12 Days of Christmas Inspiration & Giveaways - Day 2

 

Hello & Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas Inspiration & Giveaways - Day 2

Every Friday, I will have a new Christmas themed card or project to share with you, along with a video showing how I made it. Plus, if you watch the video you will find out what the giveaway is and how to enter for your chance to win 😊 If you missed day 1, you can catch up HERE.

Today I chose one of our most popular, seasonal Background Blocks, Scandinavian Christmas. This Background Block features lots of images from other popular festive clear stamps, making it super easy for lots of creative options. Plus the detail it contains, there isn't a lot needed to make a beautiful card. 

This first card is what I made prior to my video. I heat embossed with some new to me embossing powder, Verdant from Funky Fossil. It is a beautiful green with flecks of gold. My sentiment choice is from Simply Said Blocks Christmas.

This second card is the version I made during the video. I do hope you will pop over to YouTube HERE and watch. 

I hope you enjoy the video and don't forget you need to watch to find out about the giveaway! 

Crafty Hugs

Brand Ambassador Inspirations: Autumn vibes with heat embossing technique!

  Hello everyone!

Good morning!

Vinita here with a set of two cards using the same stamp set but both have a different look! I wanted to play with some heat embossing and watercolored background look, so came up with these ideas.

Here I used the Just Because stamp set.

Card#1

I combined it with Background Blocks Diagonal Stripes using DI for a rich autumn color look. And I cut all those stripes. Paste them on a square piece with dimensions as shown in the above pic.

On a white panel, I stamped the solid leaves using the same DI and before getting dry I heat-embossed them using Wow Silver Bells EP. I stamped the bottom part only on the striped panel and heat embossed it using Wow Hero EP.

The sentiment is from the same stamp. Tied a jute string along with that diagonal strip panel and added some splatters! Before adhering that white panel I distressed the edges from all the sides for artistic look.

Card #2

On a white piece of CS, I stamped the solid leaves in Versafine Onyx Black ink many times. Before getting them dry use the same heat embossing technique with Siver Bells EP. Now on a plain plastic sheet, I added some DI, sprinkled some water and blended that plastic sheet on that embossed panel, love the results.

Before adding that panel to my card base I added a vellum sheet at the top. Added Bold Wish die with heat embossed big sentiment from the  Big & Bold Wish stamp set and die set.

Hope you all enjoyed the process!

Happy crafting!

Have a good day!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Autumn Vibes

Good morning!

Anita here with a trio of cards for you today.  The weather here in the UK is certainly telling us it's autumn and although the leaves haven't yet started to turn, I thought I would go with an autumnal theme.  I've used the same little batch of ink colours on all of these cards.

First up, I've used one of the Background Blocks stamp sets, Layered Modern Floral...

On a white panel I stamped the image, which is created using two main stamps from the set, together with some tiny accent stamps.  For the flowers I initially stamped using a pale orange shade, then re-stamped with a mid orange tone applied to the stamps with a blending brush to the inner parts and then a third time with a dark orange applied to the very centres.  For the leaves I stamped first with a lightish green and then applied a darker olive shade to various parts when re-stamping.  I finished with some of the individual leaves and dots to fill the design.  The sentiment is from the Simply Said set which I've stamped in brown ink.  The panel was then die cut with a scalloped rectangle and adhered flat to the card base.

My second project is a one layer card using the Beautiful Blooms III stamp set...

I kept this one super simple.  I stamped the flower first, letting each shade dry before stamping the next layer, this just stops the images bleeding when using dye inks.  I then masked the flower and stamped the two leaf/stem images either side, building up those layers too.  I finished with a sentiment stamped in brown, this one being from the Organic Wishes stamp set.  

And for my final card, I've revisited a layout/design I used to use a lot, using the Organic Wishes set...

I stamped the images in VersaMark ink and then heat embossed in white.  I then used the emboss resist technique, firstly masking off a vertical section and then ink blending the background with four shades of dye ink.  I die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle and stamped the sentiment from the same set, before adhering the panel flat to the card base.

Thanks for taking a look, have a lovely Wednesday!

 

Back In Stock!

Happy Monday!

I'm delighted to say that our popular and highly requested Stencil - Layering Bauhaus Blocks is back in stock 🙌🏻 Thank you for all the lovely backorders, they are winging their way to you today.

Restocks always inspire me to create, so I have a new card to inspire you all too, this is what I came up with.

I used the current Color Throwdown colours for my card as they totally inspired me, you can see them HERE and below. 

