It's in the making

The next bunting project is on the drawing board, its called Strawberries & cream. 

The 100m of tape arrived in the post this morning, I am deciding wether to dye it pink before I make up the bunting.

The fabric is a mixture of Amy Butler & Heather Bailey "Nicey Jane"

Yummy ~ Strawberries & Cream

 

 

What is it for friday ~ Versamark

Versamark

versamark is one of the most versatile ink pads that is availalable, It is a clear ink that was originally designed for embossing, Versamark is a Glycerin based pad and therefore it stays tacky longer to hold the embossing powder, but as I said its very versatile & can be used in a many different ways.

• A WATERMARK

  This is great for backgrounds, it will deepen the shade of coloured paper wherever you stamp. Just think about this, for every colour of paper you own, you now have a complementary colour of ink!

• POPPIN’ PASTELS

  There are a couple of ways to accomplish this effect on light colored card stocks.

  1.) Apply chalks to the area to be stamped, stamp with VersaMark and allow to dry or use heat gun. Then rub gently with a clean cotton ball. You can get a dramatic effect by adding more chalk to a cotton ball or dauber after you stamped with the VersaMark. Or you can emboss while stamped image is still wet with clear embossing powder and the image will jump out at you!

  2.) Stamp first then chalk gently over the stamped area and watch the image magically appear.

• REVERSE PASTELS

  This time you use brightly coloured chalk to cover dark coloured card stock (Basic Black, Night of Navy, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, etc.) and then stamp over the chalked area. The ink will pull out the colour of the paper from beneath the chalk. Be sure to clean the stamp before re-inking it as the chalk you removed is now on your stamp and you will dirty your VersaMark pad.

• BRAYER RESIST

  This technique can be done with VersaMark. Stamp image(s) onto Glossy White card stock using Versamark. Gently wipe away the ink using a lotion-free tissue and small circular motion ( you can also use clear emboosing powder & heat with a heat gun). Ink up your brayer and roll it over the paper. Wherever the VersaMark ink was stamped, the paper will resist the coloured ink from your brayer. This works on matte card stock but looks better on glossy.

• EMBOSSING ON GLASS

• Using the embossing buddy first, then using the VersaMark to stamp the image on a glass container, then emboss with gold or silver embossing powder & heat CAREFULLY. Fill it with candy and tie a ribbon on it.

• EMBOSSING WITH YOUR 48 STAMPIN’ UP! PADS

  Ink your stamp with VersaMark then stamp on one of our 48 color pads or you can use a dauber to apply the color ink if you are worried about the color pad. Stamp and use clear embossing powder. Heat. Now you can emboss and be perfectly coordinated with the SU! markers, cardstock and inkpads. Be certain to clean stamp before re-inking on VersaMark pad or you will leave color on it.

• DISCREET JOURNALING LINES

  Although the VersaMark ink is sticky when applied, it dries like regular ink and loses the stickiness. It is Acid-free and safe for scrapbook pages. It works perfectly on all of our colored cardstock.

• BATIK TECHNIQUE

Simply stamp your image using Versamark on ultra-smooth white or confetti or some other light CS and then emboss with clear embossing powder. Let cool. Then gently wad paper into a ball or you could fold it into a small square for a different look. Unfold it and smooth it out. Place it on a towel and wet with water so the paper is very damp. Next ink your brayer with multi colours from a custom made ink pad ( using re inkers ) and brayer across the paper. The image will stay white while the ink will seep into cracks and the rest of the paper will have a batik look. (Like back in the 70’s when you applied wax to a pattern on a shirt and then dipped it in dye, cooled and chipped the wax away.)

Vaersamark is also available in a pen which is great for customising projects with names, dates of birth etc.

The ink refill can be used to fill the un-inked cartridges to fit in the wheel handles

The above products are from Stampin' Up & are available to purchase through me

Stampers 6 cards

Tonight was the monthly meeting of my stampers 6 group.

Sarah was the hostess & tonight she bought her friend Sarah who has joined our group, we madebtwo cards using the Simply said stamp set.

