by Jackie Bultje | Sep 14, 2018 | Black Ice Technique |
Hello stampers. I discovered the Black Ice technique about a year ago and I finally tried it out on Wednesday. What a lot of fun it was. It really is a beautiful technique that is not all the difficult. It might take a few tries to get it just right. The key to success is a light touch. I believe that this technique was first “invented” by Melissa Kerman. Here is what you will need.
1. Some kind of foil paper. Silver is traditional, but I used both copper and champagne and they both turned out beautifully. I still have to try in on silver because I had none in stock.
2, Archival black ink. It is no longer sold as a big ink pad but it is still available as part of the Notes of Kindness kit which is also a beautiful kit that you will want to have anyways.
3. Versamark pad.
4. Clear embossing powder.
5. Heat tool, also known as an embossing gun, but sounds friendlier as a heat tool.
I decided to try this technique because I needed something fun to show at the first meeting of the Technique Club. When I was designing my card I threw in another technique which evolved into some more amazing cards. The second technique was using versamark directly on the embossing folder and then using copper or clear embossing powder. For my black ice card I used the Subtles embossing folder and clear embossing powder for a very nice effect. Then I thought I would try and see what it looked like with copper embossing powder and it was beautiful. Here are the cards and at the end I will share a video to make it all clear for you.
The clear embossing with the Subtles folder is a beautiful background for this very lovely card. The sentiment was also embossed in copper. The scene was stamped in archival black ink on copper foil paper using the Waterfront stamp set. Some of the images had to be stamped several times to get it dark enough. The copper foil paper is first “distressed” a little with archival black ink. You just swipe the ink pad mostly along the edges of the copper foil paper with a few very light streaks towards the inside as well. After you have stamped your images in black you need to heat set it so it won’t smear when you go to the next step. The next step is to lightly drag or smear the versamark pad right over the entire copper foil piece. One long swipe in each direction was enough. The key is to use a light touch. You then pour on clear embossing powder over a clean coffee filter and then put the excess back in the pot. Emboss with the heat gun and you will be surprised and delighted at the effect. It really does look like ice! Here is another card using the copper on the background.
Notice how the card looks entirely different with the copper in the background as well? I’m not sure which one I prefer. The sentiment and the punch are both from that amazing Darling Label Punch box. It comes with a six piece stamp set, a punch, two ink spots, a clear block and of course the beautiful tin that is just the right size to hold ALL of the current Blends. Hmmmmm….good idea right?
The next card uses the stamp set Winter Woods with champagne foil as the base. The technique is the same.
This is such a beautiful card, and while I used a traditional Christmas stamp set, I turned it into a thinking of you card. Do you know how I did that? I was a bit of a rebel and took scissors to my stamp!! I cut apart the saying in Winter Woods that said “Thinking of you this season”. It can still be used together if I need it to, but in the meantime this makes it much easier to just get the “thinking of you” part. Again, I had to stamp the image several times to get it dark enough on the foil paper, but the Stamparatus made it very easy to do. I don’t think I would do this particular card without the help of the Stamparatus. If you don’t have this amazing tool yet, you are going to want to put it on your wish list!
Using the technique of versamark directly on the embossing folder piqued my curiosity and I wanted to see what it would like with other embossing folders. It also gave me the excuse to ink up the beautiful new set Angels on Earth. Sometimes you just have a vision and it needs to come to life! That is what happened with this card. I used basic black and merry merlot cardstock to go with the merry merlot and copper reversible ribbon. It was everything I hoped it would be. What do you think??
I got a little ahead of myself by showing you this card…I was supposed to first show you the different backgrounds I had made with the different folders, but I was so excited to make this card that I didn’t get a picture of this particular background. Here are the other two I made.
Ok, so back to that beautiful Christmas card. I just love how well everything goes together on this card, the copper embossing, the copper and merlot ribbon and the tin tile folder. It all oozes Victorian charm to me.
This picture shows you not only how beautiful the angel is, but also the richness of the ribbon. It makes me think of all the sculptures and paintings in Europe! You can also clip her wings and then you will just have a Victorian girl if you are not into angels. Here is just one more shot showing the layers to the card.
