Hello stampers! I am so happy to have been asked to join in the Autism Awareness blog hop by Patty Chenail. The hop starts tomorrow. We are all using the colours red, blue and yellow so the first thing I thought of was Brusho. I am so happy that it is carrying over into the new catalog. The stamp set that came to mind is a brand new one called Enjoy LIfe. It was designed by Million Dollar sales achiever Connie Fitzgerald in honour of her children. I love this set as it is the perfect combination of images and sayings. I was able to pre-order this set because I attended the local OnStage event in London, Ontario. Here is the set:
I started out with three pieces of shimmer white cardstock measuring 3 5/8″ by 4 7/8″. I purposely chose this size so that I could cut out five card fronts from one sheet of shimmer white cardstock. I was planning to use three colours of Brusho on each card, but you need to wait between colours so that they don’t bleed together. This was my way of speeding up the process a little.
I first spritzed my cardstock with water, then sprinkled on the Brusho and then spritzed a little more water to make it spread. Each one is unique and that is what I love about it. Now it’s time to add the other colours.
I ended up using two of these, and for the third card I first embossed the images in black and then added the brusho. Can you tell which one used that technique?
Let’s take a closer look at the cards. For the first one I had originally black embossed both the sentiment and the images but I found that the sentiment did not stand out enough, so I stamped in on white and cut it using the Stitched Shapes framelits.
Before this rendition I had played around with the sentiment and brushed Brusho “paint” over some of the words. I like the above version better but I thought you might want to compare the two. Which one is your favourite?
Do you see how the bike looks like it is riding on a path? Total coincidence!! I first stamped the grass in versamark along the bottom but then the bike looked like it was floating, so I needed to add another layer of grass. I wanted to keep the wispy look so I didn’t want to “double stamp” so I used a sticky note to mask off the bottom grass. This left a slight white section that now looks like a path. Necessity is the mother of invention!! I am really thrilled with how the Brusho turned out on this card. I am not exaggerating when I say that I could play with this stuff all day long!!
Once again I stamped the images in versamark and then black embossed them. It stands out so nicely against the Brusho background. The sentiment was stamped in real red and pacific point. This is a really neat feature with this set. Connie Fitzgerald, the million dollar achiever who designed this set has left a space in the middle of the blue sentiment so that you can add either “love you” or “miss you”. What a great idea!! It also really resonates with me for this autism cause. The love these parents have for their children is immense.
This card just makes me happy. I love the athletic look to the silhouette image. It is strong and victorious. The sentiment is also powerful and motivating. This is the card where I first embossed the image and sentiment in black and then added the brusho. This sequence allows you to place your colour more or less where you want it. Brusho does have a mind of its own!!
I hope these cards have inspired you, but more importantly that they have helped raise awareness for Autism. So many people have to struggle with this and there is not enough funding, so research is needed so that we can learn about what causes it and how to help. Here is the link so that you can donate. Remember, when you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive: to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
Hello stampers. You already know that I love this amazing new product in our Occasions catalog called Brusho. Well, it gets better. I have a very talented team member who just happens to be a watercolour artist as well, and she came and taught our team a few tricks with Brusho. I decided to focus on just a few of them that would translate very well into card making. One of my biggest aha moments was in realizing that you could get dramatically different results by changing the direction of the water spray. I was just spraying from the top down onto my paper. It also makes a difference as to which water spritzer you use. Fine mist will give a different end result than larger droplets of water from a bigger spritzer. Little details that had not even crossed my mind. I had also not thought of running watercolour paper through an embossing folder. Take a look at some of the cards that I came up with and then I will show you how I did this in a video.
With this celebrate card you can really see what happens when you control the direction of the spray. I first put a piece of painters tape across the card about two thirds of the way up. Then I sprinkled a little brilliant red Brusho on an acrylic block and a little Prussian Blue Brusho on another block. I picked up the dry brusho with a dry brush and dabbed it in dots across the watercolour paper along the edge of the tape in alternating colours. Then I misted water on it using an old Stampin’ Mist bottle. I didn’t spray from above, but rather sprayed in an angle away from me. I will show you in the video. Here is a close-up.
