Throwback Thursday Beauty of Tomorrow suite

 Thursdays are are throwback inspiration here at 2 Big Girls Crafting.  So for today's inspiration I decided to randomly choose a previous post from our blog to re create. I also set my self the challenge of using some of the stunning Bleckberry Beauty  This specialty double sided pattern paper is full of rich scrumptious colours with hints of gold foiling. The picture below really doesn't do it justice!

So with the paper and colour palette chosen which project was I going to do? Well I randomly picked the date of September 10th 2016 and went to see what I was making. So here it is....

Now I was really chuffed to see this project as I love making 3d items!! And to make it even easier I already had a tutorial for it as the post included one I'd written 😀

So I had my pattern paper, my colour palette , project and tutorial so with out further ado here is the September 16th 2021 version of my octagonal box.

The box is huge! Standing almost 6" tall and 5" wide it can be filled with so many things!!

I decided to trim  the box with the gold shimmer ribbon that is a part of the Beauty of Tomorrow suite. For the lable I chose to use the large tag and owl die cut from the Blackberry beauty ephemera pack that is also a part of the suite.

All together I was very happy with the out come of my random search through the archives of our blog! 

Do you ever revisit old projects for inspiration ? I can highly recommend it!

Throwback Thursday Penguin Place

 Have you ever made your own Christmas/celebration cake? And if you made one did you decorate it with royal icing? Well I use'd too but not so much now . I particularly remember making Christmas cakes with lots of rough royal icing and putting little figures of Father Christmas  or snow covered Christmas trees on top.  Why are you asking am I talking about royal icing?? Well for today's Throwback Thursday Penguin Place card I've used something that reminds me of it!!

I started out with one of the new masks in the Adorning designs decorative masks. I chose the snowflake one to go with my penguine Christmas theme.

Once I'd secured the mask over a mat of dark blue cardstock I used a pallette knife to apply White embossing paste through the mask. I used a dabbing motion to make it a rough surface.  Once done I immediately placed the pallette knife and mask into warm soapy water. I left the panel to dry. 

Next I decided to fussy cut some of the characters from the super cute pattern paper that is available with a qualifying purchase called Penguin Playmates  from Stampin' Up!

Once I'd cut ot my characters I stamped one of the cute sentiments from the Penguin Place stamp set. I then mounted my snowflake embossed panel onto a white mat and secured a length of shimmery white ribbon along the width of the card. 

After mounting the panel onto a dark blue card base I added my characters and sentiment using 3d foam. Then I added a few sparkley sequines to give it a little more sparkle 

Now the texture of the paste is so much fun and brought back memories of those long gone christmas cakes 😁

To add a little something to my card I also decorated a panel for the inside.  I used the mask again but this time blended dark blue ink through it. Another length of ribbon and I was done.

I had great fun making this card and remembering those Christmas cakes  😋 . I do so love a mice rich fruit cake . What about you? Are you old school fruit cake and royal icing ? Or  more modern sponge and fondant icing? 

Throwback Thursday Delicate Dahlias

 Do you have a special pair of scissors for certain jobs? I have a special pair of scissors that are over 15 years old! They are just perfect 👌 they fit my fingers, have the perfect point, are the exact length of blade... and what do I do with them? One job and one job only decoupage! And when I saw the large dahlia in the Delicate Dahlias I knew I would be getting those special decoupage scissors out!

I stamped the image 3 times using both the outline and infil stamps. Once stamped I looked at them and worked out where I was going to cut the layers. I use a pencil and mark the areas that I'm going to cut away. This helps me to "see" how it will look when finished.

Once all the layers are cut and I'm  happy with them it's time to use 3d foam to layer them together.

For my card base I used white cardstock and then cut a piece of patterned paper to cover the front. 

I found in my box of scraps an interesting shaped piece of card and decided to add some texture to is using an embossing folder set called Checks and Dots. I chose the check one to compliment the dotty paper I'd used.

A few fussy cut leaves, some twine, a sentiment and a few sparkley rhinestones and I was happy.

I was really happy to get those special scissors out and revisit an old technique.  I think the image works beautiful and it was worth the effort.

For the inside I stamped the same image on the bottom right hand corner.  This give the finished card that little something extra in my opinion. 

So do you have a special pair of scissors ? And what do you use them for?

Throwback Thursday Peekaboo Farm

 Gill and I hold regular classes each month and today's card featuring the fabulous Peekaboo Farm stamps was inspired by a class we held recently. 

The class featured a set of dies called Picture This. This set of dies create 2 appature pieces and lots of mats. It's  such a useful die set!

In our class we placed patterned paper  behind the appatures and the resulting cards were gorgeous. 

