Stampin’ Dreams June Blog Hop

Anna' Stampin' Cave - Soft Watercolours using Accented Blooms Stamp Set with Tailored Tag Punch from Stampin' Up!

21 June 201821 June 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 14 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Stampin’ Dreams June Blog Hop

Welcome to the monthly Stampin’ Dreams Blog Hop. This month’s theme is Birthday. You are currently visiting Anna from the UK. I hope you enjoy my project.

For my project today I decided to use one of the new stamp sets called Accented Blooms to create a beautiful card for my bestie’s birthday.

Hello, Friend card dimensions:

Granny Apple Green 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)
Whisper White regular cardstock two pieces measuring: 5-3/4″ x 4″ (14.5 cm x 10.2 cm)
Whisper White regular cardstock for punching the shape

First, I scored the base so it’s ready. I took one of the Whisper White panels and adhered it inside of the card for a birthday wishes.

Next, I took a Gorgeous Grape ink pad, inked floral arrangement image from Accented Blooms Stamp Set and stamped it on my second panel.

I’ve used Granny Apple Green ink pad and I stamped ‘Hello’ sentiment on a piece of Whisper White cardstock and punched it with a coordinating Tailored Tag punch.

Next, from a Dragonfly Dreams stamp set I took a stamp that says “To my wonderful friend”, inked just the ‘friend’ word in Gorgeous Grape and stamped it just below the word ‘hello’. I adhered it to my panel using dimensionals and adhered the whole panel to the base.

Firstly, I wanted to leave it just as is, but then I decided I could add a little colour to my floral arrangement.

Using aqua painter, Granny Apple Green, Gorgeous Grape and few new in colors®, I watercoloured the image. And yes, you can watercolour on a regular Whisper White cardstock. You just need to be careful and use way less water. A bit of clear Wink of Stella finished off my card.

I really hope you enjoyed visiting my blog today and I would love to encourage you to hop along with us and see the rest of beautiful projects designed by amazing artists. Please be sure to continue to hop using the list below. You don’t want to miss any!

I’m also adding this card to the fun challenge:

Simons Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Bright & Cheerful

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

Host Code for the month of June is XEYXTEPE. Orders of £50+ (excl. p&p) will receive a Surprise Thank You Gift from me. You won’t be disappointed!

Thank You Gifts will be shipped in the first 2 weeks of the following month they were earned (mid-July).

Accented Blooms Clear-Mount Stamp Set [146681] £19.00	Accented Blooms Wood-Mount Stamp Set [146678] £26.00	Dragonfly Dreams Photopolymer Stamp Set [142924] £20.00	Tailored Tag Punch [145667] £17.00	Granny Apple Green A4 Cardstock [147014] £8.00
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £9.00	Classic Stampin’ Pad Assortment In Color 2018-2020 [147153] £31.50	Gorgeous Grape Classic Stampin’ Pad [147099] £7.00	Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin’ Pad [147138] £7.00	Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Pad [147095] £7.00
Grapefruit Grove Classic Stampin’ Pad [147142] £7.00	Pineapple Punch Classic Stampin’ Pad [147141] £7.00	Aqua Painters [103954] £15.50	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897] £7.50	Clear Block E [118484] £11.00
Clear Block D [118485] £7.75	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332] £6.25	Stampin’ Dimensionals [104430] £3.75	Stampin’ Trimmer [129722] £27.00	Stampin’ Trimmer Cutting Blades [126995] £5.50

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

UPDATE

There was a number of products that due to unexpected shipping delays weren’t available when the catalogue went live. But I’m happy to announce that the following products are now in stock and available for purchase.

HOW TO USE HOSTESS CODE

I would also love to invite you to join my team which is called Serendipity Crew. We are a part of one of the biggest teams in the UK – a really wonderful group of women, of whom many have become dear friends of mine. We all support and inspire each other. So when you join my crew, you don’t get just me to help and support you, we all are a big friendly group! And we would love to welcome you.

