Sunday 30 July 2017

Crazy Crafters Blog Hop with special guest Susan Wong


Hello and welcome to the Crazy Crafters Blog Hop with special guest Susan Wong. It is such a delight to be hopping with Susan today as we CASE (Copy and Selectively Edit) her gorgeous works. Susan is based in New Zealand and has been part of the illustrious Artisan Design team and her talent is Amazing! 


There were so many beautiful cards to choose from, that it made it hard to decide which one to CASE. However, these two gorgeous cards below caught my eye, as it shows two versions from a simple to a step up design. Both cards were created as part of the Step It Up Sketch - Fancy Friday Blog Hop that you can see here from Susan's Blog.


 


I love the two variations that can be created from the one set and a few added extra accessories. The simplicity and softness as well as the layering of the elements makes for a pretty and eye catching design. I have chosen to combine the two influences and created a stepped up version. 

I went with a Christmas theme to get started on making Christmas cards in time this year, as you can never be too early hehe. Soft Sky ink and cardstock has been used as the main colours to achieve the softness and subtlety with white heat embossing. 

Stamp sets used are 'Santa's Sleigh' and the new 'Colorful Seasons' using the snowflakes. Both sets have coordinating dies which have been used to great advantage. It's also great to combine the old with the new sets and give them new life.


The photo underneath are the separate layers of the card before assembly showing the recessed Christmas Tree design, using the silver foil die cut snowflakes from 'Seasonal Layers Thinlits' as a backdrop. The idea came about after several trials and have went with an inverted design to that of Susan's layered panels to give it a cohesive look using the dies from both sets. They have been arranged to best advantage to cover up the die cut tree window from 'Santa's Sleigh dies'. Some of the snowflakes have been cut for best fit. The overall look creates a lovely intricate design that reflects both the snowflakes and ornamental decorations on the tree with the added embellishment of the rhinestones and glitter enamel dots.


The snowflake images have been randomly stamped and white heat embossed on the front panel. 
Soft Sky ink blending with ink resist has been applied using a blending tool. I find the Ranger mini round ink blending tool applicator to give best results. 

To achieve this look, softness is key.  Using is a gentle, light hand pressure and minimal ink to start off. Soft Sky is very forgiving as it's a already a light dye ink to work with. Working from light to dark and slowly build up the shading to achieve seamless gradient finish. 


I have used fun foam to mount the front panel and die cut the same tree in the same position to create the recessed look. Fun foam also gives an even raise and perfect for mailing. Creating the recessed window allows the additions of the embellishments without adding too much bulk on top. 

The reindeer has been coloured in with Copic markers and stamped with Copic safe Memento Tuxedo black ink. Love this medium for quick simple colouring. I have die cut several reindeer pieces and layered them on top of each other, to create height and thickness, like a chipboard look and in turn making it sturdier. I have added a little bow using the 'Basic Black bakers twine' on the reindeer. 


The die cut scallop panel is from 'Seasonal Layers thinlits' and is a great way to display the sentiment as well as have a grounding for both the reindeer and tree to stand on. 

This panel has been mounted on with dimensionals to make it pop from the front panel.

A silver foil die cut snowflake has been added on top for a design element and decoration with a little silver sequin on the centre. Sequins are a great embellishment to use on cards as it does not give too much bulk in the end and makes it easier to mail cards.

The strip of glossy foil is from the 'Foil Frenzy' specialty dsp and have used the Soft Sky striped pattern and have cut a single stripe from it.  


Inside the card follows the same design using the tree and snowflakes. The original die cut tree with ink blending on the front has been used, so that nothing goes to waste. The snowflake images has been stamped randomly in Soft Sky. The same Soft Sky foil strip from Foil Frenzy specialty dsp has been added as a grounding element for the tree.


