AUTUMN DAYS

I love Autumn - it's my favourite time of the year.  I actually quite like the slowing down of the year as the wheel turns towards winter and rest, as it used to be.  In our modern era where everything is available all year round we don't get the chance to rest and recuperate in the winter as our ancestors did.  I love to prepare my larders for the winter at this time of year and it is already bursting with chutneys, jams and spirits ready for the winter ahead.

There are a few challenges around at the moment which are asking for autumn type cards.  I've chosen to use the sketch from TGIF #tgifc177 challenge as the basis for my autumn card.

I've used the tree image from Stampin Up's new Winter Woods set.  I've added dots from SU Warmth and Wonder to represent the leaves turning colour and added them in various SU coloured inks - some retired from years ago Really Rust, Pear Pizzazz, Chocolate Chip, and a touch of Wink of Stella to make them glisten. 

I've used some papers from Kaisercraft's pad called Take Note.  I was going to use a doily behind but the SU pearlized was too shiny so I just used it as a stencil and inked it with SU Early Espresso.  The leaves are from SU Colourful Seasons Thinlet.  The sentiment is from another retired SU set Yay You.  The pearl embellishments are from Prima. 

I'm also adding this into the following challenges:

Make My Monday#80 - Autumn/Fall colours
Time Out Challenge#118 - 
Colour Throwdown #510
Cards In Envy - Feels Like Fall



 

LOTUS BLOSSOM ON THE WATER

Another new set from Stampin' Up I've been playing with today is Lotus Blossom - yes I'm late to the party again as this set is retired.  It's a lovely three stamping set - I just wonder why they gave us stems as Lotus Blossoms sit on water - and that's what I wanted my card to show.  So after lots of research and just a Let's Get On and Do It attitude I had a play.

I used lots of old SU inks in this one - inclding Ballet Blue, Bordering Blue, Island Indigo, and Bermuda Bay for the water.  It involved lots of colouring with ink pens and watercolour pencils, blender pens, a touch of white gel pen, Wink of Stella and some splashes of water.

The flower itself was inked in old Cameo Coral and Perfect Plum and then clear embossed.  I've used a Stitched Framelit to cut out the image.  The sentiment is from the same set popped on a tag with Island Indigo ribbon threaded through.  The background paper was made wavy with an old wavy tool I have - I can't remember what you call them - to give the feeling of more water.  A glitter enamel dot was added to the little tag and lots of sponging around the edges.  

The Wink of Stella gives it a really shimmery look and gives the water the feeling of movement.

I'm adding this to the SU Only SUOC198 challenge which this week is asking for Colouring.

I'm also adding this to Retro Rubber this week as they are looking for vintage - well my lotus flower is reminiscent of Monet's Water Lillies and you can't get more vintage than that!  My stamp is also three years old so is an old stamp.


 

POOTLERS SIMPLY SKETCHED SATURDAY CHALLENGE - FLORAL STATEMENTS

Its another blog hop from the Pootlers Team today - this time we are on Simply Sketched Saturday Challenge duty.  Instead of a sketch this month we have chosen a Colour Challenge -

 

 You should have heard the groans when we saw Calypso Coral - poor thing doesn't get a lot of love - but maybe it is one of your favourites?  Fresh Fig and Blushing Bride are two of our new In-Colours and they are just stunning.

I used Smoky Slate as my base cardstock.  I don't own any Calypso Coral inks but realised that it is in the Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper so I used this as my background paper.  I wanted to try and get a vintage feel with my card for this rose - it looks like a Tea Rose to me and they are such old-fashioned roses with gorgeous scent.  This Floral Statements set is just stunning - just two stamps but I think they are going to be the quiet stealers of our new Catalogue.

Here I've used the Thanks stamp - there is also an Hello.  I coloured the roses in with a Blender Pen in both Blushing Bride and Fresh Fig.  The leaves and stems were coloured using Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive.  I then roughed up the edges of the Whisper White cardstock and sponged it all over with a very fine inking of Crumb Cake.  The edges were inked with Fresh Fig and Blushing Bride.

 Do you see the gorgeous Ribbon?  Its one of our new ones called Powder Pink Shimmer and I love it.  The Shimmer ribbons and the Crinkle Crease are my favourites this year.

I layered this onto some more Smoky Slate Cardstock which was also inked at the edges with Fresh Fig.  The little dots which have been Versamarked down the edge are from the Watercolor Wings set.

I'm sorry to say I used a retired punch for the butterfly - cutting it out of the same DSP and adding some Basic Pearls. 

Wink of Stella has been used on the THANKS and the roses just to add a bit more shimmer.

I hope you've enjoyed my project - pop along to Dee's page in to see some more inspiration.

