Botanical Tags Birthday Card

Hello, Crafters.

After yesterday's post with the book mark, and my comment 

regarding using the dies for a card, I just had to do it! I really

 enjoyed working on this, but I do think it's a bit over busy!

 I started with a top layer of Balmy Blue Cardstock (CS), and I 

die cut the Botanical Tags bird die from the top half. I used my 

trimmer to cut from side to side to release the negative part of

 the cardstock which stayed attached! 

Next I decided to emboss the bottom half using the Petal Burst

 Embossing Folder, and then attached the layer to a layer of Sahara 

Sand CS which was the same size. 

The was an impression line along the front, which I decided to cover

 by using the Night of Navy Gingham Ribbon. Although I like the look

 of this it does hide the fact that the Balmy Blue layer underneath 

is one piece of cardstock, and not two separate pieces! 

 I finished the top half by using the corner stamp from Hold on to

 Hope Stamp Set in Night of Navy Ink. I chose the Happy 

Birthday sentiment from the Detailed with Love Stamp Set and

 stamped it on a piece of Sahara Sand CS and Night of Navy Ink.

 I also stamped the flower from Botanical Bliss Stamp Set using

the same ink and the same cardstock as the sentiment. I fussy

 cut the flower and die cut two of the leaf branches, and 

then attached them with Dimensionals. 

I wasn't sure which colours of cardstock to use for the inside

 of my card, and decided on Whisper White and Balmy Blue. 

 I made two more flowers as before in Sahara Sand CS, and

 finished off with three leaf branches, and two corner stamps

 from Hold on to Hope Stamp Set as before. 

Today's card is a lot busier than I normally do, but do you think it's

 too busy? I'll be very interested in seeing what you think! 

That's it from me today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting,

JanB.

Dedication Card

Hello, Crafters.

On Sunday when I was at Church, I was chatting with Mary,

 the lady who looks after the greeting cards which are sold 

to raise funds for the church. I gave Mary a bag of my cards,

 and she asked if I had any dedication cards.

 I told Mary that I didn't have any but I could make one, and

 that's what today's card is for. If Mary is happy with this card,

 I'll be happy to make some more so she has a

 little supply of them.

 As you know, although I decorate the inside of my cards, I don't 

normally write verses, but Mary wanted a biblical quote, and I

 used the one from the Hold On To Hope Stamp Set. The only other

 request was that she wanted the first one to be a

 boy's card i.e. a blue card! 

I've used the new Balmy Blue Cardstock (CS), but unfortunately 

I my ink pads haven't arrived, so I used Marina Mist Stamped off

 once for the inside of the card. I think it worked out

 really quite well!

 I created the sentiment on my computer and have saved the 

Word document for future use! I die cut the two crosses using

 the Cross of Hope Framelits Dies. For the swirly leaves and 

flowers I used the Flourish Thinlits which are being

carried forward into the new catalogue! 

The sentiment was die cut with the smallest Stitched Shape Ova

l Framelits Die, and layered onto a Layering Oval Scalloped Framelits

 Die. I dry-embossed the top Whisper White (CS) layer using the

 Hexagons Dynamic Embossing Folder. 

After I'd adhered the flourishes to the card front using Tombow, I

 adhered the cross and the sentiment with Dimensionals. I finished 

the flourishes by painting over them using my Clear Wink of Stella 

Glitter Pen, and my final touch was to add some small Basic Pearls 

o the "bobbles" on the flourishes, and a large Basic Pearl in the

 centre of the cross.

 To finish the inside of the card, I added a layer of Balmy Blue CS,

 and a top layer of Whisper White CS. I used my favourite corner stamp, 

which is from the Hold on to Hope Stamp Set, using Marina Mist Ink 

I'd stamped off once. Finally, still with the same Stamp Set, and the 

same ink stamped off once, I stamped the Bible quote in the upper

 part of the card so there was room for greeting to be written.

 

 I'm happy how my card tirned out, and later today I'll find out

 if Mary's happy with it as well. ☺ That's about it from me

 today; until tomorrow, happy carfting.