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day,

Roses & Dragonfly No°2 – Inlaid & Partial Die-cutting Birthday Card

Image ~ 17 April 201710 November 2017 ~ Anna Krol ~ 4 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Roses & Dragonfly No°2 – Inlaid & Partial Die-cutting Birthday Card

And here I am again with Rose Wonder and Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies!

My little sister (well not that little, she’s nearly 22 y.o. But hey! she will always be my little sister) came to last week and said she and her friends wanted me to make a birthday card for their girlfriend.

They really liked this card I’ve made a few weeks back…

…and wanted something similar hence No°2 in the title 🙂

The base colour they wanted was orange with silver details, as these are the colours their friend loves. So fun and challenging as I don’t create much in orange! But I love challenges. I love to sit down and design, create something unusual; not just grab a card, two or three colours one stamp and bah! – five minutes later the card is done! I do clean & simple sometimes but that’s not my concept of creativity 🙂 I am an artist at heart. It have to be a process, it have to be messy and a little bit crazy too; so when I’m done my soul sings…

…and this is exactly how this card came to life

Roses & Dragonfly No°2 card dimensions:

Calypso Coral cardstock card base: 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)
Whisper White cardstock: 5-6/8″ x 4″ (14.6 cm x 10.2 cm)
Whisper White cardstock: 2 panels 5-5/8″ x 3-7/8″ each (14.3 cm x 9.8 cm); one for blending and one for die-cutting
strips of Calypso Coral and Whisper White cardstock for sentiment

First I adhered panel of Whisper White cardstock to the card base using snail adhesive. Next, I took one of the smaller panels and using ink pads and sponges I created a backing panel for the die-cut piece.

As first, I blended in my darkest colour, Calypso Coral, followed by Pumpkin Pie and Peekaboo Peach. But you can start with the lightest shade first, it doesn’t really matter. I continued adding more colour until I was happy with the depth. To add more interest I flicked few droplets of water to my panel.

Water react with ink creating this beautiful, distressed look. Bear in mind that for the best results you have to do it when the ink is freshly blended.

I took the second Whisper White panel and arranged the dies how I wanted them to go. Next, I die-cut all elements, one at a time and put them away on a flat surface so I don’t lose any of the small pieces. Once everything been die-cut I adhered what’s left of the panel to the orange background. I’ve added some splatters of ink all over it and inlaid all my die-cut pieces back in. More detailed explanation can be found here ->

I added this panel to the card base with Foam Adhesive Strips for extra dimension.

The sentiment I’ve used comes from Rose Wonder Stamp Set. I stamped it on Whisper White cardstock with Versamark ink. I heat embossed it in silver, mounted on a slightly wider piece of Calypso Coral cardstock and add it to the card.

To make the card looks even more pretty, I scattered rhinestones all over the panel. To wrap it up, I stamped dragonfly image inside the card and on the envelope. It’s hard to see but I’ve used all three colours of ink on this little creature.

The card has been given already and I know the girl loved it to bits. That is my biggest reward 🙂 But I hope you like it too. Would love to hear your opinion it the comments below.

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 for the month of April XMAJ4CYX to receive a gift from me.

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day,

Just a note: the Dragonfly Dreams as a Bundle at 10% discount is available only until 31 May. After that date, you will be able to purchase Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set and Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies only separately, not as a bundle.

Dragonfly Dreams Photopolymer Bundle

[144728]

£42.25

Dragonfly Dreams Photopolymer Stamp Set

[142924]

£19.00

Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies

[142749]

£28.00

Rose Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set

[140697]

£24.00

Rose Garden Thinlits Dies

[140619]

£28.00

Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock

[124392]

£7.25

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

£8.25

Calypso Coral Classic Stampin’ Pad

[126983]

£6.00

Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin’ Pad

[126945]

£6.00

Peekaboo Peach Classic Stampin’ Pad

[141398]

£6.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

£7.75

Embossing Buddy

[103083]

£5.50

Silver Stampin’ Emboss Powder

[109131]

