15% off Butterfly Bundle Promotion

Each month Stampin' Up! has a great promotion on offer. From 29 August through to 30 September, they have a great butterfly promotion with these two great products...

... the Itty Bitty Punch and Papillion Potpourri Stamp Set.  The offer is for 15% off.  Depending if you are a woodmount person, or a clearmount person determines the price.

Woodmount bundle - $51.77 - which gives you a savings of $9.13.

Clearmount bundle - $45.82 - which gives you a savings of $8.08.

Get in touch with me today to take advantage of this great offer!

Pearl & Rhinestone Makeover!

My favourite Stampin' Up! embellishments are the Pearl & Rhinestone jewels.  They are the perfect way to finish a project to give it that little extra something and a touch of bling.  

But sometimes, a white pearl, or a silver rhinestone just doesn't quite work.  Sometimes you want your little bit of bling, to be a specific colour to match in with your beautiful colour scheme.  Here's HOW you can do that!  

It's a simple recipe.  Crystal Effects (#101055) & re-inkers, in whichever colour you choose! 

I'm going to be Coastal Cabana-ing everything for this tutorial, so I put a drop of the re-inker (#131164) into my Crystal Effects on some waxy paper and mixed it in.  

And then you paint it on!  

Allow 12 hours for the Crystal Effects to dry and you have yourself a beautiful personalised jewel.  I love the subtleness of the pearls, but love how the shape of the rhinestone changes from the faceted surface, to a smooth rounded dome.  It gives the rhinestone a whole different look, but is still pretty and shiny like we want it to be on our projects.  

Which one is your favourite?  Mine is the large rhinestone!

DIY Coloured Brads

Have you heard of the new Candy Dot System? This is the replacement for the colour collection brads that retired with the last catalogue.  It's a much more versatile system and the best part is it is cheaper! But I'm not here to tell you about how wonderful the Candy Dots are (maybe another blog post?).  I want to show you a different, fun way to make your own coloured brads.

You need a couple of things to make these.  Firstly you'll need the Candy Dot Bases (#132293) which are only $4.95.  Next you need some re-inkers, in whichever colour you have.  If you don't have any, luckily enough they are $4.95 each too! And lastly, a bottle of trusty Crystal Effects (#101055)!

Ok, now to make these coloured brads.  Pick out a couple of brad bases.  You will need them to stand upright while you work with them and to dry, so I like to use a little moulding clay - but you could use blu-tack too.  The beauty of using the moulding clay, it is dries and you can hold onto them and re-use them every time you want to make these!

Next you will need to squeeze out a dollop of Crystal Effects onto some waxy paper.  On top of the CE, add a drop of re-inker.  

HINT: If you want the end result colour to be softer/lighter, don't add your ink directly onto the CE, drop it out onto another surface and transfer over a small amount of ink using a paintbrush.  

Mix the ink into the CE and you are ready to go.  Using a paintbrush, load up the tip with the tinted CE and dab it into the centre of the brad base.  Keep dabbing it onto the brad until there is an ice little dome of CE.  

As always, CE takes about 12 hours to dry, so carefully move the brads to a safe place to dry.  

If that isn't pretty enough for you, there is one last thing you can add... glitter!!  Once you have your coloured CE in the brad setting, just carefully sprinkle a little bit of Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (#102023) on top.

How sweet does it look?  

Oh boy, I'm loving Crystal Effects!!

DIY Page Pebbles

Hi everyone!! Here is my second installment of Crystal Effects embellishments.  If you missed the first post, you can find it here.  

Have you ever heard of page pebbles before?  They're pretty little decorative stickers, with a clear dome top that are used in crafting.  Stampin' Up! don't currently offer page pebbles in their catalogue, but that doesn't stop me from creating my own using the wonderful products that they DO have available in their catalogue!

First things first.  You will need a bottle of Crystal Effects (#101055).  

If you're not sure what or how CE works, my previous post explains it a little. You will also need Glue Dots (#103683).  Next time you use your glue dots, keep a little bit of the waxy paper so you can make these page pebbles. 

