Painted Glass and Painted Petals

Hello crafting friends!

I love it when you tell me about new challenges and I can never resist them, so I've gone a bit challenge-tastic today! First let me show you the card I made:

Arty huh?! That's because I had a look at the CAS Mix Up Challenge and got involved with inky paper towels, splattering water and washi tape (the background), heat embossing (the sentiment), stamping and doodling (the leafy stems), and fussy-cutting, stamping and colouring with alcohol markers (the butterfly). I'm exhausted - but mostly because of tidying everything away!

I used Cucumber Crush and So Saffron re-inkers to soak my dampened paper towel and smooshed it around some card stock. Splattering water about added texture. Once dry, I stamped the leafy stems from Painted Petals (retired) and doodled extra leaves with a blender pen and ink. The panel was then trimmed and edged with washi tape. The butterfly, in a interesting coincidence, is from Painted Glass, a gift from my bloggy pal Em *waves gratefully*.

There has been some brilliant inspiration in Blogland - like this great sketch from CAS Colours and Sketches (which I tipped upside down.) And Seize The Birthday got me going too, with the 'use a butterfly in a way outside your comfort zone' topping. I never use alcohol markers and can't believe these 5 year old, neglected blendabilities were still working!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
It's been another very wet day here today - I think the British Isles are catching the tail end of someone's tropical storm. I took the pups out for a heart-pumping walk by the river in the rain. I say 'walk', but in fact I was the one doing the walking; Eva and her bestie Henry preferred to swim alongside me. It obviously wasn't wet enough for them!

Thanks for joining me today.

Painted Petals emboss resist technique - Stampin' Up artisan blog hop

Hold on to your ears crafting friends, because we Stampin' Up artisan designers are whisking you off on our weekly blog hop today and I'm SO excited about the emboss resist technique I'm sharing with you! Are you ready?

GOING, GOING... ALMOST GONE!
There's a lot of excitement buzzing about at the moment with sneak peeks from the upcoming new Stampin' Up annual catalogue but don't forget that the fabulous goodies in the spring/summer catalogue are only available until 2nd June! I'd hate for you to lose the opportunity to buy Painted Petals for example - it's one of my all time favourite stamp sets!

This bright card was created using a fun emboss resist technique perfect for using with photopolymer stamps. If we zoom in to have a closer look...

... you can see it looks as if it's been screen printed in layers!

I adore the sentiments in this wonderful set and, of course, being clear photopolymer, they're as easy as pie to stamp wherever you want them and as straight as you want them!

So are you wondering how to create a card using this technique?

Here we go then:

FAUX SCREEN PRINT EMBOSS RESIST TECHNIQUE

• Stamp your floral design in whatever colours you like
• Clean your stamps
• Load each stamp with Versamark and stamp it over the original (don't worry if your stamping is slightly 'off' - it will just make the finished result look more authentic :)
• Heat emboss this with clear embossing powder
• Sponge blue ink all over the embossed image and the whole panel
• Wipe the excess ink off the embossed image
• Stamp leaves in the same blue ink and wipe off excess ink
• Finish with a sentiment and a sprinkling of sequins

I hope you enjoyed this fun technique - and I REALLY hope I've convinced you not to let Painted Petals slip through your fingers!

I'm pretty sure there'll be lots of sneak peeks on my team-mates' blogs this week! Click the button below to see what fabulousness Allison Okamitsu is sharing today!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

Painted Petals Photopolymer Stamp Set £21.95	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Versamark Pad £6.75	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder £3.95	Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim £4.50

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

We're in mourning in our house... for a bright orange rubber meerkat! It was Eva's favourite toy, she chased it, played tug with it and walked home holding it proudly in her mouth. (It helped her get over her disappointment that 'walkies' do have to end sometime!) Yesterday, the precious meerkat disappeared without trace at the bottom of a muddy stream. She hunted for it for ages and we helped her by poking about in the mud with sticks (she was momentarily distracted by the sticks!) but all to no avail.

Rest in peace orange rubber meerkat :(

See you tomorrow for some sneaky peek excitement!

Sale-a-bration 2015 is nearly over - get your free Stampin' Up products now!

I've never seen Stampin' Up offer quite so many amazing free products as during this year's Sale-a-bration! The promotion is drawing to a close now and must end on 31st March so please don't miss out - click here to find out how to claim your freebies!

One of my favourite of the stamp sets has been A Happy Thing. The lemons are such a lovely bright image and I adore the little bird (you know what I'm like about bird stamps!) Here are three very different looks using that little bird:

I liked the idea of the bird against a strong background so I stamped him in Stazon ink, once on the Crushed Curry off-set panel and then again on a piece of scrap card stock. I aquapainted the second one, cut him out with sharp paper snips and glued him over the one on the panel.

