With a bow on top

Monday, 18 March 2019

Stamp Review Crew - Geared Up Garage

Welcome back to another Stamp Review Crew blog hop. The Stamp Review Crew is a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world that get together on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month for a blog hop. Each hop we showcase one stamp set and show you just how much you can do with it. Get ready for lots of inspiration and lots of reasons to use (or buy😊) this stamp set! Currently you are visiting Lou Kitzelman on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. Hi!

For this hop we are featuring Geared Up Garage.

It is a really great bundle and perfect for masculine cards. But of course it can be used for any gender and lots of occasions. Today I have gone a bit traditional as I wanted to showcase the bundle and coordinating Classic Garage DSP for an upcoming class. I made a standard easel card.

The front grill decal (as you can tell I have no clue about car terms but I mean the silver thingy around the Happy Birthday sentiment) is the perfect thing to hold the easel upright. I love the different sentiments in this set, as well as the small design elements such as these nuts.

When I made my first card, I cut 2 of everything but (as usual) didn't get around to making it up straight away. In the meantime I came up with a fun fold called an adapted easel card. You can see some other ones I have made here and here. It is a really great fold that allows your die cuts to stand up - just a fun change! So I used the same precut pieces to make this other version.

By simply scoring in different places you get a different look. The links above will take you to the instructions and measurements so you can make one for yourself.

This stamp set and the coordinating framelits are great for achieving a collage-y effect ..... quickly!

Make sure you hop around to see what all the crew have done with this gorgeous stamp set. Next up is the fabulous Charlet Mallett. She will be sure to wow us! She always does.

Lou

Product List

Geared Up Garage Cling Stamp Set [148590] $37.00	Garage Gears Thinlits Dies [148521] $57.00	Geared Up Garage Cling Bundle [150610] $84.50	Classic Garage 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [148482] $19.25	Silver Foil Sheets [132178] $7.00	Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688] $14.75	Real Red A4 Card Stock [106578] $14.75
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] $17.00	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [147084] $13.00	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad [147113] $13.00	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] $10.00	Real Red Combo Pack Stampin' Blends [147935] $15.50	Basic Black Combo Pack Stampin' Blends [147942] $15.50	Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [145058] $15.50
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897] $11.50	Foam Adhesive Strips [141825] $14.00

Thursday, 14 March 2019

Just Add Ink #448 - Just Add 'J'

Happy Friday! We all about Adding J at Just Add Ink this week for your challenge.

I perhaps was a bit obvious and went with a Jigsaw Card. Way too tired to be clever and think of some obscure J word!

I actually had fun creating this. I got to take a few minutes out of my day and just colour with my Stampin' Blends. The Botanical Butterfly DSP was perfect for me to use. Don't forget that you have a few more weeks left of Sale-a-bration where you can earn this gorgeous DSP pack for free.

I love these interactive cards. So fun! You can find out how to make them here.

Make sure you pop on over to the Just Add Ink page to see how all the other Design Team members added J to their creations. Why not enter your own creation? We always love seeing them!

Lou

Wednesday, 13 March 2019

Colour INKspiration Challenge #51 Blog Hop

Hope you are finding time in your busy schedule for a bit of creating. Sometimes that is hard to do! If your creativity is in need of a kick start why not use our latest colour combination to get you going?

Now I'll just own up and say this card is a bit meh! I was exhausted, busy, blah, blah, blah and at a loss for this challenge. I decided to start by watercolouring a rose in the first 3 colours and use the Pear Pizazz for the leaves.

Heat embossing in white is always effective when watercolouring.

Then after a bit of head scratching and a minor tantrum I came up with the skewwhiff design. Well .... I tossed the pieces down in frustration and liked where they landed!

If I had time I could easily add a few extra details (and even a sentiment if I was extra motivated) to take this card from meh to wow! But I am sure you have those days too where simple needs to be best. Please tell me I am not alone in this!

INKspired to join the challenge? It's so easy. Firstly, get some INKspiration by hopping around to see what all of the Colour INKspiration Crew have to show you. Then you have 12 days from today to make and upload your creation to the Facebook Colour INKspiration Group. You don't have to have a blog to participate but if you do you can link back to your post. Make sure you use all of the challenge colours. You can also use Whisper White, Very Vanilla and Basic Black as well as Metallics. Not a member of the Facebook group yet? Just click here and ask to join Colour INKspiration, add the group to your favourites and share it with your crafty friends so they can join in the fun too. We can't wait to see what you create with these gorgeous colours.

Next up we have Rachel. Make sure you check out her take on this colour combination. You will love it!

Lou

Sunday, 10 March 2019

ESAD March 2019 Sale-a-bration blog hop

Welcome to our March ESAD (Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators) blog hop. With only a few weeks left of Sale-a-bration we wanted to show you some easy ways to earn free products. Make sure you hop around to each blog - your wish list will be full by the end!

For this hop I wanted to showcase 2 of my favourites from the 2019 Occasions Catalogue. And the great thing is if you buy both you can choose 2 free Sale-a-bration products. Check this out ....

I really wanted to show off this gorgeous free DSP and the beautiful birthday card that Kelly Kent made me for my recent birthday was the perfect inspiration. Kelly was inspired by Rachael Tessman's series of cards. The design allows you to use both sides of the DSP in your design. Sometimes I hate having to stick one side down! It feels so mean!

These 6 cards were really quick to make. All you have to do is use the largest Rectangle Stitched framelit to cut out one of each design of paper. For each card you will also need a Whisper White insert cut out using the 3 largest Rectangle Stitched framelit and a card base (14 cm x 12.5 cm, scored at 10.5 cm along the short side).

I wanted to make cards for a range of occasions - the Well Said bundle is so perfect for that! I adhered some Basic Black cardstock to a Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet and then die cut lots of the words. I made a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to lesson the waste. I actually cut out 2 of each word to give some height to the words. Using the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets makes adhering the words so easy.

Once I had all of the components cut and die cut, I just worked my way through each card and decided what I would stamp to go with each die cut word. The Well Said bundle is perfect for making unique cards.

And the bonus with this card design is that you get to see the reverse side of the DSP when you open the card. I won't bore you by showing you all 6 card insides but you can get the idea from this pic.

The free Butterfly Elements add lovely details to your card ..... quickly. Just be careful separating them from the base as some of the stems are quite thin and delicate ... nothing some glue won't fix though! Learnt that the hard way!

I love that you can stamp words around the die cut words - it really allows you to create individual cards.

Of course you could really go to town when making these cards. I kept it simple though so I could show how easy it is to make 6 cards quickly using the main products that I showed you at the beginning of this post. But, by simply adding in some ribbons or other embellishments you could really elevate your card designs.

Phew! Sorry about the number of pics in this post. But as you can see by buying the Well Said bundle and the Rectangle Stitched Framelits you will be able to make so many cards in different styles and for different occasions .... and getting 2 free products doesn't hurt either!

Next up is the fabulous Denise. She is sure to blow you away with her creations.