Crazy Crafters Blog Hop - June 2015

 

Welcome to the Crazy Crafters blog hop for June. This month we are excited to show off our favourite Stampin’ Up! products from the just released 2015 – 2016 Annual Catalogue. We hope you find great inspiration from the projects. Get your wish list ready! 

You may just be starting the blog hop here at my blog - Stephanie Fischer - 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. 

It's no secret that I have LOTS of favourites in the new Catalogue but perhaps my most favourite is the Watercolour Wings stamp set.  Why?  Because it's so versatile and that's what I look for in my purchases!  It combines beautifully with Butterfly Basics and both of the matching die sets - Butterflies Thinlits and the new Bold Butterfly Framelits.  In fact I love this set so much that I made two projects for this blog hop!

Bleach technique, sponging. Best Thoughts & Watercolour Wings stamp sets

The first is a simple latch card - thank you to Dina Kowal at Splitcoaststampers for the great tutorial.  I heat embossed the flower image from Best Thoughts and "reverse coloured" by painting with bleach, using more bleach in some areas than others to for shading and highlights.  I stamped the Watercolour Wings butterflies twice, cutting one with the plain die and one with the matching filligree die.  I then glued the two layers together at the centre and adhered them onto the floral base, popping up the wings on dimensionals. 

Inside

The colours I used are Island Indigo, Bermuda Bay and Pool Party.  I stamped the butterflies in these colours onto Soft Sky cardstock.  The butterfly bodies are Soft Suede.  I decorated the latch edge of the card with the Boho Chic embossing folder - using just the end and carefully embossing twice in order to cover the entire length of the card (the only way I could fit it all through the big shot as my card is quite large).

The second is a card in a box.  I made it with the new thick Whisper White card stock (so it's VERY sturdy!) which I decorated with English Garden DSP and filled with a variety of butterflies and foliage.   

The sentiment from Watercolour Wings is stamped onto Blushing Bride card and cut out with the Tags & Labels Framelits. I stuck that onto a slightly larger Night of Navy layer.  

Foliage is from Kinda Eclectic (hand cut) and the Bird Builder Punch.  

All the colours are drawn from the English Garden DSP.
 

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

Thanks for taking part in our blog hop, there are so many amazing ideas and 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 as you don't want to miss out on seeing any of the blogs and the amazing inspiration they contain.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Hey Girl - Sweet 16

Hey, Girl

Guess who realised today that it's her niece's 16th birthday?!!  Ooops! So this was a very quickly made card!

The Hey, Girl stamp set is very versatile.  The shopping bags, handbag and smart phone were perfect for this occasion but our sweet girl could be clutching a balloon (or several balloons), some flowers or a dog lead (yes, there's a little dog too!).   Or she could just be standing there with her arms out as if to say "Da-da, here I am!".

The numbers are from the Back to Basics Alphabet set and the word "sweet" comes from the Project Life Remember This stamp set.  It's half of the sentiment that says "Sweet moments".  This little sentiment is die cut with the Tags & Labels Framelits; Watercolour paper layered onto Mint Macaron. I punched two little holes and fed through the little piece of ribbon cut from the Dotted Lace Trim in Watermelon Wonder.  I used the 2-way glue pen over the stamped watercolour paper and added some Dazzling Diamonds.

Stamped in Stazon on watercolour paper and coloured with inks and an aquapainter - Mint Macaron, Delightful Dijon, Watermelon Wonder and Cucumber Crush.  There's a touch of Basic Grey in the phone.  Her skin is Blushing Bride and Calypso Coral with Watermelon Wonder lips.  The background is a soft wash of Marina Mist and Tip Top Taupe.

The base card is Cucumber Crush layered with Watermelon Wonder and the watercolour paper.

Several Shades of Grey!

There are so many beautiful stamp sets and papers in the new catalogue that I'm like a kid in a candy shop at the moment!

