Let Your Light Shine Bright Watercolour Card

Hi everyone, Taheerah here wishing you a happy Thursday!

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for a few years, you can't have missed the watercolour trend that's been one of the dominant trends in papercrafting. Companies are always jostling to bring something new to market in the watercolour space, or putting their own twists on a classic! That's exactly what Altenew did recently with the release of their own watercolour pan set! The Altenew Watercolor 36 Pan Set comes with a set of gorgeous, vibrant shades, which colour match well with their ink line. The sets flew off the shelves when they first arrived at Seven Hills HQ and I was lucky enough to snag one then! Since the restock there are still plenty to go around - though I wouldn't hang about as who knows how long that'll last. *wink*

I couldn't wait to play with the colours and create a simple design that really lets the colours shine!

I love how this turned out - and the sentiment is perfect for the design, don't you think?!

I used just two colours from the watercolours, overlapping and drying them in stages to create a sort of dip-dye effect. This looks even more stunning in real life!

The sentiments from the Concord & 9th Shine On stamp set were perfect for this design! I stamped them with an ombre look, making sure to keep the colours constrasting against the watercolours so it wasn't too much of a blend.

I'd love to hear what you think of this card. Is there someone you know who'd love to receive it? Thanks for stopping by!

Fly Away With Me

Hello, Tallie here and happy Wednesday!

I've been doing some more colouring, this time with the Mama Elephant Fly With Me set. It took a little bit of time upfront to create this scene with some masking, but I think it was worth it in the end!

I started out with an A6 panel of blending cardstock. I wanted to make sure that the sentiment was the main focus of the card so I stamped the 'happy birthday to you' from the Mama Elephant Scripty Bday set in the top right corner in some MFT Extreme Black Hybrid Ink. Next, I stamped out the four elephants in the set, spacing them around so the sentiment was framed. I created some masks out of some Post-It Notes so that I could stamp the clouds from the set behind the elephants. This way it looks as though the sky is full of elephants!

I then took out my alcohol markers, using some light blue markers to colour in the sky background and concentrating the colour around the elements. I used similarly light blue-green markers for the clouds, warm greys for the elephants (with some light reds for the ears) and some deep, contrasting reds for the balloons.

I adhered the panel to a top-folding card base and added some Glossy Accents to make the balloons nice and shiny.

You couldn't help but feel uplifted if you received this card on your birthday!

Thanks for reading, catch you next week.

Tallie

  

Sending a Smile Your Way

Today I have an acetate window card to share, which was inspired by a YouTube video from MFT design team member Stephanie. I love the look of the acetate window cards she created with the MFT Sending a Smile stamp set, so I thought I’d have a go at making my own version.

I began by die cutting the Blueprints 27 frame and grid from white card stock. I also die cut the grid from the front of a card base. I added a blend of distress oxide ink to the card base front, using mowed lawn and twisted citron. I adhered a piece of acetate behind the die cut white frame, then stuck this down onto the card base to cover the window. On top of the acetate, I adhered the two die cut grid pieces.

For the inside of the card, I die cut a rectangle and added some clouds with the MFT Mini Cloud Edges stencil and tumbled glass distress oxide ink. I adhered this on the inside of the card, so it could be seen from the front.

I die cut one of the long rectangles, die cut from the grid, with a grassy edge border die, then blended on the same distress oxide blend of greens. I adhered this in the grid on the front of the card. I also added this colour blend to one of the squares, and used tumbled glass to add colour to the other two. I adhered all three into the grid on the front.

I stamped, coloured and die cut images from the MFT Sending a Smile stamp set, and adhered them to the front of the card. I also added a sentiment strip with a greeting from the same stamp set.

The acetate window gives a fun twist to the card, and by adding the panels in the front, there is still room to write a message inside without it being seen from the front.

Thanks for joining me today,

Gemma

MFT Sending a Smile

MFT Mini Cloud Edges stencil

MFT Blueprints 27

Leave your Mark

Hi, Jenny here with a fun card for you on this Monday morning...

I'm not really sure how the train of thought went for this card but needless to say these two snails made me do it!! I used a white gel pen to alter the mouth on one of the snails and pulled out the Brush Strokes stamp set by Mama Elephant to make their slimy trails.

I used Kraft card so the trails would show up and stamped them in Unicorn White pigment ink before applying white Perfect Pearls powder for a translucent shimmery finish. Now we just have to work out how that snail made such an odd trail!!???

 

!!!!STOP PRESS!!!

Having seen my card, hubby alerted me to a snail trail on our patio this morning...

It seems that snail lives in our garden!! 😃

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

MFT's Signature Line

I've got a little something different today as I'm sharing cards made with product we don't actually have in store yet, however they will be here this week so I wanted to share the exciting news with you in case you didn't read our post on Facebook about it.   MFT brought out a new line a couple of months ago called "MFT Signature" and it was exclusive to their website only which disappointed a lot of customers at other stores (particularly overseas with the duty issue) and MFT have received a lot of complaints about it so have now decided to suspend the exclusivity and now the range will just be included as part of their normal releases and they  have therefore allowed retailers to purchase the previous 3 releases.   So....  we got our order in quick and it's currently crossing the Atlantic.

However, I was so desperate to get the snarky sentiments sets last month that I bit the bullet and placed a retail order and paid a ruddy fortune to get the stamps and die I wanted as I didn't think it would be available otherwise so I already have a couple of cards made with them to share ahead of their arrival.

Here I started with the crown die cut in gold and then again in lilac glitter so I could piece in the circles as sparkly gems.  I added some extra bling by adding lilac crystals around some gems and in between the ones on the bottom.

