Crazy Crafters Blog Hop August 2015 - Stamp-a-stack using a Bundle

Welcome to the Crazy Crafters blog hop for August.

You may just be starting the blog hop here at my blog or may have come from the person before me in the list below. If you get off track at any time, the full line-up below will help you move along from blog to blog so you see all the projects. At the moment you are visiting Stephanie Fischer, The Crafty Thinker. This month we are excited to showcase some of the amazing Bundles in the new Annual Catalogue by creating stacks of different cards using the same bundle.  

Bundles: Vintage Leaves & Beautiful Bunch

What's better than being able to buy punches or dies to match stamp sets (for those of us that aren't natural fussy cutters!)? Buying them as a bundle and saving 15%!!  

There are loads of bundles in the new catalogue (and even more coming in the soon-to-be released seasonal catalogue!) - so there's really something to suit everybody's tastes and needs.

I've used two bundles for my stack of cards: Vintage Leaves (stamp set and matching framelits) and Beautiful Bunch (stamp set + Fun Flower punch).

Coloured leaves & dimensionals for interest

This is the first of my three cards.  I layered English Garden DSP onto a Soft Suede card base.  Then I made a square frame by layering So Saffron onto Old Olive.  Then I arranged my leaves and flower.  I used some dimensionals to add depth and interest. I stamped the frame from Awesomely Artistic in Soft Suede onto So Saffron with a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Sentiments in the centre.  I cut this out using the matching framelit from the Project Life Cards and Labels set.  I cut a banner (using the Triple Banner Punch) from Old Olive and layered the sentiment on top. I attached the banner to the card with dimensionals.

The flower:
The flower is stamped in Soft Suede onto Cajun Craze.  After punching it out, I attacked it with my bone folder to give it some dimension.  The centre is another of the stamps from the Beautiful Bunch set, stamped in Soft Suede onto Soft Suede card and punched out with the Petite Petals punch.  It received the same bone folder treatment!  I stuck a metal Rimmed Pearl in the centre.

Rich colours in the flower & leaves

The next card is very similar but the base card is Old Olive.  The frame is rectangular with So Saffron layered onto Soft Suede.  It doesn't show in the photo (because it's very subtle) but I randomly stamped some of the leaves in Versamark onto the So Saffron layer.  The flower is stamped in Soft Suede onto Cherry Cobbler but centre remains Soft Suede.  I used a different Teeny Tiny Sentiment and after cutting out the frame I sponged the edges with Soft Suede ink.  I attached the leaves and flower using some dimensionals as before.

The leaves:
I stamped out all the leaves using a mix of green inks.  I inked the entire leaf with Crushed Curry and then randomly sponged some Garden Green and Mossy Meadow onto the stamp before stamping onto my Very Vanilla card.  It looked very effective  but with all the colours I put on top later- my efforts may have been wasted! 

Finished leaves after sponging

After watercolouring: Some leaves had too
much water - but it didn't really matter in the end!

 My next step was to watercolour the leaves using a mix of Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Garden Green and Mossy Meadow ink and I took no care at all!  Once they were dry, I felt they lacked vibrancy so out came the sponge daubers and I sponged on some Cucumber Crush and Garden Green, using a little Cajun Craze here and there to define them and give them a bit of life.

Versamark stamping in the background for subtle elegance

This is the last card I made.  After cutting out the DSP for the previous two cards I was left with a strip of it that I decided to use for this card.   So I layered it onto a leftover piece of Soft Suede.  I randomly stamped leaf images onto a piece of Mint Macaron with Versamark and then inked the edges with Mint Macaron ink.  I layered that onto a base card of Mint Macaron for a subtle and elegant appearance.  I positioned my DSP strip and then went to work with my leaves and flower!  This flower is also stamped in Soft Suede onto Cherry Cobbler card with a Soft Suede centre and another Metal Rimmed Pearl.

I hope you've enjoyed these cards, I would really welcome your comments.

Thanks for taking part in our blog hop, there are so many amazing ideas and so much inspiration you don't want to miss. Remember that currently you are at my blog - Stephanie Fischer, so check the blog hop line up list to see who is next in the list and click on their name as you don't want to miss out on seeing any of the blogs and the amazing inspiration they contain. 

See you next time

Stephanie

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Splitcoaststampers Creative Crew Challenges - July 2015 - Part 1

LIFE'S A PICNIC

With the Northern Hemisphere heading into Summer, the focus this month is on the sights, smells, colours, places, food and family that Summer brings: Summer birthdays, graduations, family reunions, a day at the beach or just a backyard BBQ with family and friends!

Play along with the Creative Crew to get those creative juices flowing!
See the Creative Crew Gallery here for further inspiration.

Double Porthole card

CCREW0715CF, CreativeCrew, SUO - Catalog Focus
Anything foodie related, a stamp set, punches, you name it!

