Love You Lots birthday card with Birthday Bright sneak peek

For all those of you who have birthdays at the “wrong” time of year... you know, the time of year when birthday cards are shoved to one corner in the shop, when everyone “forgets” it’s your birthday because they’re too busy with Christmas or, worse, gives you a “joint Christmas and birthday present”.

This is for my big brother who, inexplicably, really likes ladybirds. It’s a bit of a mish-mash of past, present and future... with some retired washi tape I bought from the Clearance Rack, a current hostess set and a future greeting set which we were all given at OnStage and which I know you’re going to love.

Love You Lots Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141801] £8.00	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock [141419] £7.25	Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Jet Black Stazon Ink Pad [101406] £8.25
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126949] £6.00	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad [141394] £6.00	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad [131181] £6.00	Season Of Cheer Designer Washi Tape [139611] £7.25

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Love You Lots with paint splatter technique

How fun is this? Ignore the copper embossing; while I love the new copper embossing powder, it really doesn't work on this project, but I couldn’t find the white (it was before the Big Craft Sort).

Instead, concentrate on the main image. For this, I masked the elephant, then spattered paint all over the background. I did this at a Crafty Friday event and, again, took inspiration from one of my customers. Kate made a splattered background around her elephant image and we decided it looked like the elephant had done it with a paintbrush. So, between us, we carefully drew in a paintbrush - and I loved the effect so much that I just had to make my own version.

Love You Lots Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141801] £8.00	Pop Of Paradise Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141581] £17.00	Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140517] £18.00	Jet Black Stazon Ink Pad [101406] £8.25	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad [131179] £6.00
Versamark Pad [102283] £7.75	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [121029] £3.00	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [109020] £3.00	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [105225] £3.00	Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [141400] £3.00
Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	So Saffron A4 Card Stock [108611] £7.25	Wild Wasabi A4 Card Stock [111850] £7.25	Sweet Sugarplum A4 Cardstock [141423] £7.25	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock [141419] £7.25
Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock [121685] £7.25	Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder [141636] £4.50	Project Life Journaling Pens [135304] £4.50

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Love You Lots with Pop of Paradise and a splashy watercolour technique

It’s that frog again (I don’t even like frogs!) from Love You Lots, the gorgeous new hostess stamp set. 

This is the result of some experimentation at June’s Crafty Friday event, where we played with watercolour techniques again. Here’s how to recreate this technique:

1. Begin by stamping an outline image (ie, one you can colour in) twice in permanent ink; once on the watercolour paper and once on some thin scrap paper or sticky note. 
2. Cut out the image from the scrap paper to create a mask.
3. If using scrap paper, apply a temporary adhesive (Tombow is temporary if you allow it to dry thoroughly) on the back of the mask. 
4. An alternative method would be to skip the mask and use masking fluid (available from art shop) all over the image on the watercolour paper. It can be rubbed off when the project is complete. 
5. With your main image safely covered, now you can create the splashy background. Simply pick up ink with a paintbrush or aquapainter and tap the top of the brush.
6. A wetter brush will result in larger, paler splashes.
7. More concentrated ink, ie less water, will result in smaller, darker splashes. 
8. When you’re happy with the results, allow it to dry thoroughly, then remove the mask. If you’ve gone a bit mad with the splashing (easy done) you may find some of the colour has seeped through, but you can remove this to a certain extent with a paintbrush and clear water. 
9. Now you can paint your main image as desired. I soon realised that my frog couldn’t be green as he wouldn’t stand out, so went for So Saffron. Yes, this is So Saffron, you wouldn’t think it, would you? But when you use the ink in its concentrated form, with just a little water, it leans more towards Delightful Dijon. 
10. Finally, to make the frog stand out even more, I tested the theory that the Fine Tip Glue Pen can be used as a substitute for Crystal Effects (which we no longer carry). It worked! It takes a little longer to dry but has very similar results. 

