Dashing through the mist

Here I’ve inked Dasher with Close to Cocoa. I wiped his antlers clean again and then inked them with a Ruby Red marker.

He looks a little fuzzy because I got a bit carried away misting with shimmer paint. I’ve made a mist using this method on Monica’s blog.

Stamps: Dasher, Tiny Tags

Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, Very Vanilla, Bridesmaid Designer Series Paper

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Old Olive

Accessories: Ruby Red Marker, Satin Ribbon – Old Olive, Shimmer Paint – Champagne Mist.

All products by Stampin' Up! ®

Simple Vintage Vogue card

Only a few days of May left, so only a few days left to

a) order a bundle featuring products in the new colours

and 

b) enter my competition to win a fabulous prize!

To make sure you don't miss out, send me an email over the weekend. 

Here is a very simple card, using the gorgeous new Vintage Vogue stamp set.  The Very Vanilla panel is stamped off in Rose Red and Brocade Blue to give a paler shade – that’s when you stamp on scrap paper first to remove some of the ink. The main flower is stamped in Rose Red, cut out and then I applied Champagne Mist shimmer paint to the tips of the petals using a sponge dauber. A Brocade Blue button and some silver thread complete the flower.

Stamps: Vintage Vogue

Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Rose Red, Very Vanilla

Ink: Rose Red, Brocade Blue

Accessories: 5/8” Grosgrain Ribbon - Brocade Blue, Rich Regals buttons, silver cord

All products by Stampin' Up! ®

Sweet gift wallet

This was the second project from the My Sweet Pea class. It was a lovely evening – a bit hot for me, but very relaxed... until we realised what the time was and had to hurry the final project!

This is a wallet which you can use to give gifts of cheques, tickets, money, gift vouchers etc. It’s very easy, just two scores to create the card, and a strip of cardstock to go around it.

However, don’t try to measure and score the belly band to fit as it will end up too loose or too tight. Your best method is to take the strip of cardstock and, hold one end on the front and bend it around the Old Olive card. Then, holding the Designer Series Paper strip over the top, repeat. Make sure the strips are just long enough to overlap very slightly and you can join them with tape – just make sure the tape doesn’t touch the Old Olive card and your belly band will still slide off. The join will be covered with your embellishment.

Stamps: My Sweet Pea, Tiny Tags, Sweet Stitches wheel

Cardstock: Old Olive, Soft Suede, Whisper White

Paper: Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper stack

Ink: Old Olive, Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: 1 ¼” circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, Scallop Circle Punch, ¾” circle punch, scallop edge punch, Wheel guide

All products by Stampin' Up!®

Razzleberry pouch

Last night was the My Sweet Pea class – can’t tell you how it went as I’m typing this on Monday afternoon. Sorry to spoil the illusion!

This was one of our projects. I thought it was time everyone got their hands on gorgeous Rich Razzleberry cardstock and ink... not to mention that beautiful polka dot ribbon!

You don’t need a template to make these, honest – just wing it! This is a 9cm x 21cm of Rich Razzleberry, so you can get three from a sheet of A4. Measure 9.5cm from each end and score along the width. Fold and you have the beginnings of a little pouch.

To make the handle, punch a 1 ¼” circle from Old Olive cardstock, leaving plenty of room around it. Put the punched circle to one side and then put the piece with the hole in into a 1 ¾” circle punch. Line it up by eye and punch again.  You can use the Old Olive circle that you put to one side to line up on the Rich Razzleberry pouch, so that you can punch a semi-circle in the centre of the top edge. Repeat on the other side, then stick the Old Olive ring down using the Two-Way glue pen.

The flowers were inspired by a card by Stampin’ Up!® demonstrator called Elaine.

  

Stamps: My Sweet Pea

Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive,

Ink:  Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink 

Accessories: Polka Dot Ribbon – Rich Razzleberry, Scallop Edge Punch, 1 ¼” circle punch, 1 ¾” circle punch, small flat cello bags (inside)

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

It's time to hit the beach

This glorious, summery weather has inspired me to create a beach scene. I’m loving my brayer at the moment so I thought I’d have a go at something a little more ambitious than previously.

With the help of Michelle Zindorf – widely regarded as the Queen of Brayering in the stamping world – I made this beach scene. I used Michelle’s scene as inspiration, then went my own way for the rest of the card.

