Mix It Up Monday: sparkly dragonflies

It’s time for another colour combination from my In Color charts and another Mix It Up Monday project… or two projects in this case. 

My club members always get a gift of SU product in their birthday month and September is Mandy’s birthday. Here’s her card and present, made to co-ordinate and also to fit this week’s colour challenge. 

It’s hard to see from the photo but the dragonflies are cut from Marina Mist cardstock and then painted all over with Wink of Stella to give them some sparkle to go with the silver foil and the rhinestones. Behind the dragonfly the white cardstock is embossed with the Pinewood Planks Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder… a little hint as to what was inside!

I made the gift package using the Envelope Punch Board, just adding an extra crease all round, a half inch further along to give the envelope more depth. 

Dragonflies on watercoloured background

This was the Make & Take at a Stampin’ Up!® party I did last week. The host, Pat, is a big fan of brights, so Melon Mambo was the order of the day... not exactly my comfort zone!

The fab background was created in the same was as for this dragonfly egg box; you just scribble with watercolour pencils and then go over it with a wet paintbrush or Aquapainter. It’s a lovely technique, which works best on watercolour paper.

Grown-up mini egg carton project

I do love these egg boxes, they’re so cute... even more so if you take the time to colour them. How? With a small amount of ISO Propanol (rubbing alcohol) mixed with reinker. Here I’ve used Sweet Sugarplum to match this fabulous Glimmer Paper (SAB item only available while stocks last or until 31st March!).

The panel beneath the dragonfly (Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits) was created by scribbling with watercolour pencils with a few colours onto watercolour paper, then swishing it around with a wet paintbrush. You could use an aqua painter, but I’m a purist and prefer a paintbrush.

And it’s all tied together with some gorgeous metallic ribbon, another SAB item which is only available until 31st March, or while supplies last.

We’re on the Sale-a-Bration countdown now, and yesterday a new group of items were added. These are catalogue items which you can earn FREE between now and the end of March with a £45 order. There are some gorgeous products on this list, so do take a look.

Oh, and inside are four hollow chocolate eggs, wrapped in Sweet Sugarplum foil. Sainsbury’s do a pack of 25 which just happen to be wrapped in Sweet Sugarplum, Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry. Wish I’d found those before my all-day event!

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All-Day Craftathon - Dragonfly Dreams workshop

The final workshop of my All-Day Craftathon featured the Dragonfly Dreams bundle, again with the gorgeous Succulent Garden DSP.

We made two cards, presented in this really simple pouch. It’s really simple because the bag is already made for you (Glassine Gift Bags, p176); all we needed to do was add this belly band and embellish it with a Bermuda Bay dragonfly.

This card is another of my favourite projects from the day. It’s really clean and simple and combines some subtle spatters from Gorgeous Grunge, with a debossing effect using the Softly Falling embossing folder (not just for Christmas!).

The dragonfly is coloured by inking the wings stamp with Mint Macaron, then gently tapping the ends into Bermuda Bay before stamping. Alternatively, you could use sponges for a more blended effect. A hint of Bermuda Bay glimmer paper from the Sale-a-Bration second release adds a touch of bling.

There’s more bling on the final project, which features more dragonflies. This time we cut the top dragonfly away carefully with scissors, and added it to the Window Shopping greeting.

And then we were done – without going over schedule, too! Thank you to everyone who helped or came along on the day. I’ve had some really positive feedback about the day, so I’ll be looking to hold another in a few months’ time. Watch this space!

Mix It Up Monday: Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits gift bag

It’s Mix It Up Monday again I’m getting to the end of the Peekaboo Peach colour combinations from my In Color charts, which is quite exciting for me, as it’s no secret that it’s not my favourite colour. 

But it’s ideal for creating prototype projects, which is what I did here; this is a ‘first draft’ of a project for my upcoming All-Day Craftathon. I combined a few products – Marquee Messages for the greeting, Awesomely Artistic for the foliage, along with the ever-popular Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits and, of course, the Gift Bag Punch Board. 

The Metallic Ribbon is a Sale-a-Bration item – you get 6.4m each of white with silver, and vanilla with gold, and it’s beautiful. Definitely worth getting if, like me, you’re running low on ribbon, as it will go with everything. 

Mix It Up Monday: Dragonfly Dreams with Inside the Lines DSP

Another Mix It Up Monday outing for the Sale-a-Bration freebie, Inside the Lines Designer Series Paper. This time I’ve used a fruity colour combination from my In Color charts in a CASE of a design by LeeAnn Greff. 

I really liked the way she’d coloured the designer paper, although I chose sponging as my method, which achieved a similar result. I love the idea of adding colour to the whole piece rather than attempting to colour those tiny flowers, as I did last week.

I did decide to make the flowers pop a little by adding a dot of white with the Chalk Marker to the centre of each one. And, to make a change, I used a greeting from Balloon Adventures, which was a little narrower than the ones in Dragonfly Dreams, so was a better fit for my square of cardstock. 

The large dragonfly is stamped in Night of Navy on Whisper White, and sponged with Flirty Flamingo. 

Desktop Calendar with Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits

These Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits just cry out for copper foil, I think. They were the finishing touch of this very simple project we created at my Christmas Hygge Night.

The calendar is really easy to make; just half a sheet of A4 (cut lengthways) scored at 10.5cm, 13.5cm, 16.5cm and 27cm. Fold this piece to create the stand-up bit then decorate as desired.

It was such a happy accident that the curved sprig from Foxy Friends fit the shape perfectly!

We added a little pocket for a notepad (I have LOADS of these notepads; they must have been a bargain!) and a calendar tab. We were going to add a pen but I couldn’t find them in time – but the craft room is tidy now so no more excuses!

Detailed Dragonfly gift bag

A bit of coppery bling for the depths of winter... guaranteed to brighten up the darkest day. I created this gift bag using the Gift Bag Punch Board for my friend and downline Alison, who unfortunately has her birthday on Christmas Day. I thought the dragonfly hinted at brighter, sunnier days to come... and also made for a really quick and easy project in the busy days running up to Christmas! A little glimpse of Emerald Envy really stands out from the copper, I think.