Tuesday Tutorial with Lauren

Hello! It's Lauren from the Whimsy Stamps Video Team and I'm happy to be back here on the blog to share with you a card I made inspired by my love for tiki bars.

When I saw the adorable Toucan Party clear stamp set, I thought it went perfect with the Tropical Flowers paper pack! I am just loving the tropical themed products in the recent releases. 

I made my own tiki bar using the Hawaiian Floral background rubber stamp and brown ink to give my bar some texture. I then cut up each piece into half inches to give a wooden board look and distressed the edges with Gathered Twigs Distress Oxide.

To add a little more fun, I used the grassy border from the Grass and Cloud Edger die set to create a leafy look under the top of the tiki bar. Plus had to use that Cutie Alphabet die set to create the word "tiki" just in case the card receiver didn't figure it out. ;)

I hope you all have an amazing summer as we start to get ready for fall and the back to school season!

Tuesday Tutorial - Fancy Fish Shaker

 

Hello friends, I'm on the Whimsy Inspirations blog today to share how I put this quick shaker card together.  You don't need much to put this card together, and thanks to the gorgeous new Under The Sea Slimline Paper Pack and Fish Fancy Stamp Set, it's super quick to do too!

I die cut the Wonky Window 4 die 4 times to make the frame for the shaker.  The, because the paper is narrower than the Wonky Window die and the print I chose is landscape rather than portrait and I REALLY wanted to use that sheet, I cut up the sheet to fit behind the frame and it fitted perfect!

I filled the windows with some sequins and those cute Fish Tank Sprinkletz (though fuss pot here had to weed out all the green ones to use for the shaker!) = love how they pop off the blue of the paper.

I stamped the fish and coloured them with copic markers - I used V17, 15,12 and B04, 02, 00 then fussy cut them out and adhered them in place.  I added touches of Stickles to the ends of the fins.

I finished off with a sentiment from the Simple Sentiment Strips Clear Stamps and die cut that out with the Simple Sentiments Die Set.

And there you have it, an easy shaker card with a bold pop of colour.

Whimsy Stamps supply list

   

  




Thanks so much for dropping in for a visit

Tuesday Tutorial With Sue

 Hello everyone,

Oh my word - these Tuesdays come round quickly don't they! - I swear time is speeding up! (:

It's Sue here to day to share a sweet (VERY sweet)! (; tutorial!

I'm going to keep you guessing today so if you don't read ahead you'll have a nice surprise - unless you can guess what I've made! 

If like me you adore Mer-May then Whimsy Stamps has got you covered!!

I decided to try something a little different with two of the fabulous Whimsy Stamps mermaid stamp sets.

Mermaid Dreams 

Lets Be Mermaids

and the 

Wavy Nested Frames Die Set

Ingredients from Whimsy Stamps

Mermaid Dreams

Lets Be Mermaids

Wavy Nested Frames Die Set

Other Ingredients

Cling Wrap

Watercolour Card

To create the inky background for my project I used (Watercolour) Sparkle Pens but you could use any sort of watercolour pens or watercolour medium for this technique. 

Black Stazon Ink

Mini Mister or Spray Bottle

Precision Scissors

Cocktail Sticks

Glue (I used a cold glue gun) 

First I placed a piece of cling wrap on my glass mat and scribbled and dotted some inks in blue, turquoise and pink onto it.

I then sprayed water onto a piece of A4 watercolour card.

I then placed the inky cling wrap onto the card, pressed it down and scrunched it up slightly.

I took the cling wrap away and this was the effect...

I repeated this with a different selection of mermaid type colours!

I ended up with two inky deliciously inky backgrounds.

Then I randomly cut the card up into about odd shaped pieces - don't overthink this, just dive in with the scissors, random is best!  I cut the card into about eight pieces in total.

I then stamped the mermaid tail from the Mermaid Dreams  stamp set onto the inky card.

I use Stazon Ink for this as it works best on top of watercolours.  It doesn't bleed and it leaves a crisp outline.

I stamped six tails in total and the gorgeous mermaid from the Lets Be Mermaids stamp set.  (You can see I also stamped the seashells but I decided not to use them this time)

I then fussy cut the mermaid tails (not my favourite part but I'm getting better at it -( I'm a bit of a muppet because I have a Scan n Cut - I'm just too lazy to get it out and set it up)!

Make sure you keep all the off cuts - you will need them later!

I coloured the mermaid with Copic Markers

Hair - E47, E39, YR27, YR24, YR21

Skin - R20, E04, E11, E00, E000

Tail - B39, BG07, BG15, BG01, BG11, YG00, White Gel Pen

I then fussy cut her...

