Polar Pals

Hey stampers, Anni here!

I swapped days with sweet Gemma, that's why you see me posting here on a Tuesday!
Today I have a set of four cards for you! Sometimes when I have an idea in mind that is easy to realize then I make more than one card.

For this set I started to create backgrounds using my alcohol inks. When they were dry I die cut stitched squares using My Favorite Things' Inside And Out Stitched Square STAX.

I stamped all the animals except the narwhal (he was a little bit to smal for my square) from the set Polar Pals by My Favorite Things, coloured them with alcohol marker and fussy cut them (of course there are coordinating dies available). I added some shading with coloured pencils.
For all crittes I stamped an ice floe, too, so they have something to sit on.

For the sentiments I chose Lawn Fawn's Tiny Tag Sayings. I really love the size and the fonts in this set - so cute!
I die cut speech bubbles from Lawn Fawn's A Birdie Told Me and a part of one of Mama Elephant's Slim Tags Trio.
For the finishing touches I added some Nuvo drops in different colours.

Do you make set of cards? Or do you always just make one card?

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty week.
Anni

            

Winter Woolies

Hi there, Jenny here on this chilly Monday morning and I have just the right theme on my card today...

When it comes to winter birthdays you can sometimes stretch your Christmas stash 

which I have done here using Wplus9's Holiday Cheer stamp set. 

I started by planning out on scrap paper which order I'd like to stamp my tumbling hat and glove border in, 

then used masks to stamp out the design on the edge of a card blank... leaving a small gap from the edge

 so I could trim around them to make a decorative edge 

I used the solid images in the set and Pigment inks to add colour and I love how some are

 not quite lined up correctly... that touch of white adds to the design I think :)

This is a one layer card but you could easily stamp a few extra to pop up on foam pads or add dimension to the 

hats and gloves with embellishments instead. I added a strip of black card to the inside edge which

 highlights the decorative edge when the card is closed.

 

 

  

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jenny x

Winter Silhouettes

I've got a really fun project to share today using the Winter Silhouettes stamp set from Hero Arts which is a really fun make for Christmas.

All I used to create these ornaments was the stamp set, green, white, black and red embossing powders and a blue distress ink really watered down to give a blue wash sky.  The ornaments were actually upcycled from a couple of waste bins I bought as I didn't really want a heart flopping around on them but thought they'd make great ornaments instead!  You can easily find lots of wooden blanks easily in stores like hobbycraft or online quite inexpensively.

I just used the curved stamp to create my hill line then pressed my embossing ink pad all over the bottom up to the line I'd stamped before covering with white powder and heating.   It's then just a case of stamping and embossing from the background to the foreground in layers finishing with the sentiment in the snow.

There are lots of great little silhouettes in this stamp set so you can get very creative with them.  If you pick up this month's Craft Stamper magazine (on sale Friday 3rd November but subscribers may already have their copy) then you will see that our fabulous Design Team have been challenged to use the set in 6 very different ways!  Do let us know what you think of the article - we think there are some fab ideas for this set in the feature and hope you do too.

NEWS FROM THE STORE

We got our delivery from Sugar Pea Designs on Friday so will get that opened and in store this week.

We have an Altenew delivery in transit and providing it doesn't get stuck in customs again we should have it by the end of the week.

Otherwise it will be a quiet week for deliveries as we wait for the November releases to open for orders.

Catch you all next weekend - Happy Halloween!

Tara

Little Agenda Hooray

Happy Saturday! I’ve swapped days with Anni, so I have another card to share with you today.

As many of you may know, I’m a fan of a cover die. Especially ones as versatile as the Mama Elephant Grid Window. What I love about this one is the possibilities for different looks, just by cutting it and making larger windows within the frame. 

For my card today, I've combined it with the Mama Elephant Little Agendas as they fit perfectly in the windows. 

I started by die cutting two frames from white card, then adhering them together. This gives some dimension without making the card too bulky. I then cut out part of the frame to make a larger window in the middle. I’ll use this for my sentiment.

For the background, I blended ink directly onto a card base, adding water droplet details. I then adhered the frame on top of the card base.

I chose some images from the Little Agenda Cats and Dogs, colouring them with an assortment of rainbow colours. Then I added these to the card with foam tape.

I chose a large die cut gold glitter 'hooray' to go across the card, layering it for dimension. To finish, I stamped an accompanying sentiment on the frame underneath.

Thanks for joining me today. Have a lovely weekend,

Gemma

Mama Elephant Grid Window

Mama Elephant Hooray Script

Mama Elephant Little Cat Agenda

Mama Elephant Little Dog Agenda

W&W Sentimental Birthday

Tiny Hearts and Lots of Love

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week, I'm getting all romantic...

...using the beautiful Love Quotes from Mama Elephant with a scattering of Tiny Hearts from Altenew and even more Tiny Hearts from Paper Smooches.