£4.50

Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments

[119246]

£4.50

Stamping Sponges

[141337]

£3.25

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

£3.75

SNAIL Permanent Adhesive

[104332]

£6.25

Foam Adhesive Strips

[141825]

£7.25

Heat Tool – Uk Plug

[129054]

£27.00

Stampin’ Trimmer

[129722]

£27.00

Big Shot

[143263]

£99.00

Don’t forget to check:

Stampin’ Up! Spring Summer & Annual Catalogue 2016 2017 Retiring List

It’s that time of the year again, when Stampin’ Up! is getting ready to retire stamps and accessories from both the Annual and Spring Summer catalogues. As sad as it is to see these products go, there’s still time for you to get them before they’re gone. Retiring products will only be available until 31 May, or while supplies last. So if there’s something from retiring products on your wishlist, don’t wait until last day – once they’re gone, they’re gone. And they are selling fast! Click here for more details ->

Roses and Dragonfly Thank You For A Smile Card for GDP#075

Image ~ 24 February 201722 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 10 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Roses and Dragonfly Thank You For A Smile Card for GDP#075

Hello and welcome everyone! Today I’ve got for you a card I created for this week’s Global Design Project theme challenge: Winged Creatures. I’m bit late to the party but thankfully not too late.

I’m a big fan of detailed die-cutting and had this idea bouncing around in my head for a while now, just never had enough time to try it.

In this card, I’ve incorporated two die-cutting techniques – inlaid die-cutting and partial die-cutting – using a couple of detailed die sets: Rose Garden Thinlits Dies and Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies.

Roses and Dragonfly Thank You For A Smile Card dimensions:

Sweet Sugarplum 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)
Whisper White cardstock cut into two panels: bottom one measure 5-6/8″ x 4″ (14,5 x 10,2 cm) and top one 5-1/2″ x 3-7/8″ (14 cm x 9,8 cm)
Blooms & Bliss Designer Series Paper: 5-1/2″ x 3-7/8″ (14 cm x 9,8 cm)

To create my card I started with die-cutting.

I wanted this small dragonfly to be in the foreground of my die-cut panel so I run it through my Big Shot first.

For this technique, you first want to die-cut the image you want to have in the foreground of your card and you work your way backwards. Everything you die-cut later will appear to be ‘behind’ this first image.

Once it has been die-cut, I removed the dragonfly die and die-cut and I placed the rose die on the panel. I placed it the way that some parts of the die overlapped the negative space where dragonfly was die-cut previously from.

Again, I run it through the Big Shot and very carefully removed my rose die-cut from the die, being careful not to lose all the separate pieces as I will need them all to inlaid them back to my panel. I die-cut two more partial roses (one at a time) from the same panel, every time making sure they overlap the space of a previously die-cut image and saving all the little die-cut pieces. I arranged all my die-cut on the desk, so I knew

Once all the images were die-cut, I adhered what was left of the panel to the Blooms & Bliss DSP piece. And now the fun began: I had to inlay all the die-cut outlines where they came from.

The easiest part was to inlay the dragonfly outline. From there, I worked my way through the roses in the same order I die-cut them. Once I was done, I matted my detailed panel with slightly bigger Whisper White piece and next mounted it onto my Sweet Sugarplum card base.

I masked bottom part of the sentiment ‘Thanks for the smile and everything else’, stamped it on a strip of Whisper White cardstock in Basic Black Archival Ink and cut it into a banner. I also cut a banner from Sweet Sugarplum cardstock and adhered them both to my card, offsetting slightly.

I was pretty happy with the outcome but I had a feeling that something was missing. So I masked the detailed part and all the edges of my card, and I added some tiny speckles in Basic Black and Sweet Sugarplum. Few rhinestones wrap up my card.

I hope you feel inspired and that you give this technique a go. Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day,

Inside The Lines Altered Photo Frame

Image ~ 28 January 201721 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 25 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Inside The Lines Altered Photo Frame

In my project today I decided to create altered photo frame with beautiful, Inside The Lines Designer Series Paper. With an ever-growing trend in adult colouring books, this paper is just spot on.