The stamparatus came in quite handy to line up the filigree stamp perfectly in each corner. The black panel is 3 1/4″ square and the merry merlot piece is 3 3/8″ square. I popped it up with dimensionals on the black/copper embossed piece which is 4″ by 5 1/4″. Another important thing to realize is that because our foil paper is so smooth on the back, it doesn’t interact well with Snail or any tape runner. Your best bet is to use liquid adhesive such as Tombow with the green lid. I used two glue dots to adhere the ribbon firmly above the angel.
I am going to finish up this blog post with the video that I made showing the black ice technique. I have to say I am missing Rachel. The videos aren’t quite what they used to be. Not only am I missing, but sometimes the rotten thing goes sideways or even upside down. My tech research has not yet helped me out very much, but I will keep on trying. In the meantime, please bear with me. If you scroll down to the end of my post you will see all the things I used to make these cards. If you click on the images it will take you to my online store. If you live in Canada you can order from me and I will send you one of these beautiful cards. Please do you use the current host code CZYEABGW as it really helps me out. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLLhs8J42V0&t=31s
Product List
Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad
[140931]
$9.25
by Jackie Bultje | Sep 8, 2018 | Delightfully Detailed Laser-Cut Paper |
Hello stampers! What a whirlwind these last few weeks have been. One child has moved away to university, another one is preparing for a 10 month long world trip and I am in the middle of building a new house and ending a 30 year marriage. It really is no wonder that I have not blogged in a little while. It was great to get back into my stamp room and to practice my #loveitchop it mentality that was so aptly named by Kylie Bertucci. The Delightfully Detailed Laser-Cut paper really is beautiful. It is delightful. You also need to chop it or you will never use it. I forgot to get a picture of each sheet before I chopped it up, but I have done a video on it before, so I will share that here as well. Here is what it looks like when you are all finished chopping. It makes it so easy for future use, and very little chance of hoarding after that.
I found the video that I did for Facebook a while ago that shows me chopping the paper. The quality of the first one is not very good but it does give you a good idea on how to cut the paper and what it looks like. The second one show you how I made a shaker card out of it and it is much better quality.
http://https://business.facebook.com/ThePamperedStamper/videos/2231990270164315/
http://https://business.facebook.com/ThePamperedStamper/videos/2232018653494810/
Let’s take a look at the cards I made using this beautiful laser-cut paper. The first one was made specifically for my team member Aleks Pinsonneault. I had just heard that morning that she was able to move her right arm. She had a brain bleed while I was on the Alaskan cruise and she has had such a battle regaining movement on her right side. Her struggle has put my own issues into perspective and I am so proud of her tenacity. Please pray for her full recovery. The beautiful quote from Marcus Aurelius is from the stamp set Enjoy Life.
I wanted all the pretty paper to be the frame for this beautiful sentiment. I love how all the details make this card so beautiful and am also just a wee bit proud that this is a “Jackie original”. I hadn’t stamped in a while so it took a little bit of time before the creative juices started flowing. I find that if I spread out all the materials I am going to work with on the table I get inspired with colours and layouts. I do loved the stitched shape framelits and also the way the vellum softens the patterned paper underneath.
When I first saw the full 12 by 12 sheets of this intricately detailed paper I fell in love with it. But shortly after that I thought, how am I going to cut that with a paper trimmer and not have it tear? The easy solution is to use spray adhesive to spray the back of it and then adhere it to a piece of patterned paper. You can then cut it quite easily without tearing. You also get to choose whether you want the vanilla side or the white side showing which is a wonderful feature. I chose the white side even though in the picture it looks like vanilla. Both would definitely work. If you don’t have spray adhesive you could also use a sponge and tombow to sponge adhesive on the back. I once again used the “loveitchopit method and cut the full sheet into six pieces each measuring 3 3/4′ by 5″. This is then layered onto blushing bride 4″ by 5 1/4″. Online I saw the idea of using our metallic paper behind the Petal Promenade paper. I think it is a beautiful look. I used champagne foil paper 1″ by 5″. The patterned paper is 3/4″ by 5”. The “happy anniversary” sentiment is from the stamp set Best Birds.
The last card in this first set of three cards that we will also be making at my weekly coffee and a card class on Tuesday is made using the Delightfully Detailed notecards and envelopes. They are a perfect match for the Delightfully Detailed Laser-Cut paper which makes it even easier to make stunning cards.