JanB.  

Colour Me Happy

Hello, Crafters.

It's a Bank Holday weekend for us here in the UK, and this is the 

first time I can remember for a very long time that we've had 

good weather on a Bank Holiday weekend. How lovely it's be if

 it be the norm rather than the exception! 

To create today's card, I used the Colour Me Happy Stamp Set but

 I can't find it in either of the current catalogues i.e. the 2017-2018

 Annual Catalogue and the 2018 Spring/Summer Catalogue! I 

know it was part of a kit; never mind, I'll have another look for it later. 

I chose to use Sweet Sugarplum Cardstock (CS) but I didn't want to 

colour the flowers with my Sweet Sugarplum Marker Pens as I thought

 it would make them too dark. So I decided to use Pink Pirouette, 

and colour the flowers quite solid, and then I decided I'd introduce

 some Sweet Sugarplum as "lines" eminating from the centre of each flower. 

I feel it worked brilliant, and I love the look of the finished flowers look.

 I made two masks for the flowers with Post It notes so I could stamp

 two leaves from the retiring Birthday Blossoms Stamp Set. To 

decorate the first layer of cardstock on my card base, I stamped all

 over the layer with the flower stamp, and Sweet Sugarplum Ink

 stamped off once.

I made my card as a congratulations card, but it would also make

 an excellent birthday card, get well soon card, in fact, almost any 

occasion. Before I added a layer of Sweet Sugarplum and Whisper

 White CS inside my card I stamped two more flowers, and used one

 of the masks I'd made earlier so I could overlap them!

 After I'd coloured them the same as those on the front of the card, I

 adhered  the two layers inside my card. To finish the  front of the card, I 

added some Gold Metallic Enamel circles in centre of each flower and 

one heart at each end of the one word sentiment. 

As I looked at my card I felt the flowers should have been stamped a bit lower, so I found a small butterfly in the Hold Onto Hold Stamp Set, stamped it in Basic Grey Archival Ink, and coloured in the white areas with my Sweet Sugarplum Marker Pen. 

After I'd fussy cut the butterfly, I drew two antenae on my card, and

 then adhered the butterfly to fit them! 

Tha'ts about it from me today! Until tomorrow, happy crafting!

JanB. 

Bike Ride: Get Well Soon

Hello, Crafters.

I hadn't noticed this stamp before, and wondered how many others haven't noticed it either! 

It's from the Bike Ride Stamp Set and is a three step stamp, which I found difficult to do. 
 
In fact, I gave up trying, and just painted it using my Pink Pirouette and Marina Mist Marker Pens.

This is one of those cards that just happened, i.e. it wasn't inspired by anything in particular! 

My first attempt at stamping this image was to stamp the main stamp onto a piece of Whisper White Cardstock using Basic Black Archival Ink. 

I didn't like this because the centres of the flowers were solid black - far too heavy for such a small image. 
 
For my second attempt, I used Basic Grey Archival Ink, and once it was dried it looked a lot softer, which made it so much easier to choose the colours for the card.

Now that I've finished my card, the grey gives the bunch of flowers a "hazy" kind of look, which I rather like!

As I explained yesterday, I've brought all my retiring colours to the front of my cardstock trolley so I can see at a quick glance which ones I need to concentrate on, when it comes to using up those colours that will be retired within a couple of months. 

It's always sad to say goodbye to colours that are leaving, but it's more sad with certain colours - Pink Pirouette is one of the them!

So that's what I chose for my flowers with Marina Mist as my complimentary colour, plus Whisper White.

When I went to my boxes to see what layers I already had cut to size, I found a Whisper White top layer ready dry-embossed with the Dynamic Basket Weave Embossing Folder. 

This is ideal for a background behind a small image.

I die-cut the flower image using the second size Stitched Shape Oval Framelit Die, and layered it onto a piece of Marina Mist cardstock that I die cut using the third largest size Stitched Shape Oval Framelit Die. 

There are so many times, including now, that I think these dies make the cardstock look so much like leather!!

