Hello stampers. When you are dealing with whimsical creatures, why not go a little funky with the colouring? That is why I made a purple cow! I decided to ink up two of our more whimsical sets, Over the Moon and Back on Your Feet, for my Epic Blends Day today. This fun day will get all the new Blends into the hands of my local customers. The new colours available are Purple Posy, Seaside Spray, Rococo Rose, Pretty Peacock, So Saffron and Gray Granite. So I thought, why not have a purple cow with pretty peacock boots and a rococo rose flower (now that last one makes total sense).
Those of you who know me well also know that I don’t usually go for cutesy cards, but these are a lot of fun. In fact I think Stampin’Up! has given us quite a few fun new stamp sets to play with that are amusing and whimsical. Purple cows are fun! Let’s take a look and you can decide if you want a purple cow too or if you want to keep it real.
I stamped the cow on a 2″ strip of whisper white cardstock and then punched it with the scalloped tag topper punch. How do you like my purple posy cow? Don’t you just love the coordinating scalloped linen ribbon? The background is done with the new bricks and mortar embossing folder. Order the Blends online and I will send you the supplies to make this card and the giraffe card too.
Here you can see the lovely detail in the ribbon. I just put a 6″ piece of ribbon through the slot opening and then tied a piece of linen thread in a bow around it. Super easy and cute. This purple cow looks just great against the early espresso brick and mortar background.
The second card we are doing at the Epic Blends Day is this giraffe card. I was inspired to use the woven threads trim because when you pull the bottom thread it becomes a fringe that mimics the mane of the giraffe!
I just love the expression on the giraffe! He’s like “I think I’ve gotten myself into a little bit of a predicament, do you think you could help me out here?” the giraffe was coloured with Gray Granite and So Saffron Blends. I think he might be whimsical as well because I think a giraffe might be yellow with dark spots so mine is just backwards and that is just fine! I had a bit of a funky spot in my trim so I decided to add it to the giraffe’s tail. This is one of those happy accidents that might not be so easy to duplicate.
That’s all for today, thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to check out the clearance rack for all the amazing Christmas sets on there. This has never happened before so it was a delightful surprise. I just checked and there is still a very nice selection for you to choose from. If you do order online, please use the current host code for maximum efficiency: YDZAPF6Y Have a super day!
Hello stampers. This is just a very short post letting you know that there are a TON of stamp sets on the clearance rack for great prices. Act quickly, here is the link. It is not often that there are stamp sets as well as some coordinating framelits. Some of these sets are from a few years ago as well. I love it!! If you order online please use the host code: YDZAPF6Y
Most of the stamp sets are around $20. Here are some images of my favourites.
I hope you get your hands on some of these great deals! Thanks for stopping by, this is the quickest blog post I have ever written! I’m so excited. Christmas in the summer. Yay!!
Hello stampers! I did some sponging and masking with Looking Up, a fabulous new card kit in our annual catalog. While the kit makes 15 cards you can make nine more gorgeous cards using the additional die cuts provided in the kit. All you need to do is make a simple background that is reminiscent of a sky. There are two ways to do this. One way is with a watercolour wash on shimmery white cardstock. The other way is a sponged background using a cloud formation mask. Sound difficult? Not if you hurry and get the rainbow builder dies that are on the clearance rack. There are two gems in that set: long thinlets in two different cloud formations as well as two other clouds and of course all the pieces to make a colourful rainbow.
Here you can see the two long thinlets and the acetate or window sheet masks I made with them. It is a good idea to write on them, not for you to remember what they are, but so that you can find them when they are laying on your table!! I absolutely love the background you can make so easily with them. Cheap, quick and artistic! It really is amazing what you can do with sponging and masking using just ink and paper. I kept it simple using only one colour of ink, but you could definitely take it up a notch and use more shades of blue and grey.
It is difficult covering up some of that beautiful sky with the die cuts, but doesn’t it look great? The white is 3 3/4″ by 5″ with a bermuda bay mat of 4″ by 5 1/4″. Only the raspberry balloon is popped up with dimensionals. Did I tell you that you get a lot of those included in the kit?
For this card I did a watercolour wash on shimmery white cardstock which measures 3 5/8″ by 4 7/8″. This precise measurement allows you to get five pieces from one 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of cardstock. Crucial information when it is more than $1 a sheet.
This card was supposed to be for the airplane die cut but I didn’t want to cover up the pretty wash. I will show you how to get this effect in a short video. It was easy to just add a swoosh of crumb cake ink to the bottom of the card to ground it! How do you like the crushed curry mat? I thought it gave it a nice cheerful look. Truthfully it was supposed to coordinate with the airplane but it works well with the trees too.
Here is the video showing how to make the beautiful backgrounds. If you click follow on the YouTube channel then you won’t miss out on any of my videos!
Everyone at class loved these alternative cards and they also enjoyed learning the new background techniques. It’s so much fun to see what you can do with just ink and paper. In my video I also show you how to cut your shimmery white cardstock most efficiently. Thanks so much for joining me, be sure to keep an eye on the clearance rack, I have heard that they will be adding a lot of new stuff very soon! If you choose to order online, I would love it if you also used the host code, that way free host credits do not go to waste. If you place your very own order of $200 you will qualify for your own host rewards. the current host code is YDZAPF6Y.