I really, really love the look of this. I chose elegant eggplant cardstock to cut out the word “celebrate” which is one of the framelits that you can get for free with a $120 purchase during sale-a-bration. I decided to use this same technique with different colours and then I made an extra piece with the same colours as the background that I could use for my focal point. I was pretty pleased with myself for thinking of that! In the meantime, my to-do list for getting ready for my ski trip was being ignored!!
For this card I used Prussian Blue and Yellow Brusho and I dusted off Dragonfly Dreams with a bit of guilt in my heart for having neglected this beautiful stamp set. I used the watercolour paper on the left to cut out my dragonfly thinlet.
Our mini dimensionals are perfect for popping up these dragonflies and the Stamparatus was great for stamping the sentiment with archival black. I don’t know if you have noticed but it is hard to stamp on watercolour paper. It is a bit rough and very textured and thick, so the stamparatus let me stamp this three times in a row to get a nice dark colour. The sentiment is from So Many Shells which is another great set to have in your stash. I haven’t tried it yet, but I think you could put Wink of Stella on the dragonflies to take it up another notch.
Here you can see the beautiful detail in this technique and you can see the direction the water went. I haven’t felt this artistic in a long time and oh my, it is addictive! Be still my heart. This next card uses a different technique all together.
For this card I used a 1″ wide flat brush to wet the watercolour paper generously. Then I sprinkled on Brusho in “stripes” and then simply went over the powder with my wide brush in long, even strokes. After it was dry I stamped the large tree in archival black and then I embossed the smaller trees in black. This left the large tree looking rather muted, so I stamped over it in versamark and then embossed it too. The sentiment is from Butterfly Basics and I embossed it in silver. Here is a close-up:
The last card that I made was a first for me. I ran the watercolour paper through the Big Shot with the Woodland embossing folder. Then I spritzed it with water finely from a distance so that there would be a fine mist on my paper. Then I sprinkled on yellow and brilliant red Brusho. I made up brown by first making some green Brusho. You do this by combining yellow and blue. When doing this always add a little of the darker colour to the lighter colour, this is much more efficient. After you have green you will combine it with red to make brown.
You need to let your background dry, or speed it along by using the heat gun. Then you can take a small brush and paint the trees brown. This is not very difficult since the trees are raised. The sentiment is from Heartfelt Blooms, one of our fabulous saleabration sets that you can get for free with a $60 purchase.
I hope you have enjoyed learning a little more about Brusho. Once again, I want to sincerely thank Char McGill who taught me these tips. If you want to see her work, please check out her blog. I am in awe of her talent, but it is her personality and sweet nature and sense of humour that have captured my heart.
I will finish this blog post by sharing a video that will show you some of these techniques. Seeing is believing!!
Hello stampers! If you have not heard anything about Brusho yet, hold on to your hat. Brusho is an intensely coloured pigmented water colour ink powder. A little goes a long way! See my earlier post here for more information. I recently learned that it works best when you use warm or hot water! For this post I have mainly used Brusho for painting. You simply put a little powder on one of our acrylic blocks and then squeeze on a little water using an aquapainter.
Our colours work great all by themselves but you can play around by mixing them up to make lots of new colours and shades. Trust me, this could lead to an all day adventure!! This is the first card I made using this technique. I used the stamp set Petal Palette. It was so nice to have the framelits to cut it out too.
I lightly inked up the Pinewood Planks embossing folder with sahara sand to give it an even more realistic look. The framelits are all from the Petal Palette bundle except for the oval which is from the Stitched Shapes framelits. Very, very nice. Now this is an expensive bundle, I’m not going to lie. The best way to get it in my opinion is to get the starter kit. It is such an amazing deal at this time of year. I have a video explaining why I think it is too good to pass up.
Here is a close up of the Petal Palette card that shows the two framelits I used for the sentiment. I love this look, so delicate and yet so easy to use.
