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.

All-Day Craftathon projects: Typewriter Kraft Grid Journal

I’ve asked everybody who attended my All-Day Craftathon at the weekend to choose their favourite project. This was mine… but then I do love this typewriter stamp. This little Kraft Grid Journal was heavily inspired by this project by the super-talented Michelle Zindorf. I loved the intensity of the colours … and, of course, the typewriter image!

I think I love it because it brings back memories of being a junior reporter back in the day. Having experienced all the wonders of electronic typewriters when learning to touch-type, I was shocked to end up in an office where people still worked on machines exactly like this one. The smell of the typewriter ribbon, the sheer noise... the ding as you reached the end of a line, not to mention the pain of a finger slipping between those hard plastic keys! I’d type up my story, sometimes cutting up the paragraphs and rearranging them on another sheet of paper, then hand it to the editor. She’d work her magic on it, with lots of pen marks, then one of us would have to walk to another building (known as “the giraffe house” because it looked like something from a zoo) to give these pieces of paper to the typesetters, who would type it all out neatly and print it out on special paper which was then waxed on to boards by compositors. And if this all sounds as ancient as the hot metal process, it wasn’t; it was the late 1980s, just before computers came into regular use in newspaper offices. 

Anyway, back to the project... the Irresistibly Yours DSP was sponged with lots of blue colours, and just a hint of Blushing Bride. This was added to pick up the colour of the ribbon that I ended up not using, but you know how these things go. For the same reason, the typewriter itself is coloured in greys and Blushing Bride. No matter, I still like how it turned out!

The button, again from the Artisan Embellishment Kit (everybody received one of these to use in all four projects), echoes the metal of a typewriter. 

This project was the one where I let myself down. I ALWAYS forget to take something and, in this case, it was the Coastal Cabana ink pad and the Blender Pens.  Luckily, lots of people had brought them along so we managed. I do have a little confession to make, though, which I only told one lady on the day. Later in the day, I found a stash of Blender Pens in my craft kit! Oops. 

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Ways to use Irresistibly Yours DSP (Sale-a-Bration)

I promised to show you several ways to use the new Irresistibly Yours Designer Series Paper and here they are... I’d love to hear of more ways that I haven’t covered if you know any. There is one other way to use this gorgeous paper that I haven’t mentioned... and that’s to leave it completely untouched for a really subtle and classy look. But if you’re looking for subtle and classy, you’ve come to the wrong place!

For those who haven’t yet seen this paper, it’s white with a glossy white pattern, opening up a world of possibilities because most inks will stick only to the matt section. So you apply your colour then polish it with kitchen paper to expose the white pattern again. It’s like magic!

Let’s take a look at the methods I’ve used in more detail. Clockwise, from top left...

Stamp on it
We’re stampers, right? So why not stamp on this fab paper. I particularly like combining methods for this, eg brayering a background on the flowery or leafy pattern, then stamping with Hardwood on top. Here, I’ve simply experimented with stamping some solid flowers and leaves.

Spritz it
I used six drops of reinker in a half-filled spritzer bottle; Coastal Cabana at the top and Old Olive at the bottom. Use more drops (or less water) for a more intense colour. This does take a while to dry but you could speed things up by using alcohol instead of water.

Colour with markers
I tried both kinds and decided this method was probably best for the striped pattern. Both types of marker worked well, although you do need to clean off the glossy areas quickly if you’re using Blendabilities.

Brayer it
Perfect for larger areas and, if you’re after a uniform colour, you can forget all those pesky brayering rules about starting at the edge of the paper and working your way in. Just brayer away until you get colour saturation. If you prefer a graduated look, then you need to remember all those rules about starting off the edge of the paper. Just play around until you get something you like!

Sponge it
Sponge Daubers are perfect striped paper; for other patterns, use an actual sponge. You can sponge just one area, various colours, or do the whole lot. Although, personally, if I was going for a uniform colour, I’d brayer it instead (see above).

DTP (Direct-to-Paper) it
This is a grungier technique but I had fun here creating a night sky using various blue ink pads (Lost Lagoon, Coastal Cabana, Marina Mist). I find the old-style ink pads are easier to use as they slide along the cardstock better. But, for fun, I tried simply dropping the new-style ink pads onto the cardstock, which created quite a pleasing effect.

