Technique – Stamping

Featuring stamping

Fluttering Butterflies

Hello again!

Next up today is my entry in this week’s Color Throwdown challenge which has a fun combo of yellow, pink and orange.

I fell in love with the beautiful Pinkfresh Studios Fluttering Butterflies product suite in August when only the dies and washi tape were available here in the UK. Fortunately Bumbleberry’s got the stamps and stencils in stock in September and I grabbed them straightaway!

I can’t believe I haven’t managed to use them but when I saw this week’s colour combo, I knew it was finally time to play with them!

I used Altenew inks to colour the butterflies and a Spellbinders embossing folder to complete my card.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Dear Little Chubby Tree

 

Hello everyone!

Do you ever see one particular product and KNOW how much you could do with it? I do, but I often don’t get round to turning all my ideas into reality.. or they don’t turn out quite how I had intended! But today I’m sharing cards I made with the new Trim A Tree die set (51-795) as well as other products kindly sent to me by Penny Black from their new ‘Christmas 2024 – Round 1’ release (and a few older products too!). This is such a fabulous release with some amazing products that I was excited to create with, but the stand out product for me was the little chubby tree die that was included in the Trim A Tree set.

You know I love a lot of the tree dies that I see but this one in particular looked like it was the perfect size and style to use in so many ways….

So here goes… warning this is a LONG post, although I would say I actually restricted myself to nine cards as that is what would fit nicely into a square collage!

The Shaker One

I rarely make shaker cards but the chubby tree’s outline makes for an easy shaker card. Here I used it with the following products: background – Masterpieces Made Simple Card Toppers Snowfall Serenity (50-002); sentiment – Hello Deer mini stamp set (30-766); golden deer die cut – Moonlit die set (51-663).

The Stamped One

For this card, I traced the outline of the tree onto watercolour card, stamped the cardinal/branch image a couple of times and coloured it with distress reinkers. Once dry, I die cut it using the partial die cutting technique so part of the branches extended beyond the outline of the tree. All products used for this card are from this new release: cardinal/branch image and sentiment – Messenger stamp set (31-085); Melody embossing folder (65-006).

The Small Die Cut One

I cased one of my own cards for this design and made use of a LOT of different small dies – including some from a tropical flower set which were the perfect size for my little chubby tree! The garland from the Trim A Tree set is slightly curved, but easy to bend, especially when using glitter paper so I used that to edge the tree. The sentiment is from the new Jolly Builder stamp set (31-066) and the dies are from the following sets: Berry Basket (trimmed branches) (51-796); Nestlings (birds) (51-755); Decorated (trimmed holly) (51-661); Stocking Stuffers (trimmed pine branch) (51-747); Joy of Giving (trimmed bow) (51-748); Tropical Paradise (flower elements used as  berries) (51-643).

The Dry Embossed One

Would you believe that this was the most challenging card for me to finish? The tree itself was easy to emboss using some matt mirror card and a wonderful folder from an earlier release but I struggled with a card design that wouldn’t detract from the fabulous embossing. In the end I chose a very simple tag-based design with some wired ribbon and silver thread. The products used for this card are: Dots and Dashes embossing folder (65-020); Tagged die set (51-007); Holiday Snippets stamp set(30-307).

The Heat Embossed One

I have some fabulous kraft/foiled cardstock which served as the inspiration for this tree. I heat-embossed a background stamp and part of a sentiment for this card and used the following products:  Verdure cling stamp (40-472); sentiment – Festive and Feathery mini stamp set (30-926); Framed die set (51-622).

The Stencilled One

This was so much fun! I used regular distress inks with the stencil and then applied a layer of distress sparkle texture paste on top. The sparkle is amazing! Once dry, I die cut the tree and added it to a dry-embossed circle. I used the following products for this card: Stencil – Dotlets (25-007); embossing folder – Encircle (65-009); sentiment – Festive and Feathery mini stamp set (30-926).

