CASE-ing the Catty - Sale-a-bration Layout

Hi there

Welcome to another week of CASE-ing the Catty.

If you've come from visiting Peta and Marvi, then welcome! If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the CTC Crew by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

This week we are taking inspiration from layout of the donkey card shown in the photo above. 

You can see the layout more easily in the sketch above. It is a simple layout, but that gives you heaps of scope to make it your own.  You can keep it simple; step it up or turn it sideways and make it landscape. Use it as a starting point and let your creativity take over!

Well, I've done a couple of things I mentioned above. I turned the sketch into a landscape layout and I've stepped it up with some extra layers. I started with a panel of Seaside Spray card stock and dry embossed it with the gorgeous Seashells 3D Embossing Folder. To help the design pop a little more, I used a sponge dauber and Craft Ink Refill to gently sponge a little white ink over the design. A strip of the white ribbon from the Flowers For Every Season Combo Pack was placed across the centre and adhered on the back. To create the other strip of colour I used the Blushing Bride twine from the Snail Mail Twine Combo Pack, wrapped around 3 times and finished in a bow. The panel was adhered to a Basic White mat and then onto a Crumb Cake card base. 

For the centre panel, I cut a piece of the sand design from the Sand & Sea Designer Series Paper and adhered it to a scrap of Basic White before die cutting with one of the Stitched Rectangle Dies.  I stamped the greeting from the Friends Are Like Seashells stamp set in Early Espresso ink and popped it up over the ribbon. This card will be going to our very courageous 15 year old niece who is undergoing a difficult medical procedure prior to more brain surgery, so I thought it was very appropriate.  I roughly cut 3 shells from another sheet of the designer paper and adhered them to scraps of Basic White before fussy cutting.  The scale of the images worked better than the stamps in this instance.  I laid down the seaweed cut from Vellum using the Smooth Sailing Dies and then the 'coral' using one of the In Good Taste Elements, before layering the shells over the top. I added 3 of the clear Elegant Faceted Gems to finish.

For the inside, I have a Seaside Spray mat and I added a narrow strip of the sea urchin design from the Sand & Sea Designer Series Paper down the right side. On the Basic White panel I stamped the stones in Early Espresso ink and then added a little Crumb Cake ink with a blending brush. The seaweed was stamped in shades of Crumb Cake ink.  A fussy cut shell was added over the top.

You can see the beautiful embossed background a little better in the photo above.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Friends Are Like Seashells
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Crumb Cake, Seaside Spray, Vellum, Sand & Sea DSP
Ink	Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Craft White
Accessories	Elegant Faceted Gems, Flowers For Every Season Ribbon Combo Pack, Snail Mail Twine Combo Pack, In Good Taste Elements
Tools	Smooth Sailing Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Seashells 3D EF, die cutting machine, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Sponge Dauber

 

We would love to see your CASE using this great sketch from the Sale-a-bration Catalogue. Click on this link or the image below to go there. The first time you will need to click on the 'Join Group' button at the top. Once you have been added to the group, you can go ahead and post your creation and you do not need to have a blog. 

You can head over to Siobhan's blog to follow the hop and see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

CASE-ing the Catty - Love You Always Suite

Hi there

It's great to be back CASE-ing the Catty! I was too late to participate with the Crew in tonight's hop, but I thought I'd post my card anyway.

I've been MIA for the past 6 weeks while we focussed on getting our house ready for sale. I'm happy to say we only had to have 3 home opens before we sold it, but much hard work preceded that. Now of course, there is the challenge of finding a new home in a new city and a new state (eek!) before we become homeless!

This week we are taking inspiration from the Love You Always Suite on pages 10-13 of the January - June 2021 Mini Catalogue.

I chose the design in the photo above from page 10 for my inspiration this week. As I'm not sure when I will be packing up my craft room, I thought I'd take the opportunity to make my Mum's birthday card. She has a milestone birthday coming up in March and with COVID making state border closures within Australia a nightmare to navigate, I'm not sure whether I will get over to celebrate with her. At least I will have her card ready in case I need to post it.

