Blender Pens and how to use them

 Hi there Creators,

For my Something Saturday this week, I'm showing off Stampin' Up!'s blender pens (to view them click the link), they're really cool!  they have no colour at all, but you can pick up colour and then colour in your stamped images with them!

These are the cards I made after the video with the bits I made in the video☺

There are different ways to pick up the colour with the blender pens.  I show 5 in the video

The first I show, is to stamp in the colour you want to use, and use the blender pen to "pull" the colour from the edges into the image, the mouse in this card uses this technique.  

the second technique is on the pencil which is coloured using blender pen to pick up colour from the pastels, literally just wiping the blender pen across the pastel and colouring with it.

Both of these techniques give quite a nice soft look.

Next is picking up colour by squeezing my ink pad (while it's still closed) this gives you ink on the inside of the lid, and you can pick up the colour from this pool of ink , which is how I coloured in this card.  If you want the colour lighter, spread the ink around a little on the lid, and use that to colour in which is what I did with the main part of the cheese, for the holes I used the more concentrated colour

Another way is to use Stampin' Write Markers to colour on a clear block, then pick up the colour with your blender pen, which is how I coloured in this next mouse:
 

And the last (and my personal favourite) is to colour your image roughly with watercolour pencils, then use the blender pens to smooth out the colour, I did use this in the balloon above, but I love being able to combine colours, and blend them together with the blender pen, so I showed this one too in the video:  A little warning with the Blender Pens, Don't overwork the paper, as it will ball the paper, rather like using a felt tip pen repeatedly on paper, it will make the paper too wet and ball it up.

The Blender pens are 3 in a pack for only $21 so I think a bit of a bargain! The stamp sets I've used: the mouse one is called "Mischievous Mice", and will be available to host's only, in the new mini catalogue, from 4th January to 30th June.  You would need to either host a party with a minimum total order of $250, or place a $250 order, and pick it out in your host goodies. 

However the good news is that the first 2 months of the year also have Sale-a-Bration in them, so for every $90 you spend you get to pick a Sale-a-Bration item, there's stamp sets and designer papers - Bonus!!

The last set with the sunflower is from the stamp set Celebrate Sunflowers (click the link to view it)  and don't forget your accessories...!

I hope this inspires you to create too (and you get to create a bit over the Christmas time)

God Bless love

Heather xox

Cascade Card (Something Saturday)

 Hi there Creators,

Well today I'm showing how to make a really simple cascade card, once you've got the dimensions worked out you can make it in any size.

I couldn't remember the name of this to begin with and waterfall card, accordion card both came to mind, but after a spot of googling, it's actually called a Cascade card!

Here is the finished article (which will be off to my friends who are getting married this afternoon, so they shouldn't be able to see this post!)

 

As you can see I ended up having to create an envelope too for the card, as it was just too big for a standard envelope (plus this dresses the outside up nicely!)😉  How gorgeous is this Edens Garden Paper? and the meadow dies I think go nicely with it.  I couldn't resist using some of my favourite Garden Gems too (sad to think at the end of the year the Eden's garden paper and gems will retire 😢)  So if you want some get them now!!

See this link for the products I used in this card:  What Heather Used

Whatever size card stock you choose, here's how you do it.....

score it into 3 equal pieces so it concertina's up, then you'll determine how high you want the first tier of your card to be, say you want it to start the slope at 1", you mark a 1" on each side (see the photo) then you cut the diagonal between the 2 marks.

 

Now you should have 2 equal (hopefully) pieces 😃  Line these up on top of each other, make sure the bases are together, even if the top isn't. Then work out the middle (both ways) of each individual section, then put a pin mark in so it goes through both pieces of card.  You'll then want to cut lines up and down, (opposite for each piece of card) see the picture below:

these should then slide into each other to create your card :) Like so....

It's really not complicated!  have a go, I'd love to see what you make.

I hope this inspires you to have a go.

God Bless love

Heather xox

Really Pretty Baubles!

 HI there Creators,

I saw these really pretty baubles on pinterest, and thought I'd give it a go, she cut all hers by hand, Yikes!!

I took the easy way out and used punches lol.  I picked out the Label me Lovely Punch, and the other things you'll need are ribbon and an adhesive that will draw a fine line - I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow to most)

They are remarkably simple to make, punch yourself 20 of your chosen punch shape.

Then fold them in 1/2 then draw a fine line of glue across the inside middle of each individual one, do this to all 20.

then draw a fine line of glue at each end, so you can stack them together, and they stick together top and bottom.

 Once you have the stack of 20, and the glue is dry, check it out, slowly pull the 2 end pieces round to meet each other, you can add some ribbon, before you attach the 2 sides together (again by a line at the top and the bottom)

 Check out the video I made if that doesn't make sense😊

I hope this inspires you to have a go and make your own baubles

God Bless love

Heather
 

Eden's Garden Cotton Paper

 Hi there Creators

Well this isn't exactly my "Something Saturday" as it will be aired a little sooner thanks to Craft Alive Bendigo.  So if you're joining me for the first time from Craft Alive or GICS, Welcome!, and welcome back anyone who's been here before, I'm so thrilled you choose to see my blog posts and videos 😊

In my video this week I have gone through the Eden's Garden Collection of products and the Suite Sensation I currently have on offer (if you want to see the info about that, click here: Eden's Garden Suite Sensation Blog Post.

Today's post is about the card I make in the video using the cotton paper, I'll admit that I wasn't 100% sure how to use it to begin with, so I googled and pinterest'd it and found a video by Wow Nola Creations, using the paper as a special textured background so I had a go, and changed it slightly, and voila:

 Funnily enough the shabby chic thing doesn't usually do much for me, but I think that's how this turned out, and I'm quite happy with it

So, how did I make it?  

First off I cut a piece the light cotton paper (it comes in 2 colours Soft Succulent and Evening Evergreen) I measured it out to be 6" by around 10.5cm. then I cut a piece of coordinating cardstock approx 1cm shorter on each side (I had Mint Macaron.)

I stamped on the cotton paper (on the non-shiny side) to give it an interesting background (I used the co-ordinating Eden's Garden Stamps) then scrunched it up, flattened it out a bit and stuck the mint mac card to the shiny side. The cotton paper was deliberately larger than the cardstock so that the edges could be slightly ragged looking., I've then added a line of the darker cotton paper (shiny side up)

Now to make the flowers, I've taken a peice of the light cotton paper 6" x 1" and cut diagonally, so you end up with 2 long triangles. I then coloured them by daubing on Poppy Parade. I then added a line of tear &  tape adhesive to the bottom of each and rolled them up to form the 2 flowers.

And that's it pretty much!

If you want to see the products I used click here:  What Heather used

Here's the video if you haven't checked it out yet:

 

I hope this inspires you to have a go yourself!

God Bless love Heather

Eden's Garden Suite Sensation

 Hi there Creators

wow I didn't realise I hadn't done a blog post on this yet!  (had it in my emails for a while - oops!)

Eden's Garden is a gorgeous new Collection, sadly the papers and gems are only hanging around for a couple of months till 3rd Jan (or while stocks last) 😢, then the stamp set and dies will carry over into the upcoming catalogue.

My New Suite Sensation! Using the new Eden's Garden

This Kit I have created is available to you for $40, which includes:

• 1/4 pack of Ever Eden Specialty Designer Series Paper (you will have left overs)
• A 1/2 pack of the Garden Gems (again you'll have left overs)
• the ribbons and various papers, all cut & scored/ die cut etc for you to get creating.
• Envelopes for all the cards
• full written instructions to create all 6 cards  (3 of which are fancy folds) plus video instruction links if I feel it needs them.

If you would like this kit,

• you can order it through this link: Eden's Garden Suite Sensation (you will get a small surcharge)
• you can pop the money directly into my Commonwealth bank account:  063828 10092273 with your name as a reference (no surcharge) and send me a message to let me know (don't forget to let me know your address!)
  

If you are part of my team or purchasing the Eden's Garden Collection through me: (160849 $144), or just the bundle (Stamps & Dies)  I will forward the instructions to your email for free, or you can choose to have the pack too for only $35, use this payment link (there is a surcharge): Eden's Garden Suite Sensation (I've purchased the collection or bundle)  or pop the money into my account with your name as reference (no surcharge)

For those who order the Full Collection from me, I'll also be sending you an email with instructions for more cards to create.
Please have your orders with me by Tuesday 7th December, I will get everything ordered and aim to have it out in the mail by 23rd December (if not before)

I hope these cards inspire you to create

God Bless love

Heather xox

 

Embossing folders 3D & Standard

 Hi There Creators, 

I had a request to do an Embossing folders video, so that's what this weeks video is all about.  They can be a little confusing as they come in small, medium and large, Standard and 3D.  And how do you know how to get them through your machine so they actually work?