You can make page pebbles into any shape or size.  For this tutorial I used a regular hole punch, and then I used the Stampin' Up! 1/2" Circle Punch (#119869) and the Small Heart Punch (#117193). 

I punched out a couple of each using my Gingham Garden DSP (#129310). 

Using glue dots, I adhered my punchies down to my little strip of waxy paper.  On another larger piece of waxy paper, I squirted a little CE out and got my paintbrush out of my stationery holder. 

Next you need to dob the CE onto the DSP shapes.  Just don't go off the edges.  Make sure you pile it up on there as high and as best as you can.  

And then let them dry overnight!  It really is THAT easy.  

  A perfect edition to a crafting project!!

Moulding Clay + Crystal Effects = WOW!

Last week I attended a Downline Training meeting with my fellow Up & Downlines.  We get together every few months, and chat about what's going on, what's working for us in our businesses, what's not working, awesome new ideas, we share techniques using products, and give each other tips.  

I did a little demonstration on embellishments.  I started out with a few ideas in the beginning, but then the more I fiddled, the more things I came up with.  So over the next few blog posts, I'll be sharing these ideas with you! 

So! Moulding clay.  Do you know what this stuff is yet?  

The Simply Pressed system is new with our 2013-2014 catalogue and has been a huge hit straight off the bat. It's pretty versatile stuff.  The clay comes in a big package and it is white.  A nice blank canvas for you to have fun with.  The best & recommended way to colour your clay is using your Stampin' Reinkers.  Just a drop or so will do the trick! You firmly press the clay into the mould of your choice, level off the top, and let it dry!

It's a beautiful system and I think my favourite part about it is it is SO CHEAP.  A bag of clay is 68g, and only costs $11.95.  I have used mine so much, and you can't even tell that there is any missing from the packet!  The moulds come in the pack of two and they are only $13.95.  They're beautiful moulds too.  So you could have this system in your craft stash for just under $26.  Sounds pretty amazing to me! :)

So, moving onto Crystal Effects.  Have you heard of it before?

  

In a nutshell, you put this on top of... virtually anything, and it will give it a glossy, lacquered look.  It's very much a "how far can you stretch your imagination" type of product, but luckily for you, I've done alot of stretching and am going to share with you my discoveries. It is acid free and comes in a 60ml bottle (and it seems to last forever). 

Now, let's put these two products together, and see what we get!

First I started off with a large clay button, and a large clay flower.  I made both moulds quite a while ago, and they are both a bit dodgy. I rushed them and didn't press them into the moulds well enough.  But the dodgy ones are perfect for what we're about to do!

  

When using Crystal Effects (CE), personally I prefer to use it with a small paintbrush.  This way I have more control over how much I am dealing with at one time.  Sometimes, because it is so runny, it is difficult to have complete control over the flow out of the nozzle.  But everyone is different, so see how you go! I always squirt some out onto a scrap piece of waxy paper.

Using something sharp (I use my paper piercer) hold the flower steady while you apply a generous coat of CE.   

It will look gluggy, which is how you want it to look.

Now you can set this aside to dry.  CE takes at least 12 hours to dry (the only downside to it).  So if you want to do this for a project, you either have to think ahead, or be patient for it to dry before you can add it. 

But maybe a little bit of CE on a flower isn't fancy enough for you?  Have you ever heard the saying "when in doubt, add glitter" before? Well let me show you how you can. 

The first half is the same.  Use your piercing tool to keep your button steady while you apply the CE using your paintbrush.  Then comes the fun bit, using a spoon (or however you want to do it) sprinkle your button in Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter (#102023). I love this glitter because it is super fine, not all chunky and yucky like cheap glitter is.  Oh, and it literally shines like diamonds!  

  

Using my paintbrush again, with a little extra CE on the tip, I dabbed over the glitter, making sure it was stuck down, and also spreading out any little clusters of glitter so that my little button had even coverage. Oh, and make sure you try and get a little glitter on the sides too. Once again it is going to look like a gluggy mess, but it's ok, cause it will dry beautifully! 