These instructions only tell you how to create the main image panel as the rest is pretty self-explanatory. For tips on brayering, see this earlier post. 

I’m not sure if you can tell from the photo but I started by stamping a few shells in Versamark on the left, to see if the ghosting technique would work with a delicate outline image. It has left a very (very!) subtle hint of underwater shells.

I brayered a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock from the corners – one corner was Tempting Turquoise, the opposite was a combination of Creamy Caramel and More Mustard.

I stamped a selection of shells from the Seaside stamp set, turning them round for variety. They were coloured with blender pens and markers, although blender pens and inkpads or Watercolour Wonder™ crayons would work just as well. To add some highlights, just as Michelle did, I used the white gel pen. Wasn’t so keen on this on the bottom right shell so have brayered a little over the top, to tone it down.

Next I used the speckly stamp from Bird on a Branch – this set is worth the money for this little stamp alone – and added some speckles around the edges of the cardstock. More Mustard and Close to Cocoa on the right; Taken with Teal (didn’t show up much) and Night of Navy on the left.

To add the “surf”, I battled with the Whisper White ink pad and the speckly stamp for ages before I actually read Michelle’s tutorial and discovered that she’d done this with the gel pen. Doh!

Finally, I give it a little spritz with my Champagne Mist shimmer paint spray.  It’s very subtle – fact, in this light, I can’t even see it. I really wanted to drop water onto it to see if it would create a wet look, but I chickened out! Maybe next time...

I love the look of this card – I’ve always been a sucker for seaside-themed cards... well, everything seaside-y really.  I’m already planning my next version. I want more beach and less sea and will maybe experiment with some masking fluid (if I still have some).

Stamps: Seaside, Bird on a Branch, Tiny Tags

Cardstock: Kraft (soon to be called Crumb Cake), More Mustard, Night of Navy textured, Very Vanilla

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Taken with Teal, Night of Navy, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Basic Gray, Versamark

Accessories: Markers - Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa; Medium Jewelry Tag punch, Linen Thread, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - More Mustard, Champagne Mist shimmer paint, white gel pen, brayer

All products by Stampin' Up!®

Felt flowers

One of the many perks of being a demonstrator is the access to projects that we get, both through the demonstrator website and through the monthly Impressions newsletter. This was one of those ideas – I simply adapted it slightly so I could use the stamp and ribbon that I already have.

These are the beautiful hand-stitched felt flowers in the new Mini catalogue – I’ve used four pieces here. You can layer them with Tombow adhesive but you have to be patient and wait for it to dry. This is where I’ve been going wrong – I’m so impatient that I’ve been pulling them apart to see if they’re stuck before they’re ready. 

Stamps: Hello Again

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink. Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Ink: Old Olive

Accessories: Mat Pack, Paper Piercer, Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon - Rose Red, Sweet Pea Stitched Felt

All products by Stampin' Up! ®

Cottage Wall Mini Album

Here’s a really fun and easy-to-make mini album, which starts with a single sheet of 12x12. I’ve used the rather fabulous Cottage Wall papers, which are only available while stocks last – they won’t be in the new catalogue in October because they feature Orchid Opulence, which is one of the retiring colours.

For the flowers on the front and back, I used the Rock and Roll technique, which is very simple. You ink your stamp and then, using a darker ink pad, roll the edges of the rubber stamp on the ink pad. It is described in your techniques booklet, and also here on the Stampin' Up!® website. 

I’ve also used Rich Razzleberry cardstock, which – and I cannot stress this enough – is gorgeous. In fact, there are lots of lovely new products featured here but you can see that from the recipe at the bottom of this post. Meanwhile, here is how to make this rather exciting album.

1. Take a sheet of 12x12 cardstock and score vertically, down the centre, at 6”.
2. Score horizontally at 4” intervals, ie at 4” and 8” from the top.
3. You will now have six panels. With the sheet laid out so that the six panels are landscape, cut along the top right scoreline, to the centre. Repeat with the bottom left scoreline.
4. Now to fold the album: take the bottom left panel and fold it over to the right.
5. The bottom panel is now double-thickness. Fold this up.
6. The bottom right panel is now triple-thickness. Fold this over to the left.
7. Fold this quadruple thickness panel up.
8. Now close.

It really is much, much easier to do than to read about it, so take a sheet of 12x12 and have a go! You could also make a smaller one from A4 – just score down the middle as before, and make your horizontal scorelines/cuts at thirds.

