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

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Creative Crew August Challenge - Saying "Goodbye" to Summer - Holiday

Holiday Focus

 Well, all good things must come to an end and I'm sad to say that this is my last month on the Creative Crew team.  It's been such an honour to be part of this team and also very enjoyable - I'm going to miss it but wish the new team all the best - I know they'll come up with lots of  beautiful inspiration for us all.

CCREW0815HF
You can be the dreamer here:
3 August  National Watermelon Day
10 August National S'mores Day
13 August Left Hander's Day
14 August V-J Day
30 August National Marshmallow Toasting Day

As an Australian, I have chosen to highlight an Australian national day.  Friday 28 August is Daffodil Day - something very close to my heart.

What is Daffodil Day?  It's an annual fund-raising event run by the Cancer Council of Australia when we buy daffodils or daffodil pins to help support vital cancer research, develop cancer prevention programs, and provide patient support (like Cancer Council 13 11 20) for the tens of thousands of Australian lives affected by cancer.  Daffodil Day is a day when we can all show we care about beating cancer.

The Daffodil is a hardy annual flower that pushes its way through the frozen earth after a long winter to herald the return of spring, new life, vitality and growth - it symbolises rebirth and new beginnings.  So it was chosen by the Cancer Counil to represent hope for a cancer-free future.

Centre Step Card to celebrate Daffodil Day

I just love Step Cards - they're so quick, easy and effective!  This style of Centre Step Card is one of my go-to folds!  There are many tutorials available.

The base is Mossy Meadow, layered with Hello Honey and English Garden DSP.   I used the Ovals Collection Framelits to layer Mossy Meadow and Whisper White.  The edge of the white oval and all the DSP is inked with Hello Honey.

The ribbon is Hello Honey Quilted Cotton which I found in my stash.  I'm sorry that it's retired.

To make the daffodils I used the Fun Flower punch with Crushed Curry cardstock (edged with Hello Honey ink) and the 1.25" Scallop Circle punch with Pumpkin Pie cardstock with a little Pumpkin Pie button in the centre.  The leaves are free cut from Garden Green cardstock.

How to make a daffodil

This picture of the flowers in progress is probably worth more than a thousand words in describing how I made the daffodils!

Once I'd trimmed the scallop circle, I put a glue dot behind one end to stick it to the other end - this makes the daffodil trumpet.

I used the bone folder on the yellow petals to add depth and then glued the trumpet and a button into the middle of the flower.

Have fun with this challenge, wherever you are and whatever you choose to celebrate!  I look forward to seeing your creations over at Splitcoaststampers!


Thanks for looking.
Stephanie

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog