Sky is the limit - Sale-A-Bration

This card combines two stamp sets to create a little scene.  I think the aircraft was being so noisy that everyone left the park bench!

The lower half of the card uses two stamps from the Happy Home set which is in the new Occasions Catalogue.  I omitted the clouds on the stamp with the park bench because they didn't fit with the rest of this particular scene.

The top half used stamps from the Sale-A-Bration set called Sky Is The Limit.  There are 8 stamps in the set including some great greetings and clouds.

This stamp set is only available for a limited time (until 15th February or stock runs out) and can not be purchased.  It can only be obtained FREE with an order of $90 of products.

Colouring process I used:
Coloured the aircraft using the Real Red marker from Many Marvellous Markers
Applied Versamark to the aircraft and smoke trail heart using a Versamarker.
Tipped clear embossing powder over the top half of the card and tapped off excess
Used a small brush to remove embossing powder from areas I didn't want it (mainly around the edge of the plane)
Used the heat tool on the embossing
Sponged light green over the tree top
Sponged light green for the grass (darker at the bottom of the card)
Sponged Soft Sky all over the top of the card - working from the top down and edge in
Sponged Marina Mist to the top of the card and left side - blending it out
Sponged a darker green to the tree - mainly in the middle and towards the bottom
Sponged a darker green to bottom edge of the card
Used a matching darker green market to fill in the leaf shapes in the tree to give a bit more depth
Used a tissue to wipe any ink off the embossed areas
Coloured the park bench with a Crumb Cake marker and the flowers with Real Red.

If you like the Sky Is The Limit stamp set (and it IS gorgeous and very versatile) - remember that it will only be available for a short while so get your qualifying order in as soon as you can!

'Til next time
Stephanie

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Botanical Blooms Bundle

Woohoo - today's the day that everyone can get their favourite products from the new Occasions Catalogue AND get a FREE Sale-A-Bration product with every $90 spend!

If you haven't yet seen all the mouth-droolingly gorgeous new products, click here to see the PDF version of the Occasions Catalogue and here to see the fantastic selection of FREE Sale-A-Bration products that can be earned.

Today I've had tremendous fun with the Botanical Blooms Bundle!

The label and greeting are from the Rose Wonder Bundle

I was inspired by the Global Design Project challenge set by Brian King to use these three colours. 

Just click on the image to join in the challenge or see the other great entries

I'll confess that at first glance I wasn't very inspired by the colour choice! But after a bit of thought I realised that green and pink are perfect for flowers and crumb cake could become a garden wall.  Thanks Brian - it really was a great challenge.

I've really fallen hard for the Botanicals Blooms bundle because they all work perfectly with each other and they're so versatile!  I can see a lot of mixing and matching going on with this set!  The best bit for me, though, is that it's so easy to make a pretty design with them - it almost "builds" itself!

The inside of the card.

I stamped some flowers from the Botanical Blooms set inside the card and the greeting is from a free Sale-A-Bration set called Perfect Pairings (141261 for the clear stamps), which I love for it's bold but elegant sentiments.

I hope you enjoyed this card.

'Til next time

Stephanie

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Occasions Catalogue Preview - Birthday Blooms in black

Hasn't time flown - tomorrow's the day that everyone can make their purchases from the gorgeous new Occasions Catalogue and earn FREE Sale-a-bration items at the same time!

I'm a bit stuck on Crushed Curry and Wink of Stella at the moment - I don't seem to be able to keep away from them!

This card started out very differently and went through several different looks before ending up here!  There are still things I wish I'd done differently ... and I will - on the next one I make!

However, here it is.

So hard to capture, but this card really shimmers in the light!

I'm really in love with the beautiful shimmer from Wink of Stella - the only trouble I have with it is that it's REALLY hard to photograph!

I added more Wink of Stella to the lighter areas of the flower.

I clear heat-embossed the birthday bloom onto Basic Black cardstock and then bleached it.  Once the bleach was good and dry, I applied a generous coating of clear Wink of Stella.  I used the Out of the Box technique to die cut the floral centrepiece with one of the Ovals Collection framelits.  

I used both sides of the yellow sheet in the Perfectly Artistic Designer Series Paper Pack (141021).  This is a FREE Sale-a-bration item (with a $90 purchase) but is only available for a limited time.  It's gorgeous, so don't delay!

I stamped random(ish) dots using one of the stamps in the Birthday Blooms set.  I did this by applying some gold Wink of Stella to the stamp, so the gold dots shimmer in the light.

I painted the flowers in the lower corners of the card with Crushed Curry ink as well as some gold and clear Wink of Stella.  

I also stamped some random little flowers onto the background with Crushed Curry ink that I'd stamped off twice.

The greeting is from the Birthday Blossoms set.

'Til next time

Stephanie

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Occasions Catalogue Preview - Grateful Bunch & Number of Years Bundle

The first family birthday of the year is just around the corner!  I wanted to make her something feminine and fitting to celebrate her 16th birthday but not too "twee".

This is what I came up with.

It's hard to see in the photo but the flowers, numbers and butterfly shimmer with Wink of Stella

What I used from the Occasions Catalogue:
Number of Years Bundle: 140811
Grateful Bunch Bundle - 140801
Wink of Stella Clear - 141897
Wink of Stella Gold - 141898

The numbers and some of the flowers are popped up on Dimensionals - a good way to use the edge pieces of the dimensionals!

I painted the gold flowers with Gold Wink of Stella - adding a little extra in places for depth.  I then decided that I'd like a bit of Bermuda Bay in the petals but didn't want to reduce the shimmer.  So I picked up some Bermuda Bay ink with the tip of the Clear Wink of Stella brush.  When I'd finished I simply squiggled the brush on some scrap paper until it was clean again.