So, now it’s time to get yourself some Irresistibly Yours DSP - which is FREE with a £45 purchase before the end of March. And don’t forget to let me know if you come up with any more methods of using it! My challenge now, I suppose, is to make all of these pieces of paper into finished projects. Don’t hold your breath!

Convention Make & Take 1

Today I thought I’d show you one of the Make & Takes we did at Convention. We received our four M&T packs in our fabulous bag at registration and there was a M&T session on each day.

As all the projects used the same basic kit, we could choose which ones to make at each session – in fact some demonstrators chose to chat instead, taking their kits home to complete... which was possible as we also received the two stamp sets to make them with!

This is one of the cards we made and I really like it... especially the split image. Will definitely be trying that idea out again. The Not Quite Navy cardstock underneath is crumpled, too, for extra texture, and I added some ink to the raised surfaces too, using the Direct to Paper method.  And there is some spritzing over the background which you probably can’t see too well.  Lots of distressing techniques – it’s no wonder I love this card!

The image features some lovely Champagne Mist shimmer paint – I think you were supposed to put it on the flower image, but I did it around the edges instead. Can’t remember why, probably slipped!

For the flower on the card, I inked the stamp with Early Espresso and then added the shimmer paint directly to the edges of the stamp, rocking and rolling-style.

Stamps: Creative Elements

Cardstock: Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler

Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy

Accessories: Itty Bitty Punches, Basic Pearls, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, Seam Binding Ribbon – Crumb Cake

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Distressing class projects

Sorry for the lack of posts lately – I’ve been up to my ears in preparing for my new Catalogue Launch Party, trying to make samples, changing my email address, setting up new-style newsletters, not to mention nursing a stinking cold!

But now, better late than never, are some of the projects we made at last week’s Distressed About Distressing class. Unfortunately, I took a picture of the pirate card on my phone in a hurry before posting it to a friend, and the picture came out soooo badly that I can’t bear to post it here. But here are the other projects.

We made three cards – the aforementioned pirate card, which used the crumpled paper technique, plus this flower card (some people made a Cherry Cobbler version) and the birdcage card, which is a variation on this wedding card I made recently.

We used lots of distressing techniques, some of which I’ll talk you through.

Flower card

The flower card really took a hammering! The flower itself is punched twice – once from Newsprint and once from Basic Black cardstock. The Newsprint flower was inked at the edges using the flat stamp from the Distressing Essentials Kit, then run through the paper crimper. The flat stamp was used again to ink the raised areas formed by the crimper, then it was run through the crimper again, and again, inking occasionally. Once it was well and truly battered, we flattened it out using the bone folder, this broke down the fibres so that some of the petals “split”. Nice effect – and great to use up those bits of creased or marked Designer Series Paper!

The Eggplant panel is inked around the edges using the flat stamp, too.

The elaborate Crumb Cake panel is made with the Top Note die. Put it through once, then turn your cardstock 90º and put it through again. I’d done these in advance to save time, but the classgoers got the opportunity to run it through the Big Shot again, with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. Next we inked the raised areas using the flat stamp and Crumb Cake ink, then dabbed them with a sponge dauber and some beautiful Champagne Mist shimmer paint. You can’t see it in the photo but it gives it a really gorgeous sparkle.

The black strip is crimped and the ribbon is simply folded and twisted onto a length of Sticky Strip.

Birdcage card

The front of this card was stamped and stamped off using Crumb Cake ink and the foliage stamp from Nature Walk. Then it was spritzed using the Night of Navy marker. A section of the front was crimped, to add interest.

The main image was created by inking the En Francais background stamp lightly and erratically with the flat stamp, so that areas were missed. Then the foliage was stamped and stamped off.  The edges were inked with the flat stamp, too. The birdcage was stamped separately, cut out and popped up.

The edges of the cardstock were distressed using the files from the Distressing Essentials Kit.

Pirate card (not shown)

For this card we used the crimper again, plus the crumpled paper technique. For this, we took a piece of perfectly good cardstock, soaked it in water and screwed it up tightly. We opened it out and left it to dry, then tore it into a random shape. You at home can use damaged cardstock for this technique – it’s brilliant for salvaging seemingly useless scraps. If your cardstock is marked, you can ink it once it’s dry, using the flat stamp, or the Direct to Paper technique with your ink pad.

