Shaker Card Tutorials from the Totally Techniques Demonstrator Blog Hop Team

Our Totally Techniques Team are sharing shaker cards this month. The choice was  from Lynsay in Canada.  I've made mine in readiness for my lovely little neice's birthday. She's a girlie girl and loves pink and purple.

I was inspired by my lovely friend SJ who created a shaker card and used vellum to cover the 'hole' for the shaker part.  You can see here card here.  I've used vellum to give a frosted glass look for my shaker bottle from the Bottles and Bubbles Stampin' Up! framelit dies and coordinating Stampin' Up! stamp set Bubble Over.

I started by stamping the large bottle onto a piece of whisper white card. Then die cutting the bottle out to create the aperture for my shaker. I stamped the bottles to the left and right of this one and all the other stamping on this layer, before adding any vellum to give the whole project depth and make it look like the bottles are behind.

I then stuck a piece of vellum on the reverse using tear and tape to cover the aperture. I've added the striped paper just so that you can see the vellum more easily. To add the straw, which I die cut from the Saleabration Botanical Butterfly Designer Series papers, I made a very small slit in the top of the vellum to slide the straw through and have it in the bottle.

 I then flipped it over again and  added foam adhesive strips around the rectangle of vellum.   I added some sequin assortment prior to removing the backing strips on the foam. Removing the backing I added a piece of whisper white card to seal in the sequins.  I added extra foam strip to add this layer to a matting layer of Lemon Lime Twist card.

To finish my design I added other bottles which I had stamped and die cut to the design along with the die cut 'birthday' from the Well Said Stampin' Up! bundle in the spring catalogue and also some rhinestones. You'll see I also stamped and die cut bottle labels including one in sparkle glimmer paper which I coloured with a Lemon Lime Twist Stampin' Write Marker.  I also used the two different sized bottle top dies to add silver foil caps to all the bottles.  To make it easy to stick these on I added double sided adhesive sheet to the back of the foil card prior to die cutting.  Quick Tip keep offcuts of foil that already have double sided adhesive sheet for mini die cuts like this, it saves breaking into a larger piece of foil.   A handful of rhinestones amongst the bubbles add to the 'pop'.

I'm really pleased how this turned out and I know that my neice will love this purple and pink pop bottle card. 

Now we have a new way of you visiting our team of International Demonstrators for this hop to click through the pictures below. You should be able to click on the next picture from the next blog, but you can also return here and go to each in turn. Enjoy our Shaker cards and tutorials.  

Thanks for stopping by and remember there are only a few days left for Saleabration.  To receive bonus products with qualifying purchases visit my online stampin shop. You can also be a discount shopper and a part of my team. Go to  Join Stampin' Up! for more information.

Hugs all Zoe x

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Paper Adventures Guest Designer

Welcome to my blog today especially if you haven't been here before but are part of the Paper Adventures Team Blog Hop. I'm honoured to be a guest designer for their February hop and I hope you'll go around the lovely blogs of these talented ladies who are all in the South Pacific. Thanks to Kelly for inviting me to join them today.

We're following this sketch in any way each designer chooses and so I decided I just had to share these beautiful designer series papers and stamp set that are now available as a free bundle, yes you read that right, FREE.  Check off some items on your wish list and you could be in for a bundle which is called Painted Seasons.  It includes the Painted Seasons stamp set and coordinating papers.  There are 4 designs and you get 3 sheets of each double sided design.  As the name suggests there is a design for each season and they are just gorgeous.

I used marker pens to colour the flower and leaves and then used yet another surprise as set of matching dies that you can purchase in March, but you'll need to be quick as this mini suite of products is going to be oh so popular.  I've layered the flower and foliage to create the different 'circles' of the sketch and I've added a little touch of petal pink/whisper white variegated ribbon which I folded in half over a strip of tear and tape to narrow down the ribbon.  There's a touch of gold thread to draw on the gold foil 'happy' which is a die from the Well Said bundle which also has the stamps to give you Mother's Day which is stamped in early espresso.  I love the metallic pearls we have in the annual catalogue as they too bring some subtle, elegant richness to your projects and you need that for sure when making a card for your Mum.  To make the sentiment and die cut pieces pop I layered them onto my main stitched shape circle in whisper white.

Stampin' Up! have got a winner with this beautiful bundle and you're on to a winner today with this blog hop.  Remember to see them all as the sketch is the only constant thing so there's lots of inspiration to be had.  I've always stuck to sketches in the past, that is to say the exact sketch, so go see if the others stick to it or go with a twist like me.

Remember that free gifts are available for qualifying spends during Saleabration which runs through to 31 March with new additions from today.  Some have been so popular they have already sold out so don't be disappointed and get your first choice early.

Enjoy the hop and thank you for stopping by my little Stampin' Up! blog today.

You're now off to the very talented Kelly Kent's blog.

You can see the beautiful Painted Seasons bundle HERE

and you can shop and see all the Saleabration products in my online SHOP

Don't forget to visit everyone on the hop and enjoy all the gorgeous projects. 

You - Are Simply The Best

Rooted in Nature Stampin' Up! New Tree set with dies

Playing with ink is one of my favourite parts of my crafting.  It always fascinates me to watch what the ink does and where it goes depending upon what you've done with it.  My stampin' re-inkers come into their own on days like this.

First of all I stamped and heat embossed white leaves on a piece of water colour paper to create a resist effect over the paper.  To add the colour I  painted small parts with water to give the ink that I then added somewhere to 'run'.  As the colour ran I moved about the paper adding new patches of water and different colours so that as they ran they would blend into each other.  You can use any colours that blend, but be careful not to go too mad or you can end up with brown or worse.

Also remember to paint the reverse of the card with a thin layer of water as this helps to stop the paper from bending and curling.

Once this had dried completely I used a die which is for embossing only to add some more texture in the form of veins to the leaves.  I didn't have the embossing mats at the time I made the card so just put the die face down onto the paper and ran through the big shot.  It left enough of an indentation to give the effect I wanted and allowed me to line up the die better with the stamped leaves, although this isn't always a perfect fit as I didn't want to tape the die in place as it risked tearing the water colour paper when I removed the tape.

I also cut two leaves from whisper white card and used the die to emboss them also.  I wrapped silver thread around the stems to add a mini detail and some rhinestones.  The sentiment is a combo of products but the black lettering makes it pop and the black matting layer helps project the colour.

Have some fun with your ink and also take a look at the embossed leaves I created in my White on White Christmas Card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Zoe x

Wedding Season with Stampin' Up! Cake Soiree for stationery to wow

Gorgeous Stampin Up Cake Soiree and Sweet Cake dies for your wedding stationery

The Wedding Season is upon us and so I thought I would share a little inspiration for a simple, but elegant wedding card.  I've used Stampin' Up! Cake Soiree stamp set and the Sweet Cake dies to create a gold heat embossed cake on top of a gold foil cake stand.  

stampin up cake soiree perfect for hand made wedding cards

I made a DL card base (21cm x 21 cm scored once at 10.5cm) and added a rectangle of designer series paper (DSP) from the Bundle of Love pack.  It's a heavyweight paper with gold foil designs with 6 vanilla/blue pages and 6 vanilla/pink, ideal for wedding and new baby cards and gift wrap and boxes. 

I overlaid this patterned paper with vellum of the same size (10cm x 20.5cm).  I've then gold embossed a sentiment from the Floral Phrases set on vanilla card and added a punched ribbon of the same pretty DSP which I created with the Stampin' Up decorative ribbon border punch.   A simple 'rabbit ears' bow with vanilla metallic edged ribbon added a touch of dimension and you end up with an elegant card.  You could of course change colours very easily to suit your personal event or create invitations in the same vein.  

I really love this stamp set which didn't appeal at first but it is fun, elegant and has so many uses it is worth every penny.  

I'm always happy to help with wedding invitation design, production or just to help you create your own personal wedding stationery.  Just get in touch. 

Have a great weekend. I'm off to Telford for the bi-annual Stampin' Up! demonstrator event. It's really exciting as I'll get my hands on a copy of the new 2018 - 2019 catalogue and I'll get to spend some time with several members of my fabulous Team.  Check back soon to see my swaps which I'll trade with other demos for inspiration and other info after the event. 

Hugs all Zoe x

Happy New Year and Happy New Stampin' Up! Catalogue

Stampin' Up! has launched the new spring catalogue today and you can view it by clicking here Stampin' Up! Spring Catalogue.  It is awesome and full to bursting with lots of fun, lively and seasonal products.  For my Happy new year card I've created an eclipse card using the Picture Perfect 6' x 6' designer series paper, the large number dies, new Tutti Fruitti adhesive backed sequins, glimmer paper and the Happy Birthday thinlit die.

Happy New Year to you and thank you for your ongoing visits to my blog and lovely comments.  I hope 2018 has started well for you and wish you health and happiness throughout the coming year.

For those of you who are familiar with Stampin' Up! you'll know that it is now Sale-a-bration time from today until 31 March which brings lots of excitement for demonstrators, party hosts and also everyone who is a customer as there are lots of bonuses on offer to us all.  You can visit my website to find out more at Zoe's online stampin up shop. 

I love the new designer papers on offer and the fun selection of stamp sets that have launched today.  Here is a sneak of what is waiting for you.

Enjoy browsing and if you would like a copy of the catalogue to browse and stroke please email me at zoetant@live.co.uk with your name and address and I'll pop one in the post to you.

I'll be back soon with samples, tutorials and tips for more Stampin Up products.

Thanks for dropping in

Zoe xx