Tuesday Trio of more Thoughts from Friends... and Online Extravaganza...

More beautiful creations from friends to me... friends that are class customers or fellow demonstrators... or even both! Thank you all for your thoughts at that time...

But before I start... I have a spare pack of each of Brightly Gleaming and Feels Like Frost papers... and with those words... I also have to tell you that Brightly Gleaming is no longer available... all sold out in Europe...

And hot off the press!! 

An Online Extravaganza Sale will start 11pm UK time tonight... 15% off selected cardstock, ink pads and bundles... and an extra 5% off selected already-bundled-with 10%-discount bundles too

Catch it asap (whilst everything is in stock) if you can! 

Sale runs 20-22 November. 

Group shot of the 8 "stamp set etc" bundles for you below... 

And I am placing a combined order 9pm Thursday 21 November... 

And now back to today's cards... 

A beautiful Dandelion Wishes card by Jill....

A stunning Sheltering Tree and Bitty Butterflies card in Night of Navy by Heidi...

And this fabulous Heartfelt Blooms, High Tide & Stitched Shapes card by Nicola... great to see my class raffle prizes being put to great use...

Monday multitude enjoying Life - aka Part 3...

Couldn't resist.... as Andrea went a step further with our simple little card design...

Her husband, Andrew is off on a "Boys Cycling Tour" very soon... and so this was the perfect Father's Day card for him...

So 12 big lads on an away on tour weekend... with Andrew leading the pack... sporting his bright green jacket (Lemon Lime Twist - oh how are we going to cope without thee in a few days time!!!?) Kind of a Maillot Jaune scene if you follow the Tour de France...

DL card size as per details in this post here...

And background stamping details as per this post here... with 11 more cyclist added wherever they would fit in!! The last one being on the back of the card but I appear to have misplaced the photo!

Amanda's Quick Links

Just click on the relevant pictures below for catalogues and/or more information... 

If you are ordering today... do remember to add the Host Code shown below to earn yourself a gift and help support The Craft Spa at the same time... For orders over £150 you should claim your own Stampin Rewards when ordering... you will still get a separate gift from me... 

Please note that this host code is relevant to today's blog post date... it does expire and change over the months... but the current code is always shown at the top right hand side of my blog...

Current Catalogues & Products

Everything is Rosy... available May only... and only while supplies last...Just £74 for all this! Or is that that!

Paper Pumpkin The Shelli Card KIT... Such good value... Available only while supplies last... £20 for 12 cards including stamps & ink spot! 

Enjoy a Simple Life! Part 2

Quick post today... as Fancy Fold Card Plan A didn't work out for today... so back to that plan another day!

So whilst the Waterfront and Enjoy Life stamps were out... I couldn't resist a quick and simple DL sized card... hence a series for you...

Stamping details as yesterday's fun fold card version... but this time I created higher mountains... simple a case of stamping a few Old Olive mountains over the top of each other!!

And I can see this card getting a lot of makes... as I know so many people that have taken up cycling over the past few years... both male and female... and of all ages...

Love the sheer simplicity of this simple little scene... but then we had some more fun!!! Yup... more to come!!

DL Card Recipe

Thick Whisper White DL Card Blank  21cm W x 10.5cm H (ie 21cm Square, scored in half at 10.5cm)

Shaded Spruce Mat 20.4cm W x 9.9cm H

Thin Whisper White stamping panel 20cm W x 9.5cm H

Enjoy Life on the Waterfront! Part One...

Well I bet you were expecting something else with that title!! And I'd love anyone to comment with what they were expecting... as I may have already done that one too!!!

Love this card!! Which was a special request for a 60th birthday... though I forgot the 60th birthday part!! But that was quickly rectified during class!

Perfect card to design just after the Tour de Yorkshire has passed through the county again!

Though I am sure that my regulars will recognise the card fold... 

Link to the Bridge U Fold Card tutorial here... though just one Box Section insert this time... cut 11.5cm x 1cm high and scored at 1.5cm from either end... (aka 4 1/2" x 3/8"...scored at 9/16" from either end!?)

Enjoy Life cyclist stamped using Memento Black... with a light sponging of Balmy Blue... and then fussy cut...

Front Base section stamped using the Enjoy Life grasses... and then quickly handcut... ending up about 1cm (3/8") high...

Balmy Blue sky brayered... grassy fields sponged... remembering (afterwards!) to use my Silicon Craft Sheet to spread the ink from... as the sponging so much softer when you do it that way! Birds from High Tide...

Mountains (Old Olive, Gray Granite) & Shaded Spruce trees etc using Waterfront... wonder if this set will stay around as long as Lovely as a Tree....? Hope so...

And here is Andrea's 60th card... note that her grass cutting is much neater than mine!!

Though I am afraid that the Little Numbers dies we used are long retired!

Wednesday Waterfront Time! An Eastern flavour duo...

Only a few more weeks of these Wednesday posts to come... as it is a bit of an understatement to say that I enjoyed creating with my Waterfront stamp set!!

A complete staple of a stamp set in my humble opinion... and rather addictive once you start!! Good job it is only £15...

Todays takes on a more Eastern flavour... with soft Smoky Slate mountains topped with Powder Pink or Basic Grey...

But... the eagle eyed of you will have noticed that I first shared one of my crafty friends cards... rather than my own... simply because I prefer it! 