I don’t know about you, but I love these bold botanical designs. They coordinate with Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set & Dies, but you can use them on their own too. Colour them in with markers, inks or watercolour pencils – it’s fun and very therapeutic…or leave them black&white. Whatever tickles your fancy.

The frame is from Ikea and is called Virserum. It measures 7-1/2 x 9-1/2″ (19 x 24 cm) and comes with inside mount, hence I only needed 4″x 6″ (10 x 15 cm) piece of DSP to fit inside.

I’ve chosen this lovely, jungle-like design and cut it into 4″x 6″ rectangle. Because I was aiming for a subtle look I decided to watercolour my piece.

Bear in mind this is not watercolour paper so you can’t add too much water to it.

For the foliage, because it’s such a small area, I’ve used Stampin’ markers: Pear Pizzazz, Wild Wasabi, Old Olive, Garden Green and Always Artichoke. First, I scribbled my markers on a craft mat. I also spritz some water on my craft mat, next to the markers. I did it deliberately, to have more control of how much water I use. Next, I took dry aqua painter, picked up some water with its brush, next picked up some colour from the mat and started colouring my foliage. I was adding more colour and more water to the mat when needed. There are 4-5 layers of colour on leaves, each layer added when the first one was dry.

To colour in the rest of the image, I’ve used ink pads as my palettes.

I’ve used Soft Sky for sky and dragonfly (with a little dab of Island Indigo marker). Mountains are coloured with Smoky Slate.

For the tree trunk, I’ve used Tip Top Taupe ink pad. To add some highlights I’ve used Whisper White Craft Ink (yes, I’ve used it with aqua painter too).

Polypores or conks (I’m not sure how they are called in the UK so forgive me if I’m wrong) are watercoloured with a mix of Sahara Sand, Crushed Curry and again some white craft ink for highlights.

For the final touch, I’ve added White Perfect Accents as dew drops (one on the sky is hiding a little boo-boo). And as a must, I had to add some shimmer with clear of Wink of Stella to the dragonfly, mountain tops, and polypores. Sadly it’s really hard to capture this lovely shimmer on photos. But now to the frame.

Believe it or not, this is my first ever altered photo frame. I knew I want flowers, but for a long time, I couldn’t decide on a colour. First, I wanted to go with quite a feminine look, so pinks and oranges. But once I had all my flowers ready I didn’t really like it. Typical haha. But no worries, I will use them to something else. And then I had this revelation: how about Very Vanilla?! Genius!

I die-cut oodles of flowers and leaves from Very Vanilla and Vellum cardstock. Arranged them around the frame and once I was happy with the placing, I adhered them with glue dots.

But as you may know me already, nothing can be too easy haha And when I looked at my frame something was missing, in my humble opinion. Oh right, it was too ‘clean’, too ‘white’. I needed some ‘controlled mess’.

I pressed Pear Pizzazz and Soft Sky ink pads next to each other on the craft mat and spritz it with water. I covered the glass with a piece of paper, and using a clean brush I added random and less random splatters to the flowers and leaves. And I have to say I love it now! And I hope you like my little project too.

I also want to add this project to the #071 Theme Challenge over at Global Design Project Challenge Blog. This weeks theme is ‘3D Or Off The Page’

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

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day!

Inside The Lines Designer Series Paper

[143830]

£0.00

Botanical Builder Framelits Dies

[140625]

£30.00

Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock

[106550]

£8.25

White Vellum A4 Card Stock

[106584]

£6.00

Many Marvelous Markers

[131264]

£99.00

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin’ Pad

[131173]

£6.00

Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin’ Pad

[131180]

£6.00

Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin’ Pad

[138325]

£6.00

Sahara Sand Classic Stampin’ Pad

[126976]

£6.00

Smoky Slate Classic Stampin’ Pad

[131179]

£6.00

Soft Sky Classic Stampin’ Pad

[131181]

£6.00

Whisper White Craft Stampin’ Pad

[101731]

£7.25

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

£7.25

Aqua Painters

[103954]

£15.50

White Perfect Accents

[138416]

£4.50

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

£3.75

Glue Dots

[103683]

£4.75

Stampin’ Trimmer

[129722]

£27.00

Big Shot

[143263]

£99.00

Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set & Coordinating Dies

Image ~ 14 January 201721 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 31 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set & coordinating dies

For today’s project, I have used once again Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set and Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies. I love this bundle and either together or separate, I just can’t get enough of it. This time though I decided to revisit two of my favourite techniques: watercolour and ink smooching. Bright colours, Cucumber Crush and Island Indigo, seemed perfect combination for a dragonfly card.

Watercolour Dragonfly card dimensions:

Cucumber Crush cardstock: 8-1/4″ x 5-7/8″ scored in half at 4-1/8″ (21 x 14.8 cm scored in half at 10.5 cm)
Island Indigo cardstock: 4″x 5-6/8″(10,2 x 14,5 cm)
Whisper White cardstock: 3-7/8″ x 5-5/8″ (9.8 x 14.2 cm) and 2-7/8″ x 1/2″(7.4 x 1.3 cm) for a sentiment
Scraps of Whisper White, Shimmery White and White Vellum cardstock for die-cutting

First thing first I had to prepare my watercolour panel. And to be honest I risked a bit using regular Whisper White cardstock here.

If you are not confident with water colouring and don’t want to risk, please always use watercolour paper with ink smooshing technique.

I pressed Cucumber Crush ink pad on a craft mat, spritz it with water (not too much) and took a piece of acetate to lift some of this puddle of colour. I smooshed it on my panel and dried it with a heat gun. I repeat this process couple of times, every time drying my panel in-between until I was happy with layers of colour. Next, I switched to Island Indigo but I only added one layer of colour. The last touch was to add few splotches of ink to my panel with help of aqua painter.

I die cut two dragonflies, one from Whisper White cardstock and one from vellum (without the head) for 3D effect. To colour in cardstock dragonfly I used a very similar technique as previously. I pressed some more of Island Indigo ink on the craft mat, spritz it with water and dabbed the dragonfly straight in the puddle, dried and repeat until I was happy with the colour.

I wanted to add more depth and ‘life’ to my dragonfly, so I sponged the edges of wings and the body with Island Indigo ink. I also added few speckles with bronze metallic Sharpie marker.

While sponging I’ve noticed that the dragonfly was bit ‘flimsy’ (note to myself: if you plan to dab your intricate die-cuts in the puddles of coloured water, use paper with the higher grammage, like watercolour perhaps(!?) lol. So I die-cut just the body of a dragonfly from Shimmery White cardstock, watercolour it, sponged the edges and adhered on top of the dragonfly with liquid adhesive. Next, I adhered the vellum dragonfly underneath, offsetting slightly.

The sentiment I chose comes from the same Dragonfly Dreams stamp set. I stamped it in Versamark on the strip of Whisper White, heat embossed it using Copper Embossing Powder and trimmed it diagonally. The sentiment alone seemed a bit dull so I took a very narrow strip of Whisper White (around 1/8″), dabbed it in Versamark and heat embossed in copper as well. Next, I trimmed it and adhered it to the sentiment, underneath the top edge, so it peeks out slightly.

To assemble the card I’ve used my favourite Tombow liquid adhesive. I love it because it gives you some wiggle room before it sets. Also, it’s the best for those slightly warped watercolour panels. Next, I’ve added my sentiment in the top right corner using dimensionals. For dragonfly, I’ve used Tombow again. The last touch was to add some extra shimmer to the dragonfly with Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Brush. You can’t go wrong with this stuff right?!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my project and that it will give some extra ideas of how to use this beautiful Dragonfly Dreams Bundle. I would love to hear what you think in comments below. As always, if you wish to purchase any of products I have used, simply click the images below to go directly to my online shop.

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day