Embossing & Sponging

Hello Crafty Friends,

Hope you are having a great day. I meant to post this yesterday, but Stampin'Up! released the new Occasions catalogue for Demonstrators to view (one of the perks of being a demo is viewing catalogues and products prior to general release) And well, to say it's amazing is an understatement!

I spent the day planning my wish list - I would buy the whole thing if I won lotto tonight, but this didn't happen (kicks couch) so it's back to wrangling the wish list and trying to squeeze more into my budget. 

Anywho, I do have a couple of cards I wanted to share.

They are basic cards with Thick Whisper White Card bases, sponged, cut into two panels. One panel is embossed with the Hexagons Embossing Folder, the other panel is heat embossed with white embossing powder.

This card below is sponged using Real Red, Melon Mambo, Berry Burst and Rich Razzleberry. The pineapple image is from the Pop of Paradise stamp set, the palm frond and sentiment is from Fabulous Flamingo stamp set, all heat embossed using white embossing powder.

This card has been sponged using Tranquil Tide, Bermuda Bay and Marina Mist inks. The snowflakes and sentiment are from the Colourful Seasons stamp set, embossed with white embossing powder.

The panels were applied to the card base using tombow.  I post a lot of my cards, for those not accompanying gifts, I try to minimise layers and embellishments. These cards are perfect, not too thick and nothing to get caught up on at the postal sorting depot. 

Okay, it's back to studying the catalogue. Until next time, stay awesome 

 

 

Retiform Technique

Hello Crafty Friends

A quick blog post today to share a card that uses the Retiform or Grid Technique to create a beachy themed card. Its an easy technique which involves masking, sponging and stamping.

There are many tutorials available out there for this technique so I wont bore you with the how to. I have used a few different stamp sets - High Tide and Pop of Paradise for the images and Hello Friend for the sentiment.

 

The sponging was done using Marina Mist and the images in Dapper Denim inks on Whisper White card. The card front was then mounted to a Dapper Denim card base.

 

Hope you give this fun technique a go. Until next time x

More Swaps Birthday Blooms

Hello Hello

 

Welcome to my blog crafty friends.

 

I made and took a few different designs to swap at the SU April 2017 Perth Convention. I adore the Birthday Blooms stamp set and couldn't resist making a few different cards using the same stamp. To not complicate things too much for my first Onstage swapping experience I also decided to make quite a few of the cards using the Mediterranean Moments stamp set and neutral coloured cardstock.

 

 

Plus I also made 10 of these Poppin Box Cards.

 

Here is a close up of three of the cards I haven't shown on my blog previously and were only designed a few weeks prior to Onstage (the Med Moments cards I designed a few months ago and details for those cards can be found in an earlier post)

 

 

This card has a Whisper White Card base and then a layer of black and a layer of pink pirouette card stock. I have used the Happy Hearts TIEF and the Hello sentiment from Pop of Paradise. I have stamped the Birthday Blooms image using Archival Black Ink onto Shimmery White card and then water coloured using an Aqua Painter with Pink Pirouette, Old Olive and Cucumber Crush inks. I added a leaf die cut in Pink Pirouette using the Botanical Builders Framelits.

 

 

I did a few in Island Indigo and Wisteria Wonder because well not everyone loves pink like I do. The Layering Squares Framelits were used to cut the frame in Wisteria Wonder and the hole in the Whisper White card front. I adhered this with foam strips to a layer of Island Indigo that was attached to a Whisper White card base. The Birthday Blooms flower image was stamped in Archival Black ink and water coloured using an Aqua Painter with Island Indigo, Wisteria Wonder and Old Olive inks. The sentiment Best Wishes is from the Bloom & Wishes stamp set and the background splashes in Island Indigo ink are made using the Timeless Textures stamps.

And then I just couldn't stop using this stamp set so made these So Saffron ones with some added stitching from the trusty sewing machine

 

I have used So Saffron, Whisper White and Sahara Sand card stock. The Sahara Sand layer was sewed using white cotton and then embossed using the Hexagons TIEF. I then sewed the doily before adding the Birthday Blooms image which was water coloured and fussy cut. I coloured using So Saffron, Daffodil Delight and Crumb Cake inks. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamp set and was heat embossed in white powder on black card stock and tucked under the flower image.