So thank you Andrea for creating this beauty... which was created based upon this one that I made... which was duly inspired by a lovely card created by Vicki Hodgman... that I saw on Pinterest... 

Note that you need to remove some of your Smoky Slate ink with a Blender Pen before adding the Powder Pink using a marker pen... whereas you can go straight over with your Basic Grey marker for the darker topped mountains. If not you will end up with a dirty Powder Pink Marker!!

And subtle blossoms draping around the scene... care of the longstanding and beautiful Hopeful Thoughts stamp set... so you can now see why that set was out as I started to produce other cards shared over the last fortnight...

I coloured in the blossoms using the standard Markers... Pear Pizzazz for the leaves... and then the flowers with Powder Pink...with just a dab of Melon Mambo in the centre of the flowers... which made a huge difference...

Greeting from Sale A Bration Heartfelt Blooms... and birds from High Tide... though I will admit that I regretted stamping the birds this time... a step not required in my opinion! Immediate regret!

And a little tip for you with the Waterfront stamps... there is a single line and a double line squiggle!! I found it easier and more controllable to use the single line for "filling in" as on this card... but maybe that is just me...

And so I will leave you with another shot of Andrea's gorgeous card...

Waterfront Wednesday... on Watercolor Paper...

By using Watercolor Paper you add a natural texture...and can build a bit more of a scene with your Waterfront stamps as you can add more ink or blend with water in an Aqua Painter to soften or merge aspects together....

Though I was amused in classes ... as this was either the favourite or least favourite card to make... 

So what's different I hear you ask!!

(1) Clear Block stamping of sky with Soft Sky and Spritzer... though less ink and more water seemed to be the more successful combination for us on the Watercolor Paper... and I think most would have preferred just using the stamps! 

My sky on my original sample was beautiful... my next as demoed in class not so good!! But I quickly used my AquaPainter to move out and soften the ink... dabbing with a tissue as I went to soften even further... Panic over!

(2) Heightened front mountains to the right hand side... stamping one in Wisteria Wonder... then reinking and stamping another above and to the right to extend the height... and then doing a spot of blending with the Aquapainter to blend the 2 into one mass...

(3) Sea stamped in Soft Sky... in from the left and then in from the right to overlap slightly... leaving a white gap down the centre... just adds a bit of extra definition and clarity of the final trees...

(4) Tranquil Tide trees stamped from the bottom... ink up... stamp... then re-stamp behind and to the right to create more shadowy trees... then re-ink and repeat...  Starting with the shorter trees to the left and going across to the taller trees to the right... 

Greetings from Sale A Bration Heartfelt Blooms... birds from High Tide...both stamped in Memento Black

Rest of inky and stamping details as per this card here... 

Again on a 10.5cm (US Letter 4 1/4") small square card blank... 3" (7.5cm) Square Watercolor Paper panel with a 3 1/4" (7.5cm) Tranquil Tide mat...

Waterfront ... out of the Frame...

So ... some of the classes here last week were focused on the Waterfront stamp set... with the chance to go step by step as everyone had the stamps! Which is something that has not happened for a while...

I think this card was my overall favourite... but there again I do have a thing about going "out of the frame"

Again a 10.5cm (US Letter 4 1/4") small square card blank... with a 7cm (2 3/4") Soft Sky mat...

Stamping details pretty much as per this card... apart from

(1) sticking the die cut largest Stitched Shapes square frame straight onto the card blank with temporary glue before doing all the stamping... and yes you do get gaps at either side... but that it what the 7cm (2 3/4") Soft Sky mat covers up!

(2) Wisteria Wonder mountains twice... in from the left and then in from the right...  with 2nd stamping ones behind too (ie ink & stamp... say the mountains coming in from the left... then lift your stamp up... raise slightly upwards and shift to the left slightly... then stamp... with no inking in between aka 2nd Stamping... )

(3) Smoky Slate mountains in the centre... to the back... with 2nd stamped ones behind those to the right and to the left... which means that the second lot of paler mountains were inked and then "stamped off" onto scratch paper before stamping onto my scene...

(3) the addition of a little line to define the land/horizon... which makes such an enormous difference! Simply a partial inking of the "single line" stamp... ie place the stamp along the edge of the Tranquil Tide inkpad so that you only ink about 1-2 mm (1/16" ish!) on the edge of the stamp... and then use that inked area along your horizon line... in from the left...  and then in from the right...

Though beware of "unintended clear block inking disasters"... having a tissue at the ready to clean your block is definitely a good idea!!! Says 8/10 people here this week... including me virtually every time!! Single line and mountains too...

(4) Greetings from the Sale A Bration Heartfelt Blooms stamp set in Memento Black... I really do love the greetings in from the set... the flowers appear to be Marmite! You either love or hate them... but please look past them at the greetings if you are a hater! They are free with a £45 order after all...

(5) No sun... no sky...

(6) Birds from High Tide... and yes I did quickly snip my "flock of birds" stamp into two... as I do so like the little trio in my Waterfront scenes... and not just for covering "blobs" (which is why I used them in the first place!)

And here are a couple with different greetings...both from Heartfelt Blooms...

And for those of you looking for some of the others I have just posted on Facebook... click on the photo below to go to the details for that card...