Or if you are working backwards click below to go to Lisa's blog.

 If you would like to purchase any of the products I have used please click on the link below:

 

 If you would like to join my team and become a Crafty Stamper click below.  I hold regular monthly classes in the Andover, Hampshire area.

 HAPPY CRAFTING

 

FLORAL STATEMENTS

What a gorgeous Stamp set Floral Statements is.  You may have overlooked it in the catalogue and it is only two stamps but they are fast becoming my favourites.  They come in Hello and Thanks and today I wanted to use the Thanks.  

I decided to go for a blue rose - no idea why.  And then I saw the challenge over at Inkspirational #137 so that was quite apt.  Click on the image to go to the challenge and join in.

 


I used three ink colours for my roses, Soft Sky, Night of Navy and Pacific Point.  I used Pear Pizazz and a touch of Soft Suede for the leaves.  All of it is heavily covered with a Wink of Stella.

The cardstock is layered onto some of our new Designer Series Paper which is the Colour Theory pack - I love the crackled effect of this blue one and I've layered it into Night of Navy.  

Did you notice the ribbon?  It is so lovely - I have been in a ribbon swap with some other SU Demo's - its a great way of getting a sample of ribbon rather than having to buy them all - that way you can find out your favourites - one of mine is this Crinkle Seam Binding Ribbon in Night of Navy.  A heart enamelled shape finishes off the card.

HAPPY CRAFTING

 
 

WATERCOOLER WEDNESDAY CHALLENGE 117

Did you notice my new badge?

I am super excited to have been offered a place on the Design Team of the fabulous Watercooler Wednesday challenge blog.  I have played along with their challenges on and off over the last few years and I was honoured when Heidi asked me to join them for an initial few months.  It is amazing to see all the work that goes on behind the scenes for a challenge blog - who knew?

So for my first challenge this week on the other side of the fence it was 

Heidi's Feminine Challenge - Anything Goes

 I grabbed my Birthday Blooms - I'm so happy this set is staying for another year in the catalogue.  I used our Watercolour Pencils to colour in the rose with a touch of Wink of Stella on the stamens in the middle.

I wrapped some of the Copper Metallic Thread - tricky stuff to use as it is so fine but it helps if you add a bit of glue to the back of your cardstock before wrapping it.

I've used the Bitty Butterfly Punch which sadly is not staying but mine is going nowhere - I love these butterfly punches and I will still use them.

The card was layered onto some Old Olive Cardstock onto some Whisper White which has been embossed with an embossing folder.

 

 I hope we have inspired you to join in with the challenge.  Check out all the other Watercooler Artists to see what they have in store for you this week.

HAPPY CRAFTING

 
.

PRETTY KITTY - GLOBAL DESIGN PROJECT #GDP084

Pretty Kitty isn't a new set - but its new to me and I'm absolutely loving it.  I wasn't sure at first when I saw it but I just love colouring in the little kitties - they remind me of the cats from the Disney Aristocats - one of my favourites when I was growing up.  I'm so pleased that its continuing another year so I'll get lots of fun out of it.

The challenge over at Global Design Project is CASEing the Designer who is Michelle Last.  I am lucky enough to have Michelle as my upline's upline and to be part of her Pinkies team.  Here's her card for us to have a play with:





 She did birds I did cats - never the twain shall meet!!! A bit of a poignant card for me really because my daughter has had one of her cats go missing.  He's a six year old chocolate Burmese and she's only had him less than a year as he was a rescue - he has a liver condition and he's been missing for nearly a week now and time seems to be running out for finding him.

I used the Stampin Write markers in the 2016/17 colours to colour in the flowers.  The Kitty was coloured in with our Watercolour pencils and a blender pen.  The Pot is coloured in with Pacific Point ink and the blender pen.  The little flowers have some basic rhinestones on them and of course a splash of Wink of Stella over the pot and the cat.

I took part of the saying and inked it with Pacific Point ink and left the last word off and add some dots.  The Thank You is from Thankful Thoughts.

I wrapped some of the Copper Metallic Thread around the card - just to finish it off.

Just in case you haven't seen all of this cute set -if you wish to purchase click on the image below

 Thanks for stopping by.  I do appreciate it.

HAPPY CRAFTING



 

BOOKCASE BUILDER MEETS PAINTER'S PALETTE

I do love this little set from Stampin' Up! and I'm surprised it hasn't been flooding the internet with examples.  I think its one of those slow burner sets that people will get to know over time - I hope it stays around for the next year.  Even if you don't use the bookcase shelves there are loads of images to play with for lots of occasions.

The challenge over at Inkspirational Challenge#131 this week is a picture challenge - very Alice in Wonderland. I really had to put my thinking head on for this one.



