Let the Good Times Roll

Hi Crafters,

Have you ever received a pop up card?  If you have, you will understand the WOW factor when you pull it from the envelope and open it!  So when Stampin' Up! released this amazing new suite featuring a pop up aspect, I jumped at the opportunity to have a crack at it.  

Let The Good Times Roll

Card Front

Card Interior

This set is unbelievable and the cards you can create with it are breath-taking, but is not for the faint hearted! I would definitely recommend you watch the following Stampin' Up! video on how to make a card using this pop up set:

Here are a few photos illustrating my initial card I made with this set:

The beauty of this set is that you don't have to use the pop up thinlits if you don't wish to, and there is a wonderful selection of stamps and dies that you can use in such a wide manner of ways.  You can do what I did on my card front, and make your own banners with string, or a sky theme with the clouds and sun images... the options are certainly there to create a range of unique designs.  

You will notice I made a blunder on my initial card (shown in the progress photos) as I didn't have the bottom of the pop up part stuck to the base section of my folded card.  I folded my back pop up piece of card (disguised by those bushes) to avoid it curling/ not laying flat.  My next card was done properly (after watching the video above) - you must line the two gaps on the sides of the die cutter with your folded card score line, so that the pop up bit actually starts further down your cardstock than the middle score line!

A tip I found made the folding of the rollercoaster tracks easier was to score on both sides of the cardstock instead of just the front, using a bone folder. 

So if you have a few hours up your sleeve, or you are itching to be creative and want a WOW result, definitely consider having a go at this card, you won't regret it!  Is it a bit fiddly? Yes, I'll be honest, it was.  But it is definitely worth it, I promise :)

To purchase the Stampin' Up! products used to create these cards Shop Now and be sure to use the Hostess Code WMRKP99S in the checkout process to receive free rewards for shopping with me! And remember between now and 31st March 2018 for every AU$90 you spend, you can select one free product from the Sale-a-Bration Catalogue!

Do you want to build up your supplies or save money on buying a range of complimentary products to make nifty cards or scrapbooking pages?  Craft Kits are your answer!  Each month you can purchase a fabulous set of products for a discounted price!  This month our Craft Kit is "Coffee Break" featuring the beautiful products shown below:

To purchase this Craft Kit click HERE.

Hope you have enjoyed today's card project!

Have a fabulous day!  Till next time...

Lorin xx

Bubble Over

Hi Crafters,

Summer is in full swing here in Melbourne, Australia, and nothing beats an ice cold bottle of fizzy drink (or alcoholic beverage if that's up your alley), condensation dripping down the sides.  The suite I am going to show you today is a fun, upbeat range suitable for a variety of occasions. And the great thing is that there is a FREE matching Designer Series Paper set in the Sale-a-Bration brochure currently on offer with every $90 spend!

Here are the two cards I made using this set:

Bubble Over

This nifty suite has a photopolymer stamp set "Bubble Over" that includes bottles, various labels and sentiments, bottle lids & a range of cute little images.  It also features the Bottles & Bubbles Framelits Dies, available as a bundle saving you 10%.  

On the first card I opted to use solely the stamp set & framelits, and white embossed the bubbles for a delightful effect.  The clear, glitter epoxy shapes used on the green bottle are a new product just released in the Occasions Catalogue as well, and comes in tear drop and circle shapes - perfect if you want to create a "dripping" effect or bubbles.   

My second card, I wanted to utilise the free designer series paper that you can earn when making any $90 purchase.  I stuck with white embossed bubbles again, but mixed the background up with the DSP and fancy border frame.  Which one do you prefer?

I hope you have enjoyed these two cards..

To purchase the Stampin' Up! products used to create these cards Shop Now and be sure to use the Hostess Code WMRKP99S in the checkout process to receive free rewards for shopping with me! And remember between now and 31st March 2018 for every AU$90 you spend, you can select one free product from the Sale-a-Bration Catalogue!

See you again soon!

Lorin xx

Color Me Happy

Hi Crafters,

When I think back to my childhood, I remember sitting at the kitchen table colouring in for hours, sometimes drawing pictures, other times colouring in books.  Some people might argue that colouring in is for children only, but let me tell you.. there is something quite therapeutic about sitting down and colouring in... give it a go, you might be surprised :)

Now when I mention colouring in, what medium comes to mind? Crayons? Coloured Pencils? 

