Watercolour technique for a Watercolour challenged individual.

HI there Creators

Well this week I'm joining in the Watercolour Technique Blog run by Crafty Collaborations which is a collection of Stampin' Up! demonstrators from all over the world😊 this one was truly a challenge as I'm not really that great at watercolour!

So I had an idea that I wanted to watercolour a few flowers from my new Pierced Blooms dies and make a kind of bouquet out of it, my initial attempts at properly watercolouring them failed dismally lol however after dropping one into the remains of colour that was on my silicone sheet I had an idea......

Here is the card I made, and I have some close ups and explanations to follow.

 

So my technique....  I used water color paper and cut out the die pieces, then painted each piece with water, inked up a blank stampin' block then dabbed the block onto the pieces till I liked the colour of them, with the flowers I repeated this method with a couple of colours.  I've used the Subtles colours.

I really love the way it gives that slightly splotchy look (plus it's so easy to accomplish)😉

For the label I've stamped first, with one of the saying from the matching In Bloom Stamp set then cut out with the dies, and just painted the edges with water, then dabbed the inky block onto the edges. Just so you know the dies and stamps do come as a bundle - In Bloom Bundle (yay for 10% off!!)   I really felt this ribbon the Pool Party Sheer ribbon matched the watercolouring on the card nicely.

Lastly I've added some of the oh so gorgeous Pastel Pearls, it was very hard only to add a couple hence every flower ended up with pearls lol.

Well that's it from me, I hope it inspires you to have a go at this way of watercolouring!

do check out what the others in this blog hop have created

God Bless love

Heather xox

 

All Berry Good!

 Hi there Creators,

Wow I am so organised LOL  I've got the class for February ready already!

I'm using the gorgeous new Sweet Strawberry Bundle and matching Sale-A-Bration Berry Blessings stamp set + Berry Delightful Papers.  When I originally saw theses goodies I knew I needed to do something with them, you can only get the Berry Blessings Stamp Set + Berry Delightful Designer Series papers when you spend $180 on other goodies (then you can choose them for FREE!) by the way Sale-a-Bration is referred to as SAB for the rest of this post :)

I have 3 ways for you to get your hands on this gorgeous set of cards:

Here's the deals: 

• Purchase $180 of Stampin' Up! goodies, include the Sweet strawberry bundle, and pick the Berry Blessings bundle from the SAB as your free item, I will send you the kit of plain papers, punched label pieces, instructions and bling for you to make a set of these cards using your own Berry Delightful Papers and new stamp sets for $7  to cover postage and materials.

OR

• Purchase $180 of Stampin' Up! goodies, include the Sweet strawberry bundle, and pick the Berry Blessings bundle from the SAB as your free item, let me know that you'd like the instructions emailed to you and I'm happy to do that for free.

OR

• Book a date to come and make these cards with me for $20 in my classroom (as there's stamping involved it's not one I can mail out, sorry)  However, I have managed to procure 2 of the SAB bundles so, all who book into this class will go into a draw to win my "extra" Berry Blessings Stamp set.  So book your place asap, as I am limited with the amount of Designer Series Paper I have!
  

I hope these cards inspire you to get creating, they're such gorgeous Summery cards!

God Bless love

Heather xox

 

 

 

 

Crafty Collaborations Sale-a-bration Blog Hop

 

 

Hi there Creators,

thought I'd join in this Sale-a-Bration Blog hop today, and I'm excited to see what others have created using the upcoming Sale-a-bration SAB products.  For those un-initiated  SAB is a special time of year where we have 2 months of FREE Products *YAY*: When you purchase $90 of products you get to pick a free product from the SAB offering, this year is the first year we're going to have 2 SAB's in a year there's another one coming in July too (it'll be different products) *DOUBLE YAY* lol

Anyway there were a couple of products that I have to admit I wasn't so keen on, but at the time I was ordering it was a case of pick the stamp set I didn't have as others weren't available, then lots of people seemed to be raving about the Designer Series Paper that I ended up using (again I wasn't so keen on it)  However I have a thing about not being beaten by a stamp set, so I was determined to make something of it (especially as I can see a lot of my customers/friends liking it too) - of course now I rather like it lol

Anyway enough waffling and on to the photos......

