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.
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Window Box Thinlits - extra wide box with tutorial link

I promised you more projects using the Window Box Thinlits, so here’s another one. This was created by following a superb tutorial by the talented Kirsteen Gill, which you can find here. I have never been the type of person who can create “different” designs with our supplies, so am always very grateful when others find new ways to use our products, and this wider version of the Window Box is very clever indeed. Why not give it a try?

And in answer to your question – because I know you’re thinking it – no, the spotty belly band doesn’t cover a join... there is no join.

And in answer to your other question: why did I use peach when everyone knows I don’t like it? That’s because I tend to try new designs in my least favourite colours. Usually they go wrong but this one went right!

Mix It Up Monday with Birthday Bright

Exciting times for Mix It Up Monday as I have finally reached the end of the Peekaboo Peach colour combinations from my In Color charts! 

Experienced readers will know that what tends to happen next is that SU will bring out some fab new Designer Series Paper in the next catalogue, using my least favourite colour… and then poor maligned Pêche Fraiche will become tolerable and then eventually I will grudgingly admit that “I quite like it now”. This usually happens a month or two before the colour is retired. 

I know this because it’s happening already about the 2015-17 In Colors. I am already looking wistfully at Mint Macaron, Delightful Dijon, Tip Top Taupe, Watermelon Wonder and, to a lesser extent, Cucumber Crush, and wondering how I will manage without them. 

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. 

Mix It Up Monday: Lift Me Up

If you want to know what my kind of colours are, they are not these. These couldn’t be further from my taste if they tried. But, in the spirit of Mix It Up Monday and my bid to use every single colour combination from my In Color charts, I thought I’d better give it a go. 

I’ve seen some nice cards made with this set in subtle shades so they were my inspiration, but I can’t say I’m thrilled with my output. Great stamp set though, lovely dies… and nice colours if you like that sort of thing. 

Mix It Up Monday: Tasty Trucks

I’m quite excited about this Mix It Up Monday project, which began its life in Friday morning’s discussion with my friend Kelly. I’m impressed that I managed to make it work all by myself without a tutorial (I struggle with anything other than basic folds!), although the slider is a little tight and doesn’t return as easily as I’d like. 

So here we have a cute little van with cakes and the fun sentiment, “Happy Birthday, now where’s the cake?”

Pull out the slider and the cakes are being stolen by a cheeky goat. Yes, I love goats, too, just as much as llamas!

In fact, it was the llama which started it all, as we were hoping to squeeze a llama into the van from the Sale-a-Bration set, Tasty Trucks. When we realised it was too big, I dug out my Barnyard Babies set and the rest is history. 

As for the colour combination, it is no secret that I have a hate-hate relationship with Pêche Fraiche (I can’t even bring myself to say the English name) but I have to confess that this colour combination isn’t too bad. And if you’re wondering why you’re seeing so many Peach combinations on Mix It Up Monday recently, it’s because I’m rapidly working my way through the Peach combinations  from my In Color charts so I can wash my hands of them!

Mix It Up Monday: Hey, Chick!

Only 12 hours late for today’s Mix It Up Monday project using another colour combination from my In Color charts… but better late than not at all. 

I’m being brave, with lots of encouragement from my customers, and using Peekaboo Peach again. This fabulous card idea is a CASE of one made by my friend and helper, Kelly. I simply remade it in Mix It Up Monday combination. 

I love the quirkiness of the colours and design and think they go perfectly with the quirkiness of this fabulous stamp set, Hey, Chick! It’s a Sale-a-Bration stamp set, free with any £45 order during the promotion, which runs until 31st March. Do get it if you can as it’s a lot of fun. 

Mix It Up Monday: Frosted Medallions

Happy New Year! I hope 2017 turns out to be a good one for you. To get things off to a remarkably efficient start, I have a Mix It Up Monday project on a New Year theme for you. 

But before you feel even a glimmer of admiration for my organisational skills, I confess I made this hurriedly on Friday evening, during my Christmas Hygge Night, inspired by one of the guests, Grace, and the beautiful cards she’d made. 