I decided to make an A5 sized card, to provide lots of room for all the elements I wanted to used. I've stayed close to the layout, using it as the focus of my card with the black and white diamond design from the True Love Designer Series Paper pack providing a contrast to my pastel flowers. I've added a border of Gorgeous Grape card stock to each side and then layered the vellum over the top to soften it a little.  It doesn't show very well in the photo, but the sections above and  below the designer paper are dry embossed with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder for added texture. The numbers were cut with the retired Large Numbers Dies in Silver Foil and I added a shadow layer using Gorgeous Grape to help them pop. 

I chose the flowers from a different sheet of the True Love Designer Paper, colouring them with Purple Posy and Olive Old Stampin' Blends markers before fussy cutting on the line. I went around the edges with a Smoky Slate marker to cover the white core. The large greeting from the Happiest of Birthdays stamp set was stamped in Gorgeous Grape ink onto a piece of Whisper White die cut with the Stitched Rectangles Dies. I've popped up the greeting panel over the vellum before layering the flowers and adding the bow with the Gorgeous Grape Sheer Ribbon. I finished with a trio of rhinestones.

I haven't decorated the inside of the card yet, as I want to print a verse with my computer first. 

 

Project Details
Stamps	Happiest of Birthdays
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Gorgeous Grape, Vellum, Silver Foil, True Love DSP
Ink	Gorgeous Grape
Accessories	Basic Jewel Rhinestones, Gorgeous Grape Sheer Ribbon
Tools	Subtle 3D EF, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Large Numbers Dies (retired), die cutting machine, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

 

We would love to see your CASE from the Love You Always Suite from the 2021 January-June Mini Catalogue. Click on this link or the image below to go there. The first time you will need to click on the 'Join Group' button at the top. Once you have been added to the group, you can go ahead and post your creation and you do not need to have a blog. 

You can head over to Rachel's blog to follow the hop and see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

IDEAS Blog Hop - Getting Ready for the New Year

Hi there

I'm back with the IDEAS (International Demos Exciting Artistic Stampin') team this month to share more fabulous projects. We are a group of international demonstrators who create a Tutorial Bundle each month to give you, our customers and readers a heap of inspiration for your crafting.

If you've come from looking at Pia's great project, then welcome! If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the IDEAS Team by clicking on the NEXT button at the bottom of the post. 

Our theme this month is Getting Ready for the New Year. This bundle contains an amazing 15 tutorials and 97 pages of crafty inspiration. Projects include New Year cards and gifts, calendar projects, craft supply organizers, card organizer, portable stationery box, letter writing compendium and more besides.  You can use these projects for any time of the year! There is a little peek of the projects in the collage above. 

Starting the year with a stash of birthday cards is always a good feeling as it takes the pressure off the first few months. Wouldn't it be fabulous to be gifted this lovely pack of 6 birthday cards? The floral image from the Fancy Phrases stamp set is super quick and easy to colour and you could easily colour a few sets in an evening. My gift pack holds at least 6 full-size cards and envelopes (3 each of 2 designs).

Would you like a copy of the instructions for this and the 14 other projects for your personal use, or even to use in your classes? 

There are 3 ways you can get the December 2020 Tutorial Bundle.

1.  Place an order with me for $50 or more using the current month's Host Code (shown in the side bar on the right) and you will receive the tutorial bundle for FREE. I will email you the PDF file within 24 hours of your order being confirmed.  

2. You can purchase the tutorial with Instant Download through my Etsy store by clicking here. You can pay with a credit card or PayPal and you DO NOT need to sign up to Etsy to make a purchase. Check out as a guest if you are not a member.

3.  Join my team and you will get this bundle of tutorials FREE every month to use for your personal crafting or for classes. You can see all the details over on the Join My Team page. It might be the right time for you consider the opportunity to run your own home-based craft business or to get a great discount on your craft supplies.

