Stampin' Dreams Blog Hop - Beginner, Casual, Avid: Something for Everyone

Welcome to the monthly Stampin' Dreams Blog Hop.  You are currently visiting Stephanie Fischer (The Crafty Thinker) from Australia.

Our theme this month is to provide inspiration for all stampers - beginner, casual or avid!

One stamp set (Incredible Like You) makes cards suitable for the beginner, casual or avid cardmaker

For the Beginner:

In designing this card I had in mind a fictional person who had taken their first steps into cardmaking by purchasing the gorgeous Incredible Like You Project Kit (Occasions Catalogue 2019) and associated products.

A simple card using the Incredible Like You stamp set - suitable for a beginner

This card includes simple stamping and requires minimal products (the inks and stamp set that my fictional person already owns after completing the Incredible Like You Project Kit plus a Shaded Spruce ink pad and a pack of Subtles A4 cardstock).

For the Casual Crafter:

This clean & simple card featuring the Incredible Like You stamp set uses
two step stamping and masking - suitable for the casual crafter

I've added a Petal Pink ink pad and a pack of A4 Whisper White cardstock to the product list.

I've also added a couple of new techniques:  Masking and two-step stamping

Tip: Stamp the flowers first, mask them, then stamp the other images before removing the masks.

For the Avid Crafter:

Combining the Incredible Like You stamp set with foliage cut with the Bouquet Bunch Framelits Dies

This card includes some more products and tools that an avid crafter is likely to already have in their craft room such as a Big Shot Die Cutting Machine, if not - they'll want them!

There's also another couple of techniques - a little bit of Out of The Box die-cutting and some stamping off

Tip:  I added some colour to the die-cut foliage by using a small paintbrush (or aquapainter) to pick up some of the Shaded Spruce ink left on the stamps.

Stepping up the design for the beginner, casual and avid crafter
All of the cards feature the gorgeous Incredible Like You stamp set

I haven't gone into a lot of detail in this post but will be happy to answer any questions or provide more information - just leave a comment or contact me.

Thank you for visiting.  I hope you enjoyed these cards.  You are currently visiting Stephanie Fischer - please see the list below and click on the next person on the list to hop through all of the people to see all of our projects.  You don't want to miss any!

Finally, I'd like to thank Vicki Hunter who has taken over the reins of organising these wonderful Blog Hops from the wonderful Jessie Holton so that they can continue!  YAY!!

'Til next time!

Stephanie

Product List - All available in my online store

Incredible Like You Photopolymer Stamp Set

$28.00

Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad

$13.00

Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad

$13.00

Lovely Lipstick Classic Stampin' Pad

$13.00

Subtles A4 Card Stock

$14.00

Petal Pink Classic Stampin' Pad

$13.00

Layering Ovals Framelits Dies

$58.00

Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins

$12.25

Bouquet Bunch Framelits Dies

$50.00

Big Shot

$159.00

Tea Room Memories & More simple cards

These cards are very slight step up from the first set of cards I shared with you using the gorgeous Tea Room Memories & More cards - but only because I've added the coordinating Tea Room Specialty Designer Series Paper as well as some Old Olive and Crushed Curry cardstock to the mix.  These  colours can be found in the Regals Collection.

Card 1: Tea Room Memories & More Card Pack
with coordinating Tea Room Specialty Designer Series Paper

Card 1 Dimensions:
The base card measures 10" x 6" scored and folded at 5".

The Today is the Day card from the pack measures 3" x 4".  I adhered it to:
a piece of Old Olive cardstock trimmed to 3 1/8" x 4 1/8"

The next layer is piece of the paper cut to 3.5" x 4.5" which is adhered to:
a piece of Calypso Coral cardstock trimmed to 3.75" x 4.75"

The last layer is another piece of the paper cut to 4.75" x 5.75"

Card 2: Tea Room Memories & More Card Pack
with coordinating Tea Room Specialty Designer Series Paper

Card 2 Dimensions:
The base card measures 10" x 6" scored and folded at 5".

I trimmed the Hello card from the pack to 3" x  4" and adhered it to:

a piece of Coastal Cabana cardstock measuring 3 1/8" x 4 1/8"

The next layer is a piece of the paper cut to 4.25" x 5.25" adhered to:

a piece of Crushed Curry cardstock measuring 4 3/8" x 5 3/8"

The last layer is a piece of the paper trimmed to 4.75" x 5.75"

If you have some Glitter Enamel Dots, you could place them in the corners of the focal card for a bit of bling.