But for today's Peekaboo Farm cards I decided to have the animals peeking out!

For the first card I took the rectangle appature dies and cut them on a mat  slightly smaller than thw front of my card. I then placed it over another piece of white card and very lightly pencil marked the appatures. 

Now I stamped ny images inside  the penciled areas and coloured them. Remembering to erase the pencil lines as I went. Then I took the appature piece  and stamped onto that. 

I placed 3d foam behind the front panel and carefully placed it over the stamped images.i then stamped the lama and horse's hooves, coloured and fussy cut them  then added 3d foam to them and placed them on top of the image to create a littlw depth to the image.  I then adhered the panel to the front of my card base and voilà. 

For the second card I used the circle appature piece. Repeating the steps to stamp images on to a second mat.  But this time I used one of the circle die cuts for my sentiment.  I also stamped the appature mat using the stone wall stamp multiple times so that it looks as if the animals are peeking out through a wall.

I can't decide which I prefer.  What do you like best the stone work on the front? Or behind?

Throwback Thursday You're a Peach

 When did you start crafting? Is a question I've been asked and asked a lot!! And the answer is since childhood 😅 I remember making flour and water paste and cutting and sticking paper to make pictures. I also remember making pinwheels ....So fast forward a few...uhmmmm quite a few years 😅 to today and my tools might be a bit more advanced but I still love playing with paper and glue and making pinwheels. But this time I'm using the beautiful You're a Peach pattern paper and the gorgeous cardstock from Stampin' Up!

So I took some 4cm squares of pretty paper and folded them diagonally from corner to corner in bothe directions. Next I snip up each fold line 3/4's of the way. Now I fold the corners in and adhere them in the center. ( if in doubt check out YouTube 😉)

Next I made a DL card base in green and cut a white mat to fit. I then used the cloud dies from fantastic Give it a Whirl dies.

I die cut out a selection of the cloud dies out of white cardstock and adhered them onto the top area of the mat.

I then die cut out 3 stems and 3 leaves from the Peach dies

 I then cut a strip of the green patterned papers and snipped into it to create grass.

Then I simply placed the stems and leaves  and flowers , 😉 pinwheels that is, on to the mat then finished by placing the grass strip over the bottom of the stems.

So when did you start crafting? 

Throwback Thursday flowers of Friendship

 Well , as the song says what a difference a day makes!! The sky is grey and the sun is hidden from view 😔 such a contrast to the beautiful blue skies and sun shine but at least it's not raining... yet!!! 😅 But the change in the weather won't stop me from sharing a beautiful bright blue and crisp white card with you today!! Featuring just one ink colour and one stamp set, Flowers of Friendship this project uses a technique that is one I don't use often enough! 

Using a stamp platform tool can be such a help in so many ways. One that I really like is the hinged/ stepped stamping technique that I've used today. This technique is one that requires your stamping platform to be repositionable whilst keeping the stamp in the same place on the platform. For this I use my Stamparatus. 

Using this technique I was able to stamp the sentiment down the length of my cardstock perfectly spaced. So much easier than trusting my eye!!

I then stamped the floral image randomly onto the coloured cardstock mat in the same ink colour, pool party. I also stamped the image onto a piece of white cardstock and coloured it in using pool party blends. Blends are alcohol markers. I fussy cut the stamped image out and stuck 3d foam on the back. 

I adhered the coloured mat onto a white card base. Then adhered the stamped white mat onto it. I then placed the floral image to one side.

A few gems on the front and a stamped insert and my card was finished. 

I am really happy I revisited the hinged stamping technique as this card has brightened a dull day 🙂. I hope you like it too. 

Throwback Thursday Today's Tiles

 Today I'm sharing a #simplestamping card that highlights how 2 step stamping works. There are quite a few 2 step stamping stamp sets around but the Today's Tiles set shows how it works beautiful. 

You start by deciding which stamp you're going to use first and what colour ink you're going to use. I typically use the most filled in stamp and use a light shade. But for today's sample I used the  dark shade of green called Evening Evergreen from the 2021/23 In-Colors.  I also recommend using a stamp positioning tool such as the Stamparatus. The reason will become clear 😉

Next I laid the infill stamp on top of my stamped image to line it up exactly.  Being photopolymer the stamps are clear so it's easy to do 🙂.  Close the plate so that it picks up the stamp and ink with an alternative colour. For my example I've used the pretty lilac Fresh Freesia.  For my card I used the other shade of green called Soft Succulent. Now stamp and the infill will work like a charm. 

The result is lovely.  It gives your stamping another dimension. 