I hope you have enjoyed and found inspiration. It has been so much fun creating this card and drawing inspiration from Susan's gorgeous cards greatly helped. Thanks to Susan, the overall design is a modern take to the traditional Christmas card colours. Make sure to continue to hop all the way around to see all the Crazy Crafters fabulous creations and inspirations from CASEing Susan's amazing designs. 

Thank you so much for stopping by, 'til next time - Happy Crafting! :)


Friday 28 July 2017

Grown with Love - Amazing You


Hello and welcome. Today's card has been inspired and entered in this week's Global Design Project - Colour Challenge. #GDP097. It is such a lovely colour combination and love all the cards created by the design team - such great inspirations. 


Here is my card featuring the wonderful 'Grown With Love' set along with 'Painter's Palette' set by Stampin' Up! Michelle Last's gorgeous card from the challenge has inspired me to use this set and try out this colour combination. I have also used the new 'Pinewood Planks' dynamic textured impressions embossing folder, as well as a strip of the 'Foil Frenzy' specialty designer series paper.  They both add a nice touch of detail and interest to the overall layout in differing patterns and textures and a great way to represent each of the colour group from the challenge.

The foliage with the 'Amazing You' sentiment has been stamped in three stages using a combination of Berry Burst ink for the flowers, Wild Wasabi Stampin' Write marker for the foliage and Memento Tuxedo black ink for the sentiment. I have used a post it note to help mask each section. Using a stamp positioner tool greatly helps to to achieve this re-stamping and ensuring that's in the same position. Both the Berry Burst and Wild Wasabi inks ended up looking rather dark as it has been stamped over several times to get more defined image. The Stampin' Up! inks may look splotchy at first but it evens out nicely in the end as can be seen in the pot stamped in Berry burst - although it has been stamped twice.

I have also clear heat embossed the foliage image with VersaMark ink and clear embossing powder and this adds a shine and make it stand out. 


To ground the pot plant image, I have used the frame section of the easel image from the 'Painter's Palette' set and stamped with Memento Tuxedo black ink and then clear heat embossed to add shine. I manually cut out the square frame with a craft knife and ruler to get a straight edge. The inner square has been die cut out using the coordinating 'Layering Squares framelits' and stamped the ink splatters in Berry Burst from 'Painters Palette'. The same ink splatters appear in the background behind the main image in Wild Wasabi ink to extend it out and looks great tone on tone.



Don't you just love the little banner sign with the inlaid heart? That is from the 'Garden Grown' framelits which is part of the Grown With Love bundle. The little hearts has also been included in the frame using the rule of thirds to give a pleasing design. I have also added the fine tip glue pen over each heart to give a glossy accent and is a perfect tool to achieve that look. A quaint little bow has been added to the pot plant using the linen thread adds a cute touch. 


Inside the card has the same image, though slightly cropped and have only die cut the pot and the three flowers to show another way that this wonderful image can be used. The foliage and sentiment has been stamped in Wild Wasabi and Memento Tuxedo black ink in two stages with masking. A strip of Wild Wasabi cardstock used to ground the pot plant at the base and added the little off cut heart in Crumb Cake for some touch of sweetness.



I hope you have enjoyed and found inspiration. The 'Grown With Love' bundle is a great set and works well on it's own and combined with other sets to add even more creativity. Be sure to check out the colour challenge and hopefully you can join in the fun. Thank you so much for stopping by, 'til next time - Happy Crafting! :)  




Thursday 20 July 2017

Stampin' Dreams Blog Hop - Caseing the Catalogue


Hello and welcome to the monthly Stampin' Dreams Blog Hop. You are currently visiting Juana Ambida from Australia. I hope you enjoy my card casing the beautiful new Catalogue.


The 'At Home With You' bundle is one of my personal favourites and it's on page 54 of the annual catalogue. Just love the versatility of this set and so much fun to use. I have made several cards already with this set and is also featured in this month's International Tutorial Bundle edition. The interactive door is a great feature in this set, youcan add a sentiment inside or a little critter popping out. Click here to see other examples made with this set. Purchasing the set as a bundle you save 10% and you will want to have the dies. 


