Have another Quaran-tini!

It must be challenging being in lockdown alone, which is why Stampin’ Up!® has come up with this new image and greetings set so you can make cards to cheer people up. It’s part of the new Share Sunshine PDF which raises money for worth causes helping people affected by Covid-19.

Inside it says “it’s like a normal martini but you drink it at home, alone”. Perfect!

You can download the PDF here

When colouring images printed from your computer, for best results use Stampin’ Blends as these won’t smear your image. I tried to add Wink of Stella to the top of this image but had to take care as it was smudging the black ink.

Painted Poppies Week: Lovely landscape

Real Red, Pear Pizzazz and Call Me Clover really make the poppies stand out on this #simplestamping project. I took inspiration from a talented stamper out there in the stampiverse but I'm afraid I can't find the original so I cannot credit her. If you know, please comment and I'll amend this post to give her credit.

You could make this project even simpler by stamping straight onto the notecard, but that cane be a little daunting for new stampers, so I prefer to give them a separate piece of cardstock so they have the option of turning it over if they're not happy with their first attempt.  

Painted Poppies Week: Simple to Stepped-up

I haven't posted a #simplestamping project for a while, so here you are... with a stepped-up calendar version thrown in for good measure.

This calendar card was one of my Cuppa & Card projects in January. It was a rash decision to make something so time-consuming within our one-hour session, but I had some calendar tabs to use up.

However, just in case I had more people turn up than calendar tabs, I had the second #simplestamping card ready to go. Same design as the calendar, just stuck onto a notecard instead. Cunning, eh?

Get the trendy white-on-black look of embossing without the tools, the faff and the time by using the new Label Me Bold stamp set. I love it!

Painted Poppies Week... starring Blackberry Bliss

I hope you enjoyed Sale-a-Bration week last week. This week it's Painted Poppies Week! In celebration of this beautiful stamp set which is on page 26 of the Spring/Summer catalogue and part of the stunning Peaceful Poppies Suite.

To kick things off, here is one of my Stampy Buffet projects, which uses Blackberry Bliss and Poppy Parade: who would have thought this would be a match made in heaven? But I love how it makes the poppies really pop. 

Colour the poppies using ink pads and blender pens, then stamp some splatters around the heads, making sure to stamp off onto some scrap paper first, so that they are not swamped by bright colour. 

Peaceful Poppies desk calendar

 

We all love a no-waste project, don't we? And this pretty desk calendar gives you two projects in one.

Inspired by Susan Itell, who has detailed instructions here, (https://simplestampin.com/2017/12/super-practical-oh-easy.html), I made this for my purple-loving host, using Peaceful Poppies Designer Series Paper. It's hard to cover the gorgeous flower images but this Blackberry Bliss side is beautiful, too.

Because the project is made from half a sheet of 12"x12' cardstock, from which you cut a 3"x6" piece, you get to make a sweet little 3"x3" card with the leftovers. Very easy, very cute and a great January project.

Colour your leaves from Peaceful Poppies simply by stamping on top with the large splatter stamp from the same set. No faff, and you can do two or more at a time!

A patch of purple poppies

 

Who says poppies have to be red? They absolutely don't and I love the colourful Californian poppies which sometimes spring up unexpectedly in the garden.

Purple poppies are beautiful, too, and I've just this minute learned that they are symbol of remembrance for all those animals which served in wartime, such as the military working dogs, horses and ponies which didn’t ask to get involved in human conflicts.

On a brighter note, here are two cards I made along very similar lines, using the lovely and oft-neglected Purple Posy cardstock. 

I love the version with the bold flowers and on-trend white embossing on a black die-cut label but knew this wouldn't be practical in a home party situation so made the one with the flower border and Story Label punch, too. But which do you prefer?

We may not be able to order Purple Posy ink but we can get the look with Highland Heather by stamping off onto scrap paper first. You can also get the look with Versamark and, of course, our Stampin’ Write Marker and Stampin’ Blends Alcohol Marker.