Painter’s Palette Framed

Posted on May 7, 2016May 7, 2016 by Mo Rootes

I have to say I am really loving the new Painter’s Palette stamp set which will be available in the new Stampin Up catalogue which goes live on the 1^st June.

Today, I decide to use the easel as a frame. I stamped the easel image in Archival Basic Black ink onto a scrap piece of Whisper White cardstock, then used 2 of the new Layering Square Framelits to die cut the frame from the easel image.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up – Painter’s Palette with Garden in Bloom

I die cut the frame again, from a panel of Whisper White cardstock using the same 2 layering dies. The die cut frame was removed before I stamped the 3 step flower from the Garden in Bloom stamp set overlapping both the centre panel and the main Whisper White panel.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up – Painter’s Palette with Garden in Bloom

The outline image was stamped in Smoky Slate ink. The base layer is 2^nd generation Sweet Sugarplum ink (ink the stamp then stamp off onto scrap paper before stamping it onto you panel). The top layer of the flower is 1^st generation Sweet Sugarplum to give extra depth. I added the bee for a bit of fun.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up – Painter’s Palette with Garden in Bloom

I rounded the upper right corner of a Sweet Sugarplum panel and the stamped Whisper White panel and adhered them together using Tombow Mono Multi adhesive. This panel was added to a Thick Whisper White card base again using Tombow. The die cut frame was added using the new thin Foam Adhesive Strips. These are strips are fab and are going to be amazing for creating shaker cards …….. now there’s a thought…..

I am just loving this stamp set, so many ideas, so much fun. To get you’re your hands on it, check out my online shop – http://www2.stampinup.com/ECWeb/default.aspx – on the 1^st June

I love this card; it looks really classy and fun. Stop by to see what I come up with next. Have a good weekend.

Mo x

Sneak Peak – Painter’s Palette

Posted on May 6, 2016May 6, 2016 by Mo Rootes

Happy days, my demonstrator pre-order box of goodies has arrived, whoop, whoop and let the fun begin.

The first thing I pulled out of the box was a stamp set called Painter’s Palette and I couldn’t wait to try it out. I really love the painter’s easel and have lots of ideas for using it.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up Painter’s Palette in Dapper Denim

The first thing I did was stamp the easel onto a panel of Whisper White cardstock in Dapper Denim, one of the gorgeous new 2016 – 2018 in-colours. I used the new Layering Squares Framelits to die cut the inside of the easel then, stamped the die cut square using another new stamp set called Playful Backgrounds. This was one of the free sets I was given at Onstage last month. I used 1^st and 2^nd generation stamping with Dapper Denim, rotating the stamp before stamping the 2^nd time. This gives a cool two tone effect.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up Painter’s Palette in Dapper Denim

The small stamped square was then mounted I also stamped the sentiment from Butterfly Basics in Dapper denim. I rounded the bottom corners of the stamped panel and a panel of Dapper Denim and adhered the two panels together. The small stamped panel was then added to the easel using dimensionaIs. The whole panel was then mounted onto a Thick Whisper White card base.

For the second card the easel was stamped, directly, onto the Thick Whisper White card base, in Soft Suede ink. The inkpad really needs re-inking, the colour is faded and a little patchy but I decided I liked the look.

This time, I stamped the die cut inner square using another 2 of the new in-colours, Peekaboo Peach and Flirty Flamingo. These colours go so well together and I again used 1^st and 2^nd generation stamping. This panel was added to the front of the easel with dimensionals. The sentiment was stamped in Peekaboo Peach.

I have so many more ideas for this set, so stop by and see what I come up with. Hope to see you again soon.

Mo x

Bokeh Balloon Celebration for Telford Swaps

Posted on May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 by Mo Rootes

Whilst looking through my recent projects, I realized, I have never shared the swaps I made for the Stampin’ Up! Onstage Event in Telford last month. 350 UK demonstrators gathered to celebrate the new catalogue launch, see and play with new product, meet up with old friends and make new ones and craft together.

