Baby Wipe Card

Hi Everybody!

Just a quick post today to showcase a gorgeous new set that I'm loving at the minute.  The two images used above are from the new Happy Day stamp set. The technique I've used on the medallion to get the lovely mottled effect is the Baby Wipe Technique, where basically you splodge different colours of ink onto a folded up baby wipe and use that as your ink pad. The colours I used on my baby wipe were Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Pacific Point and Coastal Cabana.  The card itself is made using Coastal Cabana - this is one of our new colours and is fast becoming a favourite of mine! 

I stamped the medallion onto Shimmery White cardstock and stamped the sentiment with black Stazon. It was then all finished off with a few rhinestones.

TFL! Joanne x

Stash Busting Gifts!

Hi Everybody!

Now the delicious new catalogue has come out, you're probably in the same boat as me - still have loads of old, retired product left from the last catalogue. Being a scrapbooker, my main addiction apart from stamps is paper. I have tons of the stuff, and I need to make way for the new! So here's a quick suggestion of what can be done with the old stuff.

Make gift sets of cards using the sheets of old paper as envelopes!

There is a fantastic list of various sizes you can make, plus a video showing you how over at Jackie Topa's blog. All you need is the scoreboard and the diagonal scoring plate and you're good to go! 

I made these cards our usual half A4 size and used the "Oversized A2 Card" measurements to create the envelopes. 

The cards I made to go with the envelopes are made using the lovely big flower from Betsy's Blossoms stamp set and a few strips of co-ordinating paper that I used to make the envelopes with. The "With Love" sentiment is from the Field Flowers stamp set.

Both of these sets I made for Harvey's teachers as end of term gifts. I packed them in ordinary brown lunch bags which I again stamped with the Betsy's Blossom large flower stamp. I finished them with a tag using a stamp from the From My Heart set cut out using the Labels Collection Framelits.

I think this is a great way to quickly and easily use up some of your old paper stash. They make super quick gifts, or would be great for craft stalls or to give away to charities.

TFL! Joanne x

A Stamp Set is for Life.....

Hello Everybody and welcome to my lastest favourite stamp set!  This set is called Watercolour Winter and is available in the new Autumn/Winter Catalogue.

As you can see it has some beautiful images that can be used as a 2-step stamping system - whereby you stamp the main image then stamp the line drawn image over the top to add definition.  You can also use the line drawn images on their own and colour them in. 

But it doesn't stop there. Being from Yorkshire, I like value for money, and I like a stamp set that will earn it's keep! With that in mind, I thought I'd have a play and see what else I could do with this set beyond Christmas. Here's what I've done so far.

 This first card I made is using the pine branch from the set.  With that image in mind, I wanted to try to create something more masculine looking which could be used for a birthday card or something generic that could be used for any occasion.  I got the idea from this beautiful card made by Tami White.

The background is made with Early Espresso Core'dinations cardstock and the Woodgrain embossing folder. This was then sanded to reveal more of the woodgrain.  The pine branch was stamped onto cream Confetti cardstock in Lucky Limeade and Early Espresso. The sentiment is from the Curly Cute stamp set.  The leaves are made in Cajun Craze, More Mustard and Lucky Limeade, folded and put through the Woodgrain embossing folder to get the texture. The whole thing is mounted on a Lucky Limeade card base and finished off with one of the new Brushed Bronze Designer Buttons and twine.

The next card is made using the main body of the pointsettia flower.  My Mum had a beautiful clematis plant in her garden which is a similar shape this flower stamp.  The technique I used for this card is the baby wipe technique. I inked baby wipes with Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder and Elegant Eggplant inks, then stamped on a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I stamped three separately and cut them out. The sentiment is from the Hopeful Thoughts set and this was mounted onto the Labels Collection Framelits. The whole thing was mounted onto another Lucky Limeade card base (my latest favourite colour, as you can see!) and finished with a Whisper White Organza Ribbon bow and a couple of rhinestones.

Hope you like them and always remember - think outside the box with your stamp sets!

TFL! Joanne x

Sparkle Star Card

Here's another quick card I've made using my favourite stamp set of the moment - Perfectly Preserved. This time the vellum cardstock jar has been filled with stars made out of Champagne glimmer paper. This is super stuff as it's marvellously sparkly but doesn't shed any glitter.

The papers used are Howlstooth & Scaringbone, which are this year's Halloween collection, but they are very generic and suitable for any occasion.

The sentiment is from the Delightful Dozen stamp set and punched out with the Curly Label Punch.

Hope you like it!

TFL! Joanne x

Windmill Card

Here's a quick card that I made using the new Perfectly Preserved stamp set and Framelits Dies to match.  The jar was stamped onto cardstock vellum and the matching die was used to punch a hole through a mat of Island Indigo and the vellum placed behind.  I cut a slit at the top of the jar to put a "stick" of Early Espresso through and then added a windmill using The co-ordinating Orchard Harvest Designer Series Paper. I finished off with a quick sentiment from the Pocket Sillhouettes stamp set.   Apart from the Pocket Sillhouette stamp set, everything else is now available for sale in the new Autumn/Winter catalogue. See the side bar at right to have a look!

