For The Love of Creating Blog Hop

9 February 201813 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 22 Comments

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

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

Beautiful Day Clear-Mount Stamp Set [145915] £19.00	Beautiful Day Wood-Mount Stamp Set [145912] £26.00	You’ve Got This Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139575] £25.00	You’ve Got This Wood-Mount Stamp Set [139572] £35.00	Lots Of Labels Framelits Dies [138281] £24.00
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25	Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock [116206] £7.25	Island Indigo A4 Card Stock [124390] £7.25	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550] £8.25	Pink Pirouette A4 Card Stock [116203] £7.25
Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock [106577] £7.25	Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	White Vellum A4 Card Stock [106584] £6.00	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad [140931] £6.50	Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin’ Pad [126950] £6.00
Old Olive Classic Stampin’ Pad [126953] £6.00	Brusho Crystal Colour [144101] £27.00	Stampin’ Blends Markers Collection [147475] £108.00	Calypso Coral Stampin’ Blends Markers Combo Pack [144045] £8.00	Old Olive Stampin’ Blends Markers Combo Pack [144597] £8.00
Pink Pirouette Stampin’ Blends Markers Combo Pack [144604] £8.00	Night Of Navy Stampin’ Blends Markers Combo Pack [144040] £8.00	Rich Razzleberry Stampin’ Blends Markers Combo Pack [144602] £8.00	Pool Party Stampin’ Blends Markers Combo Pack [144605] £8.00	Versamark Pad [102283] £7.75
Embossing Buddy [103083] £5.50	White Stampin’ Emboss Powder [109132] £4.50	Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder [109130] £4.50	Whisper White 1/4″ (6.4 Mm) Organza Ribbon [145590] £5.50	Gold 1/8″ Ribbon [134583] £4.50
Twine Baker’s Whisper White [124262] £2.75	Pearl Basic Jewels [144219] £4.50	Aqua Painters [103954] £15.50	Stampin’ Spritzer [126185] £2.75	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026] £9.00
Heat Tool – Uk Plug [129054] £27.00	Big Shot [143263] £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 –>

Clean & Simple New Home Card For #GDP123

1 February 20188 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 2 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Clean & Simple New Home card featuring ‘In The City’ Stamp Set from Stampin’ Up!

Hello and welcome! I’m so happy you popped in to visit my stampin’ cave. Today I’ve got for you beautiful, clean & simple cards using ‘In the City’ Stamp Set from Stampin’ Up!

My hubby’s younger sister & her husband are in the middle of buying their first house, hence the theme of my cards. There are still few weeks, maybe even a month until the completion date, but we are so, SO happy for them!

Dimensions for both cards:

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 Thick & Crumb Cake cardstock
colour cardstock panels: 4-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ (11.4 cm x 8.9 cm) – Smoky Slate, Pool Party, Lemon Lime Twist & Tranquil Tide
Whisper White panels: 4-1/2″ x 3″ (11.4 cm x 7.6 cm)
scraps of cardstock & vellum for die-cutting and stamping
Whisper White Baker’s Twine: 20″ (approx)

For this first card, I decided to use soft colours. Smoky Slate and Pool Party accompanied by Whisper White make such an elegant combination.

First, I adhered all panels to the card base with snail adhesive. To add some interest to the layout, I assembled them at wonky angles.

I stamped two tiny houses from In The City Stamp Set in Versamark ink; taller on a scrap of Pool Party cardstock, and lower one on Whisper White; and heat embossed them in white. This set stamp set doesn’t come with coordinating dies, but images are so easy to fussy-cut I did it in no time.

Sentiments are stamped in Versamark on two separate pieces of cardstock: I stamped ‘congratulations’ from Petal Palette Stamp Set on a strip of Smoky Slate cardstock, and ‘happy for you’ from In The City Stamp Set on a smaller strip of Pool Party and heat embossed both in white.

I die-cut a square of vellum using 2nd largest square die from Stitched Shapes Thinlits Dies. While playing with placement, I thought it would look cool if the square was kinda wonky too (to echo panels) so once happy, I adhered my tiny houses briefly in the middle of that’ wonky’ square. Next, I adhered them to the card and added sentiments using dimensionals.

