#onstage2018 Team Swaps

When you are a presenter at Stampin' Up! #Onstage2018 events you are very lucky as you receive early access to products that no one else has seen or will have their hands on for a little while after onstage.  This means that it is extra special to share a design with your team. I made this as my team swap for the recent onstage using the Needle Point Nook suite and in particular the Needle and Thread stamp set and coordinating Needlepoint Elements dies.

I love the new dies that offer a stitched design for your projects and it really adds to the overall effect.  The sentiments are simple and suite specific occasions like thanks and get well wishes plus more.

This set also allows you to introduce lots of colour to your design similar to the designer series papers that accompany the stamps and it called Needlepoint Nook just like the suite.

I've used some Share What You Love pearls also.  The colours used include Berry Burst, Old Olive, Highland Heather, Crushed Curry, Poppy Parade and Flirty Flamingo.

For the sentiment I stamped in Memento Black and here's a top tip.  Those strips that you cut off your whisper white to make matting layers, don't throw them away save them for simple sentiments like this. I've just scissor cut the ends.

The base card is one of Stampin' Up! 's whisper white notecards and envelopes so just the right size for thank yous and also you can stamp the envelope too for a little more detail. Brighten the Postman's day hey!

For more NEEDLEPOINT NOOK inspiration from my onstage presentation you can see this Needlepoint Nook post.

Thanks for stopping by.

Zoe x

My Beautiful Girl with Needlepoint Nook Suite

I was invited some weeks back to be a presenter at the Stampin' Up! UK Onstage event at The Vox, in Birmingham.  I was given a suite of products from the Spring 2019 catalogue to share with over 500 UK demonstrators and a brief about other information to give including my tips for demonstrators for their business and using this suite.

Part of my presentation was to share a project that showed why I loved the Needlepoint Nook Suite of products and I decided that the best way was to share a scrapbook page or two of my amazing children.  This is the page I did for Olivia and you can see the page I created for Charlie on my #onstage2018 30th Stampin' Up! birthday post.

You can see in the bottom right hand corner the stitched image underlying the stamped and die cut flowers and this is a new exciting feature of the new Needlepoint Elements framelits dies.  It adds a stitched pattern.  You need to use it on the Bigshot and so to make this possible I cut the base of my page in half and then used tear and tape to adhere the pieces together on the back  leaving the backing tape in place.  On the front I covered the join with the designer series paper from the suite also called Needlepoint Nook just like the suite.

I've used the Stampin' Up! Celebrate You dies to add part of my journalling, the Make A Difference alphabet stamp set for the 'are' which is embossed with copper powder and also the Friendly Expressions set from the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue for the 'you make me proud'.  You might notice the pretty label punch on which this sentiment is stamped and adhered to has a stitched edge and this is another die in the suite which you can use to add a stitched border to the punched shape or to add a stitched frame on your project.

The Needle and Thread stamp set is a new photopolymer DistINKtive set that means that the actual strands of the embroidery are visible when stamped.  The set was designed by Stampin' Up! who teamed up with an expert embroiderer. Once the design was embroidered it was photographed and the image was recoloured to the Stampin' Up! colours and printed for the DSP.

I hope you like it.  It will be available to order from 3 January 2019.

I'll be sharing more of my projects using it very soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Zoe x

#Onstage2018 - Stampin' Up! 30th Birthday Celebrations for Demonstrators

As this posts I will have just sat back in my place having shared these lovely new products coming out in the new year with approximately 560 Stampin' Up! UK demonstrators at our twice yearly conference. Today is a special conference celebrating Stampin' Up! 's 30th birthday and I'm so excited to be part of the presentation team.  I had a suite of products to play with and share some of my top tips for demonstrators to help you my lovely readers get the most from your crafting.  The suite is called Needlepoint Nook and although at first sight is very girly and fabulous for those of you who love embroidery I also wanted to share that it can be linked with other products to produce a perfectly masculine project too. I set a challenge in my presentation which in part was to step outside of your comfort zone and so felt it only fair for me to do the same.  I love scrapbooking, but am always a little bit overwhelmed by the idea of it and it takes me time to actually do it, but when I do I love it.  I also was tasked with sharing a 'why I love this product suite' so what better way to share it than to share pages feature the loves of my life my kids!!  This is the page I made for my son Charlie.  It's a shot from our cabin balcony on the Alaska cruise which was this years Stampin' Up! incentive trip.  I used papers, colours, buttons and stamps from the suite which also coordinates with  the Pretty Label Punch up on the top right banner embellishment.