 

 I've used Painter's Palette and that wonderful easel to make my image into a painting.  I've included the books, a plant and the lamp as inspiration from the picture.  The lamp has Wink of Stella all over it .... naturally.  The Cherry Cobbler cardstock was run through the Falling Petals embossing folder to give the hearts, which you can just see are dotted around the table in the main picture.

The sentiment is from Project Live Remember This. It's a retired set but I love the Project Life for adding great sentiments to cards.



 

BEST BIRDS, COLOUR BLOCK TECHNIQUE - GLOBAL DESIGN PROJECT #075/WATERCOOLER WEDNESDAY

I've been having fun with the colour block technique this week and my Masculine Monday You Tube tutorial showed one way of using this technique.

I hinted that I would be showing another way on my Wednesday tutorial and it just so happens to be Best Birds.  The challenge over at Global Design Project this week is

 

and the challenge over at Watercooler Wednesday is Masculine Cards - perfect for me at the moment.



Thankfully birds are included because I really don't do insects.  Butterflies are fine and bees are just about ok but I must admit I shudder at the new stamp sets we have at SU at the moment with all those bugs.  I'm not even very good with the dragonflies although I know they are beautiful just not my cup of tea.

So my card included Colour Blocking which is bascially grabbing a load of all those scraps of cardstock we all keep and doing something useful with them.

My card on Monday was blues and today's card was greens.  They are all stuck on to a white card background and I then used the Birds and Blooms thinlets to cut out the bird from the coloured stock.  This gives a negative image of a white bird and you could just leave your card like this.  I used the bird I'd cut out, stamped him with this corresponding image and popped him onto dimenstionals sitting on the stamped branch.  A touch of Wink of Stella on his feathers, naturally, finishes him off. I used the Decorative Label punch for the greeting.

 Here's my YouTube Tutorial which also shows another way of using this Technique

 I can see I'm going to be using this technique a lot lately - you know when you come across something and you can't let it go - I'm eyeing up all my scraps!


As usual all products can be purchased direct from my store or why not come and join my team if you are thinking of SU as a hobby or a career.  You will get to join one of the top UK teams with lots of help and fun.  I also run classes at my home in Hampshire.

 HAPPY CRAFTING

 

TOTALLY TREES - DELICATE DETAILS - SALE-A-BRATION - WATERCOOLER WEDNESDAY

This week's challenge at Watercooler Wednesday is a sketch challenge - I love these - really makes you think outside of your usual box. This is the sketch for us to work with.

 

 I turned to Totally Trees for my card.  I've done a purple card for a change - its not my normal choice of colours but my daughter has Epilepsy and purple is the colour for the charity.  This month they are holding Purple Days to raise money and awareness for this condition so I will be making a lot of purple cards for her.

I used Rich Razzleberry on the tree here and then embossed over it with our Copper Embossing powder - this is so lovely!

The edging was done with one of our Sale-A-Bration FREE sets - did I mention it is FREE if you spend £45 on one order.  This set is called Delicate Details and has some gorgeous lacey images which look so lovely when embossed - embossed here once again in the Copper Embossing Powder.

The little bird is from the Best Birds Framelits. I used a white gel pen to go over him and give him some stitching marks to match the Stitching Framelits.

SUPPLIES USED:

Cardstock - Wisteria Wonder - Blushing Bride
Inks - Perfect Plum Elegant Eggplant, Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry
Stamp Sets - Totally Trees, Delicate Details, Jar of Love (For You sentiment)
Framelits - Stitched Framelits, Birds and Blooms,  Bunch of Banner Framelits
Accessories - Copper Embossing Powder, Enamel Shapes, Sequins Trim, Very Vanilla Lace Trim, Wink of Stella (on bird) 

Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment - its great to hear from you

HAPPY CRAFTING 


 

GLOBAL DESIGN PROJECT - SHADOW STAMPING - BEAUTIFUL YOU

The Challenge over at Global Design Project this week is a sketch.  Quite a simple straightforward sketch and sometimes these can be tricky!

We were allowed to change it round a bit so I've turned mine upside down slightly and used the Shadow Stamping Technique with the Beautiful You stamp set.  This card was all about the greys - must be the weather here in the UK.  Although the inked background for the embossing was actually Soft Sky but it turned out rather grey. She has Wink of Stella on the main image which really makes it shine.

The sentiment comes from the Love and Affection stamp set and I used the Banner Framelits to cut it out.

This technique uses Embossing resist - stamp your main image and then, using a Stamp-a-ma-Jig reposition the same image in Versamark ink.  Then simply ink over however you prefer - direct with ink and a sponge dauber or watercolouring.  You will find that the Versamarked image pops.