I have literally CASE'd the gorgeous Christmas card on page 54, with a few modifications. This card sample is what sold me on this set. It just embodies a lovely Christmas card with a home feel. This set can also be used all year round which is so important to get the most use out it. 


The new 'embossing paste' and brick stencil from 'Party Pattern Decorative Masks' have been used along with the new 'Wood Texture Designer Series Paper Stack'. 

The images have been coloured in with copic markers and stamped with Memento Tuxedo black ink. I find the alcohol based markers such a great way to colour in and copics blend so well. 

To add dimension to the images, I have used the fine tip glue pen to add glossy accents to the lamps and berries. Clear Wink of Stella glitter has been added onto the foliage for an extra shine.

The wreath above the door has been mounted with dimensioals. The images have been doubled up with an extra die cut and layered underneath to give it that extra raise and dimension.

There is also a gorgeous 'Boxwood wreath embellishment', that is used on the sample for a 3D look however, I have kept the layers and bulk down to go in the post. To give in person the 3D wreath would be an excellent embellishment to add. 



I'm so happy how it turned out and will surely be making more of these cards for Christmas. We can never start too early. I hope you have enjoyed and found inspiration and hope that you'll give this wonderful set a go. I can see this set make a great Halloween card too hehe. Make sure to follow the list below to see all the amazing creative inspirations from around the world Caseing the annual catalogue. You don't want to miss any!  

Thank you so much for stopping by, 'til next time - Happy Crafting! :) 




This Little Piggy and Weather Together


Hello and welcome. I have been having so much fun with 'This Little Piggy' set that I have teamed it with the 'Weather Together' set. I'm sure that this isn't the fist time this idea has been done to combine a cute critter with an umbrella. Through experimentation and the 'what if' moment, both of these sets came together. 


The clean and simple layout has been greatly inspired and entered in the Global Design Project #GDP096 - Case the Designer Challenge. CASEing the talented Tanja Kolar. I have used the largest square stitched shapes framelits and layered with the largest scallop layering square framelits to emulate the gorgeous framing in Tanja's card. 

Please check out all the creative cards in the challenge and hopefully you'll be inspired to join in the fun. Click here to see visit the challenge.


'This Little Piggy' with the umbrella scene is a continuation to the Thank you theme cards series using this fun set. Click here to see the other 'This Little Piggy' series of cards.


The colouring style and choice of colours has been carried over again to tie in with the series.

Copic markers have been used once again for the little piggy, as well as the umbrella rod and handle.

The sky has been ink blended with Tempting Turquoise and grass with Wild Wasabi inks using Ranger round mini ink blending tool. 

The grass shape is a separate piece and is the negative die cut piece using the wave shape from Swirly Scribbles thinlits. It was the actual off cut from the other card I made using the Seaside Shore card that you can see here. Great way to use up your scraps.

I ran the piece through the Big Shot using the same square framelits die to add the faux stitched edge around it and give it that seamless look.

The umbrella has been stamped with Daffodil Delight and Peekabo Peach using an ombre method.

First stamp image with Dafodill Delight and wipe of the bottom half on the stamp with a paper towel and them re-stamp with Peekaboo Peach and wipe off the top half  to achieve a smooth gradient blend. Using a MISTI tool with this method greatly helps as being able to stamp over the same image over again helps to give that sharpness and definition. 


Both the white heat embossed hearts and die cuts ties in with the sentiments from 'Weather Together' set reflecting the style of Tanja's card. The scripty 'love' sentiment has been stamped with Versafine Onyx black pigment ink and have clear heat embossed it to heat set and give it that raised embossed finish and shine. The whole front panel has been mounted on to a top folding Crumb Cake cardstock base.