I used other embellishments like the mini wooden stars and trees that have been a popular part of the Festive Farmhouse Elements from the current winter catalogue, that sadly may have sold out by the time this posts. I coloured them with Stampin' Blends and adhered easily with tombow wet multipurpose glue.  If you put a blob on a silicone mat and then use a cocktail stick to add small amounts you can avoid a splurge when you add the button or laser wood cuts.

As the stamp set is based on embroidery/sewing I used my sewing machine to add some detail to my navy matt layer.  I printed the journaling and used a sponge to add some connecting distressing or smudging for want of a better word.

The sunglasses are stamped from the Stampin Up set Pocketful of Sunshine and die cut with the Pocket Framelits.  I coloured the lenses in with a black stampin blend and then once thoroughly dry added a very thin coat of our fine tip glue to give the shine of glass.



If you like what you see then ask your family to contact me to arrange gift vouchers for you this Christmas to spend with me in the New Year.  Make sure you get the gift you want this Christmas.  

Thanks for checking in and send me good wishes that I got off the stage OK with my crutches. I'll be back with more of my projects very soon.

Hugs Zoe x

Snow is Glistening very popular

It looks like lots of you are liking the Snowflake Showcase that Stampin' Up! has launched for this month of November.  The dies in particular are flying out of the warehouse as has the white velveteen paper which is at the moment SOLD OUT. There is a slight chance that more stock maybe available but I can't confirm this. I used the Snow is Glistening stamp set and the Snowfall dies to create the card above. It's really simple.  I think the black and white with just a touch of red works really well and my sentiment is heat embossed in silver.  You'll see there are two snowflakes that are embossed using our embossing mats with the dies and we're learning about that at my card club next week. If you're in Lincolnshire and would like to join us please do contact me.  

Alternatively I'm offering a class by post.  That means you can buy the stamps and dies and will receive a complimentary class tutorial in the post with pictures to help you and the materials to make 5 of these cards.  Don't forget if you don't have the embossing mats you'll need to add those to your order.  You can order all these products from my online shop.  

SHOP NOW HERE

149692 £36

149742 £20

Big Shot Embossing Mats 146327 £14

Any questions please just email me at zoetant@live.co.uk

Keep warm and dry for the next few days as the weather is not too friendly in the UK. 

Hugs Zoe x

Read more about the Stampin' Up! Snowflake Showcase  

Christmas Card Club - Faux Torn Edge Continues

Our fortnightly Christmas Card Club Challenge continues with the theme this week of including sheep, turkeys or camels or indeed a combination.  Rachel chose the theme and you can see her makes and all the other ladies by clicking on Christmas CC at the top of my blog.  There will be a fabulous selection with all different styles so great inspiration.

For me I have to say this was a them I gulped at as my first thought was I don't have any of these creatures in my stamp stash, but them I remembered this sweet little lamb who I found I couldn't part with when it retired.  I've also used Night in Bethlehem Stampin Up set from the current annual catalogue to create some depth with the buildings in the background and the important star.  I used the faux torn edge technique in a similar way to my previous post to create the ground the lamb stands on and the sky I sponged using Pool Party, Balmy Blue, Pacific Point and Night of Navy ink building up from light to dark and have left almost white space in the centre for the light from the star.   The sentiment and star are simply heat embossed in silver.  The words are from Merry Christmas to All which is an awesome Christmas sentiment set in the Stampin Up winter 2018 catalogue with a coordinating die set. You can mix and match words and die cuts to create the perfect sentiment of choice or use like me one of the short messages included.  

 This shows how I used a piece of torn paper to sponge the ground.

Here I used the other half of the torn paper to mask the ground in order to sponge the sky. 

To be sure that the buildings were solid colour I used my Stamparatus to enable me to stamp the image on itself several times to get total ink coverage.  

The lamb himself, is stamped with black memento ink and coloured with Stampin' Blends. I used light and dark Smokey Slate, Black and Petal Pink light to give a little colour to the inside of his ears and define his cheeks.

Happy Sunday All

Zoe x

All products except for the lamb who is retired are available in my Stampin' Up! Shop. 

