A Quick Clean And Simple Card

 

Hi Everyone

I shared a card on the Simply, Sweet Poppy Stencils Group on Facebook yesterday and was asked how I did it so I thought I’d put together a step by step. It’s really easy but gives beautiful results, I do like quick clean and simple cards.

Step 1.

Mask off the edge of your card with Sweet Poppy Stencils masking tape. I’m inking straight onto a Craft UK Ltd DL white card blank, it’s 225gsm and takes ink beautifully.

Step 2.

Pick your inks, I’ve used a variety of Distress Oxides in Hues of Blue for the Simply, Sweet Poppy Stencils September challenge, I’m working from the edge of a blending mat but you can use the torn edge of a piece of paper or cut a wavy edge on some acetate.

Step 3.

Using either a makeup brush, blending foam or a smoothie work from your wavy edge building up the ink on your card.

Step 4.

Once you’re happy with your first ink move up the card with your next colour. Don’t blend the colours into each other, by leaving a small gap the colours will stand out more.

Step 5.

Once you’ve used all the colours start from the beginning again.

Step 6.

Once you’ve reached the top peel away the masking tape to reveal a nice clean white border.

Step 7.

Lay your card onto a magnetic sheet, place your Sweet Poppy Stencil where you want it and mask the edges off to protect your card. Gently ink through the stencil, I’ve used VersaFine Clair ink and a small make up brush but you can apply with blending foam or a smoothie. Just remember to build it up slowly so that it doesn’t bleed under the stencil.

Step 8.

Add a sentiment if you want and add some highlights with a gel pen.

If anyone has any questions don’t hesitate to ask. Share your makes if you decide to have a go.

Happy Crafting

Julie xxx

Sweet Poppy Stencils - So Much More...

Hi Everyone

Well it’s been a while since I’ve been to Blog land but I wanted to share a little project with you.

I had a vase that a friend made but it didn’t go with our furnishings anymore so I decided to give it a mixed media makeover.  Sweet Poppy Stencils are renowned for the quality and design of their stainless steel stencils but they offer so much more for crafter's and I have used a variety of their products on this project.

First I painted the vase in black gesso, then I painted it with Cracking Paint as I wanted to give it a bit of a distressed look. 

There’s a great Sweet Poppy’ tutorial on YouTube. 

I’d decided that I wanted to decorate the vase in pastel colours so Sweet Poppy's Shimmer & Sheen Lustre Paints were the ideal choice to use from my crafty stash. I picked Persian Blue, Peppermint and Lilac Dreams.

This is the vase ready for stage 2.

 

Over the years I’ve built up quite a stash of metal, lace and paper flowers and other embellishments which I was going to use on the vase, I prepared some of these first by painting them with black gesso.

Once I'd stuck everything to the vase there were a few gaps that I filled in using Sweet Poppy Stencils Cement Balls Small and Extra Fine stuck down with Translucent Stencil Dimensions.  The next stage was to paint the embellishments and add highlights.

For the painting I used all of the paints from the Complete Collection of Shimmer & Sheen Lustre Paints.

Finally, I made a couple of highlights with some gilding wax from my stash. 

Here's the finished vase and I have to say I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

A view of the left hand side.

A view of the right hand side.

The bottom of the vase.

A couple of close up photos of the embellishments.

I hope you like it and that my step by step may give some inspiration on how you can use some of Sweet Poppy Stencils products. 

Thanks for dropping by and feel free to leave me a comment. 

Crafty hugs

Julie  xxx   (Amber Rose Crafts)

Sweet Poppy Stencils- Hochanda Show

Well it's time to get excited again because Sweet Poppy Stencils will be on Hochanda TV, Thursday 18th October at 12:00PM and 4PM and will be bringing along 5 fabulous new stencils and their matching buddy dies that will be sure to delight.

 

Sneak peeks of my samples

As usual Lucy will be sharing lots of tips and techniques with you whilst demoing the new stencils and dies which have been designed by the fabulous Tracey Dutton of Lavinia Stamps. The added bonus is that Lavinia Stamps will also be live on the same day so you can join Amanda too, I so wish that I wasn't going to work, not to worry I'll catch the show later.

I've been lucky enough to work on some samples for the show and have enjoyed myself so much using not just the stencils and dies but also other Sweet Poppy products such as Mediums & Pastes, Satin Glitters and Shimmer & Sheen Lustre Paints. For further details of these products and much, much more why not pop over to Sweet Poppy Stencils for a browse.

