Stamping the blues

A variation of this is a contender for the Winter Blues class on 7th February (now full, sorry!). 

The white card (can you tell it’s textured cardstock from the photo?) is one I made while playing around with the Summer Picnic colour scheme. 

It was the end of a long stamping session and I had a scrap of white which I stamped. I didn’t like the look of it but mounted it on to a scrap of Bashful Blue anyway. 

Eventually I came up with this card, which turned out to be one of my favourites from the day!

So I decided to adapt it for the Winter Blues class and remade it smaller (to suit the envelopes I have) in Bashful Blue, Bordering Blue and Basic Grey. Not a colour combination I would ever have tried, had I not been working with purely blues. Okay, okay, so grey isn’t blue but rules are there to be bent aren’t they?

I like the button detail on the white card but don’t have enough for a class of 20+ so left it off the blue card.

White card
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Cardstock: Whisper White, Whisper White (textured), Bashful Blue, Old Olive
Ink: Bashful Blue, Old Olive
Accessories: Stitched ribbon - Bashful Blue, Earth Elements coloured buttons, scallop square punch, white gel pen

Blue card
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Cardstock: Bordering Blue, Bashful Blue, Basic Grey, Whisper White
Ink: Bashful Blue, Bordering Blue
Accessories: Stitched ribbon - Bashful Blue, scallop square punch

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Hostess gift

To answer a couple of questions received in the comments sections recently.

1. Suzanne asked how I tie ribbon to make a neat knot. I have instructions here.
2. Elizabeth asked to see the Birthday Party in a Box projects. You can see them all here.

Do keep the questions coming – it makes me feel important!

And I have a question for my valued subscribers. If I edit a post  (because I want to add a label or I've seen a typo), do you get an email notification again? If you do, you'll be receiving all manner of old posts as I'm always doing it. And if that is the case, I apologise for the annoyance this must cause!  (Edited to add: I've just done it today - forgot to add the links to the above answers, doh!)

On to today’s project... this is a hostess gift for a party I’m doing soon – sadly I’ve had to reschedule due to a family bereavement. I’m sure she understands and I know she’ll love the stamp inside this box!

And luckily for blog readers, I have lots of projects made and posts already written which I will post erratically over the next few days.

The box is stamped with the new set Yummy, which you can earn free with an order of £45. There are three stamps in the set; I’ve actually only used one on here but it’s a big long stamp with the flourish on the left and the words on the right, so I separated them by stamping with markers. As the markers were out I thought I’d make full use of them so I stamped the words in different colours, too. Quite effective, I thought.

I made my own template for the box using the grid paper, which makes it so easy. As long as your sides are the same width as the base, you’re laughing.

I made the tag by cutting off one corner, then flipping over the discarded piece and using it as a guide to cut off the other corner. This is a fabulous tip from Stampin’ Up!® co-founder and CEO Shelli Gardner... it’s one of those that’s so obvious you wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself! Or maybe you did and I’m just thick.

I had run out of tissue paper so just shredded some printer paper to fill the top.

Stamps: Yummy (SAB)
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Whisper White
Paper: Sweet Always
Ink: Rose Red, Regal Rose markers
Accessories: Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon, scallop edge punch, rhinestone brads

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.

Get this stamp set FREE!

This is a gorgeous stamp set which will appeal to anyone who loved Heartfelt (hostess set) from the old catalogue but didn’t make a Level 3 workshop to earn it. This set, Botanical Blooms, is MUCH easier to earn... all you have to do is spend £45 during January or February.

There are seven stamps; three sets of two-step stamps plus a word stamp. There’s another flower and you can just see the leaf along the bottom of the card) and a sentiment: “to thine own self be kind”. Unless you fancy it in French or German!

As with most of Stampin’ Up!’s® two-step stamps, they are not made to fit perfectly, which really takes the pressure off when stamping and gives a lovely effect.

I love the look of this flower, stamped in colours from the Sweet Always Designer Series Paper collection. A strip of Sweet Always paper just sets it off. I wouldn’t have put these colours together myself but wanted to match the paper and now love the combination!

The tags are made with two tag punches – a boon if you don’t like fiddly cutting. I also used a tag punch to create the “photo corner” out of a scrap of Chocolate Chip cardstock. Punch your tag, then set to one side. Then insert the leftover piece back into the punch, to create a shape which looks like the section of a window frame. Remove and trim with scissors to create the photo corner.

Stamps: Botanical Blooms
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Paper: Sweet Always
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose
Accessories: Tag punch, Small Tag punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

An apple a day

Look! No Real Red! But an awful lot of Old Olive, and a fairly dark photo, too.

As you can see, the Summer Picnic paper is a perfect match for the Tart & Tangy stamp set – I love it when a plan comes together!

Not sure if you can see but the apple is embossed with clear embossing powder. To do this with Classic Stampin’ Pads, ink your stamp with Versamark first and then with your coloured ink. Stamp and then emboss as usual. It’s VERY important to use Versamark first, then the colour because if you do it the other way round, you’ll ruin your Versamark pad. Ask me how I know.