SHOP

Totally Techniques - Faux Torn Edge Technique

Stampin Up Botanical Bliss for faux torn edge tutorial with zoe tant

Hi and welcome to our September Totally Techniques Blog Hop where this group of International Stampin' Up! demonstrators are sharing inspiration for the Faux Torn Edge technique.  If you're starting here you can find your way around the hop using the next button below and if you've just joined me from Kelly's blog you've already seen a show stopper of design.

 I have a video tutorial but Youtube isn't playing with me right now. So here are a few details of how to do this.
UPDATE
After 3 days !!!! I can now finally share my video with you.



 The bottom line is all you need is a torn piece of copier paper for the top card and a torn piece of scratch card for the one below.  You can use sponge brayers or sponges to add colour above the torn edge using it as a mask.  I used both pieces of torn paper and washi tape to hold them in place leaving a gap for the Happy Birthday card and then added ink with the brayer.  I used Granny Apple Green, Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana for adding the colour band. I used the same colours and Pacific Point to stamp on images in first, second and third generation ink whilst keeping the masks in place.  I also gold heat embossed the flower from Botanical Bliss again with masks in place. Finally I removed the masks and added a no line watercolored flower, sentiment stamped with Berry Burst and added some pearls.

For this second card I used a card mask and gently sponged on colour using the mask, but only so far up my artwork.  I then moved the mask to reflect the bottom sponging and repeated the process leaving some 'white' space in between the two bands.  I stamped the flower in black Staz On ink starting in the middle and moving outwards making sure to stamp off the edge to draw the eye outwards also.  I used a sponge to add Granny Apple Green to the flowers to make them pop leaving odd white spaces.  I've added a handful of the sequin assortment and a sentiment to finish and matted my artwork onto a Coastal Cabana card base.

These are really simple, but impacting techniques and even a beginner stamper can do this with just ink, stamps and paper.

Hopefully I'll have the video up for you soon, but in the meantime all products used are available in my Stampin' Up! Online Shop.  

You're off next to visit talented Barbara in Austria.

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon.

Zoe x

1. Lynsay Mahon - Canada
2. Nadine Weiner - Germany
3. Kelly Acheson - USA
4. Zoe Tant - UK
5. Barbara Meyer - Austria  
6. Annette Elias - The Netherlands
7. Satomi Wellard - Japan
8. Marine Wiplier - France

Dandelion Wishes Watercolour Wash Card Tutorial

I shared this card a few posts ago, but have had lots of inquiries as to how I created it and so I've made a video to show you what to do.  

You can also see the original Dandelion Wishes post with all the colour details if you missed them in the video and also a version of the card with no embossing is below for anyone who doesn't have embossing tools yet but would still like to make one of these beautiful cards.  

Enjoy the tutorial and come back and share what you make.  

Happy day

Zoe  x

You can buy all materials used for these cards from my online shop 

SHOP 

If you find too many things to buy, you might like to join my team and become a discount shopper and enjoy 20% and sometimes more. 

Find more infomation on my JOIN STAMPIN UP page

If you live in the UK, France, Germany, Austria or the Netherlands you can shop with me or join my team.  

Christmas Card Club - Festive Foliage with Winter Woods

Stampin Up Winter Woods stamp set and In the Woods Framelits perfect for Christmas Cards

I've had fun experimenting with ink, sponges and masking to make this card and have enjoyed being able to take the photo outside whilst the weather continues to be pleasant. Although it does seem odd taking photos of Christmas cards in the warm sunshine.  

This one is for our fortnightly Christmas Card Club Challenge and it was my turn to choose the theme. I opted for Foliage and as soon as I saw this new Winter Woods Stampin Up set I knew I'd finally picked a sensible theme rather than those I've selected in the past and struggled to create with. I love this single tree stamp which is perfect for using the masking technique. I stamped it on scratch paper and then cut it out, a little laboriously with scissors, but also very therapeutic.  I stamped the first tree on the left onto Crumb Cake card and used Old Olive and Garden Green inks. The stamp itself is so clever as it's made to give depth to the tree, but if you ink with one colour and then add some darker shade with a dauber it looks even better.  I moved to the right using the mask to cover the previous tree and if there was a gap after stamping I just moved the mask and stamped again. Now how did you do that Zoe to get it in the same place I hear you say! Well I used my stampartus positioning tool to get it where I wanted it.  I'm so glad Stampin' Up! created their version of this tool and that they asked lots of demos for their comments and suggestions it's just perfect for perfect stamp placement.  