I love the versatility that 2 step stamping offers. Most of my projects this week have just used the outline stamp which is fab. But by using the infill stamp it opens up a whole host of colour options 😀 I loved the delicate tonal look that I've achieved using the 2 shades of green. 

To finish my card I used a sentiment from the Today's Tiles set and die cut it out using the coordinating die set called Field Tiles.  

So if you'd like to take part in our giveaway this week please leave a comment below .

Throwback Thursday Sand and Sea suite

 Chatting with some fellow craft addicts at the weekend the subject of one sheet wonders, OSW, came up. Nothing special there I hear you say but it was because amongst our gathering were several crafters who are relatively new to the world of craft. They didn't have a clue what a OSW is! Ohhh thought I a perfect project for my blog post this week featuring the Friends are like Seashells stamps!!

Now this is where it got a bit controversial.  To some a osw is where you follow a cutting guide for a piece of  12x 12, 6x6 or A4 pattern paper to create a significant number of cards. Just Google one sheet wonder template to see lots or click Here for one I created a few years ago.

But there is another explanation of the term OSW,  one that Gill is particularly fond of and the first type I came across years ago... that of the making your own pattern paper type. And it's this style that I'll be using for the gorgeous seashell stamps for!

So I grabbed my blocks, inks and stamps and clean sheet of white A4 cardstock and set about stamping! 

I stamped the large images first then filled in the spaces with the small ones. Finally I used the splatter stamp inked then stamped off onto scrap paper then stamped randomly, going over parts of the previously stamped images in a variety of colours. This gives the project some depth which I find pleasing.

I then cut my A4 piece into 4 panels and set about using them . 1 piece I did a little ink distressing around the edges once I'd cut the panel to fit the mat for my card. A simple message and that was 1 done.

For the second panel I decided to have a go at giving my panel a pearlescent shimmer. I took some of the frost white shimmer paint and using a blending brush gently blended it over my panel. Now this does have a draw back, or positive depending on how you see it, that the paint is a waterbased one so will reactivate the ink on the page and the colour may spread.  In the photo below you can see the difference it makes to the card 

 Again I cut the panel to fit my mats and made my card. The subtle shimmer real look far better in real life.

For the next 2 cards I cut  the panels into strips and set them onto mats. The effect works both horizontally and vertically.

So there you have it 4 cards from 1 background sheet. A one sheet wonder is a great way to get the most from your stamps and spark your creativity.  So have a play and see where it leads you on your crafting journey. 

Throwback Thursday Hey Birthday Chick

 Paper pieceing a super way to colour in with out pens or inks! It's also been a staple of my crafting arsonal since I began crafting all those years ago. So when I saw the Hey Birthday Chick stamps I immediately thought I can paper piece these little cuties!

Yes I know it involves fussy cutting but hey once in a while is ok for even the most reluctant fussy cutter 😉 Now I have to agree that the chicks with their spikey edges might at first glance look really difficult but you can chop of the spicky and spindeley, (a real Cary Crafting term 🤪)  bits. The reason you can chop them off is because you stamp the image onto your project first then layer the cut out piece onto it. 

A little tip I do have is to take a marker pen, in the same colour that I stamped in, and run it around the cut edges of my paper piece.  This helps to create an almost seamless transition from paper to stamped image. 

I have also created my own coloured sparkle by colouring my clear rhinestones with my alcohol markers.  I love how this allows me to customise my cards.

The card was inspired by a team member  the lovely Jennie Martin  who keeps chickens and is such a fun and cheerie person. So this card will be winging it's  way to her very soon 😊 🐥🐥🐥

Throwback Thursday Love you Always suite

 Today I'm sharing an anniversary card made using the gorgeous specialty papers from the Love you Always suite from Stampin' Up! 

There are 2 packs of different paper available. 1 is a pack of foil card in 3 colours, a lighter pink called blusing bride, a dusky pink  called rococo rose and a beige/grey colour called sahara sand. The second pack is a pack of patterned paper with foil highlights in the same 3 colours as above.

Because I wanted to use them all I fell back on an old favourite technique of mine paper quilting or brick laying using punched shapes. It's  a super simple way to make a quick background often using up scraps of paper.

I punched out a number of shapes using the tailored tag punch from Stampin' Up! . Then arranged them to cover a piece of cardstock. I then trimmed the cardstock to the size that fit the front of my card.

Next all that was left was to use some of the oh so pretty ribbon from the Love you Always suite. I created a focal point using stamps and dies from the suite, giving the flowers a little shimmer with my trusty wink of stella pen.

Do you have any favourite technique that you use with a punch ? I like this tailored tag one as it works for masculine cards as well as feminine ones.