Simple Stampin' Challenge

Wow I hadn't realised it has been such a long time since I blogged!!

I'm still crafting away and enjoying spending times catching up with my crafty friends though a lot of catching up seems nowadays to be online. I'll see if I can do better in 2022 as Pete and myself have settled into our new home and my craft room is as set up as it can be in the 2nd biggest bedroom I managed to snaffle for "me and my toys".

My upline Rhonda Fawcett from the Star Stampers has challenged the team to make a simple birthday card just using card, ink and stamps, no folds, no embellishments.

I earned the Biggest Wish stamp set after attending an online SU! event and I thought it would be the perfect stamp set for this challenge. My first go was multi-coloured but I didn't like it maybe my choice of colours was wrong so ending up doing a "pinkish mix" and I'm really happy how it all turned out. 

I had never used my Stamparatus before but it made it so easy to move the stamp and use another colour so am rapt it is part of my tools now and the alignment is perfect.

 

Supply List (all SU!):

Stamps: Biggest Wish
Ink (from top to bottom): Polished Pink, Calypso Coral, Magenta Madness, Flirty Flamingo, Gorgeous Grape, Poppy Parade
Paper: Magenta Madness, Basic White

#simplestamping #starstamperschallenge #prettyinpink

Party like a rock star

I just love this saying & when my best friend's hubby turned 50  & the theme for his party was to wear glasses I decided I was going to use Stampin' Up!'s Marquee Messages for the card, as when I bought the stamp set I bought it to make masculine cards & I hate making masculine cards (don't we all) but this was a great set to whip up a card but I did a bit of fussy cutting & popped some of the images up with dimensionals.

I can't believe it I didn't take a picture inside the card but it used the saying from the set "Party Like a Rock Star" and a few stamped images of sunglasses from the Day At The Beach stamp set (also SU!)

I must admit I made the card not that masculine but thought it had to be sparkly as a BIG 50 party & it's not every day you turn 50

All supplies are SU! apart from the glitter paper which is American Crafts which is called Powder but it matches the Soft Sky card stock really nicely.

I really like to dress up so decided we'd go a bit silly with our sun glasses. I found these fab daisy sunglasses at Look Sharp & if you're going to wear silly sunglasses you might as well find a matching costume to go with the glasses & I loved my boho hippy gal outfit & then I had a yellow wig in my dress up box at home. So not sure if I looked like a rock star but I partied like I was one. Happy big 50 Paul! I had a blast & hope you did too.

Well I have 6 birthdays in one week so I am into mass production of birthday cards at the moment which are all using the same design but different DSPs. Times like this I just want to hug my MISTI! So will be back to share them later in the week.

Thanks for popping in.
✿ Karen ✿

Distress Ink "Lifting"

When I saw this fab card of Jen McGuire's I just had to try it as I loved the colours, unfortunately I don't own the beautiful hydrangea stamp (yet) but I can report the technique worked beautifully on my azalea stamp.

In a nutshell the technique removes the distress ink colour with the use of water, then you add complementary colours back in. This really reminded me of bleaching panels but the colours you achieve with the distress inks is so much prettier than bleach - almost Monet-isque.

Recipe:
Stamps: Best Thoughts (Stampin' Up!), Banner Greetings (Stampin' Up!)
Distress Inks: Background & flower : Blueprint Sketch, Pickled Raspberry, Mowed Lawn. Butterfly : Pickled Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Mustard Seed
Card: Whisper White, Ranger Watercolour
Other: Embossing buddy, Versamark ink, white embossing powder, round 4 watercolour brush, dimensionals, gold Wink of Stella brush pen (touch on the flower stamens)

I made this card for my dear friend Judy who's birthday it was on Wednesday but I really enjoyed the technique so much I may make a few more to have in my birthday card stash. Thanks Jen for such a fabulous technique too.

Hope you all have a go too at the technique, you won't be disappointed.

✿ Karen ✿

Pretty in purple

It's a long weekend in New Zealand as we celebrate our National Day but I'm working through on a shift at the hospital, but I sincerely hope kiwis enjoy the 3-day weekend & have some free crafting time.

I'm loving the Stampin' Up! free Sale-a-bration stamp sets on offer this year, so love the size of the lettering & the font.

My dear friend Sally had her birthday this week & anyone that know her knows she LOVES purple, so I wanted to make her a purple card.

I decided to make a watercolour wash background using my Distress Inks. I love how it turned out & will be making a few more cards like this in other shades.

1. I used Scotch painters tape to hold down the watercolour paper to a board which is why it has a wee "border" if you look closely at the top layer. 
2. I then used a wide paint brush to wet the paper (flat 1). 
3. The inks I just rubbed on my craft mat & added the lightest colour first with another paint brush (round 10). 
4. The Ranger inks really blend well & I tilted the board to get some mixing going going on as well.
5. Then dried it all with my heat gun. 
6. I then sprayed my hand with water & threw droplets at the background which I then dabbed with a paper towel to make the splotches. 
7. Then dried again with my heat gun. 
8. I then rubbed an embossing buddy all over the background before embossing "hello" in black. Rather than using Versamark & black embossing powder I used Versafine Black Onyx & clear embossing powder so I didn't get stray black embossed bits on the card - much cleaner.
9. I added various purple & gold sequins using Ranger Matte Multi Medium which I have in a small bottle with a precision tip needle to just add a wee dab where I want the sequin to stick.
10. The "- birthday girl-" also comes with the stamp set and is white embossed on the black card stock. I used one of my square punches to make the banner.

