Christmas Card Club

 Welcome to my Sunday card for the Christmas Card Club challenge.  Those in the club are used to me being a bit all over the place and I totally got my dates wrong for the last challenge which was a card with humour and today is meant to be winter sports, but I don't really have anything that would suit that and my punch art back up that I'd usually do for such a theme would be somewhat stretched so I'm catching up with my humour card.

I love this fun deer he just makes you smile and I really enjoyed the practice of using my alcohol markers. I think I'm getting better, but there's always room for improvement.  The image itself is a very old stamp set from my stash, so old I can't remember where it's from or from where I bought it.   He's just a jolly guy don't you think?

I added some border doodles with a marker pen and whilst you can't see it believe me there is a little bit of Wink of Stella on the fairy lights.  I layered him onto Granny Apple Green and Pacific point card on a white base.  I also like to make the odd card a different shape and size to the popular A6, but then Christmas comes and I'm rushing to buy or make envelopes.  Good way to use up some of those papers that we all hoard for rainy days though.  

It's stopped raining here today, but I'm going to chill with a little crafting as I had my second covid vaccination yesterday and feeling a bit sluggish today.  Hope you have a happy Sunday and that it stays dry wherever you are.  

Keep safe and keep stamping

Hugs Zoe x

Colouring with alcohol markers - Stampin' Up! Blends

Hi everyone. It seems and has actually been a while since I was here to share projects with you.  I hope you are all well and the year has started in a good way for you. It is better for us now, but started with COVID which wasn't nice at all, but we thank our lucky stars that we weren't hospitalised and are now feeling much better. It is therefore good to be back and start to share with you again.  

This is a card I made with my Card Club ladies in one of our zoom sessions.  I send out packs with materials and the ladies use their stamps and tools to make the cards. However this was a slightly different class as I sent them a mini set of alcohol markers or Stampin' Blends as I know them.  We used them to colour in designs from the True Love DSP.  It is amazing the effects you can create with a minimum amount of colour choice and also by using the pens to blend the colours which the alcohol nature of the pens allows.  

The coloured flower layer is matted onto another pattern from the paper pack and a piece of Rich Razzleberry card.  

I show them a simple, fancy for where the front of the card base is folded back and then the design piece overlaps it to cover much of the remaining inside of the card.  

I also used a stamp set called Approaching Perfection from the Saleabration brochure for the sentiment you see on the front and the Happy Birthday that is stamped inside.  

I always find a little colouring very calming and as you focus on getting it all inside the lines, you can temporarily leave the monotony of being stuck at home.  Give it a try if you haven't already.  

More coming soon I hope as I get the mojo working again and need less recovery naps.  

Keep safe and keep stamping

Zoe x

 True Love DSP

Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Blends 

Matte Black Dots

Approaching Perfection free when you spend £45 on Stampin' Up! product in January or February.  

Christmas Card Club - Gifts

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for yesterday's presentation at Stampin' Up! UK Onstage event.  If you missed yesterdays post I shared a scrapbook page for the Stampin' Up! Needlepoint Nook Suite.  Today's card features on stamp from the same set and again uses one of the coordinating punches of the suite the Pretty Label Punch.  It also coordinates with the Label Me Pretty set from the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue and I've used one of the stamps to decorate it.  

The theme for our Christmas Card Club is to share projects with gifts or ornaments on and the label is pretty enough to be an ornament and really makes this sweet little gift pop. Both it and the sentiment are from the At Home with You set.  I used Stampin Blends to get some shading on the gift and although you might not see it here it is covered with Wink of Stella for a subtle sparkle. 

I matted the stamped layer onto a piece of gold foil to make it a little more special.  Just simple stamping and punches to make a pretty card.  

Thanks Rita for a fun challenge.  Don't forget you can visit all the other CC Club ladies blogs via the page at the top to see their take on our challenge.  

Thanks for stopping by and if you like the Pretty Label Punch and/or the Label Me Pretty stamp set you can buy those along with most of the other products featured right now in my shop. 

SHOP NOW

Thanks for visiting today.  Hugs and best wishes for the week ahead. 

Zoe xx

Blossoming Basket new stamp set

Each year Saleabration sees Stampin' Up! offer some amazing stamp sets and other gifts as FREEBIES for stampers who spend with them. Also in recent years Stampin' Up! has added to this wonderful gift with purchase offering by adding to the choice half way through the promotion.  This year is no exception and from Friday you can have this beautiful stamp set Blossoming Basket and Basket Weave textured embossing folder when you spend £90 on any current product in the spring and annual Stampin Up catalogues.  We used them both today in one of my card club classes and it proved very popular.  We simply stamped the basket full of all the stunning blooms and coloured it in using Stampin' Blends, the new alcohol markers from Stampin' Up!.  

With two shades of each colour available, a bronze, ivory and colour lifter available the world is yours to colour.  It's easy to blend shades to create light and dark and also you can blend colours to create further colours.  Start with either light or dark, I prefer to start with the darker shade following advice from some of my lovely friends who've used alcohol markers in classes at Sir Stampalot.  Build up some colour and a level of 'wet' colour that you can then come in with the lighter shade moving from the darker coloured section into a lighter section in small circles to avoid lines and create seamless shade.  You've heard me say several times 'I'm not a colourer inner' but I'm closer to believing I can be and it is so relaxing and therapeutic.  Give it a try with a cuppa and fabulous image stamped with Tuxedo Memento black ink.  

Thank you Stampin Up for this awesome addition to Saleabration 2018.  

SHOP STAMPIN BLENDS NOW

More soon Zoe x

Totally Techniques - Stampin' Blends

Welcome to our November 2017 Totally Techniques blog hop.  We're sharing ideas for using the Stampin' Blends.  They are so much fun to use and give fabulous colours and allow shading which in turns adds depth to your images. I've used mine to colour this fun card that I made to say thank you to the fabulous Chef Rachel Green who is based in Lincolnshire.  She offers 'secret suppers' in the Lincolnshire Wolds and we went for the first time last week. It was awesome and great to catch up with old friends we hadn't seen in quite a while.  Her beautiful house is full of an eclectic mix of decor that works so well and that's why I"ve added such a mix of lanterns, shrubs and flowers outside this front door.  Look inside and you'll spy one of her cute dogs although he wasn't wearing a coat!

Using the Stampin' Blends has allowed me to mix colours by blending lighter and darker shades.  I've used the coordinating dies to cut out individual elements and of course allow an opening in the door to reveal the remainder of my thank you message.  You can add whatever you want behind the door from a creeping Santa to your Christmas tree or a picture on a wall in the back of the room.  There's always the chance it could be a step into another world like Narnia.  

You can see the others on the hop from the links below.  Have fun touring and check out the Stampin' Up! video I have shared to give you a beginner's guide to the fabulous Stampin' Blends. 

You can buy any of the blends individually, in pairs or the whole bundle from my online shop. Click here Zoe Tant Stampin Up Online Shop

1. Patrice Halliday-Larsen (New Zealand)  

2. Nadine Weiner (Germany) 
3. Marine Wiplier (France)
4. Shannean Moncrieff (Australia)  
5. Zoe Tant UK -   Lincolnshire (Lincoln)
6. Barbara Meyer (Austria) 
7. Annette Elias (Netherlands)  

Thanks for visiting 

Happy crafting 
Zoe x

Ends soon shop now in Zoe's Stampin Up Online Shop