Layering Love

Hello, Crafters.

I hope you've enjoyed your weekend. Unfortunately, I've broken my New Year's Resolution, I didn't haven't time to schedule my blog for 7 am this morning. I'll be back on the wagon today, but this is why I fell off!

After Church yesterday morning, hubby and I took a trip into Kingston-upon-Thames, primarily to change the North Face coat he had bought me for Christmas, which was a size too big. 

I must mention that here in the UK, although stores always seem to be having sales, it's normally the New Year sales which are best. 

As we were walking to the John Lewis store we saw a North Face store, and decided to have a look. We found the coat in the right size, but I also saw a very similar one that was better because it had a belt rather than toggles, and it had cuffs inside the sleeves. Hubby could see I'd fallen in love, and bought it for me! As I said the sales at this time of the year are normally the best!

We continued onto John Lewis as I needed to replace our John Lewis bathroom towels which were fourteen years old, and beginning to show their age. 

Unfortunately, or not, as it turned out, there weren't any designs we particularly liked. We decided to leave it and have a look in Marks & Spencers, which turned out to be a very smart move! We found a fabulous design, and my only hesitation was they are white towels, albeit with a beautiful trim. 

I explained this to hubby, and he said we'd be careful looking them to keep them as white as possible, and if necessary, will have to replace them sooner than fourteen years next time. Just to make sure he appreciated what he was saying, I asked him how much he thought these towels were going to cost. He said about £150 and I said more like £200.

He was still happy, so we gathered up what we needed, including one bath mat - we needed two but they only had one, so we decided we'd order online when we were back home! 

As the shop assistant was scanning the bar codes, she said "Oh, this one is 89". In total disbelieve I said "£89???". The assistant said "No, 89pence".  She checked back on what she had already scanned and found two bath towels at full price, and two at £1.49 each, one hand towel at 89p and all the others at full price. 

There weren't any notices on the shelves where we found the towels, so I went back to check to see if I could find more reduced bath towels and hand towels by checking the tickets. I couldn't! Hubby and I decided to buy the towels anyway.

Today he's taking the full price towels back to Marks & Spencers in Bluewater (large shopping centre near his office) to see if he can find any more at sale price, and an extra bath mat. If he can't we'll stick as we are.

He did try online last night but no joy! As there wasn't any notices on the the shelves about these towels, I wonder what other bargains we unwittingly walked passed!

Anyway, we arrived home and put all our other goodies away, and went out for dinner. I had time to make today's card, but not enough time for my blog!
Today's card is in Powder Pink, and I'd created the sentiment when I was making video no. 287 Pop Up Book Card. I can't remember why I didn't use it at the time, but it was too good to throw away! 

The sentiment is from the stamp set called Layering Love, and was stamped onto a piece of Whisper White Cardstock (CS) using Basic Black Archival Ink. 

I stamped the flowers, which are from the Big on Birthdays Stamp Set. I positioned them so I'd catch part of the design when I die cut the sentiment. 

Before I adhered the sentiment to the card with Dimensionals, I sprayed the Powder Pink CS layer with some Powder Pink Spritzer, but it was too light, so I gave it a quick spritz with Sweet Sugarplum. It can be seen but it's not too obvious!

I tied a piece of the 0.5" Finely Woven Ribbon in Powder Pink around the bottom of the card. 

I stamped, tone on tone, and punched three flowers each from the Flower Shop and Sprinkles of Life Stamp Sets. I adhered these to the card using tombow. 

To decorate inside the card, I stamped one Flower Shop flower, and adhered a small flower from the Sprinkles of Life Stamp Set.

That's it from me today, two hours later than planned! Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Petals & More Thinlits (2)

Hello, Crafters.

I'm sorry but my blog published again too soon yesterday! When this happened on Thursday, I assumed I had done something wrong, but not two days running! 

Hubby went onto the Blogger forum and it appears that Blogger has done an update and in the process, has created some errors - publishing too soon is one of them! I hope it doesn't take them too long to get this sorted out!

Yesterday I was planning to make Sunday's video, but I needed some pink ribbon, which I didn't have. Earlier in the week I'd seen a video showing how to colour ribbon, so I decided to have a go! 

I really enjoyed what I was doing, and ended up with seven different methods of colouring ribbons using Stampin' Up! products. I was really excited and decided to make that the subject of my video, and in next to no time, I was ready to make a start! 

