Berry Basket with chalkboard technique

I’m back from a really busy weekend… which all began with a lovely Stampin’ Up!® party in Belper, where I caught up with lots of people I hadn’t seen for a while (and gorged myself on rocky road!). 

The hostess had requested embossing as a technique but then managed to pull in a crowd of 16, so I decided this would be best confined to the demonstration.  So I decided to show them the chalkboard technique. I have to say at this point that the new chalkboard paper is absolutely perfect for this, and I do have some, so I don’t know what made me use ordinary Basic Black for my project. 

My pictures are a little lacking I’m afraid, but the original has now gone to the hostess, as a thank you for having me (and for pulling in such a big crowd!). I made this little basket with the Berry Basket die which is so very, very cute and will come in handy for all kinds of occasions. It’s important that you follow the instructions the first time you assemble it, which is why I wanted to demo it. It’s a great die for using up all those strips of DSP and cardstock you’ve been saving - these are perfect for making contrasting trim around the top of the basket; the die makes scalloped and straight trim so you can choose. 

My project is a sort of CASE of this project by Amy Koenders, with the addition of the tag. Naturally, Amy’s project is neater than mine – no doubt because she didn’t pack it in a trolley, then remember she hadn’t photographed it so fished it out again and realise it was a little worse for wear already, before even leaving the house! 

The chalkboard technique is really simple. All you do is emboss some words (I used Blushing Bride embossing powder) and then add some chalky effects with your white ink pad. Another way is to use the Embossing Buddy (which helps prevent stray powder from sticking to your card) to add a chalky look to your finished project. 

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Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Big Day Sale-a-Bration sneak peek

I’m back! And I hope you had a lovely Christmas doing whatever you wanted to do. For me, it’s now a time to look ahead to 2015 and, in the stamping world, this means a host of brand new products to play with. Exciting, eh?

This project is one I made for my friend, Alison, who celebrates her birthday on Christmas Day. For this reason, I always try to make her card as non-Christmassy as possible. 

Two new products are shown here – can you guess what they are? The most obvious one is the stamp set, which is called Big Day and is FREE with an order of £45 during Sale-a-Bration, which begins on 5th January. 

The more subtle new product is the lovely flower, which comes from a brand new Artisan Embellishments Kit, featuring all manner of delicate little embellishments to pretty up your projects. This will be available from 5th January in the new Spring/Summer catalogue (which is gorgeous by the way!).

I embossed the greeting in Blushing Bride on some black cardstock and then swiped it with my white ink pad to give it the chalkboard look.  Inside the card, I couldn’t resist adding a little black cat as Alison does love black cats. 

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Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

MDS chalkboard effect snow scrapbook page

I have another digital creation for you today. I am totally in love with My Digital Studio, which makes scrapbooking so easy. I still love playing with paper but I em enjoying the freedom that digital scrapping brings, as you can move things around again and again with no fear of ruining the photo! It’s also encouraging me to scrap more photos. Instead of just the “best” images, I am happily scrapbooking the everyday, which has to be a good thing, doesn’t it?

These everyday snaps cry out to be explained, so this time there was no excuse for forgetting the journalling! After all, what self-respecting mother would allow her daughter outside in the snow with bare feet and wet hair? I assure you that no children were harmed in the making of this scrapbook page, and the daughter suffered no ill-effects from her brief foray into the cold. 

In my efforts to teach myself how to use My Digital Studio (and it really is easy to learn), I am CASEing other people’s scrapbook pages. This is really helpful because rather than sitting here thinking “I wonder if…”, I challenge myself to find out “how” instead. 

This was a CASE of  this page by Heather Summers. I learned how to produce the effect of a torn edge and also how to recolour a piece of Designer Series Paper. I created the chalkboard effect by starting with a Basic Black background and adding a vintage overlay in Whisper White, with the opacity significantly reduced to make it less harsh. The fonts were downloaded from the web; just search “free chalkboard fonts” and you’ll discover rich pickings!