Now you may not be a fussy cutter, but I like it and hence the trees were all cut out with scissors just like the  mask.  Then to disguise some of the tricky bits which are tiny I used a dauber to add a gentle covering of Old Olive ink to bits I just couldn't quite fussy cut well.  I sponged it over the whole piece too to just lightly shade the bits of crumb cake showing through.  

My background is with the Stampin Up Buffalo Check Background stamp available to order from Tuesday. Again this is great when used freehand or to build up deeper shades on the stampartus where you can ink the same design multiple times.   I've added some new Suitre Specialty washi tape strips and some striped burlap, I love this as it adds more texture and has more colour to it. 

The sentiment is from the same Stampin Up Winter Woods set and it is heat embossed in black onto some Wood Textures designer paper.  I've stamped and sponged some extra pine pieces to add a little detail. These were die cut with coordinating In the Woods framelits.  Stampin Up have acknowledged that sometimes with itty bitty dies it could take you a lifetime to cut all the pieces you need and so they have tripled and doubled up on some of these small dies in the set so you can cut several at one time. How sensible is that! 

Learn to make Christmas cards with Zoe Tant

I like the vintage feel of this card with all it's smudging and it reminds me of log cabins and ski trips. Not for me this year as fingers crossed my snapped achilles will be repaired very soon, but skiing will be out this winter.  

As you know there are several ladies in our Christmas Card Club so do visit them via the CC Club tab at the top of this page and see their fabulous designs too for more inspiration.  

Here's to a great week ahead. 

Hugs all Zx

This book full of seasonal loveliness is live on Tuesday 5 September.

If you don't have a demonstrator and would like a copy please email me at zoetant@live.co.uk

or shop with Zoe Tant Stampin Up Online Shop

Faux Linen Technique for Totally Techniques Blog Hop

Welcome to August's Totally Techniques Blog Hop.  Hello if you've arrived from Kelly Acheson in the USA.  Welcome to the UK.  

We are a small group of Stampin' Up! demos this month as some lucky folk are still on holiday.  Lovely Lynsay Mahon in Canada chose our theme this time and we are showcasing the Faux Linen technique. One I hadn't done before and one that I think you'll find as you visit the other fab blogs that can be done in different ways.  

For my version I chose to use the So Santa Stampin Up set which will be available from 5 September as one of many fun sets in the Stampin Up autumn winter catalogue.  This one is cute and has some fun sentiments to accompany some very cute outline images which are fab if you like colouring.   

The colours I used for the card above include Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce, Poppy Parade, Black, Crushed Curry, Daffodil Delight, Basic Grey, Crumb Cake, Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie and Melon Mambo.  I've added a matting layer cut with the Layered Squares dies in Granny Apple Green and the sentiment is white embossed onto Poppy Parade Ink.  You will also love the red rhinestones that are just perfect for Festive Projects and any unused will be great for Valentines. 

Here's a link to my video of this fun technique. Faux Linen Technique

This is the card I created in the video.  The colours used are Poppy Parade, Garden Green, Crumb Cake, Basic Grey, Black, Sahara Sand, Daffodil Delight, Smokey slate, Blushing Bride. 

I used the Layering Square and Stitched Shape dies for the image and matting layer.  The square for the santa 5.5cm square (21/8 ") and the scalloped edge square is 6.3cm square (21/2").  The sentiment banner is 1.5cm x 7cm (5/8" x 23/4").  The sentiment is heat embossed with white embossing powder.   

Pop to my previous post to see another version of this card using the Beautiful Day stamp set, in  particular the butterfly, along with the incoming Buffalo Check background stamp which you have to have as it will change every time you use a different colour. 

From here you are off on a trip down under to see what Shannean has done with this technique. It will be amazing so you're in for a treat. 

Thanks for dropping by and remember if you haven't got a copy of our Autumn/Winter catalogue and you're in the UK, France, Germany, Austria or the The Netherlands then please contact me by email on zoetant@live.co.uk to ask for a complimentary copy. 

More soon Zoe x

Here's the list too of everyone in the hop

1. Lynsay Mahon - Canada

2. Nadine Weiner - Germany

3. Kelly Acheson - USA

4. Zoe Tant - UK You're here

5. Shannean Moncrieff -Australia

6. Barbara Meyer - Austria

Happy for you !

This card was supposed to post whilst I was away in Alaska, but my scheduling clearly didn't work so I'm sharing now.  