Once you have received the tutorials, please remember not to share or distribute the printed or electronic copies of these bundles. We have worked hard to provide these exclusive projects for your use. If you know someone that would like to purchase the bundle, please direct them to me to obtain their copy. Thanks for your support.

Now it's time to hop over to Yolanda's Blog to see her fabulous project.

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

 

CASE-ing the Catty - So Much Love

Hi there

Welcome to another week of CASE-ing the Catty challenge! 

If you've come from visiting Peta, then welcome! If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the CTC Crew by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

This week we are CASE-ing the projects on page 1 of the 2020-21 Annual Catalogue. 

The So Much Love stamp set arrived in the post this week, so I decided on the Misty Moonlight project in the centre of the photo. I've cropped out the image so you can see it more clearly.

I'm pretty time poor at the moment, as I'm working on another project, so I burnt a little midnight oil to make this card. I've been working with Purple Posy and had the colours on my desk, so I decided to go with it once I selected the soft striped design from the Playing with Patterns paper pack and covered the front of a Whisper White card base.  I like the layout, so I've kept pretty close to it.

I've used Light and Dark Purple Posy to colour the large flower from So Much Love with some Light Highland Heather for the highlights. To keep it soft, I used Soft Sea Foam for the leaves. I left the fussy cutting to the morning light as I didn't want to chop through those very fine stems. I found the large foliage spray from the Birds & More Dies in my 'bits and bobs' tray and snipped it into pieces and positioned it around the flower.  The 'happy' letters are  layered onto a 1 inch strip of Whisper White and I used the Banners Pick a Punch to shape the end. I found a piece of Highland Heather embossed with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder in my scraps and die cut the letters using the Playful Alphabet Dies. I added the 'birthday' from the Well Written Dies under the banner and finished with some Purple Posy sequins I picked out of the Woven Threads Sequin Assortment.

For the inside, I have a Purple Posy mat for the writing panel. I stamped the second of the floral images from the So Much Love stamp set in the corner and coloured with the same Stampin' Blends. I finished the stamens with my White Gel Pen.

 

Project Details
Stamps	So Much Love
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Highland Heather, Purple Posy, Silver Foil, Playing With Patterns DSP
Ink	Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories	Woven Threads Sequins Assortment
Tools	Subtle 3D EF, Birds & Branches Dies, Well Written Dies, Playful Alphabet Dies, die cutting machine, Stampin' Blends (Purple Posy, Highland Heather, Soft Sea Foam), Banners Pick A Punch, White Gel Pen

 

We would love to see your projects CASE-ing from page 1 of the 2020-21 Annual Catalogue. Click on this link or the image below to go there. The first time you will need to click on the 'Join Group' button at the top. Once you have been added to the group, you can go ahead and post your creation and you do not need to have a blog. 

Now it's time to click on the Next button below to hop over to see what Lauren has to inspire you this week. 

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

CASE-ing the Catty - Colour Combo

Hi there

Welcome to another week of CASE-ing the Catty challenge! 

If you've come from visiting Kathryn, then welcome! If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the CTC Crew by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

This week we are CASE-ing the colours in the banner photo above, from page 18 of the 2020-21 Annual Catalogue.

This is the combination of  soft and pretty colours that I've used to create my project this week. Even Gray Granite looks soft when combined with the other colours from the Subtles Collection. The projects in the inspiration photo also include Sahara Sand, but I didn't need a second neutral.

I started with a card front-sized panel of Gray Granite card stock and dry embossed it with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder, adding the strip of Mint Macaron paper to the right, before adhering the panel to a Gray Granite card base. I prefer this method to dry embossing the front of the card as it can sometimes cause the top to buckle near the score line and I prefer to not have it show on the inside of the card. Next up is a panel of Blushing Bride card stock that I cropped with a Stitched Rectangle Die, cutting twice to get the length I wanted. On top of that I have layered the Square Vellum Doilies for a feminine touch without adding any colour. I have overlapped the doilies at the centre so the scallops matched. I then decided to add the 1/4" Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon arouund the whole panel, which is the next best option to cover a join if you cannot overlap the doilies . 