It’s a tricky colour combination for me, but I cannot deviate from the In Color charts, so I inked up the medallion in Peach, then sponged the edges with Rose Red before stamping. Then I inked the same stamp again in Blushing Bride before sponging a little Tangerine Tango in the centre. I – well, Grace did it for me, actually – fussy cut the centre medallion and popped it upon top, finishing off with an enamel shape. 

If this stamp set is on your wish list, please don’t delay... as it retires tomorrow! 

Mix It Up Monday: Peekaboo Peach with Stitched Framelits Dies

I messed up a bit for this one. After glancing at this colour combination from my latest set of In Color Charts for Mix It Up Monday, I went off to make my projects – and it was only when I came to create the combination image below that I realised I should have used Very Vanilla and not Whisper White. Too late now, but if you’re having a go at this combo, feel free to use whichever one you have to hand.  

Those who know me will appreciate how difficult I found this combination. I confess that Pêche Fraiche (still can’t bring myself to say Peekab... nope, not going to happen!) is not a favourite of mine and the Brights are my least-used collection. But when a Virtual Hostess Club member has a birthday and states that her favourites are brights, I do my best to please.

I was quite happy with the gift bag, then realised I had to use the combo again to make a matching card, which is where it all went a bit wrong. I’m not a fan of this card at all – looking at it now, I can see that it needs some Melon Mambo flowers – but hopefully the recipient will be of the view that it’ s the thought that counts. 

The words come from an upcoming stamp set that you will be able to order in January. I’m not a big believer in showing you things you can’t order until several weeks later but this set, Birthday Bright, just happened to be to hand (we were given it at OnStage in Telford) and I do love the great big greetings. I’ve used them with the new Stitched Framelits Dies which I absolutely love; they are a great addition to your dies collection and available now, ahead of next summer’s new catalogue. 

Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies [145372] £27.00	Layering Ovals Framelits Dies [141706] £32.00	2016-2018 In Color Designer Series Paper Stack [141408] £20.00	Sprinkles Of Life Photopolymer Stamp Set [139971] £19.00
Tree Builder Punch [138295] £16.00	Peekaboo Peach A4 Cardstock [141422] £7.25	Tempting Turquoise A4 Card Stock [108598] £7.25	Melon Mambo A4 Card Stock [119980] £7.25
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25	Peekaboo Peach 3/8" (1 Cm) Ruched Ribbon [141427] £7.25	2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes [141410] £8.25	Pearl Basic Jewels Embellishments [119247] £4.50
Peekaboo Peach Classic Stampin' Pad [141398] £6.00	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad [126948] £6.00	Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad [126952] £6.00	Project Life Journaling Pens [135304] £4.50

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Swirly Bird meets Pêche Fraîche

Well, would you believe it? Pêche Fraîche makes another appearance on one of my projects. I think I’m getting used to it! The colour, that is, not the name. I’ll never get used to the name, so it will remain Pêche Fraîche for the foreseeable. 

I made this at a friend’s crafty get-together recently and had fun creating the watercolour background. After wetting the paper, I swiped with the two ink colours (Pêche Fraîche and Watermelon Wonder), allowing them to blend in the middle. Once dry, I splashed a little water around, left it for a minute or two, then dabbed it off gently with tissue paper. I painted some circles in clear water, too, then did the same - this created the paler backgrounds behind some of the flowers. 

When it had dried for the second time, I stamped on top with Swirly Bird and Watercolor Words, then finished off with some ribbon and just one Enamel Shape… in Pêche Fraîche of course. 

Swirly Bird Photopolymer Stamp Set [141749] £23.00	Watercolor Words Photopolymer Stamp Set [138702] £23.00	Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Peekaboo Peach A4 Cardstock [141422] £7.25	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock [138341] £7.25
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25	3/4" Circle Punch [119873] £11.50	2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes [141410] £8.25	Peekabo Peach 3/8" (1 Cm) Ruched Ribbon [141427] £7.25	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad [138323] £6.00
Peekaboo Peach Classic Stampin' Pad [141398] £6.00	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [138328] £3.00	Peekaboo Peach Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [141403] £3.00

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com