 I love this new set called Bouquet Blooms. It has a set of coordinating dies called Gatefold Blossoms which allow you to make not surprisingly gatefold cards. However on this card I haven't used the gatefold but the flower dies.  One is a large die that cuts out the flower corsage, for want of a better word,  on this card and you also have individual dies to then add depth to the design with each flower.  

I've used subtle colours and teamed with some of the new colour family designer paper stacks which are now 6" x 6" and very useful with stripe and dotty/spotty designs for any occasion.  

I also used a layering circle to cut out the circle design and it's centre to add some depth.  

You'll see I've added a small banner at the top left and this is to share a top tip. When you finish your card and get an inky finger splodge you can cover it with the reverse design and use the piece you cut off to create the shape of the paper on the main card. There is always a way to save the day! 

Lovely bright flowers on a not so sunny summer's day. 

Big hugs all 

Zoe x

Happy Birthday Gorgeous

I created this card at the request of a fellow brass band member who wanted a special card for her bestie as they are both 50 this year.  She had seen a card I made for Olivia and wanted something similar.

This is a shaker card so I cut a circle aperture in my top layer and added a piece of window sheet large enough to cover the reverse of the aperture. I adhered the glimmer paper 50, which I die cut with the now sadly retired large numbers, to the centre of the aperture, but actually on the base card.  I then made a circle of adhesive strip on the base card making sure the edges met and that the strips were out of view of the aperture.  I used my embossing buddy to rub inside the adhesive strip circle to try to prevent static that would make the micro beads I used for the shaker,  stick to the window sheet.

I then added stampin dimensionals to the reverse of the aperture layer and removed the baking and that of the adhesive strip circle to then attached my top layer to the base.

Of course what is important is that you decorate the top layer before adhering it to the base card! I did I assure you, although you'd be forgiven for thinking I may not have as I can be ditzy tee hee.
To decorate I used the lovely Stampin' Up! stamp set Happy Birthday Gorgeous.  I stamped some images onto the top layer and others onto additional pieces of whisper white card or retired sweet sugar plum card and fussy cut them out.  I added touches of petal pink and mint macaron along with fresh fig ribbon and pearls.  The sentiment is punched out with the classic label punch.

I'm pleased to report that the card was well received by the friend who ordered it and the recipient.

If you're celebrating a big birthday this year I hope you have some wonderful celebrations and wish you a happy year.

Thanks for stopping by and see you again soon.

Zoe x

Christmas Card Club - Apron of Love for Christmas Baking Theme

Stampin Up! Apron of Love arrived this week just in time for Maureen's challenge for our jolly Christmas Card Club.  She asked us to use the theme of Christmas Baking and this set just leapt out for me.  I've also used the Stampin' Up! favourite Cookie Cutter Christmas set to include a peeping gingerbread man to compliment the sentiment which is from a set I've had for years.

My colour choice is cherry cobbler, garden green, crumb cake with touches of silver with a metallic foil doily, foil utensils and some silver metallic enamel shapes.  I used the stitched shape dies teamed with layering square dies to cut and mount the sentiment.

You'll see that some of the pieces of the lovely apron are very fiddly and so to make it easier to adhere them I first added some multipurpose adhesive sheet to the reverse of my designer paper so that once die cut they already had adhesive on the back and all I needed to do was peel off the backing paper to stick them onto my card.  It makes it so much easier than adding wet glue or fiddling with glue dots.  An assortment of adhesives makes life so much easier don't you think!

To bring the apron to life I added various glue dots or stampin dimensionals to give a bit of a 3D effect layering the utensils and the pockets.  I love the sweet oven gloves one is from the Apron of Love stamp set, the other I stamped with a stamp from Timeless Textures after I had die cut them both.

I love Christmas bakes and hope you do too, so please be sure to visit the other ladies and see their Christmas bake cards.

Happy Sunday and best wishes for a crafty week.

Zoe x

Supplies available in Zoe's Stampin Up online shop

Apron of Love photopolymer stamp set 145835
Apron Builder Framelit dies 145661
Apron of Love Bundle with 10% discount 145986
Metallic Foil Doilies 138392
Metallic Enamel Shapes 141678
Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets 144106
Layering Squares Framelits 141708
Stitched Shapes Framelits 145372

 Shop now until 31 March and you could earn free stampin up stamps and accessories

visit my shop or contact me for details 07717855179 or zoetant@live.co.uk

Challenges

CHNC - ATG #369

The Corrosive Challenge - ATG

The Merry Christmas Challenge #3 - ATG