Teapot of Flowers

Hello, Crafters.

I hope you've enjoyed the weekend.

Yesterday I carried on playing with the Cups & Kettle Framelits Dies and I thought about using the teapot as a vase.

I started by choosing a design from the Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack .

My thoughts were that I'd die cut the teapot in the DSP and stamp the flowers in the same colour.

The design I chose is the 1" strip that goes along the bottom of the card, which meant my flowers would be Calypso Coral (see second card).

Once I'd die cut the teapot I decided the pattern of the DSP would conflict with the flowers, stems and leaves.  

When I'd finished the card, I wondered if it would look better with smaller flowers, so I made the Pool Party card.

The process to make these two cards was the same with the exception of the flowers and the DSP.

I'll explain how I made the card but when there are differences between the two, I'll give the Pool Party card details first and the Calypso Coral card details will be in brackets immediately after.

I started with a card base of Shimmery White Cardstock with a layer of Pool Party (Old Olive) and a top layer of Shimmery White - all adhered together using Tombow.

I cut a one inch strip of  Birthday Bouquet DSP (Pretty Petals DSP Stock) and glued it to the bottom of the card front.

I die cut a teapot using the Cups & Kettle Framelits Dies in Shimmery White Cardstock.

I used the Fringe Scissors to cut some strands of Mossy Meadow (Old Olive Cardstock) and cut the strips in half length-ways so I had five stems.

I also punched out 5 branches from the Bird Builder Punch.

I placed the teapot where I wanted it to go and drew very lightly around it using a pencil.

Using this as a guide, I adhered the five stems at varying heights and did the same with the branches.

When I'd finishing positioning all the stems and branches I erased the pencil marks.

I stamped the flowers from Pictogram Punches (Petite Petals) Stamp Set using Pool Party (Calypso Coral) Ink on Shimmery White Cardstock.

I punched them out using the flower punch from the Itty Bitty Accent Punch Pack (Petite Petals Punch) and adhered them in position using Tombow.

I finished off with pearls in the centres.

I stamped the sentiment using Mossy Meadow (Old Olive) Ink with the sentiment from the Sky Is The Limit (Picture Perfect) Stamp Set.

I adhered the teapot and lid to the card using Dimensionals.

I've decided I like both the small and larger flowers.

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

What on earth................??

Hello, Crafters.

I imagine the title of today's blog is what you thought when you first saw today's card!! LOL!  When I showed hubby, who's my best critic, he frowned and said "What's the connection?" which surprised me a bit considering we're going out for dinner on Saturday to celebrate seventeen years! But it did make me question my own thought processes!!

I have to admit, I did consider not showing you the card but I decided against that because I would really like to know what you think. I'll start at the beginning and explain how this card evolved!

This week I've been working with the Cups & Kettle Framelits Dies which includes a knife, fork and spoon. As yet, I haven't seen anyone, including the designers at Stampin' Up! make a project using them and I have to say that I think it's a bit odd for them to be included with cups and a kettle/teapot. So I started to think what/how they could be used.

Naturally my thoughts went to food, eating, plate, meal, why would they be on a card and what does a meal have to do with greeting cards. My conclusion was couples go out to celebrate all kinds of personal anniversaries, therefore the sentiments You & Me as well as Happy Anniversary seemed appropriate. 

All very logical but to have a card with two plates of food/two meals on?? I'm not sure it works which is why I'd really like to hear your thoughts on it. Whether it gets a thumbs up or a thumbs down, I'll still explain how I put it altogether. 

The card is larger than normal at 6" x 6" and started with a Whisper White base, with a layer of Pool Party, followed by a layer of Whisper White. As my theme was a meal, I wanted the top layer to look like a tablecloth. To achieve this I used a sheet of patterned vellum from the Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum Stack (only available as a free product during Sale-A-Bration which ends on 31st March 2016). 

The plate base is Whisper white and I used a sheet of a Pool Party Design from Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack to decorate the plate and the handles of the knives and forks. The fish is from the Bear Hugs Stamp set, stamped on Soft Suede Cardstock using Early Espresso ink and die cut using the Bear Hugs Framelits dies.

