Happy day for the Paper Craft Crew

Welcome to another mild Autumn day in Melbourne! A sprinkling of rain but at least its not cold :-) I have had a lovely day as a good friend that attended our Convention last week popped in with the new Catalogue for me to see - and all her amazing swaps! Such fun!! And now being Wednesday, it is time for another sketch from the Paper Craft Crew.

An interesting sketch this week!! And if you are wondering how to incorporate all those chevrons…you are not alone :-) So it is a good challenge for me too! 

I decided to change the heart shape to a circle which led to the making of a square card :-)

For the card base I used some Whisper White card and the DSP is from the soon retiring I Am Me pack  which I will miss! This is added to a piece of Calypso coral embossed with my favourite Decorative dots EF - so glad this is coming back soon!!

I embossed the spray image from Happy Watercolor with Black EP before getting out my little paint brush and using some more water colouring ideas from the recent Online Card Class and used both Calypso Coral and Strawberry Slush inks - and some Pacific Point on the butterfly. Embossing the images really does make it easier for the water (and colour) to stay where you want it :-)

For the greeting I used a stamp from A Dozen Thoughts and stamped directly onto the Calypso coral card, cutting it out with the fun Word bubble Framelits. The chevrons are punched with Chevron Border punch and then their wings were trimmed down a little :-) And then it was time for some Bling!

Card stock: Whisper White, Calypso Coral

Designer Series Paper: I Am Me

Inks: Calypso Coral, Strawberry Slush, Versamark, Black Stazon

Stamps: Happy Watercolor, A Dozen Thoughts, Papillon Potpourri

Accessories: BS, Decorative Dots EF, Circle Framelits, Word Bubble Framelits, Black Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Paint brush, Chevron Border Punch, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have time to check out all the great cards the Design Team members have for you this week at the Paper Craft Crew.

As for me…well, my good friend has been kind enough to lend me her copy of the Catalogue overnight so I'd better go get reading :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Hello more water colouring

Hello everyone, what a wet morning we woke up to today! Quite a shock to the system after the mild Autumn weather we have been enjoying…but it had to come to an end of course!
So it was a great opportunity to practise some water colouring techniques from the Online Water Color classes last week. These classes simply involve watching videos of the techniques (so is not hard!) and a PDF Tutorial is also available for each technique too.

So here is some of my "home work" - another background and also colouring of a stamped image.

I won't go into detail about the techniques used as they are based on the Class tutorials but I am happy to share how I pulled it all together :-)

The card base is Strawberry Slush and for the background I used Strawberry Slush, So Saffron and Crisp Cantaloupe inks.

And the flower spray is from the Happy Watercolor set and I decided to emboss it with Black embossing powder to make it easier to colour.  The flower colours are a mixture of the Strawberry and Calypso Coral and some Gumball Green used for the stems. For consistency both the little butterfly and the greeting are also embossed in Black :-)

Lots of Corner Rounder-ing here :-) here and a few sparkles of Rhinestone bling complete this real "girly" card :-)

Card stock: Strawberry Slush, Water colour Paper

Inks: Strawberry Slush, So Saffron, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, Pacific Point, Versamark

Stamps: Happy Watercolor, A Dozen Thoughts, Papillon Potpourri, 

Accessories: Big Shot, Decorative Dots EF, Black Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Corner Rounder Punch, Linen Thread, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks so much for stop pig by today, I hope you have a wonderful week - and don't forget to stop by on Friday for a special post :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Congratulations with Flowers

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you are having a great afternoon at your place today - here in Melbourne it feels like Winter has arrived already -  we have some heavy rain and freezing wind to keep us inside!! I had hoped to go into the City this afternoon to the Dog Lover's Show that's on this weekend but hopefully the weather is kinder tomorrow and we can go then instead.  Of course an afternoon inside has its bonuses and so here is a card for the Inspiration photo challenge at Just Add Ink this week  - a little earlier than expected :-)

Isn't that so pretty? Pink, gold, blue and white and chevrons :-) And one of those cushions on the sofa has gold Polka dots….which reminded me of the Fancy Foil Gold Vellum :-)

The only problem for me was the flowers - I don't have that many of them currently as am waiting to see what's in the new Catalogue ...but after much ado trying to make some scalloped punch ones and Clay ones …..I decided to go with a slightly different style of layered flower :-) 

The card base is the retired Pretty In Pink and next is a layer of Whisper White underneath the Vellum. Frames are something I am loving at the moment and so used the Oval Framelits to create one here for the Gold embossed greeting.

