It's Dandelion Wishes Week at All Things Stampy

I have a little treat for fans of the Dandelion Wishes stamp set. This week I will be posting a Dandelion Wishes project every day, from Monday to Friday.

We begin with this intensely coloured card with a bright watercoloured background, with a bit of salt technique thrown in.

On top of this we have the dandelions and greeting, embossed in Blackberry Bliss, using that oh so clever Stamparatus technique. This is where you stamp with the Stamparatus - in fact, I did this twice as it can be quite tricky to stamp onto watercolour paper, so stamping again gives you a sharper image.

Then, with the stamped cleaned off and the paper in the same position, you stamp on top with Versamark so you can add the clear embossing powder and heat it up for these stunning results.

And that’s just about all you have to do – with a background like this and such a beautiful image stamped on top, all you need is a piece of ribbon to finish things off.

Picture Perfect with watercolour sea salt background

I really should start writing the recipes down for my projects as soon as I’ve made them, especially when it’s something with lots of different colours on, like this one. I confess I am guessing the ink colours but I’m confident they’ll be correct!

So… beginning with some watercolour paper and some reinkers, I painted broad swathes of ink (Old Olive and Calypso Coral) and, while it was still wet, I sprinkled the ink with coarse seasalt. This creates the unusual starburst/floral effect.

The flowers are stamped as follows:

1. Blushing Bride

2. Calypso Coral stamped off

3. Calypso Coral

The leaves are stamped as follows:

3.  (yes, I started with 3 - I find it easier) Old Olive stamped off

2.  Old Olive

1. Mossy Meadow

I think that’s all you need to know. 

Picture Perfect Photopolymer Stamp Set [140520] £24.00	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock [138341] £6.50	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock [133683] £6.50
Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad [133645] £6.00	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [126953] £6.00	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad [126983] £6.00
Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad [131172] £6.00	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [122934] £3.00	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [100531] £3.00

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Summer Silhouettes with watercolour salt technique

This is another of my watercolour salt backgrounds; one of the nice things about this technique is that you end up with lots of lovely backgrounds which you can use at a later date to create a quick project.
I stamped the sadly soon-to-be-retired Summer Silhouettes on top and embossed some white seeds in white. I kept the card really simple, with some pink spatters on the background, to allow the main panel to remain the focal point. 

Summer Silhouettes Clear Stamp Set [126447] £18.00	Gorgeous Grunge Clear Stamp Set [130517] £18.00	Awesomely Artistic Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139950] £18.00	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] £6.50
Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688] £6.50	Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Jet Black Stazon Ink Pad [101406] £7.25	Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad [101731] £7.25
White Stampin' Emboss Powder [109132] £4.50	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad [126956] £6.00	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [122934] £3.00	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [119672] £3.00

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Picture Perfect with watercolour salt technique

Here’s the reason I purchased Picture Perfect (try saying THAT in a hurry!) - I cannot resist a nice seaside image. This is one of the watercoloured backgrounds I made at Crafty Friday last week. We made lots of background and then chose one to make a card. After we’d finished, one of the ladies mentioned that a starfish would be good on one to use on one of her blue/yellow backgrounds and was silently kicking myself that I hadn’t done any beach-like scenes.

But the next day, after experimenting with my new Picture Perfect stamp set, stamping the starfish in Calypso Coral, I realised it blended perfectly with this Calypso Coral and Elegant Eggplant background. It’s one of the wilder backgrounds I created, and the salt has formed some amazing effects. 

I find a plain white card suits these watercolour effects well but I couldn’t resist adding some gentle distressing with a combination of Hardwood (PLEASE don’t retire this stamp!) and Timeless Textures. I finished off with some gold thread and just one White Perfect Accent. 

Picture Perfect Photopolymer Stamp Set [140520] £24.00	Hardwood Clear-Mount Stamp Set [133035] £13.00	Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140517] £18.00	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] £6.50	Elegant Eggplant A4 Card Stock [108614] £6.50	Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad [126983] £6.00
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad [131179] £6.00	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] £5.50	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [122934] £3.00	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [105222] £3.00
Gold Metallic Thread [138401] £2.75	White Perfect Accents [138416] £4.50

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Crafty Friday project: watercolouring with salt

This morning’s Crafty Friday class was lovely and relaxing, and we played around with the watercolour salt technique. This is very easy to do but can produce the most stunning results that will make you look like a real artist! This is what we did:

1. Take a piece of watercolour paper
2. Paint all over it with clear water
3. Using ink refills, paint across it roughly with two or more colours
4. While it’s still wet, sprinkle with salt crystals (the sort you put in a salt grinder)
5. Allow to dry thoroughly (you can speed it up with the heat tool)
6. Use as backgrounds for stamping

The effects are interesting and unpredictable; mine has resulted in flower-like images with dark centres; I don’t know where the dark centres came from! 

I stamped on top of mine, then white embossed the flower heads so they stand out. I wanted a very small greeting, so dug out Sprinkles of Life , which was perfect for the job!

And while I’m at it, I’ve already predicted that Sprinkles of Life will retire, but I’d like to add to that prediction and  divine that Summer Silhouettes will also end up on the retiring list. I have no inside info, I promise you, this is a psychic hunch!  We’ll know for sure on 18th April, then you can judge for yourself just how psychic I actually am! 

Summer Silhouettes Clear Stamp Set [126447] £18.00	Sprinkles Of Life Photopolymer Stamp Set [139971] £19.00	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] £6.50	Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688] £6.50
Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [100531] £3.00	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [119672] £3.00	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] £5.50
Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad [101731] £7.25	White Stampin' Emboss Powder [109132] £4.50	Heat Tool - Uk Plug [129054] £27.00

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