Thanks for Everything

Hello, Crafters.

I hope you've enjoyed the weekend, and the weather was lovely

 and sunny as it was in my part of the world - Surrey in the UK!

 Today's card was inspired by a Sending Love card I received from

 one of my customers, which was so my style, i.e. clean and simple!

 Many thanks, Tricia! 

Although I'm quite happy with the design of my card - when I stop

 seeing a Christmas card every time I look at it! LOL! - the two colours 

I've used are too dark to be used together........on this design, at least. The

 colours are Merry Merlot and Shaded Spruce, both of which, on their 

own, are good colours.

 The Thanks for Everything stamp is from the All Things Thanks 

Stamp Set, which is being carried forward into the new catalogue. I

 am trying to concentrate on using only products that will be in 

the new catalogue, but I slipped up when it came to using dies! 

I picked out three possible sets to choose the swirly, leaf type dies

 from, and picked one that's retiring! DOH!! It's the Lovely Laurel Thinlits

 dies, and as well as the two leafy branch dies, I also used the

 two small corner dies to decorate the four corners on the front

 and the inside of the card. 

The Merry Merlot flowers I've added onto the branches are die cut

 from the Apron Builder Framelit Dies, as is the bow also! I adhered

 the branches to the card front using Tombow, and then I adhered 

the sentiment over the "join" of the branches using Dimensionals.

 I used the Mini Dimensionals to adhere the flowers to the

 branches, and to finish off the flowers I added little Basic Pearls in

 their centres. The only decoration I added to the  inside of my card,

 was die cutting the four corners, as I did to the front of the card.

I have a very busy week ahead of me this week, as I have a manicure on 

Tuesday, hair appointment on Wednesday, and I have to make, edit 

and upload three videos by Friday! All of that is after I have finished 

off getting 100 catalogues ready to be posted later this morning!

 NOTE: if you don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator 

and would like a catalogue,please email me at janb@janbcards.com 

and I'll be happy to pop one in the post to you (Stampin' Up! rules: I

 can only post to crafters who have addresses in the UK, the 

Netherlands, France, Austria, and Germany. I am sorry!)

With so much to do, I must get my nose back to the grindstone, 

so until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Spotlight Technique - card no. 2!

Hello, Crafters.

Today I’m following on from yesterday’s blog with Spotlight card no. 2.

 
This is what I did with my first piece of the Inside the Lines Designer Series Paper (DSP), which is one of the gifts that are available in the Sale-a-bration (SAB) catalogue. 

During SAB, you can choose one gift from this catalogue for every £45.00 you spend between now and 31st March 2017.

 

Yesterday I explained I wasn’t happy with the three coloured circles as I felt they were too small and left too much white space. 

For my second attempt, I punched five circles using three different sized punches and thought the result was much more pleasing.

When I was tidying up after myself on Wednesday, I left the three circles artwork at the front of my desk so I could see it.

 
All the time I was trying to think what I could do with my piece of artwork. 

My thoughts went along the lines of punching out the three coloured circles, putting them in a line down a card, across a card, layered, not layered and layered on squares.

Then I thought how about putting them on a clean piece of the Inside the Lines DSP but pop them up with Dimensionals. 

I could have punched the circles out, adhere the remaining piece of DSP onto the card base, so the Pink Pirouette showed through, and pop the circles back in position. 

I think this would work just as well but I decided to go for a complete new piece.

 

I thinks that's it for today. I hope you have a great weekend and until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Products & Measurements

Whisper White A4 Cardstock: 106549 - 8¼” x 5¾” (21cm x 14.5cm); 3 7/8” x 5½” (10cm x 14cm);

Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock: 116203 - 2 pieces 4” x 5 5/8” (10.25cm x 14.25cm); 3”x 4 5/8” (7.6cm x 11.8cm); 2 strips 1/8” x 4” (0.3cm x 10.25cm)

Inside the Lines Designer Series Paper: 143830 – **2 7/8” x 4½” (7.3cm x 11.5cm); ½” x 4” (1.2cm x 10.25cm)

Pink Pirouette Ink Pad: 126956; Refill: 111843

Basic Black Archival Ink: 140931; Refill: 140928

Subtles Marker Pen Set of 10: 131263

** If you’re doing card 2, you’ll need two pieces this size.

Spotlight Technique - card no.1!

Hello, Crafters.

Yesterday I wanted to have a play with the Sale-a-bration (SAB) Between the Lines Designer Series Paper (DSP). At first, I thought I'd do something similar to one of the make'n'takes we did at OnStage in Telford, which was partial colouring. 

As I was getting  myself organised, I suddenly thought this would be brilliant for Spotlighting. I know two ways this technique can be done and wasn't sure which way I wanted to go. Long story short - I did both!

I cut a piece of the DSP to the normal size I use for a top layer because I wasn't quite sure which direction I'd be going in. I took a sheet of 3" x 5" Post It Note and used my 1 1/4" Circle Punch to punch three random circles.

I placed it more or less in the centre of the piece of DSP I'd cut and I started painting with my Marker Pens. The colours I chose were Wisteria Wonder, Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron, Blushing Bride and Pool Party. 

First, I used So Saffron to do the insides of the flowers and then changed to Pear Pizzazz and did all the leaves. I used the three remaining pens to colour the flowers.

While I was painting, I frequently had to lift up a part of the Post It Note to check exactly what the lines were that I could see! 

Once they were all coloured, I masked off the area surrounding the Post It Note that had the circles in, so that there was no DSP visible. I took my Pink Piroutte Ink Pad and inked one of my new Sponge Brayers. I rolled it over the three circles, several times, and built up a good amount of colour. I carefully lifted one corner of the Post It Note to see how dark the Pink Pirouette was. I thought it looked great, so I removed all the Post It Notes and was really pleased with the overall result.

However, I was disappointed that I'd only used three smallish circles, so I repeated the process but this time I punched five circles of different sizes, which were: two 1 1/4" circles, two 1 3/8" circles and one 1 1/2" circle. The finished result was so much better.

To create this card I started with a card base of Whisper White Cardstock (CS), a layer of Pink Pirouette CS and a top layer of Whispering White CS - all adhered together with Tombow. Still with Tombow, I adhered the Inside the Lines DSP to a layer of Pink Pirouette CS, and adhered this in the centre of the card base. 

I stamped THANKS using Basic Black Archival Ink on to a small piece of Whisper White CS and sponged the edges using Pink Pirouette Ink. The stamp is from the All Things Thanks Stamp Set. I used the one which says THANKS FOR THAT THING YOU DID but I cut the Thanks off! 

Please note, if you do this to any of your stamp sets, you''ll make your guarantee with Stampin' Up! null and void! The reason I don't worry about this is that I don't expect to have any problems with my SU stamps! 

My final touch was to decorate the inside of the card which is a one of the offcut strips of the DSP and I have butted of a this strip of Pink Pirouette CS, top and bottom.

Tomorrow, I'll show you what I did with the card that has three Spotlight circles and also give you the products and measuremnts you need to make this card!

Until tomorrow, happy crafting!

JanB.