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

Dragonfly Dreams Photopolymer Bundle

[144728]

£42.25

Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies

[142749]

£28.00

Dragonfly Dreams Photopolymer Stamp Set

[142924]

£19.00

Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock

[138342]

£7.25

Island Indigo A4 Card Stock

[124390]

£7.25

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

£8.25

White Vellum A4 Card Stock

[106584]

£6.00

Shimmery White A4 Card Stock

[121717]

£7.25

Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin’ Pad

[138324]

£6.00

Island Indigo Classic Stampin’ Pad

[126986]

£6.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

£7.75

Embossing Buddy

[103083]

£5.50

Copper Stampin’ Emboss Powder

[141636]

£4.50

Aqua Painters

[103954]

£15.50

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

£7.25

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

£3.75

Stampin’ Dimensionals

[104430]

£3.75

Paper Snips Scissors

[103579]

£9.00

Stampin’ Trimmer

[129722]

£27.00

Big Shot

[143263]

£99.00

Casing Catalogue – I’m Here For You Card Using Pedal Pusher SAB Free Stamp Set

31 March 201621 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ Leave a comment

Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator Anna Krol Casing Catalogue – I’m Here For You Card Using Pedal Pusher SAB Free Stamp Set

The base of my card is standard top folded Whisper White. I stamped my image using Stampin’ Up! Archival Basic Grey. Both Basic Grey and Basic Black Archival inks are perfect to use when you plan to colour in your image, as they don’t bleed. I coloured my tandem and flowers using Stampin’ Write Markers. For the bottom part of my card, I used a piece of white Color Me Irresistible Specialty Designer Series Paper. I cut it diagonally and sponged with Old Olive ink. I finish it off with a strip of Wildflower Fields DSP and Whisper White Baker’s Twine.

For my second card, I used darker colours. And again, I’ve used a piece of Color Me Irresistible Specialty DSP but, this time, I’ve used a Cucumber Crush stripes design piece. To finish my card off I added a Cucumber Crush Dotted Lace Trim and again a Whisper White Baker’s Twine.

Thank you for stopping by,

Embossing Resist Technique With Corner Garden Background Stamp By Stampin’ Up!

25 March 201621 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 2 Comments

Embossing Resist Technique With Corner Garden Background Stamp By Stampin’ Up!

While Easter is just around the corner, today I’ve got for you beautiful Easter card using embossing resist technique. I love this technique as it has a real WOW factor to it! I love how the colours just POP on the card when sponged or water coloured over the heat embossing.

But first thing first – I wanted to apologise for being absent on the blog for a long time. I didn’t mean to neglect anyone of you but I’ve been struggling with a very nasty bacterial chest infection, which knocked me down, literally. I wasn’t able to do anything around the house, or even myself (not to mention crafting). So blessed to have a wonderful husband who took care of the house and our family, cooking, cleaning, etc and most of all – me.

The project I share today was made for our team swap at the end of February. But since the infection kicked in I wasn’t able to share it with you at all.

To create my card I stamped a beautiful image from Corner Garden background stamp in Versamark on the piece of regular Whisper White. Remember to always use an antistatic tool on your card before stamping your image if you want to heat emboss it, as it will take all the static from your card, and embossing powder will stick only to your stamped image. The sentiment is stamped in Versamak too. Both: flowers and sentiment are heat embossed in white.

Now the fun part starts – water colouring! You may think: oh no! You should use a watercolour paper. But to be honest, if you don’t plan to soak your cardstock in water, use your aqua painters gently, and your layer will be mounted on the base – you can add your water colouring on regular cardstock without any problem. Just like I did. Believe me or not, I coloured all my flowers and leaves using aqua painter. As they say, the devil is in the detail. You can’t allow aqua paint brush to carry lots of water, it needs to be slightly wet. You only use it to pick the colour from the lid of your ink pad ( to have some ink on your lid you have to squeeze you ink pad gently when it’s closed). And you pick more colour with every stroke or two. You can’t paint with water only as it will damage your paper if using regular Whisper White.

When all the colouring was done I sponged the background using Pear Pizzazz, Wild Wasabi and Pool Party. Any place of the background that I thought was too dark, I lightened with Whisper White Craft ink pad. I also lightened the look of some flowers, especially the Melon Mambo one, the large at the bottom of my card. I also added some Clear Wink of Stella to my flowers for a shimmer.

To embellish my card I cut a narrow strip of Burlap Ribbon, added Venetian Crochet Trim at the top and add it at the bottom of my layer. Next, I mount it on my Crumb Cake base.

