Make It Simple Monday - Lovely You

 Lovely You, well it is good to be back. You know, yesterday morning I woke to see snow everywhere outside of my window! What a lovely surprise! I love the snow, I always have and the simplicity of the snow covering the ground with little hints of colour here and there. Perfect, just perfect. Now I know that in many countries at the moment there is lots and lots of snow, much more than we ever have here in England but I don't care. I understand it is difficult for some to drive on but I don't drive so ..... I'm happy. In addition to the snow, those of you who have been following us for a while may remember that this time last year my new Grandson Theo was born a year ago yesterday. Oh it was so lovely to see his little face in awe of the snow! It was a picture as he didn't understand what it was, bless him!  😍😍

Anyway, back to simplicity and Make it simple Monday or otherwise known as #simplestamping. Today's card is just that. A very simple white card with dashes of pale blue in a few places. Just like the snow yesterday. A card doesn't need to have lots of colour, lots of different things to look at and certainly doesn't need to be completely covered with all sorts. Like my card today, very simple, very white with dashes of blue. What do you think?

 

 

 

 

Fun Fold Friday Love you Always suite

 Where has the time gone too??? My days are running away with me! So better late than never here is my final post of the week using the Love you Always suite. 

So for today's inspiration I've  gone monochromatic with a little added sparkle. One of the products in this gorgeous suite called True Love. It is a patten paper that is all floral on one side and geometric on the reverse. It's  colour scheme is black and white. And it's  fabulous 😍

I decided to cut some of the beautiful flowers out and coloured them with my trusty Wink of Stella,  a clear pen with a beautiful shinmer in it. The effect is beautiful in real life but sadly I'm not enough of a photographer to capture it 😔 

I kept it all very clean and simple. To add texture to the white space on both the card and the coordinating matchbox gift box I used an embossing folder called Dainty Diamonds from Stampin' Up! Which I felt went beautifully with the papers.

I've enjoyed creating a card and gift packaging combo and I hope you like them too.

So that's it from me this week I hope you've enjoyed all the projects I've shared 😊 

Please join me next week when Gill will be sharing her inspiration for us all to enjoy. 

Have fun

Cary xxx

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. 

Watercolour Wednesday Love you Always suite

 For today's watercolour inspiration I played with just 2 colour reinkers, watercolour card, a stencil, stamps and dies and a cello bag.  The Love you Always suite has 2 stamp sets and 2 coordinating dies. One of those dies is a beautiful detailed heart shape. The Floral heart dies coordinate with the Love you Always stamps.

I knew I wanted to create a background with a watercolour technique. First I  gathered some watercolour cardstock,  reinkers, spritzer and a stencil.  I then took 2 reinkers , one purple and one turquoise,  and a cello bag. I dropped tiny drops of both reinkers randomly onto the cello bag. A piece of any plastic/ acetate/ silicon mat would work equally well it was just that I had a cello bag to hand 😉. I spritzed the cello bag with water to activate the ink.

I then placed 1 sheet of dry watercolour cardstock onto the scarp paper and placed the stencil on top. Next I quickly flipped the cello bag over and on top of them.  Then I took the cello bag off and placed a second piece of watercolour cardstock on top of the mask in place of the cello bag. By doing this I can make a second background with the ink that sits on the mask as well as one that uses the ink that goes through the mask  . I hope that makes sense 😉

Once my backgrounds were dry I cut them to size and created 2 square cards.  On the background that was under the stencil I used the delicate heart die and cut it out then raised it up on 3D foam and replaced it back into the space. This effect is often called an eclipse technique.

I finished the card with a sentiment stamped and heat embossed with white embossing powder onto a vellum banner.

For the second card I used the background that was on top of the stencil to create a simpler card. 

Now not being one to wast anything I used the scraps of the backgrounds to create 2 gift tag cum book marks to go with the cards.  I also had some scraps from yesterday's project so incorporated them too.. Waste not Want not ehh 😉

I do hope you'll give this fun, if a bit messy, technique.  I love creating backgrounds do you?

Tips, Tricks and Techniques Tuesday Love you always suite

 Today's card was made using a product that has sat in the draw unused for toooo long.... Frost white shimmer paint!! And a brand new tool to my craft stash the blending brushes from Stampin' Up! 

 

Why did I decide to get the Frost white paint out? I saw a great project by a fellow Stampin' Up! Demo  Linda Heller. She shared how she had created her own pearlised cardstock and it was Wow!! So I just had to have a go!!

It's  a very simple technique that opens up so many possibilities.  Gather together the shimmer paint, blending brush, cardstock of choice ( I used a lovely purple called gorgeous grape), something to put a small amount of paint on ( I used an acrylic block)  and some scrap paper to work on.

First put a few drops of the paint onto your non porous flat surface. Now gently dab your brush or other blending tool into the paint. Then gently work the paint over the cardstock.  

The paint gives a beautiful pearlescent finish to the card. Now another tip would be that this can also work with pattern paper 😉.

Once I'd cover the cardstock,  it dried really quickly, and I was happy with the finish I decided to run it through my die cutting machine with an embossing folder. 

The piece of card on the right is the same colour cardstock as the one on the left! And they have both been embossed using the Painted Texture 3D embossing folder from the January to June mini catalogue from Stampin' Up! 

Once I had my background I moved onto creating the focal point. I stamped one of the sentiments from the Always in my Heart stamp set. I then die cut some leaves and flowers from the coordinating die set.

A flourish of ribbon and my cad was complete. I hope you'll have a go at this fun technique it is a great way to make the most of your stash 😊

Make it simple Monday Love You Always Suite

The beautiful Love You Always  Suite from Stampin' Up! Is a beautiful collection of stamps, dies, pattern paper, coloured foil papers, ribbon and embellishments. It is just beautiful 😍 

 The suite isn't just focused on valentines it also covers anniversaries,  weddings and can even work for thinking of you cards as well as birthdays of course!

For today's  #simplestamping make I've made 2 very clean and simple valentines that would work for the men in your life as well as the ladies. 

The colour pallette is an elegant deep red called merry merlot who's name explains the colour perfectly! And a beige/grey colour called Sahara sand.

I stamped the focal image, which is also the sentiment at the same time, in one colour then stamped the little hearts in the other colour.

The little heart stamp has 3 hearts on it. But as the stamps are see-through photopolymer they are super easy to place exactly where you want them! So creating a little cluster either side of the big heart was super easy ♥ 

So which colour way do you prefer 🤔?