Unfortunately, I noticed that the colour was coming off the ribbons onto the waterproof work surface I had prepared. I held one piece of ribbon between a folded sheet of kitchen towel and pulled it through.

I was amazed at how much colour came off the ribbon onto the kitchen towel. I was so disappointed!

I checked all seven pieces of ribbon with the kitchen towel, and the only one that was successful was the ribbon I'd painted with one of the Stampin' Blends - certainly not enough for a video!

Back to the drawing board to make the original video I'd planned! 

Unfortunately, I had spent so much time on this, that I tidied up quickly, so I could start on today's card, and leave myself enough time to write my blog, and schedule it! Making New Year's resolutions really keep me motivated! LOL!

Instead of looking at stamp sets to decide what to use for today's card, I looked at new, unused dies, and chose the Petals and More Thinlits Dies.

It's not strictly true that this set is unused because I have used the bird several times!

I started with a Whisper White Cardstock (CS) cardbase, and adhered a layer of Sweet Sugarplum CS on the front and on the inside. 

I took the two pieces of Whisper White CS that I was using as the top layers, and decided to use a spritzer, which is a technique I haven't used for such a very long time!

Using one of my SU Spritzer Bottles, I mixed some water with about five drops of my Sweet Sugaplum Re-inker.I stood my two Whisper White CS layers in my spray catcher, and gave two or three squirts to each piece. 

After leaving  them to dry for a little while, I adhered them to the Sweet Sugarplums layers. 

I took some Emerald Envy CS, and die cut the branches with leaves, as well as the trellis using Emerald Envy Cardstock (CS). Next, using Sweet Sugarplum CS, and ink, I stamped twenty of the little flowers from the Sprinkles of Life Stamp Set. 

I punched them out using the Tree Builder Punch, and used the rounded end of my paper piercer to push down in the centre to give the flowers some dimension.

Using Tombow, I adhered one flower onto each "hollow" leaf, and adhered one of the (now retired) tiny Basic Pearls into the centres of all the flowers on the outside of the card!

Again using Emerald Envy CS, I die cut AMAZING and YOU using the Celebrate You Thinlits Dies.
These dies are one of the €120/£90 gifts available during Sale-a-bration (SAB).

I took a piece of the ribbon I'd coloured Sweet Surgarplum and made a small bow, watching to see if it creates a mess! 

The final step was to adhere a small flower, plus a Basic Pearl inside the letter O of YOU. I've just noticed I also need to add a small white dot with my white gel pen, inside the three flowers on the trellis. The spritzing has added a nice feature to this card, and I must remember to use it more frequently.

That's about it for today. I hope you have a super weekend and until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

A Good Day with Berry Burst

Hello, Crafters.

My Stampin' Up! delivery yesterday included the two new scalloped circle punches, and I wanted to play with them straight away!

They co-ordinate with the Good Day Stamp Set brilliantly so it was easy to decide what I was going to base today's card on!

After a lot of fun stamping and punching images, using different inks, and different cardstocks, I knew which direction I wanted to go in. 

The scalloped circles produced by these punches are 1 1/8" and 1 3/8", and a lot of the images in the Good Day Stamp Set can be punched out with a 1" Circle Punch. 
 
When these stamped images are layered on to the larger scalloped circles, they leave a good 3/8" scalloped edge visible. 

I'm really taken with the border on the Just Because Stamp, because it's something different, and with the inner circle being just 1", it will take one of the little images. 

I stamped three Just Because stamps using Basic Black Archival Ink, on Berry Burst Cardstock (CS), and rather foolishly punched them out before colouring them!

It made painting the little "raindrops" that were decorating the outside rim, that more difficult, but I persevered with my Berry Burst Marker Pen. 

Normally I would have gone for my white gel pen, but I do try to be unpredictable, and I do think on this occasion it was a good decision to bypass it in favour of my Marker Pen!

Using Whisper White CS, and Basic Black Archival Ink, I stamped the rabbit, the tree with the swing and the sunshine stamp.

Using my Marker Pens, I coloured the images, and then punched them out using the 1" Circle Punch.

The first two fitted in the punch beautifully, but the last one had a sentiment going in a half circle over the top of the image, rather like a rainbow; I was careful as I did it and succeeded!