My first sample is a Mason Jar that I've decorated with Fresco Finish Chalk Paints, I've then painted through the stencils Fairy Seahorse, Forest Stem and Large Fern and finished it off with a little bit of coloured twine and shells on the lid, perfect for keeping bath pearls in.

I'm really pleased with end result, the colours are so fresh and the Fairy Seahorse stands out really well, it's the first Mason Jar I've decorated but I can see that I'll be doing more in the future.

Christmas is coming soon and will feature on the show, here's a simple card made using Stencil Dimensions Pale Green - Pearl through Forest Stem stencil and cut out with the Forest Stem Outline Die topped off with a sentiment and ribbon.

Clean and simple.

Another CAS Christmas card using the Large Nesting Bauble Dies and Holly Tree stencil, I coloured with Distress Oxides and finished off with red ribbon bows.

As soon as I saw Fairy Seahorse I had an idea of what I wanted to do and created a scene within an 8" box frame, the background has been made using card dipped in  Meadow Haze, Peppermint and Persian Blue paints put onto a craft mat and spritzed with water.

The seahorse was foiled over black paste, I do love this effect. Stencils and dies used in this project are:         
Forest Stem Outline Die  
Fairy Seahorse
Fairy Seahorse Outline Die
Stencil Dimensions - Glossy Black

Add a few bubbles.

He is so majestic.

Another little taste of Christmas comes with the new Holly Tree stencil, I've used Stencil Dimensions - Dark Green Glossy  for the tree, Stencil Dimensions - Red Glossy for the pot and coloured with Sea Green, Moss Green and Hunter Green Satin Glitters Finished off with some red liquid pearls for berries and a sentiment.

A quick card made using Distress Oxides for the background and then brushing Oxides through the stencils, I've finished it off with some highlights using a Sakura Clear Star Gelly Roll pen, although this doesn't show up very well on the photo.

Off the page, you don't always have to use the whole stencil. For this card I managed to catch my hand in the paste when it was wet so rather than throw it away I let it dry and foiled the rest, mounted it up, added a quick sentiment from the stamp set Smile and hey presto one lovely card.

Here's my last sample an 8" box frame that has been painted using Strawberry Sorbet which is so beautiful and has a lovely shimmer to it. Inside I have paired the Indian Moth with the Large Fern and added some paper flowers.

Stencils and dies used in this project are:
Indian Moth
Indian Moth Outline Die
Large Fern
Large Fern Outline Die

 Foiled Large Fern

Beautiful Indian Moth coloured with Bronze, Marigold, Bordeaux and Pink Satin Glitters

Another little snapshot

I hope you get chance to see Lucy on Thursday you won't be disappointed, 12PM and 4PM on Sky 673, Freeview 85 or Freesat 817. I hope you enjoy the show and are feeling inspired. 

Thanks for dropping by and feel free to leave me a comment. Hope to see you soon. 

Crafty Hugs

Jules xxx

Special Delivery

In November 2017 my hubby Dave and I were given the wonderful news that we were going to be grandparents as my Step Son Ashley and his wife Suzanne were expecting their first baby.

Around that time my Bezzie Amanda was given a prototype cardboard box by her boss as it was only going to be thrown away and he thought she might be able to make something of it.  She asked me if I'd like it for the baby and I hastily agreed as we thought it would look really cool decorated.

From day one I always imagined that it would have a magical theme so I didn't need to look any further than Lavinia Stamps. My big problem was that with so many gorgeous stamps it would be difficult to narrow it down as to which ones I would use. I started off by cutting out all the panels from the reverse side of A3 Pearlescent card which has similar properties to Centura Pearl. Once I'd done that I started to look at the main fairies that I would use.

I decided on Fleur, Harietta and Giselle for one side as they would look really pretty coloured in.

For the other side I picked silhouette stamps Aerial, Josie and Grace.

I worked through panel by panel and realised that as I was using Distress Oxides I would need to laminate them in case the box ever got splashed. This worked in my favour though as it really makes the colours pop.

Here are some photos of the panels before they were stuck to the box using double sided tape.

Finally, here is a photo of the box filled with goodies and also some showing all the different panels.

View from Sides

View from Above

End Panels

Top Panel

Side Panel

Top & Side Panels

Top Panel

Side Panel

Top & Side Panels

We visited Ashley and Suzanne yesterday and met our beautiful Granddaughter for the first time. Now that the box has been delivered, I can safely share my blog which I've been wanting to do for well over a week. 

I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making it. It looks lovely in the nursery. 

Thanks for dropping by and feel free to leave me a comment, it's always lovely to hear from you. 

Hope to see you soon.

Crafty hugs

Jules xxx