The Be-pearled One

I actually let go of my perfectionist tendencies for this super simple card! I die cut a tree from coloured cardstock and added  a little distress ink to darken the edges. I then dropped lots of pearls onto it and just stuck them where they fell… OK I turned them the right side up and filled in two gaps – but only two gaps!! The other products used here are: sentiment – Nature’s Rubies mini stamp set (30- 937); background – All in One Oval die (51-815).

The Foiled One

I used new Stick & Shine snowflakes and coordinating dies for this card together with Stick & Shine snowflakes that Penny Black released last year. It’s so shimmery in real life!! I also found that I got a crisper image with my foiling if I used my finger to gently apply the foil rather than using the applicator (which I used to transfer the snowflake design to the card). I originally stamped the sentiment in the same ink that I used for the blending behind the tree, but it was too light and seemed to  disappear when I tried to photograph it so I heat embossed it instead using some silver powder.

I used the following products: Snowflakes Stick & Shine (15-020) and coordinating dies (51-834); Snow Shimmer Stick & Shine (15-009);  Blooming Stick & Shine foil (21-003); Classics Stick & Shine foil (21-002); Stick & Shine applicator tool (21-001); die cut snowflakes from Snow Family die set (51-395) and Dancing Snowflakes die set (51-708); sentiment – Fragile stamp set (31-087); embossing folder – Blizzard (61-013).

The Simple One

Last but not least (for today) is a card made with trimming from the tree die set and one of the additional new die sets included in this release. It was fun to use some glittery felt and mini pom-poms that I’ve had for a while now. Mind you, it was very difficult to get a decent photo of the card – the tree is too dark in my first photo and then the coloured cardstock has completely faded away in the second shot. I will try to take some more photos in natural daylight I think… Anyway, the other products used here are: Classy Frames die set (51-826); sentiment – Fragile stamp set (31-087).

And that’s it (for now). If you’ve made it this far through the epic blog post, well done and thank you! I absolutely adore this tree and I’m sure it will be popping up again very soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

 

Pinkfresh Studio Create and Connect August 2024

Hi everyone!

This past weekend, I took part in my first Pinkfresh Studio Create and Connect event. I signed up for this event back in March after much dithering as it’s a lot of money, especially with the taxes and shipping for those of us outside the US! Plus we didn’t get to see what we were buying (that is changing for 2025).

When my kit arrived in July, I knew I had made the right decision! Inside my box was a fabulous collection of stamps, dies, stencils and washi tape, all carefully kitted into separate bags for each of our classes. I immediately signed up for the next event which is in October with Simon Says Stamp as the guest manufacturer.

So on to the cards!

 

Class 1 with Kim Kesti of Spellbinders which was the guest manufacturer. Some cardstock was also included in their kit, but I chose to switch up some colours so they were closer to my preferred colour combos. The third card was a Make & Take by Heather Hoffman which I made with pearlescent card.

 

 

I was really looking forward to Class 2 with Dawn Woleslagle. She did a watercolour class at Simon Says Create 2018 which was amazing and I was really looking forward to trying the Washi tape. I’ve had my eye on some PFS Washi tape/dies for a while but this was a great way to see whether I liked working with it! And I do! So I immediately ordered the tape and dies but I’m hoping that the stamps and stencils come back into a UK store as I really enjoy choosing my own colours to create with. I also did Kristina Werner’s Make & Take cards – I loved that they were narrower cards as I have a lot of card bases that are narrow like that… although I did cheat and used Craft Consortium paper rather than the ink pad dragging technique demonstrated by Kristina.

Class 3 was the last one on Day 1 and it finished at midnight so it was a late night! Heather Hoffman created two fun cards with dies and stencils. I switched up the colours again and although I wasn’t sure about the stencilled mountains, that card keeps catching my eye!

 

 

 

Day 2 started at 3pm my time with Class 4 led by Lea Lawson. I don’t recall embossing through stencils before but I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. I also cheated here and used Craft Consortium paper  instead of an ink blended background behind that fun background die. I did Jennifer Maguire’s Make & Take with the flower image from the set – she also used Spellbinders products with an amazing double embossing technique!

