Stampin’ Dreams Blog Hop – Party Pandas Valentine

18 January 201819 January 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 24 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave Party Pandas Valentine For Stampin’ Dreams Blog Hop

Hello everyone! Welcome to the monthly Stampin’ Dreams Blog Hop. This month’s theme is Love. You are currently visiting Anna Krol from United Kingdom. I hope you enjoy my project. It’s my first time ‘hopping’ with Stampin’ Dreams crew. And I’ve got for you the most adorable love card EVER! Even if I do say so myself haha

Party Pandas card dimensions:

Basic Black 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)
Lemon Lime Twist cardstock: 3-1/2″ x 5-1/4″ (8.9 cm x 13.4 cm)
Whisper White cardstock: 2-1/2″ x 4″ (6.4 cm x 10.2 cm)
Watercolour Paper
Whisper White cardstock for the inside of the card: 3-1/2″ x 5-1/4″ (8.9 cm x 13.4 cm)

When I saw a theme of this month’s blog hop I instantly knew which stamp set I will use. Isn’t this panda adorable?! Especially with its slightly oversized heart balloon!

The base of my card is standard A6 size in Basic Black. For the first layer I took a piece of Lemon Lime Twist cardstock, spritz it with water to soften the fibres, and run it through the Big Shot with lovely Ruffled Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. I adhered it to the card base with Fast Fuse

Next, I inked my panda (I didn’t ink the balloon part) with Black Memento ink and stamped it onto Whisper White. With help of Stamp-a-ma-jig I positioned and stamped the sentiment ‘love you’ from the same stamp set.

Using watercolour paper and Brusho Crystal Colour in Brilliant Red and Gamboge, I created a watercolour wash. Once it dried, I took the heart die from Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies, die-cut my balloon and added some shimmer with Clear Wink of Stella.

I glued my heart to the panda, where the balloon was and adhered the whole piece to the card base using dimensionals.

I’m really happy how this card turned out! Love the colours, dimension but most of all this adorable panda. And I hope that my card inspired you & brightened your day. I would love for you to see the list below & hop through all of the lovely artists on the list to see all our projects. You don’t want to miss any!

I’m also entering this card at

Inspire.Create.Challenges#009 – for their love theme challenge
CAS on Friday #124 – for their LOVE theme challenge

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 January GK3G3AR3 to receive a gift from me.

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day

Hostess Code for January 2018 GK3G3AR3 Use this code in the month of January 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

Party Pandas Clear-Mount Stamp Set [147221] £0.00	Party Pandas Wood-Mount Stamp Set [147218] £0.00	Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies [137547] £36.00	Ruffled Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [143699] £9.00	Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688] £7.25
Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock [144250] £7.25	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25	Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Brusho Crystal Colour [144101] £27.00	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] £5.50
Aqua Painters [103954] £15.50	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897] £7.25	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig [101049] £11.00	Stampin’ Dimensionals [104430] £3.75	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026] £9.00
Stampin’ Trimmer [129722] £27.00	Big Shot [143263] £99.00	Clear Block D [118485] £7.75

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 is 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 —>

Best Guy Ever Clean & Simple Masculine Card

Image ~ 16 May 201710 November 2017 ~ Anna Krol ~ 6 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Best Guy Ever Clean & Simple Masculine Card

Thanks for coming to my blog today! We are being highlighted internationally by Kylie Bertucci and you are able to VOTE for my project. The top ten winners will get to be part of an international blog hop so please vote for my project. You can do it here or use a button at the end of my post.

This month we have a theme that, I think, most of cardmakers struggling with – MASCULINE.

I know that for some it’s hard if you can’t use pink, glitter or rhinestones on the card. Not to mention flowers. I even heard that masculine cards are boring! What?! Today I will show you that masculine cards can be fun and not boring at all.