Once it is dry, it looks A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever be able to use the moulding clay WITHOUT a touch of CE on the top!

So there you have it.  A really cheap, and easy way to jazz up some of your moulding clay embellishments.  If you'd like to learn more about the clay, clay moulds, crystal effects or any other Stampin' Up! products, please let me know.  If you would like to order some to have a play with yourself at home, we can organise it to be shipped directly to you in your home Australia wide, so don't rule yourself out if you don't live nearby.  That is the beauty of Stampin' Up!, I can help you wherever you are in Australia.  

3D Tape It Card

I am loving the new Tape It stamp set.  It would have to be in my top 5 favourite stamp sets in the new catalogue.  Washi tape it so 'in' at the moment and I just love that this stamp set enables me to Washi tape everything and I will never run out! I have been using it tonnes on projects, and wanted to share with you my most recent project that I cased from Jenny Peterson, so you can try making it at home yourself.  

With this card, the only cardstock I have used is Crumb Cake (#121685).  The 3 washi tape design stamps have been chosen are the 3 longest stamps in the set.  As you can see above, they will need to be long enough to sit under the opening. 

I stamped my images using Daffodil Delight (#126944), Gumball Green (#126861) and Tempting Turquoise (#126952) onto a few scraps of cardstock I had.  I also used Crumb Cake (#126975) as the background for my greeting which I stamped in Tempting Turquoise.

The greeting I used is from one of the greeting stamp sets called Four You.

Next I cut out the stamped images, and adhered the coloured pieces to another scrap of Crumb Cake - putting aside the greeting piece for later.  I trimmed the excess overhand of my pieces, down to the same length as the green pieces.  Then put it aside with your greeting. 

Next I cut a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock to 10 x 14.3cm.  Using a ruler I found the centre of the cardstock and drew myself some short lines in the centre to help me line up my framelit.  The framelit I used is from the Labels Collection. I used framelit #2.

Using my Magnetic Platform (#130658) for the Big Shot, I was able to line up my framelit perfectly, making sure the centre of the cardstock was in the centre of the framelit.  Once I cut this out, I put it aside.

Next you need to make your framelit border to go over the centre cut out. To do this, I grabbed another Crumb Cake cardstock scrap from my stash, and using my Magnetic Platform again, I put down framelit #2, and then framelit #3 around it, making sure it was perfectly aligned. 

All you need is the border you have created, so you can put away, or throw out the other two pieces.  I used a little bit of Crumb Cake ink to sponge around the edges and also I smudged a little ink over the border so it was slightly darker. 

Using my 2-Way Glue Pen (#100425) I stuck down the border around the larger cutout I prepare earlier. Using my sponge & Crumb Cake ink I sponged around the outside of the rectangle.

See those splotches in the corner?  I used the Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set (#130517) for that using Crumb Cake ink.  

The last set because assembling everything together, is to wrap some Linen Thread (#104199) around the left edge of the card and the opening in the centre.  I looped it around around 5-7 times.  Just keep going until you are happy with the thickness and look.  Knot it at the back and pop a little piece of stick tape over it to keep it in place.

Now comes the easy part.  Putting it all together! 

  

Place a few Dimensionals (#104430) around the cutout on the back of your decorated piece of cardstock.

This is where you can stick down your piece of cardstock that has all the Washi Tape cutouts adhered to it! Once you've stuck that down, pop a few more dimensionals around the outside of the top piece, and put a little adhesive on the backing of the washi tape piece. Cut a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock at 14.8 x 10.5cm (half an A4 sheet) and fold it in half using your Bone Folder (#102300).  You can now adhere the front piece to the card!

Now you need to put on your greeting piece.  You will need to do double decker dimensionals on the back so that it sits up high enough! 

One more step and you are done.

Pick a button, I chose the largest green button from the Regals (#130029) which is Garden Green, but I thought it looked fine along side the Gumball Green ink on the card. Using a piece of Linen Thread, tie a bow through the button.  I find the best way to stick down buttons is to use Glue Dots (#103683).

Such a beautiful card that is suitable for any sort of greeting to suit your needs!