How to make a grid card with a medley of Stampin' Up! stamps

I had a lot of fun making this card.  I used a 6" x 6" piece of designer paper called Feels Like Frost from the upcoming Stampin' Up! winter catalogue. It's a stack of papers of the same size which feature on one side stunning prints of frosted scene photographs and on the other white with hand drawn silver designs.  

I took just one sheet, after all it does plenty, and stamped 2nd and 3rd generation ink over it using the Birch background stamp and also stamps from the beautiful Very Versailles stamp set in shades similar to those in the paper.  I then cut 9 11/4" squares and white and copper embossed different images on to the squares.  You could also do this prior to cutting the squares.  

I stuck the squares onto a piece of thick whisper white card that was 43/4 inches square.  I've done the sticking by eye and so it's not quite perfect, but if you are a neat freak then you could measure and get it spot on.  I  added another whisper white layer that was 5" square adhering my art piece on with Stampin' Dimensionals.  The whole piece was then stuck to  base card that is A5 in folded size.  I added a sentiment from Itty Bitty Greetings which is heat embossed in copper.  

The final touch was to add a handful of self adhesive sequins.  

There is lots of inspiration on Pinterest for this type of card and it packs a wow without too much effort or skill required.  Have a go and see what you can make.  There are endless possibilities as you can reduce the number of squares, change the sizes whatever you choose really.  

All the products I used are Stampin' Up! of course and can be bought in my online shop.  The papers will be available to order from 4th September when the Stampin' Up! Winter catalogue goes live.  

Stamps used included 

Rooted in Nature (148217)

Floral Essence (149450)

Very Versailles (149275)

Birch (149256)

Itty Bitty Greetings (151331)

Sequins (146933)

Feels Like Frost Papers (150444) 

Happy crafting 

Zoe x

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Floral Essence for a Botanical Brights design

Stampin' Up! has changed this years new catalogue to showcase products more clearly and allow you to see lots of inspirational pictures along with much clearer embellishment and tool pictures.  One that caught my eye very early is the Floral Essence stamp set.

I chose to use bold brights to create a botanical explosion of colour and florals and Floral Essence was the perfect choice.

I started with glossy paper/photo paper and dropped ink spots from a re-inker bottle across the paper. I then spritzed it with water in a Stampin' Spritzer.  The colour ran and and was spread out.  I then added another colour and did the same process allowing them to blend. In all I added 3 colours of Melon Mambo, Poppy Parade and Gorgeous Grape.  I took off some of the excess water lightly with a paper towel and also gently used my heat tool to dry the design.  I then added white heat embossed flowers.  Using the Stitched Rectangle dies I created a 'wonky' frame by adding the central rectangle at an angle.  I then stamped with Gorgeous Grape to extend the flowers outside the frame. I did this by eye and lucky placing and they are stamped onto the thick whisper white card base. I replaced the ink spot layer and added the frame on Stampin' dimensionals.

I stamped an additional flower on watercolour paper in versa mark before adding white embossing powder and colouring it using an aqua painter and ink from ink pad lids.

The greenery is created by stamping the leaf stamp from the stamp set and punching it out with the co-ordinating leaf punch and some sprigs with the Sprig punch using Granny Apple Green card and ink.  Some leaves were created by first stamping the stamp on a versa mark pad and then onto Granny Apple Green onto vellum and adding clear embossing powder before heating.

The simple sentiment is embossed in white onto black card. You can also see I added some splatter by putting the marker pen nib into it's lid partially and flicking it outwards.

It's a "here I am guys" kind of card, but fabulous for brightening your day and I'm proud to say it was published in Craft Stamper magazine last month.

I hope you like it too!

Thanks for stopping by and do visit my online shop to see this and many other fabulous stamp sets and more.

