Spring Foliage (posted by Claire )

Good morning, Claire here with another project using the beautiful new Spring Foliage Stamps. 

I've used memento inks to brayer the background, on coated cardstock  Memento inks are my favourite for brayer work as they come is such beautiful clear colours. I didn't do any masking at all as I wanted the stamps to do all the work. I just brayered green shades at the bottom of the image (New Sprout and Bamboo leaves) and at the top I used Dandelion, Tangelo and Rosebud to create a pinky peachy sky. I used the same colours on the background but this time I used plain cardstock and a blending tool to give a slightly different effect.

Next I stamped the foliage stamps using Bamboo leaves, repeat stamping before reinking to give some depth to the foliage. The butterflies (from Rose Tree) were made by stamping on acetate and  embossing with Gold embossing powder, next I cut them out and applied stickles  (I used Tropical Tangerine, Paprika and Lime Green) to the reverse side, left them to dry and then folded the wings up a little. You can see the butterflies more clearly in this photo

The sentiment is stamped in brown Memento ink, its from Loving Sentiments and is one of my favourites, such lovely words and the font is gorgeous. I've used dark brown card for matting and layering. I didn't want to add a lot of embellishments so I added some green ribbon and a rose.

Thanks for taking the time to visit today

Claire xx

Enchanted Forest (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I have a project to show you today using the Fantasy Woodland stamp set combined with Woodland Dreams to make an enchanted forest scene. I have used Distress Inks to create the background and paper masks to create the hills that the trees are standing upon. The trees were then coloured with pencils, and I added further foliage around the edges with deeper colours to add depth.

No enchanted forest would be complete without a fairy, so I have added one of those as well, along with some little handmade flowers created from glassine paper.

The eagle eyed amongst you may see one or two stamps that you do not recognise. If you care to take a look in the What's New Department on Valentine's Day, February 14th, you will be in for a treat!

Keep popping back for more fabulous samples from my Design Team mates, thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Fantasy Trees (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

I have a card today featuring one of the many tree designs from the beautiful new Fantasy Woodland set.    The number of stamps included in this set provides so many possibilities for designing, I've had a great time 'playing' with them.

I used Dylusions Inks to create the background & stamped the pretty flourish from New England Winter in two of the corners.  'Thanks' is from Pretty Poppies.

I used Pan Pastels (which are not as pale as the photo shows) to colour the flowering trees & the image background.   I added half pearls and rhinestones in the flower centers.   The die used around the image is Spellbinder S5-015.

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more designs from my talented teammates !
Have a great day,
Shirley

Rose Stem Script - Stamp of the Week

This week we are delving deep into the archives to bring you a stamp set that has been a firm favourite for several years - Rose Stem Script.

It's such a pretty stamp, it's been fun to dig it out and have a play with it again.  The card above is made with the rose stem, combined with one of our newest stamp sets - Rose and Thistle.  I used the little sprig to stamp around the edges of  a piece of A6 sized cardstock with Versamark then used PanPastels to colour over them.  The rose is also stamped with Versamark and again dusted with PanPastels.  The panel was layered onto olive green card and then onto Firefly Prima paper on an 8x8 inch card and finished with an olive ribbon.

I have to show you this card too - made by Lesley.

Now you might think that it's just a pretty card, but hop on over to Lesley's blog and you'll see that it marks a pretty major achievement for her.  She's right handed, but is currently recovering from a nasty break in her upper right arm. She created this card from scratch with just her left hand!  So if you're feeling a little creatively challenged or in a mojo slump, why not set yourself the challenge of seeing what you can create with the 'wrong' hand!  You might just surprise yourself!

Terrific Tulips

We are all waiting for the spring bulbs to break through the ground and bloom with full colour signalling warmer weather is on its way. For my card I kept it to white and black to show the beauty of the tulip stamp. The tulip is from Spring is in the Air and the sentiment is a favourite of mine from Loving Sentiments. I'd love this tulip stamp larger and making into a wallpaper. Some how I don't think I could afford it.