We also make swaps to share with other demonstrators, always great fun. The guidelines suggest that each demo makes approx. 50 items, you can make as many or as few as you have time for. Common makes are card fronts (not whole cards), bookmarks, boxes, notepads, bags etc… You then swap your item for one made by another demo giving a source of inspiration for the future. So here are my swaps.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up Balloon Celebration bokeh style

I started by using the 2” circle punch to punch a hole in a panel of Whisper White cardstock. I used the negative punched piece as a mask, adhering it temporarily to a piece of white cardstock. I sponged the circle with Pool Party ink, and then added patches of Mint Macaron and Island Indigo ink using Sponge Daubers.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up Balloon Celebration bokeh style

When this was dry, I created the Bokeh effect by added circles of Whisper White ink using a sponge dauber. I then left the piece to dry for a couple of hours before removing the mask and stamping the little dandelion clocks from the Balloon Celebration stamp set using Archival Basic Black ink. The sentiment comes from the Rose Wonder Stamp set. I added a sprinkle of glittery circles, punched from Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper using the 1/8″ and 1/4″ hand held punches

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up Balloon Celebration bokeh style

I mounted the stamped piece onto a panel of either Island Indigo or Mint Macaron card stock. I had to make a couple more as I forgot to photograph them before giving them all away. This one I have mounted onto a Whisper White card base, after rounding the top left corner on all layers.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up Balloon Celebration bokeh style

Thank you for stopping by. Hope to see you again soon.

Mo x

Watercolor Masculine Birthday

Posted on April 27, 2016April 27, 2016 by Mo Rootes

Today I am sharing a card I made recently for the husband of my upline, Mikaela. Rumour had it; a big birthday was coming up……

Like many people I find masculine cards a bit of a challenge, but after seeing some lovely ideas on Pinterest, I dug out my water colour cardstock and my aquapainter and got to work. I haven’t water coloured for a while but I have seen some lovely ideas on Pinterest that I wanted to try out.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up Number of Years, masculine water colored card

I chose to use Island Indigo and Mint Macaron inkpads, a bit of a go to colour combo of mine at the moment, they go so well together. I squeezed the inkpads to get ink in the lid and used that to messily watercolor the bottom ⅔rds of the cardstock. I wanted an area of darker colour fading out towards the top of the cardstock. When I was happy, I left it to dry.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up Number of Years, water color, masculine card

I wanted a little more texture so added some speckles using the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set. I stamped 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd generation using Night of Navy ink.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up Number of Years, water color, masculine card

I stamped the 50 from the Number of Years stamp set using Island Indigo ink and die cut the numbers using the co-ordinating Large Number dies. To give extra dimension, I die cut both numbers 3 more times and adhered them together to give a raised, chipboard effect. I stamped the little banner from the Number of Years stamp set onto Vellum cardstock using Night of Navy ink and added the birthday sentiment from the same stamp set using the same ink.

I added a strip of patterned paper from the gorgeous, and sadly retiring, Birthday Bouquet Dsp pack to each side of the watercoloured panel. I added a strip of Silver Glimmer card to either side and mounted the whole panel to a card base of Island Indigo using dimensionals.

I was really happy with how this card turned out, and so was the recipient. It turned out that he was a few years older than 50…..I had managed to get my wires crossed. Still my card had a front of shelf position ……. happy days…..

Thank you for stopping by. Hope to see you again soon.

Mo x

Botanical Suite with Vellum

Posted on April 25, 2016April 25, 2016 by Mo Rootes

I am back today with a really quick card made using the gorgeous Botanical Blooms stamp set, with the addition of some vellum. This card was inspired by a card shared by Dena Rekow of the creatativity cave – https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/563724078338793359/

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up Botanical Blooms and vellum

I used Watermelon Wonder, Wild Wasabi and 2 of the retiring 2014 – 2016 in colours, Hello Honey and Lost Lagoon ink pads. I will be really sad to see these 2 colours go, especially Lost Lagoon, which has been one of my favourites.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up Botanical Blooms and vellum

I mounted a selection of the stamps from the Botanical Blooms stamp set onto acrylic blocks and set about, randomly, stamping the images all over a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I then stamped the large Just for You sentiment from the co-ordinating Botanicals for You stamp set, using Archival Black Ink, onto a piece of the lovely, patterned, Botanical Gardens Vellum. Both of these items were in this years’ Sale-A-Bration brochure. When stamping on vellum remember to leave it for a few minutes to dry or it will smear. Ask me how I know……..