Yesterday I had some time to play and decided to try the Timeless Elegance DSP.  I just love it!  It's so gorgeous it really does all the heavy lifting for you, making it really quick and easy to create a beautiful card!  How good is that?!

In just a short space of time, with the addition of of the Watercolour Wonder and Awesomely Artistic stamp sets I made these three cards.

By just letting the beautiful prints on the DSP do all the talking, I could have made even more!

I used the Out of the Box technique to cut out the stamped panel with the new Lots of Labels Framelits.  I stamped the dragonfly with versamark onto Very Vanilla card, applied heat & stick powder and then dazzling diamonds.  I highlighted around the wings with an aquapainter and basic grey ink.

Awesomely Artistic stamp set

I watercoloured the Awesomely Artistic foliage with Sahara Sand and Basic Grey inks.  The die cuts were edged with Basic Grey ink.  I stamped the frame and the word "Friend" from the Awesomely Artistic set and cut it out with the matching framelit from the Project Life Cards & Labels Framelit set.

Happy Birthday is from the Sprinkles of Life set.  Since it's photopolymer I was able to bend it to fit the Bitty Banner Framelet.

I layered the Timeless Elegance DSP onto Basic Black cardstock and then onto the Sahara Sand card base.

Watercolour Wonder Stamp Set

 The sentiment on the striped card is from Birthday Blossoms.  I hand cut the Very Vanilla layer to points and layered it onto Sahara Sand cardstock cut with another of the Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits.  Then I applied two of the smallest of the metal rimmed pearl embellishments.  I stamped the Watercolour Wings butterfly with Sahara Sand, Basic Grey and Black.

The Timeless Elegance DSP is layered onto Basic Black and then onto the Sahara Sand card base.  Both the butterfly and the sentiment are popped up on dimensionals.

Watercolour Wonder Stamp Set

For the last card, the Timeless Elegance DSP is edged with black ink and layered onto the Basic Grey card.

The sentiment is from That Thing You Did and I stamped it in black directly onto the DSP.

The Watercolour Wings butterfly is stamped in black and Basic Grey.  I then picked out parts of it with the 2-way glue pen and applied Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  The wings are popped up on dimensionals.


In the next few weeks I'll post more pictures of what I make with some of the new products.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Splitcoaststampers Creative Crew Challenges - June 2015

I can't believe another month has gone by already and here we are in the middle of the year!  The challenges and gallery are up and running for June, so pop over and take a look at all the inspirational creations or, better yet, play along!  These are my entries for the four June challenges.

CCREW0615DF, SUO, Color Focus: 

Hostess stamp set - Best Thoughts

With the focus on the In Colours, I just had to choose Watermelon Wonder - I think it's the pefect pink!  It's not too bright and not too pastel and has a lovely warmth to it.  Perfect!  I've layered the Watermelon Wonder cardstock onto Cherry Cobbler and I like them very much together.  I stamped onto Whisper White cardstock with black Stazon so that I could watercolour the images with ink: all of the new In Colours (Watermelon Wonder, Delightful Dijon, Mint Macaron, Tip Top Taupe, Cucumber Crush) and a touch of Cherry Cobbler to add depth to the flower.  The butterfly wing is popped up with a dimensional, although it doesn't really show in the photo.  The bow uses the new Dotted Lace Trim in Watermelon Wonder.  The flower is from the stamp set Best Thoughts which is available to hostesses (worth holding a party for, I think!).  On this occasion I've used a sentiment from a different stamp set -
A Dozen Thoughts.


CCREW0615CF, SUO, Catalog Focus:
I found it really quite difficult to focus on just one new item in the new Catalogue - I love so many of them!  So I cheated a little bit and featured several!  Probably my most favourite at the moment is the stamp set You've Got This (although I think there might be some more favourites once all my new products arrive - I'm fickle like that!).  I stamped the flower onto Whisper White with Stazon and coloured it with Delightful Dijon.  I used a touch of Rich Razzleberry in the centre of the flower, cut it out and gave it a little more glam with a touch of Dazzling Diamonds. 

