BRAYER REFLECTION TECHNIQUE

Morning crafters !

Ladies specifically requested a 'reflection' technique card, at my recent Brayer class.  Stampin' Up! Lovely As A Tree #128655 (W), #127793 (C) is the perfect stamp set for this technique. 

Having seen another crafter using a pop of colour in this way, I used our Real Red card here to break up the Pacific Point on this project. 

Ink up image of your choice neatly and stamp where you require on the card. You can choose to stamp a bit lower if you prefer more sky but remember the depth will be required again for the reflection, so it will depend on stamp being used.  

For the reflection here, I stamped onto a piece of acetate.  A flat piece recycled from packaging will work fine. My reflection I thought was a bit too dark as the ink pad was very juicy, so got my class to stamp off onto a scrap of paper first before stamping onto acetate. As the acetate is very shining, you need to have a steady hand to make sure you don't slip.

Turn the acetate over so ink side is down and line up the image exactly opposite your stamped image. Leave a small gap for the horizon and place down, holding firmly in place, taking care not to move. Take your clean Brayer #102395 and roll over surface. This will transfer your image onto card.  Allow to dry completely before continuing with Brayer as the dark ink could pick up onto te roller and transfer parts of the image where you don't want !!!  Remember to clean your acetate and save to re-use.  

Punch a small circle from sticky end of Post-It Note. I used 3/4" Circle punch #119873 but it will depend on the size of your card. To make sure you get a cleanly punched edge and Post-It doesn't get screwed up in your punch, stick two together or fold a larger one in half. Separate and position these in the sky and water opposite each other. 

Continue with basic Brayering technique at each end of the card for sky and water. 

Finish off by drawing little 'waves' with White Gel Pen #105021 as in photo. 

If you are local to me and would like to attend a class at my house, learning in small groups of maximum five crafters, I would be happy to repeat another Brayering class for you to learn at your own pace. Please contact me and I will be happy to arrange. 

Happy craftin'

Sandra 

ILWS Full Card Swap - Sympathy

Morning crafters !

Here are the cards I made for this months challenge with fellow demonstrators over at 'In Love With Stamping'. 

Our theme this month was 'Sympathy cards'. These are always difficult cards to make but I had been making some similar cards for two birthdays earlier this month, using Serene Silhouettes #132073 (W) #127324 (C).  

The colour scheme was changed to incorporate some 'sneak peaks' from the new Annual 2014/15 catalogue which will be available from 1st July.  I am loving the New In-Colour Blackberry Bliss. I'm sure you will love it too :-)

Happy craftin'

Sandra 

WAX RESIST BRAYERING

Morning crafters !

Here I am, back again as promised with another card from recent Brayer class at Judy's. 

Although I have run previous Brayer classes, I must admit I hadn't used mine recently so made a refreshing change. 

With all attendees having my 10 handy Brayer hints & tips on the front page of their instructions, They all left feeling confident to have a go again themselves at home, some of them having bought and never used as didn't know how to. 

With at least one customer having done a previous class with me, I was keen to create all new projects for the day. 

I had seen this technique online and, as we were using Serene Silhouettes stamp set, this was an ideal project. Apologies I cant remember where I saw to post link. 

Brayering is a great way to create texture onto cardstock. I have used many times with lots of different househod items. 

This technique is a wax resist technique.  Firstly, cut a piece of wax paper (not greaseproof, but one with wax coating on one side) to size of your embossing folder. If you struggle to find wax paper, try your local kitchen speciality shop. 

Place piece of wax paper inside embossing folder of your choice and process through Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine #113439.  Here I have used Beautifully Baroque #130917. Whilst we tried with Stampin' Up! Northern Flurry after the class just out of curiosity, it is better to have an all over, even pattern.  

Place wax side down onto piece of glossy card. Process through Big Shot and this will transfer the raised textured wax onto the glossy card. 

Ink up Brayer #102395 with your choice of ink and Brayer evenly over entire piece of card. The ink will resist where the wax pattern.  Gently wipe with kitchen roll to remove any excess ink, only if necessary, to avoid smearing any residue wax. 

Here we finished off inking up another stamp from Serene Silhouettes #132073 (W), #127324 (C). 

You can order your Brayer and all Stampin' Up! supplies directly from me. Look out for, or ask me, for details of my Celebration promotion.

I look forward to sharing another Brayer project from our class with you tomorrow. 

Happy craftin'

Sandra 

BRAYERING CLASS AT JUDY's

Morning crafters !

Just before my holiday, I held an all-day class with one of my lovely crafting ladies Judy, and a few of her crafting friends.   I was aware I had a few Brayering 'virgins' and some not really knowing how to use properly. 

I started off getting everyone using any colour ink pad and practising on a piece of copy paper, progressing onto a piece of Whisper White card, learning how to use Brayer and also how different card stock will absorb in different ways.  By the end of the morning, they had all progressed on to making this lovely card. 

Here we used a basic Brayering technique, starting with Wisteria Wonder ink pad and adding Elegant Eggplant. Brayering requires a little bit of practice to fade down ink through the card without streaky lines but ladies mastered successfully and went home with beautifully made cards. 