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up Botanical Blooms and vellum

I adhered the Vellum piece to the stamped panel of Whisper White using the 2 way glue pen. I only applied the glue behind the lettering so that it would be hidden. I then mounted the feature panel to a Thick Whisper White card base using dimentionals.

I think it is a really pretty card. Hope you like and will stop bye in the future

Mo x

Celebrate Today – perfect for Weddings!

Posted on April 3, 2016April 3, 2016 by Mo Rootes

On this lovely spring day, with the sun shining and the daffodils bobbing in the breeze I have been making wedding cards. What a lovely occupation for a beautiful day. I was drawn to the Celebrate Today stamp set, which was still sitting on my desk, and thought it would make an unusual Wedding card.

The first card is for my daughters’ best friend from school who is marrying another friend from their school days and my daughter is one of their bridesmaids.

crafty-rootes.co.uk Stampin Up! Celebrate Today for a Wedding

I chose to make their card in purple, white and silver, the colour theme of the wedding. I stamped the balloon from the Celebrate Today set using Perfect Plum ink onto a scrap of Whisper white cardstock, then stamped the small starry, bubbles in Versamark Ink, covered it with silver embossing powder and heated it with my heat tool until the powder melted. I then die cut the balloon using the co-ordinating Balloon Framelits.

I stamped some small more open stars from the Balloon Celebration stamp set onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock and, again, embossed them using the silver embossing powder and heat tool.

crafty-rootes.co.uk Stampin Up! Celebrate Today for a Wedding

I stamped the ‘let us celebrate’ balloon string from the Balloon Celebration stamp set and the word ‘wedding’, from the Celebrate Today set using Perfect Plum Ink.

I layered the stamped whisper White piece onto Silver Foil cardstock, then onto Perfect plum cardstock, round the bottom corners of all the layers. I then mounted the whole piece, using dimensionals, to a Thick Whisper White card base before adding the die cut balloon, again using dimensionals.

The second card is for the daughter of one of my oldest friends and the colour scheme for this wedding is navy, silver and white.

crafty-rootes.co.uk Stampin Up! Celebrate Today for a Wedding

I made the second card in exactly the same way as the first, substituting Night of Navy for Perfect Plum.

I am really pleased with how the cards turned out. I hope both couples like them.

Looking forward to seeing you again.

Mo x

Celebrate Today for a Special Birthday

Posted on March 29, 2016March 29, 2016 by Mo Rootes

On this wet and very windy day I abandoned plans to go out for a walk and stayed inside to craft…. I know, any excuse……

So, having made a special birthday card for my mother to give her sister in law, see post (Number of Years) I decided to make my own 70^th birthday for her.

I looked through my stamp sets for inspiration and was attracted by the set, Celebrate Today. I used this set a lot when it first came out but haven’t used it for a while. I thought it might make a fab special birthday card.

Stampin Up! Celebrate Today and Number of Years

I used a panel of Whisper White and stamped along the edge with the spotty stamp using Pink Pirouette ink. This stamp is designed to add spots to the balloons, but thinking outside the box, it made a great border. I stamped the solid balloon in Pool Party ink using a Stampin Pierce Mat under the cardstock; I find this gives me a better stamped image when using a Photopolymer set. I love the sentiment on the balloon string from the Balloon Celebration stamp set and stamped it in Rose Red. The Happy Birthday was stamped using the Rose Red and Pool Party ink.

