Hello, Crafters.
For my classes yesterday I taught my ladies the thumping technique and the dancing daubers' technique. They were just totally bowled over by them and will certainly be using them again!
I've just uploaded today's video which shows how to make a fun project for children - Santa Door Hanger.
I've made the Santa with punch art and can be used for lots of other projects as well as the gift tag I show in the video, e.g. Christmas cards, boxes, gift bags.
As sometimes happens, I made a boo-boo while making this video!
While I was explaining about the bird's wings (moustache) I said it didn't matter which way up they went, as long as they both went the same way.
Literally as I was saying it, I put mine in opposite directions! What a dummy! LOL!!
The photographs here show the door hanger I made in the video, so you can see what I'm talking about!
Fortunately, I don't think it looks wrong!
I look at it every now and again, asking myself if I should have corrected it as soon as I had spotted it and I've decided no.
On the front of the hanger I've put the note: SANTA Please stop HERE.
It isn't often I use my computer for my cards but on this occasion I did.
I also used it for the message on the back, which reads: Dear Santa, I have been really, really good and this is my wishlist, please.
Then there is space for children to write in what they're hoping Santa is going to bring them.
It ends with: Thank you ever so much. Love from and room for them to sign their name.
Filling this out should keep them quiet for at least five minutes on Christmas Eve!!
Do you remember the first card I did for last week's Wondrous Wreath challenge - the one with the middle cut out and joined with Window Sheets (see the last photograph).
When I showed it to you, I said wasn't sure whether to decorate the inside where it showed through the acetate - I think I'm going to give it a go.
The reason I've finally decided yes, is that very soon I'm off to a product-based craft day and the product is the Wonderland Stamp Set.
I was having a good look at it in the catalogue last night and I see there is a beautiful stamp of a sprig of fir with a cone on it which would make a brilliant border design.
That's about it for today. I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend and until tomorrow, Happy crafting,
JanB.
Hello Crafters.
Did you notice I changed the title of this week's challenge, yesterday? This wasn't deliberate so today I've gone back to the original title!
Sorry if I'm causing confusion...........I confuse myself, too! LOL!
Like of a lot of my projects, I don't know if this has a proper title or not. I haven't seen this demonstrated before, so I'm calling it Dancing Daubers!
It's very similar to "thumping", which I hope to show you during this challenge, but it's more controlled.
Using one of the sentiments from the Cosy Christmas Stamp Set, I made three samples of the Dancing Dauber's technique yesterday but have only made one into a card.
I will use the other two at some time. Two of the colour schemes are fairly muted and the third is very definite.
The two colours I used on the card sentiment are Pool Party and Bermuda Bay. I keep one labelled dauber for each Stampin' Up! colour.
I started with the lightest colour, Pool Party, inked my dauber and danced it a few times in four places on my stamp i.e. north, south, east and west, making sure I stamped over an area a bit larger than the base of the dauber.
I re-inked now and again during each dance!
I changed to my Bermuda Bay dauber and danced it in the remaining blank spaces i.e. each of the four corners and in the centre.
The idea is to get the colours to blend in where they meet and not to leave any blank spaces.
Before I stamped my image onto a piece of Whisper White Card Stock, I "huffed" on my stamp to make sure the ink was still moist
The other two colour combinations I used are Wisteria Wonder with Elegant Eggplant and Real Red with Garden Green.
This is a great way of pulling two colours together on a card and the colour combination possibilities are endless.
If you wanted a rainbow effect, you might find thumping will be a better method for you to use.
To make my card, I started with a card base of Bermuda Bay Card Stock, with a layer of Pool Party. I
used Whisper White for the top layer and dry-embossed it using the Woodgrain Embossing Folder.
To stamp the wreath from the Wondrous Wreath Stamp Set, I used Pool Party for the first layer, followed by Bermuda Bay with the final layer, the berries, in Island Indigo. I die cut it using the Wonderful Wreaths Framelits Dies and mounted onto my card using Dimensionals.
