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

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,

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

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…

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…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

Anna' Stampin' Cave - Roses And Dragonfly Birthday Card using Inlaid Partial Die Cutting_Stampin' Up! Rose Garden Thinlits Dies_Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies

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.

Anna' Stampin' Cave - Roses And Dragonfly Birthday Card using Inlaid Partial Die Cutting_Stampin' Up! Rose Garden Thinlits Dies_Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies 4

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.

Anna' Stampin' Cave - Roses And Dragonfly Birthday Card using Inlaid Partial Die Cutting_Stampin' Up! Rose Garden Thinlits Dies_Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies 3

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.

Don’t forget to check:

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

Anna' Stampin' Cave Stampin' Up! Retiring Products 2017

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

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

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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,

Simply Sketched Saturday Challenge #17 – Paisleys & Posies

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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,

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Dragonfly Dreams Clean & Simple For GDP#069 Colour Challenge

Anna’ Stampin’ Cave – Dragonfly Dreams Clean & Simple For GDP#069 Colour Challenge

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Hello and welcome everyone! Something new from me today as it’s the first time when I bite the bullet and decided to take a part in Colour Challenge over at Global Design Project.

I’ve been following this blog for some time now, just never felt confident enough to join in the fun. But hey! It’s just for fun, right?! And when I saw Delightful Dijon (I really, really love this colour) amongst other colours in this week’s challenge, I just knew: now or never. It’s a great colour combination and as my free choice, I simply used Whisper White.

I didn’t craft much lately due to health issues, but I was eager to use a new stamp set from Stampin’ Up! Spring Summer 2017 Catalogue, called Dragonfly Dreams. It comes with coordinating Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies, as a bundle, and is just beautiful. It seemed perfect for the idea I had in my head.

Just forgive me poor photos. I don’t have any fancy equipment and take my photos in the daylight. But the weather is so miserable since few days down here in Midlands, UK, that it was just impossible to take any decent picture.

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‘Nearly Inlay’ Dragonfly Dreams 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)
  • Whisper White cardstock: 2 panels 4″x 5-5/8″(10,2 x 14,3 cm)

First, I stamped the card base with the polka dot (kinda) background stamp from Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set until it was all covered. I’ve used Delightful Dijon ink for a tone on tone effect.

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Next, I die-cut the largest detailed dragonfly, using Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies, from one of the  Whisper White panels and adhered that panel (without dragonfly) to the card base. Of course, I forgot to stamp my sentiment before adhering the panel to the card front.  Typical, right?! LOL But nothing was lost yet. I picked the beautiful ‘You sure know how to make someone happy’ sentiment from Dragonfly Dreams Stamp Set (I love sentiments and the fonts in in this set) and heat embossed it on my card base with silver embossing powder. Seemed easy, but while heat embossing it, the base ‘curled up’ a bit. So I run it through my Big Shot to straighten it up. Bear in mind if you’ve got worn out plates they will leave an impression on your cardstock – ask how do I know.

For the inside panel, I stamped few dragonflies in Delightful Dijon in the corners before adhered it with liquid adhesive.

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I wanted for my dragonfly to carry some silver detail too, so I stamped tiny splotches/dots from Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set all over the die-cut, using Versamark ink, and heat embossed it with silver embossing powder.

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My original idea was to inlay the dragonfly die-cut back to the negative on the card base. But I’ve changed my mind along the way as the stamped detail on the card base wouldn’t be really visible through the die cut. So I decided to adhere my dragonfly only on the body length but it didn’t look good either. At the end, I’ve used tiny pieces of dimensionals to pop the dragonfly up.

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I’m really pleased how this card turned out and I hope you like it too.

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

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As always, if you wish to purchase any of the 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

Dragonfly Dreams Photopolymer Bundle
[144728]
£42.25

Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies

Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies
[142749]
£28.00

Dragonfly Dreams Photopolymer Stamp Set

Dragonfly Dreams Photopolymer Stamp Set
[142924]
£19.00

Gorgeous Grunge Clear Stamp Set

Gorgeous Grunge Clear Stamp Set
[130517]
£18.00

Delightful Dijon A4 Cardstock

Delightful Dijon A4 Cardstock
[138345]
£7.25

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

Whisper White A4 Card Stock
[106549]
£8.25

Delightful Dijon Classic Stampin' Pad

Delightful Dijon Classic Stampin’ Pad
[138327]
£6.00

Embossing Buddy

Embossing Buddy
[103083]
£5.50

Versamark Pad

Versamark Pad
[102283]
£7.75

Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder

Silver Stampin’ Emboss Powder
[109131]
£4.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

Stampin’ Dimensionals
[104430]
£3.75

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

Liquid Multipurpose Glue
[110755]
£3.75

Stampin' Trimmer

Stampin’ Trimmer
[129722]
£27.00

Big Shot

Big Shot
[143263]
£99.00