Hello stampers! Before I tell you about the double value on the Looking Up card kit I want to give you an update on my Pap. First of all, thank you so much for the outpouring of love and prayers for him. He was put on a very strong antibiotic for his pneumonia, and while there were some unpleasant side effects, it kicked in right away and he saw dramatic improvement. I am so thankful that I was able to drop everything and just go and be with them. My mom said that my very presence calmed them both and gave them optimism. My amazing daughter in law baked and cooked up a storm so they were blessed with a lot of food too. Thanks to the United Church ladies I had some rhubarb pies in the freezer that I baked up for them and even though they said they didn’t have great appetites, I knew that my roast beef and mashed potatoes would hit the spot with these old Dutchies. I wasn’t wrong! I felt like a mother bird watching her chicks eat. Good food and good sleep go a long way to helping with the healing process.
It really does help to have a tribe! That is what I call my stamping family. My team member Liz Fields took over for me and set up the booth at the Art at RM show which was part of Retrofest. It was such a good feeling knowing that this opportunity was not wasted and that it was in good hands. I came home with renewed vigor and inspiration. When time is of the essence then kits are our best friend. The kit I am using today was at the top of my list when I first saw the new catalog. It is a stunner! At first I was a little disappointed since I only had three kits and each kit had three of each card. That means only nine cards and one would be a sample. Doing more math, that meant I only had room for 8 people at coffee and a card class. What’s a girl to do? Take a look at the picture below, it has both the original cards from the kit as well as three cards that I designed myself.
Here is a close up of the alternatives. Do you know how I did it? The kit has additional pieces that you can pop up on the cards to make them look 3D. To tell the truth, I wasn’t happy with that look at all. I thought there was a much better use for those beautiful die cuts! Before I could use the die cuts I wanted to recreate the look of the clouds and watercolour wash in some of the kit cards. I just bought the rainbow builder dies that are on the clearance rack and the main reason I bought them is for the two long cloud shaped dies in there. Good news!! They are still available. Just click here and you are one step closer to owning them. On two of the cards I did a watercolour wash and on the hot air balloon card I made window sheet masks with the dies from the Rainbow Builder set and I sponged some gorgeous clouds using Bermuda Bay.
Tomorrow I will share closeups of the cards as well as some simple tips and tricks for getting your watercolour wash to look a little nicer. I will end this post with a quick video showing all the cards and a few tips and tricks that helped me get twice as much value from this kit. This kit comes with all the supplies to make 15 cards, a mini ink pad, a big clear acrylic block a stamp set and 15 gorgeous lined envelopes and two sheets of dimensionals to pop up the sentiments and the die cuts.
Thanks so much for joining me today, I hope I inspired you with these fun and easy cards. Tomorrow I will do a video of the background techniques. I so appreciate everything you do. Each card or project that you pin helps me out and each comment encourages me. I love my stamping tribe! Have a super day.
**PS In case you are waiting for a PayPal button for paper and ribbon shares I cannot do that/ These items are not cash and carry items, you need to let me know that you want one and then I can send you an invoice. Paper shares are $66 for a 6×6 piece of each paper in the new catalog. Ribbon shares are $37.
Hello stampers. Sometimes things do indeed feel like they are going to the dogs! In preparation for an art show this weekend I wanted to change things up a bit and appeal to the many pet owners out there. I used the Happy Tails set and coordinating dog punch to make some adorable tags. Then I packaged up some rawhide dog treats in some retired polka dot cone cellophane bags. I am really happy with how they turned out. At first this hard core cardmaker was a little embarrassed to be making these cutesy things but they grew on me and now I am happy I did it. It’s the little things that can bring joy to our lives! Take a look!
It was so much fun making these cute tags. I found the inspiration for the tags online somewhere. Happy Tails is a great stamp set that allows you to customize the dogs with different fur patterns. This was also the first time I inked up my Swirly Frames stamp set. This set was given to me at an event for prize patrol and I find that when I haven’t chosen the set myself for a specific reason I tend not to use it as much. I really need to use that set more often, it is so versatile!
Rachel found some adorable dog treats for me to put into these little packages. I wasn’t able to find similar ones for cats so I am going to have to get creative on that score.
Wouldn’t this just be a cute little something to give to a dog lover? Dogs really do bring so much joy to our lives. They give us unconditional love and are known to calm us down, lower our blood pressure and just make life that much better.
When you read this I will be spending some quality time with my beloved Pap. He is the kindest, gentlest man who loves his heavenly Father so very much. He has worked so very hard to give me a better life than what he had. Even though he was a gifted student in the Netherlands he had to quit school after grade 6 to help his dad on the family farm. The school principal even visited his home to beg his parents to let him continue his education. The amazing thing is that he was never jealous of his younger brother who was able to be the first person in the family to go to university. Oh how I love this man. He is also proud of what I have accomplished with my business. He is always so happy to hear it when I tell him about my next incentive trip or my global or national standing as a demonstrator.
Thanks so much for stopping by today and checking out my blog. Happy stamping!