This card was made with my daughter Rachel in mind as I just brought her to Ottawa for her first year of university there at Carleton. Exciting times for sure, but I do miss her. I think she will enjoy getting some happy mail (after coffee and a card class!) I had sprayed a full sheet of this paper with a mix of Vegas Gold shimmer paint and 70% rubbing alcohol. Then I adhered it to the notecard using a bit of spray adhesive. I just randomly cut up the sheet with my paper snips into sections that would fit on the notecard and were visually appealing. The first cut is a bit daunting but after that it keeps getting easier.
The next set of cards will be for another class, but with the busyness of building a new house and having to spend so much time picking out literally all the materials needed to build the house and what all goes in it, I thought I would be proactive and plan for two classes at once. I won’t do them back to back, but definitely in the near future.
This card was almost completely cased from the work of Janet Wakeland. I love how she used the stamp set Lilypad Lake with this paper. I brayered the laser-cut piece with Mossy Meadow. The lovely framelit behind the sentiment is also from the Lilypad Lake bundle. The card base is soft sea foam and is cut 1/4 inch down from a regular sized card, so the front of it measures 5 1/2″ by 4″.
This is a super clean and simple card inspired by Carol Read. I kept the ribbon as a straight piece, it joins under the sentiment and is held down with glue dots. The sentiment is from the Darling Label Punch box which is actually quite a good deal. You get a stamp set, a punch, two ink spots and a beautiful tin for $61. On a side note, did you know that this punch box also perfectly holds all of our current Blends? I forgot to add the link to this punch box in the product list below, but you can find it on page 209.
This last card was cased from Amy Koenders, I love all of Amy’s work. The combination of the Delightfully Detailed Notecards and Envelopes together with the Delightfully Detailed Laser-Cut paper is stunningly simple. With the addition of the burlap and velvet ribbon and the sentiment cut out with the Stitched Shape framelits this card is a keeper! Actually no. We should all try to send out the cards that we make and not hoard them. Maybe I should start a movement called #loveitsendit. I hope you have enjoyed the cards made with this beautiful paper.
Did you know that if you click on the products pictured in the product list it will take you directly to my store? Yes, if you live in Canada, then you can shop with me online and have your products delivered straight to your door. As a thank you I will send you one of these beautiful cards. Please do use the current host code as that helps me to keep my costs down for mailing and for classes. Here is the code: CZYEABGW
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by Jackie Bultje | Aug 23, 2018 | Big Shot, Tropical Escape |
Hello stampers. Yes, I am still alive and yes, I am still blogging. However, when you are building a new house and you have to make tons of decisions without a bottomless pit of money you do get a little strapped on time! I do miss connecting with you regularly, so I am finally buckling down and sharing some great cards using one of my favourite suites. Tropical Escape suite is just so lush and fresh. I really love how this bundle pulls everything together and makes it super easy to make beautiful cards. That really is the beauty of a bundle.
I always tell my team members to make their purchases one bundle at a time rather than spreading themselves out with just a little bit of everything. The colours in the cardstock pack and the designer series paper revolve around Blushing Bride, Granny Apple Green and Shaded Spruce. Now I’m not sure I would have put those colours together all on my own, but they look fabulous together! There are three leaves in the stamp set and five leaf framelits in the die collection. There are 24, yes, 24! different patterns in the Tropical Escape 6×6″ designer series paper pack. The Tropical elements wood pieces and the textured weave ribbon that are in this suite are not used in these cards but they are both very pretty. You can find all this beauty on page 120 and 121 of the annual catalog.
Enough talk, let’s take a look at the beautiful cards made with this suite. Thankfully I had these three cards in my stash thanks to swaps I participated in. The first one is made by my friend Kay Smith from Newfoundland.
Here is a closeup of the beautiful detail in this Tropical Escape card.
The next card is by the talented Cheryl Hamilton. She actually lives in Hawaii!! She made a matchbook style card. I have never actually made a card like this and I really like it. Time to get out of the card-making box! Do you find yourself making the same style of card over and over?
Here is a close-up of the detail in this lovely card. Can you see how nice these colours work together? When you use the patterned paper as your inspiration you don’t need to figure out anything on your own. I like that!