TFL! Joanne x

Another Reason to Smile card

Hello Everybody!
I'm really loving using the Reason to Smile set that we've got on offer at the minute. Anyone can have one - you can get it free if you spend £60 or more on other product, or you can buy it as a wood mount set for £18.95, or a clear mount set for £14.95. Here's my latest offering:

As the set is a Two Step Stamping set, you get lovely "shadow" images along with the line drawn images. I used this shadow stamp to create a faux watercoloured type image on this card.  The card base and seam binding are both Pool Party and the papers are the lovely Mocha Morning Speciality DSP. The swirl is from the Sizzix Swirls and Scribbles die and the sentiment is from the Clearly for You stamp set.

As ever, I had to finish off with some rhinestones and twine - they're two of my favourite products, along with the pearls.  Love a bit of bling!

Don't forget, you can buy this set, but it will only be available until 31st August. So if you'd like one get your orders in before the end of the month!

TFL! Joanne x

New Promotion!

Hello Everyone!

We could all do with a reason to smile now and then, and for this month only Stampin' Up! are offering an exclusive stamp set absolutely free if you spend £60 on product.

As you can see, this is a 2-Step Stampin' set that is so versatile - I've fallen in love with it.  As you can see below, I've already made one card with it, and I'll be making many more over the course of August.

This card is made using the Reason to Smile set with the gebera flower head stamped onto the Rich Razzleberry card base.  The whole line drawn flower was then stamped onto the First Edition Speciality Paper and coloured in with Aqua Painters and ink pad. The sentiment is from Petite Pairs. I then finished it off with a Lucky Limeade mat, some striped grosgrain, a few rhinestones and a squoosh of Basic Grey ink from my Colour Spritzer Tool for that distressed look.

If you'd like to take advantage of this offer please just get in touch.

TFL! Joanne x

Teacher Gifts

It's that time of year again folks! When we all start thinking about what to give our kids' teachers as a token of appreciation (or should that be badge of honour?!) for putting up with our little darlings all year! One of Harvey's trainee teachers left last week, and this is what I made her.

It's a small origami box made out of Island Indigo cardstock and the gorgeous Twitterpated paper. Inside are six 3" x 3" notelets with matching envelopes made from Twitterpated paper using our fabulous new scoreboard.

Each notelet was the same. I made them using Lucky Limeade cardstock and Twitterpated. I cut a square to one side of the DSP and filled it with a little "postage stamp" made using Perfect Postage stamp set and our matching stamp. Each one was finished with a small rhinestone.

As you can see, they all fitted neatly in to the box!

I used the scoreboard again to make the lollipop nedallion on top with more of the Twitterpated paper and finished it with one of our Antique Brads and some pleated ribbon.

I also made a quick card to match using the lovely new Tea Shoppe stamp set, the Twitterpated and pleated ribbon.

She was really thrilled with it, so I hope this gives you a bit of an idea of what you can do for teachers!

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

One Colour/No Colour Challenge!

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Just quickie today. I decided to have a go at this week's Try a New Technique on Splitcoast Stampers. This week the challenge was to create a card, preferably with a line drawn image, that used only one colour ink and no colouring in.  Same goes for the sentiment.  Pretty straightforward so I had a bash!

The card base is Wisteria Wonder and the embossed part is Brushed Gold cardstock. I love using both the Brushed Gold and Brushed Silver with the embossing plates.  The shine on them really gives lovely definition.  The image is from the hostess set Simply Soft.  It was stamped on Ivory cardstock - bit rougher than Very Vanilla for a more rustic look.  I finished it off with a mat of Soft Suede and my old favourite, some linen thread. The sentiment is from the You Are Loved set which is in our current mini. This is my favourite set (for now)! Added a couple of pearls to bring attention to the sentiment and there you go! All finished!

TFL! x

Rose Card

Hello Everybody!

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Here's a card I made yesterday using various techniques.

The rose image is from You Are Loved which is in our current Spring Mini catalogue.  I coloured the rose stamp with Pumpkin Pie, Real Red and Basic Gray inks and then stamped it. This was then punched out with the Large Oval punch and then I decided to use the cracked glass technique on it to make it a bit more interesting. I did this by heat embossing it with clear embossing powder three times, then, when it's cooled down, just bending the image to crack it.  Then I just wiped some more Basic Gray ink over to bring out the cracks.

What I love about this is that the Large Oval fits into the oval of the Textured Impressions Designer Frames embossing set.  This was done using our Brushed Silver Cardstock.

The Basic Gray card base was stamped with the script stamp from the Charming set (another Mini Catalogue offering) and embellished with Very Vanilla satin ribbon and Victoria lace which I dyed using Basic Gray ink to give it that shabby chic look!

The lollipop rosette was made using the Lace Ribbon Border, Boho Blossoms punch and a Fire rhinestone brad.

Once it was all stuck together I finished it off by spritzing with some more Basic Gray ink.

Hope you like it.  Any queries please just message me!

TFL! Joanne x

Just a quickie

I've recently become obsessed with Stampin' Up! Confetti cardstock.  It's a beautiful white cardstock with lots of little petal and grass inclusions, like handmade paper, but it's very smooth at the same time. It's great for making more rustic cards.

This one was made quickly yesterday for my dear friend Marja, just for being lovely and a wonderful customer! I used the Confetti cardstock, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive Cardstock. The tree and bunny are both from the Forest Friends set, stamped in Old Olive and Chocolate Chip. The sentiment, again in Chocolate Chip is from the Fresh Cuts set and it's all finished off with Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon.

Anyway, that's it for now.  I'm off to get ready for our crop!

TFL! Joanne x