Sprinkles of Life really is turning into one of my "go to" stamp sets - I love it because it's so versatile!  Here I've stamped and coloured the image using Chocolate Chip, Perfect Plum and Elegant Eggplant.  The candle is Tip Top Taupe with a Daffodil Delight and Crushed Curry flame.  I added Dazzling Details to the icing. 

I really don't know what this fold should be called but I call it a double porthole.  The base cardstock is Tip Top Taupe with three designs from the Go Wild DSP stack.

How I did it:

1. I started with a 6" x 12" piece of Tip Top Taupe which I scored at 4" and 8" (neatly dividing it into three).  
2. I folded both sides in towards the centre, overlapping them with the left side on top.
3. I adhered a piece of DSP to the top flap.
4. I unfolded the card, used the second largest Lots of Labels framelit and carefully positioned it on top of the top flap and ran in through the Bigshot so that only the top layer was cut.
5. Using Perfect Plum cardstock I cut a frame using the largest and second largest of the Lots of Labels framelits and adhered it to the front of the card.
6. I refolded the card and lightly drew around the inside of the cut with a pencil to help me centre the die cut in the second flap.  
7. I wanted to leave a frame of Tip Top Taupe showing around the inside edge when the card is closed.
8. I opened out the card again and centred the third largest die in the set and ran it through the Bigshot.
9. I cut a piece of DSP to size, held it in position on top of flap 2 (with the smaller die cut), folded the top flap over and lightly drew around the inside of the cut shape again.
10. Then I placed the DSP in the Bigshot with the second largest die in position directly lined up with the pencil marks) and ran it through. 
11. Then I adhered the DSP to the second flap, being careful to line it up with the die cut in the front flap.  So now I had decorated my second flap but still kept the Tip Top Taupe frame that I wanted. 
12. I cut another Perfect Plum frame by repeating step 5 and adhered it to this second layer.
13. I centred a piece of Whisper White to the inside of the card and then cut a third piece of DSP to size.  I didn't want any of this DSP to show when the card is closed, so I repeated steps 9 & 10 and then adhered this DSP to the Whisper White.
14. I then added a Perfect Plum frame by repeating step 5.
15. I then closed the card before I adhered the cupcake, to help me position it where I wanted within the frame I had just created for it.
16. I placed a piece of Whisper White on the back of the card to provide somewhere to write a message.
    

    

    Sprinkles of life & Go Wild DSP

    
    The sentiment is from Endless Birthday Wishes.  I stamped it in black onto a 1" strip of thick Whisper White and then trimmed just the ends with one of the Tags & Labels Framelits (I've included instructions for this below).  Then I edged the resulting label with Tip Top Taupe and attached a couple of Perfect Plum Candy Dots (even they sound foodie!).  I repeated the process with normal Whisper White cardstock (without the sentiment and candy dots!) but just a tad longer.  I adhered the longer layer with snail and then added the top layer with dimensionals.

  

Sprinkles of life, custom made label

Making a symetrical label with the Tags & Labels Framlits:

1. I stamped my sentiment on a 1" strip of cardstock.  
2. I then fed one end of the strip through the framelit so that only the end of the strip was under the cutting blade (making sure it was straight).  I cranked just that end through the Bigshot to avoid leaving any impressions on the rest of the strip.
3. I then repeated the process on the other end of the strip.

Custom made
label, Step 3

Custom made
label, Step 2

Custom made label - to simply extend the length
of the die cut, stop at this step

CCREW0715DF, CreativeCrew, SUO - DSP/Colour Focus
Cucumber  Crush, Hello Honey and Watermelon Wonder - for more inspiration use the Cherry On Top DSP Stack!

OK, I'm going to be brutally honest here - I really don't like Cucumber Crush; either on its own or in combination.  So..... I've really struggled with this challenge. I'm not thrilled with my results but I'm happy that I managed to produce something.  I suppose the flowers, wall and leaf give it a very loose outdoors connection, then we have to make a leap to picnic!

Beautiful Bunch, Striped Scallop Thinlit

The base card is Cucumber Crush layered with Whisper White and Delightful Dijon (which was embossed with the Brick Wall embossing folder.  The two layers from Lots of Labels Framelits are Whisper White overlaid with the Cucumber Crush Colour Me Irresistable card.

The leaf is stamped in Garden Green onto Cucumber Crush using the Vintage Leaves stamp set and cut with the matching Leaflets Framelit.  I also added a little bit of Delightful Dijon cut with the Striped Scallop Thinlit.

The large flower is stamped with Cherry Cobbler ink onto Watermelon Wonder cardstock with the Beautiful Bunch stamp set and cut with the matching Fun Flower Punch.  I added the largest of the Metal Rimmed Pearls to the centre.

The two smaller flowers are cut from the Watermelon Wonder Cotton Paper with the Petite Petals Punch and then scrunched up around a really small brad.

I wanted to add a bow but didn't want to use the Dotted Lace Trim, so I used the now retired Stitched Satin Ribbon in Crushed Curry which seemed to do the trick.

The remaining two July Challenges follow in Part 2.

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