It’s also quite important to wrap your ribbon strips around your Pumpkin Pie cardstock before sticking it to the Designer Paper... or you’ll have to get a butter knife out to create a gap to thread the ribbon through and work really hard not to crease the paper. But don’t tell anyone I told you that.

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Seasonal Wishes
Cardstock: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Paper: Summer Picnic
Ink: Old Olive, Versamark
Accessories: clear embossing powder, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon –Whisper White, Stampin’ Dimensionals

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Keep taking the strawberries

This is a long card which opens at the left, which was no mean feat... well, I had to join the colours so I thought I’d make a feature of it. Not sure about this at all, it’s a bit bonkers and I think there’s too much Old Olive (as if that’s possible!) on the left. But I kept adding more and more elements until I thought I’d better stop.

I coloured the strawberry with Stampin’ Write markers. To create the faux stitching (which went a bit wrong – I think there are supposed to be gaps), pierce a row of holes, then join them up with a white gel pen.

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Seasonal Greetings
Cardstock: Real Red, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Paper: Summer Picnic
Ink: Versamark, Real Red
Accessories: White gel pen, Crafters’ Toolkit, stapler, Stitched Grosgrain – Bashful Blue, ¼” circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Round Tab Punch, Scallop Edge Punch

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

More fruit ... it's good for you!

This didn’t turn out anything like I had planned. In fact, I don’t really know what I was planning... but I know it wasn’t this. Ah, the joys of cardmaking!

Stamps: Tart & Tangy
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Whisper White
Paper: Summer Picnic
Ink: Real Red and Old Olive Stampin’ Write® markers
Accessories: Stitched ribbon - Bashful Blue, corner rounder

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Fun with rub-ons

This is not a Real Red and Old Olive card, I promise you. If you look closely, there’s a hint of Bashful Blue on that second layer.

I was playing around with rub-ons for this card – they’re very fun to use and I love the look of stark white on a colour like Real Red.

Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Hidden Garden Blossoms rub-ons, Scallop Edge Punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon – Whisper White

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Summer cherries

Staying with Tart & Tangy, here’s a card made with the cherry stamps. It’s a very cute stamp and I like it best when inked with markers, as I’ve done here. It fits the Square Scallop Punch perfectly.

Stamps: Tart and Tangy, Best Wishes & More
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Real Red, Old Olive
Paper: Summer Picnic
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: scallop square punch, red gingham ribbon, round tab punch, Stampin’ Write® markers

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Summer picnic handbag

Remember last autumn when I had a run on Old Olive and Real Red? Well, I’ll warn you now, this is the beginning of another one of those long runs of projects made from the same colours.

I like the look of colour co-ordinated samples so much that I’m doing it again... this time with projects made with the colours from the Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper. The colours from these papers are Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Real Red, so you’ll be seeing a lot of those in the next few weeks. Yes, I realise that’s just an extension of Old Olive and Real Red... perhaps that’s why I was drawn to these papers!

Here’s my first sample... a return to the handbag card (I was using scraps and found one ready cut in the box!). It’s very easy to make – just cut your usual card shape, then measure along the fold 1” in from each edge and mark. Then cut from each mark down to the relevant corner. Make two holes for the ribbon and you have your handbag.

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Sincere Salutations
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Real Red, Old Olive
Paper: Summer Picnic
Ink: Versamark, Real Red
Accessories: 5/8” Grosgrain Ribbon – Old Olive, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Real Red, 1 ¼” circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, scallop circle punch

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

A tiny tin

I am having a bit of a run on Altoid tins – they’re so quick and cute to alter. Click here for a tutorial if you need a reminder.

As this is a recycled Altoid mint tin, with printing on the lid and base, I covered both sides with some of the new Designer Series Paper – the bright and cheerful Summer Picnic. The striped strip is the other side of the same sheet, so I only had to cut into one, which pleased me as I struggle to cut into my new Designer Papers!

The flower stamp from Best Wishes & More co-ordinates perfectly with this paper, as so often with Stampin’ Up!® products, so I added a flower to the top.

I am running out of Mod Podge so I thought I’d test the theory that PVA glue amounts to pretty much the same thing. Well the result was is that it worked absolutely fine on the Designer Paper but made the ink of the flower run horribly. 

I tried again with Mod Podge, this time covering the flower before I cut it out. I discovered that, while the Mod Podge did make the ink run a little, it wasn’t as bad as with the PVA, so I made sure that the pink around the edges was uniform and went with it. If you look closely, you’ll see that there are two layers of flower on the tin now. I make mistakes so you don't have to!

To avoid any colour bleeding, I could have embossed the flower using red ink and clear embossing powder – I’ll do that next time.

I’m sure you’ll want to know what’s inside this one... emergency chocolate of course! These mini Bournevilles fit perfectly.

Stamps: Best Wishes & More
Cardstock: Bashful Blue
Paper: Summer Picnic
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon – Real Red, Sticky Strip

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.