I know this card supposed to be CAS (clean & simple) but too much white hurts my eyes, honest haha. So before I finished assembling it, I took Smoky Slate ink pad and transferred some ink onto an acrylic block. Next, using aqua painter I flicked few tiny ‘splatters’ of ink into the top Whisper White panel.

For this second card, I decided to use brighter colours. I chose Tranquil Tide and Lemon Lime Twist for some fun pop of colour. The base is Crumb Cake.

I wanted to add some extra texture and interest to this card. I really like the Simply Stripes Textured Embossing Folder from Spring Summer catalogue. But because I don’t have it yet I decided to imitate the look. I took my Tranquil Tide panel and with a help of Stampin’ Trimmer, I scored it every 1/4″. I love how it looks.

I also added Lemon Lime Twist splatters to Whisper White panel and adhered all the layers to the card base.

To soften up wonky angles I die-cut a circle from vellum using the 2nd largest circle from Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies. I wrapped some Whisper White Baker’s Twine around my fingers to create ‘wreath-like’ shape, and add it in the centre of the vellum circle with a dab of glue (snail adhesive).

I took tiny buildings and simple sentiment strip, put dimensionals to the back and mounted them onto my circle. Dimensionals not just keep all elements together, but they also secure twine from slipping off. I adhered my circle to the card with snail adhesive.

I love how these cards turned out. And to be honest, with a little tweak, they could easily fit any occasion really.

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

I’m also adding my cards to Simon Says Stamp – Anything Goes 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 RRMR76JH to receive a gift from me. Just a reminder that In The City Stamp Set is an exclusive Hostess Set, which means you can’t buy it, you can only earn it (choose) free when you spend £150 or more in my online store.

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.

Product List

In The City Photopolymer Stamp Set [143771] £14.50	Petal Palette Clear-Mount Stamp Set [145788] £32.00	Petal Palette Wood-Mount Stamp Set [145785] £42.00	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies [145372] £27.00	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] £6.50
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25	Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock [121685] £7.25	Lemon Lime Twist A4 Cardstock [144250] £7.25	Tranquil Tide A4 Cardstock [144252] £7.25	Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate [131291] £7.25
Pool Party A4 Card Stock [124391] £7.25	White Vellum A4 Card Stock [106584] £6.00	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin’ Pad [144086] £6.00	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin’ Pad [131179] £6.00	Versamark Pad [102283] £7.75
Embossing Buddy [103083] £5.50	White Stampin’ Emboss Powder [109132] £4.50	Twine Baker’s Whisper White [124262] £2.75	Aqua Painters [103954] £15.50	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332] £6.25
Stampin’ Dimensionals [104430] £3.75	Paper Snips Scissors [103579] £9.00	Clear Block D [118485] £7.75	Heat Tool – Uk Plug [129054] £27.00	Stampin’ Trimmer [129722] £27.00
Big Shot [143263] £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:

Ever wondered what it’s like to join Stampin’ Up!’s community? I may have few answers for you. 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,

How-To: Partial Die-Cutting To Extend Your Square Dies

Image ~ 22 February 201722 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ Leave a comment

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – How-To: Partial Die-Cutting To Extend Your Square Dies

Couple of weeks ago I posted on my blog this lovely card and I had an enormous response, and questions on how I turned a square from Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies into the rectangle.

I hoped to post it earlier but as always life got in the way. But finally, I got around to show you how I did it. The technique is called partial die-cutting.

By no means, I didn’t invent this technique. It’s been around for a long time and is usually used to create pop-up elements or intricate borders.

To create a rectangle I took a piece of cardstock and my square die. I’ve used Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies, but you can use any thin square dies for this technique.

I placed the die, with the cutting edge down, on a piece of cardstock. I set the top plate of my cutting sandwich so that is only partially over the die. The portion that is under the top plate is the part that will get cut out. I run it through the Big Shot.

Now I lined up my die with this partially die-cut piece. It’s not difficult at all, as cutting edge of the die slip right into the grove.

And again I placed the top plate so that it’s only partially over the die. Just this time my partially die-cut piece and is on the side that won’t be cut. I run it through the Big Shot.

And voila, you have a stitched rectangle! But as I mentioned before you can use any thin square dies for this technique.

I hope you liked my short ‘how to’ post and that you’ll use this technique to stretch your dies.