The next thing I did with the Brusho was paint the birds from Best Birds. I was really happy with how they turned out. I am using Shimmer White paper because I used up all of my watercolour paper and I simply couldn’t wait for it to arrive. The shimmer white holds up really well, so it is a great option for watercolouring.
For the last card I first wet the shimmer white cardstock with water and then I sprinkled on three different colours of Brusho- the Prussian Blue, Brilliant Red and Yellow. Then I stamped the girl from Beautiful You with Archival Black ink and when it was all dry I painted the girls dress with more Brilliant Red Brusho. I so love this card!!
One of the reasons that I fell in love with Stampin’Up! is that the artwork from the stamps combined with ink and paper truly made me feel artistic and creative. For someone who would never take an art class in high school that is quite the statement. Brusho has made me even happier as it takes card making to a whole new level of fun and creativity!! Here is a close up of the Beautiful You girl.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of what you can do with Brusho! As you can see, I have totally fallen in love with it and I am going to offer an introductory class on Wednesday February 7 at 1pm and 7pm. Included in the class is a pack of Brusho, a package of watercolour paper and two aquapainters. Cost is $69.25 plus shipping and tax, but you also get a free sale-a-bration item and you will make five cards for free! Class is limited, so please sign up soon to avoid disappointment.
I will finish this blog post by sharing a video on how I made the images for these cards. I hope you find it helpful!!
Hello stampers! Deep down we all need and love to create, but sometimes we are afraid. The reason I fell in love with stamping is the beautiful images. All I had to do was put the stamp on an ink pad and then on paper and I was already off to a beautiful start! Now there is Brusho. Wow! This post is just about the most simple way of using this amazing product. What is it?
Brusho is watercolour ink crystals in very brilliant and intense colours. It is made in England and Stampin’Up! now sells this in an assorted pack of five colours for $40.00. It will be available on January 3. The colours include Brilliant Red, Gamboge (orange) Moss Green, Prussian Blue and Yellow. You pierce a hole in the lid with a push pin (a thumbtack with a head on it that you can use as a handle as well) Then use the push pin to seal the hole when you are done. Just shake a little powder over a piece of watercolour paper that you have already spritzed with some water. Spritz a little more water on afterwards and watch the magic happen. You can re-apply again after it is dry if you want to change it. This is the most simple way of using this product, but that is just the beginning. You can also use our aquapainters to paint with it for a more controlled look. Here are some very simple cards that I made using a brand new sale-a-bration stamp set called Epic Celebrations.
We are actually making these fun cards at my Bingo Party tonight. Every quarter I have a Bingo party as a fun way of introducing new products to my customers. Everyone goes home with a prize from the new catalog and the four projects we make all use brand new product too. That way you can make informed choices when ordering from the new catalog. Epic Celebrations in a sale-a-bration set that you can get for free when you make a $60 purchase in Canada. The words for the cards come from a new set called Let the Good Times Roll. Yes, it is roller coasters and comes with framelits!!
This is definitely my favourite card. I have found my inner artist!! All you do is stamp the shoes in versamark and then emboss with clear embossing powder on watercolour paper. This one is 3″ square so it fits in our mini pizza boxes. How much fun is that? After you have embossed the shoes, spritz the paper with water, sprinkle on the Brusho and dry it with the heat gun. This also moves the colour around. The words are stamped in archival black.
With this red card I chose to emboss the headphones in white to make it pop even more. You could use this simple card for any occasion or no occasion at all, just a note of encouragement to put in a lunch or backpack.
I love this one too. Can you believe (if I remember correctly) that it only uses the Mossy Green Brusho? I find that it has an impressionistic look. This card makes me feel very artistic and that is the last word I would use to describe myself. I never took art in high school in fact I was terrified of taking an art class. From about grade 2 I knew that I had no artistic talent. Now, as an adult, I know that is not true. But it is sad that I felt that way for so many years. My greatest joy is showing others that they are artistic and that they can create beautiful things.
I haven’t had time to make a video for this yet, but I promise I will. In the meantime, if you have some time, Patty Bennett made a great video with super tips and explanations why this product is better than watercolouring with ink refills. Check it out. I would love to hear what you think. Have a super day.
