St Petersburg in the Snow

Hello Everybody!

Well, after my journey to India yesterday, I got to thinking more about World travels and decided to have a go at turning an Indian Temple into a Russian Orthodox Cathedral!

For this card, I started with Basic Grey base (#121689) for the sky and stamped it with Basic Grey ink (#109120) and the flourish stamp from the Everything Eleanor set (#124162 wood, #124164 clear) (you can't beat a good flourish, I say - comes in handy all the time!). I then stamped the snowflakes using the triple snowflake stamp from the Serene Snowflakes set (#115438 wood only). I stamped these in Whisper White Craft ink (#101731), added Heat and Stick powder (#100625) and then sprinkled them with Dazzling Diamonds glitter (#102023). The actual domes were made from the Big Top Birthday Designer Series Paper (#122348), with the pillars made from Cajun Craze cardstock (#121683) run through the Big Shot (#113439) with the Square Lattice embossing folder (#119976) to give the impression of ornate brickwork.





I then stuck them together and sprinkled a little Dazzling Diamonds across the tops to look like snowfall.  As with the Indian Sunset card, I coloured some pearls (#119247) with permanent markers to hide the edge. I then stuck them all on at various heights to give a 3d effect using Dimensionals (#104430). The whole thing was then matted onto Whisper White cardstock (#106549) and placed on a Real Red cardstock (#106578) card base.

Hope you like it. I think this would make a really unusual Christmas card!

Now I'm off again to see where my travels take me next! TFL! Joanne x

Indian Sunset Card

One thing I love to do is play with a brayer. I take great inspiration from Michelle Zindorf, who is the most amazing brayer artist I've come across.

I took inspiration for this card whilst recently watching a documentary about India. I'm at the stage where I see potential in everything, and when I saw a beautiful sunset over a temple, I thought how I could recreate that!

I punched a circle from a Post-it Note and stuck it to some Very Vanilla cardstock. This created the mask for my sun. Starting from the top, I then brayered the whole page with So Saffron ink (#105213). I then followed this with Pumpkin Pie ink (#105216), again running it down the page but this time letting it fade out towards the bottom. Finally I used some Tangerine Tango (#111834) for the top third of the picture, and then a little Riding Hood Red (#111836) at the very top finished the sunset.

If you hadn't guessed, the domes and minaret were created using the Ornament punch (#119847) out of Basic Black cardstock (#121688). The decorative beading around the domes are SU! pearls (#119247) coloured with permanent black marker. The two birds were made using the sides of the Round Tab punch (#119864), and the photo corners, made from the Curly Label punch (#119851) out of Brushed Gold cardstock (#124917) finished the picture.

It was then matted onto Very Vanilla (#106550) and Basic Black (#121688) cardstock and set on a Riding Hood Red (#116205) card.

I know a lot of people get scared of brayering.  Hopefully soon I'm going to do a class called "Brayering for the Terrified". Watch this space!

TFL! Joanne x

Jubilee Lollies!

Hello Everybody!

Here's a quick and cheap idea for table centres if you're having a Jubilee street party or party at school.  I found these lollies called "Brit Pops" in my local Poundland and immediately thought the colours would match SU! Real Red and Pacific Point! Always thinking SU!

When I got them home I made them into flowers using our new Blossom Punch (#125603) and Brights Collection Designer Series Paper Stack (#117155). The leaves were made using the Ornament Punch (119847) and Lucky Limeade cardstock (#124388).

I then stuck them all in a small tin bucket I had which I had filled with floral Oasis. I finished it off with Organza Ribbon (#114319) tied around the pot and I made a few bows and stuck then here and there in the arrangement.

I think they look really sweet and summery and with the colour scheme I think most people would love to get one - if you can bear to take the arrangement apart!

TFL! Joanne x

Next Class - Introducing the Scoreboard!

Hello Everybody!

This month's class is really rather special! To celebrate the launch of the Summer Mini Catalogue and the arrival of our brand new Scoreboard, the mini album we will be making centres around this product!

We will be using several techniques to construct the album, it's mechanism and various elements and decoration.

As well as this, we will be using the brand new Framelits and Apothecary Art stamp set from the new catty.

The gorgeous papers used are the new Twitterpated range, which are, once again, just released and available in the Summer Mini catalogue.

All in all we will make a beautiful mini album, perfect for all your Summer photos. The price of this class will be £12.50 - BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

The new Stampin' Up! Scoreboard is available with Imperial measurements (inches) as standard and grooves every 1/8". The price is £25.95 and it comes complete with a stylus tool which, as well as scoring is perfect for making dots or shaping paper flowers.  It also comes with three markers so you always know where to score.

The great thing about this board is that you can buy add ons in the form of a metric scoreplate (£10.95) and a diagonal score plate (also £10.95).  You do not need to buy a completely new board just to get metric measurements!

