The Gangs All Meer - Stampin' Up! Saleabration

#simplestamping

Every year Stampin' Up! offers some fabulous gift with purchase items during Saleabration and this year is no exception with these cute Meerkats proving to be very popular. It's easy to see why they have appealed to everyone, but sat at the garage waiting to have my car MOT'd/health checked I first filled my time using a card kit called Looking Up and then started doodling on a single stamped image with this Meerkat family.

I had taken some marker pens with me and my journaling pens and decided to alter the Meerkats and add some swim wear.

Once home it was easy to add a sun umbrella and of course a family pet and a seaside scene isn't complete without some seagulls from the Sailing Home stamp set.  Using the markers i added a sandy  floor blending a couple of colours and added some dots to give a grain effect.

The umbrella is from the cute set Under my Umbrella.  I stamped the outline onto patterned paper and used a ruler to add the post.

It was fun to tinker with this cute image and I hope you like my #simplestamping take on The Gangs All Meer which can be your free stamp set with an order of £45 during Saleabration which ends at the end of March.

Check out more SAB gifts in my stampin' up! shop

Thanks for popping by. 

Zoe x

Tone on Tone a very simple technique for paper crafters

For our November technique share we have picked something that is really simple that beginners right through to avid crafters can so with minimum fuss and bother.  It is the tone on tone technique and you can achieve great results with #simplestamping and just one colour of ink or indeed a Versamark clear emboss pad.  

It's been so depressing weather wise in the UK that I've taken out my Butterfly Gala stamp set which I haven't used in a long while and some pretty Subtle collection inks and card stock.  

I first cut a matt layer for my card which is measured at 10cm x 14.3cm.  I made three of the same card in different colours.  I started with Soft Sea Foam.  Using a solid small butterfly stamp from the set I stamped randomly around the edge to add some detail. 

For my design layer I used another piece of Soft Sea Foam cut at 9.5cm x 13.8cm.

 

For this part I stamped the various outline butterfly duo stamps across the card making sure to stamp them going off the card as this helps draw the eye across the design.  In some cases I just ink the big or small butterfly to mix them up on the design even more.  They are all stamped in Soft Sea Foam ink hence the term 'tone on tone' which sometimes folk assume wont work, but you are in effect adding ink and therefore create darker shades of the same colour by adding this ink layer.  You can also create a similar effect using a clear Versamark ink pad which then gives a watermark effect.  This tends to work best on lighter colours though.  I also wanted to define the two layers of card so with this layer I swiped the edges of the card across the ink pad  a couple of times to add shading to the very edge of the card.   I then stuck the two layers together and stuck them to a base card of thick whisper white card.  

My next step was to stamp on whisper white card in Soft Sea Foam ink, a butterfly duo and use the matching punch to cut out the images.  I layered them with glue dots and Stampin' dimensionals.  They were added to the card along with a sentiment from the Stampin' Up! Butterfly Gala stamp set which I punched out with the Classic Label punch. 

A finishing touch was to stamp the same butterly duo onto the envelope flap.  Folk in Stampin' Up! never like to send naked envelopes and at the very least it brightens the post deliverers day and theat of the recipient.

Cards like this are very quick and easy, but you could jazz them up depending upon your time and supplies.  The nice thing too is that they work in just about any colour and can be a fabulous background for a more detailed design.  

Have a go and see what you come up with.  Remember too that you can buy all the supplies for these three cards in Zoe's Stampin' Up! online shop.

You can get more inspiration for this simple technique by visiting each of the thumbnails below.  Enjoy our Totally Techniques Design Team Blog Hop.  

Thanks for popping by Zoe xx

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Christmas Time is Here meets alcohol markers

WOW WOW WOW I am loving all the different techniques you can use with this amazing stamp set Christmas Rose.  It's part of a bundle of products that Stampin' Up! released this month and it is awesome.  Today my card is coloured using Stampin' Blends aka alcohol markers.   You need to stamp your image in black Memento ink, although I have to confess I mistakenly stamped this with black StazOn but it has held up ok and I only realised half way through colouring so soldiered on and I think it is ok.  I used a multitude of colours and shades which I blended to create texture and add some light and shage.  The leaves have several greens used and often if you start some areas with the ivory pen you can then shade ontop and blend different colours really well.

I've also used the overlooked Christmas Countdown set to add some gold embossing detail and also the very popular Stampin' Up! Very Versailles set for the text embossing.

The rose image was stamped onto water colour paper and I also stamped it onto copy paper and fuzzy cut it out to create a mask so that I could then add sponging and also use one of the Basic Pattern Decorative masks to add sponged dots.

The artwork is then matted onto Early Espresso card and then onto a Cherry Cobbler card base on which I previously stamped some of the dot splodges for want of a better word, in Versamark before adding gold embossing powder.  It really adds to the richness of the whole card.

The sentiment is part of a hostess set in our winter catalogue called The Greatest Part of Christmas.  If you place a qualifying order or indeed host a Stampin' Up! party you could get choose this stamp set free as part of your order or hostess with the mostess rewards.

The Christmas Time is Here bundle is really pretty and has some gorgeous patterned papers and embellishments to coordinate with it also.

 Gold Sparkle enamel dots

gold sparkle ribbon

The dies coordinate with the large single rubber stamp as well as having border and embellishment dies and the same die cuts out one of the images on the papers making the coordination fab just as you would expect from Stampin' Up!

There is even a beautiful bangle that you can purchase as a treat for you or a lovely Christmas gift. 

I hope you like it and you can see more details in Zoe's online Stampin' Up! shop. 

Thanks for stopping by 

Zoe x

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How to make a grid card with a medley of Stampin' Up! stamps

I had a lot of fun making this card.  I used a 6" x 6" piece of designer paper called Feels Like Frost from the upcoming Stampin' Up! winter catalogue. It's a stack of papers of the same size which feature on one side stunning prints of frosted scene photographs and on the other white with hand drawn silver designs.  

I took just one sheet, after all it does plenty, and stamped 2nd and 3rd generation ink over it using the Birch background stamp and also stamps from the beautiful Very Versailles stamp set in shades similar to those in the paper.  I then cut 9 11/4" squares and white and copper embossed different images on to the squares.  You could also do this prior to cutting the squares.  

I stuck the squares onto a piece of thick whisper white card that was 43/4 inches square.  I've done the sticking by eye and so it's not quite perfect, but if you are a neat freak then you could measure and get it spot on.  I  added another whisper white layer that was 5" square adhering my art piece on with Stampin' Dimensionals.  The whole piece was then stuck to  base card that is A5 in folded size.  I added a sentiment from Itty Bitty Greetings which is heat embossed in copper.  

The final touch was to add a handful of self adhesive sequins.  

There is lots of inspiration on Pinterest for this type of card and it packs a wow without too much effort or skill required.  Have a go and see what you can make.  There are endless possibilities as you can reduce the number of squares, change the sizes whatever you choose really.  

All the products I used are Stampin' Up! of course and can be bought in my online shop.  The papers will be available to order from 4th September when the Stampin' Up! Winter catalogue goes live.  

Stamps used included 

Rooted in Nature (148217)

Floral Essence (149450)

Very Versailles (149275)

Birch (149256)

Itty Bitty Greetings (151331)

Sequins (146933)

Feels Like Frost Papers (150444) 

Happy crafting 

Zoe x

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