Recipe (retiring products in red)

Stamps: Just Believe, Nature Walk, En Francais

Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Basic Black Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Night of Navy

Paper: Newsprint

Ink: Night of Navy, Crumb Cake, Elegant Eggplant

Accessories: Distressing Essentials Kit, Colour Spritzer, Night of Navy Marker, Linen Thread, Regals Buttons, Fancy Flower Punch, 1” circle punch, ¾” circle punch, Big Shot, Top Note Die, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, sponge daubers, Champagne Mist shimmer paint, Paper crimper, Basic pearls, Satin Ribbon – Night of Navy (now out of stock)

We also used Beware, Pirates, which is retiring

All products by Stampin’ Up!®            

A cracking idea and a cracking offer

This is the cracked glass technique, which you can read about here. As you need about seven or eight layers of standard clear embossing powder, I’d stamped and embossed these in advance of my embossing class to save time. Sadly, I forgot to do one for me so I didn’t get to make another of these cards, which is a shame as I really like it.

The cracking offer of the title is Sale-A-Bration. Find out how you can get your hands on this stamp set - and three others - for FREE by clicking here.

To make this card, first we stamped half of the front of the card using En Francais. This is a big background stamp so, to make things easier, we made a mask from a piece of scrap paper with a torn edge and covered half of the card. The edges were distressed.

The embossed birds were removed from the freezer and cracked. You need a firm glue to stick cracked glass images down afterwards so we used Sticky Strip.

Stamps: Happy Moments (SAB)
Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Versamark
Accessories: Eyelet Border punch, Wide striped Grosgrain Ribbon - Chocolate Chip, Clear embossing powder

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Completing the shell collection

My last Seaside card for a while and, as a finale, I really went to town, using all of the stamps from the set, arranged (and some popped up) on a piece of Kraft cardstock. I inked the edges of the Kraft with Close to Cocoa ink and then distressed the edges to shabby it up a bit.

Canvas provides the background on the Kraft piece (subtly) and the Close to Cocoa card base (more obvious) and a rectangle of Cameo Coral, with scalloped edges, provides a hint of colour.

Ooh, this set is a new favourite!

Stamps: Seaside, Sincere Salutations, Canvas
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Kraft, Cameo Coral, Very Vanilla
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Basic Grey
Accessories: Watercolour Wonder™ crayons, blender pens, scallop edge punch

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.

Collecting shells

Still staying on the Seaside theme, I decided to step things up a little by adding some more shells to a card. 

After colouring the images with Watercolour Wonder™ crayons and blender pens, I cut them out and arranged them on some Confetti White cardstock, popping up the starfish to add dimension. 

I thought the linen thread looks suitably seaside-y and masculine (this card is for a man), and the Canvas background on the Close to Cocoa card base looked a little like fishing net. Again, I was going for an uneven finish with the Canvas background, so pressed harder in certain places. I added some extra ink around the edges to give it a shabby feel.

Stamps: Seaside, Sincere Salutations, Canvas
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, Confetti White, Very Vanilla
Ink: Basic Grey, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Watercolour Wonder™ crayons – Earth Elements, blender pens, linen thread

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.

Brand new stamp set!

I promised you a card using a brand new stamp set… and here it is: a new stamp set and a new technique all on one day!

This set is one of the four released to demonstrators early – it’s called For Father and features four stamps. There are three images; this one, a puppy lying on a pair of boots, and a tool box. The fourth stamp is a saying which reads: “May happiness touch your life today as you have so often touched the lives of others.” So, even though the set is called For Father, you could use it for anyone – it’s particularly useful for masculine cards. To get the “happiness” on this card, I inked just that one word using a marker.

I was daunted by it because it involves colouring – if you look back through my samples you’ll notice there isn’t much colouring going on because I’m too lazy! But I knuckled down and had a go, finding it surprisingly therapeutic. I used my Watercolour Wonder™ crayons… I really am going to have to invest in another pack of these, as they’re so gorgeous.

Now, what’s this crazy technique all about? It’s called the Cracked Glass Technique and it appears to be very popular on craft blogs at the moment, so I thought I’d better jump on the bandwagon before it went without me.

