World Card-Making Day

 There was no way I wanted to ignore World-card Making Day, but I was busy in the lead-up with a family 30th yesterday. So this morning, once I'd completed the clean-up, I decided to finish off some partly made cards for this event. The front of this card was a demo piece from a Techniques class I held in September. It uses the Detailed Dragonfly Thinlet Die to emboss an image into the card without cutting.

Dragonfly Dreams is a lovely stamp set in the Annual catalogue, and it also has co-ordinating framelits. You'll find Dragonfly Dreams in my online shop anytime you go shopping. As it is photopolymer and you use your own acrylic blocks, it is relatively inexpensive.

To emphasise the dragonfly wings, I've painted several coats of Wink of Stella Clear onto them. Often it is very difficult to photograph, but I was thrilled with the result today.

When I was making my son's 30th birthday card, I began with a standard-sized card and these colours. A BIG birthday deserves a BIG card I decided before I'd gone much further, and I will share it with you soon.

I'm very fond of Bermuda Bay and Lemon-Lime Twist together and the Daffodil Delight certainly helped paint a pretty picture!

Tranquil Tide made it onto the leaves too, and some Burlap ribbon gives it a country feel, don't you think? Painted Harvest has these leaves and the sunflower. It is available in the Holiday Catalogue, which might mean we say goodbye to it at the start of January 2018. It has been very popular though and you will have seen stacks of cards made with it. It is available on its own, or bundled with the leaf punch at a 10% saving on both. That is only till the end of the Holiday catalogue, after that, if they remain in the range there will be no discount.

 I'm glad I was able to share my projects with you for World-card Making Day. On my Facebook page I have asked for readers to share a picture of their creations for this occasion, and I invite any of you too. Just go to facebook and scroll down a little for the post.

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Dragonfly Dreaming - New From Stampin' Up!® Occasions Catalogue

It is hard to say how much birthday love you receive when your special day falls after Christmas and before New Year. It is sort of the "Black Hole" of birthdays I'd imagine. That's why I made an effort to go all out to make something special for a lovely lady in that situation.
It just so happens that this card has something old(er), something new, something borrowed and something blue. Old are two of the stamp sets I used, Pop of Paradise  and Gorgeous Grunge. New is the Detailed Dragonfly Thinlet dies, and a little older, but not that much, Swirly Scribbles Thinlets.  Something borrowed, well, my initial inspiration probably has been borrowed from somewhere else, since there aren't really many original ideas floating around these days and the something blue is the little bit of blue appearing on the row of watercoloured dragonflies diecut after the paper dried. Just for fun, there is Wink of Stella, clear and gold splattered about, and some rhinestones as well.

Hope you had a lovely birthday, Deb!
Cheers, Rachel

Dragonfly Dreams Part 2

Yesterday when I made the Dragonfly Dreams in basic and stepped up versions, I forgot to take photos of the process. Today I've remedied that and made a Mint Macaroon version, slightly different from the pink version. Believe it or not, the card is the same in all photos but the top left showed up a bit stronger (and truer) than the others.

1. photopolymer stamp (wing) mounted on acrylic block, ready to stamp with Mint Macaroon onto the same colour card.
2. You can see that the colour is a bit darker when stamped. The sentiment was stamped first for placement, in Emerald Envy ink.
3. This is the bottom left photo. I changed stamps to the detailed wing, inked it with Tip Top Taupe and see how easy it is to place in exactly the right place.
4. Basically, this is the finished card. A portion of the inked and diecut dragonfly for the stepped up version is sitting over this card.                                                                                                        

You can see that a bee is also included in this stamp set - imagine how well that will go with some of the lovely floral stamps or patterned papers.

          

Using the Taupe for the detail of the wing is a lovely subtle change from the strong definition with black ink.   

With the stepped up version, again I went for layers. The same back ground stamping was repeated on Mint Macaroon card, layered onto Tip Top Taupe. Two layers of ribbon in those colours was added too, and a beautiful die cut dragonfly on a couple of dimensionals to lift it up. Finally, rhinestones in different sizes are randomly scattered.

This collage of pics shows you how I used the ink to make a multi coloured wing. First the whole wind was covered with the lightest shade, Mint Macaroon and Emerald Envy was smeared at the bottom of the wing. At the top is another green, Pear Pizzazz. You can see how beautifully blended they appear once the second stamp is applied.

I hope some of these posts are inspiring your creativity.
Have a very happy, safe and healthy New Year.

Cheers Rachel

Dragonfly Dreams

Dragonfly Dreams is a new photopolymer stamp set with co-ordinating Detailed Dragonfly Thinlet Dies, which can be purchased seperately or together in a bundle (there's a special code for this) at 10% discount. This card is easy enough for a beginner stamper, so if you're itching to get more handmade cards made this year, this could be the way to start out.

This is a basic, one-layer card, so you don't need to own a Big Shot for Die-cutting but you will need clear acrylic blocks to mount your stamps (the recommended sizes are listed, but I used D, E & H) some ink (Archival Basic Black #140931 or Basic Gray #140932 $12.25, are good to start with), perhaps one pink ink @ $12.25 (you can choose Flirty Flamingo, Blushing Bride or Sweet Sugarplum), some card to stamp on; Whisper White extra thick #140490 $12.25 and a Stampin' Trimmer #129722 $50.00. The stamp set is photopolymer, which is a little cheaper than red rubber, and you can see through it for accurate placement of the peices. This particular stamp has two-step stamping for the dragonfly or bee wings.
If you were to place an order for the ink, card, stamp set, the largest acrylic block and paper trimmer it totals $143.25 Australian and you qualify for an item for free from the SAB catalogue.


Step-it-up

To step-it-up, the stamping is almost the same but onto a more restricted area, which has another layer .5cm larger behind as a mat. This is then raised on Stampin' Dimensionals, little pillows of adhesive which raise elements or layers up from the card, but still allow it to travel safely through the post. I used two strips of washi tape behind the layers, for some added interest, and adhered sequins with a dot of Tombow glue.

ALL of these supplies are available from your Stampin' Up!® demonstrator,or in my online store. If you need any more advice to get started, be sure to ask. I love my crafting time, and I'd love to help someone have the same fun I do.

Cheers, Rachel

Something Blue

 Love this new Detailed  Dragonfly Thinlet Dies, which features on page 26 of the Stampin' Up!® Occasions Catalogue. I was lucky enough to be able to order it at the Stampin' Up!® Onstage at the beginning of November and had it delivered in time to make this card for my friend Christine's birthday on the 9th November. You'll be able to order it soon too, January 4th in fact when the Occasions Catalogue goes live. You might want to check out the Dragonfly Dreams stamp which co-ordinates, and remember - if you order them as a bundle using the special code, you get a 10% discount.

After playing about with re-inkers and water colour paper, I cut some dragonflies from the lovely mix of colours and the pink and peach shades contrast prettily with the blue & white Floral Boutique DSP, which you can find in the big annual catalogue (page 172). I laid the patterned paper over Fancy Frost, a white textured heavy weight 12" by 12" in the Holiday Catalogue. It is on special now in the Year-End Close Out Sale until January 3rd, and I've stocked up already.
I used the stitched circle thinlet to cut a base for a sentiment and the dragonfly, and scattered a few sequins about.
Remember to call if you need help with your crafting, and you can place an order, even in the middle of the night at my online store.

Cheers, Rachel