Go Wild with some Tip Top Stampin' inspiration from me!

Hello,

Today I have some photographs of our team training day to show to you. I love being part of such a friendly, welcoming and inspiring group of talented and creative people! It was such a fun day and it was so nice to see some dear friends again and meet some new ones, all whilst having the opportunity to craft and be inspired together for a whole day.

One of the best things about being an Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is being part of such a lovely family of like-minded people, who don't look at you oddly if you "oooooh" over a piece of patterned paper or pretty ribbon... or "ahhhhhh" over lovely buttons... or if you relate everyday items to Stampin' Up! colour names: "I saw a lovely Bermuda Bay handbag the other day", or, "Her skirt was a lovely flowery pattern in Mint Macaron and Night of Navy"!

I volunteered to do an "Inspiration Station" for our team training on Sunday and chose to showcase the Go Wild Designer Series Paper Stack papers. Everything I made for my display used the Go Wild DSP and its gorgeous colour palette of Tip Top Taupe, Whisper White and Basic (or Memento Tuxedo) Black - with a little bit of gold here and there, for a touch of bling where necessary! Here is a photograph of my display table:

I wanted to show that you can make all sorts of things with a limited colour palette and that Tip Top Taupe, black and white can be both masculine or girly, depending on how you use them! I LOVE the Go Wild DSP. It is a great mix of animal print patterns and quite graphic designs that are reminiscent of African batiks etc. There are 48 sheets in a pack - 4 each of 12, double-sided designs that are 6x6" (15.2x15.2cm) square. I found that a little bit of paper can go a long way and I made all of the above (and more) and still have several full sheets and usable off-cut scraps left over for future projects. A bargain for £7.25 I reckon! There is also a Go Wild Cardstock Pack of 24 A4 sheets of cardstock in Basic Black, Tip Top Taupe and Whisper White (8 sheets of each of the three colours) for £6.50 to go with it too.

The picture below is of a collection of cards that were inspired by and CASED from a card design in the Stampin' Up! 2015-16 Annual Catalogue (on page 105), but using my black, white and taupe colour palette; plus a box made using the Gift Box Punch Board (which, incidentally, is discounted this week in the Weekly Deals for 8th to 14th July 2015!)

I really loved the card on page 105 of the catalogue and have wanted to CASE it ever since I first saw it. (CASE meaning to "Copy And Share Everything"). The original uses a softer colourway with what looks to me like Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede with Silver Glimmer Paper.  The larger card in my photograph above is a copy of that card layout, using some of the Go Wild DSP punched out with the Hexagon Punch;  Gorgeous Grunge and Six-Sided Sampler stamp sets stamped in Tip Top Taupe ink;  the Bold Butterfly Framelits and Gold Glimmer Paper, Gold Glitter Glue and the fantastic new Gold Metallic Thread for a bit of glamorous sparkle.

I decided to theme my swaps to my table display and chose to make a 3x3" card front, similar to those in the photograph above.  I totally forgot to take any photographs whilst I was making them all though and only remembered to photograph them on Sunday after I had already given some away - oops! Here is a photograph of what were remaining when I finally remembered to take pictures of them:

And here is a close up of three of them:

I used a selection of the DSP designs to use for the hexagons, but kept everything else the same for each card. The first step was to stamp the splattered dots from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set with Tip Top Taupe ink onto a square of the new Thick Whisper White cardstock. A DSP hexagon was then glued on top, using Tombow Multipurpose glue. The Metallic Gold Thread was then looped and stuck onto a dimensional on top of the DSP hexagon. Then, the little strip of Gold Glimmer Paper was stuck onto the same dimensional (and pressed down well!). The Basic Black filigree butterfly was then glued on top of that, using a glue dot. The final touch was to squeeze some Gold Glitter glue onto the butterfly for it's body and leave it to dry. A simple but effective card I think - and it didn't take too long to make them either! I shall definitely be making some more of these - I really like them. I might even try them with different DSP and other colours... hmm...

Well that's it for today, apart from showing you what is in this week's Weekly Deals. There are more items than usual in this week's deals and there are only limited numbers of the items at these discounted prices. Once that stock has been sold, the items will still be available, but at the normal, full catalogue price - so hurry up and grab them quick if you want them at a discount!