I’ll prepare a tutorial on it when I have more time but as I’m not sure when that will be, this is what you do, in brief: Stamp and colour your image as normal, then apply Versamark® all over it before dipping in clear embossing powder. Repeat this process several times until you have a good thick glassy layer. I have to say, this image looked fabulous when it was at this stage, it was almost a shame to go any further.

But I did – the next stage involves putting your embossed image in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Remove then gently bend it until the embossing cracks. Keep going until you’re happy with the results. You can rub some dark chalk into the cracks if you like, to give it an aged effect.

Hope you like it!

Stamps: For Father
Cardstock: Bravo Burgundy, Rose Red, Always Artichoke
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Watercolour Wonder™ crayons – Rich Regals, Embossing powder, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Always Artichoke

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Using those earthy scraps...

I’ve been having a bit of a sort-out and have now organised all my scraps into clear plastic boxes so that I can stack them easily and see what I have. Rachel, if you’re reading, I didn’t have to sit on any lids… but it was a close-run thing with the Earth Elements colour family, so I thought I’d better use some of it up. So expect lots of Earth Elements projects in the coming weeks!

This card started with a strip of 10.5cm wide Old Olive cardstock. I thought it was half of an A4 sheet, cut lengthways, so folded it at 14.8mm to make a side-opening landscape card. It was then that I realised that it wasn’t a full length piece, so one side was short. Doh!

But, as we all know, there are no mistakes in rubber stamping, so I scalloped the short edge with the corner rounder and found a perfectly sized scrap of More Mustard cardstock for the inside, Before I stuck it down I stamped it with the En Francais background stamp, and inked the edges with my More Mustard ink pad, using the direct-to-paper technique.

The rest of the card needs no explanation, just a recipe:

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Daily Flexible Phrases
Cardstock: Old Olive, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard
Accessories: Corner Rounder, Earth Elements buttons, Linen Thread

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Simple leaf

A simple little card using some of my favourite colours from the Earth Elements® family. The card measures 9cm square.

The leaf background is stamped off in Old Olive, ie it was stamped first on scrap paper and then on the cardstock to create a lighter shade. The Chocolate Chip was then stamped on top, positioned with the Stamp-a-ma-jig®.

The twill tape is fabulous because, as you can see, you can stamp on it! It comes in three widths, too.

Stamps: Shapes and Shadows (p54)
Cardstock: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Versamark®
Accessories: Twill Tape (p87)

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

My second challenge card

How I wish I’d bought this ribbon – thankfully I managed to scrounge some from Alison to finish off this card. And, luckily, she gave me enough for a second card, so I added it to the one I made the other day because I still wasn’t really happy with it.

The first card is clearly a remake of that old favourite, which you can see here and here. This version - the last in the Bonjour card trilogy - was for the colour challenge on In Love With Stamping. I’m not keen on the colour combination, to be honest, but thought I’d have a go… adding some Chocolate Chip to tone it down.

The second card is this card but with the ribbon added.

Recipe for first card (details of second card are in the link)

Stamps: Carte Postale (p57)
Cardstock: Apricot Appeal, Brocade Blue, Only Orange, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Bordering Blue (yes, wrong ink pad again!), Versamark®
Accessories: Hodgepodge Hardware® - Pewter, 3/8” Grosgrain Ribbon – Brocade Blue

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

French trio

I was playing around after making this card and came up with a few extra little square cards. As you can see, I accidentally used Bordering Blue to stamp the flowers on the Bonjour card – on the second picture you can clearly see the difference between that shade and Brocade Blue on the other two.

To get the subtle images on the background of the card, I stamped off on to scrap paper before stamping on my project.

Stamps: Carte Postale (p57)
Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Elegant Eggplant, Very Vanilla
Ink: Brocade Blue, Bordering Blue, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Elegant Eggplant

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Bonjour... the sequel

This card is a remake of this one – the first version is in Earth Elements®, while this one uses colours from the Rich Regals® family. I’ve made another one, too, but haven’t quite finished it because I need to scrounge some ribbon from Alison first.

Stamps: Carte Postale (p57)
Cardstock: Bordering Blue, Brocade Blue, Elegant Eggplant, Very Vanilla
Ink: Bordering Blue, Brocade Blue, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon – Elegant Eggplant, Hodgepodge Hardware® - Pewter

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Ooh la la!

The Carte Postale stamp set and Earth Elements colour family lend themselves perfectly to the “shabby chic” look, so I demoed this card at a workshop this week.

