Cards for November class

 Hi there Creators

Iust realised that I haven't done a blog post yet for the cards we'll be creating in class on Wednesday 2nd at 10.30am Laanecoorie, Thursday 3rd at 7pm in Laanecoorie, and Saturday 5th at 10.30am in Maryborough.

This month we're ramping it up for Christmas with 3 Christmas cards and one other (which is so cute!)  lets go the cute one first 😀  I've used the Glad We're Friends stamp set, I just think the dog (which reminds me of a corgi) is so cute! then I've teamed it up with the Artistic Mix Decorative Masks.  If you'd like to see the full list of what I've used in this card, click here:  What Heather Used

 

Next up are our Christmas Cards, I absolutely love this circular die in the Brightest Glow Bundle, and it works perfectly to add a dangly bauble in the middle to see what I used click here:  What Heather Used

The next also uses the same dies from the Brightest Glow Bundle and this pretty Wonderful Snowflake, check out what I used here: What Heather Used

And the last card I thought we'd do a spot of origami....

Using the gorgeous Lights Aglow designer paper, and also the Starlit punch, check out the list of what I used here:  What Heather used.

 Let me know if you can make it along to a class, it would be lovely to see you!

I hope these cards inspire you to create in your own space.

God Bless love

Heather xox

Something Saturday - 2 Step Stamping

 Hi there Creators, 

My video today was on 2 Step Stamping, which I'm sure most people if you've been stamping for a while would have done, but not everyone would have realised there actually is a name for it!  The basics of it is that you stamp one image then stamp another one on top, usually it would be an outline image then a fill in image on top, which is what I'm showing using the Hand Penned Petals Stamp set today, I mention in the video that it does come as a bundle, however it appears I was wrong 😳  oops, apparently that was last year, now it's separate, so..... you can also get dies that go with it, called Penned Flowers Dies that cut out the various images.  Do check them out with the links I've added.

 Anyway, on to the cards, I decided in the video to use the same colours for each one, and I've got to say, I absolutely love the way these have turned out, I hope you do too.

I've used Evening Evergreen for the leaves/ stems and outline, stamped off once to create the infill for the leaves, then Melon Mambo for the flowers.

 I ended up picking a trifecta of greys for the mat on the 3 cards, the first card uses Gray Granite, then the second card has Smoky Slate and the last one uses Basic Gray.  The first card I kept ultra simple, added the saying with the matching Evening Evergreen, and some bling (more about that later)

'

 

This second card uses the Smoky Slate, and the lovely Gray Granite Shimmer ribbon (I know it doesn't match exactly but I like the slight contrast)

 

Then the last card kind of got ramped up a bit, I decided to add some of the flowers to the background, by inking with the basic gray and stamping off once, then stamping onto the card twice to get the faded effect.

I mentioned the bling earlier, I've used the Iridescent Pearls on each card, they are gorgeous, nicely understated I think, I didn't want anything overpowering on these cards, but I thought these would add to the elegance, what do you think?

If you missed the video, here it is 😃

I hope this inspires you to create,

God Bless love

Heather xox

Something Saturday - Faux Tiling

 Hi There Creators,

Well somewhere I saw someone had done Faux Tiling, and it kind of fascinated me, so I've been experimenting......

to begin with I wasn't impressed with the results and eventually I realised that it's because I like to see the grouting looking white, or at least, contrasting with the "tiles", so I discovered that if I added extra colour to the background it worked for me 😃  enter, Watercolour shapes stamp set, perfect to give a smidgen of colour!

Here are the 2 cards I completed before the video to show off the technique, I used the large rectangle watercolour shape for these. The top card uses Edens Garden, Jar of Flowers, and Charming Sentiments Stamp sets and the bottom card uses the Charming Sentiments, and Painted Poppies Stamp sets (along with the Watercolour Shapes)

Then I also made this one, which I'm not so keen on, I used the circle watercolour shape for the background on this one, and moved onto Good Feelings Stamp set, and the Stitched Rectangle dies

 

I had made up the tiled part of this card before the video, I'm not sure if you can tell in the photo but I made the tiles shiny on this one (because although I know you can get matte tiles, it just seems wrong to me 🤣 I need the shine!)

