Mediterranean Moments & Serene Scenery Double Z Fold Card

Feels like ages since I made a  Pop Up Z Fold (or Double Z Fold) Card... but this was the perfect card fold for this layout... Just Click here for the Small Square Pop Up Z Fold card tutorial I used.

But before I start on today's card...remember that today is the very last day of the Sale A Bration promotion... cut off at 10.30pm tonight, Friday 31 March... but please don't leave it till 10.30pm - you never know what might go wrong...! Click to order here...

So back to today's card... Images from Mediterranean Moments... Greetings from Beautiful You... Sky papers from the Serene Scenery 6" Stack... and Shimmery White card & Watercolor Pencils used for the watercoloured panels

I started off trying to fussy cut the whole cafe & chairs scene... but too hard for general consumption!!

So instead I started off with a 9.9cm wide x 3.5cm high (4 1/8"W x 1 3/8"H for my US readers) piece of Shimmery White... stamped the cafe scene in the centre... cut from the left to the left hand chair... and from the right to the right hand side of the sign... which left me with a very small amount to fussy cut... much simpler and quicker...

Think I might have to make another of these... love how it turned out!

Inside the Lines papers...and Sale A Bration ends in less than 48 hours!

Another card using the Sale A Bration promotional Inside the Lines papers, the bee from Dragonfly Dreams and the Watercolor Pencils. Click here for the previous share with the how to details. 

Don't forget that we are now in the final hours of Sale A Bration... which finishes tomorrow, Friday 31st March...

You know the one... 

Earn selected products for free with every £45 order... Click here for the post with more details and all 3 releases of Sale A Bration products available for free - though please note that the Glimmer Paper and the Seaside & Sparkle Textured embossing folders are now out of stock...

OR join our Stampin' Up! family for just £99. Choose £130 product and any 2 extra stamp sets for free... No further obligation necessary though I hope you will stay around and start your own Stampin' Up! journey... mine has been such fun!! 

And to help you begin that journey.... a new Stampin' Up! promotion has just been released  - just for new starters signing up by 31st March- you can earn another free stamp set based upon your orders during April - June... email me for further details

And a picture of the Inside the Lines papers for you... colour as much or as little as you like... they are very effective all ways...

And you may be able to see the clear Wink of Stella glimmer on this shot... as well as the die-cut bee...

Lovely as a Spring Tree...

Finishing off my Watercolor Pencils and Lovely as a Tree series... Happy Spring everyone...

 So here is the full series round up picture... call it a Tree for all Seasons...

Back to the Spring trees... Spot the details...

Blossom Trees care of Melon Mambo Watercolor Pencil blended out with an Aquapainter... then I added lots of Signo White gel pen (retired - sniff!) dots to calm it down a bit!

Daffodils care of the short grass stamp in In The Meadow and my partial Damp & Stamp technique (Part 3)...as explained earlier in this post...

Birds from High Tide... I just inked up the smallest 3 using a Basic Black marker pen...

Grass is Old Olive pencil coloured direct stamped onto the panel and then blended out with Aquapainter... Sky is watercolour washed Pacific Point from a plastic sheet... as explained in the earlier post...

Oh and I used Shimmery White for the stamped panel this time... whereas all the others have been on Watercolor Paper... works a treat!

Happy Easter from the Circle of Spring stamp set

And I have to laugh at myself... how can something so simple use 4 different stamp sets!! Oh well it had to be...

Avant Garden Palm Trees Scene & Tutorial

Finally finished off a card project I started a while back!  As soon as I came up with the Avant Garden Palm Trees idea as shared here and here... the "daydream" stamp from Designer Tee and a hammock between palm trees beckoned me... but I had to go and create for my booked classes instead... so it went off to the side...

So today I grabbed my Serene Scenery paper stack and got to work. Love that the sky & clouds paper works so well for sea.... and that the dandelions paper works so well for a sunset sky... don't know why I didn't see these until today! But I am off to purchase some more now... makes cardmaking scenes so simple!

Stamped black sentiments both from Designer Tee (yours for free with a £45 order until Friday!) Have to admit that this is my most used Sale A Bration set...and not a T-shirt in sight (yet!)

Palm Trees stamped and given the Touches of Texture treatment as already shared here...

Hammock just a small piece of folded stripey ribbon with Linen Thread stapled along the back so I could attach to the trees (yes a few sewn hand-stitches would have been better... but I was a woman on a mission...and I can't sew!!)

Interestingly the card format I used changed suddenly from my original plan... as I saw this super Centre Box Card by Liza last night and had to make a version of the fold (without the extra box part as not needed on this occasion)... so thanks to Liza for immediately inspiring me to make this.... a super but simple fancy fold.... And it all folds to fit into a Medium Crumb Cake envelope (or a standard C6 envelope would work too)

My measurements are different as from our A4 card...
So this card is 10.5 x 21cm Thick Whisper White.
Scored when LANDSCAPE (long side at top!) at 3.5; 7; 14 and 17.5cm.

Paper Panels are 3x10cm (x4 for Fronts & Sides) and 6.5x10cm for the Back Panel.
Bottom Panel is Thick Whisper White 2.3 x 14cm & DSP 2 x 13.5cm

Enjoy! I did... and I don't think this is the last you will see of this card fold...

And remember...Sale A bration finishes this Friday 31st March... and that both Avant Garden and Designer Tee are stamps you can earn for free with a £45 order... full set pictures here... 

Beautiful You & Mediterranean Moments

Another Watercolor Pencil masterpiece! Built up from the same Shimmer White sized stamping panel & mat  - and using the Paper Piecing technique for the girl... as explained yesterday...

This Beautiful You girl was stamped... then masked... and then the scene stamped over... all using black Staz On...

