Thinking Stamping

Tuesday, 7 April 2020

Crackle Paint for Retro Rubber 132 - Design Team Card

I hope everyone is still coping and smiling, at whatever stage of lockdown you are living with. The Retro Rubber Team is back with a new boredom buster challenge for you. This time it's a theme challenge: to use squares in your card. Of course, since this is Retro Rubber, you still need to use at least one stamp that's a year or more old and tell us the approximate age of it.

I really like the Crackle Paint background stamp (January 2019). I used Stamparatus to gold emboss it onto four squares of card: So Saffron, Blushing Bride, Pool Party, Sea Soft Foam. After cutting them each into four squares, I assembled them onto a larger square of Basic Black. Because of the Stamparatus, the pattern across the different pieces lined up perfectly.

Each of the patchwork Crackle Paint squares was then attached to a square card base in one of the four colours.

The sentiments are from Little Elephant (June 2018), stamped in Tuxedo Black and mounted on layering squares in black and gold.

We'd love to see how you incorporate squares into your projects as well as which of your favourite retro stamps you use. Pop over to the Retro Rubber Challenge site and see what the rest of the team have done. You can also link up your entry there.

If you live in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. I can help you with ideas, get you catalogues and provide you with Stampin' Up products. You can leave a message in the comments or contact me using any of the methods listed in the Contact Me tab at the top of the page. You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking on the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar or clicking on any of products below.

Product List

Crackle Paint Cling Stamp Set

[148752]

$34.00

Little Elephant Cling-Mount Stamp Set

[151237]

$42.00

Basic Black A4 Card Stock

[121688]

$18.50

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

$20.50

So Saffron A4 Card Stock

[108611]

$18.50

Card Stock A4 Blushing Bride

[131287]

$18.50

Pool Party A4 Card Stock

[124391]

$18.50

Soft Sea Foam A4 Cardstock

[147012]

$18.50

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$20.00

Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109129]

$12.50

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$12.00

Layering Squares Dies

[141708]

$69.00

Stamparatus

[148187]

$99.00

Friend Like You for TGIF 258

As lockdown stretches out for an undetermined time, a little bit of brightness is just what we all need. The challenge at TGIF gives us just the opportunity to play with a rainbow.

I don't think you can get more vibrant and rich colour than by using Pigment Sprinkles and they conveniently come in a rainbow of colours: Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Bermuda Bay, Granny Apple Green and Gorgeous Grape.

I applied them to wet Fluid100 Watercolour paper, putting the darker colours at the bottom and lighter colours nearer the top to suggest ground and a sunset sky but also allowed some natural cross-contamination to occur.

I've stamped a row of bullrushes in Basic Gray behind the die cut ones to add some depth to the scene. The colours are so rich and eye-catching that the rest of the card needs only a simple treatment.

Product List

Friend Like You Bundle

[151084]

$99.75

Itty Bitty Greetings Cling-Mount Stamp Set

[151331]

$76.00

Basic Black A4 Card Stock

[121688]

$18.50

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

$20.50

Basic Gray A4 Card Stock

[121689]

$18.50

Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper

[149612]

$19.00

Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad

[149165]

$15.75

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$12.00

Pigment Sprinkles

[149663]

$48.00

Designer Elements

[149586]

$14.75

Coastal Weave 3D Embossing Folder

[151503]

$19.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Stampin' Spritzer

[126185]

$6.00

Thursday, 2 April 2020

Lockdown Layouts 3

Welcome to another instalment of Lockdown Layouts, my series of simple projects that you can adapt to use with whatever you've got in your stash. With at least another three weeks of tight lockdown looming, I hope these ideas might help you to pass the time.

Instalments one and two gave you some ideas for simple cards, using either DSP or repeat stamping. They also showed you some ideas on ways to show off your sentiment stamps. If you missed them, scroll back or use 'Lockdown Layouts' in the blog search box.

Today is a bit different. With Easter coming up, I thought I'd show you a pretty gift bag you can make. I've used paper from the Peaceful Poppies DSP bu you can try with whatever supplies you have on hand.