The great thing about Carte Postale is that it co-ordinates with so many other products. There’s the Leaves à la Carte jumbo wheel (p56), the French Flair background stamp (p56) and the Le Jardin designer paper (p73).

To make this card, I started by stamping the main images on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. If I’d been on my own I’d have just guessed but, with an audience, I thought using the Stamp-a-ma-jig® would be safer, to ensure accurate results! I used the direct-to-paper technique to add some colour around the edges, then layered it on to some pieces of distressed cardstock.

I did the direct-to-paper technique on the body of the card, too, using Really Rust ink on Really Rust cardstock for a tone-on-tone effect. I also stamped the big swirly thing using Versamark® - don’t know why as I could easily have used Really Rust.

Some Old Olive ribbon and a piece of Hodgepodge Hardware® completed the card.

Stamps: Carte Postale (p57)
Cardstock: Really Rust, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Really Rust, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Versamark®
Accessories: 3/8” Grosgrain Ribbon – Old Olive, Hodgepodge Hardware® - Pewter

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

A shabby lion

This is essentially the same card as this one, as you can see. Same design, different colours, different stamps. There’s no point in reinventing the wheel and, sometimes, there’s just no time!

This is for a demo at a workshop this Friday – the hostess likes earthy colours and wanted me to show her the popping pastels technique (click here for details). As most of the guests will have children, I thought I’d use this fun set.

Stamps: Wild About You (p32)
Cardstock: More Mustard, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Versamark®, More Mustard, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon – More Mustard, Hodgepodge Hardware® - Pewter

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

A shabby rose card - with a new ribbon use thrown in!

First an announcement: Alison and I held a prize draw at the papercraft show yesterday and, at the end of the day, drew a winner. The winner is Mrs L. Winfield and I’ll be posting her prize of a fabulous Stampin’ Up!® stamp set today.

Now for details of the card, which is the one I demonstrated yesterday. It was quite a complicated (and messy) card to demonstrate at a tiny table but people seemed to like it. Either that or they were just being polite!

First I wheeled along the bottom of the card with the Watercolour Vine wheel, using the Mellow Moss cartridge. As this is a paler colour than the cardstock (Always Artichoke) it’s left a very subtle image.

Next I used the direct-to-paper technique to ink up the edges of the card, and used scissors to rough up the bottom edge of the card to give it a shabby chic look. To give the card a bit of lift, I attached a narrow strip of Rose Red cardstock behind the distressed edge.

I stamped the main image with Roses in Winter. It’s a two-step stamp set and, to make the first impression paler, I “stamped off” on scrap paper first. Again I inked and distressed the edges of the cardstock. Please click here for more about the techniques used on this card.

Here's the bonus use of ribbon: the ribbon goes all the way round the card and is joined behind the image. I threaded a piece of Hodgepodge Hardware® on to the ribbon before joining it then threaded a short piece of ribbon through the ribbon that goes over the top of the hardware and tied a simple knot.

I added the layered image using Stampin’ Dimensionals® and, finally, as the hardware is loose on the ribbon, I slid it along so that it was exactly where I wanted it.

Stamps: Roses in Winter (p47), Watercolour Vine wheel (p89)
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Rose Red, Very Vanilla
Ink: Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss (cartridge)
Accessories: Hodgepodge Hardware® - Pewter, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon – Always Artichoke, Stampin’ Around® Jumbo Handle (p83)

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Popping pastels and sponge fingers

I have new toys and I’m absolutely loving them! I would never have believed something so simple could be so fabulous.

They are… sponge daubers. I saw them demoed at the Stampin’ Up! Open Night in Birmingham and couldn’t resist. They are little round sponges on top of black plastic cylinders which fit on your finger… which led Jean, one of our guests at our cardmaking evening, to rename them “sponge fingers”. Love it!

I realise now why I’ve never managed to get good results with this popping pastels technique – sponge daubers make it so easy.

The technique appears to work like magic. You stamp your image in VersaMark® - it’s barely visible until you apply Stampin’ Pastels (chalks) with the sponge dauber. The image appears in all its bright and chalky glory. It leaves a soft shadow around the image which is a lovely effect. You can also use the daubers with chalk to sponge soft colours on to your cardstock, softening the edges or creating a night sky, for example.