Best Guy Ever card dimensions:

Delightful Dijon 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)
Early Espresso cardstock: 5-6/8″ x 4″ (14.6 cm x 10.2 cm)
Delightful Dijon cardstock for sentiment: 1-3/8″ x 2″
White Vellum cardstock mat: 1-5/8″ x 2-2/8″
Early Espresso, Delightful Dijon and White Vellum scraps for die cutting

To achieve this fun texture on my Early Espresso panel I spritzed it with water to soften the fibre. Next, I dabbed Hexagons Dynamic Embossing folder with Whisper White Craft Ink, put Early Espresso cardstock inside, run it through the Big Shot and let it dry. When it dried I adhered it to the card base.

Next, I die cut various size frames from Delightful Dijon cardstock using squares from Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and Layering Squares Framelits Dies. You can mix and match these as you wish. Glued them to my card with liquid adhesive.

I also die cut three ‘branches’ using one of the dies from Everyday Jars Framelits Dies: one from vellum, one from Delightful Dijon and one from Early Espresso cardstock.

The sentiment I chose for my card is brilliant and can be used for any occasion really. And I love the bold font. I stamped it on a piece of Delightful Dijon in Early Espresso and matted it with a piece of vellum.

I adhered my sentiment to the card with a couple of dimensionals. For a final touch, I added my ‘branches’ to the card. I glued their ends under the sentiment panel. And this is my card done. I hope I inspired you today.

Thanks for visiting my blog today and make sure you head over to Kylie’s blog to check all lovely projects and vote for your favourites. Hope you like my project enough to give it some love

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day,

Suite Sentiments Wood-Mount Stamp Set

[142968]

£25.00

Suite Sentiments Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[142971]

£18.00

Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies

[145372]

£27.00

Layering Squares Framelits Dies

[141708]

£32.00

Everyday Jars Framelits Dies

[141490]

£30.00

Hexagons Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

[143231]

£8.25

Delightful Dijon A4 Cardstock

[138345]

£7.25

Early Espresso A4 Card Stock

[121686]

£7.25

White Vellum A4 Card Stock

[106584]

£6.00

Early Espresso Classic Stampin’ Pad

[126974]

£6.00

Whisper White Craft Stampin’ Pad

[101731]

£7.25

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

£3.75

Stampin’ Dimensionals

[104430]

£3.75

Stampin’ Trimmer

[129722]

£27.00

Big Shot

[113439]

£99.00

Colourful Striped Background For Global Design Project – I am Guest Designer

Image ~ 1 May 201722 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 8 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Colourful Striped Background For Global Design Project – I am Guest Designer

Hello, my friends! I am so excited as today I am a Guest Designer for Global Design Project. How amazing is that?! I’m so humbled and honoured that GDP team has chosen me to join them for this week’s Colour Challenge. And boy, what a great colours we have to play with!

Choose your fav three wasn’t an option for me because I love all of these and wouldn’t know which to choose, to be honest. So I decided to be a rebel and for my project today I’ve used all five. Let’s say this post is a farewell to these beautiful In Colours.

Colourful Striped Background card dimensions:

Mint Macaron 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)
Very Vanilla cardstock: two panels, one for the card front, one for the inside of the card 5-7/8″ x 4″ (14.8 cm x 10.2 cm) each
cardstock for building the background: 5-7/8″ x 3-1/2″ (14.8 cm x 8.9 cm)
scraps of cardstock in colours: Mint Macaron, Delightful Dijon, Watermelon Wonder, Cucumber Crush and Tip Top Taupe
White Vellum for stamping and die-cutting

I started my card by creating this fun and colourful striped background. I took my scraps of cardstock of 2015-2017 In Colours and I cut it into strips of different widths. Next, I took a piece of cardstock (random colour as it won’t be seen anyway), covered it in glue, using snail adhesive, and adhered my strips diagonally, mixing colours and widths, making sure there’s no space left in-between the strips. When the whole panel was covered, I trimmed any overhanging stripes.

Can you see the shimmer on this panel? I took empty spritzer bottle and fill it with water. Next, I took Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Brush and squeezed pretty few drops of it into the spritzer. I shake it really well, spritz my entire panel with this glittery mist and let it dry.

I took the Very Vanilla panel and die-cut this intricate butterfly from Butterflies Framelits Dies in the middle of it. I also die-cut solid butterfly from vellum using Bold Butterfly Framelit Dies.

Using t-ruler, I draw two diagonal (and parallel) lines at the back of my panel. Using these lines as guides, I cut my panel into three and discarded the middle piece. Next, I stamped this lovely chicken wire (kinda) pattern from Butterfly Basics Stamp Set all over the other two pieces. I stamped it in Mint Macaron and to create this faded look I stamp off twice before I stamped on the cardstock.

I adhered my Very Vanilla pieces to the background panel, with butterflies inlaid between them: vellum butterfly at the bottom and vanilla one on the top, and added the whole panel to the card base with liquid adhesive.

For the sentiment, I chose “Sending Wishes Your Way”, also from Butterfly Basics Stamp Set. I prepared vellum with embossing buddy, dabbed my stamp in Versamark and straight away in Basic Black Archival ink, and stamped it onto vellum. Sprinkled it with clear embossing powder and heat set it. Adhered it to the card with few tiny drops of Fine-Tip Glue Pen. All that’s left was to add second Very Vanilla panel inside of the card. Done!

Once again I wanted to thank amazing GDP team for this opportunity and privilege, that I could showcase my project alongside such wonderful artists. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

As always, I really want to encourage you to visit the Global Design Project challenge and play along. You too have a chance to be the next Guest Designer

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day,

One Wild Ride For GDP078

Image ~ 18 March 201722 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ Leave a comment

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – One Wild Ride for GDP078

Hello, everyone! Today I’m playing along with Global Design Project’s Sketch Challenge. And oh how cool this sketch is – endless possibilities, honestly. It looks so soft and feminine to me yet I decided to go on the ‘dark side’ as there are always shortages in masculine cards.

One Wild Ride card dimensions:

Crumb Cake cardstock: 8-1/4″ x 5-7/8″ scored in half at 4-1/8″ (21cm x 14.8 cm scored in half at 10.5 cm)
Basic Black cardstock: 2-1/4″ x 5-7/8 and 3-6/8 x 2-1/8″ (5.7 cm x 14.8 cm and 9.5 cm x 5.4 cm)
Whisper White cardstock: 2″ x 3-5/8″ and 1-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ (5 cm x 9.2 cm and 3.8 cm x 6.3 cm) + a strip for a sentiment

I started with stamping card front with this gravel-splatter kinda stamp from One Wild Ride stamp set, in Crumb Cake for soft, tone on tone effect. Next, I embossed it with Brick Wall Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

I took 2-1/4″ x 5-7/8 piece of Basic Black cardstock and distressed it by tearing the edge of the panel. Using the same ‘gravel’ stamp I stamped the whole panel in Versamark, heat embossed it in silver and adhered it to the card base.

Next, I stamped motorcycle in Basic Black on a piece of Whisper White cardstock. It looked too ‘clean’ so once again I’ve used the gravel stamp. This time I stamped it in Basic Grey. I also distressed the edges of the panel using scissors.

I matted my Harley image with Basic Black cardstock and a smaller piece of Whisper White and adhered it flat to the base.

I kept sentiment simple, just Basic Black ‘congratulations’ on a strip of Whisper White popped out with dimensionals.

I hope you like my card and that maybe, just maybe, it inspired you and gave you some ideas for a surprisingly tough subject called ‘masculine cards’.