If I had to choose my all time favourite sentiment, it would be this one...'And suddenly all the love songs were about you'.  I'm a sucker for soppy and I just think it's so beautiful, so romantic to let your special someone know how you feel.  It's perfect for anniversaries, Valentine's Day, but you know what, it's perfect for just letting your special someone know they still give you butterflies, anytime!

I started by stamping out the adorable Tiny Hearts from Altenew across the top of my background, allowing them to gradually fade out towards the bottom, then ink blending over the top in a variety of pink inks to create an ombré effect emboss resist.  I then added a few sprinkles of water to pick up some of the ink adding interest & texture.

I stamped out my sentiment onto vellum and heat embossed in white;  I always think white embossing on vellum looks romantic!  I then cut my vellum into a banner shape and adhered in place with tiny dots of clear glue so it wouldn't show through.

I then covered a piece of card in a white sparkle embossing powder and cut a load of Paper Smooches Tiny Hearts from it which I then used to sprinkle around my card.

I finished by added a bow of white string to bring my design together.

I really hope you like it and it makes you want to express your soppy side too :)

As always, everything I used is linked below so be sure to stop by the store and check out the rest of the lovey dovey sentiments on this awesome set.

See you next week.

Jillx

Celebrate Your Inner Rock Star Masculine Guitar Card

Hi everyone, Taheerah here wishing you a happy Thursday!

I seem to be on a real masculine card kick lately. I guess I'm seeing a lot of Autumn/Halloween/Christmas cards out there right now and I just want to do something different!

Today's offering features an oldie but goodie set from Reverse Confetti - the Inner Rock Star stamp set:

Cool right? I love the grungy look of this!

I created my background with a mixture of stamped stars, and lots of different ink splatter! It's not to have to be neat and tidy for a change!

As the background is pretty busy, it pays to keep the focal stamping simple and stand-out. I used a stamp positioning tool to stamp my guitar and sentiment several times in black ink so that it doesn't get lost in the background. A sliver of dark cardstock behind the card panel and adhering onto my card base were the only finishing touches required!


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!

Amazing Yeti Hugs

Hello and happy Wednesday!

Today I challenged myself to use a Christmas/Winter themed stamp for a non-Christmas themed card. I love the cute yeti from the Mama Elephant Me and My Yeti stamp set and the one with his hands spread wide makes me think he's wanting to give you a hug!

I started out with a piece of rasberry cardstock that was slightly smaller than my white A6 cardbase. Using a sentiment from the Altenew Amazing You set to stamp, I stamped it in a repeating pattern across the panel with some Versamark ink. I then heat embossed it with some clear embossing powder and adhered the panel to the cardbase.

For the secondary panel, I blended on some Distress Oxide inks onto some white cardstock and dropped some clean water onto it to give it that distressed look. Once dry, I cut it out with the smaller rectangle of the Avery Elle Wonky Stitches dies so that I would still see the background pattern when adhered.

I stamped out the yeti from the Mama Elephant Me and My Yeti stamp set with some MFT Black Licorice Hybrid Ink and coloured him in with my alcohol markers. I then cut him out with the coordinating dies and adhered him to the smaller panel, then adhered both to the card base.

For the main sentiment, I white heat embossed two from the Altenew Amazing You set on some black cardstock. I cut this out and adhered this just under the yeti's feet to ground him.

A final touch of clear Wink of Stella, a couple of sequins and I have a thank you card full of yeti hugs!

Thanks for reading, catch you next week.

Tallie

  

Merry and Bright

I’m in full Christmas card crafting mode now! Seeing all the Christmas sets being released at the moment - the choice is fabulous!

I was so pleased when WPlus9 re-released the Holiday trimmings stamp set. I love the modern look and the beautifully written sentiments that they do so well.

 

I’ve gone with some non traditional Christmas colours for my card today. Using the 'merry & bright' sentiment as inspiration, I chose four bright colours of distress oxide ink.

I cut four stitched squares from white card and created a mask for each square, using the solid stamps in the set. I carefully blended the inks onto the squares, then removed the masks to see the white space underneath.

I then stamped, in the same inks, the decorative images in the set to add details to the negative spaces left on the card. This helps to create the illusion of trees and baubles.

I stamped the sentiment on the card base in black ink, then used foam tape to adhere the squares above.

I love the fun, modern look of using negative space and non-traditional colours. This was also easy to make so a perfect design to mass produce for Christmas.

Thanks for joining me today,

Gemma

WPlus9 Holiday Trimmings

We've made the short list!

So yesterday I hinted that I had some great news to share but I couldn't share until today - well that was because voting in The British Craft Awards did not open until today but I am thrilled to say that this year we made the short list for Paper Craft Retailer of the Year!

There are some big names on that list so for little old us who basically run the store two-handed from our back bedroom to even make the list is a massive honour and we have our lovely customers to thank for nominating us in the early rounds.

If you would like to vote for us now then you can by visting the website

 http://www.britishcraftawards.com/

Voting is free and you can win Amazon vouchers if you do.  It is split into different craft categories this year and we are in the Paper Crafts category obviously.

Tara and Rick