CASE-ing the Catty - Pretty Flowers Embossing Folder

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week!  

I'm visiting family in Western Australia this week, but I managed to make a card for this week's challenge before I left, so thanks for stopping by.

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 an Embossing Folder project from either of the current catalogues. 

I chose the card above from page 14 because it uses the technique of inking inside the embossing folder. I haven't used it for ages, so a great opportunity to revisit it. The Pretty Flowers Embossing Folder is perfect as it has random flat areas between the floral design.

This technique works best with darker colours, so I have used Orchid Oasis card stock, the same as the sample project. The tone on tone effect that you achieve with this technique reminds me of brocade fabric with the shades of light and dark colour. Open the embossing folder and swipe the Craft White ink pad over the entire surface (the side with the Stampin' Up! logo on it). You only want the ink on the raised areas, so don't push too hard. Place the card stock carefully in the folder and run it through your machine. My ink pad probably could have done with reinking, but I really like the softer look that has resulted. The embossed panel was adhered to the Thick Basic White card base. Make sure you rinse off the embossing folder immediately you have finished.

I've kept my embellishment simple as I wanted the embossed background to be the hero. The sentiment from Framed Florets was stamped in Orchid Oasis ink and cropped with a circle from Stylish Shapes Dies and then matted onto a Pool Party circle cropped with the Layering Circles Dies. The flower from Two-Tone Flora was stamped in shades of  Flirty Flamingo ink and I added it to a die cut stem in Garden Green cropped with the Sentimental Park Dies. The greeting is adhered flat, to make it easier to balance the edges of the stem and the flower was popped up. I finished with 3 tiny flowers in the same colours using the Sending Dies and a Dragonfly Trinket.

For the inside, I've stamped the small flower cluster from Two-Tone Flora along the bottom of the writing panel in Flirty Flamingo ink. To soften the colour I swiped the edges of the panel of Orchid Oasis with the Craft White ink pad before adhering the writing panel.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Two-Tone Flora, Framed Florets
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Orchid Oasis, Pool Party, Garden Green
Ink	Orchid Oasis, Flirty Flamingo, Craft White
Accessories	Dragon Fly Trinkdets, Iridescent Pearls
Tools	Two-Tone Flora Dies, Sentimental Park Dies, Stylish Shapes Dies, Layering Circles Dies, Pretty Flowers EF Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals,

 

We would love to see your CASE of an embossing folder project from either of the current catalogues, this week. 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 the lovely Julia to see her fab project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Don't forget that the new Online Exclusives release is LIVE in my Online Store. These are brand new products that you will only see in the online store; they will never appear in a catalogue. There is no end date on them as such and some will be restocked and others may not, so if you love something it's best to grab it while you can. It is a little tricky to find them, so you can click on the links above or to navigate yourself,  click on Menu> Shop Products> Online Exclusives.

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

Heart of Christmas - Week 14

Hi there

Welcome to Week 14 of Heart of Christmas from the Art with Heart Stampin' Up! team.

I've been wanting to use the lovely silhouette of Santa and his sleigh from the Jolly Seasons Dies for a while. This week I got out my reinkers and Shimmery White paper to create a night sky background.

I started with the ground at the bottom of the the piece of Shimmery White paper and then worked upwards with Pretty Peacock, Highland Heather and Night of Navy. Water colour washes aren't my forte, but the 2 things I learned from this card, was to not be afraid of water and wait until it is really dry before passing judgement! I wasn't super happy with the blending, so I spritzed it heavily with water after I had the colour on and it really helped to blend them together. It does take quite a while for the art piece to dry naturally, so you need to be paitent. I stamped the tree from the Rooted in Nature stamp set in Mossy Meadow ink at the bottom after I was sure it was dry.

To give it more of a night sky look, I mixed up a few drops of Frost White Shimmer paint and some rubbing alcohol and flicked it onto the piece with a dry aquapainter. You need to be paitent with this process too, so you get a nice fine coverage and not too many blobs. I used my black dimensionals for the first time to pop up Santa and the sleigh on the finished art piece.

I finished with the greeting from Itty Bitty Christmas stamped in Pretty Peacock onto a Whisper White banner, with a narrow banner of Highland Heather underneath. I added a trio of stars from the Snowflake Sequins and a tiny rhinestone coloured with Poppy Parade Blends on the nose of the first reindeer.

All of the new products from the Holiday Catalogue are now available in my Online Store.  If you don't have your own copy of the new Holiday Catalogue yet, then head to my 'Free Catalogues' page (tab at the top of the page) to register your details and I'll pop one in the post for  you.

Project Details
Stamps	Itty Bitty Christmas, Rooted in Nature
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Basic Black, Highland Heather, Shimmery White
Ink	Pretty Peacock, Mossy Meadow
Accessories	Basic Jewels Rhinestones, Snowflake Sequins
Tools	Jolly Seasons Dies, Big Shot, Black Dimensionals, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Rubbing Alcohol, Poppy Parade Blends, Reinkers (Crumb Cake, Pretty Peacock, Highland Heather, Night of Navy)

 

The lovely Sharon Davern is hosting us tonight, so pop over to her blog for the links to check out the inspiring projects from the other ladies participating tonight. 

