Stampin Up! blog candy

Jo, of Stampin 'n Stuff, is giving away one of the newest Stampin Up! sets as blog candy. The set is called Forest Friends, and has a deer, a rabbit, an owl and a tree, which would be lovely for a child's card. Pop over to Jo's blog here to see it and enter her giveaway.

More Distress Ink landscape

Having got to grips with Michelle's technique with my previous card, I decided I should now try coming up with my own designs, so here's the first. The small fir trees on the left and the stag are from Stampscapes. Their stamps are perfect for this style, as are those from Beeswax, whose stamp is the tree on the right.

The outer frame is also made with Distress inks, and it's a piece I had left over from making the card I described earlier here. The vertical "Happy Birthday" filling in the space at the side is an Aspects of Design stamp by The Stamp Man.

At the moment I'm finding it a bit difficult to gain precise control over the inkpads when using them direct to paper, but I daresay that will come with practice. It's quite fun seeing how the landscapes turn out and then deciding what to use as a focal point to enhance them. I have a feeling I'm going to get hooked on this technique!

Distress Ink landscape

This is my first attempt at following one of Michelle Zindorf's tutorials. Michelle is an amazing artist who generously shares her ideas on her blog. For this one she used Distress Inks direct to paper. I hadn't tried that before, but they work beautifully. Michelle's tutorials are very easy to follow, and her instructions for this card can be found here.

Instead of the Stampin' Up tree which Michelle used, I chose to use one from Crafty Individuals, because it fitted my frame better. Also, I had to change some of the colours because I didn't have all the ones Michelle used. Otherwise, I followed her instructions pretty closely. I think the result is a testament to just how clear and well-explained her tutorials are. Thanks, Michelle! I really enjoyed making this card.

Contrasts

Still busy with my Nestabilities. I cut a scalloped frame for a Crafty Individuals flower image from their book "Butterflies & Flowers" (currently their free gift with orders over £25). Background and butterfly are Cuttlebug embossed. The wording around the frame is computer generated. Rather proud of myself for that because it's the first time I've figured out how to do it to make it fit! The edge of the frame and the Prima flowers are tinted with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink.



Then, for something completely different, A Walk in the Woods. That's the title of my newest stamp, which is from Innovative Stamp Creations. As soon as I saw this stamp I simply had to have it, because I love trees anyway and a walk in the woods is one of my favourite pastimes. It's a superb stamp. Doesn't look much until you stamp it, & then it has an almost photographic quality, even on plain paper, though it's even better on the shiny card I used here. I coloured the picture with diluted Distress Inks. On the background card I stamped birch trees (from Beeswax) and part of A Walk in the Woods (though that doesn't show so well in the photo). Punched leaves extended the path out of the picture, balanced by three co-ordinating brads on the opposite side.

Butterflies

Some more Nestabilities/Cuttlebug cards.

For the first one, I used the Nestabilities to cut the two frames, then cut the butterfly out of the smaller one & embossed it with the Cuttlebug dots folder. The stamps in the background are from one of the new sets in the Crafty Elements range from Crafty Individuals. Both the flowers set and the butterflies set are must-haves.



The second card has a Cuttlebug embossed background and butterfly motif, and the flowers around the motif are from Rubber Stamp Tapestry. The "butterfly" word is from the new Crafty Individuals butterflies plate.



I found lots of inspiration for both the Cuttlebug and Nestabilities here at Sue Nelson's Heart Prints website, where she displays many beautiful cards and ideas, well worth a look.

Time to Play

At last I've had chance to spend some more time playing with my Nestabilities, and here are some of the results. The geometric shapes are great for framing, and I particularly like the effect of the plain circle with the scalloped circle border. I've used these on the first card to frame some Elusive Images flowers from Graphicus. I stamped three different sizes and layered them with sticky pads, curling the edges of the petals slightly on the top two layers. The background is made with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, and the sentiment and butterfly stamps are also from Graphicus.



The next card is a quick and easy one. The Hydrangea stamp, by Anna Griffin, is mounted simply over sheer ribbon. The background is a printed paper and a stamped sentiment adds the finishing touch.



The final card of this set is quite unlike anything I've done before. Big and bold is not my usual style at all! However, it's growing on me. The background is sponged and then stamped with my favourite Crafty Individuals flourish, and the printed paper and butterfly and dragonfly stamps are also from Crafty Individuals. I was lucky to get the Spellbinders Celtic-style "Kelly" alphabet set at a much reduced price from Once Upon a Stamp. I think it complements the flowers beautifully.



I'll be demonstrating these examples at my next class.