Bloomin Heart and Bloomin Love

Posted on January 19, 2016January 19, 2016 by Mo Rootes

Bloomin Heart and Bloomin Love

Love is in the air and it’s never too early to think about Valentine’s Day, now less than a month away…eek.

With this is mind I thought I would try the Bloomin Heart Die from the new Occasions catalogue and I have to say I love, love, love it. This die is absolutely gorgeous, so delicate and detailed but having watched a few YouTube videos and read some blogs I knew it could be tricky to get a good cut.

With this in mind I had a couple of trial runs using different cardstock and BigShot sandwiches.

For the first run I used the BigShot sandwich as recommended by Stampin Up! – the multipurpose Platform (no tabs) + Precision Plate, cardstock, die and finally an acrylic plate. I found I needed to run the die through the BigShot 5 or 6 times to get a good cut.

For comparison I also tried the Magnetic Platform + the Precision Plate, card, die and acrylic plate and needed to run this sandwich through the BigShot a couple of times to get a good cut if I was using Foiled cardstock or Glimmer cardstock. This was the option I then used to make my cards but as every machine is calibrated slightly differently I suggest you have a play with your own BigShot to determine what works with your machine.

For the first card I die cut the intricate heart from Red Foil cardstock, so shiny and decadent looking. I then die cut the heart from a panel of Whisper White cardstock, popped out all the pieces to create a frame and backed the hole with a piece of Window Sheet. I slotted the Red Foil die cut into the frame and adhered it to the Window Sheet with tiny dots of Tombow adhesive.

I decided to keep the card fairly simple and added a strip of Real Red satin ribbon below the die cut heart. The sentiment is from the co-ordinating Bloomin Love stamp set and is stamped with Real Red ink and framed by the banner stamped in Basic Black Archival ink. The banner was then die cut using the co-ordinating die from the Large Numbers Framelit dies. I think this is such a classy looking card.

The second card I made has a softer look. I started with a card base in Pool Party cardstock and die cut the heart from Whisper White cardstock adding the smaller die cut flowers stamped in either Pool Party or Real Red. At this point I decided to turn the card on its side to make a landscape card.

I adhered the die cut heart to the right side of the card adding a piece of Blushing Bride cardstock with a flagged end cut using the Banner Triple Punch. Using the smaller flower stamps from the Bloomin Love stamp set, I created a background piece by stamping the flowers in Pool Party, Blushing Bride and Real Red and punching a banner end. I loved the look of this piece; it really tied all the colours together. I added a piece of the lovely, sparkly Pool Party Glitter Ribbon and some Basic Rhinestones to finish the card off.

I am really loving this set and hope you do too.

Mo x

Rose Wonder and Rose Garden Class

Posted on January 14, 2016January 14, 2016 by Mo Rootes

Rose Wonder and Rose Garden Class

Thank you to all the ladies who came to my classes this week. I really enjoyed your company, the chat and the laughs and thankfully you seem to enjoy making the projects using the beautiful Rose Wonder stamp set and Rose Garden thinlit dies. Happy days…….

These are the projects we made:

The first card we made using a Thick Whisper White card base and a layer of Blackberry Bliss card. We stamped the large rose and the sentiment with Versamark Ink and then heat embossed the image using Gold Embossing Power. The card would look amazing if you left it just as it is but when I was designing the class I decided to take it a step further.

The ladies were a bit surprised when I brought out a bottle of household bleach and handed paintbrushes round but they, like me loved the effect bleach had on the Blackberry Bliss cardstock, it turns a creamy gold colour, so pretty. You do need to apply the bleach very thinly, remember you can always go back and apply more. The embossed piece was then adhered to the card base using dimensional tape.

The second card involved some paper piecing which I loved. We stamped the large rose image with Garden Green ink on Whisper White cardstock then glued the outline of the die cut rose on top of the stamped green rose. I die cut all the roses from Blackberry Bliss or Melon Mambo cardstock ahead of time; it would have taken too long for everyone to do this in the class. The ladies were given either a Blackberry Bliss outline for the rose with Melon Mambo petal pieces or vice versa. They then had the fun of fitting all the pieces together…….. The sentiment was then stamped in Melon Mambo and the stamped piece mounted onto a Melon Mambo or Blackberry Bliss card base.

For the final project we used the Gift Bag Punch Board to make a small bag using Thick Whisper White cardstock. We die cut the smaller rose in the front of the bag and backed the hole with a piece of Window Sheet. We then die cut the small rose from Blackberry Bliss and used the outline to inlay in front of the window, adhering it with tiny dots of Tombow adhesive. The top of the box was tied with thick Blackberry Bliss twine (retired) with a piece of Gold Sequin Trim to add a bit of sparkle. Some of the loose sequins were added as you can never have too much bling.

We really enjoyed putting these projects together. I hope you like them and check back soon to see other projects I have been working on.