The lemon is from the A Nice Cuppa Stamp Set, stamped in Daffodil Delight Ink on Daffodil Delight Cardstock and cut out freehand. The green vegetable was a double leaf stamp from the Friends & Flowers Stamp set, stamped in Garden Green Ink on Garden Green Cardstock and punched out with the Festive Flower Builder Punch.

The creamed potato was a cloud from the Sky Is The Limit Stamp Set (only available as a free product during Sale-A-Bration which ends on 31st March 2016). It was
stamped in Smokey Grey Ink onto Whisper White Cardstock and cut out freehand. I die cut the knives and forks using the dies from the Cups & Kettle Framelits Dies. I painted them with Clear Wink of Stella Glue Pen to give them a "metal" look.

I stamped the You & Me sentiment, which is from the Perfect Pennants Stamp Set, and the Happy Anniversary sentiment, which is from the Timeless Love Stamp Set, in Versamark and then heat embossed using Silver Embossing Powder. I punched the banner for the You & Me using the Triple Banner Punch.

My thoughts? I like the plate of food, the layout, the sentiments, etc..............I'm just not convinced two plates of food are right for a greeting card, especially a romantic celebration card. Maybe I should have just omitted the food but kept the plates - now there's a thought, a bit too late for today's blog, though!! Please leave a comment in the box below to let me know what your thoughts are.

Many thanks and until tomorrow, happy crafting.
 
JanB.

Love Blossoms Cards

Hello, Crafters.

Sunday's team training went really well. Needless to say I came home with some brilliant swaps, which I'll share with you later in the week. The cards we made in the afternoon were brilliant. Not quite my style but lovely all the same. Today I'm sharing my take on the Love Blossoms cards.

I didn't actually make my cards while I was at training because I can make them at home and I like to make the most of my time with other demos. So I tend to spend my afternoon going around talking with other demos! We all have such different ideas which we're happy to share, it's time very well spent.

We were given all the materials we needed to make four Love Blossoms cards and five masculine Going Places cards - I'll share those with you later in the week.

The masculine cards were first and we used a lot of the Going Places Designer Series Paper Stack (DSP), which made me think. Although I buy various packs of DSP, I don't use it very often, so it's not surprising I always have so much left over!

I decided that when I made the Love Blossoms cards, I'd substitute card stock for DSP and these are the results. Natalie's cards were designed, very successfully, to show that the Love Blossoms set can be used for any occasion, just with a change of sentiment.

One change I've made to all nine cards is to add an extra layer. As I was working from home, the only cardstock I used from the pack I received at training was the two sheets of Blushing Bride A4 cardstock which I used for the card bases. One of the features on Natalie's cards that I really love is the strips of Blushing Bride Glimmer Paper.
 
As well as the glimmer paper, all cards have a base of Blushing Bride cardstock, with a layer of Whisper White and topped with designs from the Love Blossoms Designer Series Paper Stack. They all use Bloomin' Love Stamp Set as well.

This is a quick run down of other products I've used:

Photograph 1: Petite Pairs Stamp Set, Hearts Border Punch, Rose Red Cardstock, Clear Wink of Stella Pen 

Photograph 2:  Oval Collections Framelits, Sky is the Limit Stamp Set (Sale-A-Bration)

Photograph 3: , Petite Pairs Stamp Set, Bloomin Heart Thinlits Dies, Pearls

Photograph 4: Bloomin Heart Thinlits Dies, Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set, Hearts Border Punch, Rose Red Cardstock, Clear Wink of Stella Pen 

Tomorrow I'll share the swaps I made for Team Training as well as a video showing how to make them.

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Green Tree Tops Video

Hello, Crafters.

Today's video shows how to change the five tree stamp in the Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set from barren trees into glorious summer trees: Green Tree Tops with Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set!

I posted my original card here last week and I was asked how I did the trees.

Before I made the video I played around with different cardstocks and I used Wink Of Stella on one of them as well.