The last card is by Canada’s own talented Kim McGillis who is on the international Artisan Team. This is a stunning black and white card stamped on shimmer white cardstock. The picture will not do it justice at all! There is a little scrap of polka dot tulle ribbon, some black mini sequin trim and some leaves behind the sentiment.
We are going to make these cards at coffee and a card on Tuesday. Be prepared to divide your group into different assignments, there is a lot of detail in each of these cards, more than the usual style for coffee and a card mornings! I find that when I haven’t made the card personally I sometimes underestimate how much work and steps went into them. Thanks ladies for these beautiful cards.
If you would like to add any of these great things to your crafting stash and you live in Canada, I would love for you to order from me. If you already have a demonstrator, please support them! If you do choose to order online I would ask one more favour, please do use the current host code. This enables me to add other orders to the same workshop so that host benefits can be earned. This helps me keep the cost of my classes down. Did you know that you can place your own order of $200 and get host benefits all by yourself? A better idea if you were planning on spending that kind of cash is to just get the starter kit. In that case you get to pick out $165 worth of product and pay only $135. No shipping. No tax. If you were to spend $165 on a regular order you would be paying $205.10, so you can easily see the benefit of getting the starter kit. After that beautiful box arrives at your place, you can also get a 20% discount on any further orders you might place in the next six months. How awesome is that? Definitely something worth considering. Here is the host code:
Thanks for reading all the way to the end. Have a super day. Stamping hugs, Jackie
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by Jackie Bultje | Aug 7, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Hello stampers! I am finally sharing some projects made with the beautiful Blended Seasons Bundle. I was quite anxious to do so since this amazing set is only available in August. Stampin’Up! is not kidding when they say this. They will not bring it back in another catalog, so if you like it the time to get it is now. I think by the time you are finished reading this blog post you will agree that it is both beautiful and versatile. It is designed to be used for colouring and layering and the stitched edges, oh my!!!! The first card I made with it used only one of the sayings. Here it is:
I just love the simplicity of this card. It took about one minute to make. The iguana with the fly is a bit of a cheat I must confess. I used my Brother Scan’n’Cut for that, but it was very finicky and did not cut much of what I wanted it to, so I made do with what I had. The next card was embossed with copper and I have another confession to make. These cards were all made late last night so the quality isn’t quite up to snuff. I forgot to use my embossing buddy so there are some stray bits of embossing powder. My blending is sub-par, but guess what? It’s still a nice card. I thought it was important to show you that not everything I made is stellar. Just breathe. Embrace your imperfection.
Do you remember the beloved Top Note die? The shape of the three nesting framelits in this Blended Seasons bundle is very reminiscent of that. These framelits take it up a notch though. They have a stitched edge on the part that is cut out AND the part that is left behind, so it is great for card windows as well. This image should give you a better idea of the framelits that are in the bundle.
This next card appeals to me because of its beautiful simplicity. It is all about the texture and the colours which to me exude fall. What do you think?
The deep texture of the corrugated embossing folder is just divine. I think it will be great not only for fall cards but also for a country Christmas and for masculine cards. The next card is also a fall card with a bit of watercolouring on the leaves, again done late at night so be kind!
I think this next card may just be my favourite. I would say it is a five or ten minute card and it looks like you really spent a lot of time on it. I paired it with the leaf framelit from Colourful Seasons in the annual catalog. Once again you will see the amazing Corrugated embossing folder. Wow!!! The Blended Seasons bundle is available now but you will have to wait until September 1 to order the embossing folder, unless you join my team, then you can put it in your starter kit!
The last card is also one of my favourites, it is a Christmas card using the Joyous Season paper from the upcoming Holiday catalog. If you do not have a demonstrator and you would like a holiday catalog, please message me. I send them for free to anyone who orders from me. Sadly you need to live in Canada to be able to order from me.
If you live in Canada and do not yet have a demonstrator I would love it if you ordered from me online. I will send you a card made with this great bundle. Please use this online code if possible and thank you very, very much!
Now I was going to make a video myself to share on this blog post, but Shannon West just posted one and I learned a lot from it, so I am going to share her video first. I promise I will also do one, but in the meantime, enjoy this new very casual Stampin’Up! video. They are experimenting with a new style and I like it a lot better than the old ones which were a little to “canned” for me.