I love that slight rustic feel to my card, even though there’s lots of shimmer on the flowers from Wink of Stella. It may not be your traditional Easter card but I love it! And you can always change a sentiment and make it into the birthday card, get well or congratulations card maybe? Possibilities are endless. If it comes to Easter I personally prefer cards with the strong message like this one I’ve made last year:

Now I would love to hear from you! Do you prefer more traditional Easter cards? Or maybe you’re a fan of fun and cheeky ones (I’ve seen lots of these lately)? Let me know in the comments below.

Have a blessed day,

Wildflower Fields Fridge Mini Calendars

5 March 201621 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 8 Comments

Wildflower Fields Fridge Mini Calendars

Good evening everyone. A few days ago, on my facebook page, I’ve posted some fridge mini calendars I’ve made as a thank you gifts for my customers. But they were such a hit that I thought I will make a blog post, to show how to make them. Just a warning, it’s gonna be picture heavy 😉

I’ve bought these mini calendars on eBay while ago, but due to chronic fatigue I just couldn’t push myself to sit down and craft – maybe except for the cards once in a while. But I was wondering about customers gifts the other day and had a lightbulb moment – why not make cute magnetic fridge calendars?! Each calendar measures approx 2-7/8″ x 1-7/8″, and on their size, I’ve based my design.

The base for my calendar measures 3″x 4″ – here I’ve used Hello Honey. Designer Series Paper measures 2-7/8″x 2″ and Whisper White piece for stamping measures 1-1/2″x 2″. I rounded all the edges of my base, top edges of DSP and right top corner of Whisper White. I’ve used my Envelope Punch Board to do so, but you could use the corner rounder punch if you have one.

I stamped “a little something cute…” sentiment from Something To Say stamp set on my Whisper White pieces. Next, I stamped floral images from Flowering Fields stamp set. I just love this set! Don’t forget that this beautiful stamp set you can earn free with every £45 purchase during Sale-a-bration.

I’ve used Hello Honey for butterflies, Old Olive for stems and leaves, and Lost Lagoon and Calypso Coral for flowers. I’ve used ink pads as well as Stampin’ Markers to do my stamping. I have to say here, I love that all Stampin’ Up’s Designer Series Papers got all coordinating colours listed at the back of the paper pack. It makes creating so much easier if you don’t have to work out which colours to use. I also sponged stamped panels, so they stand out nicely from the background.

To embellish my Blackberry Bliss calendars I’ve used Silver 1/8″ Ribbon as it looked pretty neat on a dark background. But it didn’t work as good on the light one. So I cut “skinny” strips of cardstock in Lost Lagoon and Hello Honey, smooshed Versamark over them and heat embossed with Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder. I love this gentle shimmer.

I assembled my calendars using Tombow glue. I also added two strips of a magnet at the back of each one.

I really hope you like my little project and that you give them a go. Or maybe you have different ideas to use these little calendars for? I would love to hear from you!

Have a blessed day,

Bloomin’ Love Valentine’s Day Gift Set

11 February 201621 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ Leave a comment

Today I’ve got for you beautiful Valentine’s Day card I’ve made to match cute Valentine’s Day gift box I posted two weeks ago. Again I’ve used Bloomin’ Love stamp set and Real Red Stampin’ Pad. This time I also used matching Bloomin’ Heart Thinlit Dies.

The card is a standard A6 top folded card. Because I didn’t want the stamping underneath the heart, I die-cut my heart first and used it as a stencil to lightly mark where the heart will be. I also masked around 1-1/2″ of the bottom of the card base using post-it notes. I wanted to keep it clean for the sentiment.

I stamped the base carefully around the marked line first, and then just filled in the rest of the space. Next, I stamped the sentiment. I cut a tiny strip of Real Red cardstock and adhered it just above the sentiment to hide where the stamping ends.

I also stamped the inside of the card using this cute floral stamp.

When I put my card together I decided to add some pop to it.

I stamped 3 small and 2 large flower outlines on the piece of Whisper White and die-cut them. I sponged their edges and attached them to the heart with glue dots. Just a little touch of Clear Wink of Stella glitter pen and few mini pearls and the card was ready.

I love how this card turned out and how it matches the box. Perfect little gift for Valentine’s Day.

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day,

Anna' Stampin' Cave

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

Sale-A-Bration

Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set & Coordinating Dies

Casing Catalogue – I’m Here For You Card Using Pedal Pusher SAB Free Stamp Set

Embossing Resist Technique With Corner Garden Background Stamp By Stampin’ Up!

Wildflower Fields Fridge Mini Calendars

Bloomin’ Love Valentine’s Day Gift Set