And then I had to laugh at myself... as my dislike/inability? of colouring quickly evaporated....

I started off with a wash of grey for the road and sepia for the rest (aka Basic Gray and Early Espresso pencil & water Aqua painted off a plastic sheet again as explained here) And I intended to stop there...

Then I just thought I would add the Old Olive greenery...

Then came the Real Red pencil dot geraniums...

And then I just carried on... bit of sky... pots & lamps... bridges & window frames... drainpipes and fascias... all became more & more defined as I lost myself in the scene... And the moment!!

And here are the two cards together...

Can't wait to show you my next Mediterranean Moment!!! Which I am in the middle of... And I really must finish my Lovely as a Tree series first!!!

Beautiful You - Dancer on Beach...

A card to celebrate mothers everywhere today.... as it is Mother's Day in the UK....

Simple card with a Shimmery White A7 panel (7.4 x 10.5cm)... so you get 8 from an A4 piece of card to maximise your card useage! Pool Party 7.9x11cm mat.

Beautiful You images & greeting stamped in black Staz On...

Skirt, top of hat and umbrella paper pieced using Pool Party papers in the Subtles paper stack ...

Watercolor pencil & Aqua Painter wash of the sea (in Bermuda Bay) and the sky (in Pacific Point). Click here for more explanation of how to do the wash...

Rest of colouring done with watercolor pencils - T-shirt coloured with Bermuda Bay and skin with a light touch of Calypso Coral

Can't believe this is my first use of Beautiful You!! Love it....

Cool & Tasty Treats ...

Seeing as the Tasty Treats papers are now a Sale A Bration item you can earn for free with a £45+ bundle... I thought I should share the lovely cards we made at our last Quarterly Training... all designed for us by Julie...

These all use the scrummy Tasty Treats Speciality papers and the Cool Treats stamps and Frozen Treats dies bundle... a great fun bundle to use... lots of potential... and at £43 you have almost got the papers for free in one swoop!! Just add a Tombow!! Or the Tasty Treats A4 cardstock pack... or the Tasty Treats Washi Tape

Here are some close ups of the 4 cards... 

This last one was actually Julie's swap card...

And here is a Tasty Truck card we made at an earlier training that also uses these papers... Tasty Truck is another Sale A Bration item you can earn for free with a £45 order... 

And here are some SU! designed projects to further tempt you if you like these.... what's not to love?

Watercolor Pencils # 11 - Damp & Stamp Technique Parts 2 & 3

Another card made with the Watercolor Pencils Damp & Stamp Technique (as shared earlier here)... but a little more controlled this time... 

First the background... Pacific Point and White pencils scribbled onto plastic (Stamp A Ma Jig sheet perfect! Clear blocks not...)  Spritzed (or added drop of water from the Aqua painter) and then Aqua painter washed the sky on the Watercolor Paper. Same but with Old Olive pencil for the grass... left to dry...

Then onto the Damp & Stamp technique Part 2... I used the Aquapainter to cover the leafy areas of the stamp with water... then coloured those areas with the Old Olive pencil... then I went back with the Aquapainter and applied the water to the trunk and branch areas... then coloured those areas with the Early Espresso pencil. Then spritzed and then stamped... (Note to self for a remake! Don't add water to those long grass bits in the centre of the trees!!)

And then onto the Damp & Stamp Technique Part 3... using the grass stamp in the In the Meadow set... wet just the bottom of the grass stamp (see image top right).... add Old Olive pencil... Spritz and stamp upside down... perfect grass length!

Angry Bird....

And from the Easter Chick.... was born the Mini Egg Carton Angry Bird! Nice one Andrea....

Though I think some of you may have guessed at this one from the batch spray job photo I shared yesterday....

But a tip if you want to make one yourself... you need a lot of Real Red refill drops in the Spritzer... think we did about 22 drops before we were happy! It was all a bit pink up till then... 

Mini Egg Carton... Easter Pig!

Before I start for today... please don't miss the news about the third release of promotional Sale A Bration items... scroll down or click here....

We had such fun with our Mini Egg Cartons in classes last week...

Take a cow... add a class of ladies in a creative mode... and up pops a cute little pig! Amongst other things!!

I adore the pig that Heidi came up with... though I was particularly happy to have the Sprinkles Punch on hand to create that curly tail.... eureka moment!!!

And you will have to wait to see what else we came up with.... but maybe some clues here.... 

New Sale A Bration promotional items - Third Release

Second post today... Scroll down or click here for my earlier creative share...

Ooh how exciting! Just popping on to share eight more items just released by Stampin' Up! that you can select for free when you order £45+ Stampin' Up! products during the Sale A Bration promotion which ends 31st March.

These are items in the Annual or Spring Summer catalogues... but please enter the item codes shown below to get them for free... ie not the item codes shown in the catalogues!

Need the full picture of what you can select? Click here for the round up on the first and second release Sale A Bration items

And for those of you new to Stampin' Up! and/or Sale A Bration... this is how the Sale A Bration promotion works...  

Earn Free Product in any (or all) of 3 ways... until 31st March 2017...

SHOP: For every £45 you spend (before shipping), you get a FREE Sale-A-Bration product. Spend £90 get 2 free SAB products... and so on... with no limits...  Choose now from a total of 15 items.

JOIN:- Get an extra TWO STAMP SETS for FREE. Choose the standard £130 product plus 2 more free current stamp sets (could be an extra £93 for free!! Yes...up to £223 product). Pay just £99. Ships for FREE too...

HOST:- Order over £200 or... host a qualifying party with at least £200 in sales... and you'll earn £20 more Host/Stampin' Rewards. You can even use the Host/Stampin Rewards towards a Demonstrator Starter Kit. Example: For a £200 order... earn £40 total Host/Stampin Rewards during Sale A Bration