Blue Poinsettia's on a cold Sunday

 

Oh boy it's been chilly here in Lincolnshire and was supposed to warm up a little this afternoon, but the wind is still howling and we have ice and snow still sitting around, but the stoves are lit and it's snuggly and I've joined the lovely crew of the Christmas Card Club with our fortnightly share.  I've gone for the Anything Goes option today and a blue frosty card to suit the day. 

I used a sponge brayer to colour the embossed background with Balmy Blue ink and then set about creating some beautiful Poinsettias by heat embossing the images in silver and using the dies to cut them and some foliage.  I stamped the sprigs and holly leaves in Misty Moonlight and used a blender pen to drag some of the ink across the berries and as you can see the holly leaves are stamped on Balmy Blue card. 

I made it all sparkle with some silver foil card die cuts and if you look closely you can see I've added some Wink of Stella, and there are a handful of navy rhinestones too.  

Keep safe, warm and well and keep stamping. 

Hugs Zoe x

Poinsettia Petals Stamp Set

Poinsettia Dies

Joyful Holly - #simplestamping

 Happy end of Monday everyone! I hope the week has started well for you. I'm very excited today as a box of goodies arrived from BT who are supposed to coming to visit soon to connect us to fibre.  It's really exciting as I might be able to do some live videos soon and not worry about the internet connection, my classes will be even more fun and I'll be able to share more craft with you all.  WHOOP WHOOP!  Let's hope this particular bubble never bursts.  

Now today I've a very simple, but elegant card to share.  It's September now so time to get the festive stash out and play.  Well ok so it's early September, but still time if you are a Chrimbo fan like me. 

Joyful Holly is in the Stampin' Up! winter mini catalogue and is a beautifully designed set with crisp modern outline images and two simple sentiments.  I used one image to gold heat emboss onto layers of black card and then popped on some red rhinestones for the berries.  Add a sentiment on vanilla card and you are done; #SIMPLESTAMPING as we say at Stampin' Up! 

I've more to share later with this set so do pop back and in the meantime if you like this and many other things in the Stampin' Up! catalogue then take a look at this month's offer.  

Thanks for popping by, keep safe and see you again soon. 

hugs Zoe x

Joyful Holly stamp set

 

gold embossing powder

basic black card stock

red rhinestone basic jewels

Learn some watercolouring ink techniques with Totally Techniques Blog Hop

Birthday card using the new Stampin' Up! Forever Fern stamp set 152559

Well hello everyone. I hope you are all well as lockdown continues but is starting to be eased.  We've been busy enjoying the sunshine and our new puppy whilst hubby has continued to work. I have been crafting but preparing a batch of classes by post and also running my monthly, but now fortnightly card clubs.  It's been great connecting on Zoom and we've all gone from novice to competent intermediates and have enjoyed the connection and chat with other human beings outside our own households.

Now I"m back, finally, to share our next Totally Techniques Blog Hop showcasing watercoloring  which was chosen by  Lynsay over in Canada.

I've used watercoloring in its simplest form creating circles of watercolour wash in shades of green which I then stamped on with various colours using the new stamp set Forever Fern which will be on sale from 3 June.

I first used one of my layering circle dies to cut an aperture in some very thin acetate, but you could use vellum card.  I cut the circle in the middle of a piece the same size as a piece of watercolour card  which was 5" square, hence the sharpie lines to mark the centre to help me get the circle in the middle.  I then watercolour washed the first circle in the centre by placing the acetate over the watercolour paper.  The rest of the circles I judged by eye having got the first in the middle.  

To do the wash I used one clean aqua painter to add water to the bare circle of watercolour card.  I added more water to the centre than the edges to avoid seepage under the acetate.  The circles aren't perfect, but close enough and it adds to the rustic style of the card.  I then used another aqua painter to lift ink from the inside lid of each shade of green cleaning it on kitchen paper between each colour.    I used my heat gun to make sure the circles were dry before then creating a paper stencil to stamp different leaf images onto each circle.   I did the stamping using my Stamparatus (stamp positioning tool) so that I could add more ink if necessary to each image as stamping onto watercolour paper can be a little temperamental.  

 I added some marker pen splatters with some of the colours. If you haven't done this before you place the nib of the marker into the marker lid and flick the nib off the edge of the lid.  For more intense splatters you need to have your pen nearer to the project.  I also added some using a wet, but not dripping aqua painter brush.  Pick up some ink with the brush and then tap the brush over your project. Have kitchen paper on hand just incase the water splatter is more than you intended.  To finish the card I added a Merry Merlot matt layer followed by a layer of brass foil card.  From the foil card I cut a square using my trimmer to use on another project, waste not want not......  

Green shades used for the circle washes were Soft Sea Foam, Mint Macaron and Pear Pizzazz.  Colours used for the image stamping included Early Espresso, Merry Merlot, Mossy Meadown, Pear Pizzazz and Mint Macaron.

I added happy birthday using the soon to retire (sadly as I love it) Label Me Bold set and used scissors to snip it out.  I then used the Merry Merlot marker to colour the cut edges of the sentiment to make sure just the merlot shade showed and it helps define the edge.

You can see all the inks and sentiments in my shop now and the Forever Fern stamp set and brass foil card will be there from 3 June.

You can get some more watercoloring tips around the globe with my fellow hop demonstrators below.

Need a copy of the catalogue to browse and stroke.... and don't have a demonstrator please do contact me at
zoetant@live.co.uk

You can also SHOP NOW and perhaps find a bargain from our Last Chance List.









Thanks for stopping by

Keep safe and well and #KEEPSTAMPING

Hugs Zoe x

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Positive Thoughts for one and all

I really enjoyed playing with this beautiful stamp set and coordinating dies.  The stamps are in the Stampin' Up! Spring catalogue and called Positive Thoughts and the dies are available as an extra purchase during Saleabration (SAB) , but I think may be coming back later too.  They are called Nature's Thoughts dies.  It's one of those eclectic bundles and gives you lots of individual stamps and dies that will work together but also with other stamp sets.  If you buy both the stamps and dies during Saleabration, your purchase instantly earns you a free gift from the SAB offering and there are new gifts available from today.

I used subtle colours in the main including So Saffron, Calypso Coral, Soft Sea Foam plus neutral Soft Suede and added in some gold heat embossing and gold foil.

Cards like this are great for keeping in a box and adding a sentiment as and when you need it.

We are now in the last month of Saleabration so if you don't want to miss out on getting bonus goodies with your shopping then check out the latest free gifts with qualifying purchase.

The Flowering Foils papers are proving to be popular. You can see them here.




Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Zoe x