Dont't forget there are another 2 days of the Online Extravaganza.  It is a great time to stock up on your card stock for the Regals and Neutrals colour collections and to change over your ink pads to the new foam style. Plus there are 8 popular stamp and die bundles that are now reduced 15% - Band Together, Bloom & Grow, Dino Days, Free As A Bird, Memorable Mosaic, Parcels & Petals, Path of Petals and To A Wild Rose. You can find all of the discounted items in one location in my Online Store.

Thanks for visiting today!

Geared Up Birthday

Hi there

I have a masculine card to share today - a bit of a rarity around here, lol.  I've used the new Geared Up Garage Bundle from the 2019 Occasions Catalogue. It is great to have a coordinating suite of products that should appeal to a male of any age. 

I've seen a few cards recently using the Faux Denim technique and I thought it would make a perfect background for this masculine card. I started with a piece of Balmy Blue card stock cut to the size I wanted to use. I think this is important, as you don't want to cut off the nice dark bits you get on the edge of your art panel. Next drag the end of the ink pad (in this case Night of Navy) vertically and then horizontally across the card stock, trying not to get any strong lines from the edge of the ink pad. It is better to go softer and build up the colour than put too much pressure and end up with a strong line that is hard to blend in.  That's it! Easy, peasy. Every piece you do will be different, but they will all look great. I'm sure this technique would also look great in other colours too. 

After adding the Black/Silver Striped Metallic Ribbon at the bottom of the art panel I matted it onto Whisper White and then adhered it to the Real Red card base.  

The set of connected gears from the Garage Gears Thinlits Dies was cut from Black Foil, that has been carried over from the Holiday Catalogue. To make it super easy to adhere, cut a piece of Adhesive Sheet and adhere to the back of your foil before you die cut and turn it into a sticker. Once the gears were in place, I positioned the birthday banner and added the die cut 'happy' above it.  Both of these are from the fabulous Well Said Bundle, which is a set of 51 stamps and 24 dies that allow you to mix and match the text and die cut greetings. It is an investment, but something you will have in your craft stash forever. I'm very fortunate that some lovely crafty friends gave this bundle to me as a belated birthday gift and I'll be forever thankful for their friendship and generosity. 

The 'birthday' was cropped with the new Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies, which is another fabulous addition to your craft tools. To get the length I wanted, I die cut one end and two-thirds of the length and then moved the die down and then just cut the second end. This is a great technique you can use to lengthen or shorten your die cut squares and rectangles to get exactly what you need.

Finally, I stamped the car in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured it with my Stampin' Blends alcohol markers in Real Red and highlights in Cherry Cobbler. There is a die for the car, but I chose to fussy cut it to get a really narrow border and then popped it up over the gears. I finished with the smallest black Faceted Dots on the greeting.

For the inside I have a black mat for the writing panel and I've added a narrow strip from another faux denim panel at the base. I stamped the oil stain twice in Basic Gray ink to create a background for the greeting that I heat embossed in white on a piece of faux denim background and cropped with the Rectangle Stitched Framelits.  I popped up the die cut trio of gears on the corner to finish. 

Project Details
Stamps	Geared Up Garage, Well Said
Card stock & Papers	Real Red, Whisper White, Balmy Blue, Basic Black, Black Foil,
Ink	Night of Navy, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Basic Gray
Accessories	Faceted Dots, Black/Silver Striped Metallic Ribbon
Tools	Garage Gears Thinlits Dies, Well Written Framelits Dies, Rectangle Stitched Framelits, Big Shot, Stampin' Blends (Real Red & Cherry Cobbler), White EP, Heat Gun, Dimensionals, Adhesive Sheet

 
I hope you like my project and 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

One Layer Masculine Birthday

Hi there

The card I have for you today uses the reverse masking technique.  This is a very simple and effective technique to create a sponged background that works beautifully with silhouette stamps.  I have turned my piece into a one layer masculine birthday card. It has dimension (the layer is sitting on foam pads), a pop of colour and some texture with the linen thread detail, but nothing too fussy.

I used the Squares Collection framelits to create the rectangle for my sponging. You die cut the square as normal and then pop the framelit back into the die cut space and extend over the card stock to the height that you want. Run it through the Big Shot again and you have your rectangle. You can use the negative space of any shape such as a circle, heart or the myriad of other die shapes to create the mask. You can use Stampin' Sponges or sponge daubers to add the colour to your negative space. I find daubers give a softer looking finish.

The colours I have used for the sponging are Pool Party, Bermuda Bay and Night of Navy at the top.  The tree image is from the 'In the Meadow' stamp set and the greeting is from the new Sale-a-bration stamp set 'Party Pants'. The Basic Black Archival ink gives a strong true black for the silhouette image.  Unfortunately I couldn't get the photos to do justice to the beautiful bright Bermuda Bay of the base card or the sponged panel. It looks more like Island Indigo in the photo. You will have to take my word that it pops in real life!