I chose the GET WELL SOON from the Apron of Love Stamp Set, and stamped it on a strip of Whisper White Cardstock using Marina Mist Ink.

When I punched it out using the Classic Label Punch, I also punched two more Classic Labels in Marina Mist.
 
I cut one in half lengthways, and adhered to the back of the Whisper White strip, with a small amount of blue showing through,  above and below, and then cut the other one in half vertically. 

When I tried to adhere one at each end of the Whister White label it just didn't look right so I left those two pieces off! 

The final touches on the front of my card were two Basic Rhinestones - one either end of the sentiment.


I also tied a small bow in Pink & White Baker's Twine, and adhered it with Tombow, to the paper wrapped around the bunch of flowers.

To decorate the inside of the card, I adhered a layer of Marina Mist cardstock, and I stamped my favourite Hold on to Hope corner stamp in three corners. 

For the fourth corner, I stamped the butterfly that comes with that stamp set - it's something a bit different! ☺

That's about it from me today, so untl tomorrow, happy crafting,

JanB.

Flowery Embroidery Hoop

Hello, Crafters.

Whatever your plans are, I hope you have a great weekend.

I had a lovely day yesterday, getting my March happy mail ready for posting to my customers. 

I really don't know what happened with my order this month because it took eleven days to arrive - I think this is the first time I've ever had to wait so long for a delivery, in all my six years as a demonstrator. 

Talking with other demos, nobody else seems to have had this problem, so I'm just putting it down to gremlins in the works!
 
Between now and 1st June, 2018, I'm going to be using cardstock in the retiring colours. 

Boy, didn't I get caught out with Flirty Flamingo? 

In case you weren't following the story about my swaps, for the Onstage Convention last weekend, I concentrated on using Peekaboo Peach and Flirty Flamingo for my card front swaps.

I chose these two as they are two of the  retiring 2016 - 2018 InColours, so I thought it was a great opportunity to use my cardstock in these two colours! 
 
Except that Flirty Flamingo is coming back as one of our core colours on 1st June 2018! 

Never mind.......onwards and upwards! LOL!

Today's very simple card is in Pink Pirouette, which is retitring, and Whisper White, which is staying! 
 
You may remember I was playing with the Embroidery Hoops recently, and made a card.

At the same time, I also made this kind of half-wreath! 

I can't think of a better name for it - any suggestions?

I started with some Embroidery Hoops and a packet of the Touches of Nature Elements (neither product is being carried forward but there are some similar wood elements on the way). 

I painted on the white side of the wooden elements using my Stampin' Blends: Light Old Olive for the leaves, and Dark Pink Piouette for the centre flower, and Light Pink Pirouette for the two outer flowers.

I gave them a short while to dry off properly, and then painted over them with a thick layer of the Fine Tip Glue Pen.

I wanted enough glue for it to dry with a curve, but not so much that the glue rolled off! 

I allowed the glue to dry overnight, and the next day, I adhered the shapes in position using Tombow.

To create my card I decided the "wreath" would look best on it's own............a clean and simple card, but I have to confess, I found it a struggle to come up with a design I was happy with. 

Eventually my card came together, but it was a very slow process, which is very unusual for me.

I chose to use the Basket Weave Dynamic Embossing Folder on Pink Pirouette Cardstock (CS) as the background, and I stamped one of the images from the A Good Day Stamp Set, using Basic Black Archival Ink on Whisper White CS. 

Then I coloured it, punched it out with the 1 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, and mounted it on two layers of Dimensionals.

I laid the Embroidery Hoop onto the Basket Weave Pink Pirouette CS layer, and placed the image inside! 

This was definitely not a good idea!

I moved it away and decided to dress the Embroidery Hoop up with small pearls on the exposed part of the rim, and I added two small pearls on the outer flowers and one large Pearl on the centre flower. 

Now, my card was developing into a design I found pleasing!

I added the sentiment from the Balloon Celebration Stamp Set, stamped on a strip of Whisper White Cardstock using Pink Piroutte Pink Ink.