SaveSave

Love You Lots Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141801] £8.00	Pop Of Paradise Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141581] £17.00	Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Wild Wasabi A4 Card Stock [111850] £7.25	Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock [141419] £7.25
Delightful Dijon A4 Cardstock [138345] £7.25	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550] £8.25	Jet Black Stazon Ink Pad [101406] £8.25	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad [141394] £6.00	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [105225] £3.00
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [100531] £3.00	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [122932] £3.00	Fine-Tip Glue Pen [138309] £6.25

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Around the World Blog Hop: Showcasing new stamp sets

I returned from my holiday last week to learn that another Around the World Blog Hop was planned, and the topic was “new stamp sets”. Fortunately I’d taken some crafting supplies away with me so I could have a quiet stamping day, and had just the project up my sleeve already, which was lucky as otherwise I wouldn’t have had time to play along. 

I’m glad I could join in as it’s always a pleasure to work with such a talented group of ladies from around the world, and it’s lovely to welcome blog visitors old and new. So whether it’s your first or 91st visit, thank you for dropping by. Maybe you’ve joined me from Martha’s blog, or maybe you’ve happened upon this page by chance; whatever route you’ve taken, I hope you continue on to the rest of the tour.  And I hope you like my creation, which uses the new hostess set, Love You Lots. 

Regular visitors will know that this is just about all I have so far from the new catalogue, as I didn’t go mad on the pre-order. But my BIG order arrived this week and hopefully I will get time to play along SOON.

For this project, I stamped the elephant and mouse in Black Stazon and painted them using Crumb Cake ink from the lid of my ink pad. I then stamped both animals again on very thin scrap paper (well, a receipt, I was on holiday so supplies were limited!) and used this to create a mask which I attached using Tombow (if you allow it to dry it becomes a temporary adhesive). 

Masks in place, I then began to add the colour, by loading up my paintbrush and simply tapping it to create splashes across the watercolour paper. The results were a little unpredictable, but at least the masks were there to protect my elephant and little mouse.

The greeting is stamped on watercolour paper, too, with the long thin strip stamp (bet you wondered what that was for!) in Mint Macaron and the word on top in Night of Navy. 

Hope you like! Thanks again for visiting: please now pay a visit to Miriam. But if you get lost, don’t worry, the full list of participating blogs is here, too: 

Julie Davison (United States)
Martha Lucia Gomez (United States)
Helen Read (United Kingdom) (that’s me!)
Miriam van Eyden (The Netherlands) 
Anke Hämsch (Germany) 
Barbara Meyer (Austria) 
Liz Goldhawk (Canada - English)
Cécile Ortiz (France)

Love You Lots froggy card

Oh happy day indeed! My big order came - it was sooooo exciting, especially as much of it was for me, and most of my stuff was FREE. Why free? Well, as a demonstrator, I get to earn special rewards for sales and recruiting during Sale-a-Bration - and the long redemption period means I can save them up for new catalogue products. 

There was a distinct animal theme to my order, with birds, a flamingo, llama and foxes among my stamp sets, plus another out-of-character floral set. One of my flower-loving customers, Grace, says her influence is rubbing off. And it probably is; I do think that stamping with other people opens your eyes to other styles and ideas… not to mention giving you access to even more fun products! So if you’re not hold stamping play dates with your crafty friends, why not? And if you don’t have any crafty friends, why not join a class or sign up as a demonstrator? (There’s a GREAT offer on at the moment - just sayin’.)

Anyway, today’s project is project is another Love you Lots card, as I haven’t actually had time to make anything with my new stuff yet. Hope you like the fun froggy!

Please come back tomorrow for Caturday in the morning... then another Around the World Blog Hope late in the evening. 

Love You Lots Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141801] £8.00	Thoughtful Banners Photopolymer Stamp Set [141614] £19.00	Hardwood Clear-Mount Stamp Set [133035] £13.00	Affectionately Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper [141632] £11.75	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25
Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock [106577] £7.25	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock [138342] £7.25	Blender Pens [102845] £9.00	Jet Black Stazon Ink Pad [101406] £8.25	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad [138324] £6.00
Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad [126975] £6.00	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [126970] £6.00	White Perfect Accents [138416] £4.50	Gold Metallic Thread [138401] £2.75

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