Colourful Seasons

The weather this weekend has been absolutely miserable and I  didn't feel guilty  for once popping into the craftroom to create. With the heater on the room was nice and cosy and the first stamp I thought  of was Colorful Seasons as it  is full of images that suit any season in the year.

I used shimmery white cardstock to water wash three colours - Lemon Lime Twist, Powder Pink and Pool Party across the card topper. I did 3 layers of water colouring over each section to achieve the look I  wanted.

I splattered water over parts of the dry card (very hard to see in the photos and patted it gently with a paper towel to remove the excess water). Now I'm not the most patient person and I quickly stamped my greeting on the right hand side of the card and shock horror!! My card wasn't dry and the greeting had "bled" everywhere!

Not wanting to go back to square one I took out one of the stitched framelits and quickly covered my mistake and popped a die cut chair on the stitched circle. Disaster averted!!

Next I cut a branch and a few flowers and then applied them to my card. A few bling later, a greeting stamped correctly this time and a cup with a bit of wink of stella on it and my card was finished. Have to say I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Till next time happy crafting
Tee-Jay

New in colours for 2017-2018 year

As a demo we get to order about a month or so before the new catalogue comes out. As I had attended a Stampin' Up event in Auckland in April I was able to order some of the new goodies super early!

One of the cards we made at the SU On Stage event was using the new daisy punch and stamp set, so I thought I would CASE (copy and share everything) using the new in colours.

I used the same design on all the cards but the finished result is quite different depending on the cards base you use. It was super easy and quick to make them all and I now have 10 cards ready to be posted out/given out when needed.

The new in colours are:

Berry Burst, Fresh Fig, Lemon Lime Twist, Powder Pink and Tranquil Tide and will be available for purchasing on 1 June 2017.

Cool Treats Suite take 1

It's been a very long time since I blogged and a lot has happened in that time. I broke my shoulder in May 2015 and have finally had a second surgery in March 2017 which has meant l now have nearly full moment in my left arm and also a lot less pain. It also means that I can actually spend some time in the craftroom.

I have just returned from Auckland having attended On Stage. This is an event run in April and November by Stampin Up and is for demonstrators only. It's a great opportunity to catch up with and make new friends who all share a common passion. It is also an opportunity to learn new things, see new product and you come away very inspired. If you've ever thought about being a demo send me an email and I can provide you with all the information required to sign up. I joined in April 2007 and celebrate 10 years in October .....yay!

On Friday I was able to hang out in the craftroom and play with the Cool Treats Suite which sadly I purchased some time ago but had yet to see any ink. A good friend challenged me to use the patterned paper and do a scrapbook page. Now I'm definitely not a scrapbooker (would love to be, but sadly I just never seem to have the time to get it done) but with a 4 day weekend it was an ideal opportunity to have a go.

It might not be the best scrapbook page in the world but its mine and I am happy with how it turned out. It's also a visual reminder of the memories of the day when I took my grandson out to McDonalds for an icecream and the fun we had.

I was looking at my phone when he touched a couple of buttons and all of a sudden we had a selfie! I'm not known for having my picture taken hey he pushed the buttons and you can't say no to a grandie right? It's hard to tell in the photo but the icecream swirls have sparkly wink of Stella on them. The words are cut using the washi tape over cardstock and the celebrate word is done using the new debossed embossing folder.

I also decided to make a couple of the little treat gift bags using the Little Treats die. Super easy and fun to make. These are made using the packing paper that comes in my BBB (Big brown boxes) from Stampin Up. Its perfect for the little bags which when made fit a Cookie Time cookie in them.

 

 

Till next time

Tee-Jay

 

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Watercolouring on Moon Lake

Today I finally managed to get some ink on the Moon Lake set that has been sitting waiting patiently for some time.

Rather than use the pool of ink in the lid of the stamp pad I have found it easier to use the cheap palettes that you can put a drop of reinker in. You can use the same drop of ink to make about 3 shades of colour and whilst it is not overly clear in the photos it is very easy to see on the cards in real life that I have several different shades of some of the colours. Its also a lot more time efficient timewise as one drop of reinker and the water from the aquapainter go a long way.

I love watercoloring but do get a bit impatient that the pool of colour runs out long before I am finishing colouring and when I do it again I end up with a slightly different shade than what I had previously coloured. The way I do it I have a lot more control over the colour and also the quantity available and the desk is less cluttered as I don't have 6 stamp pads taking up room and clean up is a breeze with a baby wipe.

Heres what I created....

I like you.......

I have two adorable little girls aged 6 and 8 who come to visit with their Mum and Dad and we recently leant the youngest a bed roll for camp. She came in with her family on Friday and had made us the most gorgeous card to day thank you for lending her the bed roll.

So I thought I might make each of the girls a card and pop round with some Easter goodies for them at Easter time. They are both a credit to their parents as they are always well behaved and polite and make a bee line to the pet shop toys in the corner of the lounge, they never have to be told to clean up when its time to go and never moan when its time to leave.

We love having them to visit and hopefully they will love their cards. Sadly they are moving soon overseas but I think they may get a care package or two when they move. Who doesn't love getting a package in the mail.

Using the Colour Coach

The Color Coach is a tool that gives you assistance in combining colours. It has 2 options of colours that work well together for every colour in the Stampin Up Colour families and includes if the colour you have chosen has another colour that with it creates a dynamic duo (perfect for two step stamping). Blackberry bliss 's duo colour is perfect plum

Heres what it recommends for Blackberry Bliss

The first colour combo is blackberry bliss, old olive and soft sky.

Screen card using this combo - I stamped off the blackberry bliss butterflies as they were just too deep in colour and didn't look right. I also chose to stamp off the old olive but didn't stamp off with the soft sky. A few tiny pearls on each of the larger butterflies was all that was needed to finish it

The next recommended combo was smokey slate, blackberry bliss and melon mambo. Now I definitely don't like this combo at all but I did manage to do a card with it. Why I didn't like it is I am not a melon mambo fan at all

Next I decided to take the smokey slate and the dynamic duo colour of perfect plum only and I have to say I like this card the most. I only realised when I had fi ished that I didn't include any blackberry bliss at all!

A few bits of bling and it was finished.

I find the colour coach a way to try something out of my comfort zone and see where it leads me. I certainly would have not have used smokey slate on the last card if it hadn't been for my faithful colour coach!

Till next time happy crafting

Tee-Jay

A little kindness

Its always nice when someone shows us kindness to say thanks and what better way than with a card! I hadn't managed to put any ink on my Kinda Ecclectic stamp set so today I spent some time putting some ink on both it and me.

This is one of the cards I made today and I have used pear pizzaz, crumb cake, early expresso and rich razzleberry inks and a scrap of vellum and some linen thread twisted in three ovals and secured underneath my greeting.

I used a rhinestone brad coloured with a rich razzleberry blendability to finish the butterfly off as it looked a wee bit naked.

Hope you have found some time over the weekend to create.

Till next time

Happy crafting

Tee-Jay