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day,

Simply Sketched Saturday Challenge #17 – Paisleys & Posies

Image ~ 18 February 201722 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 16 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Simply Sketched Saturday Challenge #17 – Paisleys & Posies

Thank you for joining us for another Simply Sketched Saturday Challenge! We are so excited to be sharing this hop with you. The products used are all available in the current Annual, or seasonal, Stampin’ Up!® Catalogues*. Simply use the buttons at the bottom of the post to keep hopping!

Hello and welcome after a long break. Today’s brilliant sketch has been designed by lovely Sam from Sam’s Sentiments blog. Just check how beautiful this sketch is?! Sadly Sam wasn’t able to take a part in the hop. Such a shame.

I’ve been so busy lately with home renovating and night shifts, that only a couple of days ago I realised our monthly blog hop is today. I panic slightly first but the moment I sit down to the sketch, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. I decided to ‘dig out’ my favourite stamp set from Autumn-Winter catalogue: Paisleys & Posies, as it seemed perfect for the technique I wanted to try: watercolour with markers. Well, it’s kinda watercolour. Anyhow. I had so much fun that I created not one but three cards.

Aren’t these gorgeous?! Such bold designs! And they really super easy to make.

Paisleys & Posies cards dimensions:

3x 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) + 2 x strips 1″x 4-1/8″ + 1 stripe 3/8″x 5-2/8″
3x White Vellum cardstock: 3-5/8″ x 5-3/8″(9,2 x 13,6 cm)
3x Water Colour Paper: 3-1/2″ x 5-2/8″ (8,9 x 13,3 cm)
3x Very Vanilla cardstock: 3-1/2″ x 5″ for the inside panels + scraps for sentiments
scraps of the following cardstocks for die-cutting: Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Pool Party & Pear Pizzazz

To start off, I stamped various images from Paisleys & Posies Stamp Set onto the watercolour panel in Basic Black Archival Ink.

Tip of the day: Because I did my cards late at night, I had no time for the ink to dry completely but I didn’t want to smear black all over my watercolour panels. So I sprinkled clear embossing powder over the whole piece once I was done with stamping. But I didn’t heat set it, I just let embossing powder to ‘soak in’ all the ‘moisture’. I let it sit for couple of minutes and then brush off the powder.

When my panels were ready I started to colour them in with Stampin’ Markers. Nothing fancy really, and no need to stay in lines either.

For the first card, I’ve used Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive and Tempting Turquoise. When all the images were coloured in, I spritzed the whole panel with water. And that’s when all the ‘magic’ happen, as all the colours blend together nicely creating a beautiful watercolour piece. It’s like making your own watercolour DSP. And each piece is different.

To add more colour I dried my panel with a heat tool. Next, I colour it in again with markers and spritz it with water. You can build up the colour as much as you wish, just remember to dry your panel in-between.

For my next card, I decided to use all markers from Brights family. But this time I only spritz it once, hence much more subtle look.

For the last cardI’ve used Subtles Stampin’ Markers and I have to say they needed the most work. I had to dry my piece and keep adding more colour several times until I was happy with the outcome. Once all my panels were created I decided to add some shimmer to them. I added few drops of Clear Wink of Stella to the water in my spritzer, and I spritzed all the panels.

Once the panels were dry I die-cut three circles from each panel: full circle using 1-7/8” circle from Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and two ‘partial’ circles using Layered Circle Framelits Dies. I also die-cut slightly bigger scalloped circles from Basic Black cardstock to go underneath.

To assemble my cards I adhered vellum to card bases and watercolour panels on top. Next, I glued black scalloped circles underneath the watercolour ones and in-laid them back into the panels. I also adhered Basic Black strips, sliding them slightly underneath the die-cut circles.

I stamped my sentiments (masking a part of it) on a 3/8″ strip of Very Vanilla cardstock, and adhered it to the card with liquid glue. The full sentiment is stamped inside of the card.

For the final touch, I die-cut some leaves and flowers using a couple of intricate dies from Paisleys Framelits Dies and adhered them to the black stripes.

And these are my cards for today. I hope you like my take on the sketch. Now be sure to hop along to see more inspiring projects. Your next stop is very talented Hannah.

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day,

Anna' Stampin' Cave

creative life by anna krol – stampin' up! uk independent demonstrator

February Special Hostess Gift

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

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.

How-To: Partial Die-Cutting To Extend Your Square Dies

Simply Sketched Saturday Challenge #17 – Paisleys & Posies