Hand-cut Embossed Cardstock Video aka How to use Watercolour Pencils!

Hello, Crafters.

Today's video shows the card I made using my un-named

 technique that I've been sharing with you  this week. 

It's still un-named except to say Hand-cut Embossed Cardstock 

which is a bit long-winded, and doesn't really describe it properly! 

I decided on calling the video HOW TO....using Watercolour Pencils! 

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for a

 name for this technique.

 I think the Hexagon Dynamic Embossing Folder lends itself to

 the technique the best, and out of the two cards I've made, 

I definitely prefer the Coastal Cabana card! 

One of the reasons I've used Watercolour Pencils is because 

Stampin' Up! will be releasing a Limited Edition Stamp Set, plus 

co-ordinating dies which be available during the whole of August.

 Also available during August will be Assortment 2 of Watercolour

 Pencils, which may be made available again at a future date. 

Although I have bought the bundle, I haven't had much of a 

chance to play with it as I've been so focussed on getting 

myself ready for the Incentive Trip. 

To make up for this, I'm hoping that I'll be able to share

 projects made by other demos who have been able to play. 

  Today is the last day before Alaska, and all my swaps are 

done, apart from having a list of ingredients and being put

 into cello bags, but that won't take long. 

The last thing for me to do is one more video, and at the 

moment, I don't have any idea of what the project will be! 

This will be my last regular planned blog until after my trip, 

but I'm hoping to pop in most days for a quick hello and an

 update about where I am, and what's been happening. ☺

Videos will be every Wednesday and Sunday as normal.

 Until next time, happy crafting.

JanB.

Dragonfly Wedding Card

Hello, Crafters.

Earlier this morning I shared the video that shows how I made the pink Dragonfly Wedding card I shared with you on 3rd April 2017. 

In the video I show the card in three colours and two different styles. 

Apart from the original Pink Pirouette card, I'd made one in Soft Sky and during the video, I made the Tip Top Taupe card.  

This last colour will be retiring at the end of this month - 31st May 2017 - as it's one of the 2015 - 2017 InColours.

 I don't have a preference with the colour, I think all three look great.

The variation between the cards is where I ended the Floral Thinlints die cuts. 

On the original card, I trimmed the die cuts so they ended at the edge of the top layer, thereby leaving a narrow border of the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper all round. 

Before I started the video, I made the Soft Sky card and allowed the Detailed Floral Thinlits die cut to come almost to the edge.

Although I think both styles look great, I prefer this version, even though the all round Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper edging is lost!

I've posted the two photographs next to each other so, hopefully, you can see the difference! ☺

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

JanB.

Bee Hive

Hello, Crafters.

If you haven't checked it out already, have a look at the  Clearance Rack - it was updated this morning!

I started my card with a base of Delightful Dijon Cardstock (CS), then a layer of Basic Black CS and a top layer of Urban Underground Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP).

I didn't have any idea what direction my card was going to take, except I wanted to make some bees with Vellum wings!

I stamped two bees using Archival Basic Black Ink, and coloured the bodies using a Delightful Dijon Marker Pen and a Smokey Slate Marker Pen for the wings. 

Then I painted all over the bees with my Wink of Stella Clear Gltter Pen and then fussy cut them.

I wiped a piece of Vellum CS with my Embossing Buddy, stamped two bees in Versamark, and then covered with Black Embossing Powder. 

After I'd heat set them both, I die cut them with the bee die from the Detailed Dragonflies Framelits Dies. 

I adhered one fussy cut and one die cut bee together using Tombow just on the body, head and antennae.

I found three "bee" sentiments to use: 
HAPPY BEE-DAY was from the Hostess Pun Intended Stamp Set;
YOU'RE SO SWEET was from the Bear Hugs Stamp Set; 

YOU'RE MY SWEET HONEYBEE was from the Shooting Star Stamp Set. 

Unfortunately, all three stamp sets are being retired at the end of May!

Using Archival Basic Black Ink, I stamped the three sentiments onto small strips of Very Vanilla CS and layered them onto Delightful Dijon CS. 

To create the beehive, I die cut a large oval using the Layering Oval Dies.

Then I put the cardstock oval back in the Big Shot with the oval die sitting in place so it cut the bottom edge with a slight curve.

I lightly sprayed both sides of the beehive with water, and then embossed it using the Hexagons Dynamic Embossing Folder. 
 
For the door, I used the thicker end of the safety pin die that's in the Baby's First Framelits! 

I adhered everything together using Tombow, except the beehive and the bee in the top left hand corner. I used Dimensionals for both of these.

Finally, I adhered a layer of Basic Black CS and a layer of Shimmery White CS inside the card. 

I decorated it with two bees I'd stamped in Basic Black Archival Ink, and had coloured the body and wings using the Delightful Dijon Marker Pen. 

The final touch was painting both bees with my Clear Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen. this was a fun card to make! Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Dragonfly Dreams Wedding Card

Hello, Crafter.

I hope you've had a great weekend.

I'm pleased to say I've made all my swaps, and they're all labelled and bagged up ready for Amsterdam. 

I've also made one for each of my March customers, and I've made the video ready for next Sunday. 

Just two more videos to make and I'm ready for Amsterdam!

Today's card uses a Dazzling Diamond Glimmer Paper dragon fly that had been die cut for a previous project but not used. 

It already had the Pink Pirouette backing behind the wings - stamped with a stamp from the Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set - so that decided the colour of my card!

I started with a base of Pink Pirouette Cardstock (CS) with a layer of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper. 

The top layer is a sheet of Pink Pirouette CS which has been dry embossed with the Petal Burst Embossing Folder.

I adhered this layer to the Glimmer Paper using Glue Dots, and then I adhered it to the card base using Tombow.

Using some Pink Pirouette CS, I die cut the smaller of the two dies in the Detailed Floral Thinlits Dies.

I cut it to the width to fit the width of the top embossed layer. 
 
Then I took a piece of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper and used the cutting edge die that's in the set of Thinlits.

I cut a piece approxiamately 1/8" taller than the decorative Pink Pirouette die cut, so I had an edge appearing a little bit higher.
 
I adhered this die cut to the Glimmer Paper using Glue Dots, and then adhered the two pieces to the card front using Tombow. 

Using Pink Pirouette Ink, I stamped the sentiment on a piece of Pink Pirouette CS and then dipped it into Clear Embossing Powder. I heat set this using my Heat Tool, and die cut it using the Stitched Shapes Oval die no. 2. 

I layered it onto a scalloped Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper oval I'd die cut using the Layering Oval Framelits Dies, scallop die no 3, and adhered the two together using Glue Dots.

I adhered the dragonfly and the sentiment using Dimensionals. 

My final touch was to adhere a sheet of Whisper White CS inside the card. 

I stamped two small dragonflies in Pink Pirouette Ink in the bottom right hand corner. 

This dragonfly is in the Touches of Texture Stamp Set. 

I've been extravagent using Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper on this card, but I think it would still look good with regular Whisper White CS.

Unfortunately, my photographic skills haven't improved at all, and the colour leaves a lot to be desired, particularly the Glimmer Paper!

That's it for today. 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.