 

 

Class 5 with Kristina Werner was great fun. We used a cling stamp that stamped multiple flowers and then coloured them with three stencils and die cut them all in one go. Super easy and the dies lined up perfectly. And Kristina’s layered flowery card design was so cleverly designed! I loved this class and the set we used, I can’t wait to play with it again! I also did Dawn’s Make & Take – such a pretty design with multiple frames!

 

 

The last class was with Jennifer Maguire who had created two interactive/pop up cards – not usually favoured by this CAS crafter! But they were interesting to create and I loved how I could mix things up a bit! I chose to use Craft Consortium paper again instead of the ink pad swiping technique and also decorated the pull-up panel that Jennifer had left white – it was very quick to pop the die cut images on the panel. I used more of the washi tape on the pop up card.

 

 

So, what did I discover through this event?

  • Organisation is key – do all the homework in advance and have a few pieces of cardstock to hand for any mishaps on the day.
  • The time zone differences meant that I had to be super focussed with my hour break between classes to eat, do chores etc as the event finished at midnight for me on both days. I did appreciate having the whole morning beforehand though!
  • Being an at-home event, I could choose my own colour combos – I know I have disregarded some cards I have made at events in the past because of the colours used – and of course I never got round to making them in different colours.
  • When the instructions say blending brushes, they mean brushes! No relying on my trusty blending foams! Luckily I do have a lot of brushes which were well-used over the weekend!
  • Not all ultra-smooth paper is actually ultra-smooth! My stencilling highlighted that my new ‘ultra smooth’ card is actually quite textured so I won’t be using that for stencilled images again!
  • I love the double embossing technique where you dry emboss both sides of a panel (slightly offsetting the folder on the second side) and I will try it again with suitable embossing folders!
  • Pinkfresh Studio products are high quality (well I already knew that of course!) and the stamp and die sets stamp/line up beautifully!
  • I’m glad I signed up to the next event – not long to go!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

LucieG Christmas in July 2024 Challenge

Hi everyone!

Once again, I really enjoyed devoting a whole month to Christmas cards! I know my decision not to participate in challenges really helped – it freed me to create cards that I KNOW I’m going to send later in the year AND enjoy the process!

I generally ‘shopped my stash’ although I did end up using a lot of products that I bought in post-Christmas sales, so a lot of the dies and stamps were relatively new to me. And of course I had my Spellbinders’ Christmas in July goodies which I got just in time for the last couple of days!

Thanks to everyone who followed along and shared kind comments with me – I really appreciate all of you!

Have a great day!

LucieG.

Christmas in July 2024 – Day 29

Hi there!

Welcome to Day 29 of LucieG’s Christmas in July 2024 and today I have another twofer to share.

Today the small but mighty Winter’s Wispy Trees by The Stamp Market take centre stage, ably supported by embossing folders!

For my first card, I chose a trio of trees and adhered them onto a panel embossed with a Simon Says Stamp folder. The sentiment is by Mama Elephant.

For my second card, I chose a different trio of trees and was planning to adhere them directly to an embossed panel again. However, this Spellbinders folder produces some wonderfully deep embossing and the images felt a little heavy for the wispy trees. So I added a simple die cut, some chunky glitter and a Clearly Besotted sentiment.

So which one do you prefer?

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Christmas in July 2024 – Day 28

Hello everyone!

Welcome to Day 28 of LucieG’s Christmas in July 2024 and today I’m using products kindly sent to me by Penny Back.

When I looked through my Christmas in July cards, I was AGHAST that I hadn’t done any wreaths. Fortunately, I had just the stamp to rectify this shocking oversight! This beautiful image is called Christmas Circlet (40-796) and I coloured it with distress reinkers before fussy cutting it out.

I added a little Tumbled Glass distress ink to a card panel which I then embossed with the Noted embossing folder (65-005) before adding some gold splatters. I then adhered the Circlet to the card with sticky fixers. I chose the word from the Merry Edger die set (51-475) and added several layers of cardstock to lift it above my Circlet image. I toyed with adding a stamped ‘Christmas’ underneath but decided against it because I really wanted to add a bow and felt that the extra sentiment would be a little too much! The vellum bow was created from both bows in the Jumble Bauble set (51-743).

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.