The first card I made was this one, I have to admit I was just playing with the main stamp in this Corners Bouquet stamp set, and I didn't really consider how I was going to put this onto a card, so I picked some nice bright colours and set to work colouring in the stamp with the Stampin' Write Markers, I love the way it came out, there's 4 stamps in the set, the main one is this big sprig of greenery and flowers, on the bottom of this you'll see 2 branches of leaves, this is another stamp in the set.  Then I thought "I know I'll pair it with the Oh So Ombre Designer Series Paper (DSP)" (also a SAB product, which I wasn't keen on before I saw it lol)  However I then discovered that I'd used none of the colours in the DSP, (oops) Oh well!  the back is Bermuda Bay, which really didn't go with the inks I'd used, so it's covered up with the Misty Moonlight ribbon.  Thankfully the pinks look ok together!  Oh and not forgetting the saying, this is from another SAB set called Approaching Perfection, (this could well be my favourite set) I just love the sayings in it, I like little "whittisms" 😊

The next one I made is a little mini card, with the second largest image in the set, again I've used the leaf stamp at the bottom, and the final stamp in the set also makes an appearance in this one, which is a little flower, in this card the pink and yellow flowers aren't part of the main stamp they're a cute little stand alone stamp, again I really like how it turned out!  And again using the Approaching Perfection stamp set (you can see where it gets it's name from this stamp).

Lastly I really wanted to try a spot of watercolour with this set as I kind of think it lends itself to it

I've gone with the main image and again coloured it with my Stampin' write markers, did you know that Stampin' Write Markers have 2 ends? one you can colour in your stamps with so you can get different colours on the one stamp (makes you feel very artistic) and the other is a thin pen end (you can correct your mistakes😉, or journal with them)  I tried different methods of spritzing water onto the stamp that didn't end up how I wanted to, then I ended up stamping direct to the card stock and spritzing water onto the card stock, I like the way it faded slightly.  I wanted a raggedy edge around it, and to create this effect I've used my water painter then ran my nail up and down the edge till it looked ragged.  This card I actually thought of the colours I was using (see I do learn from my mistakes lol) and again I've paired it up with the Oh So Ombre DSP and my favourite stamp from Approaching Perfection stamp set.

Let me know if you have a go at this method of "water colouring" tell me how it turns out.

I hope this inspires you to create, now do go and check out what everyone else in this blog hop has created, - enjoy!

God Bless love 

Heather xox

Pearlescent Specialty Paper

 Hi there Creators,

Oh my goodness I just had my first play with this new Paper from the January (5th) to June Mini catalogue, I'm hoping that in the photos you can actually see the pearl finish on the paper (it's really hard to photograph!) but Oh so gorgeous!

Initially I tried stamping on it and discovers that it just wipes straight off, oops! lol  then I couldn't help but think of rainbows, so I coloured it with my Stampin' Write markers then blended them all together with a tissue and voila.....

actually it wasn't quite "voila" at that point as I realised that really rainbows need a bit of light rain, so I spritzed it with water and blotted it, then WOW!

I've then used some of the Ice Cream Corner Designer Series Paper to cut the ice creams from, and a saying from "You are Amazing Stamp set", all these will be available come 5th January (unless of course you're a demonstrator, and you can get them now!)  I didn't think it needed much of a background, so I thought maybe random lines would work, done with the Purple Posy Stampin' Write Marker, I think it works, what do you think?

I took another photo to see if I could capture the Pearl elements of the paper, hopefully this does it!

I can't wait to see what other people do with this amazing cardstock, I really think it would be a great Wedding cardstock! with embossing.......ooo gotta give that a go! lol thank goodness for a couple of extra days off over Christmas!

