International Highlights Winners Hop: You Are The Greatest

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – International Highlights Winners Hop: You Are The Greatest

Hello and welcome to my stampin’ cave today.

First of all, I wanted to say a massive THANK YOU to all my followers and visitors to my blog for VOTING on my project for this month’s International Project Highlights! My little fridge magnet and card took the 5th place. I’m so humbled!

Anna' Stampin' Cave - Teacher's Thank You Gift Fridge Magnet and Thank You card using Tropical Chic Stamp Set and Tropical Thinlits Dies from Stampin' Up!

Every month, the ‘top ten’ get to blog hop with Kylie, using the same theme, which was a “Teachers Gifts”.

You Are The Greatest

For today’s project, I decided to go back to one of my favourite products and techniques – watercolour with Brusho® Crystal Colour.

Here’s my card –

Anna' Stampin' Cave - Teachers Thank You Card with Watercolour Wash using Brusho Crystal Colour, Little Twinkle Stamp Set & Tropical Chic Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!

Card dimensions:

  • Whisper White Thick cardstock: 11-6/8″ x 4-1/8″ scored in half at 5-7/8″ (29.7 x 10.5 cm scored in half at 14.8 cm)
  • Tranquil Tide cardstock panel: 3-7/8″ x 4-1/4″ (9.8 cm x 10.6 cm)
  • Lemon Lime Twist cardstock panel: 3-5/8″ x 5-13/16″ (9.2 cm x 12.2 cm)
  • Watercolour Paper panel: 3-1/2″ x 5-3/4″ (9 cm x 12 cm)
  • Whisper White cardstock for sentiment

My thought behind this card was to create one that could be suitable either for a female or male teacher.

I prepared my watercolour panel – it was bit larger than what I needed – with embossing buddy and stamped the ‘heart constellation’ using Versamark ink. I sprinkled it with a White Emboss Powder and heat set it with my Heat Tool.

When heat embossing on Watercolor Paper, because it’s a quite porous surface, you need to make sure all the image has transferred very well. It can take a little bit longer for the embossing powder to melt, so be patient.

Anna' Stampin' Cave - Teachers Thank You Card with Watercolour Wash using Brusho Crystal Colour, Little Twinkle Stamp Set & Tropical Chic Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!

Brusho Crystal Colour

They are high quality and highly pigmented paint powders. They are water-based and most of all completely non-toxic. For my card, I chose two colours to work with: Prussian Blue and Moss Green.

I added my water to the embossed heart, sprinkled it with Moss Green and using the aqua painter I moved the water around.

Before adding Prussian Blue I wet the panel under a running water. I wasn’t too concerned and didn’t worry too much that the Mossy Green will run. Once my panel was really wet I sprinkled it richly with Prussian Blue.

I moved the colour tilting the panel in each direction dabbing off any colour that got into the heart – I wanted to keep it green. Once my panel was dry I spritz it with water (very selectively avoiding the heart) and added more Prussian Blue with a few Moss Green areas for the contrast and moved it around with aqua painter again. Once happy with results, and when the panel was still slightly damp, I sprinkled some more of Prussian Blue and let it dry without moving the paper. I love the effect it left on the panel.

Anna' Stampin' Cave - Teachers Thank You Card with Watercolour Wash using Brusho Crystal Colour, Little Twinkle Stamp Set & Tropical Chic Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!

Assembling the card

For the final touch, I took a Whisper White Craft Ink Refill and with a help of clear block and aqua painter, I splashed white all over the panel.

Once my panel was dry I cut it to the size but I saved my colourful off cuts to use them later for some accents.

I adhered Tranquil Tide panel to the card base with liquid glue. Next, I mounted watercolour piece onto a Lemon Lime Twist panel and adhered them both to the base.

The sentiment comes from Tropical Chic Stamp Set. I stamped it in Tranquil Tide ink and punched out with Tailored Tag Punch. I have added it to my card with few dimensionals.

Final touches

For some interest, I stamped a cluster of stars inside of my card, in a bottom left corner. Besides that, I also took one of the watercolour strips that left, cut it at an angle and add it to the inside as well. I think it looks pretty cool.

Anna' Stampin' Cave - Teachers Thank You Card with Watercolour Wash using Brusho Crystal Colour, Little Twinkle Stamp Set & Tropical Chic Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!

I also decided to decorate the envelope with the same elements as the inside of my card: clusters of stars and another watercolour strip cut at an angle.

And that’s it from me for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed visiting my blog. Do you like the card I created? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Below is the list of all the winners, so be sure to hop along. Your next stop is lovely and very talented Janneke de Jong from the Netherlands  go and see her beautiful project.

As always, if you wish to purchase any of the products I have used, simply click the images below to go directly to my online store.

I add this card to:

HOST CODE for the month of AUGUST is U6KK4ACY. Orders of £50+ (excl. p&p) will receive a pack of Stampin’ Up! Pearlised Doilies!

Product List

Bone Folder

£6.25

Aqua Painters

£15.50

Pin me

Summary of the project which gives all the views of the card in one photo. I’d love if you pinned and called by on Pinterest xx

Anna' Stampin' Cave - Teachers Thank You Card with Watercolour Wash using Brusho Crystal Colour, Little Twinkle Stamp Set & Tropical Chic Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!


