Celebrate You with Go For Greece Training Group Blog Hop

27 March 201828 March 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 8 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Celebrate You with Go For Greece Training Group Blog HopHello everyone and welcome to my blog. We are super excited to share with you an array of creations showcasing products from Stampin’ Up! Annual and Occasions (Spring-Summer in the UK) catalogues (and Sale-A-Bration freebies too). We hope you find great inspiration from our projects. You are currently visiting Anna Krol from the United Kingdom.

Sale-a-bration is coming to an end and today I’ve got for you beautiful, clean & simple card using Amazing You Stamp Set and Celebrate You Thinlits Dies – both of which you can still earn FREE (Sale-a-bration ends on 31st March).

But there’s also something you may don’t know about Celebrate You Thinlits Dies – they are carrying over to the new Stampin’ Up! 2018-2019 Annual Catalogue!! But why pay for something if you can gave it for FREE, right?

Let’s Celebrate card dimensions:

– Berry Burst 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: 3-5/8″ x 5-3/8″ (9.3 cm x 13.6 cm)
– Whisper White cardstock (for inside): 3″ x 4-5/8″ (7.6 cm x 11.7 cm)
– A piece of watercolour paper for Stamping
– A strip of Gold Foil cardstock for die cutting
– Gold 1/8″ Ribbon: 8″ approximately
First, I stamped my flower on a piece of watercolour paper in Versamark, heat embossed it in gold, and fussy cut it (without leaves).
To paint the flower I’ve used aqua painter. For the first layer of colour I chose Powder Pink ink pad. Once it dried, I’ve used Berry Burst ink pad to add more depth to the petals.

I took a Whisper White panel, decided where my flower will be placed, and using Stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped leaves in Lemon Lime Twist. Next, I stamped over them with Pear Pizzazz to darken them a bit and also stamped more leaves in Pear Pizzaz.

Using dry brush I picked some of that Berry Burst ink, flicked it over the Whisper White panel and assembled my card before adding the flower.
I cut a piece of Gold 1/8″ Ribbon (briefly 8″), added it underneath the flower and adhered it to the card base with dimensionals.

For the sentiment I die cut the word “celebrate” from Celebrate You Thinlits Dies in gold foil and also stamped “Let’s” from Amazing You Stamp Set in Powder Pink next to the flower. And that’s my card for today.

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!

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day

Hostess Code for a month of March: CWKGWDD7 – Use this code in the month of March and receive a gift from me. Spend £25 or more and use the code, and you will receive a Sweet Soiree Suite embellishments sample: one Silver Mini Gable Box + samples of ribbon and ‘shreddies’ (pink, silver or white) + a handmade 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

Amazing You Clear-Mount Stamp Set [147215] £0.00	Amazing You Wood-Mount Stamp Set [147212] £0.00	Celebrate You Thinlit Dies [146840] £0.00	Berry Burst A4 Cardstock [144249] £7.25	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25
Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Gold Foil Sheets [132622] £3.75	Berry Burst Classic Stampin’ Pad [144083] £6.00	Powder Pink Classic Stampin’ Pad [144084] £6.00	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin’ Pad [144086] £6.00
Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin’ Pad [131180] £6.00	Versamark Pad [102283] £7.75	Embossing Buddy [103083] £5.50	Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder [109129] £4.50	Aqua Painters [103954] £15.50
Gold 1/8″ Ribbon [134583] £4.50	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig [101049] £11.00	Paper Snips Scissors [103579] £9.00	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026] £9.00	Stampin’ Dimensionals [104430] £3.75
Stampin’ Trimmer [129722] £27.00	Big Shot [143263] £99.00

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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:

New Sale-a-bration release is LIVE. Click here for more details –>

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 –>

Brusho Love – Kylie Bertucci’s International Project Highlights

16 January 201818 January 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 9 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Brusho Love for Kylie Bertucci’s International Project Highlights

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. My project is under number 7! You can do it here or use a button at the end of my post.

Our theme for this highlight is ‘Favourite Sale-a-bration Or Occasions Catalogue Products’. So what else could it be for me if not Brusho Crystal Colour!!

I literally squealed with delight (ask my hubby haha) when I saw them in our new Spring Summer Catalogue!! Truly couldn’t ask for more!

They are high quality, highly pigmented paint powders, water-based and most of all completely non-toxic.

They come in a selection of five colours:

Brilliant Red – the name says it all
Gamboge – orange with hints of yellow
Moss Green – beautiful earthy green colour with speckles of purple
Prussian Blue – very vibrant blue, must be my fav
Yellow – again, very vibrant

These are not a Stampin’ Up! colours, but as you will see in a minute, you can easily match them.

Brusho is not a product that you can bring to the table, create one card and then put it back. Nope, it won’t happen. Once you take it out and start playing with these colours, the fun has no end! And I warn you: It’s highly addictive!

You can use these colours separately but you can also mix &match and just have fun with them. Add more or less water to create more vibrant, or softer look.

To highlight this amazing product I created eight cards: four standard A6 size and four tiny 3×3″.