Stamps

Simply said

Tiny tags

Circle of friendship

Polka dot background stamp

Baroque background stamp

Ink

Basic Grey

Melon Mambo

Rich Razzlebury

Versamark

Cardstock

Whisper White

Lavender Lace

Kraft

Pretty In Pink

Accessories

Buttons from own stash

Black Gingham ribbon

Linen thread

Soft suede Dot grosgrain ribbon

Whisper white 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon

Tools

Medium jewellery tag punch

1" circle punch

1 1/4" circle punch

All of the above items are from Stampin' Up & are available to purchase through me.

I'm not the only one being creative

Paul has been creative in the Garden, we've started growing our own vegetables in our mini greenhouse. Soon they will need to be planted outside & with a dog that piddles on everything they needed to be raised off the ground. The potato planting sack was balanced on some upturned plastic plant pots, not surprisingly this wasn't very successful so Paul made this raised unit to put the bags on. I just need things to start growing now.

Whilst Paul was working in the garden out of the corner of his eye he kept seeing our patch of ornamental grasses moving, when he looked lula was asleep in there in the shade she had made herself a nice cool nest, not done much for the grasses, which are now a bit flat.

 

Nothing ever goes the way you plan

Well today certainly hasn't gone to plan.

We were all supposed to be going on a coach to Lakeside & Ikea, Abi wanted it as a Birthday treat instead of a party. Well it was all booked & we were supposed to collect the coach at 8 this morning, But Abi had already been sick 4 times by then & she decided that she didn't feel well enough to go, despite having some anti sickness tablets. She was so excited last night & had planned to take pictures of everything so she could make a mini book of the day.Well Dan decided that as all the tickets had been paid for that he would still go, but as he couldn't raise any of his friends at 7am this morning he went on his own armed with an Ikea shopping list for me. I need some more rails & storage for the craft room.
So I need to look at the dates the trip runs again to re-book for her.

As we were all up so early Paul is in the garden constructing a large wooden stand to put all of the veggie planters on, we definately need them to be off the ground as Bramble has a habit of weeing on everything out there. I have been busy updating my blog with a layout I started last week, its my first stitched layout.
The stamps used to make the flowers are from the Vintage vogue set that are in the current Mini catalogue & are available until 30th September.

Poor Abi has passed out on the sofa, but at least she hasn't been sick for the past 3 hours, so fingers crossed she is over the worst of it.

Whats that?

Friday is now what is it day


Stampin' Up has lots of lovely tools & I will feature one of the tools or products every Friday.

Stamp-a-ma-jig
The stamp-a-ma-jig is a little like marmite, vegemite if your american. you either love it or hate it, personally I now love it lthough it took me a little while to become a fan.
If like me you cannot stamp straight for toffee then this is the tool that you need.

The imaging sheet has a smooth side for waterbased inks like the Stampin' Up ink pads. The textured side is for pigment & dye inks. Both sides easily clean up with baby wipes, damp cloth or rubbing alcohol.

The stamp-a-ma-jig will enable you

• To use any suitable stamp to make a border
• Make original background papers in a random organised design
• Stamp word greeting straight
• Use the Stampin' Up range of two step stamps
• The imaging sheet can be used as a paint palette, by just scribbling the colour from your Stampin' Up markers on the textured side of the sheet, use an aqua painter to pick up the colour & watercolour your image.
  

The above products are available to purchase from Stampin' Up through me

Stampers 10 comes to an end with a fond farewell card

Last nights stampers 10 was the last of this group.
This has been a lovely group of Ladies & most of them have joined the next group that starts on the 16th June.

We used the bird on a branch set & made one Fond farewell card & one using the three newly released colours that form part of the colour renovation.
Fond farewell cardI used the refill inks to make a custom ink pad to colour the bossom on the branches.
I used the cut'n' dry stamp pad felt whilst this isn't a Stampin ' Up product it is well worth thinking about adding it to your regular Stamping kit. The inked pads can be stored in mini ziplock bags & reused. You could allso use the Stampin Up markers to hand colour the stamp for a similar effect.

