Simple stamping with Forever Fern

It can be good to clamber out of your comfort zone – because you never know what you may discover.

And when I made this card, I learned that I can work with pink if I put my mind to it.

While that may not have been a favourite project of mine, these two definitely are. I found that the delicate leaves in the new Forever Fern stamp set really lend themselves to the brighter colours. What do you think?

Stamping in opposite corners of the card provides balance to the design.

Retiring stamp set: Tropical Chic

 
Is that pink? What's happening to me? I saw a similar card to this created by a crafter called Yana Smakula and couldn’t resist making one of my own with the Tropical Chic stamp set before it retires at the end of this month.

I used Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight and Smoky Slate to create a DSP-style background. This would be great for a one-sheet wonder!

I also use the Share Sunshine PDF of greetings which has some fabulous sentiments for the current situation. You can download that here and all proceeds go to two very good causes helping to fight Covid-19.

There's a very small sneak peek on there, too – can you spot it? It’s the Flirty Flamingo die-cut on the card on the right. This is from the new Tasteful Labels set and I’m currently using it all the time. It’s going to be really popular, I’m sure.

My Smoky Slate ink pad desperately needed re-inking but, once I’d done so, I found it a bit dark (left card) so created another background by stamping off onto scrap paper first to get a paler look (right card). This is a good way of toning down colours which are too dominant and also a great way of getting more out of your ink pads, as you can get 2-3 shades from each colour.

Painted Poppies Week: Monochromatic Poppies

It’s the last day of Painted Poppies Week here at All Things Stampy but I’m sure this won’t be the last you see of this lovely stamp set!

These four fun cards were quick and easy to make – and I love how you can tailor the design to almost any of our lovely colours.

I borrowed the idea from Lynn Dunn, but simplified her design slightly to use Label Me Bold instead of embossing – I really have to be in the mood for embossing!

My colours are Crushed Curry, Gorgeous Grape (but with Highland Heather stamping), Flirty Flamingo and Coastal Cabana. Which one is your favourite?

Some colours will swamp your poppy heads, which is why I used Highland Heather instead of Gorgeous Grape. If you don't have a paler ink, you can stamp off onto scrap paper first, then this will give you a lighter shade.

Stamparatus Skills Workshop projects

Saturday was my much-anticipated Stamparatus Skills Workshop. I have been waiting for Sale-a-Bration to offer this class so that everyone could use the same stamp set. Guests each received a Stamparatus and the Hello Cupcake set in their kit and we made these two cards, using seven amazing Stamparatus techniques.

If you’d like the tutorials for these two projects, detailing all the Stamparatus techniques, simply order a Stamparatus and the Hello Cupcake stamp set from me before the end of February and I'll send them to you.

You can order by emailing me or shop at my online store using the host code VSQ3YGCB

Botanical Tags gift sachets

I rustled up these mini envelope sachets in minutes for some team gifts this month. I love the Botanical Bliss bundle with its elegant tag dies. You can use them as tag toppers/bookmarks or use the additional die to cut around the flower, as I’ve done here.

Tropical Chic week!

It’s time for another themed week, this time – in honour of our tropical weather – I am focussing on Tropical Chic.

This is a really fun and on-trend bundle of products. There’s a stamp set and dies, but you could easily work with one or the other. 

I had just the dies to work with for my OnStage display projects and had lots of fun. But the stamps went on my first catalogue order, to increase the project possibilities. 

This week I will be showcasing five projects using these products – but the possibilities don’t end there, far from it. My head is teeming with more ideas that I just haven’t had time to make just yet. I will be revisiting this bundle in the future, I promise. 

This project uses a totally tropical colour combo and involved splashing ink onto wet watercolour paper to create a pretty random effect. When it was dry, I cut it out using the square die you see in the photo above. And can you spot the Subtle Embossing Folder? It’s very well named but I promise you’ll love it. Lots of my customers have ordered this after seeing it on my sample projects – a photograph really can’t do it justice. Just trust me and buy it – you won’t regret it!

Tropical Chic in super bright colours

I held a Stampin’ Up!® party on Friday for the first time in years. This is a shameful admission when you think I am very keen for other people to hold them. And it also made me wonder I haven’t been doing it more often as I had a great time... didn’t have to pack the car or drive anywhere, and thoroughly enjoyed choosing my free products!

A BIG thank you is in order to everyone who came along and ordered products, and generally made the evening a fun one.

I demoed the Tropical Chic bundle, which I’m delighted to play with at last. I’ve had the dies since February, for my Display Team projects, but have only just taken delivery of the stamps.

Above is the Make & Take, which I CASEd from the latest edition of Stampin’ Success (the magazine for demonstrators) but changed to even brighter colours. I’m a big fan of the new, revamped Brights collection!

This was the prize for the evening which, in the absence of Karen, inevitably went to Sharon. This seems to be how it works at EVERY party. Karen nearly always wins (although she denies it!) and, if she’s not there, Sharon will win.

This was my 3D demonstration... a fun little teabag holder. I used the ‘smoosh technique’ on the watercolour paper before cutting out with this fun die.

As for the teabag holder, I have another version of this to show you on Wednesday so please do pop back, and I may even have some instructions for you.

What do you think of the colour combo? Too bright? Not bright enough? I’d love to hear your thoughts...

Springtime Foils Week Part 3: Sponged in Flirty Flamingo

To conclude Springtime Foils week here at All Things Stampy, here’s a really delicate project using shades of pink.