This is an 8x8 card and for the background I stamped the Tulip with Versafine black onyx onto an A4 piece of white card. I like the Versafine ink as it gives a lovely crisp image. The stamped card was cut to size and mounted onto black. With the left over card I trimmed to make a border strip. The Floral Oval Nestabilitie is one of my most used and the sentiment fits beautifully. I stamped it onto white, trimmed off the edging then cut it again out of black and glued them together. Thanks for stopping by Debbie

Verdigris Tree (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I'd like to show you a sample that I have created using the Fantasy Woodland stamp set.

I stamped the orange tree image onto a piece of background paper, and coloured the image with pencils. I then embossed the edge of the paper with verdigris embossing powder. To create the background, I embossed some pearlescent card, and painted it with patina paints. Once these were dry, I rubbed some of the surface back, to reveal the dark card underneath. I added some burgundy satin ribbon, and a word which is a partial stamp from the Artistic Affirmations stamp set.

As you can see, the oranges on my tree are not orange, but it is a Fantasy Woodland tree after all!

Keep checking back for more samples from my Design Team mates over the coming days. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

A vase full of spring! (posted by Elaine)

I love signs of spring and one of my favourite things is to see the grey and yellow pussy willow coming into bloom, I love to bring some into the house with daffodils and catkins.

 

I stamped the image from Spring Foliage in Cocoa Brown Memento ink on cream card and coloured with pencils. I stamped the vase which is actually a perfume bottle from the Dressing Room set embossing in copper EP, cut out with added ink shading. This was then decoupaged into place. The image was framed using a die cut. I matted the whole thing onto an Echoes of Italy marble effect paper from my stash, onto an 8 x 8 card and finished off with a little sentiment from the Pretty Poppies set, brown ribbon and brass butterfly charms and flower beads.

Elaine

Bluebells (posted by Claire)

Good morning folks, my sample this morning features the beautiful bluebell stamp from the new 'Spring Foliage' stamps. Although its still very cold here, the bulbs are starting to show some green shoots so spring can't be too far away now. 

It was a nice easy card to make, I stamped the image across the centre of some white card coloured with promarkers. I stamped the image on some more white card, and again coloured with promarkers. I die cut the image and used the markers to colour the card for matting and layering. I added some lace and gingham ribbon and stamped the sentiment (from Best Relative Ever) in the corner.

Thanks for visting today

Claire xx

Think Spring ! (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are keeping warm and enjoying your weekend.

I'm looking forward to Spring, especially when I started 'working' with the gorgeous new stamps launched this month!   I love to garden & get very excited when the first flowers from the Spring bulbs pop up.

My card today features the two Crocus designs from the new Spring is in the Air set .  This A5 set includes a variety of beautiful & detailed designs that are wonderful for colouring.  

I started with designer paper that has very little design, stamped the Crocus over top & coloured using my Prisma Pencils.  I also blended a little Distress Ink around the outside of the sheet.   The narrow purple strip is a piece of Dylusions painted paper that was cut off another design (which you will see later).     The pretty Crocus with the writing behind was also coloured with my Prisma Pencils.   I added a little glitter, blended a little Distress ink around the edges & used a die cut from Spellbinder (S4-202) behind it.    "Beauty" is from the wonderful Artistic Expressions set.

Here is a look the beautiful  Spring is in the Air set.  

I hope you have enjoyed this little taste of Spring and stay tuned for beautiful designs by my Team mates !

Thanks for your visit,
Shirley

Woodland Flower (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I'd like to show you a sample today using stamps from the new Fantasy Woodland stamp sheet.

I made a large flower by repeatedly stamping the two small trees onto card that I had previously coloured with yellow ink. I cut these out, and worked out where I wanted to place them on my card, and then stamped the swirly tree twice to resemble leaves. I then assembled the flower. I added a button tied with paper string in the centre.

I added a sentiment from the Loving Sentiments stamp sheet, which is coincidentally, this week's Stamp of the Week offer.

Finally, I made a background for the card using Dylusions sprays in various shades of pinks and purples.

The rest of the Design Team have been making some fabulous samples with the new stamp releases. Keep checking back to see what they have made. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

February New Stamps

It's the first of the month and you know what that means - we have new stamps!

