Technique Tuesday - Nature's Prints

 Today I have made my all time favourite in a technique and it is made all the much better because of the Designer Series Paper. I used the Nature's Prints stamp set along with the beautiful papers called Sun Prints. The papers are in many shades of blue and greys, they really are gorgeous. Anyway, I have made a standard C6 card in Basic White and added one of the pieces of DSP to the front. I stamped a few of the fern images, a flower and a sentiment which was die-cut from one of the coordinating dies for the set called Natural Prints. Adding a piece of Designer Series Paper is the quickest way to enhance a card that you can send to anyone. 

 

 

Here are the papers that I have fallen in love with!

 

Make It Simple Monday - #simplestamping - Nature's Prints

Hello again, it seems that I was only posting a few days ago and here I am a week later posting again! This week I have decided to play with Nature's Prints stamp set, the beautiful Designer Series Papers and Fern, a new coordination embossing folder.  Anyway, today being #simplestamping day I have made the quickest cards ever! In fact, they were so simple I made 5 of them! One in each of the new, gorgeous, In Colours!

 

 

I even had fun decorating the insides too!

Fun fold Friday Let's Set Sail

 Now I love a fun fold as much as anyone! But sometimes you just don't have time to get creative and spend lots of brain power creating engineering wonders in cardstock. So for today's fun fold I thought I'd keep it simple! I knew I wanted to use the Builder sailboat punch and to show some of the fantastic 2022-24 In-Color pattern paper.

I used basic thick white cardstock for the card base . Take a piece measuring 14.85cm x 21cm ( 8" x 6") Then score from both ends at 5cm and 7.5cm along the long side ( 2" and 3"). This is all the scoring and cutting you need to do for the card base! See I told you it was simple! 😁

Now to fold your card you need to reinforce your folds by burnishing them with a bone folder, or your nail 😉. The first fold is a valley fold and the second is a mountain. Repeat from the other side. This creates a card that will stand and still fold flat.

I then chose my pattern paper.  I decided that the Tahitian Tide check and spot papers were the ones for me. I cut 2 panels measuring 14.4cm x 4.5cm ( 5 3/4" x 1 3/4") and one at 14.4cm x 5cm ( 5 3/4" x 2").

 

I then punched 3 sailboats out of white cardstock and adhered them using 3d foam to the center panel. 

I then stamped my sentiment out using Starry Sky ink and cut it into single words. I then mounted them onto Tahitian Tide cardstock.  I adhered the words to the out side panels flat.

I love the clean lines and monotone colour palette of this card. It really looks great. It would work wonderfully in any of the 2022-24 In-Colors for sure. What colour would you chose to use?

Well that's it from me this week thank you for joining me. I do hope I've inspired you to get crafting.

Please join me here next week to see what Gill has in store for us as she shares her inspiration. 

Have fun

Cary x

Throwback Thursday Let's Set Sail

 Today is Throwback Thursday and I saw this post back in 2020 when I was showcasing the retiring In-Colors.  I thought why not replicate it using this years In-Colors and the Let's Set Sail stamp set. Here's the inspiration I've used. 

So let me introduce you to the 2022-24 In-Colors.  First up we have Parakeet Party

 

Next we have Tahitian Tide....

Now it's time for Sweet Sorbet...

And now there is Orchid Oasis...

And last but by no means least there is

 Starry Sky...

So there you have it 5 new beautiful colours 😍 and a beautiful clean and simple design. 

I love how today's cards turned out just as I loved the one's from 2020!

Watercolour Wednesday Let's Set Sail

 Today's watercolour inspiration was a little messy in the making but I was so happy with the end result that it was well worth it!! I wanted to create a water like effect for my boat from the Sailboat builder punch  that coordinates with Let's Set Sail stamp. ( it is available as a Bundle with a 10% discount!) 

I started with reinkers,  cling film, water spritzer and cardstock.  First I scrunched up my cling film then gently spread it apart. Next I carefully dripped drops of reinker onto the cling film. I chose to use 2 shades of blue from the 2022-24 In-Colors Tahitian Tide and Starry Sky. 

Then it was time to get messy by spritzing the cling film with water..  quite a bit of water... so that the ink moves around

Now it's  time to place your cardstock ontop of the cling film and quickly flip it over so that the cling film is on top. Use your fingers to carefully squish the ink around but not so much that it becomes a mucky colour. At the same time make sure to keep the scrunched up effect of thw cling film.

Now the hard part... waiting for it to dry!! You want to leave it to dry naturally as this will allow the cling film to add its special effect.