I hope you have enjoyed and found inspiration. It's great to find ways in which to create a scene using 'This Little Piggy' and I'm sure there are plenty more complimentary sets in the Annual catalogue that will surely work with a desired theme in mind. Can you think of any? Love to see what you can come up with.  Thank you so much for stopping by, 'til next time - Happy Crafting! :) 





Monday 17 July 2017

Stamp Review Crew - Seaside Shore


Hello and welcome to the Stamp Review Crew blog hop. We are featuring the fun 'Seaside Shore' set which appears on page 53 in the Annual catalogue. Fortunately it has been carried over to the new catalogue as it has so much creative potential and works well both on it's own or combined to compliment with other sets. My first ever creation with this set was a card in box that you can see here


For those who are new to the Stamp Review Crew, here is a little background. We are an international group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators that gets together on the first and third Mondays of every month to do a blog hop. Each hop features a single stamp set to give you loads of inspiration for that set! The hops are archived at the Stamp Review Crew blog, and you will be able to click through each hop at any time, going directly to the posts for that hop whenever you want! And you can click on the banner of this post to go to the master blog roll for this hop also.

It's so great to be able to use this set again and create another fun underwater scene. To help create the scene, I have incorporated the wavy shape die cut from 'Swirly Scribbles Thinlits' dies, as a fun and interactive way to have the fishes swimming within it. Only the ends of the die cut waves have been adhered with Tombow mono liquid glue and a few in the centre to allow pockets for the fishes to be tucked in between.


The background has been ink blended with Pacific Point ink using a round mini ink blending tool. This is a great tool to get that smooth seamless blending. I worked from the outside edges first and in towards the centre to create a radial gradient effect, and adds a softer and lighter glow in the centre. Adding more ink around the edges creates contrast and interest and can get the most out of using just one ink colour.

The die cut waves has also been ink blended with Pacific Point ink. As the die cut is very delicate a pouncing or dabbing motion is best used to add colour. It's good to allow some dark and light areas to give some depth. Shimmery White cardstock was used for that perfect shimmery finish.

The bubbles have been stamped in VersaMark ink and clear heat embossed. Ensure that the ink blended background is completely dry before clear heat embossing. Love the subtle embossed effect finished it gives.


The sentiment has been white heat embossed on vellum and die cut out with the 'Layering Circles framelits dies'. It has been tucked in the waves following the shape and resembles a large bubble but most of all it is a subtle spotlight on the sentiment. Being vellum, you're able to see through it and having the fish behind it adds interest. 'Glitter enamel dots' added to give that water droplets look reflecting the similar shades of the background.

The images have all been stamped with Memento Tuxedo black ink and coloured in with Copic markers. Simple colouring has been done in a gradient fashion and looks effective on these fishes, the black markings makes the colour pop. Surprisingly, the copics I had on hand B18 (Lapis Lazuli) and B16  (Cyanine Blue) used on the negative space of the seaweed is a similar colour gradient effect as Pacific Point. It blends in flawlessly and thank goodness it does as it's so hard to cut that area out lol.

All images have been fussy cut leaveing a white gap around as it looks more forgiving hehe. It would have been great if the set came with matching dies but if you don't mind fussy cutting then it wont be as bad as it's still a good practice hehe. The fishes have been adhered with Stampin' dimensionals to give a raised effect.  The whole front panel has been adhered on to a side folding Pacific Point card base to perfectly coordinate. Lastly, Clear Wink of Stella glitter added over all the fishes for that extra shimmer though can be hard to see on the photos. It adds a great subtle finish to them.


I hope you have enjoyed and found inspiration. The 'Seaside Shore' is a great set and would look great used with some of the new underwater themed sets in the new catalogue or even an aquarium shaker card - so many possibilities.  Next up on the hop is the wonderful and talented Kelly Kent. What she has created with this set will surely be amazing!  Thank you so much for stopping by, 'til next time - Happy Crafting! :)  





Sunday 16 July 2017

Crazy Crafters Blog Hop with special guest Jay Soriano



Hello and welcome to the Crazy Crafters blog hop with a very special guest Jay Soriano. I'm so excited to be CASEing Jay's awesome works as he's extremely talented and highly creative. Jay is based in the UK and is so wonderful to see a fellow Filipino sharing the same love of papercrafts.


