Wednesday 19 October 2016


Get Your Creative Juices Blooming 


I woke up this past Monday not really feeling creative at all...I mean I would have been more then happy to loaf around in my PJ's. Yet I really wanted to colour something but I just wasn't "feeling" any of my stamps. Seriously though...how can someone such as myself who has hundreds and hundred of stamps, not find ONE...SINGLE...STAMP that I wanted to colour?! I know that sounds silly but that's how I felt. I decided to have a peak on Etsy to see if there was anything that would help get my creative juices flowing. Not only did my Etsy search help get my creative juices flowing, I discovered a digital stamp company that I had never heard of before...I found AuroraWings. As I browsed through it's huge online catalogue of digital stamps I instantly fell in love with an image titled "Sunflower Sprite". I had the card design completely finished in my head before I even clicked the purchase button.


I coloured the image with my Copic markers as well as my Winsor & Newton Brushmarkers. To accentuate the highlights, I used a white Prismacolor Premier coloured pencil. I also used my fine Micron pen to add some dotting to the centre of the small flower that this cute character is holding. I have broken down the colours I used below.

Markers Used 

Skin: 
(Copics)
BV000, R20, E53, E00, E000

Eyes:
(Copics)
B63, B60, 0

Flower Petals: 
(Winsor & Newton Brush Markers)
O177, 0567, Y657, Y367, Y828

Leaves:
(Copics)
G19, G16, YG09, YG13

Sunflower Centre
(Copics)
E49, E47, E44, E43

Pants:
(Copics)
W7, W6, W5, W3, W2

Background
To create the background, I decided I wanted to try a technique I had seen demonstrated a number of months ago by Amy Rysavy on her YouTube channel. Its very simple and quick which makes this technique even better. 
I grabbed out my "Puffy Cloud Borders" dies by Lawn Fawn and die cut out some clouds on scrap card stock (if you don't have those dies or a similar product, you can easily trim out cloud shapes to do this technique). I then used it as a mask to do some ink blending with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink onto a cut down piece of Strathmore Bristol paper. Bristol is my favourite paper to use when ink blending...I get such wonderful and easy blends, however the colours become a little more muted when compared to ink blending on regular card stock. 


I was so pleased with the finished background.

Grass
To create the ground that the cute Sunflower Sprite would stand on, I again used a cut down piece of Strathmore Bristol paper and did some simple Ink Blending with Shabby Shutters and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks. to finish it off I used the "Grassy Hillside Borders" dies from Lawn Fawn to die cut the grass. I stamped my sentiment in the bottom left hand corner using Versamark ink and heat embossed using white detail embossing powder from Ranger.



Finishing Details


I adhered the grass to my cloud background and then ran that through my die cutting machine using the largest stitched rectangle die from Simon Says Stamp. I layered some dark brown card stock behind the cloud background and adhered the card front to my card base
I used my Brother Scan N' Cut to cut out my coloured image and then popped it up on the card front using 3M foam mounting tape. To finish off the card, I tied some hemp twine from American Crafts around the top of the card and added a few sequins in Metallic Gold from Pretty Pink Posh.   


I am so pleased with how this card turned out... Especially because hours before, I wasn't feeling very creative at all. I created this card while doing a Facebook Live on my Stampin' Steve Facebook Page. If you want to watch the video, click here. I do live streams weekly on my Facebook page so be sure to check it out if you haven't already.

If you have any question or comments, please be sure to leave them below - I LOVE to hear from you!

Till next time - Stephen





Wednesday 12 October 2016

"Fall"ing out of Summer

Welcome to my first blog post! I guess I should introduce myself...My name is Stephen and I'm relatively new to stamping. I stumbled into this wonderful world of card making a little over 2 years ago when a client of mine passed away. I am crafty by nature and was looking for something special to gift to my clients to ease their loss. I thought to myself, "I wonder if I could make a card?"...minutes later, I was on YouTube looking up card making tutorials and was instantly sucked in. I went to my local scrapbook store and purchased some paper, Copic markers, and a stamp set and proceeded to make my very first card. Over the last two years I have taken the time to watch countless hours of YouTube videos and reading peoples blogs and scouring Instagram to learn and to seek out inspiration, and the rest as they say is history. 

For my first Blog entry, I decided to create a card using the, "Flutter By" stamp set by Lawn Fawn.
Now I know what you are probably thinking...why am I using a Summery stamp set in the Fall? Well, to be honest...I am not quite ready to let go of the wonderful Summer I had. I decided to "Fall" up the card by using more soft muted tones in my Copic markers and accents of gold with embossing powder as well as some enamel dots from Nuvo Crystal Drops.  


I stamped the images with Intense Black ink by Simon Says Stamp onto a 4.25" by 5.5" piece of 100lb Hammermill Colour Copy Cover. After I was finished colouring, I glued my card front onto a piece of heavy weight card stock that was cut to measure 4.25" by 11" and scored at 5.5". 


Once the glue had set, I cut the top portion of the card front off and added a piece of heavy weight velum that I had coloured with my Copic's in warm greys. I then stamped the butterflies and leaves from the Flutter By stamp set onto the velum with VersaMark ink and heat set with some gold embossing powder by Stampin' Up. To finish off the card, I added some Bright Gold crystal drops by Nuvo and I rounded the top corner of the card with my corner chopper from We R Memory Keepers.


Thank you for stopping by, if you have any questions or comments please leave them below - I would love to hear from you!


P.S. If you are Canadian and would like to purchase some of the supplies I used to make this card, please check out one of my favourite local stores Two Scrapbook Friends 

Till next time - Stephen