Here's an example of the finished product. This bag is about 15 cm tall and holds a nice supply of Easter eggs.

If you have a Gift Bag Punch Board (now retired) use that! If you don't, here's how to make it.

1. Start with a piece of card or DSP 18.5 cm x 29 cm.

As shown, make one score line 3.5cm up from the bottom along the long edge. Make score lines along the short side at 5cm, 14cm, 19cm and 28 cm.

2. Make tabs to fold up to make the bottom as shown.

3. Once you've made the tabs, score two more lines at 2.5cm and 16.5cm, only going down as far as the horizontal score line. These two lines are to help shape the sides of the bag. When it comes time to score the folds, these lines should only be pinched with your fingers from the top down to about 2cm from the bottom.

4. Add tape as shown to the right side of the bottom tabs and down the narrow tab at the end.

5. Turn over and add tape to one of the larger tabs as shown i.e. on the inside of the bag.

6. Use a bone folder to score the box lines (except for the score lines at 2.5 and 16.5 cm - see step 3)

7. Adhere the narrow tab to the other end of the box. Burnish with a bone folder to get a good hold.

8. Fold in the narrow tabs as shown and push down the wider tab (the one without the tape).

9. Fold over the taped wide tab to complete the bottom.

Turn the box right side up and use your bone folder to rub over from the inside to make sure the tape is firmly adhered.

A note about tape. I use Stampin' Up! Tear and Tape because it's easy to use and is designed to give a firm fix for 3D constructions. If you prefer to use Tombow glue, go ahead.

The Final Fix

After the construction, you can decorate it as you like. I like to close mine by adding a banner and a clip. I've used a retired Stampin' Up! Library clip but you can use whatever you have.

I used the reverse side of an off-cut of the DSP I made the bag from. I used a banner 7cm wide and 12cm long, scored and folded over the top.

Then I decorated it using a label from Painted Labels with a sentiment from Heartfelt.

Alternative close: Instead of using a banner and clip (or just clip) you can punch holes and tie it with ribbon or twine. You can see an example of that in this bag.

Variation: Sometimes DSP isn't strong enough to take the scoring and it rips. You can construct the bag from plain DSP and then decorate the front and back with a piece of DSP. For this bag, cut the DSP 14.5cm x 8.5 cm.

I hope this gives you some ideas about using your craft stash. If you make a bag, please feel free to post a picture either in the comments or on my Jan Clothier - Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrator Facebook page (link in the sidebar).

Product List

Peaceful Poppies Designer Series Paper

[151324]

$24.25

Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock

[147014]

$18.50

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

$20.50

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$12.00

Heartfelt Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[151417]

$36.00

Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team Hop - Ornate Garden 2

Welcome to the Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team's special blog hop! We're on a special hop today to show off a special product. The Ornate Garden Suite is available now to order. This fabulous suite is a sneak peek early release from June's 2020-2021 Annual Catalogue. You can order all, or any, of it from 1 April but only for a limited time.

Last month we also did a special hop when this suite became available for demonstrators to pre-order at the start of March. If you missed that one, you see it by visiting my page for the hop right here and then you can follow around and see what everyone else made too.

Here's all the items in the suite. The stamps and dies are also available separately.

Bundle 1 (154115)

Ornate Thanks photopolymer stamp set (149471)

Ornate Borders dies (152724)

This bundle is also available in Dutch, French and German

Bundle 2 (154119)

Ornate Style cling stamp set (152572)

Ornate Layers dies (152726)

Gilded Gems Embellishments – adhesive backed opaque Gold (152478)
Ornate Garden Ribbon – two pack combo of Old Olive and Terracotta Tile (152479)
Ornate Floral 3D Embossing Folder (152725)
Ornate Garden Specialty Designer Series Paper (152488)

Of course, if you've got to have it all - and you'll want to - the order number for the whole collection is 154153 in English. (NL 154156, FR 154154, DE 154155)

In case you missed these, here are some other things I've made since our last hop using these products. If you'd like to know more about them, you can search the blog using 'Ornate Garden' in the search bar.

