Make it simple Monday Gorgeous Posies

 Hello and welcome to the first of this weeks posts. I had an amazing weekend!! On Saturday we held a charity crafting session all day via videoconferencing.  The wonderful participants all received the stunning Gorgeous Posies kit. The stunning Gorgeous Posies stamp set is available separately.  So having had a fab day playing with the kit I thought I'd share some inspiration using the stamp set this week.

So for today's #simplestamping project I have created 3 samples identical in design but using only one colour ink for each design. I have chosen to use the three primary colours of red, blue and yellow. I have also used a technique that is great for beginner stampers called generational stamping. This simple technique makes the most of an individual ink pad and is the reason I always advice those starting out on their stamping journey to choose a darker shade of ink.

Generational stamping is where you ink once and stamp multiple times. In the photo below I stamped the flower 6 times from just 1 inking! So ink up your stamp and stamp. Now gently breathe, or huff as I call it, onto the stamp to reactivate the ink left on the stamp. (This only works on water based ink pads as the moisture in the breathe adds water to the remaining ink.) 

Now stamp again and repeat for as may times as you like or until all the ink has been used 🙂

I find this simple technique adds depth and texture to a project as well as allowing you to create gorgeous tonal colours on a project.

Well I hope you'll have another look at the inks you have and explore the other colours that you can create using them. 

You can purchase the beautiful kit HERE

Fun Fold Friday - Joyful Holly

 Welcome back for this fun fold Friday.  The sun is shining but it's bitterly cold here today so I'm glad that I'm here indoors trying to warm myself up! Though saying that, my daughter in law says that she's warm! Figure that one out!! 😀😕 I must say that she is chasing my nearly 9 month old grand son Theo around! So I guess she may well be very warm! He's very active now, he stands and wants to be walked all of the time. If he's not walking, he's either crawling around at great speed, playing with the dog's water bowl or chasing the dogs! The dogs both love him too thankfully. He throws the ball for them and they nudge it back to him to do it again.                  

Anyway, back to my card for today. It is a very simple fold. I know that I say that a lot but it honestly is. I cut a piece of card at 14.85cm by the full length of a piece of A4 card, which in the UK is 29.7cm. I have again used the lovely Joyful Holly stamp set. At the beginning of this week I said that it wasn't for me but I have now changed my mind and will be making lots more holly based cards for this Christmas and other occasions too. More information on the stamps HERE

I scored and folded it at 9.9cm and the last part at 4.8cm so that the 2 edges of the card meet each other. Very simple! Yes it is a gatefold card but a slightly irregular one. I started with a Thick white card base and used Real Red mats for the front panels. I embossed them using the embossing folder called Brick and Mortar. I love the finish it gives on the card. I then stamped the image of Santa onto a white mat and coloured him in using the Stampin' Up blends pens. Once finished I die cut the image mat and some white frames using the same die set and made a frame to go on top. I added Foam Adhesive strips along the border of the frame where I had fixed a piece of acetate to. I sprinkled several pinches of Peaceful Poppies sequins from last years catalogue onto the Santa image and squished them all into the centre then adhered the frame over both the sequins and the image. 

On a separate piece of white card, I stamped and coloured in the Holly sprigs and again fussy cut them out. Using Dimensionals (foam shapes) I added them to the card. A couple of messages and some more holly on the inside and the card is complete. 

As I said earlier, a very simple, fun folded card today. 

That's it from me for this week, Cary will return on Monday to show you some of her creations. I hope you'll join her and see what she's been up to. 

Meanwhile, have a good weekend, take care, stay safe and keep well. Gill xxxxx 😘😍😘 

Throwback Thursday - Joyful Holly

 Today I decided to make a shaker card. Well, it didn't happen as I changed my mind half way through! After all, it is a woman's right to change her mind isn't it? Teehee! I started with some double sided papers from the Feels Like Frost papers which have carried over from last year thankfully. After I added the paper to the front of the card base, I first stamped and coloured the holly sprigs across the front to make it look like an arch. I then die cut the aperture using the Snow Globe dies which were also carried over from last year too. I added a few little embellishments from the All the Trimmings pack of coloured stars and dots. 

Stamping a deer on the inside mat and a fox on a scrap of card, I coloured them both in using Blends permanent marker pens. It should have been another easy card but because I kept changing my mind, It took me most of the afternoon! That will teach me to leave things well alone!

Watercolour Wednesday - Joyful Holly

 Hello, today's card I have had immense fun making! For a change I thought I would broaden my experiences in watercolouring. I have looked at lots of videos online and discovered the watercolouring  technique using salt and dropping other colours onto the wet card! Surprisingly though, I stayed clean! 