Don’t forget to check:

My exclusive special offer this month only: FREE Stampin’ Up! Pearlised Doilies

How it works…

  • Place a product order of £50 or more (excl. shipping) in my online store in the month of August. 
  • Add Host Code U6KK4ACY. To claim your reward you must include this code in your ordering process.
  • This August Special Offer will be applied to all qualifying orders placed through my shop using Host Code U6KK4ACY between 1 August – 31 August.
  • If your order is £150 or more do not use Host Code. You will earn your own Host Rewards to spend.
  • IMPORTANT:  My FREE Special Host Gift giveaways are mailed separately from any order and will arrive mid-September.

    Request Autumn/Winter Catalogue

    Stampin' Up! Autumn Winter 2018 Catalogue


    Earn in August – redeem in September –> click here for more details


    All-new, limited-time Colour Your Season products – Products available while supplies last or until 31 August 2018 – order yours today –> click here

For The Love of Creating Blog Hop

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – For The Love of Creating – Beautiful Day Stamp Set

Hello and welcome to our very first For the Love of Creating with Stampin’ Up! Blog Hop run by the amazing Australian demonstrator, Kim Oliver. We are super excited to share with you an array of creations showcasing products from 2018 Occasions (Spring-Summer in the UK) catalogue and Sale-A-Bration freebies too. We hope you find great inspiration from our projects. If you have arrived here from Jay Soriano a big welcome to you. You are currently visiting Anna Krol from the United Kingdom.

I really want to encourage you to hop along with us – you are in for a real treat, as we are demonstrators from all over the world. Below is a list of all designers, but you can also use the NEXT  button further down to continue your journey on this blog hop.

For my projects today I decided to showcase beautiful stamp set called (not mistakenly) Beautiful Day. I will show you how to achieve stained glass effect using two different mediums.

Stained Glass Effect With Brusho –

I love these bold images with its stained glass look – perfect for techniques and colouring. And that’s exactly what I did.

I stamped the flower and the butterfly on a piece of watercolour paper in Versamark and heat embossed them in white. Next, I filled them in with water and sprinkled Brusho Crystal Colour over the top.

Heat embossing creates a barrier for the water and colour, so you can easily control how the colour spread. I’ve also used the aqua painter to move the colour around.

For the flower, I’ve used Brilliant Red, Gamboge and Moss Green for the leaf. The butterfly is a mix of my favourite Prussian Blue and Moss Green.

Once the flower and butterfly were dry I fussy cut them. To add that stained glass look, I smooshed Versamark on top of both images, sprinkled with clear embossing powder and heat set it.

I love this rough texture of watercolour paper!

I kept the rest of design very clean. I sprinkled some brusho on Whisper White panels and spritzed with water (very, very lightly) before assembling my cards.

The edges of both card bases are stamped with three tiny flowers from the same stamp set, and I’ve used Versamark ink. Sentiments are stamped in Archival Basic Black ink. Few pearls finish off the look. I love these vibrant colours.


Stained Glass Effect With Stampin’ Blends –

First, I stamped both images onto two pieces of vellum using Versamark ink and heat embossed them in gold.

Next, I  colour on the back of te vellum with Stampin’ Blends Alcohol Markers as follows:

  • flower – Pink Pirouette, Calypso Coral, Rich Razzleberry & Old Olive
  • butterfly – Pool Party, Night of Navy & Old Olive

I even used Stampin’ Blends to dye Whisper White Organza Ribbon so it coordinates with my bookmarks – so much easier and quicker than using reinkers!

I fussy cut my images.

I die-cut four labels using Lots of Labels Framelits dies – two in Very Vanilla, one in Pink Pirouette and one in Night of Navy so they would coordinate with colours on the images. I die cut the Very Vanilla pieces slightly shorter.

I stamped, repeatedly. greeting from You’ve Got This Stamp Set (without re-inking) on my Very Vanilla pieces: For the butterfly bookmark using Old Olive ink pad; and for the flower bookmark in Rich Razzleberry.

I assembled my bookmarks and adhered butterfly and the flower in the middle using Fast Fuse.

Hope you like my little showcase and that you give the stained glass technique a go.

Now, be sure to hop along and see more inspiring projects. Below is the list of all the participants but you can also use the buttons to keep hopping. Your next stop is lovely Pia Gerhardt from Germany  go and see her beautiful projects

If you wish to purchase any of products I have used, simply click the images below to go directly to my online store and don’t forget to enter the hostess code RRMR76JH to receive a gift from me.

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day

Hostess Code for February: RRMR76JH – Use this code in the month of February and receive a gift from me.

Special Notes:1) Make sure you select Anna Krol as your demonstrator;
2) If you select “No Contact” box I do not have access to your name and can’t send you a gift;
3) If your order is £150 or more do not use the code and grab your own Stampin’ Rewards + gift from me

Product List

Aqua Painters

£15.50

Big Shot

£99.00

Pin me

Summary of the project which gives all the views of the card in one photo. I’d love if you pinned and called by on Pinterest xx



Don’t forget to check:

Spring Summer Catalogue Paper & Ribbon Shares. Shares are open to Austria, France, Germany, Netherlands & United Kingdom. 102 sheets of DSP & 2 yards of each type of ribbon from Spring/Summer Catalogue. Click here for more details —>

The New Stampin’ Up! Spring/Summer 2017 Catalogue and Sale-A-Bration are LIVE and it’s AMAZING! For every 60 €/£45, you spend either from Spring Summer Catalogue or Annual Catalogue, you will get to choose one FREE  level 1 product from SAB brochure! If you spend 120 €/£90, you get one FREE level 2 product, OR, you can choose two level 1 items. If you spend 180 €/£135, you have the option to choose three level 1 items or one level 1 item and one level 2 item. Click here for more details —>

Ever wondered what it’s like to join Stampin’ Up!’s community? I may have few answers for you. Click here for more details –>