tree and woodland creatures. 

 

I often find that Stampin’ Up!’s patterned paper goes with lots of different stamp sets, especially when you turn it over to find the more subtle designs on the reverse. This strip of paper is glued flat to the card front, while the white panel is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals to create a step and add interest. 

 

That was several weeks ago and the card has sat waiting for its moment in the limelight. Finally its time has come!

 

While browsing on Instagram I happened upon a gorgeous creation by Laura Mackie, a hugely talented UK Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrator, who had created a night-time card featuring these cute little Friends of the Forest. I decided to take her night-time idea and remake my first card using Blending Brushes and some masking to create an atmospheric scene.

I created a moon mask using Layering Circles Dies on a sticky note and added colour around it using Misty Moonlight, plus a little Night of Navy in the area behind the tree. I wish I’d made a smaller moon but didn’t have the time or inclination to start again.

The grassy area is Granny Apple Green, one of my favourite colours as it is so bright and cheery. I coloured the tree using Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends, too, with some extra ink added afterwards using a Blending Brush. 

 

I masked off the flower as I am too pedantic to have a flower in full bloom in a night-time scene and added extra toadstools. As they were stamped onto green, I used a dark Poppy Parade Stampin’ Blend to add the colour, then a Chalk Marker to pick out the white spots.

In fact, I went a little darker on every colour when colouring the images on this card, as I wanted them to reflect the moodier night-time theme. So I used Crumb Cake instead of Ivory on my deer and tree trunk, and chose Cajun Craze for the fox, instead of the Smoky Slate of the daytime rabbit. The bird is Light Night of Navy and Dark Balmy Blue on the night-time scene, instead of subtle Pool Party on the daytime card. 

I didn’t have any more woodgrain paper but found a wood-panelled design in the same Bloom Where You’re Planted pack and sponged it with some Crumb Cake to make it darker. And instead of stamping onto the card – which wouldn’t show up against the night sky – I used a little Stitched So Sweetly label with the word “hello”.

This tip will save you lots of time! Whenever I die-cut a label from Basic White cardstock, I cut a few spares from different dies, so I can do them all at the same time. The unused labels go into a box which I keep on my stamping trolley. This means I often have a suitable label to use for a greeting when I am making a card. 

 

 

 

Which card do you prefer? The clean white of the daytime card or the dark moody night-time project? 

If the Friends of the Forest stamp set is on your wish list and you live in the UK, I would love it if you considered shopping with me. If you are in the UK and would like to order, please visit my store and, if you use the current host code 2FYQAK7T, I’ll send you a thank you gift in the following month. Don’t forget if you spend more than £45 during February 2022, you will qualify for a FREE Sale-a-Bration gift, too!

To make it easy for you, please shop using this link

Does your wish list come to more than £99? Please get in touch and I will help you get more for your money and unlock discounts all year round.  

 

Please message me via my website 

 

How to add colour to Awesome Otters using Watercolour Pencils, Blender Pens and Blending Brushes

Stampin’ Up!® is really good at creating cute stamp sets that everyone wants to own – and Awesome Otters, the new Sale-a-Bration stamp set, is a prime example. It’s been really popular with my customers here in the UK, as many of them love wildlife as much as I do. We do have otters here in Derbyshire but they are very elusive – maybe 2022 will be the year that I see one?

 

This stamp set, which is free with a £45 order, is perfect for new crafters or those who are new to Stampin’ Up!® and want to start building up their collection as it features both greetings and images; three fun otters which can be used separately or together.

 

 

I’ve made a card with each of the otter images to add to my very depleted birthday card stash. I think these cards could be sent to anyone – men, women and children – and I would be more than happy to receive an otter birthday card myself. 

 

These cards show you how to add colour to your images using watercolour pencils with blender pens, and also how to add depth using Blending Brushes. 

All the images on my cards are stamped in Stazon and coloured with watercolour pencils and Stampin’ Up!® Blender Pens. When I say Blender Pens I mean the clear markers that you use with ink or pencils and not Stampin’ Blends, which are coloured alcohol markers. I know there is often some confusion because of the very similar product names.

When using Blender Pens (the clear ones), ideally use a permanent ink such as Stazon, although you can get away with a water-based ink such as Memento Tuxedo Black if you allow it to dry fully and work sparingly. 

 

Colour with your pencils, concentrating on the areas where you want darker colour to appear. Make sure you have enough colour on before you start blending as it’s difficult to add extra colour with the pencils once you have used the Blender Pens. When you are happy with the level of colour, gently blend it with your Blender Pens, working towards the uncoloured areas to create a soft graduated look.

For my first card, I have created a background panel using patterned paper from the Pattern Party Designer Series Paper Pack, which is one of the host products in the Stampin’ Rewards section of the Stampin’ Up!® catalogue. This means you cannot buy it, but you can earn it free when you host a party with a workshop total of £150 or more or place your own order to this amount. The paper has bright colours one one side and black and white designs on the reverse; I’ve used one of these to create a blue spotty panel, adding the colour using my Pacific Point ink pad and a Blender Pen.

For my main element, I stamped the partially submerged otter onto a label die-cut using Seasonal Labels Dies. These dies were in the July-December Mini Catalogue but have carried over into the first part of 2022. I coloured the image using an Early Espresso watercolour pencil, then added extra colour using Stampin’ Up!® Blending Brushes; a hint of Pool Party at the top and some Pacific Point at the bottom. Blending brushes are an excellent way to add colour and depth to an element. 

 

 

I’ve used a Blending Brush on this second card, too, to add a little depth to the Pool Party circle. The Pool Party theme is continued on the background, where I’ve stamped all the different otters at random, as close together as possible. This is a quick and easy way to make your own patterned paper to match your project perfectly.

 

The main otter image is stamped and cut out freehand, with a little party hat cut out and added on top. I’ve popped him up onto the Pool Party circle using Stampin’ Dimensionals, just resting his little foot and tail to overlap onto the greeting banner.

 

 

By positioning the stamped panel and the Bermuda Bay panel behind it at jaunty angles, this emphasises the fun feel of the card. It’s not necessarily something I would do for a more serious occasion, such as a sympathy card. 

 

My third card really makes use of the Blending Brush by creating a dark pool of blue water in the centre of the card with the bright otter standing out from the background. I did this by stamping the otter onto a separate piece of Basic White cardstock and cutting it out closely. 

 

For the background, I applied Pacific Point ink with a Blending Brush in a circular motion, which creates much darker colour in the centre, graduating out to paler blue towards the edge of the cardstock layer. I stamped the otter directly on top of this blue ink, which meant I retained the finer details such as the movement lines. 

 

After I did this, I flicked some clear tap water onto the blue ink and allowed it to dry. This soaks up some of the ink to create pale splashes and is one of my very favourite techniques. Next I stuck the cut-out otter on top of the stamped blue layer, matching up the images perfectly. This is a great tip if you have fine details, such as whiskers or hair, that you really can’t fussy cut successfully.

The banner on this card, too, is cut out with Seasonal Labels Dies, and fits the “It’s birthday time!” greeting perfectly. It’s finished off with some Elegant Trim from the Stampin’ Up!® Annual Catalogue, for quite a clean and simple card. 

 

 

What I love about these projects is that they are largely created with white cardstock, which means you can adapt them to suit the ink pads you have. Any blue will do for this final card, although I love the richness and depth of Pacific Point. 

 

 

The fun birthday card could use any colours which can be picked up in the party hat and the background layer could be swapped to match.

 

And the Pattern Party Designer Series Paper, with its black and white designs, can be coloured in any colour – or none! – depending on what supplies you already own. These designs would also work with other animal images. 

 

It just shows you don’t have to own everything to make great projects; you can often work with what you have.

 

I hope you enjoyed my Awesome Otter projects and will consider adding this fabulous stamp set to your order next time. If you are in the UK and would like to order, please visit my store and, if you use the current host code RNU3JCR9, I’ll send you a thank you gift next month month. 

To make it easy for you, please shop using this link

Does your wish list come to more than £99? Please get in touch and I will help you get more for your money and unlock discounts all year round.  

 

Please message me via my website