So the flower is from the Happy Watercolor stamp set and here is stamped and embossed in Gold three times and coloured and layered with a Gold sequin from the Sequin Trim used as a centre. To colour the flower I used a Blender pen - though am looking forward to being able to try the Blendabilities markers soon!! Some Strawberry Slush ink around the edges and lighter toward the centre. 

The punched chevrons have a little gold ink sponged onto them before being added with some dimensionals and the twine is 3 circles - each put together like a figure of 8 with glue dots .

Card stock: Pretty in Pink (retired) Pool Party, Whisper White, Gold Foil Specialty

Designer Series Paper: Gold Fancy Foil Vellum

Inks: Versamark, Encore Gold, Strawberry Slush, Pretty in Pink

Stamps: Sassy Salutations, Happy Watercolor

Accessories: Big Shot, Oval Framelits, Chevron Punch, Hemp Twine (retired), Gold Sequin Trim, Gold Embossing powder, Beautiful Wings Embossilits

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you can check out the wonderful samples by the Design Team at Just Add Ink and be inspired to have a go to!

And seeing as we missed the Dog Lover's Show in the City today here are a couple of photos of our Sally (black Lab) playing with her best friend Monty - Sal's had a sprained hock ( ankle)  - prob due to their rough play! - and has been resting this last week so it was a very happy reunion for the two besties yesterday!

Monty's smile here is obvious - but if you look closely, Sal too is smiling and oh so relaxed!

But she's not off her feet for long - let the teasing begin, who will make the first move??

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

On Film Framelits - first play

Welcome everyone! Today has been a very "Melbourne" day - four seasons in one day is what Melbourne is famous for ( in more than one way!) and that was today! Pouring rain and thunder storms this morning, a cool wind in the middle of the day and now, late afternoon we have the sun shining and a mild 23 degrees :-)

So it was time to get out a couple of new stamp sets and Framelits that arrived this week and have a "first Play." I find these first cards with a stamp set later aren''t always my best but I am ok with the way this one turned out.

For the card base I used Crisp Cantaloupe card and the same for the Frame also. To make the frame I inked the die from the On Film Framelit by carefully pressing into some Crisp Cantaloupe ink before placing straight onto the card and running through the Big Shot. 

The ink just highlights the embossing the framelit does as well as the cutting. I did the same with the Camera - inking with So Safron ink and and cutting with the same colour card.

The colour "splodges" and flower are all from the Happy Watercolor set and I stamped the flower a further two times and coloured with a Blender pen and some Calypso coral ink before cutting them out and laying with some dimensionals.

For the greeting I used the Four You stamp set and stamped using Baked Brown Sugar onto some Pool Party card before using my hexagon Punch to flag the ends. And of course the cute little arrows are also from the Peachy Keen stamp set that co-ordinates with the Film framelits so decided to add those as well :-)

Card stock: Crisp Cantaloupe, Pool Party, Whisper White

Inks: Crisp Cantaloupe, So Saffron, Pool Party, Baked Brown Sugar

Stamps: Peachy Keen, Four You, Happy Watercolor

Access: Big Shot. On Film Framelits, hexagon punch, Vintage Faceted button, Whisper White bakers twine, Gold Sequin trim ( individually cut)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan 

A touch of gold

Well its the "day after" a wonderful Stamp and Chat night and now I can share with you a card from last night. With this card I introduced some of the ladies to working with a sketch challenge for the first time and I know some are keen to do more which is fabulous. So this card is inspired by the fun shaped sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week.

Aren't those angles fabulous!!

So a floral card featuring the beautiful Sweet Sorbet DSP and Decorative Dots EF - both available for FREE till the end of the month as part of Saleabration.
The embossed layer is added with dimensionals and the flower is made by simply stamping the image from Simple Stems x3 and cutting out the layers and adding more dimensionals and a touch of gold with a Sequin :-)

For the middle band there is some of the gorgeous Gold Foil card stock to pick up the sequin and the little banner stamped from the Happy Watercolor stamp set. For the banner ends I find using my hexagon punch makes these so easy - just find the middle of your piece of card and line that up with a corner in the Hexagon punch and you have a perfect banner every time :-)

Card stock: Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Gold Foil

Designer Series Paper: Sweet Sorbet

Ink: Calypso Coral

Stamps: Simple Stems, Happy Watercolor

Accessories: Big Shot, Decorative Dots EF, Hexagon punch, non-SU sequins

Now the friendss that came last night are all experienced stampers but they definitely did "feel the challenge" too as I left the DSP and Whisper White card stock in rectangles so they could cut the shapes themselves :-) It might have taken them a little longer to finish the card than usual but I think they all appreciated the challenge! And of course it also meant they could choose which corners of the vibrant DSP they would show ;-)

I hope you too feel inspired to check out the sketch this week at Freshly Made sketches and see what the fabulous designers have made and maybe even try your hand at joining in too!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Happy Watercolor

I hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday wherever you are today! Here we are enjoying a short break from the hot weather of earlier in the month and are expecting our first decent rain of the year - hopefully!