Before I start few details: I only used watercolour paper; to keep it as easy as possible I only used one stamp set: Remarkably You; each card has been heat-embossed first in either white, silver, gold or copper before I added Brusho.

For this first card, I simply wet paper entirely with my aqua painter and sprinkled brusho crystals over the surface. It’s actually quite therapeutic to watch how the colour travels. And…I’ve used all 5 colours of brusho too! Brave, I know haha, but how fun! Once I’ve added my first batch of crystals, I spritz it with water to help the colours move and I added more colour. I kept adding water and colour until I was happy.

I looked at my still quite wet paper and had a thought, that I’ve got so much pigmented water pool on this piece, I could actually create another card so…I took next piece of watercolour paper, pressed it to the top, and waited few moments for the water/colour to transfer.

And this is what it looked like. Nearly, because I spitz it once or two and sprinkled some Moss Green sparingly. I love how much softer this card came out.

Same technique, brusho to wet, I’ve used for this cute 3×3″ card

Brusho: Yellow, Moss Green; card base: Old Olive

For this next card, I decided to sprinkle Brusho on the dry watercolour panel first, and spritz it with water later.

I’ve used Prussian Blue and Yellow and tried hard not to mix both colours too much. I really loved this effect! Which gave me an idea of ‘colour-blocking with Brusho’ technique. Not sure if there was such a technique before (never heard of). So if not, now it is, and I invented it hahaha (j/k)

Flower: Gamboge; background: Brilliant Red; stem: Moss Green; card base Real Red

Flower: Gamboge; background: Moss Green and Prussian Blue; card base Tangerine Tango

Flower: Brilliant Red; background: Yellow; stem: Moss Green; card base: Pacific Point

For each of these cards above, I’ve added a solid pool of water inside the flowers, sprinkled with Brusho powder and moved the colour around using aqua painter. Once flowers were dry, I wet the background and added brusho in contrasting colour. Again, I helped the colours move around with aqua painter. Please do not stress if the colours bleed into each other. It creates beautiful, organic, watercolour look.

I really love the effect brusho created on my last card. I’ve used same ‘colour-blocking with Brusho’ technique. For the flower, I’ve used this amazingly vibrant Gamboge. Once my Flower was dry I masked it with a piece of copy paper (smaller than a flower itself, I didn’t aim for perfection here). I sprinkled Moss Green powder all-over the background and spritz it with water very well until all powder dissolved. When the background was still slightly wet, I’ve added some more of the Moss Green powder. But this time I let the powder dry itself, without adding more water to it. I love these speckles of purple it created!

And these are all my cards for today. I hope that it inspired you to give your brusho some love too. Just take a watercolour paper, brusho, and have some fun. Let your imagination run wild. There’s no right or wrong. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today! Make sure you head over to Kylie’s blog to check all lovely projects and vote for your favourites. Hope my project will be among them. My project is under number 7!

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 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 or more do not use the code and grab your own Stampin’ Rewards + gift from me

Brusho Crystal Colour [144101] £27.00	Remarkable You Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139894] £23.00	Remarkable You Wood-Mount Stamp Set [139891] £32.00	Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25
Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock [121685] £7.25	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock [121680] £7.25	Old Olive A4 Card Stock [106576] £7.25	Pacific Point A4 Card Stock [116202] £7.25	Real Red A4 Card Stock [106578] £7.25
Rich Razzleberry A4 Card Stock [119981] £7.25	Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock [116206] £7.25	Aqua Painters [103954] £15.50	Stampin’ Spritzer [126185] £2.75	Versamark Pad [102283] £7.75
Embossing Buddy [103083] £5.50	Copper Stampin’ Emboss Powder [141636] £4.50	Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder [109129] £4.50	Silver Stampin’ Emboss Powder [109131] £4.50	White Stampin’ Emboss Powder [109132] £4.50
Stamp-A-Ma-Jig [101049] £11.00	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026] £9.00	Clear Block D [118485] £7.75	Stampin’ Trimmer [129722] £27.00	Heat Tool – Uk Plug [129054] £27.00

Don’t forget to check:

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 —>

Global Design Project #081 Colour Challenge – Watercolour Birthday Blooms

Image ~ 7 April 201722 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 16 Comments

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Global Design Project #081 Colour Challenge – Watercolour Birthday Blooms

Hello and welcome! Today I decided to play along with Global Design Project and their Colour Challenge. I love that one of the colours can be our own choice.

I had couple of ideas which colour to use, but because I couldn’t decide which one to choose I created two cards instead of one 🙂

Basic Grey/Night of Navy ‘Friend To Friend’ card dimensions:

Basic Grey 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)
Watercolour Paper: 3-6/8″ x 3″ (9.5 cm x 7.6 cm)
Regals Designer Series Paper Paper Stack: 3-5/8″ x 3/8″ (9.2 cm x 1 cm) strip of diagonal stripes design paper in Night of Navy
Night of Navy Solid Baker’s Twine: approx 33″ (84 cm) + strip of Basic Grey cardstock to secure/hide the twine ends inside the card

For this first card, I decided to use rather classic Night of Navy with Basic Grey colour combination.

