Whale Done 21st birthday card with blending brushes

It’s back to the Stampin' Up!® Annual Catalogue for today’s projects as I needed another 21st birthday card... this time for my “baby” boy. He seems to be creating some sort of Sealife centre in his room at the moment, with the arrival of a tropical fish tank plus a separate tank for Wallace the turtle. Wallace belongs to him and his girlfriend, but she can't take him/her (we’re not sure yet) with her to uni.

 

It’s hard to create cards for 21-year-old males but the Whale Done stamp set was perfect for the occasion. I suspect it’s the wrong sort of turtle but it’s close enough, I’m sure.

I began by using my Blending Brushes to create a background of Pacific Point and Coastal Cabana. On top of this I stamped some Night of Navy fish, a few Whisper White bubbles and some Evening Evergreen weeds. This part of the card was heavily inspired by this card by US demonstrator Michelle Zindorf but then I went my own way.

I cut out the layer using the Stitched So Sweetly Dies, then realised I had enough of this background left to create a second panel for another card, so I cut this out with one of the smaller dies.

 

Wallace the turtle is stamped in Evening Evergreen but I tackled this in reverse by “colouring” the image in advance. I stamped some speckles in Bumblebee repeatedly onto some white cardstock, then stamped the Evening Evergreen turtle on top. This is as close as I can get to real-life Wallace. I fussy cut the image and popped it up on Stampin’ Dimensionals. 

 

For the greeting, I inked the stamp first in Coastal Cabana, then added Pacific Point to the bottom section, blurring the hard edge slightly with a Sponge Dauber.

I stuck some Coastal Cabana cardstock to a Foam Adhesive Sheet and cut out the 21 using Playful Alphabet Dies. I KNEW there was a figure 1 in there but couldn’t find it for Robin’s card last week!

The front of the card has a panel embossed with the Seashells 3D embossing folder which is really designed to be used portrait I think but looks fine here as the image panel covers most of it.

Confession: I hated this card and thought it was really unbalanced until I added the finishing touch of some linen thread. It’s funny how something so simple can make all the difference, isn’t it?

 

For the second card – which I don’t immediately need but thought I may as well make while I had the supplies out – I used the whale stamp and Whale Builder Punch as my focal point on top of the mini sponged panel that was left over from the birthday card. 

 

 

Aside from the sponging, it’s a very simple card, with a swirl of linen thread behind the panel and a greeting stamped directly onto the Basic White Notecard.

It was fun to dig out a stamp set that hadn’t seen ink for many months and reminded me of how much I love the Whale Done stamps and punch. 

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Winter Solstice Card for Holiday Blog Hop

Christmas may get most of the attention but there are many more December celebrations around the world and it is these which are the theme of our international Holiday Blog Hop, which has been set up to promote #stampingdiversity.

One of the oldest celebrations in the world is Winter Solstice, which has been around since long before Christianity. In fact, many Pagan traditions surrounding the Winter Solstice – cutting mistletoe, gift giving, decorating trees – were absorbed into Christmas celebrations and continue to this day.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice is on 21st December; the shortest day and the longest night. I always welcome its arrival as it marks the turning point of the year and means the days will once again start to lengthen. 

To celebrate, I made this card using a variety of products and – surprise, surprise – a whole lotta sponging. Actually, I used a brand new Stampin’ Up!® product from the upcoming January-June Mini Catalogue. It’s a set of three Blending Brushes which are just amazing for getting all the look of sponging with a lot less risk of smearing. For ease, I’m going to use the term ‘sponging’, even though I used the brushes.

To get the huge setting sun (or is it a rising moon?), I die-cut a large circle from a piece of scrap paper to leave the aperture template, then laid a separate curved hill on top. I gently sponged inside here using Daffodil Delight.

Next I used the circle of scrap paper to act as a mask on top of the yellow sun, so I could sponge around in Seaside Spray and Night of Navy to represent the sky.

On top of this I stamped the row of trees from Winter Woods. Something was missing, though – you can’t have a huge sun/moon casting light over trees without some shadows. So I hand-cut a long, narrow triangle from another piece of scrap paper and used this as a mask to sponge with some more Seaside Spray. I didn't worry about creating shadows of the foliage as I knew my words would be covering this area.

I inked up part of the Season’s Greetings stamp from Peaceful Boughs with a Night of Navy marker and used this to stamp towards the bottom. 

Next I used the Playful Alphabet Dies to cut out the word ‘solstice’ from some In Color Designer Series Paper in Seaside Spray (oops! This is the old design!) – first backing it with a foam adhesive sheet to give it dimension and make it easy to stick down. Spacing was something of an issue, as you can see, and there was only just enough room on my piece of cardstock. This wouldn’t be an issue in North America, as their card bases are slightly wider.