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time!
Stephanie

Product List - All products required to make these cards are available in my online store for Australian Residents

Tea Room Memories & More Card Pack

$17.50

Tea Room A4 Cardstock Pack

$14.75

Tea Room Specialty Designer Series Paper

$24.25

Regals A4 Cardstock

$14.75

Tear & Tape Adhesive

$9.00

Stampin' Trimmer

$50.00

Tea Room Cards - Simply Lovely & step ups

The Tea Room Memories & More card pack is a great purchase for anyone but especially the person just starting their cardmaking journey who currently has a limited, or even non-existent, card-making stash!

In this post I'm hoping to illustrate how one can start off with very few products (as most of us do) and gradually build up a creative stash.  Exact choices, of course, are very personal but one tip I can provide is to think about versatility when choosing a stamp set, papers etc  I always ask myself, "what else will this go with?  Can I use it for multiple occasions?"

All the photos in this post are of the same card, increasingly stepped up.  We start here with most basic version.

Version 1: a simple card using the Tea Room Memories & More Card pack and Tea Room Cardstock Pack

I took an A4 sheet of Coastal Cabana cardstock, cut it to 8.75" x 6 3/8" and folded it in half.

I then cut a piece of Calypso Coral cardstock to 4 3/8" x 6 3/8" and stuck it to the card.

The next layer (the stripey one) is one of the Tea Room cards which I trimmed to 4.25" x 6.25" and adhered to the card front.

The "You are Lovely" card from the Tea Room pack measures 4" x 3" and I stuck it to a piece of Coastal Cabana cardstock trimmed to 4.25" x 3.25".  I stuck this piece straight onto the card front but, if you have them in your stash, you could adhere it with some Stampin' Dimensionals to give a bit of depth to the card.

At this point, the card could be finished!  However, it can also be stepped up with the addition of some Coastal Cabana ink (see the next image, Version 2, below).  Ink pads can be purchased individually or in Collections (there are four collections of 10 colours and two In-Colour collections with 5 colours each)  Coastal Cabana is part of the Brights Collection.  One of the great joys of Stampin' Up! is the way all the colours coordinate and match perfectly: cardstock, patterned paper, ribbons, embellishments etc

Version 2: The Tea Room Memories & More card, stepped up with the addition of some Coastal Cabana ink

Transfer some ink from a Coastal Cabana ink pad onto a non-porous surface to act as a palette (or you can simply squeeze the closed ink pad to transfer ink to the lid which doubles as a palette).  Using a small round paint brush and some water, brush a light layer of colour onto the acanthus leaves.  Dip the brush back into the undiluted ink on your palette and add some darker shading.

TIP:  Water is the enemy of your ink pad - never be tempted to dab your wet brush directly onto the ink pad.

This stepped up version of the card is now finished.  So let's look at the next step up in Version 3 below.

Version 3: The same Tea Room Memories & More card with the addition of
die cut flowers using the Serene Garden Bundle

In version 3 I have added the Serene Garden Bundle to my stash of products as well as some Pool Party cardstock and the Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine (this is a great investment as it opens up a whole world of creativity) and I chose to also add the Stamparatus (because it makes lining up soooo easy) but that would be optional.

If you don't have a Stamparatus: stamp the flower image onto Pool Party cardstock with Coastal Cabana ink, carefully line up the coordinating die around it and run through the Big Shot to cut.  You'll need three of these.
If you do have the Stamparatus: cut the shapes first and then follow the method outlined here for perfect alignment of image and die-cut.  (You might also want to see this video for some more Stamparatus tips.)

Then simply adhere these flowers to the card front either with the Tear & Tape adhesive, some liquid glue or if you'd like to get a bit trickier - add liquid glue to the stem end and a dimensional at the other end to lift the tip of the flower.  I used liquid glue.

So on to Version 4 for the next step up (see image below)

Version 4: Tea Room Memories & More card pack, Serene Garden Bundle and some Coastal Cabana ink

In this penultimate version, I used the same method as before to add shades of Coastal Cabana ink to the die-cut flowers.  The coloured cardstock is much more susceptible to water though, so care must be taken to use a damp rather than wet brush. TIP:  Try using light brush strokes in just one direction to avoid pilling or damaging the cardstock.

OK - that leads us to the last version (Version 5 - see below). I simply added some self-adhesive pearls from the Share What You Love Artisan Pearls pack.

Version 5: Share What You Love Artisan Pearls finish the Tea Room Memories & More card

Most of us don't have the luxury of buying everything at once when we start a new craft or hobby (however much we'd like to!) and I hope this post has helped to show that it's not necessary anyway.  Just start with some basics and see where it leads you!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask - I'm always happy to help if I can.

Thank you for visiting.

'Til next time, have fun crafting!

Stephanie

Product List - All products used are available in my online store for Australian Residents

Tea Room Memories & More Card Pack

$17.50

Tea Room A4 Cardstock Pack

$14.75

Tear & Tape Adhesive

$9.00

Stampin' Trimmer

$50.00