Circular Stamping with Stamparatus

Hello, Crafters. 

Yesterday I was playing with my Stamparatus, experimenting 

 with circular stamping. I've watched so many videos seeing how 

different demos do theirs, and I think I've picked up tips from them

all. Whilst this is basically a good position to be in, it

 does mean I can't credit any one person for inspiring me!

This technique requires a template, and I found two ways of 

doing this. One method I liked needed a template with a 

cut-out so the cardstock could be slotted into the opening, which

 meant the cardstock was held in place. 

The disadavantge of the cut-out is that you'd need one template for

 each different size you wanted. The other method required a

 sheet of acetate which features the same shape, as used on the 

cut-out template, but drawn on in various sizes; typically

 I saw templates with three sizes drawn on. 

The disadvantage of this type of template is that you need Washi 

tape, or something similar to hold the cardstock in position. Personally,

 I think I'll probably use the drawn templates, and anchor my 

cardstock down because I can vary the size of my cardstock.

To create today's card I used the leafy stamp in Pear Pizzazz Ink,

 and the berries stamp in Berry Burst Ink, both from the Banners for 

You Stamp Set. The little fawn in the centre is from A Good Day

 Stamp Set, and I stamped him in Soft Suede Ink.

 Next I painted him using my Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Pen,

 which pulled some colour from the ink, to make the fawn a

 very light brown! I chose the sentiment from the Beautiful

 Bouquet Stamp Set, which I stamped with Soft Suede. 

 I also stamped the fawn on the inside of my card, in the bottom

 right-hand corner, and coloured in the same style as the fawn on 

the front of the card! All three stamp sets I used for today's card are 

being carried forward to the new 2018 - 2019 Annual Catalogue!

After I'd finished my card and put it all together, I put some Fine 

Tip Glue on all the berries to give them some 3D dimension and 

also to make them shiny. I'm very disappointed to see that the 

glue seems to have bleached the berries - they were a really good

 Berry Burst colour before I put the glue on them! 

I don't know if you can pick this up in the photographs, but some 

of the true Berry Burst colour can be see around the edges of the

 berries! Has anybody else experienced this before? 

I'm off to a training event today and tomorrow, and I'm hoping to

 pop back for a quick visit tomorrow morning, so in the 

meantime, happy crafting. 

JanB.

Colour Me Happy Project Kit - Card 3

Hello, Crafters.

Whilst I'll never win any prizes for my painting abilities, I think these cards are just so, so cute! 

As I suggested yesterday, I did a practice run on a spare piece of Whisper White Cardstock (CS) before moving on to the white CS supplied in the Colour Me Happy Project Kit. 

I had to choose a different Thank You stamp from the Banners for You Stamp Set, as the stamp I used for the first two cards was too big for the banners supplied for this card. 

I didn't need my Stamp-a-ma-jig to help me with the sentiment, but I did use it so the two birds were on the same level! 

When I did my practice run, I made a mess trying to colour the birds legs using the Stampin' Blend Pen. 

I found the answer was to use the pen end of the Pumpkin Pie Marker Pen.

When I was ready to stamp the sentiment, I painted the white CS banner supplied using the Stampin' Blends, because the sentiment chosen by Stampin' Up! was white writing on a black background! 

On the first card I assembled, I very clumsily allowed the banner to slip on the gold surface of the foil starburst.

As I was using Tombow, it made a real mess of starburst, so I turned it over, and with it  resting on my Silicone Craft Mat - so it didn't stick to anything - I painted the reverse using the Dark Pool Party Stampin' Blend. 

At the same time I also painted the reverse of another Gold Foil Starburst with the Dark Pink Pirouette Stampin' Blend. 

The reason the other three cards all have the Gold Foil Starbursts, and no sign of the pink one, is that I made a mess of the pink painted side! LOL! 

Looking at all four cards, I prefer the look of the coloured starburst rather than the Gold Foil Starbursts!

The instructions said to add two pink and one blue sequin to each card, and as I don't like sequins, I painted some Basic Pearls using the Dark Pink Pirouette and Dark Pool Party Stampn' Blends. 
 
