Climbing Orchid

Hello, Crafters.

I had to see my GP yesterday as I hurt my back when we were moving furniture last Thursday.

She sent me off for an X-ray to see if I've cracked some ribs or some vertabrae!! 

I'll get the results in two weeks! 

The good news is they'll both will heal themselves.

Not such good news is that ribs take between six to eight weeks to heal, and vertabrae take months! 

No more clubbing for me for a while then! LOL!

Today's card is my first play with the Climbing Orchid Stamp Set and was inspired by the swap I received in Thailand from French demo Elisabeth Couvet.

Her card was black and white with one Lemon Lime Twist orchid .

It was stunning and it was included on my Thailand Swaps video, no.299.

I kept my colour scheme the same as Elisabeth's card, and I introduced some Designer Series Paper (DSP).

The Basic Black gingham design is from the Merry Little Christmas DSP,which will be available from the new Christmas catalogue which goes live on 1st. September 2017. 

I featured this set of DSP in my Christmas Catalogue Sneak Peak video no.300. 

This set consists of Whisper White, Basic Black and Old Olive, and one side of each sheet features a generic design that can be used all year - that's what I call value for money!

I decided I wanted to heat emboss my orchids for this card but couldn't decide what colour embossing powder I wanted to use.

I decided to make one large orchid in each of the options i.e. gold, silver, copper, white, clear and black.

In my mind, I dismissed black as I thought it'd be too dark, and was very much in favour of the clear! 

After checking them out I decided I liked the black best! 

As I was using Basic Black and Whisper White as my base colours, I found the black showed the orchids at their very best! 

During my tests on embossing powders, I did one complete large option in each of the options. 
 
I CASE'd Elisabeth's idea of leaves stamped on Whisper White Cardstock (CS) using basic Black Archival Ink, die cut and left uncoloured! 

I think it's this idea that helps to make Elisabeth's card really pop!

Then I had to decide what to use as a sentiment! 

After much ooh'ing and ahh'ing, I chose the Happy Birthday from Guy Greetings, which I heat embossed using Basic Black Embossing Powder. 

I punched it out using the new Pretty Label Punch, and finished it off by adding two Black Rhinestone Jewels, which will be available from the new Christmas catalohue whch goes live on 1st. September 2017.
 
I still need to decorate the inside of this card!

During the last week in August, I'll be sending out a new Christmas Catalogue to all my customers. 

If you would like to receive a free copy, and you don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, please email me your address and I'll be happy to pop one in the post. Email address: janb@janbcards.com

(Please note, Stampin' Up! rules only allow me to sell to crafters who have addresses in the UK, France, Austria, Germany or the Netherlands - I'm really sorry!)

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

JanB.

Graceful Garden Thinking of You

 Hello, Crafters.

My Hubby deserves a medal! 

He spent FIVE hours traipsing round the shops with me yesterday, so I could treat myself to some new clothes for Thailand! 

Ocasonally, he sat on a bench outside the shop enjoying the sunshine and watching the world go by, but no complaints!

By way of letting him know that I was appreciating what he was doing for me, I treated him to a Japanese curry for lunch! 
 
A bit hot for me, but just about still in my tolerance level!

In the afternoon we had tea and cakes; well, he had a big slice of apple pie!

Today's card is another one using the beautiful rose from the Grateful Garden Stamp Set. 

It's a fabulous rose to colour and so easy to include shading if you use Marker Pens.

I used Sweet Sugarplum for the rose and Emerald Envy for the stem and leaves.

After painting over the entire rose using the Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Pen, I fussy cut the rose, stem and leave. 

I started my card with a base of Sweet Sugarplum Cardstock (CS), then a layer of Basic Black CS, with a top layer of Shimmery White CS.

I dry embossed the top layer using our stunning Ruffled Dynamic Embossing Folder, and then adhered all layers together using Tombow.

I used Dimensionals to attach the rose to the card. 

The sentiment is from the Climbing Orchid Stamp Set and has been stamped on Shimmery White Cardstock using Archival Basic Black Ink. 
 
I layered this onto a piece of Basic Black CS, and then onto a piece of Sweet Sugarplum CS.

I attached the sentiment to the card front using Dimensionals.

I tied a bow using the Basic Black Shimmer ribbon and adhere it across the stem of the rose.

To finish the card, I adhered a layer of Basic Black CS, and a top layer of Shimmery White CS. 
 
On the top sheet, I stamped the small rose from the Graceful Garden Stamp Set, and coloured it using Sweet Sugarplum and Emerald Envy Marker Pens. 

I used the Crushed Curry Marker Pen to colour the centre of the flower. 
 
My final touch was to paint with Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Pen.

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

JanB.