Monday, April 25, 2016

Christmas in April

Wow, April already! And I am about as far from Christmas thoughts at this moment as a person can get as we are still on our cruise, which I am quite sure we are enjoying :) But that does not mean you have to miss out on some Christmas-y goodness! I have a hidden treasure for you today :)  There are a few "secret" stamp sets that you can get from Stampin' Up! Why do I call them secret? Well, they were never in a catalog and you have to look for them in the on-line store. In the sidebar menu in the on-line store, click on stamps, then photopolymer, and you will find several that you may not remember ever seeing!

So, I mostly used SU stuff, but I could not resist using my Gansai Tambi and Peerless watercolors for this image. The background is Sahara Sand brushed on with an Aqua-painter, but the rest is painted on with a watercolor brush and those watercolors. I adore how this turned out!

The watercolored panel is popped up on dimensionals because it was just to special to not add that extra dimension. And I made it a top fold card so whoever gets this card can hang it easily for display. Yes, I am a little full of myself with this card, thinking someone else will love it as much as I do :)

But really, who can blame me?! This turned out better than I hoped! There are some shimmery and metallic colors in the Gansai Tambi set, and I think you can see then in this close-up. And I used some of my precious supply of the retired Pewter embossing powder. I don't have much left... in this container...I have a spare :)

Even the inside of this card got some special treatment!! I stamped and watercolored the star image, then stitched the vellum sentiment over the top. LOVE this!

So, how are your Christmas projects coming? I hope I am inspiring you to get a much needed head start on yours :)

As always, if you have seen something you need for your crafting life, just click the image in the supply list below and it will take you to my store! If you order less than $150, please use this month's Host Code, which can be found at the top of the sidebar on the right. 

And be sure to check the box allowing me to contact you when you check out. I can't send you a thank you card if I don't know your address! And I promise to only send you happy mail, no junk mail :)

I have included the ink pads in the colors you could substitute for the Gansai Tambi and Peerless watercolors. 



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Sunday, April 17, 2016

Stamp Review Crew: Balloon Celebration Edition

http://stampreviewcrew.blogspot.com/2016/04/stamp-review-crew-balloon-celebration.html
Does it feel like a party in here? Because it feels like a party to me!! I am loving this trend of balloons everywhere! Mind you, I can't be around the real thing due to my latex allergy, but I still think they are fun and cute and festive :) And the ones I stamp won't bother me at all :)

Remember you early hoppers, we work out the kinks on Sunday evening my time, so if you run in to links that don't work, or incomplete posts, come back after midnight, US Central Time and it will be working just fine.

If this is your first time hopping with us, then I should tell you that we are an international group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators that gets together every first and third Monday of the month to feature a single stamp set. We share lots of ideas for that set to get you excited and inspired :) You can check out the master blog roll on our home blog, and find all of our past hops, and all of the links will take you directly to the posts you are looking for!

If you are following around in order, then you just arrived from  Rochelle Blok's blog. Isn't she amazing?!

OK, I have to admit that when I first saw these circles, I thought of citrus fruit. And that was totally the look I was going for here. But, I really think they look like those little drink umbrellas too! Or regular umbrellas for that matter, lol! What do you think? Maybe I just have drinks on the brain since as I am writing this my suitcase it out waiting for me to pack it up to go on a cruise :) Yes, my friends, while you are enjoying the post-convention buzz, and the fabulous Stamp Rview Crew blog hop, I am on a cruise in the Caribbean! Ahhhh, the warm sea breeze and a million fun things to do! OK, I must return to this blog post. I might be making you all envious, lol!

I stamped these circles in a slightly random pattern on watercolor paper with Archival Black ink, then I used an Aquapainter and ink squeezed out of the pads into the lid to color them. While they were still wet, I dabbed the centers of the circles to make them lighter, and I may have added more color to the outer edge of a few of them with the Aqua-painter too. I just happened to have some vellum strips already embossed with the Happy Birthday greeting on my desk, and it worked perfectly! Just stitched it right on there!

I added more circles inside and first triedto color them with my blender pen. It was a little dry, so I switched to the Aqua-painter again, making sure there was not a lot of water on the actual brush when I colored. I combined sentiments from Balloon Celebration and And Many More... which I think is perfect for the vibe of this card!


Ok, time to float on over to Linda Callahan's blog where she will amaze and delight us all!

http://thispinkrooster.blogspot.com/2016/04/balloon-celebration-stamp-review-crew.html





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Sunday, April 3, 2016

Stamp Review Crew: White Christmas Edition

http://stampreviewcrew.blogspot.com/2016/04/stamp-review-crew-white-christmas.html
Ok, I realize it is April and most people are snow-free by now. You might even be planting a garden! But odds are, my yard still looks like this! And why not use the atmosphere to inspire some fun wintery cards :) OK, I am sure we will all come up with some non-wintery uses for the White Christmas set. That is kind of our specialty, thinking outside the box. You will have to let us know how we do :)

Remember you early hoppers, we work out the kinks on Sunday evening my time, so if you run in to links that don't work, or incomplete posts, come back after midnight, US Central Time and it will be working just fine.

If this is your first time hopping with us, then I should tell you that we are an international group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators that gets together every first and third Monday of the month to feature a single stamp set. We share lots of ideas for that set to get you excited and inspired :) You can check out the master blog roll on our home blog, and find all of our past hops, and all of the links will take you directly to the posts you are looking for!

If you are hopping along in order, you just came from Nikki Spencer's blog. That's some beautiful stuff right there, my friend!

First up is a fun spring card. I knew that I wanted to add some budding leaves on these trees, and then I spotted that adorable little bird in the set. It quickly became a Bluejay! This scene was stamped in Archival Black ink on Watercolor paper, then an Aqua-painter is used to add color to the sky and grass, and to make the bird a bluejay. I added a little gray to the tree trunks to add some pizzazz. The sentiment is from this set also, I just cut off the Christmas part. I saved it of course :)


Next I wanted to create a simple guy card. No frills, just lots of graphic impact. So, white embossed animals on Crumb Cake! I will decide what sentiment to use when I figure out who to send it too :)

Now it is time to "run" on over to Heidi Baks' blog! I can't wait to see the amazing stuff she has for us this time :)

http://runningwscissorsstamper.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-stamp-review-crew-white-christmas.html


http://nikkispencer-mysandbox.blogspot.com/2016/04/stamp-review-crewwhite-christmas-edition.html



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