Stamp set
Bird on a branch
Tiny tags
Wonderful words
Cardstock
Whisper white
Basic black
Taken with teal (FF)
Inks
Basic black
Rose red ~ refill
Regal rose ~ refill
So saffron ~ refill
Tools
Medium jewellery tag
Eyelet border punch
Paper piercing tool
Stamp-a-Ma-jig
Accessories
Linen thread
1/4" tempting turquoise grosgrain ribbon
Button ~ earth elements & neutrals





2nd card using the colour renovation colours

Stamps
Bird on a branch
Inks
Soft suede
Melon mambo
Rich razzleberry
Cardstock
Melon mambo
Rich Razzleberry
Whisper white
Tools
Stamp-a-ma-jig
1 3/8 circle punch
Accessories
Night & day papers including the dotty window sheet
Linen thread
Button from my own stash


All of the above products are from Stampin' Up & are available to purchase through me.

Punch Art challenge

About 4 weeks ago I realised that this week was the last evening of my current Stampers 10, so I set my lovely ladies a challenge.
The challenge was to make a punch art project using Stampin' Up punches.
The prize was a £1o gift voucher redeemable through me for anything in the Stampin' Up catalogueWith the draw I added everyone who entered & Lydia who was the hostess for the evening picked Julies name out. So Julie has a £10 voucher to spend.

Owl card By KateScallop circle punch
Round tab punch
Boho blossoms punch

Kate also made these two bookmarks
Using the large heart punch
Small heart punch
Flower & butterfly mobile by Alice
Butterfly punch
Tag punch to make mini greenhouses
Pick a petal stamp set

Photo frame By Julie
Scallop circle punch


Thank you to everyone for joining me on my first Stampers 10 I have enjoyed our last 10 months together & thank you to you all for taking part in the challenges I've set.

Fond farewell Day 17

Day 17 of my challenge so I am over half way through the month now & already thinking what Junes challenge should be.


Sorry the pictures aren't very bright but the light wasn't very good.

Stamps
Simply said
Oval all
Cardstock
Whisper white
Certainly celery
Lovely Lilac (FF)
Ink
Certainly Celery
Lovely Lilac (FF)

All of the above products are from Stampin' Up & are available to purchase through me.

An abundance of Birthday Bunting

In the making ~ all of the triangles cut & stitched together

When I looked at all of the triangles together I thought that I needed more variety so on Friday I went & bought 6 more fat quarters.
The fabrics are a mixture of Amy Butler & Heather Bailey.


Well as promised some pictures of my Amy butler bunting that I have made for Abi's birthday tomorrow.

I got a bit carried away, as many of you know spacial awareness & calculations of size of any sort are not my speciality so before I knew it I had made a stunning 25 metres of this beautiful bunting. At least I gave my Mum a good laugh as she has NEVER knon me to sew anything in my whole life. But since I've had my lovely little sewing machine I have been itching to make something. But now I have a seed of an idea i'm working on.

The bunting is all around the living room at the moment & there is enough for the pergola in the garden. I made a length especially for the porch & in stepped the spacial awareness problem again! ! dont laugh but it's 4 metres long, Paul reminded me that we only have an Average 4 bedroom house & not a mansion.

I have loved making the bunting & now looking for more fabrics.

Fond farewell day 16

Thank you to everyone that let me know that Blogger has having a hissy fit & adding blank posts. I have been a little busy this weekend & have only just managed to find time to sit down & try & fathom out what went wrong with my last couple of posts.


Stamps
Fresh cuts
Cardstock
Kraft
Chocolate Chip
Really rust (FF)
Whisper white
Ink
Chocolate chip
Really rust (FF)
Accessories
Oval punches


All of the above products are from Stampin' Up & are available to purchase through me.

Fond farewell ~ 15

I always under use this colour & yet it is so versatile.
Can you spot the pale plum colour that I'm talking about?


Stamps
A beautiful thing
It's Beautiful wheel
Cardstock
Perfect plum
Pale plum (FF)
Very Vanilla
Ink
Perfect plum
Pale plum (FF)
Elegant eggplant


All of the above products are from Stampin' Up & are available to purchase through me.