I stamped the bow from the Peaceful Wreath Stamp set and die cut it. There is a bow in the Wondrous Wreath Stamp Set but I just love this raffia type bow. The flower also came from the first stamp set. I stamped it in Pool Party and die cut. Both the bow and the flower were adhered to the wreath using Dimensionals.
To finish my card, I adhered the sentiment onto a piece of Pool Party Card Stock, using Tombow, and then adhered it to the card front using Dimensionals. I love this technique in all three of these colour combinations and I'll certainly be using it again.
Until tomorrow, happy crafting,
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
I really didn't know what to call this week's challenge!
I want to show you different products to use, or different ways, to ink your stamps - so I settled on calling it: Inking Stamps Differently
Rather than trying to explain what I mean, I'm starting straight away with explaining project number 1.
When you took your first look at today's card, did you immediately think stamping tone on tone for the bows in the background? I imagine that's what I would probably have thought but it isn't.
I used Versamark to stamp the bows on the background. Although it initially has to be sticky to be able to hold embossing powder, Versamark does dry non-sticky.
I prefer to use this method if I want the background to be lighter than what I would achieve if I used the same colour ink as paper.
To create this card I started with a base of Garden Green Card Stock, with a layer of Whisper White, followed by a top layer of Garden Green.
I used the bow stamp from the Peaceful Wreath Stamp Set to create my background on the top layer by stamping with Versamark - this is sometimes referred to as a watermark.
Using our Basic Black Archival Ink, I stamped the wreath from the same stamp set onto some Whisper White Card Stock.
I coloured it using marker pens: Garden Green for the holly leaves, Real Red for the berries and Soft Suede for the branches.
I die cut the wreath using the dies from the Wonderful Wreath Framelits Dies and adhered to the front of the card using Dimensionals.
Using Real Red Ink, I stamped the bow on a piece of Whisper White Card Stock and die cut it.
I used a Dimensional to adhere it to the wreath.
I chose the sentiment from the Embellished Ornaments Stamp Set, and as previously, used Real Red Ink and stamped onto Whisper White Card Stock.
I punched it out using the Decorative Label Punch making sure I kept the sentiment to the top.
In the space I'd left at the bottom, I stamped the little squiggly line from the Oh, What Fun Stamp Set using Garden Green Ink.
As I wasn't going to layer this with any other card stock, I sponged the edge with Garden Green Ink. I adhered this to the card front with Dimensionals, too.
That's it for today's card. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
Yesterday I received an email from one of my blog followers, who put forward six ideas for challenges/video tutorials.
Some of the suggestions are actually multi-choice ideas so there are many more than six ideas altogether.
As I said in my blog yesterday, I think if one person asks to see something, others would like to see it, too! Many thanks, Veronica, your suggestions will be very useful!☺
It's now "make your mind up time" for me! Ever since I finished last week's challenge, I've been thinking about making this week's challenge: can I make 5 different projects using the snow globe in the Sparkly Seasons Stamp Set.
I hesitate because I'm not sure if I can come up with five different ideas for one item rather than a complete stamp set.
Because it's a challenge, I've decided to go for it! To be successful in this challenge I have to find five different ways of decorating the globe.
For the first card I've used Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper for Rudolph the Reindeer to stand on with white snow falling around him.
This comes from another stamp in the Sparkly Seasons set and has been stamped in Whisper White Craft Ink.
I started the card with a base of Soft Sky Card Stock, with a layer of Whisper White Card Stock and a top layer of Sky Blue.
I started stamping the globe base using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink on a scrap of Sky Blue, which I fussy cut leaving a thin blue frame around the edge.
I laid this onto my top blue layer and positioned where I wanted the globe to go. I stamped the globe and then the falling snow using Whisper White Craft Ink - it's a photopolymer stamp set so positioning is easy! I put that to one side to allow it to dry.
In the meantime, I stamped Peace and At Christmas from the Peaceful Wreath Stamp Set, onto scraps of Whisper White, using Crumb Cake Ink, and layered them onto Crumb Cake Card Stock.
