Prehistoric Painter’s Palette

Posted on May 8, 2016May 8, 2016 by Mo Rootes

Here, as promised is another project using the fab Painter’s Palette stamp set. I can’t get enough of this set and decided to use the No Bones About It stamp set to create the picture in the frame. I stamped the easel image in Archival Basic Black ink onto a scrap piece of Whisper White cardstock and used 2 of the new Layering Square Framelits to die cut the frame from the easel image. I die cut the frame again, from a panel of Whisper White cardstock using the same 2 layering dies, this time tilted for a more whimsical look.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up – Painter’s Palette and No Bones About It

The dinosaur straddles the background and central panel and is stamped in the new 2016 – 2018 in-colour, Flirty Flamingo. I added the bones to the front of the dinosaur on the inner panel. The leaves are stamped in Emerald Envy, another of the 2016 – 2018 in-colours. The die cut frame was added using the new thin Foam Adhesive Strips.

crafty-rootes.co.uk – Stampin Up – Painter’s Palette and No Bones About It

The stamped panel was added to a piece of Emerald Envy cardstock after rounding the upper right hand corner. The whole topper was then added to a Thick Whisper White card base at an angle.

This would make a lovely birthday card for a child.

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

Thanks for stopping by my blog, hope to see you again soon.

Mo x

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

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

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

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

Botanical Blooms stamp set and Botanical Builder Framelits for a special card

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

Botanical Blooms stamp set and Botanical Builder Framelits for a special card

At last, after nearly 3 weeks of illness I am back in the craft room – whoop whoop – and just in time to make a special card for my youngest Aunt who turns 70 on Saturday.

I got out the Botanical Blooms stamp set and the co-ordinating Botanical Builder Framelit dies and a selection of cardstock from the subtles family and spent a happy hour die cutting flowers and leaves. I love that you can stamp the die cuts to add texture to the shapes.

I used So Saffron, Wisteria Wonder, Soft Sky, Pink Pirouette, Wild Wasabi and Basic Grey cardstock and layered up the flowers with the different colours to give dimension. I also inked the edges of the flowers using co-ordinating inks and a sponge dauber to add some depth to the cardstock.

I used Thick Whisper White cardstock to make a 5½” square card and stamped the sentiment ‘Look Who’s Turning ‘ – from the Number of Years stamp set, in Basic Grey ink at the top of the card on the right hand side. I then stamped the 7 and the 0 with the same colour ink onto Whisper White cardstock and die cut the numbers using the co-ordinating Large Number Framelit Dies and added them to the card front with dimensionals.

I then arranged the leaves and flowers around the numbers and sentiment. I stamped the dotted stamp with Wild Wasabi ink around the die cut flowers to add some more texture and added some basic rhinestones for some bling. I then made an envelope using the Envelope Punch Board and a piece of dsp from the Wildflower Fields stack. This is one of the Sale-A-Bration items you can choose for free with a £45 order.

I am really happy with the card and I really hope my Aunt likes it

Thank you for stopping by my blog today and I hope to see you again soon.

Mo x

Something for Baby – Faux Resist

Posted on February 1, 2016February 1, 2016 by Mo Rootes

The daughter of an old friend is expecting a baby soon and I was playing with ideas for a baby card for her and her partner.

I pulled out the Something for Baby stamp set and co-ordinating Baby’s First dies. I just love the onesie stamp from this set and the matching framelit, such a simple design but it looks so effective and can be used for both sexes.

I wanted to try a technique called faux resist which I saw on YouTube demonstrated by Dena Rekow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMS-IRUhiWg

I mounted the flower and heart stamps from the set together on the same acrylic block, then stamped them over the upper ⅔’s of a layer of Whisper White cardstock using Whisper White Craft ink. I then stamped the onesie in Blackberry Bliss ink in the centre of the white stamped area. It looked like a smeared mess but as it dried the Whisper White craft ink began to show through the Blackberry Bliss like a shadow. Such a cool effect.

I stamped the sentiment from the Sky is the Limit stamp set in Blackberry Bliss ink at the bottom of the card layer and used the Curvy Corner Trio Punch to decorate the 4 corner. I then die cut the stamped onesie from the stamped white layer.

This layer was then adhered to a piece of Blackberry Bliss cardstock ¼” bigger to provide a narrow frame. The die cut onesie was lifted up on dimensionals and slightly offset to show the Blackberry Bliss layer underneath. I then added the whole piece to a Thick Whisper White card base

I also tried this technique with other colours and found that it worked best with a darker or richer toned ink.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. See you again

Mo x