In the video I show making the tiled part of this card by scoring it at intervals (I went with 1.5 and 2.5 cm gaps, and showed how to make it shiny, very simply, just add some of the fine tip glue pen, and let it dry, it dries slightly raised and shiny.  I added some extra scored lines into the background to add a bit of interest to the card but not take away from the focal point.

It's funny I tried and tried to get this look which kind of reminds me of that blue china you can get, (threw out a few attempts) then eventually gave up, and lo and behold I happen to pick out Starry Sky in the video...... 

Word of warning when you are stamping, choose a stamp that has a lot of surface area, make sure the ink pad is not really wet, as otherwise it will fill in the "grouting" areas, and don't stamp heavily or for too long.  

If you missed the video here it is.....

 I hope this inspires you to have a go too.

God Bless love

Heather xox

Something Saturday - Black Ice

Hi there Creators,

Today I'm showing off this Black Ice technique, all you need is silver foil cardstock, stazon black ink and a stamp set.

The basics of it is: stamp carefully onto the silver foil with Stazon Black ink (the stamp will tend to want to move slightly when you stamp on foil), allow to dry then drag the stazon ink pad across the foil card.   You end up with a sort of aged looking Sepia/Black & white image, I think it's really cool - let me know what you think 😃

Here is the card I made up before the video, I thought the Heron Habitat stamp set would look good with this technique, reminds me of old Chinese pictures, I ended up using the Heron Habitat bundle (dies and stamps) as I do love the gorgeous tags in it, and thought the long wave type die would look good on the side

 

Then this piece of foil is the one I actually stamp up in the video, and this is how I made the card with it, there are actually 3 different foils in the Silver Foil Specialty Pack, there's a Brushed finish, Matte Finish and Mirrored Finish.  The one above is the mirrored finish, this card is the Matte finish.

In the video there was one piece of foil (the brushed finish) that didn't go according to plan.  So I figured if life gives you lemons.... make lemonade 🤣, so here's what happened to that piece of foil card that got accidentally bent, after the ink rubbed off (it was not good! lol)  I figured seeing as it already had a crease mark I might as well give it more, then I wondered what it would look like if I heat embossed it with gold......  By the way, don't you just love the crispness of the stamped images?  They are called DistINKtive Stamps (it is trademarked to Stampin' Up!), and give a layered look within one stamp, still amazes me that a stamped image can look so amazing.

Quite an interesting effect!  what do you think?  what I did was wiped the versamark over it once I'd creased it up, and dusted over the gold embossing powder, then brushed a heap off (or it would have been completely covered!), and heat set it

If you missed out on seeing the video, here it is....

Let me know what you think (especially about whether my "oopsie" card worked)

I hope this inspires you to create

God Bless love

Heather xox

Something Saturday - Joseph's Coat

Hi Creators, 

A friend mentioned recently seeing someone doing this technique and suggested I did it as a video, it's one of my favourite techniques although I haven't done it for ages, and I hadn't done it since we had Blending Brushes, Oh my goodness it's a game changer - so much easier!

It's called Josephs coat for relatively obvious reasons - that you get a beautiful multi-coloured pattern.

Anyway on to the photos, here is the one I created in the video, I'm quite impressed with how it turned out, as I really couldn't see where I'd stamped so I was kind of guessing 🤣  I forgot to use my embossing buddy hence the lighter areas where the embossing powder stuck to the cardstock, all in all though I'm happy with it.

And my finished card, I decided to minimise the bits that the excess embossing powder stuck to by popping some vellum over the top, it allows the pattern to show through, and I've heat embossed the saying with white powder.  Oh, the Stamp set I used is Natures Prints Stamps such a lovely delicate set. (click the link to see the whole set)
 

 

I've also used some of my latest bling: Fine Sparkle Adhesive Backed Gems  Bought these to share with my Craft@Home group, and have to admit I rather like them 😃

The first piece I made up was this one, using the Art Gallery Stamp set

 

And some more of the Fine Sparkle gems.....