 

And these are the swaps I brought home!

 

Omg!!!!! Cards, Card Fronts, Bookmarks, Gift Tags, Magnets, Keychains, Bags of Lollies, Chocolates, Tea Bags, Coffee, Mints, Badge, Affirmation Bottle, Scissor Charms, Tea Light Candles, Easter Eggs & Chapstick!!!! The diversity was astonishing and the talent displayed in all the creations I revived was absolutely amazing! 

Bokeh Effect

One of the sponging effects I adore for soft backgrounds is the Bokeh technique.

 

Aren't they just stunning! They are reasonably easy to make - just a little inky.  Just take some white card stock, sponge randomly in a few chosen colours, then using different sized circle stencils sponge in white. I didn't have a stencil so just cut a few different sized circles using Dies and Punches on Cardstock and used that as my stencil.

I used Daffodil Delight, Pool Party and Marina Mist Inks and sponged randomly before applying White Craft Ink using the circle stencil. The Mediterranean Moments stamp was inked in Black Archival and coloured using the Water Colour Pencils. The Happy Birthday sentiment was heat embossed in white. Black Card Stock was used to matt before adhering to Pool Party card front.

 

When sponging I often use the same three colours - Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Melon Mambo. They blend well together and is a bright and impactful colour scheme.  The card below is an example of this colour combo.

 

Pineapples!! I love them! Raw and on Pizza!! When I lived in Queensland we drove a Motorhome from the Sunshine Coast upto Airlie Beach and saw many Pineapple Planations, Banana Fields and Sugar Cane Crops. The Pineapples were the sweetest, freshest and cheapest I have had the pleasure of experiencing. Whenever I see Pineapples it reminds me of this fun trip and the memories.

 

Using the same technique - laying colours down with sponges then applying circles in White Craft Ink, I then just placed it directly onto a black card front, heat embossed the sentiment in white and attached the die cut Tee using a dimensional. The Tee was made using the Custom Tee Bundle and the Pineapple from the Pop of Paradise stamp set. 

Hope my cards have inspired you to get into your crafty space and try the Bokeh effect on some of your card fronts. 

Happy Crafting xx

Pretty Kitty - Soft Kitty - Little Ball of...where's my wool?

Pretty Kitty was among the first stamps sets I got from the 2017 Annual Catalogue. We don't have cats as my two Maltese x ShihTzu are not big fans, but I grew up with cats and until we got our pooches, I had always owned a cat or lived with one lol who really owns a cat?!? 

Newspaper, balls of strings or boxes were always our cats favourite play things, which was great because they were cheap! With that in mind, I had to make the following card using one of the Kitty stamps.

 

Naughty lil Kitty! I heat embossed the hello greeting from the Pop of Paradise stamp set, a teeny tiny ball of bakers twine for the wool ball and my ever favourite the woodgrain background stamp was inked in basic grey and stamped on Bermuda Bay Cardstock. 

 

The card above uses the Hello sentiment again but this time heat embossed in white and die cut using layering circles. Two strips of DSP from the A Little Foxy Paper Stack were cut using the triple banner punch and adhered to a piece of Smoky Slate card stock that was embossed using the Large Polka Dot TIEF.

 

I love pastels, and also love how this card turned out. It's a simple technique - stamp image and then place a set of layering/nesting dies over the top and run it through your Big Shot. 

 

 

Again, another simple card using some DSP. Pretty Kitty was stamped in Archival Black and coloured in using an aqua painter and ink pads. The border stamp from the Tin of Tags stamp set was stamped in Calyspo Coral to match the card stock and DSP.

 

DSP from the Playful Palette Paper Stack was used with Sweet Sugar Plum Cardstock. The sentiment was die cut using Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits, and heat embossed in silver to match the little bling.


Happy Crafting x