The first cardstock I used was our normal Whisper White but as I show in the video, it doesn't take very much before the moisture content of the products used caused the cardstock to start disintegrating.

If you're careful, this cardstock can be used but we have others that are easier to use.

The second cardstock I tried was our Watercolour Paper. With this I found I didn't get a very crisp image of the trees, presumably because the paper has texture to it.

When I went over the tree tops the results were OK but not great.

I wasn't too bothered about that because part of the plan was to put Dazzling Diamonds or Wink of Stella on top.

The tree trunks and ground were a different story! When I went over them, the colour spread out but left a definite line in the centre.

I decided this wasn't the best use for our Watercolour Paper!

Next I tried our Shimmery White A4 Cardstock - the result was brilliant! The green was the best green out of all my experiments.

As I was so pleased with the result of this one I went ahead and completed the card.

I allowed it to dry a little bit while I stamped, painted and fussy cut the plane out. I also stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment. 

When I'd finished this, I went back to the image, painted over the tree tops with my Two Way Glue Pen and covered with Dazzling Diamonds.

It looked fabulous. Then I wondered what it would look like if I used Wink of Stella instead of Dazzling Diamonds.

Top card: Whisper White Cardstock & Dazzling Diamonds
Second card: Shimmery White Cardstock & Dazzling Diamonds
Third card: Shimmery White Cardstock & Wink of Stella

I had one image already prepared on our regular Whisper White Cardstock so I tried it on there.

The result was sparkly tree tops but not as sparkly as the Dazzling Diamonds.

The green didn't lose any of it's brightness and the images stayed flat, whereas the Dazzling Diamond trees were definitely raised - not a massive amount but just enough to give real texture to the card.

My verdict? Definitely Shimmery White Cardstock but Dazzling Diamonds vs. Wink of Stella? I don't know!

I love the brightness of the green with Wink of Stella and I love the texture of Dazzling Diamonds. If I had to make a decision, I'd go for Wink of Stella because it looks more summery.

I think you can just about see the differences in the last photograph.

The Shimmery White Cardstock is quite creamy in comparison to our regular Whisper White Cardstock (compare first and second cards).

The first and second cards have been created with Dazzling Diamonds and the third card is with Wink of Stella.

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

JanB  

Sky Is The Limit Diorama Card - Video

Hello, Crafters.

This morning I uploaded my video showing how to make a Diorama Card - Sky Is The Limit.

To make my first one, I used the Bear Hugs Stamp Set which will be available on 5th. January 2016. This is when the new Spring Catalogue goes live and also sees the start of Sale-a-bration.

I thoroughly enjoyed making it and experimented with a larger size too. The normal height of these cards is 3 1/2", so I tried one at 4 1/2". It worked brilliantly.

Part of the motivation for me to try this was that the adult bears were too tall for the shorter card. 

I decided against making the Bear Hugs card for the video as there were so many small parts, it would have taken so much longer than normal, even by preparing all the small parts first.  

For the video, I used the Sky Is The Limit Stamp Set which is one of the products which will be available as a free product in the Sale-a-bration catalogue.

Please note that if you're interested in getting one of these stamp sets, it'll only be available (as well as two other products in the catalogue) until 15th February 2016.

When I first made this card I wasn't sure if my idea would work although I couldn't think of any reason why it wouldn't!

My plan was to stamp the tree stamp from the Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set in the same way I did for yesterday's card.

Then I wanted to heat emboss the plane using black embossing powder on top of the trees.

My only concern was how much of the trees was going to be visible through the body of the plane and if I'd be able to disguise it. I'm really pleased that my plan worked brilliantly.

By the way, because I've had quite a bit of interest about how I created Friday's  card, I've decided to make a video showing how I did it. Hopefully, it'll be ready for posting on Wednesday.

As planned, while I was waiting for today's video to upload onto YouTube yesterday, hubby and I took the Christmas decorations down.

It's like packing for a holiday, it takes hours on the way out but no time at all to pack to come home.

It took us all day, allowing for discovering the burglary, to put the decorations up but just two hours to take them all down, wrapped and boxed up and back up in the loft!