I hope you like this card - I welcome any comments you have.

'Til next time
Stephanie

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Occasions Catalogue Preview - Picture Perfect Bird

Happy New Year!!!  Welcome to my first post of 2016!

That's exciting enough in itself but it also means that we're only a few days away from Sale-a-bration and purchasing from the new Occasions Catalogue! Yay!  Remember, from 5th January to 31st March you can choose one FREE Sale-a-bration item for every $90 you spend!

A get well card suitable for a sick male!

One of our friends is spending New Year in hospital so I made this card to cheer him up a bit.

I've used the bird from the Picture Perfect stamp set (140520) in the new Occasions Catalogue.  This set represents great value with 18 photopolymer stamps in the set!  It's also very versatile since it includes a two-step star fish, a three-step flower and this four-step bird.

Yes, that's right - this is a four-step stamp!  I must admit that I was at first a little intimidated by that - but once I inked up the stamps I found it very easy to use and it gives a beautiful effect.  The possibilities are endless with colour combinations!  This one used Smoky Slate, Basic Grey and Crushed Curry inks.

I wanted the bird to be breaking free so I used the out of the box technique for die cutting, masked the bird and sponged with Smoky Slate.

I then cut a larger piece with the Lots of Labels dies and used a mask to sponge on clouds with Soft Sky and Marina Mist ink.  The last of the Lots of Labels layers was cut from Soft Sky cardstock.

The next layer is whisper white cardstock.  I embossed it with the ElegantDots embossing folder, punched the corners with the Curvy Cornere Trio Punch (139683 in the Occasions Catalogue) and sponged the edges with Smoky Slate and Basic Grey inks before adhering it to the Crushed Curry card.

The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Sentiments, stamped in Basic Black ink.

To give the bird a bit of lift (sorry - couldn't help myself!), I popped the Soft Sky layer up on dimensionals.

Dimensionals add a bit of lift to the bird

I added a gel pen dot to bring the eye to life

I hope you like this card - please leave a comment!

'Til next time

Stephanie

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Occasions 2016 Catalogue Preview - In The Meadow

If you've seen my previous posts (in particular those featuring No Bones About It), you'll know that I love to put little scenes together - so this gorgeous set was a must have for me and I've finally had the opportunity to get inky with it!

This was my first card but I'm sure it won't be my last!

In The Meadow from the 2016 Occasions Catalogue

Products from the new Occasions Catalogue are available for purchase from 5th January (very soon now!).

Remember that Sale-A-Bration also starts on 5th January and for every $90 you spend you can choose a FREE ITEM from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue.  If you don't have catalogues or a Demonstrator and you live in Australia contact me to get some.

So how did I make this card?
I started by stamping the deer in black and then masking them.
Next I stamped the mountains with Elegant Eggplant and again (without re-inking the stamp) slightly above and to the left and then a third time in between to create a range of mountains disappearing into the distance.

I coloured the mountains with sponge daubers and Wisteria Wonder ink (for the more distant mountains) and a light coating of Elegant Eggplant .  I used a little more ink in places for shadows and crags.

I used a sponge dauber and Pear Pizzazz ink to create grasslands - getting lighter near the mountains to give an impression of distance.

I added Mossy Meadow and Early Espresso inks to the tree stamp using Stampin' Write Markers  and then stamped the trees (twice).

At this point I removed the mask from the deer and watercoloured them with Delightful Dijon and Soft Suede inks.

I stamped the grass image with Pear Pizzazz in the foreground and lightly stamped this off heading towards the mountains a bit to give a bit of texture to the grasslands.

I then used the same grass stamp with Mossy Meadow to add some shadowy depth to the foreground (especially under the trees) and sponged a little Mossy Meadow to the bottom edge to finish giving depth to the foreground.

I used a sponge dauber and Soft Sky for the sky and then added a little Marina Mist to the top  edge.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set and I placed it in the grasslands with black ink.

The stamped panel was matted onto Mossy Meadow cardstock and then placed onto the Old Olive card.

Close up of the lovely deer

Well, this is my last post for this year - see you in 2016 and I wish everyone a wonderful New Year!
Stephanie

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Sale-A-Bration 2016 Preview - Honeycomb Happiness

I can't believe it's Sale-A-Bration time of year again!  And it's a really good one - this year there are lots of great products available FOR FREE with a qualifying purchase (one free product with every $90 you spend).

I've been playing with the little bird from the Honeycomb Happiness stamp set (141291).  I don't have the Honeycomb Embellishments (140566 in the new Occasions Catalogue) that are designed to sit very nicely on the little bird's chest, so I've just been watercolouring.  

Blackberry Bliss and Melon Mambo version on Shimmery White card 

Although I'm still not completely happy with my results - I thought I'd better share before it's no longer a preview!  Only 6 days until the start of Sale-A-Bration and the new Occasions Catalogue! Yay!

Pool Party and Crushed Curry (retired ribbon) on Whisper White
I hand-drew the twig

I've also used some products from the new Occasions Catalogue:
Confetti embossing folder (140592) 
It's My Party Enamel Dots (140554) which I've placed on Candy Dots bases
Shimmery White Cardstock (121717)

Sale-A-Bration is also a REALLY good time to join as a demonstrator if you'd like to get your hands on the great Stampin' Up! products at the discounted demonstrator prices or even build a business.  Until 31st March you can build your own Starter Kit with a value of $295 for only $169!!  That's a massive saving!  If you live in Australia and would like to join contact me or click on the image below.

If you'd like an excuse to meet up with your friends - host a qualifying party until 31st March and earn an extra $40 (with $400 in party sales) to put towards the products you'd like to have. If you live in Australia - contact me to discuss options. 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog