Watercolouring blog hop: Three cards using Stylish Sketches Sale-a-Bration stamp set

Did you know it’s World Watercolouring Month? Or #WorldWatercolorMonth to be more precise? So I am delighted to be taking part in a blog hop celebrating this fabulous technique. 

 

 

Please read on for some tips and tricks for watercolouring using Stampin’ Up!® supplies and some inspiration using the new Stylish Sketches stamp set from the Sale-a-Bration Brochure.

Amazing Thanks rainbow blog hop

 

Today I am taking part in an international blog shop showcasing Stampin’ Up!® ideas on a rainbow theme. At the bottom of this blog post you will find links to other rainbow-themed projects made by Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators around the world. 

 

Rainbows are a BIG crafting theme in 2022, with Stampin’ Up!® offering us a fabulous Rainbow of Happiness bundle in the January-June Mini Catalogue (see what I made with it here) and the bright and cheery Sunshine & Rainbows Designer Series Paper in the Sale-a-Bration brochure (see what I made with that here).

But there are many other ways to make a rainbow, too, so I decided to try something new using the Amazing Thanks Dies from the January-June Mini Catalogue. 

 

 

These Amazing Thanks Dies are unique in that you get dies to cut the words, plus a slightly larger one to create an outline effect. 

 

 

I made two versions of my card and really put my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine (and my turning elbow) through its paces by die-cutting the word eight times for each one; in white and in every colour of the rainbow. 

 

 

This version is my favourite. I used the outline stamp to create the coloured layers, then die-cut just the “thanks” in Basic White to layer on top.

After carefully cutting off the S from each die-cut piece, I stamped YOU using Happiest of Birthdays. I did this using a Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker to ink just this word out of the whole stamp. I stamped this first and then shuffled my Basic White panel around to ensure the word appeared where I wanted it. 

 

It’s all framed by another layer of Basic White, created using the Stitched Rectangles Dies and popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals. The clouds are cut out using the Brilliant Rainbow Dies to provide a subtle finishing touch. 

 

Similar but different... the second card uses just the “thanks” die to create an effect which could be reproduced using any word dies. I teamed it with the Ornate Thanks stamp set, which has lots of different sayings which go perfectly.

This is simply layered onto a panel of Basic White and again finished off with some die-cut clouds. 

 

 

I love the rainbow effect here against the stark Basic White background and hope you do, too. To see lots more rainbow inspiration from around the world, please visit the blogs in this hop. Happy hopping!

Blog Hop Index

Do you love rainbows? You can buy any of the products mentioned here from my Stampin’ Up!® UK store. I would love it if you chose me as your demonstrator and if you use the current host code 2FYQAK7T, I’ll send you a thank you gift in the following 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 

 

How to make seeded paper from your Stampin’ Up!® scraps

 

Today I am proud to be taking part in a Zero Waste blog hop, showcasing Stampin’ Up!® projects which re-use or repurpose waste to create beautiful new projects. 

The three main principles of Zero Waste are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle... in that order. Recycling is the last resort so to repurpose my little scraps of Basic White cardstock for another day, I used them to make some seeded paper for this rustic-looking card. 

 

This beautiful handmade paper can be used to make cards, gift tags and more – and the recipient can plant it in their garden to grow wild flowers to attract pollinating insects. 

Want to know how to make handmade seeded paper for your own craft projects? I’m happy to say it was really easy. 

 

I always save those narrow strips of Basic White cardstock as they are useful for greetings and sentiments. But for the past few weeks I have also been saving those oddly shaped scraps left behind by punches or dies. It soon became a habit to throw them into this bucket instead of putting with my other paper waste for recycling. 

 

My tip for saving small scraps of cardstock or paper for making handmade paper is to cut or tear it into smaller pieces as you go. Doing so will take barely any time at all compared to doing it all in one go when it comes to making the paper. 

 

Tutorial: how to make seeded paper from your Stampin’ Up!® paper scraps

 

To make the paper you will need:

• Paper scraps. For this first attempt I used only Basic White but you could experiment with different colours
• Water
• Wildflower seeds - try to use wildflowers which are native to your area
• A food processor or blender. Most tutorials tell you to use an old one you won't use for food but as my Basic White scraps don’t contain any harmful inks, I used my usual processor and washed it thoroughly afterwards
• Ink (optional)
• Towels/tea towels. One tutorial I saw used kitchen paper which rather defeats the object I think. Use something you can use again!
• A flat baking sheet
• Greaseproof paper (optional)
• A rolling pin or glass bottle
• A wire cooling tray or cooking spatter guard.

1. If you haven't already done so, cut or tear the Basic White cardstock scraps into small pieces. Place them in a blender; I filled my food processor about halfway which resulted in two sheets of handmade paper, each a little larger than a standard sheet of A4 cardstock.

2. Cover the paper with water and leave to soak. I left it overnight.

3. Blend in short bursts, moving it around with a wooden spoon between bursts. The texture you are aiming for is that of a very thick soup or cake mixture, so I added a little more water to achieve this. If you make it too wet, tip it onto a towel and squeeze of the moisture some out.

4. Tip the pulp into a large mixing bowl. Before adding any seeds, first I would advise removing half of the pulp and storing it in a sealed jar for later, or for making other colours.

5. Now add the seeds to the half in the bowl. Go easy here – I think I added way many. I also noticed that some of my seeds stained the paper yellow. If you wish, add a few drops of ink or food colouring to dye it. I used some retired Wild Wasabi ink for my second batch and ended up with something akin to Soft Sea Foam.

6. Make a pad of towels on top of a baking sheet and press the paper as flat as you can. Cover with a fine-weave towel or piece of greaseproof paper and flatten further with the rolling pin or glass bottle.

7. Add a towel on top and carefully flip over so the new towel is at the bottom. This is where the baking sheet comes in really handy. Repeat the rolling a couple of times, removing the wet towel and replacing with a dry one.

8. When the paper is as flat and thin as you dare, transfer it to a cooling rack or a spatter guard and leave to dry for a day or two, or even longer if required. 

 

Now you have your handmade seeded paper which you can use as you wish. As you can see, my first batch has yellow speckles where the seeds stained the paper, which is why I added ink to my second batch to make green. 

 

Before using your handmade paper, flatten it further in the Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine or other die-cutting machine. This gives it a nice smooth finish to stamp on, and makes it thinner. 

 

 

 

 Be careful when using handmade paper with punches, especially if you have added seeds. I’ve blunted a tag topper punch on this paper, but big simple shapes worked well. You still run the risk of a seed catching so be very careful. 

 

If using your handmade paper with dies, flatten it first, as shown above, then run it through with the die a few times and be prepared to trim with scissors as well. Big simple shapes work best – don’t attempt it with anything complicated. Again, be aware of hard seeds.

 

Now I have lots of die cut shapes ready to use on future projects, but for my blog hop project I have embossed the paper using the Dandelions 3D Embossing Folder. Embossing folders work really well – just make sure your paper isn’t too thick as this could split the folder at the hinge. 

 

I embossed my dandelions towards the edge of my handmade paper – you can see where the ink is a little more concentrated – and tore the rest of the shape to fit the card. I folded the paper around the card which weakened the paper and allowed me to tear in a fairly straight line.

I have avoided all plastic on this card so used linen thread and some tiny die-cut flowers (from the Floral Squares Dies) as my embellishments. I want the recipient to be able to plant the whole card if they wish. 

The greeting says “Good things are worth waiting for” from the Enjoy the Moment stamp set, which is especially relevant in this case as the flowers won’t be blooming until the summer at least.

This Zero Waste blog hop has come about as a result of the recent launch of the SU Demonstrators Against Waste Facebook Group (#SUDemosAgainstWaste), which already has 250+ members. I am constantly seeking ways to live a greener lifestyle and do my best to reduce waste wherever I can. All my class kits are sent out in recyclable or reused packaging – and many mailing boxes get used time and again as customers kindly return them to me.

I'm not going to save the world but every little helps – which is the whole point of #ZeroWaste. We as individuals can never achieve Zero Waste but, as Anne Marie Bonneau, author of The Zero Waste Chef, said:

 

“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”

 

 
Please now follow the links below to see what other Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators around the world have made for this Zero Waste blog hop.

Blog Hop Index

If this project has inspired you and you are a Stampin’ Up!® demonstrator, please get in touch for details of the SU Demos Against Waste Facebook Group. If you are a customer in the UK and would like to order any Stampin’ Up!® supplies, please consider me as your demonstrators. If you shop online using the January host code RNU3JCR9, 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? Stop right there! I can help you get more for your money all year round, so please message me via my website 

 

Share It Sunday Blog hop - Hot Dog!

Shop the project here

How cute is this stamp set? Answer: very. It’s called Hot Dog and is a fun way for me to take part in this Share It Sunday blog hop, with demonstrators from around the world. I hope you enjoy taking a trip through some great blogs and seeing some fabulous projects. 

 

But before we begin, I must remind you that today is the final day of Sale-a-Bration, so if you want to take advantage of any of the SAB freebies, please act extremely fast. 

You can shop online here

You can join my team here

The paper I’ve used on these first two projects is called Berry Blessings and is a Sale-a-Bration item so available for just a few more hours!

Thankfully, there is no desperate rush to get your hands on Hot Dog, as this cute stamp set is part of the January-June Mini Catalogue collection. It features three different Dachshunds plus lots of fun accessories and greetings.  However, I decided to keep things simple with some colouring using my Stampin’ Blends and this vibrant Designer Series Paper. 

This DSP features the little-used Pacific Point, and not before time. Why do we neglect Pacific Point so much? It’s a really lovely blue and I remember greeting its arrival with much excitement. 

To stop the dog ‘floating’ in mid air, I stamped onto the circle element using Woven Heirlooms. I love this grungy image, with a bit of pattern showing through, giving it the look of a faced old carpet. The ‘hi’ adds a final touch and makes it ideal to send to a Dachshund-owning friend for no particular reason at all. 

Shop the project here

 

Here is another card I made using this gorgeous Designer Series Paper and Hot Dog. The greeting is very silly, but seriously, not as silly as the next one which for some reason keeps making me chuckle to myself...

Shop the project here

Bone-jour! 😂 I do love a terrible pun and this one is pretty terrible, all right! I’ve kept this design clean, simple and masculine, using the In Good Taste Designer Series Paper as my background. I really love that paper, especially the wood-effect sheets. 

As I say, my designs are pretty simple, but after two months of intense crafting for Sale-a-Bration, I felt like scaling things back a little. It’s also important to remember that not everybody has the time or resources for big fancy projects – and simple can be just as effective in many cases. 

Please now take a look at the creations made by other Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrators around the world for this Share It Sunday...

Hot Dog is a stamp set which offers a huge amount of potential for many different occasions, and is perfect for the dog-lover. Take a look at all of the stamps here:

Hot Dog is available until the end of June, although bear in mind products will switch to ‘while supplies last’ towards the ened of this period. If you are in the UK and would like to order, please visit my store and, if you use the March host code HYEBNWP3, I’ll send you a thank you gift in April!

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

 

Spring-themed blog hop with Dandy Wishes Dies

 

 

What’s your favourite season? Schitts Creek fans may channel their inner Moira Rose and answer ‘awards’ but for me it has to be spring. I love it when the days start to warm up and nature comes back to life, with daffodils and catkins and birds nesting and... you get the idea.

So I jumped at the opportunity to take part in a spring-themed blog hop with Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators around the world. I signed up ages ago but when it came to making the projects, for some reason I struggled.

I think it’s because my desire to play with new stamps clashed wildly with my pedantic nature. That ruled out Sweet Strawberry (late summer), Enjoy the Moment (autumn) and Garden Wishes (summer again).

Eventually I forced myself to cast pedantry aside and play with my Dandy Wishes Dies to create some non-specific flower/seed heads. I cunningly decided to meet the requirements of the theme by adding ‘Hello spring’ using the wonderful Playful Alphabet Dies and by masking off a sentiment stamp from Hey Birthday Chick. 

 

Here I have to give a massive shout out for the Foam Adhesive Sheets which are – and I don’t use these words lightly – a game changer. Use these on your small die-cuts and you won’t have to fiddle around cutting up pieces of Dimensionals and your projects will look neater, too.

Just as I’d reached the ‘it’ll do’ stage of project making, out of the craftermath of another project, this little chick crept onto the project and practically fell into place, fortifying my rather tenuous theme. So I let him stay. 

How I created the background

I created the background for this card using my Granny Apple Green ink pad and some Shimmery White cardstock. 

 

I’ll let you into a secret: I’m a pretty impatient crafter. I know, right? Who knew? 

 

So when I discovered that my Granny Apple Green ink pad needed re-inking but I didn’t have a refill, I lost patience with trying to squeeze the pad to get ink into the lid and simply swiped it across the bottom edge of my paper. This was pretty ugly, so I used a big paintbrush and some water to wash it upwards to create this background. Then I simply cut off the ugly bit! I love its vibrancy and the fact it was so quick!

Chickens now firmly on my mind, I created the second card using Hey Birthday Chick again. I’m so happy to see the return of this crazy-haired chick – and I know my customers are, too! I coloured the chicken using Stampin’ Blends in Pool Party (light and dark), Daffodil Delight (light and dark) and Pumpkin Pie (dark).

 

How I created the background

This time I used my new Blending Brushes to apply Coastal Cabana ink at the top and Granny Apple Green at the bottom. I avoided the sun area at the top, then added some Daffodil Delight in a circular motion, before popping up this ‘sun’ (it’s really part of a flower head from the Dandy Wishes Dies) which I’d die-cut from a rejected watercoloured piece from a few days before. Waste not, want not!

Finally, I completed my background effect by spattering some diluted Whisper White Craft Ink onto the top section using a small paintbrush. 

 

Again, I used the Dandy Garden Dies, this time in Basic Black for a silhouette effect.

‘Let’s celebrate spring’ is a mash-up of two sentiment stamps in the Hey Birthday Chick stamp set. I masked off the ‘YOU’ and stamped ‘Let’s celebrate’, then masked off all but ‘spring’ to stamp separately on a scrap of Granny Apple Green cardstock. 

You can get more mileage from your die-cut pieces by cutting them up. Here I’ve trimmed off the outer edges of the lower die-cut seed head to get a different look for contrast. And I’ve trimmed away the cake from the chicken image so it looks like it’s pecking at the words instead.

And now it’s time to see what everyone else has created. Please head to these blogs to see some spring-themed inspiration from around the world...

 

Flowering Cactus Product Medley blog hop and free tutorial

I’m excited to be taking part in another blog hop with talented Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators from around the world. 

This time we are focusing our attentions on the Flowering Cactus Product Medley. I have overlooked these product medleys in the past as they are quite the investment at £65. But, as lockdown continues (forever and ever and ever!), I’ve started looking at different ways of using products in my Zoom-based classes. And the refill kits are perfect. 

This Flowering Cactus Product Medley refill is just £33 and can be split into two, four or even eight, depending on the price level of a class. For my Crafty Friday class in February, where we only make two cards, I have split the kit into eight so everyone will get one sheet of each 6x6 Designer Series Paper design. This includes an ever-so-handy sheet of large images (the one you see on the top in the pic above) which can be cut out to create focal points for your cards; all you need to add are card bases, some Basic White cardstock and some greeting stamps.

If you repeated these designs to use the whole pack, you’d have enough to make 40 cards! 

This card is a simple M-fold design, and I really do mean simple because I just don’t have the patience or skill for proper fancy folds. 

It starts with a card base created by cutting the card in half lengthways. Then you take a quarter sheet of card, score along the short edge to create a flap which you use to attach to the main body of the card, then score the remainder in half to create the front of the M.

Confused? Check out my tutorial here

This patchwork card was intended as one of the Crafty Friday projects in February but I've had second thoughts about that as it was quite fiddly to get everything to line up. But if you were making it at home it would be a great way to use up any little leftover pieces.
 

 

Want to have a go at this patchwork card but can’t be bothered with the measurements? Why not butt all the pieces up together on some scrap paper, stick them down and then cut out your card front shape? Sounds much easier!

Here I’ve used one of my favourite and most-used stamp sets, Happiest of Birthdays, which I've inked up with three shades of green; Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive and Mossy Meadow. You can do this in several ways but I like to use the Stamparatus to ink up each area separately and then stamp, knowing that I’ll hit the right spot each time.

I wanted to include a masculine card in the batch so made this using all greens and just a small bow in Linen Thread. Quick and simple but I’m sorry, I like to divert my energies into cards for the most appreciative recipients!

This was the final card I made from my designated 1/8th of the refill kit but turned out to be one of my favourites. I love the Highland Heather accents which give you a gorgeous, gentle colour combination with the Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive and Mint Macaron. 

I hope you've been inspired to take another look at our different refill kits as there really are so many ways you can use our products. Especially when we can't meet up in person (SO jealous of Australia and New Zealand!), these kits provide a fun way to hold and attend classes when everyone doesn’t have the stamp set. 

Now please take a trip around to world to see what other fabulous projects have been made by amazing Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators...

 

This Flowering Cactus Product Medley Suite will allow you to make dozens of fabulous card. If you live in the UK and would like to order the Suite, the refill kit or any other Stampin’ Up!® products, please visit my store and, if you use the host code YK2NNMYW, I’ll send you a little thank you gift in February! 

To make it easy for you, please shop using this link (opens in new window)

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.