Autumn Afternoon

Well, the stamp set is called Summer Afternoon but it is a beautiful Autumn afternoon today in Auckland.
This card features one of our current Hostess Stamp Sets & I think it is just so cute.

I stamped the image on watercolour paper with black Staz-On then coloured it in using a Blender Pen & Aquapainter.  The Midnight Muse cardstock in the background has been stamped with the Netting background stamp.  I find this a very versatile stamp to give a subtle texture that really gives your card a lift.
For more details, feel free to contact me.

Would you like to purchase any of the products I have used today?

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All That Glitters is Not Silver!

I just love our Glimmer Paper, it allows you to add glitter to a project with none of the mess!  At only $10.95 for 2 12” x 12” sheets, it is great value too.  It is available in red & silver, but what if you would like a different colour?

Easy!  You just colour it yourself.  After much trial & error & many psychedelic results, I have found the best method is to use a combination of isopropyl alcohol (no, don’t drink it) & re-inkers.  I used some empty, divided Stack & Store containers.  Add a few drops of alcohol to each quarter then add a few drops of re-inkers of your chosen colours to each one.  You can vary the intensity of the colour by the amount of re-inker you add.  I then used an Aquapainter to “spread” the colour over the butterfly.

You can use water instead of alcohol but it will take longer to dry.  You can also add some alcohol straight into your Aquapainter & then pick up ink from the lid of your ink pad.  Note that in all methods, the colour will lighten as it dries.

I used the Crop-a-dile to punch out the holes in the wings of the butterfly & then “recycled” them to make the “flight path” & for the final bit of bling, I added a Neutral Glimmer Brad.

Happy Stamping

Ann

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Elements of Style

Elements of Style ($39.95 clear mount, $59.95 wood mount) is my new “favourite” stamp set!  I love water colouring & this set is just perfect for it.  It also has a really adorable hummingbird.

I stamped the flower image on Water Colour Paper using Black Staz-On  & then added “splashes” of colour using Tangerine Tango & Poppy Parade Stamp ‘n’ Write Markers. Next I blended the colours using an Aquapainter. The flower centres are coloured with Daffodil Delight & the leaves with Wild Wasabi & Pear Pizzazz.

Haven’t Stampin’ Up! come up with some fantastic names for our new colours?!  My favourite colour at the moment is Poppy Parade which I have used for the card base.  The finishing touch is some gorgeous new Whisper White Organza Ribbon.

Happy Stamping

Ann Wills

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Birthday Drive-By

I just can’t get enough of Water Colour Paper!  Stampin’ Up!’s water colour paper is made from 100% cold pressed cotton & you just can’t get the same result with cheaper products – I’ve tried!

This paper gives you plenty of time for blending & you can just add some more water to spread out or lighten your colours.  I’ve also found that if you make a big boo boo, you can saturate it & mop it up with a paper towel.  It is great for your creativity as you never know what the end result will be.  On the card below, I have only used one colour for the hills – Always Artichoke – but as it has spread & I’ve added water to some areas & more ink to others, the colour has separated & I’ve ended up with some browns in there too.

I used Blender Pens for the truck and Aqua Painters for the rest.  Highlighting has been done with my trusty White Gel Pen & of course some Dazzling Diamonds.  I’ve added the final touch with a frame from our Hodgepodge Hardware Kit.

Thanks for Looking

Ann Wills

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Punches Part I

Hi Everyone
This week in our technique classes we will be discovering some of the cool things that you can do with punches. We will make samples of a few basic objects such as handbags and cupcakes (got to make sure you girls have your bling fix!) and then we will make the 2 cards show below. The first one is the frog. This is the basic card, but we will jazz it up a bit more.

Then the one I know many of you have been wanting to try, with a dress and a handbag. Just wait until I show you some of the cards I have made for our more advanced punch classes, you will be hooked on punches as well as stamps!

Below is one of the cards from last weeks watercolour class. This card uses 5th Avenue, Oval All and the Inspired by Nature stamp sets. I've also used the crimper to add extra texture to the background. We had a great time with this technique. All you do is emboss your image, spray it with water and then drop ink onto it. The ink will spread out in the water giving you some amazing results.

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An Update on Classes

Below is a photo of my Mother's cat Cleo. She is sleeping in what was my Door Prize Draw bag. I now have to make a new one as it is well beyond repair even with sticky strip!


Here's a peek at what we have been doing in our recent classes. Tomorrow we are going to be trying all types of watercolouring techniques. Below is my first atempt at watercolouring on actual watercolour paper rather than cardstock. It is fabulous to use and makes blending so much easier. I am certainly hooked!

Last week we learnt the Spotlighting and Reverse Spotlighting techniques that you can see in the 3 cards below.

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