SUMMER'S HERE

Yay - for the last two day's Summer has arrived in the UK and we are now sweltering under 30 degree heat.  The UK homes don't work well with this heat -we don't have air con and my house is definitely a winter house.  But hey - lovely to see the sun and I'm lucky enough to be able to take advantage of it.  So today I shall be crafting in the garden.

But before I go I have a few challenges to catch up with.  The first is Sam Hammond's Colour Challenge which this week was Melon Mambo, Watermelon Wonder, Cucumber Crush, and Crushed Curry.  You'll find her challenge HERE.  As its sunny outside and there are quite a few butterflies flying around my veggies I thought I would use the Papillon Potpourri set.  The beautiful rose from  Picture Perfect has also been used as the background stamp using Versamark.  

The sentiment is from the Shooting Star set.  I've popped one of the butterflies up on dimensionals after punching it out with the butterfly pun ch and added a few rhinestones for some sparkle.

I used Melon Mambo, Whisper White and Crushed Curry.

I've used the polymer stamps here and would love to know how to stop them staining when using the Melon Mambo or Watermelon Wonder.  I did try stamping with Versamark first and it helped a bit.  Any advice gratefully received.


I'm also putting this card in for the Less is More Challenge which is asking for repitition though I think I've put too much on the card and not enough "white" space.  Their Challenge is HERE

I had to have another play with the Repetition theme - I just love it.  Here I've used the Playful Backgrounds set and the Papillon Potpourri again punched out with the butterfly punch on Designer Series Paper Rich Razzleberry.  The stripes have been stamped in Rich Razzleberry Ombre Stamping Pad. The sentiment is from Shooting Star.

I'm also putting this one in for the Addicted to CAS challenge - their theme is Stripes.

 Thanks for stopping by and do leave a comment.

Happy Crafting 

 

PINKIES BLOG HOP SHOOTING STAR, THANKFUL THOUGHTS

Thank  you  for  joining  us  on  another  Pinkies  Blog  Hop!  We're  showcasing  lots  of  gorgeous
projects using products from the new Stampin' Up!® Annual Catalogue. Simply use the
buttons at the end of each post to keep hopping!

Our theme today is New Catalogue Items.   A chance to show you  some of the wonderful new products in our new catalogue.  What can we tempt you with today?


I've used one of the sets I won at Convention - not at first glance my favourite stamp set but I must admit I'm learning to like this one.   Its taken me right outside of my comfort zone with having to think a little bit outside the box on what to do.  I have made a few masculine cards with the stars which come in the set and a few spinner cards but today I'm concentrating on the bees and the hive.

This set also comes as a Bundle with the Sliding Star Framelits Die which I must admit would make cutting out the beehive a lot easier.  But I don't have these yet so my faithful SU snippers helped in this regard.

I'm also not a great lover of insects - bees and butterflies are about my limit.  But I do adore these little bees and, of course, in real life I appreciate the work that bees do for us for our fruits and veg.  I grow a lot of veg in my garden and have some apple trees and know that without these busy little creatures I wouldn't be able to enjoy my home grown fruit and veg.

 I've used Early Espresso Card stock as the base with the stamping done on Very Vanilla.

The larger bee has had his wing coloured with A Wink of Stella.  The background paper for the bee hive was stamped with Versamark ink to give that lovely tone on tone effect of all the bees rushing to the hive.

Some Enamel shapes in Crushed Curry have been added to the bottom.  The bee was coloured in Crushed Curry and Rich Razzleberry.

 For the inside I used another of our new sets called Thankful Thoughts.  It is a set of 10 stamps with some fabulous sentiments on them.   I added another little bee cause you just can't have too many bees.

As bees are in such dire straits at the moment and seem to be dying off wouldn't it be great if we could start a Bee movement #ihelpthebees and make bee cards which somehow we could sell and put the profits towards helping the bees. If we lose our bees, we lose all our fruit and veg!

I just thought I would add this little tip - when I receive my stamps I don't use the stickers to put on the stamps but slide them inside the inner cover of the sleeve.  Then I stick my stamps to the corresponding sticker and its easy to see that all the stamps are in the right place.

Don't forget to follow on to the next blog in our great blog hop.

As usual all products can be purchased from my SU website.  Click on the image below to be taken to my store.

BUTTERFLIES - TGIF CHALLENGE - #38 COLOUR CHALLENGE

 I've found a new challenge site this week and it couldn't have been more apt as I've been playing with lots of bright colours recently.  I think its because the weather is so dull in the UK and I need a bit of sunshine.  So I loved the idea of playing with these three colours but..... I also found it quite difficult adding in that Pumpkin Pie.  Its not Halloween and I realise I only really use orange colours around Autumn time.  So this was a true challenge for me.

I wanted to do some watercolouring but lo and behold where oh where was my Aqua Painter when I needed it.  So frustrating - I turned everything upside down, found a few things I'd forgotten about but sadly no Aqua painter so I had to re-think.  I don't know about you but once I've set my mind on a particular project it was hard to think of something else.

So I looked at my new sets from the new Catalogue and wanted to use the Playful Backgrounds.  So far I've only used the brush strokes and the stripes from it so I thought it was time the circles or bubbles had an outing.  I stamped them in Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight on a Whisper White background, mounted on to Melon Mambo. 

 Yesterday I had also been playing with a new fun technique of embossing vellum and already had these butterflies from Papillon Potpourri  ready made in the correct colours.  So on they went.

TECHNIQUE TIP

The technique I used was to firstly ink up my Brayer with Daffodil Delight and ink the vellum so that it is covered.  Then leave it to dry.  It does take quite a while or you can use a heat tool.    I then stamped the small butterflies onto the vellum in Melon Mambo ink and again waited til they were dry.  This is not a quick technique lol! 

When they are dry I used the Bitty Butterfly punch to punch them out.  Turn them over onto your Stampin Pierce Mat and, with the thin end of a stylus, rub firmly but gently over the back of them.  The vellum starts to crack and the white imaging comes through giving the butterflies an added dimension.

The large butterfly was stamped in Melon Mambo and inked in Daffodil Delight.  I used the Elegant Butterfly punch to cut it out and it was mounted onto another butterfly cut out of Daffodil Delight.  The finishing touches of Enamel Shapes in the three colours completed the butterfly.

The sentiment was simply layered and comes from the new Shooting Star set.  I thought the sentiment was quite apt for these butterflies.

 

SHOOTING STAR MASCULINE CARD

 

The challenge over at Watercooler Wednesday this week is Masculine Cards CAS - clean and simple. You can find it here and play along

I don't have a lot of stamps that suit a masculine card so I was a bit stumped until I had a closer look at the new Shooting Star set.  I thought this seemed quite masculine.

The sentiment says You're Out Of This World stamped in Dapper Denim on a bit of torn Whisper White card stock.  The star has been embossed with white embossing powder. 

 Popping the World stamp onto a scallop and a dimensional completes the card.  No glitter and no flowers!!!

Happy Crafting