I love the Tombow Multipurpose Glue and used it to adhere a strip of the gorgeous Pool Party Glitter Ribbon to the left side of the stamped panel. I decided to round the upper right corner of the stamped panel and the piece of Silver Foil cardstock I used as a mat, before adhering them together leaving a small border.

I then stamped the numbers from the Number of Years stamp set using Rose Red ink onto a scrap Whisper White cardstock and die cut them using the BigShot and the Large Number dies.

My Aunt is a lover of pink and I used a card base of Rose Red. I rounded the upper right corner, mimicking the stamped panel and mounted the panel using Dimensionals. I decided to tilt the stamped panel on the card front for a more modern look. I finished by adding the die cut numbers onto the balloon with dimensionals and adding some co-ordinating candy dots.

I absolutely love this card and will be using this set again for some other special occasion cards I need to make, so watch this space…….

Don’t forget Sale-A-Bration ends on the 31^St March, so check out my online shop at http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/crafty-rootes and hit the ‘shop now’ button. You can pick one free item for every £45 you spend, don’t miss out.

Looking forward to seeing you again.

Mo x

Birthday Blooms – Tiled

Posted on March 26, 2016March 26, 2016 by Mo Rootes

Earlier this week I saw an amazing technique video on Youtube. It was posted by Tami White of stampwithtami.com. In the video Tami uses the What I Love stamp set, which is one of the Sale-A-Bration sets available for free with a £45 order in my online store until the 31^stMarch. She stamps these lovely flowers onto a sheet of small stickers to give a tiled effect. The card she made looked amazing and I couldn’t wait to try the technique for myself.

I chose to use the beautiful Birthday Blooms stamp set for my card. I stamped the large rose image using Archival Black Ink onto a panel of stickers. I learnt the hard way that you need to leave this for at least 15 minutes to dry otherwise it will smear. Even then I tried hard not to touch the mage with my hands whilst colouring as the moisture on the skin can cause smudging.

Stampin Up! Birthday Blooms stamp set

I coloured in my images using the retired Stampin Up! Blendabilities but you could use Stampin Write Markers or a Blender pen and inkpads. I would not advise using an aqua painter as the label sticker backing sheet holds the water and everything runs …… trust me, I tried it and the result was not attractive.

Stampin Up! Birthday Blooms

I coloured the first image using the Pink Pirouette and Wild Wasabi Blendabilities and mounted the tiled panel onto a piece of Pink Pirouette cardstock, then onto a card base of Thick Whisper White cardstock. The sentiment comes from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.

Stampin Up! Birthday Blooms

The second image is coloured using the Soft Sky and Wild Wasabi Blendabilities and mounted the tiled panel onto a piece of Marina Mist cardstock, then onto a card base of Thick Whisper White cardstock. The sentiment again, comes from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.

Stampin Up! Birthday Blooms

For the third card I changed the orientation to portrait and used the darker, Rich Razzleberry Blendabilities along with the previously used Wild Wasabi Blendabilities. I mounted the tiled panel onto Rich Razzleberry cardstock and added two strips of the Gold Glitter Tape which is another Sale-A-Bration item.

I love this technique; it looks amazing but is actually quite simple to do. I hope you like the projects.

Don’t forget Sale-A-Bration ends on the 31^St March, so if you would like the what I Love stamp set or the Glitter tape, or indeed any of the other items go to my online shop at http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/crafty-rootes and hit the ‘shop now’ button. You can pick one free item for every £45 you spend.

Looking forward to seeing you again.

Mo x

Unused Colour Challenge

Posted on March 24, 2016March 24, 2016 by Mo Rootes

So, yesterday I was at my upline Mikaela Titheridge’s (http://thecraftyoinkpen.blogspot.co.uk/) house with fellow team member Susan Merrey (http://craftyduckydoodah.blogspot.co.uk/) and the conversation got around to what are our least used Stampin Up! colours. It turns out we all had 3 or 4 colours that we rarely, if ever use. It is just so easy to reach for your favourite colours and colour combinations when designing a project.