 I started by taking a piece of watercolour card from Stampin' Up! and spritzed it with lots of water. I inked a large block with Pacific Point, a really lovely strong bright blue. I spritzed the block really well too and then added it onto the wet card. Sliding it across the card to cover the whole piece, I left it for a few seconds to absorb all of the ink really well. Once the block came off, I added some table salt to the card, literally spraying the salt all over it. While it was still wet, I dropped 2 drops of re-inker in Yellow, Pink and Green onto a block, (also called Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo and Bermuda Bay). I added a few drops of water to each colour and just dropped each colour randomly over the mat using my watercolour brush. I then went and made a cup of tea while it dried a bit.

On my return, I stamped the Holly sprig onto a piece of white card using Memento Black ink pad and then stamped the leaves with the most gorgeous green called Granny Apple Green. I took another piece of watercolour card and repeated the wetting process and another block stamped Granny Apple Green all over it. After spritzing the card and the block with lots of water, I again sprinkled more salt over that piece too. More information on the stamp set used Joyful Holly, HERE

Tea now long gone, I helped the card pieces to dry a little bit more using the Heat gun. The holly was added onto the green mat and the Blue mat, I chopped up! I cut the piece into long, narrow, triangle shaped pieces and then mixed them up. I then started to glue them to a standard card mat which was 10.5cm by 14.85cm. As you can see, I left a little of the white mat showing below the coloured card to accentuate the shapes. Bruno Bertolucci calls it a scrappy card technique. 

 

I cut the blue coloured mat into 2 pieces and added half to each side of the card base. the Holly having been glued to the green mat was then fixed to the centre of the card on one side of the card only. 

2 little messages, some more holly stamped and fussy cut (yes, it has to be done) and then added one to each side of the card to complete. I know it's a very bright Christmas card but I quite like that it's really different and I know to whom I am going to send it too!

 

 

Technique Tuesday

 Today's card is another simple card but this time I added in some heat embossing. On navy blue card I stamped the holly sprig from the Joyful Holly stamp set using Versamark ink pad. Then I used White embossing powder and heat set it. As you can see I wanted a few mats on this card and went crazy with the red, white and navy blue mats. I just love using those colours together, not only do they look fresh but they look classy too! Well, that's what I think! 

More information on the stamp set HERE

As I said, this was a very simple card which once heat embossed, it was just a simple case of cutting each layer down to make another one. A simple message from the same stamp set again put onto a mat, decorated the inside and added another message to complete it.

 

 

 

 

I added some little dots of red card using the 1/8" hand held punch onto the berries to decorate. I love the way it adds a pop of colour over the card.

Tomorrow is Watercolour Wednesday, what can I do for that I wonder??

Make It Monday

#simplestamping 

Hello and welcome back this week. Well, just for a change Cary has once again excelled herself with all of last weeks projects, they are all beautiful. Well done Cary. So it's back to me, I have no idea what's going on with me at the moment as I am so busy with so many things and everything I get involved with seems like it's getting bigger and bigger and doesn't work the way I want it to!  Is it just me or do you sometimes have periods like that too? Crazy isn't it?

Anyway, more important things, today's card is a perfect example of this last few weeks. So far I have made this card 5 times! Why it wouldn't go right I have no idea as it is so very simple, it's crazy! Once I had eventually stamped the images in the right way round!

I have never really liked holly bushes so why I purchased this stamp set, I have no idea but I'm very glad now that I did! The set is called Joyful Holly from Stampin' Up! and it is such a very easy card to make (once I got myself sorted)! I stamped the tip of one of the holly stems onto the white mat several times around the edges and added a little colouring on the berries in red and it's complete. Simple! I stamped it in black ink and with the berries and the messages in red to complete this one. 

 

 

 Well that's my very simple card for today. Please try and make your own simple cards and share them with Cary and I as we would love to see them. 

As a result of this stamp set, I am now much happier about holly trees. Very strange am I not?

Fun fold Friday Ornamental Envelopes

 Today's fun fold Friday card is the last card that I'll be sharing this week showcasing the Ornamental Envelopes stamps. 

I have chosen to use another unusual colour pallette for a Christmas card. The rich teal and soft turquoise highlighted with white embossing is rather elegant. 

The card is a 14.85cm x 14.85cm square base with an appature that allows the center to pop through. The center panel is a piece of card measuring 14.85cm x 29.7cm scored at 14.85cm  and then at 7.4cm in from both ends. On one end mark in 2cm from each edge on the short side and cut upto the first score line. Then cut along the score line and remove the panel. The scorelines should be folded mountain,  mountain and valley. The first panel, only the 2 legs are remaining, is  attached to the back of the front of the card. The opposite end of the card panel is attached to the inside right side of the card base.  Please see the photos below for a better explanation 😅 Now it's time to decorate you card. I used circle dies to create a center panel and decorated it with baubles. I used the stamps from the Ornamental Envelopes stamps to create a wresth around the appature.  

Well that's it from me if you'd like to purchas the stamp and any of the other materials I've used this week please click HERE

Please join us next week when Gill will be inspiring us with her creations. 

Have a good weekend and maybe enjoy some crafting .

Have fun

Cary xx