There's a whole change of mood in the next design. This time I created a background for the bird by sponging Soft Sky and Smoky Slate ink over the small panel and stamping the bird over the top and aquapainting him. I love that wonderful striped ribbon - and this card shows that you only need a snippet of it to create a touch of interest.

Finally, here's a card I've shown you before: the bird was stamped and coloured and cut out with a circle punch before mounting onto a background stamped with Painted Petals. I like the tropical feel of this card so I emphasised it with a Coastal Cabana card base. Roll on summer!

I hope you've enjoyed these three looks for the price of one! Did I say price? Er my mistake - this stamp set is FREE as part of the Sale-a-bration promotion! Click here for details.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THESE CARDS NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!
Don't forget you'll get a free Sale-a-bration item for every £45 you spend

A Happy Thing Wood Stamp Set £0.00	Aqua Painters £12.95	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry £6.25	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana £6.25
2-1/2" Circle Punch £15.50	Bermuda Bay 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon £8.25	Painted Petals Photopolymer Stamp Set £21.95	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

Look who turned up yesterday:

My lovely daughter! I met her at the station and we had a big hug then she stepped back and said: "Hello maman, what a stripy lady!"

Are you ready for another dose of amazing artisan design team inspiration? Do come back tomorrow for the blog hop and see what we've all been up to!

NEW Stampin' Up Sale-a-bration freebies available now!

Have you seen the new Sale-a-bration goodies that you can earn for free? Stamp sets, papers, accessories... check them out here. Aren't they gorgeous?! Nature's Perfection is my favourite of the stamp sets and as soon as I had a spare minute I did one of my favourite things with it... come and see:

This is the thing that made me happy when I started stamping six years ago - creating a garden with stamps and inks! For this card, I combined a beautiful image from Nature's Perfection with other stamps from Butterfly Basics and Painted Petals. A girl can never have too many leaves or flowers in my opinion!

This is also one of my favourite ways to add a sentiment. Stamp it onto a piece of card stock, punch it out and staple it to the card front. You can see other examples of that here and here. That's the beautiful Wild Wasabi cotton twine behind the sentiment - I drew a couple of lines with a Mossy Meadow Stampin' Write marker and tied the twine around it. TIP: To reduce bulk, snip an indent on both sides of the panel with a pointy punch such as the Mosaic Punch.

Puppies and gardening don't really go very well together so until Eva has become a grown up lady dog I think I might have to stick to gardens of the inky variety!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!
Don't forget you'll get a free Sale-a-bration item for every £45 you spend

Painted Petals Photopolymer Stamp Set £21.95	Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp Set £21.95	Ticket Duo Builder Punch £15.50
Handheld Stapler [EU, UK, AU] £8.95	Painted Blooms Cotton Twine £6.25	2014-2016 In Color Stampin' Write Markers £11.75

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

Our garden is looking dreadful at the moment. Here's a photo of its latest feature...

... a 'twig' that my youngest son helped Eva to bring home from a walk. It looks like the Loch Ness Monster for goodness sake! Puppies and gardening don't really go very well together so until Eva has become a grown up lady dog I think I might have to stick to gardens of the inky variety :)

I've been working on a fab project for this week's Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team blog hop! All will be revealed tomorrow, so do come back then and let me know what you think!

Card and box made with Painted Petals and Blooms from Stampin' Up

Come and see the little gift set I made for a lovely friend recently!

I used lots of my favourite goodies to make this card and gift box!

Painted Petals for the card with delicious Blackberry Bliss card stock and some cheeky staples!

The aperture was cut with one of my Project Life framelits - these are not just for scrap booking you know! Have you seen how I've come over all dimensional with this card :)

I love that the Painted Blooms paper coordinates with the Painted Petals stamp set - I used a stunning floral for the lid of this box. These boxes are simple to make - check out my basic box tutorial:

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS GIFT SET NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!
Don't forget you'll get a free Sale-a-bration item for every £45 you spend

Painted Petals Photopolymer Stamp Set £21.95	Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits £20.95	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock £6.25
Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper £9.95	Handheld Stapler [EU, UK, AU] £8.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

I seem to have been away from my blog for ages but if you think I've been relaxing on a chaise longue please let me set you straight! Life has got quite hectic lately with my family, and of course my adorable pupsicle, so I've decided that there will be some changes to my blog and I won't be posting on Mondays. Please bear with!

I'll be back tomorrow with the Weekly Deals. See you then,