The upshot of the conversation is that Mikaela has challenged the team to name our 4 least used colours and to design a project using at least 3 of them. Got to say I love a challenge…….. so, here goes….

Stampin Up! inkpads

My least used colours are Chocolate Chip (there were cries of horror from Susan when I announced this one), Always Artichoke, Rich Razzleberry, I like the colour but can never seem to combine it successfully with anything else. And lastly, Pumpkin Pie, I struggle with oranges in general and could just as easily have picked Tangerine Tango or Tangelo Twist, except, I don’t have either of those … says it all really.

My first thought was to use the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, but on reflection I thought this was a bit of a cop out. I decided I would up the anti by also choosing to use Very Vanilla cardstock and the Happy Patterns stencil pack. I have used both the cardstock and the stencils twice since I bought them and I thought they might work with this colour combo. I also decided to use all 4 of the colours I had selected for the challenge.

I got out some sponge daubers, chose the dotted line stencil pattern and set too. I decided to use a sentiment from the Perfect Pairings stamp set, one of the Sale-A-Bration options which I have not yet used and the Lots of Labels dies, again, I bought these a while ago and haven’t used them. I was so happy with the result; bizarrely the colours seemed to work well together and gave the card quite a masculine look. I added a small amount of the Metallic Gold Thread and some Candy Dots to give the card a bit of texture and called it done.

I decided to try another stencil from the same pack, there are 4 altogether. The sentiment is from Perfect Pairings and I added a small piece of Gold Glitter Tape, another Sale-A-Bration option and used the Banner triple Punch to flag the end of the sentiment.

I have to say, I really like both of the cards and all of the colours I used. What a revelation. I also loved the stencils which were so quick and easy to use.

Hope you like the projects and maybe you could try the challenge for yourself. Let me know how you get on.

Don’t forget Sale-A-Bration ends on the 31^St March, so if you would like the Perfect Pairings stamp set or the Glitter tape, or indeed any of the other items go to my online shop at http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/crafty-rootes and hit the ‘shop now’ button. You can pick one free item for every £45 you spend.

Looking forward to seeing you again.

Mo x

Rose Garden another way …… Notecards

Posted on March 22, 2016March 22, 2016 by Mo Rootes

I made the cutest set of notelets today using the lovely Rose Garden framelit dies. I have used these dies before to die cut the fantastic, huge rose and smaller rose. I have also used the pretty little sentiment frame from the set but the little leafy branch has, until now, passed me by. No longer…….

I saw a Youtube video earlier this week by Mary Fish – www.stampinpretty.com – using the leafy branch die. So I got out the Rose garden Framelits and set about CASEing the card.

I started by die cutting the leafy branch from a panels of Rose Red cardstock and Pink Pirouette cardstock. I then inserted the Rose Red die cut into the negative space cut in the Pink Pirouette panel and the Pink Pirouette die cut into the negative space in the Rose Red panel. I backed both pieces onto Whisper White cardstock. I love the way white shows through, so pretty. This panel was mounted onto a piece of either Rose Red or Pink Pirouette cardstock and added to a Whisper White Notecard. Prior to matting and layering I decided to corner round opposite corners of all the pieces to add some interest.

The sentiment comes from the Birthday Blooms stamp set and was punched out using the Large Oval Punch. I added a flower in either Rose Red or Pink Pirouette using the flower punch from the Itty Bitty Accents punch pack. Each flower has a candy dot in the centre.

I was really happy with the way these cards turned out and decided to try some other colours. The second pair of cards are in Lost Lagoon and Soft Sky. The third set are in Pear Pizzaz and Mossy Meadow and I love them all. I think they look great.

I want to gift this set to a friend so made a simple box using Thick Whisper White cardstock. The panel on the top is in Pacific Point and Tempting Turquoise, another great colour combo.

I am really happy with these notecards and box and love all the colour combinations. Hope you do too.

Looking forward to seeing you again.

Mo x