The cardstock colours are: Blackberry Bliss, Delightful Dijon, Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo.  There's also a touch of Very Vanilla in the banner.  All the colours are drawn from one of my other new favourites - Bohemian DSP.

I punched the top of the DSP framelet with the Scallop Tag Topper and fed a Blackberry Bliss and Very Vanilla banner through it and behind the flower.  I used the new Triple Banner Punch for the banner - oh how it simplifies things!  The sentiment is from Wetlands and is heat-embossed in white.

The final flourish is the Delightful Dijon Blossom Accent which I topped with a Pearl Basic Jewel.

CCREW0615SF, SUO, Scrapbook & More Focus:
Whilst the weather is turning a bit chilly here in Sydney (June being the first month of Winter), elsewhere in the world the focus is turning to weddings! I'll admit this was my favourite of the four challenges because it gave me the perfect opportunity to make a First Anniversary gift for my special friends Rebekah & Luke.  We were so happy to be able to attend their beautiful wedding in England last year and I really enjoyed "revisiting" it for this challenge.

I decorated a fairly plain and simple frame with the Gorgeous Grunge and Everything Eleanor stamp sets.  The leaves were made with the Bird Builder Punch and the flowers with the Petite Petals Stamp set and punch, Itty Bitty Accents punch and two sizes of Scallop Circle punches.  The really tiny little flowers were cut with the new Tree Builder Punch.  Centres for the smaller flowers are pearls or candy dots.  The centres of the three larger flowers are Dazzling Diamonds.  The three larger flowers were inspired by Miriam Spiess's Miriamthiums - but I'm afraid I need more practice!  You'll find Miriam's tutorial and beautiful flowers here.

The sentiments are from the Project Life Remember This stamp set and the ovals at the top of the frame are cut with the Scallop Oval and Large Oval punches. 

Colours used are black, Whisper White, Slate Grey, Basic Grey and Tangerine Tango.

CCREW0615HF, SUO, Holiday Focus:
Fathers' Day is celebrated here in September rather than June, so I shall be very prepared when September comes around - as long as I remember that I've already made the card!

It turns out that this card was easier to make than photograph!  I used my favourite Bohemian DSP with Blackberry Bliss, Rich Razzleberry and Delightful Dijon cardstock.  I stamped images and sentiments from the Guy Greetings stamp set using Blackberry Bliss ink on Very Vanilla card.  I anchored the banners with Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo candy dots on candy dot brad bases.  To fill in a bare corner on the front of the card I made a little feature with the new Bohemian Borders stamp set which I coloured with Bermuda Bay and Delightful Dijon Stampin' Write markers and added a little Crystal Effects to the centre to create a little jewel.

The fold is a Pop Up Book Card and Deb Valder has an excellent tutorial here.

I hope you've enjoyed these cards and I do encourage you to play along with the challenges and also to visit the gallery at Splitcoaststampers. 

Blog Hop - Sneak Peek

 

Thank you for joining us for this month's Crazy Crafters Blog Hop.  If you've been following the hop, you should have arrived here from the very talented Angela Lorenz. 

We are all very excited about all the lovely new products in the brand new Annual Catalogue and this Hop is all about giving you a sneak peek of what's in store for us all from 2nd June when the 2015-2016 Catalogue comes into effect.  We hope that you will love the new products as much as we do and that you enjoy our previews and ideas.  If you've already got your copy of the new catalogue you'll understand just why we're so excited! 

I found it really difficult to settle on an item to showcase because I love so many of them!  In the end I decided to make two cards using the Sprinkles of Life stamp set which is just so versatile.  With same set (and without trying very hard!) it can make cupcakes (with our without candles or sprinkles), clouds, rain, ice cream in a cone, a basket of flowers, a basket of apples, a tree (with or without leaves, flowers, fruit) - you get the picture!  There is also a matching punch, just to make it even easier to create the tops of the cupcakes, tree, rain drops etc.