 

For the inside I have a mat of Night of Navy card stock and the writing panel has the smaller tree stamped on the left and grounded by a strip of Bermuda Bay washi tape from the 'Bohemian' set. 

If you haven't used this technique before, then I hope you will give it a try. 

Project Details
Stamps	In the Meadow, Party Pants (2016 Saleabration)
Card stock & Papers	Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Night of Navy
Ink	Basic Black Archival, Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Night of Navy
Accessories	Linen Thread, Basic Metal Buttons, Bohemian Washi tape
Tools	Squares Collection Framelits, Big Shot, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Sponge Daubers, Dimensionals

Thanks for looking!

Elegant Toile

Hello

One of the great things about Convention is the demonstration of techniques old and new that get the inspiration and creativity flowing.  This year, the bleach technique was demonstrated on the main image from the 'Elements of Style' stamp set.   This a great design for this technique, so I decided to give it a go myself.  The last time I tried bleaching was here, way back in 2009 with the purpose of recolouring the image.  This time I've left it white, as it is a very detailed design.

Here is a close up of part of the flower panel.  I've really like the soft look and slight variations in colour, rather than being totally white.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Elements of Style, You're a Gem
Card stock & Papers	Soft Suede (Textured), Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Ink	Versamark, Soft Suede
Accessories	White Taffeta Ribbon, 1mm Pearls (not SU)
Tools	Beautiful Wings Die, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Oval Punches,  Scallop Border Punch, Dimensionals, Clear embossing powder, Heat gun, Aqua Painter, Bleach

This time, I used the 'Bella Toile' background stamp  on Marina Mist cardstock and it gives a slightly less white look. This reminds me of the toile fabric that I bought in Auxerre, France a few years ago.   Apologies for the lighting on this photo, as I took it at night with artificial light.

Project Details
Stamps	Bella Toile, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla (Textured), Early Espresso, Marina Mist
Ink	Versamark, Early Espresso
Accessories	Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Basic Pearls, 1mm Pearls (not SU)
Tools	Scallop Trim border punch, Word Window punch, Butterfly punch (not SU), Clear embossing powder, Heat gun, Aqua Painter, Bleach

My tips for this technique are:

• Set aside an Aqua painter specifically for bleach and mark it clearly.
• Put a small amount of bleach in the barrel of the aqua painter and empty it out when finished. The bleach loses its efficacy after a while and you will need to replace it anyway.
• Keep the brush tip fairly dry (blot on a tissue first) so that you can control the amount of bleach and prevent it from going outside (or under) the lines of the design.
• Try out the bleach first on a scrap, as different coloured cardstock will yield a different result.
• Use a light touch with the brush as you can go over it again if necessary.
• If you are going to recolour the bleached area,  make sure your piece is totally dry first.
• Like all techniques, practice makes perfect!

 Happy stamping (and bleaching)!

 

Blog Hop - Watercolour Technique

Hello

Welcome to another of our casual monthly Blog Hops, this month focussing on various techniques to use with your stamps. I've chosen watercolour effects, which I really like.

There are a number of different ways of creating a watercolour effect. The one I often use is Stampin' Up! Watercolour Wonder crayons or ink pads to colour outline images with an Aquapainter. Your outline image needs to be stamped first onto watercolour paper using a waterproof ink such as Stazon or the Stampin' Up! colours Basic Gray and Basic Black. You can see examples of both of these in some recent posts here and here.

This time I thought I would show you the effects that you can achieve by inking up a solid (silhouette) stamp with either markers or ink pads and then lightly spritzing with water before stamping onto watercolour paper. To prevent the colours from running together too much, hold the inked stamp horizontally when spritzing with water. For a fine mist spray, hold the bottle about 30cm from the stamp. Depending on the amount of water you spritz onto the stamp, you will get a varying degree of 'impressionist' style image. Here are 2 examples.

 
I've used more water on this second panel and you can see the image is less defined.

 

Here is the card I made with the first panel:

  

The details are as follows:

  

Card Details
Stamps	Inspired by Nature, Afterthoughts (Level 1 Hostess)
Card stock & Papers	Pear Pizzazz, Rose Red, Watercolour paper
Ink	Pear Pizzazz, Rose Red
Accessories	Rose Red 1” Grosgrain ribbon (retired), pink adhesive rhinestones (not SU)
Tools	Scallop Trim Border punch, Stampin' Write markers (Old Olive, Rose Red, More Mustard), Wide Oval punch, Sponge Daubers, Dimensionals, Water spritzer

The next stop on this blog hop is the effervescent Nikki Sadler and below is the list of other lovely Stampin' Up! Demonstrators participating today.

Christine Blain
www.christineblain.blogspot.com

Amy Buchanan
www.fashioninggreatimpressions.com

Tina Gillespie
http://scissorspapercard.blogspot.com/

Have a lovely weekend.