 

 

To do this you'll need blending brushes, some bright colours and a dark colour.  Also Versamark, clear embossing powder, an embossing buddy and heat tool 

You start off by adding bright colours randomly to your cardstock, then use the embossing buddy to reduce the static on your card before stamping using Versamark, dust over with clear embossing powder and heat set it.  Lastly brush the dark colour over top thoroughly, and using a tissue wipe off the excess from the clear embossed images.  and Voila your images will pop off the page!

 If you missed the video, here it is:

 

I hope this inspires you to have a go too

God Bless love

Heather xox

Something Saturday - Snow & Mice

 Hi there Creators

Snow way - Snow and Mice!  (been waiting to say that for ages 🤣)

Ok, this week I thought I'd show off the Snowfall Accents Puff Paint, it's so fascinating!  to begin with it's this watery liquid, that you can dot/draw on, then magic happens when you heat it up with the heat tool, and it becomes this puffy snow stuff!  I think it works well with the Caroling Mice host set (you can only get this set if you purchase over $250 of goodies or host a party/ gather up orders to get you over $250)

Here's the 2 cards I made before the video:

This one first, which is kind of hard to photograph the white snow on white card (umm didn't think that one through lol)

 So then I got smart and went with night of navy (which makes sense as I'm envisioning the mouse singing in the night)  I've coloured a bit of green watercolour pencil into the gaps in the snow to give the ground a bit more of a grassy effect.  I thought the Merry Melody embossing folder would go well with this too.

So then I thought I should do something else and Tom (hubby) suggested waves - perfect!

I think it works really well as the "froth" in the waves crashing over using this gorgeous Waves of Inspiration stamp set

If you missed the the video, here it is 😃

I hope this inspires you to create.

Happy Crafting

God Bless love

Heather xox

Cards for October class

 Hi there Creators,

these are the cards we'll be making in my classes next month, the class dates are: Wednesday 5th 10.30am in Laanecoorie, Thursday 6th 7pm in Laanecoorie and Saturday 8th 10.30am in Maryborough.

I thought we'd do 2 Christmas cards again this month, as we work our way up to 3 in November and 4 in December 🤣

This first card uses Quatrefoil embossing folder, then the Handmade wishes bundle (stamps and punch)  I love this punch I think it's so versatile!  I did do a blog/video on it back in July, you can see it here if you want to find out just how versatile it is: https://mccarthyheather.blogspot.com/2022/07/something-saturday-handmade-tag-punch.html,  for some reason this embossing folder to me looks "Christmassy"  To see what I used click here: What Heather Used

Last time someone mentioned that we hadn't done much by way of embossing folders recently, so this month we're rectifying that 😃  This next card uses Charming Landscapes Embossing Folder (there's 2 in the pack, the other one has mountains, which also might work with this, umm might have to play around with that one too!  Anyway I've also used the Wisteria Wishes Stamp set.  To check out what I used click here: What Heather Used.

Next Up, I was thinking I haven't used my Jar punch for a while, and I thought it would be cute to use it as a little fish bowl, then I had the saying stamped directly on the card, but it went a bit "skewiff" However there's always a way to fix these things 🤣  I quite like combining my "sea'y" stamp sets, so this combines Friends are like Seashells and A Fish & a Wish, and having not found a good use for the white pieces of Vellum Layering designs previously I'm quite happy with the strip of it down the side of this card.  You probably can't see this in the photo, but I've added some window sheeting on top of the jar to make it look more glass-like.  To see what I used click here: What Heather Used

Last but not least, I thought it would be nice to do a "fancy fold card" it is quite simple but it packs a bit of a wow (I hope)  I love this spiral or plaited look down the side.  Check out what I used here: 

What Heather Used

Do let me know if you can join me at any of the classes (Laanecoorie one's do have a capacity limit, so get in quick!).  If you can't make it I hope these inspire you to create in your space.

God Bless love 

Heather xox