Throwback Thursday

Do you ever look at something and think...that sure is familiar?
Well I did when I first saw the Cute Fruit stamp set and it took me a while but I finally  found it!!! Stampin' Up! Did a set called Nailed It. The reason Cute Fruit reminded me..it has cute face stamps!! And so did the set Nailed It!!!
Anyway today's card was inspired by one of the samples in the Beginner Brochure and by some cards I had made back in 2017 with the Nailed It stamp set.
I think my card today would be great for young or old, male or female, but in my eyes especially for my gin and tonic loving friends 🤣🤣🤣

Watercolour Wednesday

Watercolour Wednesday...with no  waterpainter, the new name for aquapainter , ?????
But you know what with an acrylic block, waterbased ink, water  and a toothbrush you can!!!
Take your block and ink it up either with just one colour or multiple. The get a toothbrush and flick water over the block, remember to protect your work surface and move other projects away 😉. Now quickly flip the block straight down onto white card stock and press down onto the block being careful not to twist the block. As you watch you can see the paper absorbing the wet ink. Give it a moment then remove the block straight up...the block should be clean..and voilá a watercolour background!! I have pictures below that show what I did.
So a beginner watercolour technique that can give a very different feel to the Cute Fruit collection!

Tips, Tricks and Techniques Tuesday

Continuing with my theme this week of beginner crafting and inspired by the Beginning Brochure frim Stampin Up I have created 4 #simplestamping cards.
The cards use a very simple technique of creating patterned paper withe the stamps and inks in the Cute Fruit collection. I always start with the larges images then fill in the spaces with the smaller ones.
Rather than starting with a large blank piece of cardstock, which can be very off putting!, I  cut myself a piece that measured 15.2cm x 15.2cm ( or 6" × 6"). The smaller size is what I would recommend for beginners.
Next I employed another #simplestamping technique the one sheet wonder. This basically means to cut a larger piece of card or paper into smaller peices to use on different cards. My layout is for a 15.2cm x 15.2cm peice of card and creates 4 simple cards. ( layout if in the photos)
To give my cards a little more colour I used another simple, but somewhat messy , trick...I ised my ink pad directly to colour strips of white card to create coloured card! My tip is to make sure to do rhis on scrap paper and to not over ink the card. When it's wet the colour may look a bit dark but it will lighten as it dries.
So 4 cards made with one stamp set , 1 acrylic block, the classic Stampin spot assortment and whisper white cardstock.

Make it simple Monday

Make it simple Monday got a helping hand this week from the new Beginners Brochure from Stampin' Up!.
This little brochure is a great place to find fun, quirky, pretty and all occasion projects for not only those who are just starting out on their stamping journey but also for those who are looking for something's to help make #simplestamping style cards.
So this week I'm  going to feature one of the collections put together that can be found in the brochure.  It includes stamps, inks, an acrylic block and white card stock...so everything you need to get started!!! 😉😉😉
Along with product the brochure has samples and ideas to get your creativity sparked. I have cased, copied, one for todays card.
The collection is called the Cute Fruit collection.  As the name suggests its fun and funky 🍍🍍🍍 The inks that are included are Ink Spots , 1" cube inks, in 8 great colours that would start you collection off with a bang.
If you're interested in a copy of the brochure please comment below and we'll get one to you asap

Fun Fold Friday   

For my last project this week using Timeless Tropical stamp set, I have made a card that although it isn't multi card folds, it has the extra panel on the front which lifts up.  

More information on the stamp set HERE

and the coordination Punch I've used this week, HERE 

I made a similar version in class a few months ago which the panel didn't lift.

Starting with a C6 card base in Pretty Peacock, Whisper White card stock and a small piece of DSP from the Flowers For Every Season papers. The DSP is only 10 cm or 4 inches wide by 11cm or 4and a quarter inches long, cut in half to 10cm by 5.5cm. the ends were folded in and fixed to the under side of the White card. The paper was then folded in half to give the points. At this point, I added a magnet to one end concealing it under the DSP.

I then took a previously die cut Stitched Nested Label from my stash and fixed it to some more card.

On a separate piece of card, I stamped some of the flowers and watercoloured them in with a little Balmy Blue ink. 

I stamped the leaves in Memento onto Shaded Spruce card. Then fussy cut them all out. 

The pieces were then added to the card base and I added the other half of the magnet to the underside of the Nested Label shape and fixed them all in position.

Colouring some Rhinestones with Mango Melody Blends then adding the messages inside, under and on top of the front panel, finished this card off.

 

Thank you for joining me this week. I hope you've been given some ideas to get you crafting.

Please stay safe, keep well and Carry on Crafting. 

Love always, Gill :)

Throwback Thursday  

For this Thursday I've made another straight forward card like earlier this week
using the Timeless Tropical stamp set. More Information HERE

This time, I've added a few more elements to it. 

The Hibiscus flower was stamped in Memento and coloured in using my new Blends colours, 

Magenta Madness. IT IS A STUNNING COLOUR!!

I also used the coordinating dies today only for the leaves.  After stamping the flower and leaves, I fussy cut the flower and die cut out the stamped leaves and the 3 very small leaves too
in Granny Apple Green card.  I think the colours go beautifully together.

With a Night of Navy card base, a frame made of Copper Foiled card which was raised using 

Foam Adhesive Strips. I took a Whisper White mat smaller than the copper frame and embossed it

with the Layered Leaves Embossing Folder, which has now sadly retired.

Just because products have retired, doesn't mean that we cannot continue to use them. 

I am a great believer of using things that I've bought even if they've 

been replaced by more gorgeous things!

After fixing them all onto the embossed white mat, I added more smaller pieces of the foam adhesive strips to the centre of the frame to support the white mat.

Using Night of Navy Ink Pad, I stamped the message inside and on a scrap of white card. The front piece was punched out using the Timeless Label Punch. I forgot to say this the other day but I then stuck the white mat onto a coloured base, in this case Night of Navy, and fussy cut around it. I know lots of people struggle with fussy cutting curves etc. but in my belief and this is a very important tip, all crafter should have an Emery board in their crafting tool kit! It really is perfect for rounding off and neatening fussy cut edges too. I swear by mine!

I hope you like what I have done with this one?

Watercolour Wednesday  

Today I have made a card using the watercolour method of colouring a sheet of paper.

I was going to colour in an image then watercolour it. I think this has worked out better. 

Using a piece of Watercolour paper, I spritzed it well with water. 

Using 4 shades of blue Stampin' Write marker pens, on a large acrylic block I scribbled the colours several times. 

I spritzed that too with water and while it was still really runny, I turned it upside down and moved it side to side and top to bottom of the paper. 

I moved the paper around to spread the colour throughout it before using the heat gun to dry it thoroughly,

 I have used the same stamp set today as yesterday. It is Timeless Tropical. 

More information HERE

It does have a set of coordinating dies too but I haven't as yet used them. Tomorrow maybe?

I used Night of Navy card for a mat inside and on the front then a Thick Whisper White card base.

Old Olive and Soft Suede marker pens to stamp the palm trees. 

Granny Apple Green and Daffodil Delight marker pens to colour the pineapples which were initially stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad.

 

Personally, I find that watercolouring a whole or part sheet of watercolour paper in this way

is probably the easiest way for me to succeed with the backgrounds.

How do you do your watercolour backgrounds?