Once dry remove the cling film and admire your handiwork. 

Here is a close up of the beautiful delicate veins that the cling film leaves on your work.

Sadly it look far more impressive in real life but anywho here it is.

I loved the effect I'd achieved and wanted to keep the rest of my card quite simple. I cut a mat of cardstock and used my Sweet Sorbet ink pad to add colour directly to all 4 sides. I then used a piece of adhesive sheet  to completely add adhesive to the back of the watercolour background. The reason for this is that the cardstock can become quite warped due to the amount of water used. Having a full cover off  adhesive allows it to adhere cleanly and avoid bumps and lumps.

Now it was time to create my sailboat. I punched the pieces out of basic white cardstock.  I then covered the mast and blended colour over the hull of my boat. Next I added colour to the pennant at the top of the mast. Then I covered the hull and pennant and blended a different colour onto the mast.

Now it was time to add some interest to the sails. I decided to stamp one of the sentiments from the Let's Set Sail set over them. I moved the stamp and reinked and stamped again till the sail was covered.

I attached the Sailboat to the background using 3d foam. I  then chose to use the same sentiment  and stamped it directly onto my card.

I love how this project came together.

The rich tones of the colours and the graphic effect on the sails are really appealing to me. 

And as the sentiment say Hope it's your best day ever! 

Tips tricks and techniques Tuesday Let's Set Sail

 I love sharing tips, tricks and techniques any day but especially on a Tuesday 😁 For my card today using the Let's Set Sail stamps and the 2022-24 In-Colors I've a new twist, well new to me 😉, on a favourite style of card.

Called a window card it's where the inside peeps out through an appature in the card front. Usually I would stamp or decorate the inside of the card and either write amidst the pretty part or on the reverse of the card.

My new take on the window card is a very simple trick. What I did was cut a piece of cardstock to 10cm x 14.9cm . I then scored at 0.5cm along the 14.9cm edge.

Taking the piece of cardstock I stamped my scene. I used the tequnique of generational stamping to create the sea . I inked up the large water stamp then stamped it. Then I stamped again but instead of inking again I "huffed" over the stamp to reactivate the ink left on the stamp. The effect is that you get shades or tones of the same colour. 

I then took a piece of cardstock measuring 14.85cm x 21cm and scored it at 10.5cm. I then took a circle die from a set called Stylish Shapes dies. This a fab set of stiched circles, squares and banners. I then placed my chosen die onto the card front and cut it out.

Next I used an embossing folder to add texture to the whole of the card front.  A tip here is that when you make your sandwich for embossing only place the top plate up to the score line. This means that the back of the card will be flat and unmarked. 

I then placed adhesive along  the narrow strip on the stamped/ decorated layer. Place the side with the adhesive onto the inside of the card base lining the scored line next to the score line in the cards base. The panel will be slightly smaller than the card base.

I  then took another mat of cardstock measuring 10cm x 14.4cm and adhered it to the card base. This is the area that I will write my message on. I did a little generational stamping on this piece just because I could 😄

Finally I decorated the front of the card.  I die cut a circular frame from a piece of the gorgeous tahitian tide cardstock.  I adhered the frame around the appature.  

I then used the circles from the die cuts to create the sentiments along with a banner die cut.

I love the way this card turned out . It's  fun and yet clean and simple. Even though it does have layers they  are seperate. All in all I this fun card came together quickly and without any drama... always a good thing in my book 😀

Make it Simple Monday Let's Set Sail

 Welcome to #makeitsimplemonday here at 2 Big Girls Crafting 😀 I'm Cary and this week I'll be sharing inspiration using a stamp set called Let's Set Sail.

 I'll be combining this fun set with the fantasic new 2022-24 In-Colors.

These colour are just sooo amazing I thought a whole week of inspiration featuring just this colour palette would be a fun challenge.

I chose the Let's Set Sail stamps because they are just a little bit different and I love a challenge 😉.

So for today's #simplestamping inspiration I have used a direct to paper ink techniques that we call Swinking! This fun way to use your ink pad requires no special skills nor any fancy tools. I'll be sharing how I created today's card in my Facebook Live here at 4pm BST.  I will add a link to the video later for those who can't make it.

So here's the card I created for you.

This is a single layer card that is suitable for any one. The sentiment is such a lovely one.

I've used all the gorgeous In-Colors inks on this card. 

Please join me for the rest of this week as I share more inspiration using these fabulous stamps and inks along with a few other goodies 😉