Moonlight Sailing

I was playing with ink and sponging and remembered vaguely that I had seen an article, I think in Craft Stamper, about leaving a narrow line to create a difference in texture.  I'm really pleased how this turned out for a first attempt.  

I masked with low tack tape a square on my piece of shimmery white card stock. The shimmery card stock helps with the misty moonlight effect although I've struggled to photograph it for you to see clearly.   I then added a piece of the same tape across the square to separate the sky from what became the sea.    I stamped the boat and used an almost dry aqua painter to draw in colour from the outline of the boat to add colour to the sails and boat hull.  I masked the boat having cut out a thin paper mask to cover the sails and boat but didn't worry about the ropes  being there as in navy they were strong enough to appear through the sponging I was about to add.  Using sponges I gently added colour to give a sultry sky having used a paper circle mask for the moon also.  Once I was happy with the colour blending I removed the moon mask and did a very, very gentle swipe of colour over the moon to keep the misty haze consistent with the rest of the sky.  

Now I moved the horizontal line of low tack tape and put it along the bottom of the sky plus a smidge extra to give a very very narrow line for the distinction between the sky and sea. I'd positioned my boat just about right before any sponging although it could be a little lower. 

For the sea I did the same process of adding different colours with sponges.  I also used a mask from the Basic Pattern Decorative Masks collection from the Stampin' Up! winter catalogue.   I sponged ink through the mask in a random fashion of light and darker depth.  I then used some water splatter to lift some colour to add to the effect of the sea.  To do this I sprayed some water into the palm of my hand and clapped over the inking. I let the droplets sit for a few seconds before drying with paper towel. 

The final touch was to stamp the birds and sentiment again in Night of Navy ink directly onto the design before adding a narrow Night of Navy matt layer and then position the design onto a  Grey Granite card base.  

It makes a card just right for masculine birthdays and more. 

Thanks for popping by. 

Cheers Zoe x

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Thinking Outside the Box - We're making folded envelopes

It's time for the June Thinking Outside the Box Design Team Blog Hop.  Welcome to the team's share of folded envelope tutorials.  I've gone for the very simple and well known 'diaper' pouch which sounds marginally better as a tutorial name than a 'nappy' pouch but it is an easy, easy project and one I regularly share with ladies groups or indeed with children as they love paper folding and also the fact that treats go inside this cute packaging.

Step 1
So to get started all you need is a square of patterned or indeed plain paper.  You'll see I have done two versions one for kids and one for the grown ups. The smaller kids pouch started as a piece of 4" x 4" designer series paper.  The adult version is a piece that is 6" x 6".

Step 2

Fold your piece of paper diagonally to form a triangle.

Step 3

Taking the top layer of the paper fold the top point down towards the fold leaving a gap of 1/2" (1cm) approximately. 

Step 4

Fold the flap you created back up to the triangle postion then bring in one side of the triangle to run along the fold created by the flap in stage 3. 

Step 5

Do the same with the other side.

Step 6 

Bring the flap created earlier down over the top finishing the pouch. 

Step 7 

Decorate your pouch

For my decoration I have used the new Stampin' Up!  Floral Essence stamp set.  I stamped the large outline flower onto whisper white card with Blackberry Bliss ink. Before it dried too much I used an aqua painted to carefully pull in some of the outline ink to colour the flower.  It gives a watercolour effect. I heat embossed the centre of the flower with gold embossing powder and punched it out before again using the aqua painter to just colour the remaining smidges of white card.  You can dab off excess ink and water with a paper towel.

TIP Keep the flow of water in the aqua painter to the minimum as it is only ordinary card and you could get bubbles and soggy card.  If you prefer use watercolour paper. 

The leaves were stamped onto Perennial Essence vellum with Old Olive ink  and punched out with the leaf punch.

These pounches are great for table favours for any event and depending on your paper size you can add a gift of choice.  I've added a mini handcream.

For the children you can make mini pouches and snip a small triangle at the bottom to all for a lolly stick to be slotted through the bottom.  This too was decorated with Floral Essence  with the flower and leaves being stamped and the leaves coloured in the same way as above.

 I hope you'll give them a try and don't forget to visit the other global Stampin' Up! demonstrators to see their tutorials and inspo for you.

To shop for any of the products used you can visit my Stampin' Up! online shop.

Thanks for stopping by Stampingscene today.

Happy crafting
Zoe x

1. Tanja Kolar

2. Zoe Tant - You're Here

3. Annette Elias

4. Beate Wacker

5. Aude Barbara

6. Barb Stewart

7. Fiona Carson

Stampin' Up! Sneak Peeks

Stampin' Up! has great catalogues with awesome products, but it is always exciting when as a demonstrator you get to see them earlier than everyone else. It was even more exciting for me when I got this new bundle of product loveliness earlier than thousands of other demonstrators across the world as I was one of a very small group who were asked to present this suite called The Needlepoint Nook at the UK recent #Onstage2018 event in Birmingham.  

This is full of bells and whistles as it was one of three cards which differed in the detail they each received. This as you can see was 'the works'.  The papers are just stunning and were created when embroidery patterns designed by Stampin' Up! were embroidered and then photographed to give that fabulous effect of threads and beauty that embroidery has to offer. 

You'll be seeing more of this suite for sure, but I'm pleased that this card of mine has been well received by Stampin' Up! and my fellow demonstrators.  

You'll be able to spy more sneak peeks soon, but also get your hands on our spring catalogue.  If you'd like to be added to the list of recipients of a paper copy to browse at your leisure please contact me at zoetant@live.co.uk

Thanks for stopping by 

Zoe x

Buy 3 get one free or taste of it all

A new Stampin' Up! catalogue brings lots of new product suites, stamp sets, punches and other tools and also NEW Designer Series Papers.  During July you can sample those that appeal to you the most by buying 3 and choosing a fourth free from the list above.

Can't decide then You can choose to join my designer series paper share.  For the price of £25 posted or £21 collected from me you will receive 1 6" x 6" sample of all the papers listed above.  This gives you 120 squares of designer paper.

The choice is yours. If you wish to take up the Stampin' Up! offer you can shop online now

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If you'd like to join the paper share please contact me at zoetant@live.co.uk

Thanks for stopping by 

Zoe x