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaNWfFWBUfk&feature=youtu.be
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by Jackie Bultje | Aug 3, 2018 | Wink of Stella |
Hello stampers. I am back from my fabulous incentive trip and my heart is full. I had such a wonderful time and saw the amazing creativity of our God in his creation, both in the landscape and in the creatures. I hit the ground running as I came home Tuesday night and had a team potluck and card swap on Thursday. I still had to make 22 cards! While I was very pleased with how my card turned out, I made a poor choice for a swap card. I will explain why later. I knew that I was going to do a mermaid card and that I wanted to use Wink of Stella to add that special sparkle that mermaids need. To step it up a notch, I used Wink of Stella as a sort of glittery blender pen. Did you know that you can do that? It works amazingly well. Wink of Stella has a fantastic tip that allows for lovely colouring and it picks up the ink really well.
When I first chose this card as my swap card I did so for two reasons. I had not yet used my Magical Mermaid stamp set and I loved this mermaid! What I didn’t take into account were all the steps needed to get this look. The card front is glossy white. You first sponge or brayer grey granite ink on the bottom. Then you sponge soft sea foam in the middle and bermuda bay around the top three edges. About half way through I was getting a sore arm from all that sponging! Then you stamp the bottom with the shells and dots stamp. This needs to be done four times to get full coverage. After that you need to stamp once with the “dotty” background stamp (even though most of that is covered by the sentiment). After that I stamped the “sea plants” four times, two on each side. The sentiment was stamped on Soft Sea Foam cardstock in call me clover ink and then punched out using the everyday label punch. Rachel thankfully helped me use the Big Shot to crank out all the coral in bermuda bay. That coral framelit is part of the Sea of Textures bundle. I cheated with the mermaid and used my Brother Scan’n’Cut to cut those out. They were stamped with memento black ink on shimmer white cardstock. Rachel coloured the hair with Blends using light daffodil delight and light crumb cake. I coloured the body with light pink pirouette Blends. Now here is where the fun part comes.
I used Wink of Stella along with Petal Pink ink and Lovely Lipstick ink. I used a small clear block and pressed it into the ink pad. I then used Wink of Stella to pick up the colour and use it as you would an aquapainter. To get a more intense colour I added a drop or two of reinker as well. I first did all the tails in Petal Pink and then I did all the bodies in Lovely Lipstick. Both the sentiment and the mermaid were raised with dimensionals and the bermuda bay coral was adhered with a glue dot. The final step was adding the beads from Tranquil Textures Sprinkles. I just added a five spots of Tombow adhesive and then used tweezers to drop a bead on each drop. It’s the final little detail that adds just the right touch, but you can see how all these steps made it quite a time consuming swap card.
When making a swap card be sure to make one complete card first to make sure that you are happy with the layout and the details. The only thing I changed from the card in the catalog that I cased is that I did not make the starfish yellow. That would have been one step too many. The starfish is part of the sentiment stamp and it would have been a royal pain to ink it up separately and cut them all out. I think it looks just fine the way it is. Did I mention that the card base is Soft Sea Foam? I have included a video (done late at night) that shows you a little better about the Wink of Stella and the ink on a clear block. I hope you enjoyed this and were inspired to perhaps case your own cards from the catalog, it really is a great idea book!
Here are a few of my favourite photos from the incentive trip, thank you to all for supporting my business and making this possible, I am truly grateful. The trip is so much more than a vacation, it is an awesome way to communicate with the owners and staff of Stampin’Up!, to have your voice heard and to mingle and engage with fellow demonstrators who become international friends.
I got to be the copilot on this float plane that took us to Taku Lodge where we also saw the bears. Definitely the highlight of our trip.
Here is the video, definitely not my best one, but better than nothing!
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONxdVoUChWc
I almost forgot to remind you about the exclusive offer this month, the Colour Your Season Bundle. You can check it out here. Here is a graphic that you can see what was made with it.
I would love it if you live in Canada and do not already have a demonstrator if you would order from me, I really appreciate every order that I receive. Please use this host code if you do and I will pop a card in the mail to you!
Thanks again and sorry for the add-ons. Better late than never is my motto.
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Pink Pirouette Light Stampin’ Blends Marker
[144593]
$6.00