Stampin' Up! has 2 Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machines, the mini and the standard.  The Standard one is a similar size to the Bigshot (I find it has a tad more room for the plate, the Bigshot used to shave bits off my plates if I didn't have them lined up exactly, I haven't noticed that with the Cut & Emboss machine)

Anyway, as you'll see from this picture our embossing folders come in a thin (small) size, which would emboss around 2/3 of your card front, a Medium size, which completely embosses your A6 card front and also a "large" which is 6" x6" sized (handy if you want the pattern on an angle!)   An important tip is to make sure the fold of the embossing folder is facing your machine when it goes through so it can't get out of sync and break the spine.

the 3D folders are a lot thicker than the standard folders, and so they can't go through your machine with the same plates.  If you have one of the Stampin' Up! machines they make it easy, as it says on the plates what you need!  if you don't however, what you can do is experiment, most machines have a base plate, so start with that and keep layering up till the folders work, sometimes you'll need to add a "shim" or two, this is just a piece of A5 cardstock, all it does is boost up the plates a fraction, which might be all you need!, you just pop it on top of your base plate, and add the other layers on top.

I promised in the video that I'd show you what I made with the embossed pieces, so here goes:

this first one using the fabulous Seashells 3D embossing folder, 3D means that the embossing is at varying depths, sometimes 'de-bossed' too.  I've done a special technique on the back of it, called "smooching" it creates a really cool watercolour effect (I'll tell you more after I've shown you the cards).

these 2 cards use the Wintry 3D embossing folders, all I've done is essentially added a bit of ribbon and a saying! and buffed over the embossing with an inked dauber.

Then these last 2 folders are called Meadow Moments, they are standard embossing folders which means that all the embossing is pretty much the same depth, again I've just added ribbon, a saying, and buffed over the embossing with an inked dauber.

I mentioned the "smooching" technique to create a watercolour background, here's how you do it:

Take a large clear block, add some drops of re-inkers (I used Pool party and Soft Sea foam initially), then spray it with water till it liquefies all over the block and all the re-inker is spread around.  You'll then need some Shimmery White cardstock, and you press it onto the watery/inky block., keep doing it till you  have covered the area you want to.  You can then let it dry naturally (or if you're impatient like me, get your heat tool out!)  I then went back over mine and did it again with Pear Pizzazz re-inker.

This is how mine turned out:

 isn't it so cool?  I reckon I'm going to be making a heap of these backgrounds (and they'll all be different, how exciting!)😁

If you haven't seen the video and would like to here is a link to it:

I hope these cards inspire you to create! 

God Bless love
Heather xox

Mixing it up with Embossing Powders

 Hi there Creators, 

Well this Something Saturday I've mixed up my embossing powders - literally!

I thought it would be interesting as they come in packs of 3 now to see what black and white would look like mixed up and embossed etc.

Therefore here are my findings.....

first up the embossing powders straight up - 

Top Row: Gold, Silver, Copper, 

Bottom Row:  Black, Clear & White (yes the clear isn't obvious, but bear with me!)

So then I took a bit of 2 different colours from the sets of 3 and mixed them up in separate containers, and these were the results: I've put the 2 original colours either side of the mixed colour

Gold and Silver mix

Silver & Copper Mix

Black & White Mix

Gold & Copper Mix (I really liked this one!)

Now I asked you to bear with me on the clear, and here is what I did with it (actually I did 2 things....)

Firstly I took the clear embossed on white cardstock, and added colour to the background using Blending Brushes;  where the embossing is stays white  (so pretty)

Then as I was doing this I thought how cool it would look with a different colour under the embossing, so I've used Pool Party cardstock, clear embossed onto it then added colour over the top (love it!) by the way how pretty is this heart from Henna Hearts stamp set?

I made them both up into cards using the lovely "Sending Hugs" saying from the new Eden's Garden Stamp set

If you'd like to check out the video here it is:

Do click this link to find out what I used:  What Heather Used

I hope this inspires you to pull out your embossing powders and mix it up, see what colours you can come up with!

God Bless love

Heather xox