Well today I am going to introduce you to Stampin' Up! Blender Marker Pens.  They are high quality, alcohol-based marker pens that feature a tip on each end, to make colouring and blending a breeze.  You can purchase these individually, as a two piece combo (think light & dark shade) or as a set, and come in a delightful range of 12 exclusive Stampin' Up! colours, making coordinating of your craft items even easier! The set also includes a Color Lifter pen, and bronze & ivory pens, but I will explain these ones more in depth another day.

Now for those that follow my blog posts regularly, will know that I am not a huge fan of pre-stamped/ printed image card kits.  Not that these aren't good quality, but because I prefer stamping my own images and inking them up to create cool designs.  That changed recently when I purchased the absolutely gorgeous "Lots of Happy" Card Set.  That set enabled crafters to put their colouring skills to use with watercolour pencils, effortlessly and with fabulous results.  Having my first kit under my belt, I purchased the Color Me Happy Card Kit.  Now if you have purchased the Lots of Happy Card Kit and loved it, I encourage you to give this kit a go as well.  BUT be mindful, you will need to purchase or have on hand some blender marker pens as well, particularly if you wish to produce the cards illustrated on the kit packaging.  

Color Me Happy Card Kit   

The Color Me Happy Card Kit comes with everything you need to make 16 beautiful cards & I would recommend you select the bundle option that includes the coordinating stamp set "Color Me Happy" and saves you 10% off the purchase price (if purchased individually).

The kit enables you to produce four of each card illustrated above.  The contents include:

Color Me Happy Card Kit

And the coordinating stamp set is as follows:

Color Me Happy Stamp Set

Now it is completely up to you whether you want to colour these delightful images in with watercolor pencils, or any other colouring tool however the beauty of using Stampin' Up! Blender Markers is that you can effortlessly create blended shades of colour to take your images to the next level! 

Here is a quick video on how to master the basics of blending using these Blender Marker Pens:

 So, using these blender pens and the Color Me Happy Kit, these are the cards I created:

Additionally, I created another card using this set...

To purchase the Stampin' Up! products used to create these cards Shop Now and be sure to use the Hostess Code WMRKP99S in the checkout process to receive free rewards for shopping with me! And remember between now and 31st March 2018 for every AU$90 you spend, you can select one free product from the Sale-a-Bration Catalogue!

Do you want to build up your supplies or save money on buying a range of complimentary products to make nifty cards or scrapbooking pages?  Craft Kits are your answer!  Each month you can purchase a fabulous set of products for a discounted price!  This month our Craft Kit is "Coffee Break" featuring the beautiful products shown below:

To purchase this Craft Kit click HERE.

Have you have enjoyed the cards I have made - please feel free to leave a comment if you liked them :)

Have a great day!  Till next time...

Lorin xx

Bird Banter - Featuring Retiform Technique

Hi Crafters,

Today I want to introduce a new technique for you using the new stamp set "Bird Banter", found in the newly released 2018 Occasions Catalogue.  This nifty little set features a cute range of birds, including a tucan, parrots and more!    

When I think of some of these birds, it reminds me of lush rainforests and Australian bush... have a squiz below at the card I made:

Bird Banter

Now I have a confession to make, because I wanted to use a new technique on this card, I needed quite a few stamps to pull it off successfully.  And whilst the Bird Banter stamp set features some lovely tree branches & leaves, it wasn't quite enough for what I intended to do on this card.  So I have utilised some stamps from "No Bones About It" to create some rainforest images.  So how did I create my background?  Let me introduce you to the Retiform Technique...

Retiform Technique

This technique has been around for awhile - in short terms, it is basically sectioning off parts of your cardstock to stamp sections, without overlapping them.  It is a fairly easy technique and the results can be stunning!  

To start with, you take a sticky note pad page and you use these to form the boundaries you wish to form for your stamped sections - stick the sticky part along the side/s you don't wish to stamp as shown below:

The sections can be any shape or size you wish - I stuck with triangular type patterns. 

