This or That Thursday 2023 retiring core colours

 Today I'm sharing 2 cards made with the last 2 retiring core colours.  The colours are merry merlot and sahara sand. Merry merlot is as the name suggests a rich deep red. Sahara sand is a lovely neutral tone.

As it's  This or That Thursday I have made 2 cards. One in each of the 2 colours although they do have a pop of the alternative colour in them 😉

The cards are what I would call grungy. That is to say there is a lot of layering of colour. I started each card by stamping directly onto a white mat in the cards primary colour. I then used the same stamps and stamped in versamark and heat embossed in white powder. 

I next took a blending brush and applied colour from the outside edges working inward. On the merry merlot version even after wiping the embossed areas with a soft cloth the ink had stained the areas a soft pink. Now in real life it's  a really pretty effect, even though not intended, but I'm not sure it translates as well in the photo's. 

 

After heat embossing and blending I used the splodge stamp from the Nature's Prints stamp to add further grunge to the mat. I then mounted the panel on sahara sand then adhered it to a merry merlot card base. The sentiment was heat embossed in white onto a merry merlot die cut lable and mounted onto a sahara sand circle. 

I repeated the process with the sahara sand ink and cardstock. 

When I started the process I was certain that the merry merlot version was going to be my favourite....

But then when I'd  finished the sahara sand version I just couldn't  decide!!!

So which do you prefer the merry merlot or the sahara sand? Let me know in the comments below 😀

Watercolour Wednesday 2023 retiring core colours

 Today's watercolour inspiration was from a short I saw on Facebook by an Australian demonstrator called Alisa Tilsner. The background is super easy to make so perfect for me 😉. Watercolour backgrounds are a great way to streatch you ink pad stash. And as this week's inspiration is all about using the retiring core colour inks it was just the technique to share!

So what colours am I using today... well there's pear pizzazz a soft mid tone green, so saffron a gentle yellow and mango melody a vibrant orange. 

So let's  get to the technique... all you will need is some fluid 100 watercolour paper, an acrylic block, waterbased ink pads and some kitchen paper. Oh and some water in a spritzer 😅 it is a watercolour technique after all!! 

First place your watercolour paper on some kitchen paper and spritz well with water. This is a wet technique.  You then place your acrylic block onto the ink pad and gather ink up onto it by tapping gently.

Now the fun part. Starting in one corner of the paper rub the acrylic block over the wet paper.  I  started with the so saffron ink.

I used the kitchen paper to rub the acrylic block clean.

Then I turned the paper around and used the mango melody ink in the same way.

I then dried the panel and set to making the card. I made a basic white card base and added a white mat on top. I embossed the white mat with the Fern embossing folder. 

I then stamped the large fern stamp from the Nature's Prints stamp set in pear pizzazz ink onto white cardstock.  

I fussy cut the fern image out even though the set has coordinating dies available.  I also stamped and fussy cut out the sentiment. 

I must admit I was a little unsure of thw colour palette when I thought of it but now I see it finished I think it works well.

 I think the texture on the white mat also gives the finished project a lovely dimension. 

I do hope you'll give the watercolour background tequnique a try. It has a lovely look to it. 

Tips tricks and techniques Tuesday retiring 2023 colours

 Today I've  made cards using 3 more of the retiring core colours from Stampin' Up!. The colours are Blushing Bride, Soft Suede and Mint Macaron.  This selection of soft subtle colour work so well together. 

As it's  Tuesday I have a fun technique to share using the above colours and the Nature's Prints stamps. I'm  calling this technique a Mini One Sheet Wonder. One sheet wonders have been a firm favourite of mine since I started stamping. They're a great project for beginners and avid crafters alike. They all start out the same way with a piece of plain cardstock.  You then stamp all over the cardstock and finally cut it to work on mulriple cards in various layouts.

For my mini version I started out with a piece of basic white cardstock measuring 10cm x 14.5cm . I then randomly stamped in all three colours using a variety of the stamps over the entire piece. 

I then used this cutting guide . I  used a circle die but a punch would work as well.

 I like that there was no waste with this cutting layout. 

Now to create cards using the pieces. I started with the circle. I embossed a mat of white cardstock using the Fern embossing folder . I then mounted both the mat and the stamped circle onto soft suede cardstock.  A simple sentiment onto a white circle and that to was mounted onto a soft suede circle was added.

I then used the square which the circle came out of. I made a 10.5cm x 10.5cm card base from blushing bride cardstock and cut a 10.5cm x 10.5cm mat as well. I embossed the mat with the fern embossing folder and adhered it to the card front. I then popped the square of the stamped one sheet wonder up onto 3d foam and adhered it to the card front.  I stamped a sentiment onto a white circle and mounted it onto a blushing bride one and adhered it to one side on the front.

And finally the 3 strips. I used mint macaron for the card base and also cut a 9.5cm x 13.9cm mat. I then took the splodge stamp from the set and inked it with mint macaron ink and stamped down one side of the mat. This tone on tone trick gives a lovely effect with out being overwhelming. I alsobtook my blending brush and applied a little ink all around the outside edges. This gives it definition as it is going ontop of the same colour cardstock. I stamped the sentiment directly onto the mat. Then added the 3 strips above the sentiment.  I used 3d foam to adhere the mat to the card base.

I do hope you'll give this fun technique a go. It's  a great way to make a set of cards that would work well as a gift. It is also a fun way to make multiples that are all unique. 