I love that you can easily add colour - here I’ve just sponged some Flirty Flamingo ink (retiring soon!) quite roughly, but it still looks lovely.

This card was heavily inspired by this project by Monica Gale – it’s definitely not my usual colour scheme or style, but it’s always good to challenge yourself.

Don’t forget you need to hurry if you want to order this Designer Series Paper as it’s a Sale-a-Bration freebie and therefore only available until the end of March.

Springtime Foils Week Part 1: Mixed Metallics gift bags

No Mix It Up Monday project today as I’m working on a super-secret crafting project so have no time for any other crafting.

Instead, it’s Springtime Foils week here on AllThingsStampy, as I show you some projects using the gorgeous Springtime Foils Designer Series Paper (Sale-a-Bration).

These are the gift bags everybody received at my All-Day Craftathon on 10th March. I really milked the “mixed metallics” trent here with these gorgeous gold-striped bags, some silver glimmer paper and the Springtime Foils DSP which I sponged in Flirty Flamingo and *gasp* Peche Fraiche. The strip was brayered in black to give the copper dots a striking background.

Each bag contained a pretty guest soap, but my friend and helper Kelly needed a bigger gift, in a bigger package, so I made her this...

For the body of the pouch I used the beautiful floral sheet from Springtime Foils, and didn’t ink it or sponge it or colour it at all. It’s just beautiful as it is.
SaveSaveSaveSave

Sneak peek: Pieces & Patterns

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: How cute is this little dinosaur? For this card, I made a mask from a post-it note so I could enable the T Rex to write with his tiny hands - I just hope he doesn’t drop the pencil as he’ll never be able to pick it up again. 

I enjoyed making this card so much, that I had another go, with a pencil-themed variation and the perfect greeting from Crafting Forever. This Designer Series Paper goes perfectly with this sentiment, doesn’t it?

Mix It Up Monday: Sneak Peek - Bike Ride

A tiny sneak peek from another fabulous new stamp set from the upcoming catalogue. This one is called Bike Ride and, as you’d guess from the title but not from the image, it’s all about cycling. It features a cute bike, with accessories you can add such as a basket and, you guessed it, a little dog to pop inside. There are matching dies, too, so no fussy cutting required! 

I only managed a brief play with a friend’s set, so quickly stamped the dog for today’s Mix It Up Monday project, which uses the penultimate colour combination from my In Color charts. I honestly can’t believe I’ve managed to get this far without giving up! Only one more combo to go next week, then I will be revealing my much-anticipated colour combinations using the new colours on Monday, 22nd May. 

I thought I’d used this colour combo before, but it turns out I was close with my Dapper Flamingo, but omitted the grey. That’s no surprise to anyone who knows me, as I’m not a fan of grey. Which is an odd thing to say as I sit here typing this in a grey top and grey cardigan. I’m an enigma, that’s what I am. 

Mix It Up Monday: Lift Me Up congratulations card

It’s Mix It Up Monday again and, as we’re on the Sale-a-Bration countdown (it ends on 31st March) I thought I’d use some of this fabulous Carried Away Designer Series Paper to create a Flirty Flamingo card from my In Color charts.

As you can see, this fab paper co-ordinates perfectly with the Lift Me Up Bundle in the Spring/Summer catalogue. And, while the stamps and dies will be available until the end of May, you have less than two weeks to earn this FREE paper. 

I’ve created a striped balloon using the clever dies that make this so easy. It makes this challenge easy, too, as all I had to do was make my stripes in the required colours. 

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. 

Mix It Up Monday: Sneak peek with Lift Me Up

I have a sneak peek for you on this Mix It Up Monday… a project made with a brand new stamp set which will be available from 4th January. It’s perfect for this cheery colour combination from my latest set of In Color charts. 

The stamp set – from which I’ve only used the greeting on this project – is called Lift Me Up and featured hot air balloons and clouds. The co-ordinating Up & Away Thinlits allow you to die-cut the stamped balloons, as well as create different coloured balloons by layering different shades behind the main image. 

I’ve kept it simple here, by hand-cutting the background piece in Flirty Flamingo and layering it behind the Rich Razzleberry balloon. 

The background was painted initially using Soft Sky, then, while the ink was still wet, brushed gently with some Bermuda Bay ink to create the cloudy effect. 

There’s lots of fun to be had from hot air balloons – which I’m sure is why the set features on the cover of the catalogue, and they were a key theme of the recent OnStage events for demonstrators. 

Finally, don’t forget it’s the last day of the Online Extravaganza! Click the image below to order through my website and, if you use the code BBB4XSCA when spending over £25, I’ll send you a thank you gift!

Mix It Up Monday: Paisleys & Posies

I confess this is not my kind of colour combination at all. I like my colours dark and dirty, but needs must. It is, after all, Mix It Up Monday and time for another project made with a colour combination from my latest set of In Color charts. 

I set myself the challenge of creating a project using the new Paisleys & Posies stamp set - again, not my style at all, but it’s good to get out of your rut now and again!

One Big Meaning Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139420] £17.00	Paisleys & Posies Photopolymer Bundle [143515] £40.50	Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock [121695] £7.25	Flirty Flamingo A4 Cardstock [141421] £7.25	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky [131292] £7.25
Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550] £8.25	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad [126976] £6.00	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad [131181] £6.00	Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad [141397] £6.00	2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes [141410] £8.25

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com