Select two ink colours - preferably one lighter and one darker in the same shade.  The ink I selected for the Bird Banter card was Marina Mist and Dapper Denim.  Try & select colours that complement each other, using a lighter colour as a base with either a darker colour or black to stamp the images on top of (for example, Lemon Lime Twist base with black stamped images on top). 

Once you have formed your section, take a dauber or blending tool and using your lighter ink colour gently ink above your base sticky note.  You can use circular motions or a vertical type motion to ink a darker line just above your sticky note, and I then gently add a bit of colour to the remaining edges.  Continue doing this for each section you desire, removing the sticky notes and reapplying to each section until fully completed as shown below:

A great step by step instructional video by Randi Collins can be found here:

https://youtu.be/6Edq5MpMPJA

Once you have inked up your various sections, select a theme for your card with images that go together.  It could be a beach theme, birthday theme, animal theme, etc.  You then border off your sections again (as done above) using the sticky notes and stamp your images in each section that you desire, using the darker ink.  It should look like this when you are done:

Retiform Technique using "Land to Sea" and "Wetlands" stamp sets

(retired) in Marina Mist and Dapper Denim inks.

From there, it is completely up to you how you wish to assemble your card - you could use this as your whole card front, or use a strip of it as I did in the Bird Banter card to create various designs.  The Birthday Greetings card shown above, I attached to a Crumb Cake and Whisper White card base, and it was effective without having to add embellishments.  

I definitely encourage you to give this technique a go! 

Well that's it for today - I hope I have inspired you to try something new :)

To purchase the Stampin' Up! products used to create these cards Shop Now and be sure to use the Hostess Code WMRKP99S in the checkout process to receive free rewards for shopping with me! And remember between now and 31st March 2018 for every AU$90 you spend, you can select one free product from the Sale-a-Bration Catalogue!

Do you want to build up your supplies or save money on buying a range of complimentary products to make nifty cards or scrapbooking pages?  Craft Kits are your answer!  Each month you can purchase a fabulous set of products for a discounted price!  This month our Craft Kit is "Coffee Break" featuring the beautiful products shown below:

To purchase this Craft Kit click HERE.

Have a great day and I'll see you again soon with more crafting ideas!

Lorin xx

Sweet Soiree

Hi Crafters!

Yippety do-da Yippety Day, my oh my what a wonderful day!! Do you what today is? That’s right.. it’s Stampin’ Up! 2018 Occasion & Sale-a-Bration Catalogue release day!!

One of my absolute favourites from the new Occasions Catalogue is the Sweet Soiree suite.  Featuring stunning florals, silver metallic designs and a gorgeous array of embellishments, this suite will have you creating elegant designs in no time!

Since I first saw the front cover of the  catalogue, the card made using this suite captured my attention.  So today I finally sat down and CASEd it, changing a few minor things to suit my preferences.  Here is my completed card:

I opted for a Flirty Flamingo cardstock base, and layered this with watercolour card.  The trick with using watercolour cardstock is to wet your cardstock initially with an aqua painter, creating a base on which you want to use as a rough guideline for where you want your colour to run/ be present.  Then gently add your desired ink colour, in my case this was Flirty Flamingo & Peakaboo Peach, using your aqua painter.  Start lighter initially and build your colour up to your desired level, ensuring you don't use too much water.  

The beauty of this card is that it uses a range of the framelits and stamps in the suite, and can be used for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and engagements.  I really liked the dual-coloured flower that was on the original catalogued card - to get this, I stamped the flower with Daffodil Delight, and then used a finger dauber to gently dab some Crisp Canteloupe around the edges.   

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my card today, it was a real pleasure to see it come together :)

To view the NEW Stampin' Up! 2018 Occasions & Sale-a-Bration Catalogues, click HERE!

2018 Sale-a-Bration Catalogue

2018 Occasions Catalogue

To purchase the Stampin' Up! products used to create these cards Shop Now and be sure to use the Hostess Code WMRKP99S in the checkout process to receive free rewards for shopping with me! And remember between now and 31st March 2018 for every AU$90 you spend, you can select one free product from the Sale-a-Bration Catalogue!

Have a lovely day & I'll see you again soon!

Lorin xx