But that's not the best part - if you buy the Scoreboard from me this month, you will get the mini album class absolutely FREE!  Even if you can't come to the class, you can receive instructions and a kit so you can still construct your own mini album. I can either post them to you or, if you live locally to me and would like me to come and do your own personal class in your home or community space, I'm more than happy to do so. For more details see my website HERE.

I hope you like the look of this album and, even if you can't attend the class, it gives you plenty of inspiration!

TFL! Joanne xx

Origami Gift Basket Video Tutorial

Hey Everybody!

I don't do this often, but today I've gone all technical and made a video of how to make this cute little origami basket.  It just takes a 6"x6" piece of patterned paper and is just the right size to hold a Ferrero Rocher chocolate!

You can make them any size. You will see in the video that I made another out of a 12" x 12" piece of paper. It's still a nice size and holds so much - perfect for gifts.

As you would imagine, this is not my idea. My basket is based on the work of Tethered2Home and Origami Mommy, and I thank them for the inspiration!

I went to our Team Training a couple of weeks ago and made these as my swaps.  They were really appreciated and so I thought I'd share them with everyone.  Here's a photo of some of my swaps:

I think they look really sweet all lined up together! I used papers from the In Colour Designer Series Paper pad.

Anyway, without further ado, let's go on with the show!

Origami Gift Basket Tutorial

Any questions just let me know. TFL! Joanne x

Blurred Vision Technique

Hello Everybody!

I love stamps that I can colour in.  And there are a few sets in the new Summer Mini catalogue that are perfect for this. I think my favourite is Bordering on Romance that I've just acquired.

Sometimes though, I can be very lazy. I want to use my line drawn images, but I can't be bothered to colour them in.  This is where the "Blurred Vision" Technique comes in!

The image on this card is from the Bordering on Romance set.  I stamped it onto Confetti Cream cardstock. I prefer to use that for this technique as it has a more "rustic" look to it. The image was stamped with Soft Suede ink, but you can use any of the water based Classic ink pads to suit your colour scheme.

You then either take a blender pen or a watercolour brush and gently go over the lines, smudging the ink to make a softer outline and a more "blurred vision" look to the image. Once I was happy with how blurred I'd made it, I inked the edges with Soft Suede to blend in with the artwork and give a more aged, vintage feel.

The image was then matted onto Soft Suede and Pink Pirouette cardstock. The patterned paper I used is from the Beau Chateau range of Designer Series Paper. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and stamped onto a banner cut from the Petal Cone Bigz L Die. The card was finished off with a few butterflies from my all time favourite Embosslits die - Beautiful Wings. I hope you like this card and have a go at the Blurred Vision technique!

Card recipe:

Stamp sets - Bordering on Romance #125482, Teeny Tiny Wishes #115370
Cardstock - Pink Pirouette #116203, Soft Suede #119982, Confetti Cream #106558, Very Vanilla #106550
Ink - Soft Suede #115657
DSP - Beau Chateau #122357
Embellishment - Pearls #119247
Embosslits Die - Beautiful Wings #118138
Bigz L Die - Petal Cone #121810

TFL! Joanne x

Welcome to the Summer Mini Blog Hop!

Hello Everybody!

If you're starting at my blog, welcome to the Summer Mini Blog Hop! Or if you've come here from witnessing the beautiful work of the wonderfully talented Sara, then welcome to my blog and I hope you're enjoying the hop!

Here's the card I've made using an item from the Summer Mini:

I admit now, I have cheated a bit.  The stamp I chose to use is the Scallop Shell, which was also in the Spring Mini. I know that a few of my fellow stampers and customers have found this stamp "challenging" to use, so I thought I'd give it a go, as I love the seaside and sea shells generally.

The technique I used was faux linen.  I took a piece of glossy cardstock and stamped it with the background stamp En Francais and Soft Suede ink. I then took some sandpaper and sanded it in a vertical direction all across the cardstock and then in a horizontal direction.

After that I brayered Pool Party ink onto the cardstock, then inked the edges with River Rock and Soft Suede. The Scallop Shell was stamped in Early Espresso ink.

The card mount is River Rock and the patterned paper is part of the Timeless Portrait collection of Designer Series Paper. The doily is from the Perfect Pennants die. To give this an aged look, I cut it from Very Vanilla cardstock, crumpled it up and then separated it into two layers. Then I inked it with Soft Suede ink.

Twine was wrapped around the faux linen piece and attached to the page with dimensionals. The sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set stamped onto the banner from the Petal Cone die. The seam binding is the new Pool Party colour from the Summer Mini and this was aged with a little Soft Suede ink.

The whole thing was finished off with an antique brad and some pearls, then squooshed with the spritzer and Early Espresso marker.

I hope you like my contribution to the blog hop and if you have any questions about my card please get in touch.

Now I shall hand you over to the lovely Leanie to see her gorgeous work!

TFL! Joanne x