Now, on to some new projects. I've got three new things to show you today: a vellum card with matching gift bag and a window card with inlaid dies.

1. Vellum Card and Gift Bag

To make this delicately pretty card, I started by white embossing the large floral spray stamp onto vellum. I used Stampin' Blends to colour it from the reverse. You can build up layers of colour too, so that some shading can be added.

After fussy cutting it, I attached it to the white rectangular frame from Ornate Layers using some carefully placed mini glue dots.

I used another of the Ornate Layers dies to cut the rectangle of DSP from the Ornate Garden Specialty DSP. The Mint Macaron with gold swirls is my favourite pattern - at least, at the moment.😀

I think my favourite item in the whole suite is the Ornate Floral embossing folder, which I've used here on the card base.

Finally, I used the small stitched rectangle die for the sentiment, from Ornate Thanks, which I stamped in Terracotta Tile, then overstamped the bottom half with versamark and gold embossed it. Thank you, Stamparatus for making that so easy to do! A little of the Terracotta Tile ribbon from the combo pack tucked in behind the sentiment finished the card off.

The gift bag is quite small, only 9 cm tall. I was thinking of using it for a pair of earrings, wrapped in tissue paper.

I started with a piece of vellum and edged one side using one of the Ornate Borders dies. Then I scored it and cut it ready to fold into a bag. Then I used the large floral spray stamp to white emboss the image on the part of the bag that would be the front panel. Again, I used Stampin' Blends to colour from the reverse side. After assembling it, I punched holes for the ribbon. The ribbon in the combo pack is soft and ties so prettily and easily - it's a pleasure to use.

2. Inlaid Window Card

For this pretty card, I used my favourite pattern from the Ornate Garden Specialty DSP mounted on to a Mint Macaron card base. Then I cut the front into two sections using the gorgeous rose border die from Ornate Borders. I have a bit of a soft spot for window cards so I put the two parts of the card front together on a piece of window sheet. But before I did that, I stamped the big 'Thank You' from Ornate Thanks and gold embossed it. I stamped it before assembling the window front so I could be sure it would appear centred in the gap.

Now, I'm sure you're asking yourselves how crazed I must have been to do this inlaying! It's true that I'm in lockdown with the rest of New Zealand but I haven't lost the plot yet! With the wonderful Take Your Pick Took, it took me less than 15 minutes to inlay both halves.

I die cut the Terracotta and Gold borders, making sure that the pieces did not fall out. Then I lined up my card front with them and transferred the pieces straight from one to the other with the sticky tip of the Take Your Pick tool, stopping to dip it into a bit of sponged glue on the Silicon Craft Mat before inlaying. My advice would be that if all the pieces fall out of the die cut before you start transferring - start again and cut a new one!

The Ornate Garden pre-release is a chance for you to get your hands on something from the upcoming Annual Catalogue ahead of time. Don't waste the chance to get this pre-release. Order yours today. If you live in New Zealand, you can place your order with me but no orders will ship to New Zealand until after the lockdown period finishes. This is because our mail delivery network is for essential businesses only.

Next up on the hop is the incomparable Lauren Alarid, aka The Crafty Peach.

If you get lost in the Blog Hop, here's a list of everyone.

Caroline van der Straaten, Emma Goddard, Helene den Breejen, Jan Clothier, Lauren Alarid, Leah Fedynak, Manuela Geiswinkler, Marine Wiplier, Martha Groger, Martin Stone , Narelle Farrugia, Nina Waldschmidt, Rochelle Blok, Stesha Bloodhart, Tammy Wilson, Zsuzsanna Balazs

If you live in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. I can help you with ideas, get you catalogues and provide you with Stampin' Up products. You can leave a message in the comments or contact me using any of the methods listed in the Contact Me tab at the top of the page. You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking on the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar or clicking on any of products below.

Product List