I took a Whisper White CS card base, and adhered a Berry Burst CS layer on the front and on the inside. I dry-embossed the front Whisper White CS layer with the Petal Burst Embossing Folder, before adhering it onto the Berry Burst CS layer. 

Next I added Dimensionals to the three Berry Burst Scalloped Circles, and then adhered the three images to them, again using Dimensionals.

Finally, I adhered them in a horizontal line across the top of the card. 

I chose the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Sorthern Serenade Stamp Set, and stamped it on a piece of Whisper White CS, using Basic Black Archival Ink. 

I used one of the the Stitched Shapes Oval Framelits dies to die cut the sentiment, and adhered it to a scalloped oval in Berry Burst CS which I'd die cut using the Layering Oval Framelits Dies.
 
I folded a piece of the Berry Burst Metallic Ribbon like a breast cancer ribbon, and put a Glue Dot where the two pieces crossed over each other, and then I added some Tombow, to make sure the ribbon didn't go walkabouts.

Using Berry Burst Ink, I stamped two little flowers from the Sprinkles of Life Stamp Set onto a scrap of Berry Burst CS, and punched them out using the Tree Builder Punch.

Using more Dimensionals, I adhered them onto the sentiment oval, and added a Basic Pearl to the centre of each.

To complete the card, I stamped the Bring on the Sunshne image on the Whisper White CS layer inside the card using Basic Black Archival Ink.

I coloured  the image in the same way I did on the front of the card. The only question mark I have over this card is, should I have cut the ribbon both ends instead of having a loop at one end?

I think it would look better, but if I try it and I'm wrong, I'm snookered! What do you think?

I've thoroughly enjoyed creating the last two cards......can I make it a hat trick today? Time will tell! Until tomorrow, Happy crafting,

JanB.       

Weather Together

Hello, Crafters.

These are three cards I've made using the Weather Together Stamp Set and the coordinating Umbrella Weather Framelits Dies. I don't have either of these products but this was one of the projects we were given at Team Training last Sunday. I love these cards and this bundle, but I haven't bought it because I don't think I'd use it very much.

Instead of making these three cards whilst I was at training, I spent some time stamping various umbrella variations in Crumb Cake, Dapper Denim and Peekaboo Peach Ink, on Whisper White, Dapper Denim, Peekaboo Peach and Crumb Cake Cardstock, so I could make them at home. Then I die cut them using the various umbrella and handle dies. I wished I'd also die cut some clouds! 

Photographs 1 and 2 - I started with a card base of Crumb Cake, then a layer of Whisper White and a top layer of Dapper Denim. Our goody bags included some sheets of the 2016 - 2018 In-Colours Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack. For the first card, I used the flower design DSP as an accent.

This was the only card I die cut the raindrops and stamped the sentiment before we packed up at the end of the day - the set also includes heart dies like the raindrops, too. I'm tempted to get the set just for those two dies! LOL!

I forgot about stamping and/or die cutting the clouds to bring home with me, so I had to have a look to see what substitutes I could use. I punched my clouds out using the Tree Builder Punch and cut one of them into a different "cloud" shape rather than using two the same!

Photographs 3 and 4 - Again, I produced my layers and the clouds for this card the same way I did for my first card, but I should have swapped the top two around so the Whisper White was on top! As I had already adhered mine together before I realised this, I changed the layer the image was on to Crumb Cake instead of Dapper Denim otherwise it wouldn't have been seen very well!

For my substitute for the heart dies, I punched some out using the Confetti Heart Punch and Dapper Denim Cardstock and adhered them onto the small panel of Whisper White. I used a Peekaboo Peach umbrella but used DSP instead of stamped cardstock. I chose a sentiment from the Sprinkles of Life Stamp Set which I thought went well with umbrellas!

Photograph 5 and 6 - On the third card, I adhered my layers starting with a base of Crumb Cake, then Dapper Denim and Whisper White on the top. The instructions we received for this card were to use three different umbrellas. I omitted the Dapper Denim Ruched Ribbon that was wrapped around the Peekaboo Peach DSP in the instructions, and also the bow that was on the middle umbrella handle.

As an alternative, I used three of the Dapper Denim stars from 2016 - 2018 In-Colour Enamel Shapes. I loved everything about this project - the card designs, the colour combos and the Weather Together bundle - many thanks, Natalie.