Our Stamp of the Month is this gorgeous A4 Woodland Fantasy.

 If you liked Woodland Dreams, this will go with it beautifully.

Then we have two smaller A5 rubber sets, the first is Spring is in the Air

and a great partner to it is Spring Foliage

I made this tree card with PanPastels and the Spring Foliage stamps which were stamped in Versamark and rubbed over with the paler pastel colours.  The flowery trees were stamped separately with Versafine, coloured with pencils and decoupaged onto the background.

I used the asymmetrical tree from Woodland Fantasy as a border around the edge - it works so well for that I can see I'll be using it for more than just a tree.

The sentiment is from Artistic Expressions. 


I also made a couple of ATCs 

 

I smudged this one a bit, but I like the layering of the foliage in the background - I used very pale coloured Archival inkpads for both the stamping and the background colours.

 

On this one, I wanted to create a scene of the first new flowers poking through the snow.  I used an Inkssentials white gel pen to whiten the snowdrop flowers and create some snow on the ground, but to make it stand out, I shaded some dark blue pencil around the ground and flowers.

All these stamps are at introductory prices until February 28th 2013 (that includes trade prices too). I'm also going to be doing a random giveaway so please leave us a comment below and who knows, you could be the lucky winner of a stamp set.

The girls have some great artwork to show you with these stamps - I've been oohing and aahing at the previews I've seen - you're going to love them!

Fuchsia wall hanging (posted by Claire)

Good morning, I've got a little wall hanging to share with you today, featuring the beautiful new stamp Fuchsia Baroque Heart. 

I've made a little wall hanging. I stamped the image and embossed with WOW gold EP and painted the image with twinking H20s before die cutting with a circular die. I cut two larger circles and then inked all the edges with shades of purple ink. I found some lovely lace with a heart design in my stash so I attached that to the back of one of the large circles using my hot glue gun, ruffling the lace as I went along. I also attached a purple tassel and a loop of gold cord as a hanger. I popped on the focal image using pva glue and lastly used the other large circle to cover the back.

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Rococo Baroque Heart in Green & Blue (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are keeping warm.     We are coming out a deep freeze here in Ontario, Canada, but it's still winter & cold !

I have another design today featuring the beautiful new Rococo Baroque Heart.   All four of the new Baroque Hearts are gorgeous, it's hard to pick a favourite!  Fortunately they are available on a multi-buy if you can't decide.   I've enjoyed seeing the gorgeous Baroque Heart designs my teammates have been posting.

The background for this card was created using water colours (wet on wet) (I've posted a tutorial at my blog here).    After it was dry I used Crafter's Workshop Mini Chicken Wire stencil with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink.  I over-stamped a flower from Chocolate Baroque's Fantasy Meadow set with Salty Ocean Distress Ink.  The Heart was embossed with gold and coloured with my Tombow Markers.   You are a true friend is from the beautiful Pretty Poppies set.   

Thanks for your visit and have a great day,
Shirley

Stamp of the Week - Damask Hearts

This week we are thinking ahead to Valentine's Day with our Stamp of the Week being Damask Hearts.

As well as the hearts, there's some little damask squares, some large words and some very useful flourishes.  These stamps coordinate beautifully with many of our other damask and brocade stamps and go particularly well with the Decadent Brocade CD.

The box below was made with papers from a CD, but which are now available as printable downloads for a limited period. From the Damask Delights series, this one is Paisley Fern Series 3.

The card below is a classic wedding colour combo - simple gold embossing on ivory card teamed with burgundy.

The first card you saw was my Valentine's card to Adrian the year that these stamps first came out.  Green is his favourite colour, so I will often try to include it in his cards.  I used a white gel pen to pick out details of the stamp.

 

As always, this set is on special offer for just one week, so click here to find out more.

Have a great weekend!

Dancing Poppies (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, here's a samples using one of the new clear heart stamps, Poppy Baroque Heart, combined with one of the stamps from the Pretty Poppies unmounted rubber stamp plate.