Recipe:
Stamp Set: Hello (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark
Distress Inks (Ranger): Victorian Velvet, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet
Card: Strathmore cold pressed watercolor, Neenah Solar White, black
Embellishments: Various companies including SU!, Lucy's bright copper kettle, CTMH sick-on purple glitter gems
Other: Clear & white embossing powder, embossing buddy, heat gun, various paint brushes, dimensionals, square punch, craft mat, Ranger Multi Matte Medium.

The Hello stamp set is only available free until February 16th from your Stampin' Up! demonstrator with a $110 order. So if you love it too, you only have 11 days to go to get your own.

Enjoy your weekend & hope you get your fingers inky!

✿ Karen ✿

Bright & Cheerful Balloons to kick start 2016 & blogging again ....

Hi everyone just a very quick post to kick 2016 off.

It was my dear friend Debbie's birthday yesterday & as she is a Stampin' Up! demo I thought I'd better make her a card with one of the new stamps from their latest Occasions Catalogue & I also got to use one of the Sale-a-bration stamp sets I earned for FREE after spending $110, even though I have too, too many stamp sets in all honesty the Sale-a-bration stamp sets are just fabulous this year.

I found this awesome card on Pinterest which was created by Cornelia Janssen from Denmark - I pin so much it was great to actually go & case & KReate it.

When I first started stamping a few balloons I wasn't too sure about it but when all the colours were down I just loved it!.

Recipe (all products Stampin' Up!):
Stamp sets: Balloon Builders, Botanicals For You
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight, Rose Red, Smokey Slate, Versamark
Card stock: Whisper White, Vellum
Others: Gold EP, glue dots (to stick down the vellum overlay), dimensionals

Cutting dimensions:
Whisper white 9 x 13.3cm, 9.5 x 13.8cm, 1/2 A4 - thick whisper white (mountain fold)
Vellum 6.5 x 13.3cm

Inside I stamped a happy birthday message.

Love, love the font of the Just For You and as it such a big stamp it made making a card very easy.

✿ Karen ✿

Special Mail for me

Hi everyone hope your week is going well - I thought I'd just share the special cards that were made for my birthday which I've had recently. I'll blog them in the order I received them.

From Debbie Lamb :

From Judy Beetson:

From Sally Williams:

Thank you ladies I think they're all beautiful & I really appreciated them. Personally I still love & squeal when I receive a home-made card which I guess is one of the reasons I love what I do - hopefully inspiring others to share the love.

Yes it was a memorable moment

My dear friend  Judy Beetson turning 70 last weekend. The day after her birthday she came to one of my home classes so I had to put on the thinking cap & make her a special card & my never fail chocolate cake

Not sure what happened but the rose red, river rock, baja breeze card using Everything Eleanor & Memorable Moments changed colour to marina mist, not quite navy & river rock (I wouldn't use river rock normally with the colours but it was too late to change as it was a pivotal piece and required concentration & a stamp-a-ma-jig & masking). I used my spritzer & the rubbing alcohol & a few drops of marina mist re-inker & Champagne Mist shimmer paint to make it sparkly too. Otherwise I think everything else is self-explanatory.

Recipe:
Stamp sets: Everything Eleanor, Memorable Moments
Ink: Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy, River Rock
Paper: Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
Other: Spritzer, rubbing alcohol, Champagne Mist shimmer paint, vintage faceted clear buttons, basic rhinestones, bakers twine (dyed with the Not Quite Navy mix in the spritzer), stamp-a-ma-jig.

Once again Judy congratulations on reaching this very memorable birthday & being so fabulously young.

So many handbags!

Wow Pete's daughter has turned 16 & this lovely card I made at Jacque's punch card class is just perfect as I'm giving her shopping vouchers.

Stamp sets: Stem sayings, Circle Circus
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla, Candy Lane DSP
Punches: Scallop edge, Eyelet border, small & large oval, round tab, curly label, 1-¼" circle
Other: Pink grosgrain ribbon, gold brads, dimensionals

Happy birthday mum

My mum Noleen is 73 today & it's been a rough year for her (& us) with at times more being in hospital than out, but at the moment she's a box of birds - touch wood & I do hope you enjoy your special day.

Mum loves butterflies & I've never created a Garden Whimsy card combining the tulip with the butterfly or the snail for that matter. This card's colours were inspired by the colour wheel & believe or not I've used ruby red on the tulip again - I did try a couple of other combos see the wee snap shot but settled on cameo coral & ruby red & handsome hunter (colour wheel combo) as it was the brightest. This was a good show case for colouring on stamps with markers - don't forget for the first time ever we can buy them separately for $5.95 until Nov 30th. More details click HERE.

The card was inspired by Jayne Mercer & I love her colour combo but "not my mum". I've stamped the blush blossom card stock with the wee ladybird but not sure if it will show in the photo.


Stamp sets: Garden Whimsy, Occasional Greetings
Card Stock: Ruby Red, Handsome Hunter, Whisper White, Blush Blossom
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Apricot Appeal, Blush Blossom
Markers: Ruby Red, Cameo Coral, Handsome Hunter
Other: Cutter tool (distressing), dimensionals, 2-way glue pen, dazzling diamonds glitter, Ivory organza (retired)

Rejected colours (not bright enough):

LHS: So Saffron, More Mustard, Old Olive
RHS: Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery

Have a great weekend all!