Ok I hope this inspires you to create

God Bless love

Heather xox

What to do with your cardstock scraps

 Hi there Creators,

I've seen a few people doing this recently so thought I'd jump on the proverbial band wagon 😄

I did a facebook live on this, and have converted the video to Youtube so I can add it to this (wow I'm getting good with technology - sort of...)

However first up the cards I've made, as I've mentioned in the video I had a heap of cut off pieces of card which have been littering my craft desk for ages, and rather than chuck them in the bin (or in my scrappy container) I figured I'd have a go at this:

So, basically you start off with a rectangular piece of card, and start sticking down the strips you have onto it, I like to start in the middle and work my way to the edges, and I also leave a gap between the strips.  Either as you go, or when you get to the end you can trim off all the excess pieces.  Stick the whole thing onto a card, and add a greeting, Voila!

I found some "Tis the Season" Christmas Designer Series papers that I had a heap of strips left over, so the next cards I made with that.....

remarkably easy and quite effective, have a go!  let me know how you go with it, here's the video in case you want to see me in action 😄

I hope this inspires you to get out those scraps and do something with them.

God Bless love

Heather xox

January Mega Class

 Hi there Creators,

Thought I'd better pop up a blog post about the January Mega Class for those of you who aren't on my email list! (if you'd like to be do let me know!)

On Saturday 30th January I'll be holding a "Mega" class in Newbridge (at the hall) from 10.30am till 3pm  Here are some of the cards we'll be making........

We'll be making 20 cards in total, you'll receive supplies and instructions to make all 20 cards, lunch included, as well as 2 new Stamp sets and a punch, also ribbon, embellishments, Designer Series Papers, and a Tombow Adhesive

You will need to bring with you a clear D block & scissors (and a drink of water!) don't think there's anything else but if there is I'll let you know nearer the date.

Here are the details to book your place:

• Early bird special rate $128 book and pay by 1st January
• If you're booking and paying after this date you have until the 6th January and the price goes to $145 (I recommend getting in early!)
• If you are part of my CreateAbles Stampin' Up! team, I have a special price for you of $55, you will need to purchase: The Ice cream bundle (stamps and punch), the Approaching Perfection SAB stamp set and bring adhesive (you still need to make sure you've booked and paid by 6th January!)
• If you're part of my Craft@Home group, this can count as your monthly order 😊

Let me know if you do want details to book your place 

God Bless love

Heather xox

Curvy Celebrations Blog Hop

 Hi there, 

Well I'm joining another blog hop, this time for the Curvy Celebrations.  I hadn't used the Curvy Christmas Stamp set much, so before it retires thought I'd better get in with it!  Currently you can purchase it all as a sort of Mega Bundle, which has the DSP, 2 stamp sets and a set of dies, after 4th January the papers and Christmas stamp set will retire :(  however the Quite Curvy Stamp set and Curvy dies will continue :)

 

So it's a pretty fabulous bundle!

I only had time to make the 1 card with it at the moment, so here it is.........

I made up the basics of the card before I had to go out with Samuel, my youngest to Cubs, then as I was meeting up with my friend Jenny, she showed me some of her cards and she uses so much fabulous bling on her cards, that it inspired me to add some to mine lol, so out came the Rhinestone basic jewels (shiny silver), the Basic Pearls, then also the Champagne Rhinestones and the fabulous Star designer elements.  I have a tendency to hoard the embellishments and not use them, so I'm trying to be determined and starting to use them lol

they really lift the whole project, don't you agree?

The stamps in this set are photopolymer so I've curved them in the direction I wanted them to go in, instead of the direction they wanted to go in (if that makes sense)!  As the ink didn't show up too well on the dark green paper, I ended up having to stamp it onto vellum, and attached it with the adhesive sheets, so the glue isn't so obvious under it.

And that's it!

Now go and check out what the others in this blog hop have created too

I hope this inspires you to get creating!

God Bless love

Heather