Fond Farewell ~ 14

Another day another Fond farewell challenge card



Stamps
En Francais
Bloomin' with beauty
Ink
Close to cocoa (FF)
Cardstock
Night of navy
Very vanilla
Close to cocoa (FF)
Accessories
Chocolate chip 5 /8" grosgrain ribbon
Oval scallop punch
Large oval punch
Watercolour crayons
Aqua painter

All of the above products are from Stampin' Up & are available to purchase through me.

Fond farewell ~ 13

Day 13 of my Fond farewell challenge, with not one but four of the fond farewell colours.

On theis card I have used one of my least used techniques using the Stampin' pastels called " poppin pastels" The background uses both of the background stamps French filigree & En francais which really complement each other.
Stamps
Greenhouse Garden
En francais
French filigree
Inks
Ruby red (FF)
Bordering blue (FF)
Pale plum (FF)
Mellow moss (FF)
Versamark
Cardstock
Bordering blue (FF)
Whisper white
Ruby Red (FF)
Tools
Stamp a ma jig
Colouring
Stampin' Pastels

All of the above items are from Stampin' Up and are available to purchase through me.

Another layout for day 12 of Fond farewell challenge

The picture isn't from the last bank holiday, although you wouldn't notice from the weather in the background. It was taken last June at the Lowestoft air show minutes before the most spectacular Sea storm I have ever seen.

Stamps
Happy everything
Circle circus
Ink
Orchid Opulence (FF)
Pink pixie (FF)
Basic black
Cardstock
Whisper white
Orchid Opulence (FF)
Pink pixie (FF)
Designers series papers
Night & day speciality papers
Tools
Circle punches
Stampin dimensionals


All of the above products are from Stampin' Up & are available to purchase through me

Fond farewell challenge day 11

I love this card despite the fact that it was nearly impossible to take a photo of, the dotty acetate window sheet that comes in the speciality papers called Night & day.

Stamps
Bird on a branch
Ink
Whisper White
Basic black
Orchid Opulence (FF)
Cardstock
Basic black
Whisper white
Orchid opulence (FF)
Tools
Eyelet border punch
Scallop square punch
Trimmings
Jumbo eyelets


All of the above products are from Stampin' Up & are available to purchase through me

Day 10 of the Fond farewell challenge already

This weeks favourite stamp set is........................
Bird on a branch

Stamps
Bird on a branch
Ink
Pink pixie (FF)
Orchid Opulence (FF)
Basic black
Cardstock
Whisper white
Orchic opulence (FF)
Pink pixie (FF)
Designer series papers
Night & day speciality papers
Trimmings
Linen thread
Bold brights buttons

All of the above products are from Stampin' Up & are available to purchase through me

Crop day

Saturday was a bit different as I was invited to a new crop, well it's been going a while but i've never been before.


Looking up the hall to the gallery.
It was in a really lovely old barn on a place called Horstead.


Abi & Angie scrapbooking, looking down the hall from the gallery.

Looking down from the gallery

Abi & Angie Scrapping & eating sweets

It ran from 10 ~ 4 so I actually managed to get a couple of projects nearly completed.
here is the first one its a flip flop book from a 12" x 12" piece of Stampin' Up Kraft card.


Cut the 12 x 12 card into three strips measuring 4" x 12"


Score all three strips in 3" from each end, so your panels are 3" ~ 6" ~ 3"
Crease all of the folds well, when they fold too the centre if the ends overlap trim them with a knife & metal ruler or guillotine so there is a tiny gap.


Then put two pieces together and using a wet glue stick the two 3" panels together & hold for a minute to make sure they wont move whilst drying.


Repeat at the opposite end an stick the two 3" panels together, when the book is dry fold all thel flaps over until your left with the folded book in the first picture, then using a ruler and scoring tool score 1cm in from the spine on what you want to be your front cover, this allows room in the spine for the pages to expand & embellishments to be added.
With my book I added papers and inked all of the edges as I am very much into the vintage look from inking at the moment.
The new Vintage vogue stamp set looks lovely with the flowers matted to make vintaged paper flower embellishments.
I will add another picture as soon as the book is finished.


Kraft card is available from Stampin' Up & is available to purchase through me.