I love the look of the Basic Pearls and Rhinestones when they're painted to blend with the colour scheme!

The picture on the instruction leaflet of this card, shows the white twine tied at the front of the card with the bow sitting on the left hand side by the sentiment, but I thought it looked too busy! 

I wrapped my twine around the image twice, and then tied a double knot, before tying the small bow. 

I put a small dab of Tombow behind the bow, to make sure it stays in place, and held my finger on it for about 15 - 20 seconds to allow Tombow time to get a really good grip!

Next weekend we're off to the Stampin' Up! OnStage Convention in Solihull, which means I'm busy making swaps. 

I thought I'd chosen something quite easy this time but I've only made 23 so far, with another 12 almost complete. 

There's no way I'll be making 100 in time for next Friday, but I'll give it my bes shot!

I hope you have a fabulous weekend! That's it from me today, so until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Silver Dragonfly

Hello, Crafters.

The invitations are done! Vicki came and collected them yesterday, and she was thrilled with them. She's planning to get them in the post today!

Yesterday evening I had time to play and I made this dragonfly card! 

To make this I used a card base in Sweet Sugarplum Cardstock (CS), with a layer of Whisper White CS and a top layer of Sweet Sugarplum CS which I dry embossed using the Petal Burst Embossing Folder. 

To start with, I adhered the top two layers together using Tombow. I used our Silver Foil to die

cut two layering scallop squares using the Layering Squares Framelits Dies, nos. 9 and 10 dies. 
I also die cut a dragonfly from the Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies and the single banner from the Bunch of Banners Framelits Dies. Then I die cut a piece of the Sweet Sugarplum gingham design paper from the Succulent Garder Designer Series Paper (DSP). For this I used the largest square die in the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies. When I laid the die onto the pattern, I made sure that the stitches woul be on lines that are primarily white, because I imagine they would show up more than if I'd positioned the die onto a primarily pink area.

Normally I would have stamped the dragonfly from the Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set and put the wings, which shows the veins in the wing - behind the die cut Silver Foil Dragonfly but I wanted plain white wings at the back of the dragonfly for this project. The white could have been die cut but as it was quick and easy to do, I drew around the die cut onto a piece of Whisper White CS and cut it out by hand, just inside the pencil marks. I adhered the white wings at the back of the Silver Foil dragonfly using Tombow.

I positioned the photopolymer THANK YOU stamp onto a block and bent it in a slight semi-circular position. I did a test stamp onto some scrap paper so I could eyeball it to decide if it would fit into the die cut banner. 

Originally I tried to position the stamp on the back of the banner stamp that co-ordinates with the banner die. My idea was that if I could adhere it on the back of that stamp, face down, I could put my block down to pick it up. The practical side of this theory didn't quite work out, although I'm not sure why! LOL! This is when I decided to eyeball it and achieved a great result!

Initially, I stamped the banner stamp using Basic Black Archival Ink onto a piece of Whisper White CS, and then I stamped the sentiment inside using Sweet Sugarplum ink. I cut round the balck edge as i thought it would look nice adhered onto the Silver Foil banner with an edge around it. I didn't like the look of it so cut it down to the size as you see on the card. It looked a bit lost at first, so I went around the edge using my Sweet Sugarplum Marker Pen, and this made it pop! 

To put my card together I wrapped a piece of Sweet Sugarplum Ribbon around the card front - the ribbon is part of the combo pack available on page 21 of the Spring catalogue. I added five of the larger Rhinestones so the ribbon looks as if it's been studded! I adhered this layer to the card front using Dimensionals.  

Then I adhered the two Silver Foil Scalloped Squares together, and then the DSP. I adhered this to the card front and adhered the dragonfly in the position I decided he looked best. I adhered the sentiment to the Silver Foil banner, and then adhered the banner to the card front.

Using Sweet Sugarplum Ink, I finished my card by stamping the dragonfly on the Whisper White CS layer for the inside of my card. There were quite a few steps to create this card but well worth it! 

That's about it for today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.