Happy crafting

Zoe x

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Monochrome Colour for Moving Along with the Times Challenge Blog

Stampin' Up! 2018 - 2019 catalogue will soon retire so don't miss out on those goodies you've had your eye on.  However I'm sharing a little sneak peek today as my design team card for Team A's challenge set by Penny over at Moving Along with the Times. She's challenged us and you to share cards that are monochrome  - colour ie all in shades of one colour.  I've got mainly green and only used white for my sentiment and a touch of bakers twine.  You can join us for the challenge over at MAWTT. 

I've used a new stamp set called Daisy Lane which coordinates with the ever popular Daisy Delight stamp set and matching punch.  This new set will have a matching punch and clearly more images as there isn't a Daisy in sight on my card today. Instead I've used this fab fern leaf stamp and a small dotty stamp from Stampin' Up! set Painted Harvest to fill in the gaps between the leaves.  I've used shades of green with specific colours being Garden Green and Soft Sea Foam.  To create a darker tone as my matting layer I swiped my Versamark pad across the edges of the Garden Green layer and added clear embossing powder which I melted with my heat tool, to give a little more detail.

I've also used a new set of layering dies simply called Stitched Nested Labels to cut a hexagon from the top layer to reveal the darker green below.  I also used my Stamparatus to make sure I stamped the 'smile' in the right place.  The stamp positioning tool makes it easy to position the card stock, lay on the stamp in the place you want it face down, then pick it up with the Stamparatus plate so that the top layer of card can be removed and the Garden Green piece remain in place for stamping.  You'll notice I also used my Versamark pad to stamp some subtle design around the sentiment to carry on the design in the aperture.   The rest of the design was stamped and white heat embossed before being punched out with the Classic Label punch.  I've added a handful of the Soft Sea Foam Basic Adhesive Backed sequins to give that bit of bling you know I love.

The card is for my daughter who has just started working in London this week.  It's been a big adventure and I'm so proud of her.  She's there for 6 months before she returns to her Uni for more lectures before starting another internship next year.

Do come and join us at MAWTT and look at the other design team cards for inspiration.  Also if you don't have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and are in the UK, The Netherlands, Germany, France or Austria and would like to see more of our new products please mail me your details for a copy of the catalogue.

Happy day

Zoe x

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I went BIG for a floating frame card

The Floating Frame technique is very popular right now not least with Stampin' Up! demonstrators.  I wanted to try and the perfect opportunity presented itself this past weekend when hubby and I went to support Olivia with one of her RAG (raising and giving) events took place at her university. Olivia and her team liaised with the local RSPCA (Royal Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals) to organise a dog show and so we took our puppy, Little Miss Naughty, along to join in and support.  We were very excited when she won the award for The dog the judge most wanted to take home! No before you ask Olivia wasn't the judge.  

At the event a lovely lady called Gina took some fantastic pictures of the dogs taking part. She specialises in pet photography.  We couldn't resist this shot and I decided to have my first attempt at one of these frames but decided to go BIG!   

To start I stamped in black Staz On ink all the lovely flowers from the Stampin' Up! Tea Together stamp set featured in the Spring catalogue.  I coloured them simply with marker pens using Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo and Granny Apple Green and then die cut them out. The dies will hopefully be available again possibly in the new Stampin' Up! annual catalogue in June, but there is no reason why you couldn't use another floral set or indeed sit and fussy cut these out.  

 I'm offering a class to make a frame for folk local to me so watch my next newsletter for the details. 

To make the frame I of course had to cut out an aperture for my photograph and that left me a piece to create a lovely card which initially looked like this.  

I've since finished it by adding a sentiment and some rhinestones for the inevitable bling regular readers will know I love.  The 'happy birthday' is from the fabulous Well Said Stampin' Up! bundle and is simply stamped  and heat embossed in white on black card stock.  Downside is white cards are not always easy to photograph, but I think it is clear enough to see the effect you create with this technique.

QUICK TIP
Don't wear man made fleeces or fibres when doing this technique as the static can be challenging!!! That's all I'll say.


Thanks for popping by and do come back soon for more inspiration.

Hugs Zoe x