We will be trying this technique at class next week with my regular ladies. If you are in my area and would like to come and craft do get in touch - I hold classes regularly at my home.

 Check out my YouTube Tutorial to show how I made this card.

HAPPY CRAFTING

 

JANUARY BLUES? - AVANT-GARDEN

Good Morning Bloggers, is it just me with the January blues?  I'm guessing it isn't - I have to admit January is my least favourite month of the year.  My kids know this also so my Christmas present from my daughter was a spa day last Monday and a joint present for my husband from our son is a weekend away in a few weeks time.  They know me so well.

These "blues" seem to be coming across in my crafting - I'm not normally a blues colour sort of girl.  Reds and greens are my colours which is why Christmas suits me so well.

I must say though I've absolutely loved playing with these three blues I picked at random and they go so well together.

I'm playing with one of the Sale-A-Bration FREE sets - Avant-Garden.  Can I let you into a little secret - its my favourite out of the whole Sale-A-Bration catalogue.  I wonder what your's is?  Sometimes it takes other people to show us what a stamp set can do which is why we Demos are here after all!

Anyway - I'm blathering on - here's my card!  I don't know whether its the dull weather we are having here in the UK - promise of snow perhaps here in the south but its very dull and that's reflecting on the colours of this card.  Honest, in real life its much more vibrant and the Wink of Stella just glistens - like snow!

Hmm - not liking this picture at all - I will have to try some more shots and re-do it if I can.  I think its time to invest in a white box maybe?

I've put a list of the supplies below for what I used.  Sorry to say I have used something that is no longer available in those Antique Brads.  I love brads - its a shame they seem to be out of favour at the moment but these are just too lovely to sit in a box and I'm sure some of you will have them anyway.  Its not all about using what's current - shh don't tell anyone I said that! lol!

SUPPLIES

Cardstock - Island Indigo - Very Vanilla

Stamp Set - Avant-Garden

Inks - Island Indigo, Mint Macaron, Pool Party

Accessories - Linen Thread, Stitched Framelits, Antique Brads, Wink of Stella

As usual all supplies can be purchased from my website - click on the logo below.

If you love your Stampin Up products and would like to get them at a discount, consider joining up and being a Demonstrator yourself - you don't have to run it as a business but can be a hobby demonstrator.  By joining my Crafty Stampers you will be joining one of the top teams in the UK run by an awesome Team Leader.  I'd love to share Stampin Up with you.

In the meantime,

HAPPY CRAFTING

 

BANNER'S FOR CHIRSTMAS

I haven't seen a lot of cards made with this wonderful set yet in blog land or Pinterest.  So I thought I'd get my thinking head on and try and do a few.  Yesterday I included it on a card for Less is More challenge blog.

Today I've turned the mistletoe upside down, which is the right way up - do you get me?

I've kept it as a simple card with just a touch of Old Olive.  The Basic Pearls really help to bring this card to l ive.  I've used an embossing folder for the dots on the white backing paper and a touch of the gold ribbon on the stems.  There is a touch of Wink of Stella on the flowers which gives a bit of sparkle.

I really like how this one came out and may even just make a whole load of these for some craft fairs I have booked.  I'm not very good at doing more than one card because I get bored so easily - does anyone else get like that?

 Connie and Mary have a colour challenge happening at the moment which asks you to use Old Olive so I'm going to add this into the challenge.  I'm not sure whether all the colours they've given us have to be included but I'm sure they'll let me know if this one isn't suitable.

 



All supplies are of course Stampin Up..

 Happy Crafting

 
 

CHRISTMAS MAGIC - VIDEO TUTORIAL

I've done a purely stamping only video for this week's tutorial.  Not a die or framelit in sight.  I'd read the comment where someone had mentioned there was less stamping being done and more Big Shot cutting out so I thought I would go back to basics.

I've used the Christmas Magic set and, in particular the Train again.  I think its a great one for colouring and as mentioned before reminds me of Polar Express.

The Cherry Cobbler card base was actually 5 3/4" x 4 1/4" (15cm x 10.5 xm)

The DSP was cut at 5 1/2" x 3 6/8" (14cm x 9.5 cm)

The Whisper White was 5 1/4" x 3 1/2" (13.2 cm x 9 cm)

You'll find all the supplies I used below.  All products can of course be purchased from my store.

If you are in the Hampshire area - why not come along to one of my many classes and get creative!

 











Christmas Magic Clear Mount - £18.00











Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder - £4.50









 Cherry  Cobbler - Garden Green Marker Pens £6.50





Real Red - Crumb Cake Marker Pens - £6.50






Wink of Stella - £7.25