My use of aqua is minimal, but I think the enamel dots are quite the little accent in amongst the bold trio of colours. I think the card has a very Autumnal feel with these colours.

I had planned to incorporate one of the Bauhaus Blocks inside the die cut window, but instead I opted for the Happy Wishes sentiment from Mid Century Modern Wreath Builder. 

That's all I have to share today, back to packing lovely orders and LOTS of show prep for Lincoln on Sunday! 

Thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

Stencil Sunday - Layering Bauhaus Blocks

Happy Sunday.

A late post from me today, but I squeezed in a little crafty time this afternoon and couldn't wait to share what I made. It's been ages since I took inspiration from a card challenge, but when I saw the current CAS Colours & Sketches Layout HERE and seen below I was inspired to ink up the Stencil - Layering Bauhaus Blocks, which is due back in the studio tomorrow.

Here's what I came up with...

I started by die cutting 3 small squares,  they are roughly 3cm square. I then masked off each of the Bauhaus blocks on the stencil I wanted to use and went through each layer using Altenew inks Mangrove Root, Sea Forest and Marshland from the Natures Wonders collection.

I used the line stamp from Background Builders Classics and stamped it in the lightest shade, Misty Moor from the same ink collection. The sentiment is from Bauhaus Blocks and I used foam adhesive to secure the squares in place and also adhere the panel to my base card. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

Hello Autumn & End of Summer SALE!

Hello and Happy Autumn!

Today is the official first day of Autumn as I have gotten older I feel we should welcome and appreciate each new season when it arrives. I don't have a favourite season, mainly because each brings a beauty & wonder of its own.

As much as I have had a wonderful summer with The Beans, I am looking forward to cozy nights in and enjoying laughter over a cup oof hot chocolate. Taking walks through the crunching fallen leaves and savouring the low sunlight and feeling that crispness in the air.

This inspired my cards today...

I've been having fun with our Designer Dies recently and with Autumn here I choose the newest Natures Treasure II Designer Dies for my two cards today.

I started by ink blending some Autumnal inspired colours on a my base card, making sure to mask off the edges to line up with the top layer I had planned. 

I then moved to the top layer oof my card, die cutting the panel with both of the larger dies in the set and making sure to keep a hold of the inner cut outs. I then adhered this die cut panel to my ink blended base card using foam adhesive. My sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks III and I added some enamel dots to finish.

Not wanting may die cut pieces to go to waste, this lead me to make a second card.

I started by ink blending the leaves with the same colours as my first card. I then adhered them to my base card in roughly the same positions as I die cut them from the first card. My chosen sentiment for this card is from Simply Said and again I added some enamel dots to finish.

That's all my creativity for today, but before I go how about a little End of Summer SALE!  
 

Thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

12 Days of Christmas Inspiration & Giveaways - Day 1

 

Hello & Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas Inspiration & Giveaways - Day 1

Every Friday, starting today I will have a new Christmas themed card or project to share with you, along with a video showing how I made it. Plus, if you watch the video you will find out what the giveaway is and how to enter for your chance to win 😊

Today I chose one of our original classics, Peace On Earth and paired it with Flower Power #1. You can watch the making of my card HERE on YouTube, where I also share what and how to win this weeks giveaway. 

I hope you enjoy the video 😃

Crafty Hugs

Wonderful Wednesday Restock Alert!

Hello & Happy Wednesday.

I'm hunkering down in the studio today and really hoping this crazy wind and rain settles before it's time to pick the beans up from school! And whilst distracting myself from the weather, I made this card...

I saw THIS card I came across on Pinterest by Lynn Mangan whom I have followed for quite a few years now and being inspired to use the Designer Dies Flower Power 1-6 Collection that arrived back in stock yesterday, I set to putting my own spin on it.

I started by die cutting the top panel with the Flower Power #4 die from the collection six times. I then laid this over my card base layer to position and stamp the solid flower from Flower Power #4 clear stamp set, inside the die cuts using C9 Poppy ink. The centre of the flowers is from Flower Power #5.

I love how Lynn stamped just one leaf stem, so kept this feature. I used the stem & leaves from Flower Power #1 clear stamp set and also the Thinking of You sentiment. I used foam tape to adhere the die cut panel in place and added some gloss black Nuvo drops to finish.

So, if you've been waiting for the Designer Dies Flower Power 1-6 Collection they are now back in stock. 

This is all I have to share today. Lots more coming this week, so stay tuned! 