Cupcakes by The Cakery & Co

This first card is a box full of cupcakes for my friend Emma, the Cupcake Queen, who bakes the most beautiful cakes and cupcakes and for whom I'm happy to taste test anytime!  She's super-busy at the moment making beautiful daffodil cupcakes for a Biggest Morning Tea fundraiser.

Bohemian DSP & Blackberry Bliss Cardstock

Sprinkles of Life & I Think You're Great stamp sets

Sprinkles of Life Magic Card showing the magic!

The second card is a "magic card".  There are lots of tutorials for magic cards and the only thing I've done a little differently is to place the magic bit onto the front of a normal card (made by folding a piece of A5 cardstock in half) because I like cards that open.  I used three of the new 2015-2017 In Colours: Tip Top Taupe, Delightful Dijon and Watermelon Wonder.

Sprinkles of Life & Bohemian Borders stamp sets

Stampin' Up! are donating $3 to Ronald McDonald House with every Sprinkles of Life stamp set sold.

Just want to send a warm "hello" to our fellow Crazy Crafter, Em Robinson, who sadly was unable to join in the hop this month but who is avidly following it.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit!  Please click on the "next" button below to hop on to see the great ideas of the next Crazy Crafter - the amazing Angela Westland. 

Sneak Peek - New In-Colours 2015-2017

I realised when I was playing with the new colours yesterday that I was having a little trouble coming to grips with them.  So I decided to put them into context for myself by making some quick little colour boards as a quick and easy reference. 

I'm finding them so handy, I think I'll eventually make little colour boards for orange, blue and purple as well.

New In-Colour Tip Top Taupe

New In-Colours Cucumber Crush & Mint Macaron

New In-Colour Watermelon Wonder

New In-Colour Delightful Dijon

I'll put up some more card photos over the weekend.

See you then!

Sneak Peek 2015-2016 Catalogue - Cupcakes, Birthdays & Flowers

 A little Sneak Peek of a some new products coming in the new catalogue.

My 2015-16 Catalogue with easy-locate tabs (thanks to a clever friend!)

If you'd like to order your own copy of this catalogue for $7.95 inc postage, click the Paypal link below (Australian residents only).    It will be mailed directly to you from Stampin' Up! around 25th May.  The exciting new products are available for purchase from 2nd June.

Bohemian DSP - lots of bright, bold colours and patterns (and some more subdued patterns as well).

The embellishment comes in the new In-colours (I added a rhinestone because ... why not?!). Delightful Dijon is one of the new colours.

Sprinkles of Life cupcake, Bohemian DSP,

In-colour Blossom Accent

The photo doesn't do the glitter justice!

The cupcake is built using a really versatile stamp set called Sprinkles of Life. It can be rainclouds, ice creams, baskets of fruit ... and also has a lovely tree image.

Stampin' Up! make a donation to Ronald McDonald House with every sale of this stamp set. There is also a matching punch, which I haven't used yet.....

Build a Birthday, Boho Chic Embossing Folder

 OK, I've got a couple more very quick cards for you!

This one uses the Build a Birthday stamp set - another really versatile set with lots of options.  I've added some twisted up Lace Trim and embossed the card with the Boho Chic embossing folder.  These are some of the new In-colours: Tip Top Taupe, Watermelon Wonder and Mint Macaron.

You've Got This stamp set

This last one uses the You've Got This stamp set, which has the gorgeous flower, the useful grungey background and some supportive sentiments.  This time, I chose to use the birthday sentiment from the Build a Birthday set.  I used the same In-colours while I had them open.  And I do love a bit of bling - so I added a rhinestone to the blossom embellishment again.

Stay tuned for some more sneak peeks over the next few weeks and remember to order your copy of the catalogue - you're going to LOVE it!