As always, I really want to encourage you to visit the Global Design Project challenge blog to see other beautiful projects from all around the world. Just click on their logo below to visit the website

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day,

Faux Watercolour For GDP#072 Case The Designer Challenge

Image ~ 1 February 201721 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 23 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Faux Watercolour For GDP#072 Case The Designer Challenge

Hello and welcome everyone! Today I’m back with my entry for Global Design Project. This week’s challenge is ‘CASE the Designer’ – we are casing extremely talented Krista Frattin.

If you’re not sure what ‘CASE’ stands for, at least in crafty world, here are few decipherings: Copy And Selectively Edit or Copy And Share Everything. Generally speaking, it means that you take inspiration from someone else’s project, like colours, layout, stamp set used, etc, and add your own twist to it.

I really loved this simple layout and toned palette with a little pop of colour, so this is what I ‘borrowed’ from Krista’s card. But I’ve decided to use a new stamp set from Stampin’ Up! Spring Summer Catalogue called Special Reason.

Faux Watercolour Special Reason card dimensions:

Very Vanilla 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)
Sahara Sand cardstock: 4″x 5-6/8″(10,2 x 14,5 cm)
Water Colour Paper: 2″ x 3″ (briefly as it will be die-cut later)
Flirty Flaming Ruched Ribbon: length 6″ approx
Very Vanilla Lace Trim: length 6″ approx

I began with dry embossing Sahara Sand panel with a Festive embossing folder. I love this design as it’s really versatile. For my card, I’ve used de-bossed side. I added Flirty Flamingo Ruched ribbon to the panel, briefly in the middle, and secure it at the back with snail adhesive. Next, I added Very Vanilla Lace Trim on top of it, slightly overlapping both ribbons so Flirty Flamingo was peeking from underneath the lace. I adhered my panel to the card base with liquid adhesive and red-lined tape where the ribbons were for extra security.

To create my focal point I’ve used few great techniques: watercolour, faux watercolour, rock’n’roll, masking and partial die-cutting.

I started with stamping my flower onto watercolour paper. I loaded my stamp with Blushing Bride Ink and then ‘rocking’ my stamp I added Flirty Flamingo only on the edges of the stamp – that’s rock’n’roll technique, super easy hey? Once I stamped the image, I took an aqua painter and started blending both colours on each petal creating a faux watercolour effect. I also added Flirty Flamingo ink to the centre of the flower. I build up the colour (but I let it dry completely between layers) by adding more Flirty Flamingo to the top of each petal and blending it down with an aqua painter.

Next, I created a mask. I stamped the same flower onto a post-it note and fussy cut it. I stuck it to my watercolour flower (first, make sure it’s dry) and using Stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped two leaves in Sahara Sand, one below, and one on the side of my flower. Using same faux watercolour technique I blended the ink on my leaves, being careful not to lose subtle veins detail. I also created a leaf mask and added another leaf at the bottom of the flower.

Not taking off the masks, and with help of Stamp-a-ma-jig again, I stamped another flower. This time I only used Blushing Bride ink for a softer shade. But still added a hint of Flirty Flamingo ink to the edges of petals while blending them with water.

Before die-cutting my piece, I decided to add a little bit of shading beneath my composition. Nothing fancy, just a subtle watercolour wash with Sahara Sand ink and aqua painter. I love how it added an extra dimension to my piece.

To die-cut my watercolour panel I’ve used a second smallest square (1-5/8″) from Stitched Shapes Thinlits Dies. But this is a rectangle, you say. Yes, I know, but I extended my die using partial die cutting technique (if you want to know how to do it, please leave me a comment below). The final piece measure 1-5/8″ x 2-5/8″ (4.2 x 6.7 cm).

I assembled my watercolour panel using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I really like how this card turned out. No need for extra embellishments, it’s beautiful as it is. I hope you like it too, and that I inspired you to try some of the techniques I showed, especially mess-free, faux watercolour.

I really want to encourage you to check the Global Design Project challenge blog. They have a new challenge every week with various themes and extremely talented Design Team – they will simply blow your mind with their creativity! Just click on their logo below to visit the website