Sale-a-bration continues

Its now the second and final month of Sale-a-bration, and as is usual with Stampin’ Up, more products have been added to the offering.

Take a look below at the new products that are from either the annual catalogue or the January to June mini catalogue that you can now get FREE with a £45(or £90) spend!

Product List

If you would like to find out more, then please drop me a message

You can also choose from the original Sale-a-bration catalogue…..click here to view it

Sale-a-bration ends on February 28th, so don’t miss out!

Don’t have a catalogue..let me know and I’ll get one out to you asap (UK only)

Happy crafting

‘Love’ card for the Tech4Stampers bloghop

‘Love’ card for the Tech4Stampers bloghop

Each month a lovely group of talented Stampin’Up! take part in a themed bloghop….its a great way to share our creativity with lots of people and hope you will follow the ‘hop’ by clicking on the links below. Some months I join in, but not always…..depending on other committments.

The theme for this months Bloghop is Love

I used the sentiment from Best Butterflies stamps and dies from the Give it a Whirl set for my card, and the colour palette of Sweet Sorbet and Parakeet Party. There is a full list of products that I used at the bottom of this post.

My card is inspired by my lovely friend, who is always bright and colourful and loves her ‘bling’.

The central panel is die cut using one of the Basic Border dies on a 5 1/2cm panel of designer series paper (DSP), from the Butterfly Kisses paper selection.

The back layer is using DSP from The Tea Boutique and the gorgeous Sweet Sorbet colour which I also used for the stamping on the front, inside and on the back panel.

I also added a panel of DSP to the inside of the card, but before adhering in place, I die cut 2 hearts from the edge of the panel, and then die cut a large heart in Sweet Sorbet and a smaller heart in Fresh Freesia and once the panel was stuck in place, I inlaid these hearts into the pre-cut ‘gaps’.

I die cut more hearts to embellish the front of the envelope, and then stamped on the back of the card with one of Stampin’ Up!s copyright stamped images. ‘Made with Love’ was very apt!!¬

I do love this years In colors and in particular, the lovely vivid Parakeet Party green and Sweet Sorbet. I used some of the Parakeet Party Metallic woven ribbon to embellish with a bow. I also added some Incolor Matte dots,

I do hope you enjoyed looking at my creation and it would be great if you could leave a comment – I love to read them! Don’t forget to support other demo’s by hopping over to their blogs using the links below;

Love the products that you’ve seen me use? You can order from me here or alternatively by clicking on any of the products that I’ve used that are listed below.

Product List
For the Men Card for the Tech 4 Stampers bloghop

For the Men Card for the Tech 4 Stampers bloghop

October already, and I’ve been rather lax at blogging lately, but alas, I’m back!

The theme for this months bloghop is ‘For the Men’ and I decided on an almost monochromatic style for this card.

The ‘He’s All That’ stamp set and the co coordinating ‘All That dies’, all part of the ‘He’s The Man suite’ in the 2022/23 annual catalogue, seemed perfect for my idea. My original idea was to not stamp on the card front, but as the card evolved, I decided to add some stamping too.

I had a basic black layer and die cut shapes from the ‘All That’ dies in basic gray, Smoky Slate and Gray Granite card stock. I played around with the shapes, layering some on top of each other until I was happy with the layout. But then I thought it all a little ‘flat’, so I embossed the Black layer with the ‘Brick and Mortar’ embossing folder and one of the circles with the retired ‘Painted textures’ embossing folder. This added some depth to the card but felt it still needed more.

I stamped the ‘no1’ stamp from the ‘He’s All That’ stamp set onto one the hexagons and the ‘compass’ shape onto a fresh piece of paper. I then die cut the compass with a circle from the ‘All That’ dies.

As I was putting fairly dark card onto a black background, I used the black dimensionals (check them out here if you haven’t seen them), as I really don’t like seeing white dimensionals on a dark background!

Black Dimensionals...great for putting onto dark card!

I layered it all onto a Gray Granite card base, added the ‘hooray’ from the co coordinating paper pack (already die cut and ready to use) and then popped a few Matt Black Dots

For The men card for Tech4stampers blog hop October 2022

When it came to inside the card, I used a layer of Smoky Slate and masked off some of the words on one of the ‘He’s All That’ stamps and then added on ‘Happy Birthday from the ‘Go to Greetings’ stamps. I layered this onto a piece of Basic Black before adhering it into the card.

For the Men bloghop 2022

Its fun to play with just the dies….why don’t you give it a try and then add a few extra embellishments as need to finish off?

Want to see more ‘For The Men’ cards…don’t forget to click on the links below to see other fabulous ideas!