I stamped Rudolph from the White Christmas Stamp Set onto a scrap of Crumb Cake Card Stock and fussy cut it out but not the antlers, I cut them off! I stamped another Rudolph inside the globe more or less in the middle.
I cut the Glimmer Paper to shape and adhered in place using Tombow. Then I adhered Rudolph, the two sentiments and the globe base in place, all using Dimensionals.
I stamped the bow from the Peaceful Wreaths Stamp Set onto Soft Sky Card Stock using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. Then I die cut it using the die from the Wonderful Wreath Framelits Dies.
The final step was to paint the tip of Rudolf's nose red using a Real Red Marker. Finally, I added a tiny spot of Crystal Effects to it to make it 3D and shiny!
That's one project completed, four more to go! Here's hoping I can meet this week's challenge! In the meantime, until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
YAY! Success. I didn't use Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper, nor heat embossing, nor black & gold for project 5.
I really wasn't sure how I was going to start this card but I had to make a video first, in preparation for Sunday morning.
The card I was videoing was the black & gold swinging snowflake card which was last week's no. 5 project but I decided I'd use Very Vanilla and Pool Party instead.
My normal process for a video is to prep for two cards - one which I make before the video and the other for the video. When I started yesterday's first card I made a mistake by using die number 7 of the Circle Collections instead of number 6.
I put the circle and card aside and prepped another card. After that, the video was plain sailing. Once I had finished it, it was time to do project no. 5. I saw the Very Vanilla "mistake" sitting on top of my box and wondered if I could use it for my project. This is the result.
I started with my "mistake, which was a card base of Very Vanilla Card Stock and I used the Circle Collection Framelts Die no 7 to die cut the opening. Then I added a layer of Cherry Cobbler.
Initially I was planning to use the music sheet design from the Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper for the inside of my card but felt it looked a bit overcrowded with the wreath on top . What do you think? See the last two photographs.
Using Black Memento Ink, I stamped the wreath from the Peaceful Wreath Stamp Set onto Acetate. I coloured it in from the back using the Dark Cherry Cobbler Blendibilities for the holly berries, a green Sharpie for the leaves and a brown Staedtler Lumocolo pen for the branches.
I adhered the Acetate to the card base using Glue Dots and then adhered the Cherry Cobbler layer using Tombow. I attached a Very Vanilla "rim" to the front of the card and a Chery Cobbler "rim" on the inside of the card.
I used my marker pens to colour the sentiment from Cosy Christmas stamp set - the holly berries and flowers in Cherry Cobbler, the fir, stems and leaves in Cucumber Crush and the sentiment in Chocolate Chip.
I huffed on the stamp to re-moisten the ink and stamped onto some very Vanilla card stock. Painting stamps in this manner never gives a perfect image but I love the look it does give.
I stamped the bow from the Peaceful Wreath Stamp Set in Chocolate Chip Ink onto Very Vanilla Card Stock and die cut it with the corresponding die from the Wonderful Wreath Framelits Dies. The bow and the sentiment have both been adhered to the card front with Dimensionals.
By the time I reached this far, it was getting late! I
sort-of cheated with the paper on the inside of the card! It's a wood grain design from the retired Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper.
Normally I would have used the Hardwood Stamp on Very Vanilla Card Stock, probably in Sahara Sand; or I might have used the Woodgrain Embossing Folder.
The final touch was to punch a piece of Very Vanilla using the Decorative Label Punch. I adhered it at the bottom of the inside right hand side of the card, low enough so it couldn't be seen through the Acetate. This is for the inside sentiment.
Which card do you think looks best - the music or the woodgrain? Do you think the music design makes the card look too busy from the outside?
Watch out for tomorrow's video. I'm not making this card but I will be showing you how to die cut circles onto layers so the card stock lines up. I had to do it the hard way, card base upwards, for this card because I'd made a mistake but on the video I show you the easy way i.e. top layer down to card base.
I hope you have a great weekend. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
I have just uploaded today's video which I have called simply Small Gift Box. I needed it to put my September Thank You gifts for my online customers in. The gifts are cute little Japanese Girl tweezers. I can't work in my studio without them, so I'm hoping this will be a very useful gift.