I make no secret of the fact that I love poppies, so it has been a real pleasure working with these stamps for this sample! I stamped some of the poppies across the bottom of the card, masking the images where necessary. I then coloured the background with Pan Pastels to create a hazy sky effect. I coloured the poppies with Distress Markers, and stamped and decoupaged an extra butterfly. I added a sentiment from the Artistic Expressions stamp plate to complete the background.

I stamped and coloured the poppy heart before glazing it using ultra thick embossing powder.

These poppies certainly help to make me think of warmer days, and chase away those Winter blues! Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

A Valentine Gift (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I'd like to show you a project that I have made using the Rose Thistle stamp set, which is currently stamp set of the month.

I have created a book card, using some Kraft card as a base, and then printed the Love Letters download, stamping the large single rose a couple of times, and colouring this with pencils. I stamped and cut out the heart rose image which I also coloured with pencils as before.

I lined the inside of the book with the same download design, and created a niche in which to place a small gift or some chocolates.

I have used a sentiment from the Harlequin Rose stamp plate on the front of the book card to finish.

I hope that this has given you some inspiration, please pop back to see more samples from myself and my design team mates. Thanks for stopping by, Judith, xx

Purple Thistle (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well !

The new Rose & Thistle set includes a variety of designs to work with and for this card I used the pretty Thistle.   It reminds me of Scotland & how much I've enjoyed my trips over there with my husband visiting his wonderful family.    

I stamped the Thistle on smooth white cardstock with black Stazon ink and coloured with my Prisma Pencils.   I used a Spellbinder S5-015 die behind the Thistle.  I blended Shaded Lilac Distress Ink around the image.  The matting is deep purple, it appears darker in the photo. 

To create the background I started with a piece of  Basic Grey paper with a faint pattern  & over-stamped the Flower Sprig with Dusty Concord Distress Ink around the outside edges.  I used a white Prisma Pencil for a little highlighting.   I added two rows of rhinestone borders, but the light bouncing off them doesn't show how pretty they are (clear & mauve).

The beautiful scripted quote is from the Fresh Blooms set (another favorite) stamped with Black Versafine ink.

Thanks for your visit and have a great day !
Shirley

Oriental Twilight (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with another sample featuring the fab new Eastern Landscapes stamps. Anyone who know me will tell you that I love creating scenic cards to these stamps are right up my street. For this card I've combined the new stamps with the lovely hanging lanterns from Lily Pad

I began by creating a background using shades of green distress ink (Forest Moss, Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters) and then overstamped with the large floral branches stamp from Lily Pad.

The create the focal image I masked a large sun and created the sky with shades of blue and purple distress ink, adding splashes of water to create a cloudy effect. I then inked in the ground using more forest moss and peeled paint distress ink. I then used the reverse of the sun mask to cover the sky and inked in the sun using Mustard Seed and a little Spiced Marigold distress ink. I then used black soot to ink all around the scene. Next came the stamping, I stamped in the beautiful pagoda and the trees using versamark ink and embossed them with a black holographic embossing powder. I then stamped the hanging lanterns along the top and embossed with the same embossing powder. I also stamped the lanterns on some scrap card, coloured with distress markers and cut them out, layering them up on the focal image with silicone glue.

I hope you're enjoying all the new samples from my teamies and you're inspired to have a play with the new stamps. If your weather is anything like it is here in my little corner of the UK its perfect crafting weather

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Floral Notecards (by Clare)

There are so many things I'd like to do with these flowers, and not enough time in the day.  I thought I'd get the three I've finished on here, and post the rest later.  My husband is correct, when he says that one day he will wake up, and he'll be 80!

These notecards were made using the Rose and Thistle set.  They are small, but effective, and were very easy and fun to make! 

        



Curly Birds sentiment card by Debbie

Going back into our precious stash that we save for special projects is refreshing as we try different ways of using them. With rubber stamps we can do so much with them, different colours and techniques. The sentiment from Curly birds is so powerful.

For the sentiment I stamped with black ink and embossed with clear powder onto paper from the Prima Songbird paper pad. The flower is from Prima that I bought a few years ago at an open day. I wrapped a length of rafia around the backing paper and added some flatback pearls. Sometimes we want a card where the sentiment is most important and I think this will be in the post to one of mine. Thanks for visiting. Debbie