Tip: Before you start decorating your album, number the pages and mark which way is up with a pencil. This will make life a lot easier.

I've put arrows on the pictures to show you how to open the album – basically the same process but in reverse. The faces have been blurred to protect the innocent (and the not so innocent!). They are just some very informal shots from the wedding – how fortuitous that the men and boys were wearing Orchid Opulence ties!

Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Tiny Tags, Totally Tabs

Cardstock: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence, Whisper White

Paper: Cottage Wall

Ink: Old Olive, Orchid Opulence, Rich Razzleberry

Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, Word Window Punch, Round Tab Punch, Silver brad, Polka Dot ribbon – Rich Razzleberry

All products by Stampin' Up!®

More ghostly goings-on

Finally, for our last project at the brayering class, we tried the ghosting technique, which I described here. This time we also had a go at using two different colour inks – which I have only done on the green sample, here. I brayered Sage Shadow from the top edge and Handsome Hunter from the bottom edge. It takes a surprisingly long time to reach the middle!

I’m afraid I rushed these samples and you can see what happens when you combine So Saffron ink with a dirty brayer.

Stamps: Best Wishes & More

Cardstock: Whisper White, Barely Banana,  More Mustard,  Lavender Lace, Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron, Handsome Hunter

Ink: So Saffron, More Mustard, Sage Shadow,  Handsome Hunter, Lavender Lace, Elegant Eggplant Versamark

Accessories: ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Whisper White, Scallop Edge Punch

All products by Stampin' Up!®

Monochromatic mountains and moons

Next in the brayering class we stepped things up a little by creating a graduated background, working with masks.

We punched a circle from a sticky note and stuck it on a square of Whisper White. Next we brayered a background: at the bottom edge and starting off the cardstock, brayer back and forth, all the while gradually moving across towards the opposite edge of the cardstock. Reink when necessary and carry on, still starting off the edge of the cardstock on your scrap paper.

When you get a reasonable amount of ink at the bottom edge of your cardstock, you can start your brayering on the cardstock, still working your way to the opposite side.

Once we were happy with our pale background, we tore a wiggly edge on another sticky note to represent mountains and added that to the cardstock, with the mountain edge facing the bottom. Brayer again, still starting at the bottom edge and working your way towards the sticky note mask. Keep repeating until you are happy with the depth of colour – you want a reasonable contrast between mountains and sky, but not too dark.

Finally, we removed the mountain mask and made another one, which was stuck lower down. Again, starting at the bottom edge, brayer again, building up the colour until you are satisfied with the look.

All masks were removed and then we stamped over the top. We used Autumn Days but Pocket Silhouettes would work just as well. In fact, it was a set of Pocket Silhouettes cards by Dorset demonstrator Jo D which inspired these cards and also gave me the idea to do the cards in three different colourways. So thanks, Jo!

Stamps: Autumn Days

Cardstock: Whisper White, Lavender Lace, Elegant Eggplant, Sage Shadow, Handsome Hunter, Barely Banana, More Mustard

Ink: Lavender Lace, Elegant Eggplant, Sage Shadow, Handsome Hunter, Barely Banana, So Saffron, More Mustard

Accessories: Brayer, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Whisper White, 1 ¼” circle punch

All products by Stampin' Up!®

Brayer basics

For my brayering class, I knew that we’d all need the ink pads for long periods, so I split the group into three – the yellow team, green team and purple team. Each team made three cards in their colours so that they wouldn’t have to keep cleaning the brayer and would get an ink pad between two or three people.

Sounds simple? Factor in the good-natured squabbling about which cards are nicest and who wants to sit next to whom, not to mention the cries of “I’m in green team and all my packs are yellow”... and that’s a good 15 minutes gone!

But we stayed on track for the rest of the session and everyone produced wonderful brayered effects. This was our first card, which was really just to familiarise ourselves with the brayer. All we did was take a piece of Night & Day Designer Series Paper, which is all black and white, as you probably know. By brayering over the top, we changed the colour to match our cards.

Stamps:  Bird on a Branch

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Barely Banana, Sage Shadow, Lavender Lace

Paper: Night & Day

Ink: Basic Black, Barely Banana, Sage Shadow, Lavender Lace

Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig®, Brayer

All products by Stampin' Up!®