My good friend and upline Kim was meant to come over and see me yesterday. She was going to help me with some things I wanted to know online and I was going to help her with videoing. But it was not meant to be!
Her car broke down so she thought she'd do the journey by train! To drive to my house would take about 40 minutes but to do the journey by train it would take nearly two hours!!
We both live just outside the M25. If you're not familiar with the M25, it's the motorway that goes all the way round London through the suburbs. On a normal day, barring any problems, it's a pretty straight forward journey.
To do it by train, it's one train into London Bridge Station and another train out to me. Altogether, from door to door, it would have taken almost two hours........and another two back. Can you imagine wasting all that crafting time! Needless to say we cancelled and have rescheduled for next month.
After I had recovered from the disappointment, I started work in my studio.
I finished off work on my latest Stampin' Up! business project (more about that in a week or two) and then I started on today's project. I've made two cards which are quite similar because I couldn't decide if I wanted to do black & gold or white & gold! Looking at the finished cards, I prefer the white and gold but that's because of the design, not the colour! Which is your favourite and is it because of the colour or the design?
I'll go through the process for the white card as there is more to it. I started with a card base of Whisper White card stock, layered with Gold Foil and then the icicle designed gold and white paper from the Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper.
All the paper in this pack is shiny and feels "soft" - it's gorgeous! I then adhered a white Tea Doily with a gold Foil Doily on top.
I used my Embossing Buddy on a piece of Whisper White card stock and then, using Versamark, I stamped the house image from the Cosy Christmas Stamp Set with Peace from the Peaceful Wreath Stamp Set immediately under the house. I also stamped ...at Christmas, also from Peaceful Wreath. I covered with Gold Embossing Powder and heat set all the images.
I die cut the house using the number 5 die (counting from the smallest) from the Circle Collections Framelits and adhered, with Tombow, on top of the gold doily. I cut ...at Christmas into a thin strip and layered onto a strip of gold foil. I adhered it to the card front using Dimensionals and added a small bow I'd made using the Gold Cord Trim.
I followed more or less the same procedure for the black and gold card except for the holly motif which is from the Oh, What Fun Stamp Set. If I've missed anything you'd like to know, please get in touch. ☺
That's about it for today, so until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
Yesterday, after much deliberation and agonising (a little bit of exaggeration there!) I finally decided on the stamp set Cosy Christmas Stamp Set for this week's challenge.
It was a choice between this or Peaceful Wreath and in project 1, quite unintentionally, I used both sets!
I started this card with a base of Whisper White Card Stock, with a layer of Red Foil followed with a layer of Whisper White.
Using Garden Green Ink, I stamped the holly from the Perfect Wreath Stamp Set twice at the bottom and painted the leaves using my Garden Green Marker Pen. I used my Medium Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities Pen for the holly berries.
I used Versamark and Gold Embossing Powder for the sleigh stamp from the Cosy Christmas Stamp Set and heat set it. I also did that to the sentiment which is from the Embellished Ornaments Stamp Set. I cut this into a small rectangle and layered it onto some Gold Foil.
I used a very thin strip of Red Foil across the card, just over half way up. I made the snow in the top half using my 2-Way Glue Pen and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. The sentiment has been adhered to the card front with Dimensionals.
The final step was adding Crystal Effects to the holly berries. I don't know how long it takes Crystal Effects to dry completely but I always leave it overnight to be on the safe side.
The quality of the photographs, leaves quite a lot to be desired, but I hope you can see the shine from the Crystal Effects on the berries in the last photograph.
Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
JanB.
Hello, Crafters.
I've just uploaded today's video which shows how to make a fun project for children - Santa Door Hanger. 
I look at it every now and again, asking myself if I should have corrected it as soon as I had spotted it and I've decided no.
Filling this out should keep them quiet for at least five minutes on Christmas Eve!!
When I showed it to you, I said wasn't sure whether to decorate the inside where it showed through the acetate - I think I'm going to give it a go.