The mountains were made from torn scrap paper. Varying the depth of colour here, gives an impression of some of the mountains being further away.  

Stamp set used was Serene Silhouettes, drawing birds in freehand with Basic Black marker. 

Pop back tomorrow for another of our Brayering projects. 

Happy craftin'

Sandra 

Shoebox swap

Evening crafters !

Another of this weeks creations to share with you. This is the gift I made for my Stampin' Up! downline and roomie Laura, at last weeks SU Regional Training event in Telford. 

Her favourite colour is Rich Razzleberry and she thinks she must have had most of that colour from my Polka Dot DSP packs, and I have bought a few, I love it and will be sad to see it retire at the end of June :-)

Yesterday I met up with my upline and other demos in Norwich for an open house shoebox swap and decided to share the lovely origami box again.  Everyone was delighted with their swap. 

Have you seen my gel polish nails I created this week ?   I just simply had to choose the Real Red Polka Dot DSP to match my 'Mini Mouse' style nailart :-)

Hope you like these projects shared with you today. 

Happy craftin'

Sandra 

Shoebox swap

Hi crafters !

Just wanted to post another quick piccie from Saturdays shoebox swap. 

Here is fellow demo Rebecca with her lovely card swap. Yes, we did adjourn to the local pub for lunch but that the beauty of a shoe 'box' swap as everything we needed was in one little box. 

We all enjoyed a lovely day and I think Michelle is hoping to do again :-)

Happy craftin'

Sandra 

Downline congratulations

Evening crafters !

I've just been browsing through some photos to share with you and this is the easel card I made for my Downline Laura for achieving her Silver 1 award with Stampin' Up!

The message on the back of my easel card says it all - she has worked extremely hard and thoroughly deserves this achievement. Taking on messages delivered at last years European Convention, she set her goals and is already well on the way to achieving her Silver 2. 

Congratulations again !

Happy craftin' and pop again soon. 

Sandra 

'Blown ink' Tutorial

Morning crafters !

Today I'm back to share how we made the cards I posted yesterday. 

Firstly, protect your work surface - I used a piece of A3 Grid Paper from Stampin' Up!  and also have wet wipes and piece of kitchen roll easily to hand. 

Choose 3 different ink refills. I've used So Saffron, Elegant Eggplant and Bermuda Bay.  

Place a couple of drops onto your card. Using a drinking straw, gently blow the ink around the card, directing it where you would 'prefer' it to go, but remember, it might just have a mind of it's own !!  If the straws are very narrow, try using two side by side.  Don't blow too hard or you will splatter surrounding area !!  The ink will make some lovely patterns and even make a new colour when they merge together. 

My cards had a side panel (ish) and then along the base of the insert, leaving enough room to add your message. 

Here us another colour combination, swapping Calypso Coral instead of So Saffron. 

I let my monthly card club have a go at this one Monday evening for a bit of messy fun :-). We had a couple of asthma inhalers out but everyone had some fun with it. Remember, please don't blow too hard.

Look at the state of my hands, although I must say most of this was from the top of the re-inker bottle.   My nails were not covered in Elegant Eggplant although color was very similar.  That is my Orly Gel polish called Velvet Rope - a very good likeness and has a bit of bling in it that reminds me of our Dazzling Diamonds very fine glitter :-). Oohh, might just have to have a play with that sometime. 

Hope you will have fun playing with your own inks .... anything goes and no two pieces of artwork will ever be the same !!

Happy craftin'

Sandra 

In Love With Stamping - Full Card Swap

Morning crafters !

Today I joined in another swap organised by fellow Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Charlie @ In Love With Stamping.  This looks like being a regular monthly swap group that I hope to join in with as often as I can. This month we started with Birthdays as our theme. 

I thought this made a bit of a change from the Shaving Foam technique I have done loads of times, but produced some similar effects.

Here I have used  Everything Eleanor and Label Love stamp sets, plus Modern Label and Artisan Label punches.  The colours used are So Saffron, Elegant Eggplant and Bermuda Bay, with Basic Black and Whisper White card stock.  

All of these items can be purchased from me as your Independent Sampin' Up! Demonstrator. 

I let my monthly card club have a go at this one last night too ....... it was a little messy but we had a few giggles.  Some of them agreed without the Rhinestones, this could also work for a man's card too. 

Pop back tomorrow and I will explain the technique I used for these cards. 

Happy craftin'

Sandra 

Mickey - Pop Up Card

Morning crafters & welcome !

Finally got to meet up with Alison, one of my Downline, yesterday. Had a nice long catch up and breakfast (brunch) out in Hunstanton.  Not seen each other since Convention in November and both had lots happen in our lives.   Birthday and Christmas presents been sat here waiting for her until we could get together. 

This was designed using a Punchart idea I had seen online somewhere and shared with our Retreat guests in November, knowing Alison and her family were visiting 'Mickey' over Christmas. 

The balloons have been made using the owl punch (feet) and small oval. Here I have mounted onto wire and sandwiched another small oval on reverse to hide the wire. 