For the focal point of my card I have the sketchy roses from the Fancy Phrases stamp set in the vase from the Basket of Blooms stamp set. As we don't have Blushing Bride in the Blends (unfortunately), I stamped the image on Shimmery White card stock with Early Espresso ink. As it was set up in the Stamparatus, I stamped over the top with Versamark ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. If you are super quick, you can usually heat emboss the ink without the Versamark, but as I wanted to watercolour the image, I wanted to be sure nothing was missed. I used the new Water Painters and ink pads to colour the entire image, using Blushing Bride for the flowers and Mint Macaron for the leaves and I added a touch of Crushed Curry to the smaller flower centre.  I fussy cut the whole image, cropping out just the 2 flowers at the bottom of the image.

For the vase, I stamped in Early Espresso ink and used the Gray Granite Stampin' Blends to colour, before fussy cutting. The vase was popped up with 1mm foam pads on a panel of Whisper White that was dry embossed with the Dainty Diamonds 3D Embossing Folder and cropped with another Stitched Rectangle Die. I added the spray of foliage cut from Gold Foil with the Poinsettia Dies and then popped up the coloured flowers with Dimensionals, over the vase. The white panel was popped up over the vellum doilies and finally the pink panel was adhered flat to the card base. I stamped the 'hello' from the Dressed to Impress stamp set in Early Espresso on Soft Sea Foam card stock and fussy cut it. It is only a small touch of Soft Sea Foam, but it was just enough colour and didn't compete with the other elements.

For the inside, I have a Blushing Bride mat for the writing panel. I have used the remainder of the coloured floral image at the bottom, using the strip of Mint Macaron paper to cover the area where the other flowers were cropped.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Fancy Phrases, Basket of Blooms, Dressed to Impress
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Gray Granite, Blushing Bride, Soft Sea Foam, Gold Foil, Subtles DSP, Shimmery White
Ink	Early Espresso, Versamark, Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron, Crushed Curry
Accessories	1/4" Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon, Elegant Faceted Gems, Square Vellum Doilies
Tools	Subtle & Dainty Diamonds 3D EF, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Big Shot, Stampin' Blends (Gray Granite), Dimensionals, Clear EP, Heat Gun, Water Painters

 

We would love to see your projects using these lovely colours. Click on this link or the image below to go there. The first time you will need to click on the 'Join Group' button at the top. Once you have been added to the group, you can go ahead and post your creation and you do not need to have a blog. 

Now it's time to click on the Next button below to hop over to see what Lauren has to inspire you this week. 

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

Colour Creations Showcase - Magenta Madness

Hi there

Tonight, I'm joining the ladies from the Art With Heart Team for this week's Colour Creations Showcase. This week we're featuring Magenta Madness from the 2020-22 In Colors.

I have used a simple layout for my card tonight to offset the busy floral design from the Flowers For Every Season DSP and of course Magenta Madness, which is an eye-popping hot pink. When I'm working with a really bright colour, I like to have lots of white to balance it out. 

I started with a Thick Whisper White card base and dry embossed the front with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder. The main feature is a panel of the floral patterned paper from the Flowers For Every Season pack which was adhered to a Magenta Madness mat. I tied some Just Jade 1/4" 2020-22  In Color Ribbon around the left end and finished it with a bow. 

The greeting from the Fancy Phrases stamp set was stamped in Just Jade ink and cropped with an oval from the Layering Ovals Dies and then popped up on a stitched oval in Magenta Madness. I stamped the 3 cute birds from the new Quite Curvy stamp set and coloured them with coordinating Stampin' Blends alcohol markers and adhered them around the greeting. 

For the inside, I have a Magenta Madness mat with for my writing panel. I have stamped the flower spray from the Quite Curvy stamp set in the corner and as it is a photopolymer stamp, I was able to manipulate it a little to better fit the corner position. I have coloured the image with Stampin' Blends in the coordinating colours.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Fancy Phrases, Quite Curvy
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Magenta Madness, Flowers For Every Season DSP
Ink	Memento Tuxedo Black, Just Jade
Accessories	Just Jade 1/4" 2020-22 In Color ribbon
Tools	Subtle 3D Embossing Folder, Layering Ovals Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies, die cutting machine, Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends (Just Jade, Magenta Madness, So Saffron, Misty Moonlight, Crumb Cake)

 

The lovely Catherine is hosting us tonight, so make sure you head over to her blog for the links to the other participants tonight.

Thanks for visiting today!

Colour Creations Showcase - Highland Heather

Hi there

Tonight, I'm joining the ladies from the Art With Heart Team for this week's Colour Creations Showcase. This week we're featuring Highland Heather which is from the Subtles Collection and one of my favourite colours to create with.

This is my colour combo tonight. It has been a busy creative week and I got a bit sidetracked in the garden today, so I wanted to keep my card simple. When I was writing this post, I realised that I hadn't used any dies, embossing folders or my die cutting machine! It is rare for me to just use paper, stamps and ink. It is good to remember that you don't need more than that to create a nice card.

I started with a panel of Whisper White card stock and masked off a section and got to with some ink blending. I've used Highland Heather at the bottom and Balmy Blue at the top. The large floral image from the Fancy Phrases stamp was stamped over the blended panel. As it is quite a heavily shaded image, I didn't want it to look too harsh on the soft colours, so I stamped it in Basic Gray ink. I also stamped the cute dragonflys from a brand new stamp set called Dragonfly Garden from the upcoming 2021 January - June Mini Catalogue.  The greeting from Fancy Phrases was heat embossed in white on Gorgeous Grape card stock for a bold pop. I've wrapped the Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon around the top and finished with a bow. The finished panel was adhered to a Highland Heather card base.

For the inside, I have a Gorgeous Grape mat with a narrow border for my writing panel. I masked off a strip at the base and created a coordinating border with my ink blending tools. The small floral image from the Fancy Phrases stamp set was stamped in the corner in Basic Gray Ink.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Fancy Phrases, Dragonfly Garden
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape
Ink	Versamark, Highland Heather, Balmy Blue, Basic Gray
Accessories	Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon
Tools	Blending tools, Dimensionals, White EP, Heat gun

 

The lovely Catherine is hosting us tonight, so make sure you head over to her blog for the links to the other participants tonight.

Thanks for visiting today!

CASE-ing the Catty - Plaid Tidings DSP

Hi there

Welcome to another week of CASE-ing the Catty challenge! 

If you've come from visiting Peta & Marvi, then welcome! If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the CTC Crew by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

This week we're CASE-ing the colours of the Plaid Tidings Designer Series Paper from the 2020 August-December Mini Catalogue. This pack of designer paper is ON SALE right now, until 31 October 2020.

There are a LOT of colours and patterns in this designer paper as you can see in the photo above, so it can be a little overwhelming. It is best to look at each design separately to appreciate the possibilities. I decided on a design and used the coordinating colours  in the paper to create my card, using the Love of Leaves Bundle, which found it's way into my craft room recently! It you haven't noticed it, it's on page 40 of the August-December Mini Catalogue.

This bundle is perfect for either gender and those with a love of nature and the outdoors. It would be wonderful for scrapbooking your outdoor adventures as well. I don't think the image of the dies in the catalogue does them justice, so I hope my photo gives you a better idea of the detail. Each leaf has 2 dies; the outline which cuts and adds stitching around the cut edge and the centre embossing die for the veins. I have used some sticky note to keep the 2 pieces together, so you can cut and emboss the leaves at the same time. In addition to the leaves, there is the large decorative border die.  If you are happy to die cut the leaves from cardstock or foil (which looks fabulous!), then the dies can really stand alone. You can die cut from coloured cardstock or patterned paper and then add extra depth with sponge daubers. Alternatively, add drops of ink onto wet watercolour paper to get gorgeous variegated leaves or use ink blending tools to create your own paper. 