Crafty Hugs

BA Inspiration - Mid Century Modern Baubles

Hi all, 

Steph here and this month I wanted to do a Christmas Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration post as even if you aren't Christmas crafting yet, you can always look back on these posts for some inspiration. I focused on the Uniko Mid Century Modern Baubles stamp set as I had so much fun playing with it for the Jul/Aug release and I liked the way some of the other BA's concentrated the smaller stamps.

First I went with a traditional bauble design but gave it a twist by using other Uniko stamp sets to 'decorate' my baubles. The yellow bauble uses Uniko Background Builders: Christmas 2018 to create the scandi pattern. The teal bauble uses Uniko Background Blocks Scandinavian Christmas to create the gorgeous Christmas pattern. The navy bauble uses Uniko Pattern Building Christmas Tree set to create the striped pattern and the sentiment is from the Uniko Christmas Sentiments set. 

For my next card I went with a similar colour set but used the smaller stamps from the set and a nifty tool called a Rotate Mate. This time I used the sentiments from the same set too.

My final card uses a different colour set and as I was adhering the Christmas sentiment I realised this could easily be a birthday card also. This card uses the one bauble to create a mandala or flower effect. I used orange, red and maroon to stamp the baubles.

That's it from me today but I hope you found something to inspire you to break out the Christmas stash! 

Much love

Steph x

Merry Monday, BA Inspiration featuring Season of Beauty

 Morning all, Julie here with a couple of cards using the Season of Beauty stamp set.

The other day I was browsing You Tube when I came across a set of cards made using a poinsettia stamp by Jennifer McGuire and it got me to thinking that I could use her layout to create a card using the poinsettia and foliage from the Season of Beauty set. So here are a couple I made, more or less the same but slightly different because of the technique used, as well as using different sentiments.

In the video here, Jennifer uses a faux watercolour technique and a homemade ink pad and reinkers but I don't have any reinkers so I chose to use DIs and Zig watercolour markers.

To make the poinsettias, I chose the solid image from the set and placed it in my MISTI, along with a panel of white card. The card was positioned so that by turning the panel I could stamp two images, waste not want not! For my first card I used Zig watercolour markers to ink the stamp and spritzed with a fine mist of water before stamping. I repeated this until I was happy with the finished flower, using about 3 different reds. The center, the actual flowers, were stamped with a mix of 2 yellow markers. 

On another panel of white card, slightly narrower than a standard A6 panel, I arranged some of the foliage stamps along with some of the leaves and repeated the process, this time using a mix of 3 greens. When my poinsettia was dry, I fussy cut it and glued the center of the image over the foliage. 

My sentiment was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with gold EP. 

To complete, I glued the panel to an A6 top fold card and added a thin strip of gold linen effect card to the edge and some punched circles from the same card to the center of the poinsettia.

The second card was done in much the same way but this time I used Altenew inks for the reds and DIs for the greens. For the foliage I added DI onto an acrylic block and used this to add colour to the stamps as well as adding it straight to the stamp from the pad. I also added some red to the front of the card and a different sentiment from the set.

I do like the faux watercolour effect you get by spritzing the stamp before stamping but as you can see on the first card too much water will let the ink bleed. The layout is one I think I will use again, not just for Christmas cards, it would work just as well for any Floral image and not necessarily the faux watercolour technique.

That's all from me today but I hope I've given you some inspiration for your Christmas makes.

Keep crafting and I'll be back soon!

Jolly Bauhaus

Hello & Happy Weekend.

It's a little grey, wet and windy here today, perfect weather for staying in and crafting. Which is what I plan on doing. Well, alongside the usual weekend chores! 

Hopefully the card I have to share today brightens up your day...

I was inspired to create a background with one of the square designs from Bauhaus Blocks and knowing that I wanted to add sone colour, I decided to heat emboss the squares. I used VersaMark ink and clear gloss embossing powder to do this.

I then went over the embossing with Concord & 9th Poppy, Marmalade and Honeysuckle inks to create this vibrant ink blended background. I felt it needed a little more detail, so decided to die cut a circle window to stamp my sentiment inside. I had debated a square window, but thought a circle would bring more contrast to all the squares. I then adhered the panel to my base card using foam adhesive.

My sentiment choice is from Mid Century Modern Wreath Builder for the Jolly Wishes. Which in hindsight I wished I stamped slightly higher up in the circle aperture. The sending part is a partial sentiment from Simply Said Blocks II. Finally my usual enamel dots to add the finishing touch.

That's all I have to share today, thank you for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs