New Floral Essence turns into a Poppy.

The Stampin' Up! new catalogue has launched.  Already I have a wishlist as long as my arm and could rejoin as a demonstrator several times over to gain all the new stamps, punches and dies that I want and of course let's not forget the new in colours.  However this lovely set came to demonstrators early and so I've had lots of time to play with it. 

I stamped the flower with Tuxedo Black Memento ink several times and then coloured it with my Stampin' Blends.  I also used a black Stampin' blend to recolour the yellow fuzzy perennial essence floral centres.  I just gently added ink let it dry and did several layers.  It makes an awesome Poppy centre.  To give the flower some depth I then fussy cut out the flowers and cut different layers out of each flower to then build up the flower in a decoupage kind of way. Raising petals with Stampin' dimensionals and also using my bone folder to curl some of the petals.  I stamped and black heat embossed the stem from the new Daisy Lane stamp set and added the flower head with more dimensionals.  I layered my artwork onto one layer of Real Red stamped with the flower image and one layer of Garden Green which I  dry embossed using the Layered Leaves 3D embossing folder.  I used a sponge to add Garden Green ink randomly to the piece.  You could also add ink to the embossing folder prior to running the card through your BigShot as an alternative. 

The simple sentiment is from Rooted in Nature a stamp set I'm pleased to say has carried over to the new 2019 - 2020 catalogue.  You might like to know that my card base is bigger than the usual C6 and is thick whisper white card, but not quite a whole sheet of A4. 

A card I felt was appropriate to share this week of remembrance for all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice during the D-Day landings to give us a better world today.  We shall not forget them...........

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Zoe x

Totally Techniques Blog Hop - Embossing Paste Tutorial

Our Totally Techniques blog hop is sharing fun projects using Stampin Up embossing paste this month.  This is a card from a  recent Card Club class where we used the paste to make several fun cards and textures.  

I love the hot air balloon die from Up and Away thinlets and with the individual dies included to cut different back ground coloured pieces you can make some gorgeous balloons in any colour way you wish.  Here I've used bermuda bay, calypso coral and lemon lime twist.  

To add the paste is easy.  

1.  Put a small amount of paste onto a silicon mat using one of the set of three palette knives. 

2. Add some ink from a re inker bottle - JUST ONE DROP to start with. 

 3. Mix it in using the palette knife.

 4. Put your card stock underneath a mask and temporarily adhere the mask to your work space with painters masking tape and carefully spread the coloured paste where you want it to go, spreading it gently through the mask.

5. Once you have put all you want onto the piece carefully remove the masking tape and lift the mask.  Allow the paste to dry before carrying on with your project. 

To finish my card I added different matting layers and stamped a sentiment from the Stampin Up hostess set In the City and added some enamel stars and ribbon.

A bright, cheerful card that would suit girls and boys alike.

You can see another card we created using the paste at my card club with Stampin Up Lovely as a Tree.

Have fun on the hop and thanks for stopping by here.

1. Patrice Halliday-Larsen NZ

2. Nadine Weiner Germany

3. Shannean Moncrieff Australia

4. Zoe Tant   That's me here in the UK

5. Barbara Meyer Austria

Christmas Card Club - Make it Round

Here we go with our latest Christmas Card Club Challenge set by Valery.  She asked us to Make It Round, so here is my take on her theme.  I used my stampin' up! layering circle dies and the stitched shape framelits.

First I made a card base using the largest scallop circle die.  I cut and scored a card base in early espresso card. I made sure that the die was just over the fold at the top so that is didn't cut two circles, but a folded circle shaped card base.  I then added two rectangles one to the inside front and one to the outside back circle.

I added a stitched circle layer, followed by a foil snowflake and then a smaller stitched circle which I had stamped and embossed with copper powder using the fir branch stamp from Stampin Up Merry Patterns.

The sentiments are stamped in early espresso ink and a flourish from Stampin Up Snowflake Sentiments and some basic pearls as the finishing touch.

My tip for today is to invest in an embossing buddy which removes static and finger oils from your card stock before you stamp in versa mark for embossing hence avoiding unwanted specks of embossing powder on your design.  

I hope you'll visit our club members to check out their 'Make it Round' designs.  You can visit them easily by heading to the page detailed above Christmas CC.  

Best wishes for the week ahead and do pop back as I have some very exciting news to share this week.  

Hugs all  Zoe xx

Moving Along with the Times - Focal Point Sentiments

Stampin' Up! Happy Birthday Die

Over at Moving Along with the Times it's Team A's turn again and Christine has set the challenge of making you sentiment the focal point of your card design.  No images are required for this challenge which is open to all to join in.  The DT have created some fantastic inspiration for you so please do visit or join in we'd love to see what you come up with.

For my DT card I've cut various shapes using the Stampin' Up! Stitched Shapes dies and also the Layering Square dies to create the white frame in the middle by placing a plain square die inside the stitched shape square and cutting both at the same time taking out the centre of the outer die.

I've also used various shades of blue with one pop of pear pizzazz card stock.  I've layered the die cuts using glue dots and stampin' dimensional to give depth and then used mini glue dots folded over to adhere the die cut Happy Birthday, which is again blue rather than black which it looks like as the light is awful here today in Lincolnshire.

A handful of pacific point enamel dots finishes my design and also hides a nail imprint on one square that I managed to create when removing the die cut from the cutting plate. There is always a solution to a hiccup in paper craft don't you think?

Join us for our challenge over at MAWTT.  You won't be late like me as I've been busy taking Olivia to university.

Happy Saturday

Zx