I started with a card-sized panel of Pretty Peacock card stock and used the border die from the Stitched Leaves Dies on the left side to add  the decorative stitching.  The design from the Plaid Tidings Designer Paper pack was added to the right end leaving a narrow border. I found the strip of Cajun Craze with the zigzag in my scrap bag and I added that to the left edge. It  was cut with the retired Finishing Touches Edgelits Dies from way back in 2012!  The greeting from the Life is Beautiful stamp set was stamped in Pretty Peacock ink and then dry embossed with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder before being cropped with a Stitched Rectangle Die.

The plaid design I've chosen lends itself to more autumn colours, so I've stamped the leaves in Pumpkin Pie, Bumblebee, Cajun Craze, Pretty Peacock and Cherry Cobbler and cropped them with the coordinating dies.  Cajun Craze isn't in the list of colours, but works well with the brown tones. The stamps provide a lot of shading by themselves, so make sure your ink pads aren't too juicy or you will lose that definition. If you can see bubbles of ink on the stamp, use the back of teaspoon to temporarily push the ink down in the pad.  I added a little bit of extra shading on the edges of the stamps with a sponge dauber after stamping the main colour. This is easy to do if you're using the Stamparatus, or you can see through the photopolymer to line up for a second stamping. As the paper is already busy, I wanted to keep the stamping simple.  I layered up the leaves on the left of the white panel and finished with a bow using the copper metallic ribbon. I added a trio of banners to balance the focus panel. 

For the inside, I have a Pretty Peacock mat for my writing panel and a strip of the plaid designer paper down the left side. I've had a little fun with the leaves here. I die cut the tall leaf out of the writing panel, so you can see the stitching on the cut edge. I created more variegated leaves with multiple layers of colour this time. 

Don't think you're just limited to autumn leaves with this bundle. Check out my Love of Leaves Pinterest Board for a lot more inspiration with this bundle. 

 

Project Details
Stamps	Love of Leaves, Life is Beautiful
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Pretty Peacock, Cajun Craze, Bumblebee, Pumpkin Pie, Plaid Tidings DSP
Ink	Bumblebee, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Pretty Peacock
Accessories	Gilded Gems, Basket Weave & Metallic Ribbon Combo Pack
Tools	Stitched Leaves Dies, Stitched Rectangle Dies, Tasteful Touches Dies, Itty Bitty Banners Dies (retired), Subtle 3D Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals

 

We would love to see your projects, CASE-ing the colours of the Plaid Tidings DSP. Click on this link or the image below to go there. The first time you will need to click on the 'Join Group' button at the top. Once you have been added to the group, you can go ahead and post your creation and you do not need to have a blog. 

Now it's time to click on the Next button below to hop over to see what Lauren has to inspire you this week. 

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

Colour Creations Showcase - Gray Granite

Hi there

Tonight, I'm joining the ladies from the Art With Heart Team for this week's Colour Creations Showcase. This week we're featuring Gray Granite which is from the Neutrals Collection.  

This is my colour combo tonight. Gray Granite is one of my favourite neutrals as I think it works so well with all the colour collections. I've paired it with Rococo Rose and Early Espresso.

I started with a Thick Whisper White card base and added a strip of Gray Granite embossed with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder to the left side. Rococo Rose card stock is a darker pink than the Stampin' Blends colour, so to keep it all in the same tone, I coloured a strip of Whisper White with the Light Rococo Rose Stampin' Blend and added it over the Gray Granite strip. The remainder of the card base was covered with one of the Gray Granite designs from the Peony Garden Designer Series Paper.