I still have some stamped and die cut umbrella images leftover, so I can make more cards if I like to.

Util tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Helping Me Grow

Hello, Crafters.

I had such a lovely day yesterday!

In the morning, my daughter dropped by before going off out for the day with her friend.

She stayed for a cup of tea and a chat.

Then late afternoon, my son dropped by on his way back from work.

He stayed for a drink and a chat. Our house now looks like a florist's.

I only spent enough time in my studio yesterday to make today's card.

I really love our new Copper Embossing Powder but after today, I really must try to leave it alone for a little while! I'm going to hide my white gel pen, too!

For today's card I started with a Crumb Cake Cardstock base, followed by a layer of Cajun Craze and then a top layer of Crumb Cake.

Using Sahara Sand Ink and the Hardwood Stamp, I stamped on the top layer.

I allowed this to dry completely before I moved on to the next step.

I chose the three spikes flower from the Helping Me Grow Stamp Set and inked it with Versamark.

I stamped this is the centre of the top layer.

Then I sprinkled Copper Embossing Powder over the flower and heat set it.

I coloured the flowers using my white gel pen.

This took quite a bit of time but I didn't go for perfection.

If you look closely at my colouring, you'll see it's not perfect but it doesn't notice when looking at it casually!  

You can see what I mean best in the photograph of the banner - look at the white stripes on either side. 

I chose one of the banner stamps from the Thoughtful Banners Stamp Set and stamped it onto a piece of Crumb Cake using Versamark.

In the centre of the banner, I stamped a sentiment from the Guy Greetings Stamp Set again using Versamark.

I spinkled Copper Embossing Powder over the images and heat set.

I punched the image out using the Duet Banner Punch. I also punched out a banner in Cajun Craze.

I trimmed as much of the surplus Crumb Cake Cardstock off the banner image and layered it onto the Cajun Craze Banner.

I adhered the layers to the card base using Tombow. Then I used Dimensionals to adhere the banner to the card front.

Finally, I stamped the dragonfly from the Touches of Texture Stamp Set onto a scrap of Crumb Cake, stamped in Versamark, heat set, coloured in white and fussy cut.

I curled the wings upwards, adhered the body to the card front with Tombow and put two small pieces of Dimensionals under the wings to keep them up.

I hope you have a great weekend.

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Foxy Friends & Heat-Embossed Sympathy Card Video.

Hello, Crafters.

This morning I posted the Heat-Embossed Sympathy Card that I featured here on Saturday. As I often do, I changed the colour scheme for my video and used Mint Macaroon and Always Artichoke.

I chose these two because it was the only colour combo I considered acceptable for a sympathy card that I also had a suitable ribbon for. I was really pleased with how well the colours worked.

I also changed the way I did the bow on the ribbon by using a bow maker so the bow was on one of the strands wrapped around the top two layers rather than just being a loose bow adhered on top.

Please see the last three photographs to see the card I made on the video and what I did with the ribbon.

Summer continues to play games with us!
As it looked as if it was going to rain yesterday, hubby quickly trimmed the hedges and mowed the lawn in the back garden, and then proceeded with other outside chores.

Fortunately it didn't rain and at times we had beautiful sunshine - today it looks pretty much the same! YAY!

Yesterday I decided to play with my Foxy Friends Stamp Set for the first time.

I've seen so many projects using this set, I decided to watch some videos before I started to see if there any particular useful tips, any drawbacks or pitfalls, etc. I was amazed at some of the ideas people have come up with!

The best video I watched was by Brenda Quintana aka Qbeesquest. She showed how she made the four basic animals that we heard about at Convention in April. i.e. fox, raccoon, skunk and cat.

Brenda also showed how to stamp the body and or body parts on strips of Whisper White to ensure least waste of cardstock.
This is the link to her video Foxy Friends Hershey Kiss Tents.

To make my card I used a card base in Whisper White Cardstock, with a layer of Calypso Coral and a top layer of the coloured mushroom design from the A Little Foxy Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack.

Using the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies, I cut a large oval out of the Smokey Slate mushroom design DSP.

I tried to cut the oval out so I could lay it in the position where I was going to adhere it onto the card front, so it looked like a complete piece of DSP except the area outside the oval was coloured and the inside was Smokey Slate - very much like the spotlight technique.

My idea has been lost on this card because there is too much going on - lesson learned - but I will try it again sometime in the future. You can best see the results by looking on photograph 5 that shows the top left hand corner of my card. 

I couldn't quite work out how to do this precisely, so had to rely on eyeballing it and, under the circumstances, I'm pleased how close I am to the centre.

I stamped the foxes in Calypso Coral and Basic Black Archival Ink and punched them out using the Fox Builder Punch, then adhered them together using Tombow.

I die cut a scalloped oval using Calypso Coral Cardstock and adhered the Smokey Slate mushrooms DSP to it. I adhered it to the card using Dimensionals. Then I adhered the foxes together and adhered them to the oval with Dimensionals. I added white dots with my gel pen to the scalloped layer.

I chose two sentiments from the Rose Wonder Stamp Set and stamped on top Whisper White Cardstock using Calypso Coral Ink, then layered it onto Calypso Coral Cardstock.

Before adhering this to the card front with Dimensionals, I added a thin strip of Calypso Coral about half an inch up from the  base.

Finally, I've posted three photographs of my sympathy cards so you can see what I was explaining at the beginning of today's blog.

The first one is the Mint Macaroon & Always Artichoke card I made during the video. The second one was the Crumb Cake and Elegant Eggplant I made before the video to experiment with the ribbon. The third card is how I had intended the forst card to look like had I now made my booboo!

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

JanB.

New Computer!

Hello, Crafters.

I'm sorry I'm later than normal this morning but I had a new computer installed last night and I'm still finding my way around! This PC has come with an updated version of Windows and everything is looking sooo different! I've found five issues that hubby says he will get sorted out for me this evening - hopefully - but it's no great shakes working one day without them.


So, onto today's card! There are two ways to make this card - the easy way and the hard way. No prizes for guessing which way I went! LOL!


I'll explain what I've done to create this card but if you'd like the easy option follow the instructions in brackets. I'm not sure how much of a challenge that'll be, but you can either follow my (hard) way or contact me and I'll think of a solution. 


I started with a card base of Crumb Cake cardstock with a layer of Lost Lagoon and a top layer of Crumb Cake. Use the Woodgrain Embossing Folder to emboss the bottom half of the top layer (or stamp the bottom half using Sahara Sand Ink on the Hardwood Stamp).

I made my shelf using the leftovers I saved when I made a Crumb Cake Berry Basket that I had stamped using the Hardwood Stamp. (I suggest you use Washi Tape so you can stamp the cat and the baskets on top - allow a little while for the ink to dry).

Using Crumb Cake Cardstock, I stamped and fussy cut the following (stamp all straight onto top layer, masking to get the two large and three small baskets on top of each other):-

a). Cajun Craze Ink - the Wellingon boots, the gloves - Gift from the Garden 

b). Cajun Craze and Lost Lagoon Ink - the trowel - Gift from the Garden - I did this by just tapping the handle onto the Cajun Craze Ink Pad and then tapping the spade end onto the Lost Lagoon Ink Pad.

c). Lost Lagoon Ink - the watering can - Gift from the Garden 

d). Cajun Craze Ink - two large baskets - Sprinkles of Life

e). Lost Lagoon Ink - three small baskets - Pedal Pusher

f). Lost Lagoon Ink - the flower on the watering can and the heart - Sprinkles of Life

g). Cajun Craze Ink - the cat - Festive Fireplace - this set is retired but there are cats in Made With Love, Giggle Greetings and You Little Furball that you could use instead. 

Note: I stamped the an extra image of the top of the boots onto a piece of scrap Crumb Cake so I could cut the loops out and adhere to the gloves and trowel (I think you'd need to use a Stamp-a-ma-jig to achieve this by direct stamping).

Which ever method you use for this card, I suggest you keep the sentiment and the heart, which has been punched out with the Sweetheart Punch. 

The final touches I added were to paint Clear Wink of Stella Glitter over the shelf and in the petals on the heart. I also went round the edge of the heart with the Wink of Stella working from the reverse side.

I hope it has been easy to follow whichever set of instructions appealed to you. I'm really sorry if I've been successful in confusing you, but please contact me so I can help you out! ☺ janb@janbcards.com

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.