Hello, Crafters.
Unfortunately,
an elderly aunt of mine passed away recently, and I needed to make a
sympathy card.
I decided to use the two tulip-like flower stamps in the Lovely
Wishes Stamp Set, which is in the Spring/Summer Catalogue.
My original idea was to heat emboss the images, but whichever colour embossing powder or
cardstock I used, I didn't like anything I came up with.
I changed direction, and decided to stamp the
images using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink on Shimmery White Cardstock (CS), and
knew immediately that this was the right direction for me to go.
I
started by stamping the smaller flower image towards the bottom of the
top layer on the right-hand side.
Fortunately this stamp set is
photopolymer, so it was quite easy to place the larger flower stamp so
the stem joined onto the stem of the smaller flower beautifully!
To
colour the leaves I used the Light Old Olive Stampin' Blend, and to colour the
flowers I used the Light Pink Pirouette Stampin' Blend.
I achieved some
slight shading without using the dark ink pens just by going over the
same area a few times.
For the sentiment on the front of thecard, I chose the SHARING IN YOUR SORROW sentiment from
the Hopeful Thoughts Stamp Set, and stamped it close to the two flowers
using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink.
Unfortunately,
I'd stamped it slightly crooked, but I really didn't have time to go
back to the drawing board if I was going to have my card ready to share with
you today............so I cheated!!
I laid the cardstock on my grid
paper, and put my ruler along the bottom line of the sentiment, and made
sure it was in a straight line with one of the horizontal grid lines.
When I was happy I had it lined up correctly, I drew a pencil line from
one side to the other.
I took the cardstock to my trimmer, and sliced
off the lower part so it was parallel with the sentiment.
Next I had to
trim the other three sides to get them to be straight with the new
bottom line!
It worked brilliantly, and has left my card with a lovely
wide gap between the Shimmery White CS layer and the Old Olive CS layer!
The
clean and simple look was right up my street, but it needed something.
As this is a sympathy card, I didn't want to use ribbon, sequins,
rhinestones etc., and decided to look through my stamp sets to see if I had a stamp that was designed to be used in the four corners of my
cardstock.
I found exactly what I was looking for in the Hold on to Hope
Stamp Set, and I stamped the image in each corner using Tuxedo Black
Memento Ink.
For
the inside of the card, I made an Olive Green CS layer and a Shimmery
White CS layer the same sizes as those on the front of the card.
I
stamped the four corner images as before, but I also stamped two
sentiments in Old Olive Ink, using my Stamp-a-ma-jig to get them
straight!
The WITH SYMPATHY sentiment and the MAY YOUR SORROW BE EASED
BY WONDERFUL MEMORIES sentiment are both from the Better Together Stamp Set.
That's about it from me today. So until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
If
you don't like fussy cutting, you won't like today's card!
I'm planning
a video to show how I made this and during the planning process,
I'm going to look at what effect die cutting a square/oval/circle image
instead of fussy-cutting will have on the overall effect.
I found the
idea for this card in the new catalogue.
I
started my card by stamping the flower image from the Birthday Blooms
Stamp Set onto a piece of Shimmery White Cardstock (CS) using Basic
Black Archival Ink.
The flowers are Melon Mambo and the leaves are Old
Olive, and have been coloured with Watercolour Pencils, then blended with a
Blender Pen.
I added Gold Wink of Stella Glitter to the centre of the flower and some Clear Wink of Stella Glitter to the base of most petals.
For
the card base, I used Tip Top Taupe CS, a layer of Shimmery White CS and
a top layer of Tip Top Taupe.
I cleaned mt stamp and re-inked in Tip
Top Taupe Ink, stamped off once, and then stamped the second generation
in the top right hand corner of the top layer.
I positioned the stamp so
the image would go off the edge at the top and the side.
I
kept the stamp in the same position and repeated the stamping process.
Where the two images overlapped would eventually be covered by the image.
I
adhered the top two layers together and then adhered a strip of our lace trim
around the front about an inch up from the base.
I then adhered this to
the card base using Tombow, making sure I added extra glue to the ribbon
ends.