For the base I used a panel of white and ink blended pink from the centre using a couple of shades of oxides and my "fade out cheat" of using Unicorn White around the edge to soften the blending lines (I could never get the fade out to white soft enough before I gave this "cheat" a go!)  I do the colour in the middle and get it as good as I can, then go around with the white, and then back in with the palest colour whilst the white is still wet - I get a soft glow every time with this cheat. 

I heat embossed the two sentiments from the set in gold curving the birthday one to sit into the curve of the crown.

I added a few splatters of pink and gold paint and some stitched details using the Lil' Inker Designs Silly Stitched Die set and popped it onto a pale pink base.


I made another card without the crown as although regally themed. the sentiments do work solo.

A really quick base blending oxides again in a rainbow pattern with the Captavating Mandala stencil on a square base card.  A double sentiment stamped across the middle in black and job done!

NEWS FROM THE STORE

We had a little one-stop-hop on Thursday celebrating Reverse Confetti and offered a prize via our Facebook and Instagram feeds to anyone who left a comment on the post.   Our random number generated no 23 which is Vanessa Hodgson so get in touch Vanessa and we'll send you a little Reverse Confetti prize.

We are aware however that some people had issues leaving comments on the blog (hence ignoring the first two comments in the number generator as those were my test ones!) and that some don't show up.  We have been trying to figure out why but despite it being an issue listed many times on the blogger help forum, there doesn't seem to be a fix.  We will be moving away from blogger as a platform in the future to a better more modern blog but as with all things, this takes time and we have to make sure we get it right so it could be months before it happens as I really don't have enough time in the day to stay on top of things already so trying to do "new" is very hard at the moment.

So as an interim apology to those who missed out - we will hold another giveaway on Facebook in a couple of weeks (no time before that as we're hitting mega release season!)



This week coming is going to be our busiest of the year!   We expect the following this week:

• Newton's Nook - hopefully tomorrow
• Concord & 9th - hopefully tomorrow
• MFT Signature line - hopefully Tuesday
• Altenew restocks including lots more paint sets - hopefully Tuesday
• Lawn Fawn winter release - hopefully on Thursday which is release day but it is currently stuck in customs awaiting clearance
• Sugar Pea Designs fall release hopefully by the end of the week.
• we are still waiting for confirmation of the arrival of Hero Arts in the UK.  All we know at the moment is that it is due "late August"

As it is a bank holiday weekend we will do our very best to get as many orders as we can out before the last postal drop at 3pm on Friday afternoon but as we expect to be very busy with the Lawn Fawn release, it may be that we don't get all of the orders out until after the holiday when orders start shipping again on Tuesday.  We ship strictly in the order received so the sooner you order the more chance you have of getting your goodies for the weekend.  There will be no post drop Saturday-Monday.  Ensure you have everything in your basket as you check out as we will not have time to combine orders and offer postage refunds if you do duplicate orders even straight after each other. 

Catch you later

Tara

Christmas in August

Hey stampers,Anni here.

Have you realized Christmas stamps are peeking around the corners. I LOVE to make Christmas catds - I know, I am weird. In the last years I challenged myself to create two Christmas cards per month but this year I haven't made one till now. When I saw all these cute new Christmas stamps popping up I got in the mood to create one.

I started by creating the background: I used some alcohol inks and some blending solution on Ranger's Yupo paper.

Then I went through my stash of Christmas stamps and found Neat and Tangled's Santa's Wonderland - such a cute set. I stamped, coloured and fussy cut the penguin, the rendeer and the snow man.
For the colouring I chose a turqoise that went with my background and added some red for a warm colour and a grey as a neutral.

The snow drift I die cut with a die called Landscape Trio by Mama Elephant from white cardstock. I stamped a sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Tiny Tag Sayings with black ink on one of the two snow drifts die cut.

To give the image a frame I also die cut Avery Elle's Wonky Scalloped Frames from white cardstock three times and stacked them up.
Then I assembled the card.

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty weekend. Maybe you'll start making Christmas cards?
Anni

     

   

Fabulous Florals

I've been playing with pretty florals for today's card using the brand new Build-A-Flower set from AlteNew.  If you are unfamiliar with these sets (you've been on mars for a year right???) then they are a layering stamp and die combo featuring a flower and AlteNew release a new one every month.  This month's is a South American orchid called a Cattleya and it's just stunning so it's very easy to make a statement card with it and very little else.

I stamped the outline in Evergreen from the Green Fields range and filled in the stems and green buds with Forest Glades from the same set.  I switched to MFT inks for my favourite peach combo for stamping the 3 layers on the flowers Peach Belini for Layer 1, Coral Crush for Layer 2 and Persimmon for Layer 3.

I stamped the whole thing 3 times but only used one full "branch" - the rest I trimmed off in different places and tucked buds in extra to make it look as though you have more flowers than the one you get.

To create the card I wanted a soft water coloured background but as the AlteNew paints sold out in 45 minutes I didn't have those so went with a green and a peach from my Windsor and Newton collection.  I just applied them very randomly to wet watercolour paper and let the colours flow together - using the same colours as the stamping allows the eye to fill in the background and assume a fuller bunch of flowers.  You could add more outline flowers in second generation stamping to emphasise this further but I opted to add some subtle dots using the new Halftone Square stamps and Frayed Leaf ink for a little texture over the corners.

The sentiment is included in the Build-A-Flower Cattleya stamp and die set.

Catch you on Sunday

Tara