Today's card is for the Paper Craft Crew sketch challenge. The Design Team have created some lovely and fun cards to inspire you so I hope you are encouraged to join us in the challenge this week!

I decided to use a new set from the Occasions Catalogue - Happy Watercolor - and for those Australians and NZ'rs no, its not a spelling mistake its just the stamp uses the American spelling :-)

The base of the card is Coastal Cabana and has been stamped with the Positively Chevron background stamp  in Versamark ink and then embossed with White EP. 

The next layer is actually a Calypso Coral Frame cut with the Square Framelits - yes , I know it is a  rectangle frame!! It is easy to turn the square into a rectangle and I will do a tutorial in my next post:-) I did leave the frame plain but it does sit over the white layer which is also backed on the same sized piece of Calypso Coral card.

The three background colours are all stamped off once onto scrap paper before stamped onto the white card. The flower image is stamped 3 times - once onto the card and twice where it is coloured using a Blender pen and cut and layered with Dimensionals.

The little Banner is made from the gorgeous Watercolor Wonder designer series paper and have added some Non SU sequins and also to the centre of the card. Yes! I have been converted :-) Sequins are definitely the IN thing!!

The greeting is from the Sassy Salutaions stamp set and is also stamped in Baked Brown Sugar onto Coastal Cabana card stock and cut out with the fabulous Word Bubble Framelits.

Card Stock: Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, Whisper White

Designer Series paper: Watercolor Wonder

Inks: Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Baked Brown Sugar, Versamark

Stamps: Happy Watercolor, Sassy Salutations, Positively Chevron

Accessories: Big Shot, Word Bubble Framelits, White Embossing Powder, Blender Pens Non SU Sequins, 

I hope you feel inspired to join us over at the Paper Craft Crew this week!

In the meantime here is a fun photo taken during the dog friends play this morning - for those who aren't familiar, Sally is my black Labrador and she is 9 1/2years and Monty her young playmate is a 4 year old Golden Retriever. They met at the park three years ago and quickly became best mates and now if they don't see each other for play every day or so they get very depressed. They push and prod and jump all over each other and then follow it up with hugs and kisses :-)

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan

Have Fun with the Paper Craft Crew

Today is Wednesday so it is time for a new sketch at the Paper Craft Crew! I've had a busy day - off to the Dentist and a few errands but clean and happy teeth :-) And so it is nice to be able to sit down and make a card.

I think this sketch is a great one - it made me think outside my usual box which is something I love about Challenges. After several different card stock colours and umpteen stamp sets were tried I came back to this one - my second idea out of about 4-5!! And I do quite like it. So you see, we all need to be challenged a bit sometimes - it is good!!

I took inspiration from the colours in the beautiful DSP and used the Hardwood stamp as a background. The Tangerine Tango image is from the Starburst Framelits. It's  added with some dimensionals on top of the lovely Gold Foil card stock which has been cut with the Circle framelits. The "Thank You"greeting is from the Happy Watercolor stamp set.

 Two of the little banners are punched from the DSP and the middle one is stamped onto Pool Party card stock. All have a little Rhinestone and the ends have White Bakers twine bows added with Glue dots. And finally, a rhinestone is added to the flower in the DSP banner too :-)

Card Stock: Tangerine Tango, Pool Party,Whisper White, Gold Foil

Designer Series Paper: Sweet Sorbet*

Ink: Pool Party, Tangerine Tango

Stamps: Hardwood, Starburst Sayings, Happy Water, Banner Blast

Accessories: Big Shot, Starburst Framelits, Circle Framlits, Hexagon punch ( for banners), Banner Punch, Basic Rhinestones, White Bakers Twine.

I hope you too feel inspired to check out what the rest of the Design Team have shared for you and come and join in too! I so look forward to seeing what you create with this weeks's sketch at the Paper Craft Crew.

Happy Stamping until next time,

Jan