Of course, the envelope board has been a great additional our SU range of products to make bespoke envelopes to fit any size card.  

Hope you like. 

Happy craftin'

Sandra 

BLOG HOP - Sale-A-Bration & Spring catalogue

Morning crafters & welcome !

A Blog Hop is a great way to 'wake up' my blog from its slumbers, so today at 10am, I am joining up with fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrators on 'In Love With Stamping' once again, this time show casing some products from the Spring / Summer and SALE-A-BRATION catalogues. 

This is our busiest time of year with Sale-A-Bration running until 31st March so still plenty of time to stock up on those 'necessities'.  Every loves a bargain and every £45 spent will earn customers, hostesses and Demonstrators, FREE PRODUCT from our exclusive Sale-A-Bration range. These include stamp sets in both Wood or Clear Mount, punches, Design Series Paper and much more. 

So, grab yourselves a cuppa and enjoy 'hopping around' to see what we have all created for you. 

You may have just joined me from Sarah @ www.esellek.com and her wonderful creations. 

If you've joined earlier than 10am, please be patient and wait for all links to hopefully be working from 10am. 

Today I've chosen to feature the 'Retro Fresh' Designer Series Papers, which have a long bright sprung feel to them and match our Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango and Very Vanilla card stock. 

I was so hoping for my new delivery to have arrived by Thursday for me to have fun with a bumper box of new products for today's Blog Hop.  Unfortunately, with UPS delivering Friday and earlier in the day than usual, a neighbour kindly took them in and went off to work on a late shift.   Still, I can now look forward to some 'play time' next week once I'm home, making up some my sketches I had planned with the new products. 

Armed with a few stamps, ink pads and pens, I have created some 'alternative' designs for 'thank you' so I could still share my small contribution to todays blog hop. 

These tulips are a new single stamp featured in the Spring / Summer catalogue called 'Blessed Easter''. I chose to remove the Easter words before mounting the new stamps, as I do not send Easter cards but will still be there if required. 

The background Embossing Folder is a FREE SALE-A-BRATION product. 

I love watercolouring, and these tulips have been coloured using co-ordinating Stampin Write markers, scribbled onto a tile to use as a pallet, and coloured in by picking up a small amount of ink with blender pen and painting with it. 

Next I have used the same FREE Sale-A-Bratiion Embossing Folder for the background, this time. with Perfect Petals Bundle from the Spring / Summer catalogue. These were stamped using a 'Rock 'n' Roll technique with two ink pads in So Saffron and Tangerine Tango to colour the edges. 

Stampin' Up! feature lots of 'bundles' where there is an additional 15% off, buying set together. 

This bundle was the first one I simply 'had to have' from the NEW Spring / Summer catalogue.  I love flowers and these are just so cute.  These designs are all symmetrical, so it doesn't matter which way the image is stamped to be able to be punched. 

This card uses the Banner Blast stamp set FREE from Sale-A-Bration and the and Banner Punch, which is also a FREE product from Sale-A-Bration.  The punch is so versatile as the stamped images can be punched as they are, or simply punch from any scraps of Designer Series Paper, plain card stock or pop it through a textured embossing plate for even more options. 

Of course, now we have the Envelope punch board, is always nice to make the co-ordinating envelope using these gorgeous Designer Series Papers. 

This card uses Happy Watercolour stamp set from Spring / Summer catalogue. You can see how I have stamped the image again onto sticky end of a Post-It Note and cut out. This has then been stuck over image then stamped again, slightly overlapping images and can be repeated as many times as you like.  If you need several masks, cut through several Post-It Notes at the same time (don't need to have the stamped image on each one). 

Here are the cards with matching envelopes to finish. 

I hope you have enjoyed my little contribution today.  If you haven't got a copy of our NEW Sale-A-Bration brochure or Spring / Summer catalogue then please let me know. I have some already parcelled up and ready to address and get on their way to you. 

Now I won't keep you any longer, continue your hop here with Anne-Marie Smith - http://classycrafters.blogspot.co.uk/ and hop round the rest of my fellow demonstrators joining in today. 

Ocasionally, the chain links may not work due to unavoidable circumstances, so I have copied the whole list here :-

1- Laura Mackie - www.laura-creativeideas.blogspot.co.uk
2- Margaret King - http://makingpapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/
3 - Sarah Keerie - www.esellek.com
4 - Sanda Roberts - http://kraftybiker.blogspot.co.uk/. YOU ARE HERE 
5 - Anne-Marie Smith - http://classycrafters.blogspot.co.uk/
6. Donna Keene - http://head-over-heels-by-dlm.blogspot.co.uk/
7. Carolyn Exwood - http://stampaholix.blogspot.co.uk/
8. Vicky Wragg - www.vickylouscorner.blogspot.com
9. Lynn Clifford - http://www.heavenlycrafts.com/heavenlystampin/
10. Tara Chaplin - www.ihaventgotacleverblogname.blogspot.com

Thanks for popping by, have fun and catch up again soon. 

Happy craftin'

Sandra