I heat embossed beautiful floral image from Birthday Blooms Stamp Set on a piece of Watercolour Paper in Whisper White Embossing Powder. Next, I watercolour the image using my ink pads as palettes. For the flower, I’ve used Night of Navy ink pad. For the leaves, I’ve used Basic Grey Archival ink pad, which was a little bit tricky but doable. Just had to work really fast once I squished some ink onto my ink pad cover flap. When finished my leaves, I’ve added more water to the ink that left on the cover and I’ve done a quick wash of light grey around the flower.

For the sentiment, I chose sweet ‘friend to friend’ from Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set and stamped it in Basic Grey Archival Ink in the bottom right corner of my watercolour panel.

Tip: If using clear mount or wood mount stamp sets, always use Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to align your sentiment. It’s best tool ever!

To prepare my base I stamped the same floral image all over the card front with Versamark ink. Next, I wrapped Night Of Navy Solid Baker’s Twine around the front of the card and secured it at the back with a piece of cardstock.

I adhered a strip of DSP underneath the watercolour piece and added it to the card base, slightly offsetting my piece. The final touch was to add Clear Wink Of Stella to my floral.

For my next card colour combination, I took an idea from Stampin’ Up!’s Annual Catalogue, page 76. I love how Night of Navy and Delightful Dijon complement each other creating distinguished look.

Delightful Dijon/Night of Navy ‘Friend To Friend’ card dimensions:

Delightful Dijon 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)
Regals Designer Series Paper Paper Stack, Night of Navy diagonal stripes design: 4-2/8″ x 3-5/8″ (10.8 cm x 9.2 cm)
Watercolour Paper: 3-6/8″ x 3″ (9.5 cm x 7.6 cm)
Night of Navy Solid Baker’s Twine: approx 12″ (30 cm)

Same as with my first card, I stamped the whole card front with a floral image from Birthday Blooms Stamp Set in Versamark Ink and adhered the piece of DSP in the middle of my card base.

Next, I stamped and heat embossed the same image on the watercolour panel in Whisper White. Flowers, as before, are watercoloured with Night of Navy ink, just this time I decided for darker, deeper shade. For the leaves, however, I’ve used Delightful Dijon ink, with a very light wash of DD in the background.

A sentiment, same again, is stamped in Night of Navy ink in the top right corner of the panel. I took a piece Night of Navy Solid Baker’s Twine, wrapped it at the bottom of my watercolour piece and tied a little bow. I adhered my panel to the card base, offsetting again. Clear Wink of Stella finishes off the look.

And here are both of my cards together:

I love how they turned out! Same stamp set, same technique, and same design but two completely different looks. Which one do you like the most? Please let me know in comments below.

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,

Shake It In Teals – Birthday Card For Sweet 17

Image ~ 14 March 201722 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 2 Comments

Hello and welcome! Today I want to share with you a card I’ve made for our daughter’s 17th birthday. I don’t know where the time has gone but I could swear she was just 7 not that long ago.

She’s not a girly-girl ( happy mamma here lol). She’s studying fine art in Sixth Form and she loves mixed media. So I had to come up with something little more ‘sophisticated’ than flowers and butterflies if you know what I mean 😉

This year I decided to make a shaker card in beautiful teal shades. [You can see her last year’s birthday card here]

Shake It In Teals Card dimensions:

Thick Whisper White 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)
Watercolour Paper: 5-6/8″ x 3-7/8″ (14.5 cm x 9.7 cm)
Basic Black cardstock: 1/2″ x 5-6/8″ (14.5 cm x 1.2 cm)
for die-cutting word happy pieces of Basic Black, Island Indigo and Emerald Envy

It’s very simple, a straightforward card so I won’t include a whole step by step instructions, just some hints, and tips.

Frame: To create a teal-like shade for the watercolour panel I’ve mixed Island Indigo ink with Emerald Envy ink in a watercolour wash. When the panel was dry I die cut a rectangle from the middle of the panel, creating a frame.

Numbers: I didn’t want the number to look flat and boring, so I took that watercoloured rectangle, stamped two paisley images in Versamark in the middle, heat embossed them in white and die cut numbers 1 and 7 from that piece.

‘Happy’: I die cut it three times: one from Basic Black cardstock, 2nd from Island Indigo and 3rd from Emerald Envy and adhered them together. To add shine to it I cover my word in Versamark and heat embossed in clear. I did the same with the Basic Black strip.

Before I put my shaker card together I adhered few sequins to the base of my card so not all sequins fall down when the card is standing on the shelf. For the final touch, I added some random gold dots to the frame with my gold Sharpie.

There’re few things that didn’t come out as I hoped for, but with my numb hands, I think that overall the card looks nice. The most important is the fact that our girl loved it, so YAY!

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 March G3JKVASG to receive a gift from me.

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,

Pin me

Don’t forget to check:

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

Don’t forget to check:

Tip: If using clear mount or wood mount stamp sets, always use Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to align your sentiment. It’s best tool ever!

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