Paper Doll Design

I've been playing with the Waterfront stamp set for the first time. I have seen some beautiful examples of this set but had yet to try it for myself. I had saved some of these cards on Pinterest and thought they were a good place to start.  My first card was inspired by Amanda Bates. She had some brilliant instructions on her blog, making using this stamp so easy.  So easy to create my first landscape masterpiece! Feeling confident, I moved on to a larger design using many examples as inspiration. I know some people have said they have used photos or landscape pictures as their inspiration which has produced some beautiful work. Even my husband was impressed when I showed him, even though he is always supportive, he really liked these cards. I think I'll be doing more of these soon - they make me feel like an artist! Now.....what else can I do with this one...... Thanks for stopping by. 'Til next time, keep crafting!

Well this is exciting!! My first time Blog Hopping with the Crazy Crafters!! Our theme for this Blog Hop was to CASE (copy and selectively edit) Martha Groeger. When I went to Martha's blog over at:   https:// www.cookiescraftco.de/ I was taken by the start of her blurb in the About Me section.   She says: Mit einem Lächeln... ... geht es sich viel leichter durchs Leben. Which translates to: With a smile... .....it is much easier through life. Wow!  The simplicity, but impact, of this statement !! When looking through Martha's blog entries and her creativity, I was taken with this card. It sung to me like the statement above - simplicity but impact. I toyed with some designer series papers until it struck me - to get that impact I was after I was going to keep it simple and bold using black and white and a pop of colour. The Petal Passion DSP was perfect with it's black and white colour palette. ...

Hi Everyone Stampin' Up hold an event for demonstrators every six months to launch new product and provide business ideas, inspiration and training.   But there is so much more that happens at Onstage! You get to meet so many amazing and creative people.   Crafters are chosen to present on the stage, showing us ways to use new product and giving us ideas on how to use them in our business.  After a couple of presentations we get to "make and take" - we get to use this beautiful new products and create cards or 3D items.  It is like  sneak peak of of the whole suite of products! Others are chosen to preview the products and create inspiration boards using different products from the new range.  It is always so interesting to see how different they make their creations. And a fun way to meet these other creative people is to exchange "swaps".  These are little pieces of art you create that show case you and your style and swap thes...

What I've been up to this week.... Just Add Ink challenge #404 Just Add a Shaker The challenge was to create or add a shaker element to your card. I wanted to think outside the square - literally and try something different from the acetate circle or square that I had done many times before. The Cake Soiree set create a great opportunity for a different shape with the cake shape die. I decided to use vellum instead of acetate to give a softer look, where the colours behind blended together. Here's what I came up with.... Here's how I did it: I cut out the cake outline using the Sweet Cake Framelits in the centre of a piece of card I cut the branches from the framelits as well as a couple of stamped buds in the matching colours of the floral topper I was going to use on the cake - Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Calypso Coral. I snipped all the little ends off the branches to create little dots for the shaker element ...

Over at "Aussies who love Stampin' Up" they put out a challenge inspired by this beautiful sunset. So many colours that just melt into each other creating this stunning vista! Sometimes it is easy working with lots of colours as you have so much scope and other times it can be a challenge to get them to all work together. The best way I know to get them working together is to either blend them or get them to flow into each other. I decided on a water colour technique to allow the colours to flow together. How I did it:  I grabbed a piece of watercolour paper and spritzed it so it was nice and damp. Next I took the solid flower stamp image from the Garden in Bloom set and stamped using Fresh Fig ink.  The colour spread beautifully - but I had lost the shape of the flower. I kept building the colours with different flower images from Garden in Bloom and Petal Palette sets until I was happy with the spread and colour combo - y...

Hi Everyone, I love pattern paper - maybe a bit too much!!  I mean, I have  quite a bit and still buy more!! Kylie Bertucci started the #LoveitChopit to help us get over our "fear" of chopping up our beautiful paper. Her theory is, cut it into card front size and you will use it more and it's now easy to put a quick card together. So when I get my pack of 12 x 12 pattern paper, I take one of each sheet and do just that! I slice it down the middle, and then cut into three card fronts.  This is slightly larger than a card and just requires a small trim.  You could cut more precise if you wanted. You end up with a stack of fronts! So quick and easy to put a card together........              So, go ahead, #loveitchopit!!   Trust me, you will use it so much more!

Hi Everyone, Over at Just Add Ink they have a new challenge that looked interesting. I started playing with my stencils, embossing clear, then with gold, then looked over at my card fronts in the Springtime Foils DSP that I had chopped up ready to use. That's what I went with, abandoning my embossing and stencils.  The foil stripes won! It needed colour so I though about a bird (feathers) sitting amongst the trees with the sky above. I grabbed Bermuda Bay, Lemon Lime Twist and Pool Party and started to blend from the edges in starting with Bermuda Bay. Petal Palette came to mind for the rest of the card.  Black and white images are perfect to add, not distract from, the blended colour I had added to the foil paper. A quick sentiment - silver embossed on black card tied it all together! I love how it turned out! Go onto the Just Add Ink blog and see what others have come up with. Petal Palette is still available, but you ne...