Mo x

Cutie Pie Christmas Trees

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

I know Christmas has now been and gone but I couldn’t resist using the Cutie Pie die to make 2 more Christmas Tree themed boxes for the ladies craft group.

The first box is made using the Cutie Pie Die set and Lost Lagoon cardstock. I also die cut the triangle from the same set of dies from Night of Navy cardstock and adhered this to the front of the box with Tombow liquid adhesive.

A tree from the Peaceful Pines stamp set was stamped in Mint Macaron ink and die cut using the co-ordinating Perfect Pines Framelit dies. I mounted the die cut tree on Stampin Dimensionals, offset to the right, on the box front. To hold the box closed, I wrapped Gold Cording Trim around 4 times and tied in a bow. The cording trim, both gold and silver are retiring on the 4^th January so get them in my online shop while you still can.

The second box is very simple but effect. The die is cut from Garden Green cardstock and embellished using the Real Red and Very Vanilla Enamel Dots from the Home for Christmas suite which retires on the 4^th January 2016, so if you like them go to my online shop and get them before they are gone. I used the ¼” Hand Held Punch to punch some circles from Gold Glimmer cardstock to give a little bling to the box. The box is topped by a Gold Glimmer star which was die cut using the smallest of Stars Framelits.

I just love using this die set for Christmas projects and can’t wait to try some summer cake box ideas out in the coming months.

I am looking forward to a bit more normality over the next few weeks and wish Happy New Year to everyone kind enough to visit this blog and many happy hours crafting.

Mo x

New Year Irresistible cards

Posted on December 29, 2015December 29, 2015 by Mo Rootes

Well, Christmas is over and the New Year is rapidly approaching. This year a group of us are gathering at a friend’s house to see in the New Year with a pot luck supper. Even better, we all live in the village so no one needs to drive. Happy Days…

To mark the occasion I decided to make each couple a New Year card.

In my stash, I found some Irresistibly Yours dsp from the 2015, Sale-a-Bration brochure and although this dsp is now retired, you could substitute a pattern from the Color Me irresistible Specialty dsp, found on page142 in the annual catalogue. This lovely paper is amazingly versatile as it can be sponged, spritzed, water coloured or inked in any colour to match your project.

I chose the starry pattern for my cards as this reminded me of fireworks and long nights. I sponged each piece of dsp in either Soft Sky, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry or Calypso Coral ink using Stampin sponges. I then stamped the sun image from the Kinda Eclectic stamp set with Crushed Curry ink. Using a piece of kitchen towel I wiped over the inked and stamped dsp to remove the excess ink from the embossed areas, revealing the glossy white stars.

I die cut the 2016 using the Little Numbers Thinlits and Gold or Black Glimmer cardstock and added the HAPPY from the Crazy For You stamp set.

I mounted the dsp onto and added the panel to Thick Whisper White cardstock bases with dimensionals. Inside the card I stamped the happy new year greeting from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamp set. I tamped the sun image from the Kinda Eclectic stamp set inside each card and on the envelope as a finishing touch.

New Year cards

I am really happy with the cards, love the colours and a sparkly glimmer paper numbers. Really hope my friends like them. I hope you all have a happy and healthy New Year

Mo x

Cutie Pie Christmas Packaging

Posted on December 27, 2015December 29, 2015 by Mo Rootes

Still on the theme of Christmas and inspired by my upline Mikaela Titheridge http://thecraftyoinkpen.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/christmas-gift-packaging-voucher.html, I decided to make some Christmas boxes using the Cutie Pie die set. I bought this set a while ago but this is the first time I have used it and I have to say I love it.

Cutie Pie Christmas

The boxes are so easy to put together and the shape is much more versatile than it appears at first glance.

The first Cutie Pie box I made was a CASE of a project on Mikaela’s blog.

I used the retired Naturals White cardstock which I absolutely loved. I was so sad when this retired from the catalogue in June. You could however, use any cardstock for this project. I used the large snowflake from the Holly Jolly Greetings stamp set stamped in Cherry Cobbler ink. I randomly stamp the tiny snowy star image from the same set in Sahara Sand ink as a background. To give some dimension to the box I attached one of the larger Snowflake Elements with a glue dot and added a basic rhinestone for the obligatory Christmas bling. A piece of retired Cherry Cobbler Ribbon was used to tie around the box.

I decided to try the box again in a different colour and with different ribbon on the same cardstock. I used Cucumber Crush, one of the 2015 – 2017 in colours for the stamped snowflake and added a smaller wooden snowflake from my stash with a dimensional. I coloured the wooden snowflake using my Craft Whisper White ink and added a basic rhinestone. The background snowy stars I again stamped using Sahara Sand ink. The soft bow was made using the Dotted Lace Trim in Cucumber Crush. I think this colourway looks very fresh and modern compared to the richer Cherry Cobbler version, loved them both.

Mo x