Finally, I want to share with you one of the Christmas cards we received. It's not hand made but it really is a stunningly beautiful card (it's from Marks & Spencer).
 
I don't think my photographic skills do this card the justice it really deserves. I will definitely be keeping this and see if I can come up with something along similar lines, although not necessarily for Christmas.
 
That's about it from me today. Happy Sunday and until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Sky Is The Limit - Masculine Card

Hello, Crafters.

I didn't quite get round to making Sunday's video yesterday! I have everything ready and will do it first thing this morning!

Then, while it's uploading onto YouTube, hubby and I are going to take our Christmas decorations down. I know the house is going to look very bare without them but it won't take long to get used to it again.

Hubby brought the outside lights in yesterday and gave them a jolly good clean. He left them in the conservatory overnight to dry out, so they can be put away today.

My card today is a great masculine birthday card, even though I've used Dazzling Diamonds on the trees. The stamp set I've used will be available as a free product during Sale-a-bration (SAB) which starts in 3 days!!

Please note: this stamp set, along with two other products in the SAB catalogue, will only be available until 15th February 2016.

This will be one of the few stamp sets I'll keep once it's no longer available. The reason being that it's great for masculine cards and I'll use it for my own personal cards and commissions.

To make this card, I started with a card base of Whisper White Card Stock with a layer of Mossy Meadow, adhered together with Tombow.

I prepared the tree stamp from the Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set by using Daubers to ink the tops of the trees in Mossy Meadow Ink and the trunks in Chocolate Chip Ink.

I huffed on the image before stamping it about three quarters of an inch from the bottom of my top layer of Whisper White Card Stock. Then I used a Blender Pen over the tops of the trees to spread the green ink around.

After that I went over the green areas with my Two Way Glue Pen and covered with Dazzling Diamonds. I shook off the excess and put to one side to allow to dry.

While I was waiting, I stamped the aeroplane image using StazOn Jet Black Ink onto another piece of Whisper White Card Stock. I used Chocolate Chip Ink and a Blender Pen to paint the body of the plane. Then I cut the plane out.  

The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the same stamp set as the plane and I stamped it using StazOn Jet Black Ink, slightly crooked! I adhered the plane to the card using Dimensionals.

I think this may be a good card for a video - the jury's out on this at the moment!

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

JanB.

Merry Christmas To You All

Good morning Crafters.

I wish you all a happy and joyous Christmas.

I love Christmas and one of the best moments is on Christmas Eve and the shops have all closed. It's that wonderful moment when I say, if I've forgotten anything now, we'll have to go without! Now I can relax and really appreciate Christmas!

Christmas Day for me always starts by going to Church with my family. Then we'll come back and have a sumptuous Christmas dinner cooked by hubby with me being the go-fer!

After all the tidying up has been done, we'll start opening presents. Later we'll play games, new ones if anyone received any, otherwise old favourites.  

This is how Christmas has always been for me except, when I was small we had a lot of family living close by - aunts, uncles, cousins - and we'd have a full house for Christmas - oh, happy, happy days!

Yesterday I made the video for Sunday which shows how to make a slider pop-up card. I'm really pleased to say it was so much easier than the magic elf card!

It still took me three goes to get all the measurements right. I work in inches and although my Stampin' Up! trimmer has inches across the top, it only has centimetres going downwards - I found it a real challenge but I managed and I'm really pleased with the result!

I made today's card using the Sale-a-bration 2016 Wildflower Fields Designer Series Paper. I have fallen totally in love with this DSP.

The two designs I've used are on the back of each other and it pairs up brilliantly with one of my favourite colours, too - Lost Lagoon.

The sentiment is from the Sale-a-bration stamp set called The Sky's The Limit. I used Lost Lagoon Ink on Whisper White Card Stock and punched it out using the Decorative Label Punch, which I then layered onto Lost Lagoon Card Stock.

The bird is from a new stamp set that will be available from our Spring catalogue, which goes live on 5th January 2016, called First Sight.

I hope you have a joyous day and until tomorrow, God bless.

JanB.