Rainbow and butterflies

Join us today on the  STAMPlorations blog  for a tribute to Melissa Lane, who sadly passed away and is leaving a big hole in her family and all who knew her, including our Crafting community.

She loved butterflies and if you'd like to contribute, whether you knew Melissa in real life or just online, you will be able to add your butterfly makes on the blog.

Embossing and watercolours

This month the Craft U Love Design Team has been given the same stamp set to work with, one of the new stamp sets designed by Julie Hickey, Garden Treasures. It will be exciting to compare how different or similar our take will be...

I meant to take photos as I went along but as I used a wet-on-wet watercolour technique, it wasn't possible.

My first step was to stamp and emboss in white some of the flowers and leaves, I am enclosing this photo so you can see the stamp set but alas the embossing is not visible!

The next picture show the card as I just finished applying the colours, still wet and a bit shiny from the water.
 
 



Eagled eye crafters will notice the finished panel is different because I decided to do it again as the sentiment wasn't standing out well enough after drying.

To paint the background I first applied water all over and with a brush loaded with a strong mix touched the areas on and around the embossing. If the paint dries too quickly, a spritz or two of fine mist helps to keep it workable and it is possible to push the pigment to your liking.

Of course the same technique can be used with powders, acrylic inks or paints each giving a slightly different look.


Supplies:
Julie Hickey Designs Stamp Set - Garden Treasures
WaterArt Watercolour A6 Paper Pack
Tonic Studios Nuvo Light Mist Spray Bottles

My teamies makes will be shown on Facebook here during the day.
Should you purchase any of the products I have used on this card, select  'Design Team'  in the 'where have you seen us' drop down so we know we have inspired you!

Thanks for coming by,

Mini scrapbook album

I have a photo heavy post for you today, showing a mini album created with a single 12x12 sheet of designer paper which doubles up as a (special) Birthday card.

The front cover is stamped with an image from the Art Nouveau Silhouettes stamp set from Flonzcraft and I added a title with die-cut letters to which I applied gilding flakes.

On the first page I placed some photos and added stamped motifs (Katzelkraft, Prima and more).

Page 2 feature stamps from the Sew Sweet Stamp Set by Rubber Dance and an embossed corner with some Stampendous Frantage powder (the stamp is a CAC by Impression Obsession)

On page 3 more Rubber Dance stamps from the Retro Beach set, some embossed in Wow Vanilla powder

Page 4 uses stamps from Katzelkraft Paris Monuments and Paris Notre Dame sets.

Finally the back cover is adorned with another silhouette from the Art Nouveau Silhouettes stamp set from Flonzcraft.

Pure stamping pleasure and a lot of ink, although the background is patterned paper. To read up on how to make these types of book , you can look here for a tutorial. This has to be one of the easiest album to make, as it only need a few folds and one cut! Since this paper was single sided I added a cover from another piece of paper and a spine too. The construction allows for pockets if you want and I placed a tag in mine, bearing my birthday message for the recipient.

Thanks for coming by,

I am entering the Mini Album Makers, The Artistic Stamper, SSS Wednesday Challenge and Paperbabe Stamps challenges.

Plant life

Welcome to my second inspiration post for our Country View Challenge, hosted by teamie Rachel on the theme "Plant-astic".
For this one I played with powders, it's always fun if unpredictable...

The first Autumn leaves

Welcome come back to the Stamplorations Theme & Sketch challenge after our summer break. This October our Theme and Sketch are:

 

Changing seasons

Autumn is back with its fiery leaves, a perfect association with our October Plant-astic theme at Country View Challenges!

Multiway Snowflake Lattice

For my second monthly inspiration post for Crafts U Love I decided to focus on the Snowflake Lattice die I used last time.

It's easy enough to use this die "out of the box" and just place the cut out lattice on top of a contrasting paper and use a variation of papers (glitter, pearlescent) or techniques, but there is so much more to do with a few snips of the scissors... So here's another 9 ways with the Snowflake Lattice from John Next Door.

In this photo you can see how I just snipped the left hand corner apart from the Lattice snowflake to give a small and large corner piece.






Snipping apart the bottom right corner gives you a diagonal die cut in addition to the small corners.

The corner pieces can be trimmed further as I did here for the corner on the right in the photo, by snipping the vertical and horizontal bars. Be careful not to cut the links between the snowflakes to keep the die-cut stable.

Similarly the diagonal can also be trimmed in the same way :

The lattice die does not have an outside cut edge (it does come with 2 square dies that can be used for that purpose if needed) which means that it is possible to extend the die-cut horizontally or vertically, as long as your die-cut machine is large enough!


The photo on the right shows the die alongside a long piece of card I die cut twice lengthwise.



For my card I chose to have a 4 snowflakes border and cut extra snowflakes completely for embellishments as in the photo on the left.

I placed the border on top of silver paper and matted onto patterned papers adding my cut snowflakes and an embossed sentiment.

So now you can create small and large corners, a diagonal, a vertical or horizontal border, and give an alternative look by snipping some or all of the links. There you have it, 9 more ways to use the Snowflake Lattice!

Supplies:
John Next Door Christmas Die Set - Lattice
Kaisercraft Christmas Jewel Specialty 12" x 12" Paper - Silver Poinsettia
Kaisercraft Christmas Jewel Specialty 12" x 12" Paper - Prancing
Marianne Silver Decoration Paper
John Next Door Clear Stamp Set - Poinsettia
WOW! Embossing Powder - Bright White

Should you purchase any of the products I have used on this card, select  'Design Team'  in the 'where have you seen us' drop down so we know we have inspired you!

Thanks for coming by,
.

Paisley wrap

I was going to say a quick post but there is nothing quick about this project!

Some time ago I bought a roll of blank wrapping paper to create my own patterned paper. I needed to wrap a fairly large present and I set out to stamp a 6 by 6cm (2" 1/3x 2" 1/3) square repeatedly to create it.

BIG mistake... took hours (and nearly 50 inking & stamping actions) but there it is at last:

My oldie stamp is by Personal Impressions (Paisley Flourishes) and I added a ready made topper on a label die-cut (Spellbinders).

Thanks for coming by,
I am  entering the SSS Monday Challenge and the Stamping Sensations (My B is for Blue) challenges.

The first snowflake...

So yes, the season is already upon us crafters and the dreaded C word has been uttered in several quarters already! For my first festive card(s) I used a snowflake die set, as nothing says winter like snowflakes. This is my inspiration make for Crafts U Love who have received lots of new supplies for the Christmas season.

A trip through Paris

If you missed the plane(s) at the beginning of the month, here's a second chance to catch some inspiration for our Country View Challenge on the theme of Planes, Trains & Automobiles chosen by the lovely Miriam.

Last of the summer beach

Before the memories of this exceptional (at least in Europe) summer fades into our memories, I want to share my last makes for the Crafty Individuals Hochanda show in August.

Come aboard!!!

This summer whizzed by and it's time for our September Country View Challenge! The theme is Planes, Trains, Automobiles hosted by Miriam. It had been a while since I played in my journal so...