Here's where you need the offcuts I said to save earlier! - I used the smallest and second smallest dies from the Wavy Nested Frames Die Set to cut shapes from the tail offcuts.

I then stamped a selection of sentiments from the Mermaid Dreams and Lets Be Mermaids stamp sets onto them (again with Stazon Ink)

Here is my lovely selection of tails, sentiments and a mermaid!

I used a glue gun to fix a cocktail stick to the back of each shape.  (You could use PVA but I'm impatient and I used the glue gun because it dries so quickly)!

...so, if you have n't already read ahead, can you guess what these are for! (;  ...

...well I did say it was a sweet tutorial! (:

I had a bit of a time deciding which stamp set to use for the cupcakes!  I uuuummed and aaaaaahed over using...  

 

Unicorn Wishes Clear Stamps by Crissy Armstrong 

or

Over The Moon Clear Stamps by Krista Heij-Barber

...and I already have a few more ideas up my sleeve for halloween! (;

Thank you so much for popping by today!  I hope you've enjoyed my tutorial, it would be great to see your projects so remember to share them with us!

look after yourselves and those you love!

Happy creating from Sue...xxx

  

Tuesday Tutorial with Sue...

Hello everyone...

It's Sue here today with a set of 'one layer' coffee themed cards I designed as a gift for a coffee loving friend.  I have also made a little card pouch to put them in.

I thought that the coffee themed stamps we have in store were perfect for this project!

This tutorial shows how I made the cards including straightforward masking techniques which don't involve lots of fussy cutting! (Which I personally find tedious and am terrible at)!

I have used Copics to colour over Distress Inks.  As the inks are water based it is totally safe to do this but please do your own swatch tests first if you aren't sure!  I also coloured onto watercolour card, the card soaks up a lot of ink and I love the effect it gives - you can really lay down a lot of ink and I love that!

I dabbed the Tumbled Glass ink pad onto my glass mat and sprayed it with water.

...then I pressed water colour card onto the wet ink and swooshed the card about a bit until I was happy with the result.

I repeated this with all the colours, Tumbled Glass, Dried Marigold, Pumice Stone and Ground Expresso.

I cut the cards into rectangles measuring 9cm x 11.5cm

I then stamped the coffee themed stamps Hot Sip and Coffee Break onto the inky backgrounds with black ink.

 

I placed acetate over my design to 'test stamp' the add ons to make sure they were in the correct position.

I then coloured each image with Copic Markers - E18, E17, YR27, YR14

...BG57, BG34, BG11

...R27, R05, R02

Y26, Y15, Y11

Next I mixed up a strongish wash of each ink (using the same ink I had used for the background except for this card where I chose the darker ink - Hickory Smoke).  I scrunched up a piece of kitchen towel to cover the coffee cup up and splattered the ink over the design with a fan brush which gives a really fine effect of small dots instead of splodges!

I stamped a sentiment from the Coffee Time Set onto each card in black ink.

I was really happy with how these turned out!

I could get used to making one layer cards - they look so stylish!

I decided to make a little wallet for the cards thinking that they make such a lovely little gift for a coffee loving friend.

This card holder is a doddle to make and was inspired by a visit to Pinterest!

All you have to do is score a piece of A4 card in half vertically and horizontally and burnish the folds with a bone folder tool.

Then mark the folds and cut as shown above.

No glue is required, the card just folds up into a little wallet!

Finally I added some ribbon and a tag...

Ingredients from Whimsy Stamps

Hot Sip Rubber Cling Stamp by Jennifer Dove DoveArt

Coffee Break Clear Stamps by Deb Davis - Amped2Stamp

I used a tag die which is retired - I'm sorry about that!  However, you could use the fabulous 

Bookmark and Tags Die Set instead by cutting the long bookmark die shorter to fit the stamped sentiment.

Thank you so much for popping by today!

I hope life has treated you well since that last time I posted here!

Look after yourselves and those you love

from Sue

  

Other Ingredients

Watercolour Card

Distress Inks in Dried Marigold, Tumbled Glass, Pumice Stone, Hickory Smoke, Ground Expresso

Spray Bottle or Mini Mister

Paint Brush

Black Ink

Copic Markers - 

Browns - E18, E17, YR27, YR14

Reds - R27, R05, R02

Yellows - Y26, Y15, Y11

Blues - BG57, BG34, BG11

Kraft Card

Brown Ribbon and Twine

Craft Box Basics