I
put Dimensionals on the back of the image, including some very small
pieces I cut from the edging strip, for the small flowers and leaves that
protrude quite a bit.
Using Tip Top Taupe, I stamped the sentiment on a
strip of Shimmery White CS and punched it out using the Classic Label
Punch.
The
sentiment is from the Hopeful Thoughts Stamp Set and has been cut away from
where it says "Wishing you a quick and complete recovery".
I separated
the two quite some time ago, because I wanted the first bit on the
inside of the card I was working on at that time.
Please
note, if you cut your stamps like this, your guarantee with Stampin'
Up! will be null and void because you have effectively "damaged" the
stamp yourself!
I
felt my card was lacking something, it looked a bit flat! I used a
white gel pen and added groups of three dots in a random pattern across
the top layer.
To finish off my card, I inserted a layer of Shimmery
White CS inside and stamped the single flower from the stamp set, to the
bottom left-hand corner, using Tip Top Taupe Ink.
I'm very pleased with the result..............I hope you do, too!
I'm pleased to say both these stamp sets are being carried forward into the new catalogue!
Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
I
hope you've had a great weekend.
Yesterday I had another play with the Jar of Love Stamp Set and the
matching dies, which are called Everyday Jars Framelits. The ideas I
started my card with were the stamp set and the card base.
When I was preparing yesterday's video - Revertsed Double Cutain Fold, I made a card base for the card I
was making but, unfortunately, I'd adhered all the layers
together, forgetting I needed wrap the curtains around the top two
layers first!
So I started with a cardbase of Whisper White Cardstock, with a layer of Melon Mambo and then a top layer of Whisper White.
Using
Smokey Slate Ink and stamping off twice, I stamped the splatter stamp
from the Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set horizontally across the front of the card three
times, turning it 180° after each stamp.
Then I stamped three leafy
stems using Old Olive Ink, three bows using Archival Basic Grey Ink, and
six of the double flowers which are two-step stamps.
Using Melon Mambo
Ink, I stamped the darkest image first, and then I stamped the Melon
Mambo Ink off once for the background image of the flowers.
Then
I die cut all the images. Once they were all done, I arranged
the images in various layouts on the card base trying to decide what I
wanted to do with them.
I started with a bouquet and worked my way
through various arrangements down to a single stem. I decided I liked
the triple stems layout the best.
It meant I had three of the larger flowers
left over but that's OK- they're ready for a future project!
For each of the three individual stems, I chose two small and one larger
flower each. I used my now retired Two Way Glue Pen the adhere the stems to
the card base. 
The nine flowers and three bows were adhered with thin
short slices of Dimensionals!
It was a toss up between tiny Pearls in
the centres of the flowers or dots drawn with my white gel pen - the
Pearls won!
Finally,
I chose the Get Well Soon sentiment from the Hopeful Thoughts Stamp Set. Using Archival Basic Grey Ink, and Whisper White Cardstock, I stamped
the sentiment and punched it out using the Classic Label Punch. I also
punched two more out in Basic Grey Cardstock.
I cut one in half
horizontally and adhered them behind the sentiment top and bottom. 
Then I
cut both ends off the second Basic Grey label, so they were about half
and inch long and adhered them at either end of the sentiment so it
looks just like a normal layer! Then I adhered the sentiment to the
card front with Dimensionals.
That's about it for today. Until tomorrow, happy carafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
My Aunt's funeral yesterday went as well as these occasions can.
It was a beautiful service with very thoughtful poems that had been chosen by her son who lives in Canada, her daughter and granddaughter - truly a celebration of her life.
Even so, it was obviously a very emotional time for her two sisters, her daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter.
After the service we went for refreshments and spent a couple of hours down memory lane - sharing so many happy memories.
Needless to say, I made my cousin a sympathy card and will be making a video showing how I made it.
Instead of using the You've Got That stamp set as shown here, I'll be using one of the new stamp sets, called Birthday Blooms which is the stamp set everyone was given as a freebie when we checked in for the first ever OnStage Convention last week.