(I'm really pleased that this stamp set will be carried forward into the new catalogue! YAY!)

I rounded the ends of the sentiment using a 3/4" circle punch. 
 
My final touch for the front of the card was to add a small bow tied with our Whisper White 1/4" Organza Ribbon, and adhered it in place using Tombow. 

The final touches inside the card were adhering a layer of Whisper White CS, and then I stamped my favourite corner stamp from the Hold on to Hope Stamp Set, using Pink Piroutte Pink Ink.

I'm very pleased to say that this stamp set is also being carried forward!

I enjoyed playing with these wooden elements, and I must look at other ways of using them!

That's it from me today, so until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Southern Serenade Again!

Hello, Crafters.

I'm now allowed to talk about what's in, and what's not in, the forthcoming 2018-2019 Annual Catalogue. 
 
Stampin' Up have released the Retiring Lists for both the Spring/Summer Catalogue 2018, and for the 2017-2018 Annual Catalogue. These are the lists for the UK. 

If you would like to receive the lists in Euros, and don't already have a Stampin Up! demonstrator, please email me at janb@janbcards.com, and I'll be happy to send you the lists for the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Austria.

I'm really pleased that Southern Serenade Stamp Set is being carried forward. 
 
For today's card, I chose Emerald Envy and Peekaboo Peach for my colour scheme as both of these colours are retiring as they are 2016-2018 InColours.

I stamped the flowers using Basic Black Archival Ink, and coloured them using Marker Pens, including Daffodil Delight for the centres of the flowers.

To give the flowers a bit of background, I used the lacy stamp in this stamp set, stamped off once in Sahara Sand. 

I used Emerald Envy Ink to stamp the sentiment, which again, is in the Southern Serenade Stamp Set.

I used my favourite corner stamp from the Hold on to Hope Stamp Set - which I'm really pleased to say is also being carried forward - on both the front and the inside of the card, stamped in Emerald Envy Ink! 

Also inside the card, using Basic Black Archival Ink, I stamped the top part of the flowery stamp and coloured it in the same way I did the front of the card.

The flowers needed something to finish them off, so I stamped the bow from the Jar of Love Stamp Set, which is another set that's being carried forward!
 
I'm not sure if I was brave or foolish but when I stamped the bow using Emerald Envy Ink, I felt it wasn't dark enough!

I decided to stamp straight on top of the stamped image again! Phew - lucky!!

I really struck lucky with the three stamp sets I used for today's card.
I didn't check whether they were on the retiring list or not, before starting this project.

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

JanB. 

Heat Embossing with SU Classic Inks

Hello, Crafters.

Today's video features the God of Love card I shared two days ago, but with a bit of a twist.

I stayed with the same card design, but changed the colour scheme to Berry Burst so I could demonstrate how easy it is to heat emboss using the Stampin' Up! Classic Inks. 

It's a really big help to have a Stampin' Scrub when doing this technique, especially when you're using the same stamp more than once.

For example, on my card I had two flourishes, and three butterflies, so I had to clean the flourish and butterfly stamps in-between stamping.

The process to heat emboss with our Classic Inks starts with wiping the cardstock with the Embossing Buddy as usual! 

Next you ink up your chosen stamp thoroughly using Versamark,  and then ink it in your chosen Classic Ink colour, and then stamp onto your cardstock! 

After you have covered it with Clear Embossing Powder, and flicked off the loose powder, heat set it using your Heat Tool, and watch the magic. 

It's as easy as that!

The following is a list of the paper and cardstock I used for each card:-

1). The original card uses Whisper White and Soft Suede Cardstock (CS), and Wood Textures Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack. It was heat embossed with Copper Embossing Powder.

2). The Fresh Fig card uses Fresh Fig and Whisper White CS, as well as a design from the Eastern Palace DSP.

3. The video Berry Burst card uses Whisper White and Berry Burst CS, as well as a design from the Naturally Eclectic DSP.

If you haven't given this technique a try, I really recommend you do give it a go - it's very satisfying!

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

JanB.