I stamped the images from the Prized Peony stamp in Early Espresso ink, which I think works well with the Gray Granite. The leaves were coloured with Gray Granite Stampin' Blend markers and the flowers with Rococo Rose Stampin' Blends. I used So Saffron for the stamens with Mango Melody around the dark centre. The fussy cut flowers were layered onto the largest of the Stitched Circles at different heights. The greeting from the Prized Peony stamp set was stamped in Early Espresso ink and cropped with the label from the All Dressed Up Dies.  I finished with a tiny  butterfly in Silver Foil and a trio of rhinestones.

For the inside, I have a Rococo Rose coloured mat and a strip of the designer paper at the left. I've stamped and coloured the smallest floral image from the Prized Peony stamp set in the corner of the writing panel.

This card was made to thank a  lovely friend who helped me out of a spot last week. I hope she likes it.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Prized Peony
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Gray Granite, Silver Foil, Peony Garden DSP
Ink	Early Espresso, Gray Granite
Accessories	Rhinestone Basic Jewels
Tools	All Dressed Up Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies, Subtle 3D EF, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends (Rococo Rose, Gray Granite)

 

The lovely Catherine is hosting us tonight, so make sure you head over to her blog for the links to the other participants tonight.

Thanks for visiting today!

Colour Creations Showcase - Early Espresso

Hi there

Tonight, I'm joining the ladies from the Art With Heart Team for this week's Colour Creations Showcase. This week we're featuring Early Espresso which is from the Neutrals Collection. 

For my card, I decided to pair Early Espresso with an equally bold colour in Melon Mambo from the Brights Collection. Browns have a pinkish undertone, so they they do work well with pink.  

I have started with the Early Espresso card base and I added a card sized panel that was dry embossed with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder. Although it isn't necessary, I like to lightly spritz my card stock with water before using this embossing folder to achieve a deeper etching. It is still subtle but has a rich texture that I like. I added a strip of the woodgrain Melon Mambo designer paper on the right for a nice pop of colour.

For the art panel, I started with a piece of Whisper White cropped with the second largest Stitched Rectangle Die and stamped the lovely tree image from the Life is Beautiful stamp set in Early Espresso ink.  You can see this stamp set on page 51 of the August-December Mini Catalogue; I think it gets a little lost amongst all of the holiday products, but it is such a sweet stamp set. 

I love the font on the greetings, the little bird house and the different seasons that are represented. Given we have starting spring in Australia, I was chanelling a blossom tree with beautiful pink blooms. I would love one of these in my garden! This is a Distinktive style photopolymer stamp set, so there is a lot of detail and shading in the stamps that you want to see, especially in the tree. If your ink pads are juicy, you may find you need to use the back of a teaspoon to (temporarily) push some of the ink to the bottom of the pad, so it doesn't muddy the detail of the stamp. The ink will redistribute itself when you close the ink pad. I did a little stamping at the base of the tree for some fallen blossoms and added the cute bird house, using Stampin' Write markers direct to the stamp for the different colours.  The greeting has been heat embossed in white and cropped with a stitched circle. It is popped up over a stitched banner from the Tasteful Labels Dies, cut from Early Espress card stock that had been dry embossed with the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder.

For the inside, I've used another stitched rectangle and partially stamped the tree on the right with the pink blooms stamped over the top and base. I added it to a panel of Melon Mambo to create borders than balance the length.

I decided to make a few more to thank my customers for their support. Using the Stamparatus, I was able to stamp the tree and bird house easily, but the blooms are hand stamped, making them all look unique. 

 

Project Details
Stamps	Life is Beautiful
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Early Espresso, Melon Mambo Brights DSP
Ink	Early Espresso, Melon Mambo, Versamark
Accessories	Rhinestones, Braided Linen Trim
Tools	Stitched Shapes Dies, Stitched Rectangles Dies, Tasteful Labels Dies, Subtle 3D EF, Big Shot, Dimensionals, Stampin' Write Markers (Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pacific Point), White EP, Heat gun

 

Catherine is hosting us tonight, so make sure you head over to her blog for the links to the other participants tonight.

Thanks for visiting today!

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