One of the swaps I received at Convention actually show-cased this stamp set.
It was made by a US demo named Phyllis Shepherd, who I met when I went to the final Leadership Convention in Florida last January.
She was able to do this because she was given this stamp set when she went to the final Founders' Circle Convention.
So many big changes within Stampin' Up! this year.
For my sympathy card, I heat embossed the flower from the You've Got This Stamp Set onto our card stock Vellum using Silver Embossing Powder.
For the top layer of Wisteria Wonder Card Stock, I used the Birthday Blossoms Stamp Set, stamped in Wisteria Wonder Ink and filled in the centres of the flowers using a white gel pen.
I die cut an oval from this layer using the Ovals Collection Framelits, die no. 5 (counting from the smallest) and then die cut a frame in Wisteria Wonder Card Stock using dies nos. 5 and 6.
The sentiment on the front of the card, which is from Hopeful Thoughts Stamp Set, was stamped in Wisteria Wonder Ink.
It was punched out with the Washi Tape Punch and I also punched out two more shapes, one in Wisteria Wonder and the other in Whisper White.
I cut them in half and layered the sentiment onto these pieces and adhered to the card front using Dimensionals.
Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph the inside of the card otherwise you would have seen I'd stamped the "Thinking of You... Please know that I care" using Wisteria Wonder Ink.
I'd also punched the four corners using the Curvy Corner Trio Punch.
Today, I'll be busy preparing for the last two classes I'm doing this year as well as videoing my OnStage swaps. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
At long last, my pre-order goodies from Stampin' Up! are on their way and will arrive on Tuesday! I just can't wait to have a go with the stamp sets I've ordered. I'm also excited to see the new five in-colours!
Tuesday is still quite a long way away and I'm not going to wish my life away! I'll be concentrating my time on make three videos tomorrow, and if I have any time left over - highly unlikely! - I'll carry on with my swaps. They must be ready by Thursday evening.
First things first, though. Tomorrow morning I will publish my next video which is a Sympathy Card. I needed a sympathy card last Saturday and I liked the result which is why I decided to make a video. I think it's one of those cards that can be a bigger challenge than more everyday events like birthdays, anniversaries, etc. This sneak peek is of my actual sympathy card and varies slightly from the one I made in the video, in part because I changed the paper piercing with watermarking.
Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
My daughter and her
two children came
to lunch today and
we had a beautiful
roast turkey with
all the trimmings.
As both my daughter
and my granddaughter
are Coeliacs, hubby
always makes
gluten-free sage
and onion stuffing,
onion sauce and
gravy. This is one
place they can
come to eat where
they know all the
food offered is
gluten-free and
they can safely
choose anything
that's on offer!
Before they
arrived, I
grabbed
a couple of
hours
in my studio and
made two cards.
Today's
is a Get
Well Card using
the Hopeful
Thoughts stamp
set. Unfortunately,
I made a mistake
when
I stamped the sentiment
directly onto the card. I
couldn't find a Stampin'
Up! die or punch that
would fit the sentiment
so I used a deckled
rectangle, that I believe
is a Spellbinder die,
which fits perfectly.
I painted the stamp using two Stampin' Write Marker pens - both discontinued colours: Poppy Parade and Gumball Green. Although it's quite time-consuming, I love the effect. The ribbon, which is also discontinued, is Gumball Green.
Why did I make a Get Well Card? No reason really, except I wanted to use this particular stamp and this was one of the sentiments in the set.
Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
For the sentiment on the front of thecard, I chose the SHARING IN YOUR SORROW sentiment from
the Hopeful Thoughts Stamp Set, and stamped it close to the two flowers
using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. 
I took the cardstock to my trimmer, and sliced
off the lower part so it was parallel with the sentiment.
As this is a sympathy card, I didn't want to use ribbon, sequins,
rhinestones etc., and decided to look through my stamp sets to see if I had a stamp that was designed to be used in the four corners of my
cardstock. 
For
the inside of the card, I made an Olive Green CS layer and a Shimmery
White CS layer the same sizes as those on the front of the card. 
JanB.