On these cards I sponged Old Olive chalk onto the tree leaves and Close to Cocoa onto the trunk. The Stampin’ Pastels are excellent, especially if you want access to all the Stampin’ Up! colours quickly as you get all 48 Stampin’ Up! colours, plus white, black and grey.

For these cards I also used the Direct to Paper technique and some distressing for a “shabby chic” effect, plus some background stamping. If you want to see these techniques in the flesh, why not request them when you book a workshop? Alternatively, sign up for my class (see top right).

Stamps: Lovely As a Tree (p45), En Francais (p58)

Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: VersaMark®, Close to Cocoa

Accessories: Twill Tape (p87), ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Always Artichoke (p86), Hodgepodge Hardware® - Pewter (84)

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.

Browned off?

Now what's wrong with brown flowers? Don't be put off by brown - it's the colour of chocolate, after all! Here are two cards in shades of brown and cream. Very similar designs but with a few variations.

The stamp set is Heartfelt, which is a Level 3 Hostess set which you can earn for free by hosting a qualifying workshop in your home. I've used two-step stamping to create the flowers. For the solid image, I stamped off with Close to Cocoa. There are more details about stamping off, and other techniques used on these cards, here.

Landscape card
To add depth to the background of this card, I used the Direct to Paper technique, applying the ink pad onto the edges and corners of the card. If you've never tried this method, be warned; the first time you do it you'll hate it and think it looks like a mess. You'll look at other people's efforts and love them but think your own aren't up to scratch. (Ask me how I know!) You'll get over this eventually... unless you're a Virgo or a similarly-minded neat and tidy person, in which case you'll probably never embrace this Shabby Chic look!

Stamps: Heartfelt (p20), Birthday Best (p34) - I inked part of the greeting with a marker
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Paper: Brocade Background (p72)
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Chocolate Chip marker (p70), Twill tape (p87)

Portrait card
You'll no doubt notice that this card has a wonky layer... I like to call that "endearing" rather than faulty! To create a "tone on tone" background, I used the Close to Cocoa inkpad on cardstock of the same colour. To make it a little more subdued, I stamped off on scrap paper first.

The patterned paper is from the Prints Designer Series Papers - you get 12 sheets in six patterns, all in one shade. I bought the Certainly Celery but have swapped some of it with Alison - this is a useful way of making your budget give you more variety.

Stamps: Heartfelt (p20)
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Confetti White
Paper: Prints Designer Series Papers - Close to Cocoa (p72)
Ink: Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Gingham ribbon - caramel (p86), Crafters' Tool Kit (p85)

All products are by Stampin' Up! Please email me to request a catalogue, or see right for a link to the online version.

And now for something completely different...

I thought it was time for something a bit more elegant... a style that doesn't come naturally to me! But as soon as I received this stamp set in my Demonstrator Starter Kit I couldn't wait to play with it! I used a few techniques on this card:

Two-step stamping: This is the technique I used on the butterfly card. You stamp once in a pale shade, then again on top with a co-ordinating stamp in a darker shade. Accuracy is not important!

Distressing: I distressed the edges of the card by running the blade of my scissors along it to roughen it up. You can do this as much as you like until you're happy with the effect. It does create a lot of paper dust so do it over some scrap paper to catch the bits! This technique comes in REALLY handy when your paper cutter blades are getting blunt. If you're not happy with the cut, just distress the edges and nobody will know!

Direct-to-paper: This is when you hold your ink pad in one hand and apply it directly to the edges of the cardstock for a shabby chic effect. Stampin' Up! ink pads are designed to make this easy as they have non-slip sides for your fingers.

Stamping off: This is a great way of getting the most out of your ink pads and is perfect for two-step stamping. On the sample above I only used this method on the leaves but the example below (sorry about the ropey picture) shows you just how many shades you can get from one ink pad. For lighter shades, stamp your inked stamp on scrap paper once, twice or even three times before stamping on your project. The roses are stamped in Rose Red (what else?) and the leaves are stamped in Sage Shadow.



And, finally, here's the recipe for the Roses in Winter card above:

Stamps: Roses in Winter (p47), En Francais (p58).
Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Rose Red, Very Vanilla.
Ink: Sage Shadow, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink.
Accessories: Hodgepodge Hardware - Pewter (p84).

(All page numbers refer to the UK Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue 2007-2008)