I have chosen to CASE Jay's gorgeous card below using the new "This Little Piggy Set". It has been created as part of  CAS Colours and Sketch challenge. I just love the Clean and Simple style and yet is still so effective.


Click here to see Jay's card post.

This Little Piggy set is so much fun to use, that I have created three cards to show the cute little piggies in different settings. Here they are:


It's perfect set to build a scene with and have used a few other sets to create each scene.

On  this card they include the new, 'Grown With Love' bundle for the vegetables and cart. They have been coloured in with Stampin' Write markers and added  glossy accents on the vegetables to add dimension.

'Basket of Wishes' set for the large wooden basket. Coloured in with copics and fussy cut.

'Sheltering Tree' set, the tree trunk stamp and clear heat embossed over the top for ink resist blending. Leaves have been white heat embossed over the top. Tempting Turquoise has been applied in the background with ink resist technique. 

The grass has been ink blended with Wild Wasabi ink.



'This Little Piggy' with 'At Home with You' set is so adorable as he's stepping out from the door.

I have used the Thanks sentiment and motifs from the 'At Home With You' set and used the new embossing paste for the brick stencil. I can't get enough of these two new products! A little clear glossy accents added to the lamp post to denote glass.

Tempting Turquise is used again on the door and have been applied with a round mini ink blending tool for a smooth blending.




Lastly, 'This Little Piggy' on 'Bike Ride' set sentiment from 'Thankful Thoughts'.

This cheerful little piggy image is so versatile and looks so cute on the bike. 

Tempting Turquoise added in to keep the same colour theme throughout. 




These cards will come in handy to give out as Thank you cards and we'll make a cute token of appreciation.  I hope you have enjoyed and found inspiration. I love the bold, graphic style of Jay's card and works so well with this new set. Make sure to continue to hop around and see all the fabulous creations that have been inspired by Jay's amazing talent. 

Thank you so much for stopping by, 'til next time - Happy Crafting! :) 


Saturday 15 July 2017

This Little Piggy Birthday


Hello and welcome. Today I'm sharing a card using a new stamp set called 'This Little Piggy' and it's just so cute and adorable. The inspiration is from the Global Design Project #GDP095 Theme:  Kids where the card has been entered and combining it with the Birthday Delivery stamp set makes for a cute children's birthday card.


It's so great to be able to combine stamp sets and create a custom made scene. The little piggy holding the balloon from 'Birthday Delivery' is just an example of this. Fussy cutting the piggies allows more flexibiliy to build a scene as they are all separate elements layered together in a pleasing grouping. Although the Birthday Delivery set comes with matching dies, I have trimmed the base of the party hats so that the white edges are not showing.  



All the images have been stamped with Memento Tuxedo black ink on whisper white cardstock and coloured in with copic markers. Copics is favourite go to medium for quick and easy colouring. To add texture, I've added little dots on the cute piggies in the medium shade tone of pink used.


The white dots on the balloon and hats have been done with a white gel pen and the eyes have been done with a black gel pen to add more dimension. Both the balloons and banner have been raised with dimensionals. The green grass has been ink blended with Wild Wasabi ink by masking with a strip of post it note.


The card is kept clean and simple so that the focus are on the cute piggies and the birthday party scene. The front panel is mounted onto a side folding Crumb Cake cardstock. I hope you have enjoyed and inspired you to try this wonderful set. This Little Piggy set has grown on me and the creativity are just endless - will surely be making more. Make sure to check out the Global Design Project card challenge for more inspirations and hope you join in the fun! Thank you so much for stopping by until next time - Happy Crafting!




So happy and thrilled to find out that 'This Little Piggy Birthday' card that I entered in the Global Design Project #95 Theme: Kids challenge was one of the winners. Yay! :) #GDP095 #GDPwinner.