I finished off with some Seaside Spray Scalloped Linen Ribbon and some cut-out leaves using Beautiful Autumn, one of my favourite sets from the Aug-Dec Mini Catalogue. 

Inside I echoed the DSP and leaves from the front and added a greeting from Peaceful Boughs, which seemed perfect for the occasion.

I hope you like my Winter Solstice card and it has inspired you to create a project for different holidays. Please now visit the rest of the blogs in the hop to see some amazing projects from talented Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrators around the world.

If you would like to order any of the products shown here, please visit my online store and shop using the December host code SX4NGWRH.

 

Blog Hop: Celebrating my corner of the world for World Card Making Day

Happy World Card Making Day! 

Today I’m excited to be taking part in another international blog hop. This time we are celebrating World Card Making Day by showcasing projects which represent our corner of the world. I can’t wait to see what demonstrators from all our different global markets have made.

I live in Derbyshire, a beautiful county in the middle of England. We have rolling hills, lots of lovely green spaces and, in the north of the county, the Peak District National Park. 

Here’s a pic I took on a walk recently, with a dry stone wall in the foreground and view of Crich Stand, a war memorial, in the distance. From the top of the stand you can see eight counties, and in turn you can see this famous landmark from miles around, triggering a popular saying “you can see Crich Stand from here”. 

A more common saying is “Ey up!” and it is this I have chosen for my card. It’s a common greeting in Derbyshire, in common with many counties in the Midlands and north. It can be extended to “ey up mi duck” (hello my duck, ie friend) and you can also use it as an expression of surprise, as in “ey up, who’s eaten all the cobs?” Cobs: that’s what we call bread rolls. You can find many more expressions and dialect words in this excellent book, Ey Up Mi Duck.

I created the words in Misty Moonlight cardstock using the Playful Alphabet Dies. Seriously, if you only invest in one product used on this card, make it these dies. You will NOT regret it. 

But make sure you order the Foam Adhesive Sheets at the same time as they are a real game-changer. They mean your letters come out of the die-cutting machine ready backed in foam adhesive, so no fiddly trimming of Stampin’ Dimensionals. 

For my background, I’ve used the Stacked Stone stamp to represent the dry stone walls which are common in Derbyshire. I stamped it in Misty Moonlight onto Seaside Spray cardstock.

 

A sheep from the Yuletide Pasture stamp set – we have a lots of sheep in Derbyshire – stands on a hill (Waterfront stamp set) to represent the rolling hills of Amber Valley where I live, as well as the Derbyshire Dales and the Peak District National Park. I stamped this in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured it using Stampin’ Blends.

 

The sheep’s feet were floating around a little so I covered them up with some flowers from the Friendly Silhouettes Dies. As the card progressed, I began to wish I’d used some pine sprigs instead because, unfortunately, this sheep is dressed for Christmas.

Rather belatedly, I decided to shoehorn in a festive theme (you think my projects are planned? You must be thinking of somebody else). I didn’t have a small “Christmas” stamp because I foolishly didn’t order Itty Bitty Christmas in the sale last week, so scoured the sentiment sheet from Trimming the Town Designer Series Paper until I found suitable words to cut out.

And there we have it; a Derbyshire-themed Christmas card. Now please make your way around the rest of the blog hop... and the world!

When card kits give you lemons... stamp with them!

This lemon stamp is really cute... and you’ll find it in the Simply Citrus Card Kit I showcased on Monday. Here I’ve use it to make a 40th birthday card for a (young) friend. The rough colouring effecct is achieved with a sponge dauber; I simply sponged inside the lemons, not worrying too much if I went over the lines.

Yep, once that kit is completed, you can stamp to your heart’s content with the fab little stamp set that’s included. I have used it loads since completing my kit – the sentiments are really pretty and useful, too. 

 

For this 40th birthday card, I’ve combined it with the Playful Alphabet dies, which are quite frankly, a must-have in my opinion. And I don’t say that lightly. 

I masked the line to stamp below using sticky notes. Sometimes the line doesn’t turn out quite as crisp as you'd like – and this is where the Misty Moonlight ribbon comes in!

 

 

Say cheese with the Playful Alphabet Dies

With the Playful Alphabet Dies you can spell literally anything you like, which somehow makes it harder to decide. Too much choice!

I thought long and hard before making this card for a friend. She’s a professional photographer and, as a gift I’d bought her a camera-shaped cookie cutter. The greeting was almost staring me straight in the face: Say cheese!

I cut the letters out, placed my In Color Designer Series Paper behind, then was stumped. I added some In Color Enamel Dots. Still a bit boring, but it was too late to stamp on top so I had another think an eventually settled on these little flowers from Field of Flowers, punched out using the Confetti Flowers Border Punch. Just a little insight into the not-always-so-streamlined creative process, there!

 

 

You CAN cut your whole word out in one go if the letters don’t repeat (I think there are two Es in the set), but I prefer to do a few at a time. If you letters don’t repeat and you’re feeling brave, you can line them up nicely with a straight edge such as a ruler; just use it to push the dies up from the bottom edge so they all sit neatly at the same level.

My first Christmas card of the year, using Yuletide Pasture

I’ll be honest, I’m not really ready for Christmas cards... although you may have gathered that from the sentiment on this card...

But it was a fun opportunity to use three new Stampin’ Up!® products; the fabulous Yuletide Pasture stamp set and some lovely polka dot paper from the Trimming The Town Suite from the new August-December Mini Catalogue and, from the still newish Annual Catalogue, the must-have Playful Alphabet Dies.

I began by stamping the Yuletide Pasture sheep in Gray Granite, then gently colouring her in using Stampin' Blends alcohol markers. It can be challenging to achieve subtle colours using Stampin’ Blends so I did this by using Smoky Slate Light with Ivory on top, then toned it down with the Colour Lifter.

Just so you know, you can’t really use the Colour Lifter as a blender pen because it simply doesn’t work that way. It’s a bit of a misnomer actually because the Colour Lifter doesn’t lift; rather it pushes some of the ink through to the back of the cardstock.

Image coloured, cut out using Stitched Rectangle Dies and mounted on some Old Olive cardstock, it was time to create my sentiment – and this was something I’d had in mind from the moment I saw this stamp set.

Out came the Playful Alphabet Dies and a brand new adhesive to go with them. I have only just purchased the Foam Adhesive Sheets but they really are a game-changer. Stick your cardstock to a sheet (or piece of sheet) and die-cut it all together. It’s an absolute boon with small dies such as these as you get a perfectly cut Dimensional to make it really easy to stick your letters down.

So there we have it. I bought the Yuletide Pasture stamp set with this card in mind and now just need to come up with some other ideas for the rest of the images. Actually, I already have done ... and you can see the Highland Cow in action on Thursday when I take part in another blog hop. Please come back to see the cow like you’ve never seen it before – and are never likely to see again!

Designer Series Paper only ‘almost’ perfect for your project? This is the issue I had here. I loved the polka dot paper from the Trimming the Town Designer Series Paper pack but I found the white letters didn’t stand out quite as clearly as I’d like against the white. To keep the pattern without the contrast, I simply brayered over the top using Poppy Parade ink.

No brayer? No problem, just use a sponge instead. No sponge either? Try the direct-to-paper technique, swiping your ink pad over the paper... just be aware that this will give you a much more intense effect, as long as your ink pad is well inked.

Playful Alphabet Dies meet Rainbow Glimmer Paper

I needed an 18th birthday card for my nephew. I know, tough crowd, right? Most of my stamps were unsuitable but I thought these Playful Alphabet Dies would do the trick perfectly.

It may be a bit of an overstatement but, to me, the Playful Alphabet Dies are a game-changer. Without wishing to state the obvious, you can spell out anything on your cards – personalising them and creating sentiments that aren’t available within our stamp range. You can even send a cheeky message to a friend... but if it’s too cheeky, perhaps don’t tell the nice folk at Stampin’ Up!®

Yes, I know we’ve had alphabet dies – and stamps – before, but there’s something about these which makes them so much more versatile. For me, it’s the chunky, simple font and the small size. Each letter die is about 3/4" but, because of the chunky font, they aren’t too fiddly to handle. Those who know me will know I don’t do fiddly.

But the thing that swayed me towards this set of dies is the way they look SO good when you use the negative... so in many cases you get two projects from one. Not so much here, as I only needed a card to contain a cash gift but I could have made a gift tag using the letters I cut out.

What I did do was place some small cut-offs from the FAB.U.LOUS new Rainbow Glimmer Paper behind the letters. This is gorgeous and best of all, it doesn’t shed! I cannot stand glitter bits everywhere, not just because they’re annoying but for environmental reasons.

Using the dies in this way is a really handy way of using up any tiny pieces of glimmer paper, Designer Series Paper, cardstock etc that you just can’t bear to throw away. Come on, I know I’m not the only who hoard little pieces “just in case”!