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

Dragonfly Dreams Clean & Simple For GDP#069 Colour Challenge

Image ~ 12 January 201721 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 10 Comments

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

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

[144728]

£42.25

Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies

[142749]

£28.00

Dragonfly Dreams Photopolymer Stamp Set

[142924]

£19.00

Gorgeous Grunge Clear Stamp Set

[130517]

£18.00

Delightful Dijon A4 Cardstock

[138345]

£7.25

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

£8.25

Delightful Dijon Classic Stampin’ Pad

[138327]

£6.00

Embossing Buddy

[103083]

£5.50

Versamark Pad

[102283]

£7.75

Silver Stampin’ Emboss Powder

[109131]

£4.50

Stampin’ Dimensionals

[104430]

£3.75

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

[110755]

£3.75

Stampin’ Trimmer

[129722]

£27.00

Big Shot

[143263]

£99.00

…And The Greatest Of These Is Love – Embossed Impression Technique

Image ~ 22 November 201621 February 2018 ~ Anna Krol ~ 8 Comments

Hello and welcome!

Today, I’ve got for you card using beautiful Bloomin’ Heart Thinlits Dies. I’ve made various cards using this die in the past, but this time I wanted to try something new: an Embossed Impression Technique. This is very easy, yet effective technique. And great way to stretch your dies too.

I’ve used Stampin’ Up! White Shimmery cardstock for this technique, as I planned to do a bit of water colouring later on. I prepared my Big Shot sandwich: Big Shot on Tab 1 -> Cutting Plate -> Silicon {embossing) mat -> cardstock (I swiped the cardstock with embossing buddy). Next, I tapped Versamark over the cutting edge of the die very gently, and placed the die, cutting edge down, on my cardstock. Remember, once it’s on the paper don’t move it or you will mess up your image. I then carefully placed the second cutting plate over the top and run it through the big shot.

Because I put Versamark Ink on the die, now I had that ink in all the ‘valleys’ of the impression I just made. So I sprinkled Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder over it and heat embossed it.

I love those tiny gold lines! Next, I made few watercolour washes over my piece, using Mint Macaron ink pad and Pool Party reinker. Once dry, I cut my panel to 3-7/8″x 4-3/8″.

I also die cut five flowers, two large and three small, from Whisper White cardstock (I probably should have used Shimmery White cardstock for them too), and adhered them to my piece with glue dots. I’ve added some soft Mint Macaron watercolour wash to the flowers to add some depth to them

My card base is Very Vanilla. I stamped ‘Love’ in Mint Macaron using Brushwork Alphabet stamp set. I adhered my embossed panel with liquid glue to a piece of Mint Macaron mat (4″x 4-1/2″), and add them both to the card base with dimensionals.

To finish off my card I’ve added some shimmer to the flowers with Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Brush and put a rhinestone in each flower centre.

I hope you like my card, and that you give this technique a try.

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