If you’d like to make a card like this one, below you will also find the ingredients needed, which you can order from my shop by clicking on the products listed. Don’t forget to use the ‘host code’ for this month…you can find that below or in the side bar!

Happy Hopping

Barbara

Product List
All That Dies
[159078]
£27.00

Sweet Ice Cream Birthday card for Tech 4 Stampers Bloghop

For the very first time, I’ve decided to join in the Tech 4 Stampers Academy bloghop. The theme this month is Pretty in Pink and there are so many pretty pinks to choose from from Stampin’ Up! The Sweet Ice Cream stamps and punch I thought were perfect for this, especially with the better weather approaching.

After much deliberation and playing with lots of shades from my collection, I plumped for using the soon to be retired Magenta Madness ink and card stock. Unfortunately, since I made my card, the Magenta Madness ink has sold out, but this technique would work with any bright shade of pink…..Polished Pink, Melon Mambo etc.

I wanted to make a birthday card for an Ice Cream loving friend, so opted for the Sweet Ice Cream stamps and punch.

I began by tearing a sheet of copier paper carefully in a zigzag motion to give a ragged edge to the paper. Starting at the top of a piece of basic white cardstock, I placed the jagged edge on the card and using a blending brush covered the visible card with Magenta Madness ink. I kept moving the card down and in different angles and used the other piece torn from the paper and turned them over to give different waves until all of the card was covered.

I stamped the cone for the Ice Cream in Crumb Cake ink and punched it out with the co ordinating punch. The Ice creams again are in Magenta Madness, but you may notice that the colour looks a little different. This is because I used Wink of Stella on them after I had punched them out and this softens the colour but gives a lovely glimmer to the Ice Cream.

Sweet Ice Cream pretty on Pink card
I added an Early Espresso flake to my Ice Cream – you can’t have an Ice Cream without!!

The sentiment too is in Magenta Madness, and then the card was layered onto some basic white and black card, and finally adhered to the Magenta Madness card base.

Inner of Sweet Ice Cream card
On the inside I added a basic white insert and stamped a little greeting and some ‘sprinkles’, all from the same stamp set.

This Photopolymer stamp set is currently in the sale, and also features Ice Lolly stamps. Want to find out more, then click here.

I hope my friend loves it…..I might take her an Ice Cream around with her birthday card…that would be fun!

You can find a list of all products used below.

Product List

If you would like to see more of my blogs then click here

I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at what I’ve made and that you will hop on the links below to see what others have made too.

Mask Techniques with Stampin’ Up! masks

Mask Techniques with Stampin’ Up! masks

Today, I was due to hold a workshop demonstrating the different ways to use the new Butterflies and Flowers layering masks (from the January to June mini catalogue)., but unfortunately this had to be postponed due to storm Eunice! I wanted to show several different mask techniques.

All the sets of masks available from Stampin’ Up! are shown below and all of the techniques I was going to demonstrate (and will when I reschedule the event) can be used with any of the masks.

Product List

Sponge daubers…..

These were my first play with the masks. Its very much trial and error, working out colour combinations and which tools to use, but lots of fun!!

Blending brushes…

Simply using one, two or three coloured inks to make some stunning backgrounds, and then embellish as needed.

Die cutting machine…..

Butterflies and Flowers layering masks
Embossed through die cutting machine…the image on the right was spritzed with alcohol and gives a deeper impression. Check your machine for which plate combination you need….and remember, if its very tight, then don’t force it…you have the wrong combination!!

Heat embossing……..

Butterflies and flowers layering masks
Gold heat embossing on black background, Black embossed sentiment on gold background

Embossing paste and re inkers……

Layering two masks at the same time and applying embossing paste that is coloured with a reinker. Don’t forget to mask off around the image you are using. You can see from my photo that I didn’t on my first attempt! I used an acetate card box for the design on the right.

Rubbing alcohol, shimmer paste and a spritzer…..

I pulled out my old retired Shimmer Paint for this. After fastening the mask down I sprayed a mix of alcohol and shimmer paint onto Night of Navy card. Love the effect I got!

Then after lots of playing, this is my favourite!

The ‘leaves’ mask was put through the embossing folder and leaving the mask in place I used a sponge dauber to carefully put ink onto the raised leaves. TIP; hold the mask carefully and dab the sponge dauber onto the leaves going along each tendril one at a time – they bend quite easily.

The masks are cleverly designed so that the leaves that are on a separate mask fit perfectly around the flowers. I used Soft Succulent and Evening Evergreen for my leaves giving a subtle difference.

Product List

Hope you’ve enjoyed this brief glimpse at what can be done with masks. If you would like to find out more then don’t hesitate to get in touch.