It is a bizarre coincidence that the Gold Glimmer Paper that I used in the projects above, is in this week's deals... a great opportunity to re-stock I think, don't you? I love it and a little goes a long way with this gorgeously sparkly, glittery paper! I couldn't be without my Magnetic Plate for the Bigshot to cut out my butterflies either (so useful for all the framelits and thinlits - an absolute must-have in my craft room!) - as is the Gift Box Punch Board - what a bargain that is this week! Get one now if you've not got one - it is SO versatile, I love it!

Stampin' Up! are really spoiling us this week!

If you place an online order with me between now and the end of July and you use the hostess code FQZ4JER4 when you place the order and do NOT tick the "no contact" option when you order, I will send you a little gift in the post as a thank you. Please remember to not use the "no contact" option though, if you want to receive the thank you gift from me.  If you do use the "no contact" option, you will miss out, as I won't have access to your details and I will be unable to send you your thank you gift! 

To start shopping with me, click here

Well, that is it for today, do come back later in the week as I have LOTS more photographs of my Inspiration Station projects to show you - including a Project Life layout I made especially for the day and a very cute gift box too!

Until next time, happy crafting and don't forget, you don't always have to "go wild" with lots of bright colours to make some interesting and beautiful cards, gifts or packaging! ;)

Lucy x
  

First play with my Watercolour Wings stamp set and a Colour Challenge!

I have totally fallen in love with my brand new Watercolor Wings stamp set which arrived this week. I adore butterflies and this set is just so versatile and full of potential! The butterflies are simply stunning... swoon!

This gorgeous two-step stamp set comprises of a total of 15 stamps, for you to make several designs of two differently-sized butterflies, three sentiments and a couple of dotty patterns. As it is a photopolymer set, it is really easy to line up the different "layers" of the butterflies (without the need for a Stamp-a-majig!). 

Here are the stamps in the set:

Watercolor Wings Photopolymer Stamp Set 139424 £23.00/31,00€

You can buy the stamp set on its own, or as a bundle, with the Bold Butterfly Framelit Dies, which will save you 15%. (140232 £32.50/44,00€) They also co-ordinate with the Butterfly Thinlits too. However, today I decided to just use the stamps on their own to make a card:

The colours used are Calypso Coral, Night of Navy and Tip Top Taupe. I love how the stamps are designed to look a bit patchy on purpose to give a water-coloured look, with no need for a paintbrush! I inked up the more solid, base stamp of the larger butterfly with Calypso Coral and then stamped it off first onto my grid paper to give it a paler look on the Very Vanilla card layer. Next was the edged-wing stamp which was straight-up Calypso Coral; then the spots and splodges wing pattern stamp was inked with Night of Navy. The butterfly bodies and antennae plus the trios of dots in the background of the card were all stamped in Tip Top Taupe.

I chose the colours to go in the Always Playing With Paper Challenge #38 colour challenge which asked for coral, navy and kraft inks. I think that Tip Top Taupe falls under the Kraft category, don't you?

 Of course I couldn't leave the inside of the card undecorated, could I? 

I had such a fun afternoon playing with this glorious stamp set. I even stamped up the smaller butterflies in the same colour-combo too onto a 5cm wide strip of Very Vanilla Cardstock too. Aren't they gorgeous? I haven't decided yet whether to make this panel into a bookmark or to add it onto a card base - I am waiting for my Ornate Tag Topper Punch to arrive (which I bought at a reduced price in last week's Weekly Deals) so I think I might use that when it arrives and turn it into a bookmark. I think it would make a beautiful gift tag too - decisions, decisions... what to do? See, I told you this stamp set was versatile, didn't I? And as usual I have more ideas whizzing around my head than time to make them all!

Hope you have enjoyed seeing my first projects made with this fabby-tastic stamp set, I am SURE that you will be seeing many more butterflies here in the next few weeks and months. I think it will become one of my "go-to" stamp sets for all sorts of occasions and it will definitely feature in a class or two I think, so watch this space!

Well, that's it for today, I'm off to make some more butterflies in different colours... Until next time, happy crafting everyone!

Lucy x