 

Make it simple Monday core color farewells

 The colours they are a changing... at Stampin' Up! There is a colour refresh happening from the 1st of May 2023.  This means that some of the core colours will be leaving us to be replaced by new ones! Now whilst it's exciting to see the new I thought I'd share those which we are bidding farewell to all this week. I will be using stamps and dies which are carrying over in the new annual catalogue .

But first lets look at the colours which are retiring....

Some of these colours are firm favourites of mine, other's not so much. 

So for today's #simplestamping inspiration I have chosen to go with 3 that I will most definitely miss.

Starting with rich razzleberry this lovely rich  shade of purple will always have a place in my ink line up. One of the reasons is that is great for generational stamping. In fact all 3 of the colours I've chosen today are. 

Generational stamping is where you ink the stamp up once then stamp it several times with out reinking the stamp. I suggest huffing (breathing) in between each stamping to reactivate the colour. You can get lots of lovely shades of the colour.

My second colour choice is this bold blue called pacific point. It is a fabulous colour that works so well with others.

My third and final choice for today is bermuda bay. As the name suggests its a blue/green turquoise that just shouts Caribbean seas.

I think these quick and easy note cards are super simple yet very elegant. The stamp set that I've used is called Nature's Prints and is one that we used at our all day class on the Saturday just gone and I just couldn't put it away! I'm happy to say it will be available in the new annual catalogue ! 

If you're in the UK and would like a copy of the upcoming annual catalogue of your own please contact us and we'll get one to you. 

Join me tomorrow as I share more of the retiring colours.

Fun Fold Friday - Men's Cards -

For today's card I have used the lovely Seaside Bay stamp set. This was one of the sets that we used for our recent retreat. It was great. There was a coincidence too. Both Cary and I made similar cards! Mine was using the Stylish Shapes dies and Cary used the Layering Diorama dies similar to my card for today. 

This card was a large card but I will give you the instructions and pictures for a standard sized C6 card. Using Basic White card, 28cm by 10.5cm high. I scored along the long edge at 10.8cm, 13.3cm, 24.15cm and 26.7cm. I also cut 2 mats/inserts 12.7cm by 10.5cm and I scored 0.9cm from each end. This was where they will be joined to the main card body. Now on my smaller card, I used the Stylish Shapes dies but any dies will work as long as there are 3 differing sizes. Using the largest die first, I die cut the shape from the front panel on the card. That will be the largest panel between the 13.3cm score line and the 24.15cm score line. Taking each of the inner mats one at a time I die cut the shapes by looking through the previous one to line them all up correctly. I added DSP from the By The Bay set of papers and then added one side only at a time, The scored edges of the mats were adhered with Tear 'n Tape from the back of the card and spacing them out on the shorter sides.   

In the pictures below, you can see the mats folded towards the back of the card on both sides.

 

 I did cheat however, this was the card that I made for my youngest son's partner. Tyler's birthday was a few weeks after mine and as my son, Kai works very long hours we couldn't get together any nearer to my birthday so we celebrated both Tyler's and my birthday together with a gorgeous dinner!
 

 That's it from me for the week once again. Please take care and I will see you in 2 weeks. 

Until then, take care, stay well but most of all....

KEEP ON CRAFTING.

xx😍x😍  Gill  😍x😍xx

This or That Thursday - Men's Cards - Beside Me

 Hello on this bright Thursday. Today' this or that cards are 2 very simple ones. I used images on the right of the card on the first and the second card has words and one simple image. They are both very easy to see how to do so I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say they were good fun to make. Now sentiments can be easily changed and as I have lots of BIRTHDAY cards to send each year that's what I generally end up using so I apologise.

Now it's your decision as to which you prefer, THIS or THAT

Card 1 THIS

 

Card 2 THAT

  

Watercolour Wednesday - Men's Cards - Whiskey Business

 Today's card was actually started yesterday for the technique Tuesday. Then I realised that as I was water-colouring it should be for today! Using the Whiskey Business stamp set, I stamped the decanter and a few of the glasses and using ink from a clear, acrylic block, coloured them in with my water brush. I used some of the papers from the He's The Man Designer Series Papers for the card. I like the simple masculine effect on these 2 papers. A simple sentiment on the front to complete it. 

Technique Tuesday Men's cards

As I said yesterday, this week I am going to concentrate on making men's cards using different stamp sets. Today's set is Bamboo Beauty. This lovely, subtle stamp set is so pure and simple. I have used a technique that I occasionally like to do and this time is using some of the Silver Foil Speciality Pack of foiled papers. There are 3 different tones of silver foil and I often have difficulty deciding which to use.  

For today though, I chose 2 different shades. I cut 2 C6 card mats 10cm by 14.4cm and embossed only 1 of them using the Metal Plate embossing Folder. I then cut each one in half diagonally, in both directions. That gave me 4 triangles in each shade. I took the 2 sides from one and swapped them with the 2 matching sides from the other mat. It is as simple as that! I laid them face down and added tape to the back of them to re-join them into the C6 mat again. I used the third design of the foils with a 6cm by 6cm square which was turned diagonally too. The sentiment was centralised across the diagonal square before mounting onto the card. A few of the little bamboo shoots stamped and fussy cut to add the simple decoration on each one.

Make It Simple Monday - #simplestamping - Men's Cards

 Hello, thank you for joining me this week. I hope to give you some hints on Men's cards this week as I know that so many of us struggle with them. Today's card was made using the Wild and Sweet stamp set. Three lovely animals but the panda has to be one of my favourites. Why, I don't know as I love most animals. I started by stamping the image in Memento black ink. I then cut a random shape around it and repeated that after I had adhered it to the black card. A simple Happy Birthday and the card is completed.