Tuesday Tip - Colour your Floral Centre!

It was just screaming out to be done....

Take one Perennial Essence Floral Centre... and one ink pad... Merry Merlot used here...

Grab your Floral Centre  - using tweezers or something - either side of the foam pad on the back - and dab & push it on said ink pad... top and sides until you have plenty of ink coverage... then let it dry a while!

And voila... come back again soon to see this in action!!

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Just click on the relevant pictures below for On Line Store, Catalogues and/or more information... 

If you are ordering today... please add the Host Code shown below to earn yourself a gift... For orders over £150 you should claim your own Stampin Host Rewards... you will still get a separate gift from me... 

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Current Catalogues & Products

Tuesday Tip - Multicoloured Polka Dot Ribbon...

So this is a card we made at our last Monthly Training event... featuring the Bike Ride stamps and co-ordinating Build A Bike dies... along with a Happy Birthday Gorgeous greeting...

Along with a lovely colour combination using 2 new colours from our new colour palette! Balmy Blue & Grapefruit Grove meets Pear Pizzazz ... with a little Basic Black and Crumb Cake...

But I had to wait to get my card home...as I just wanted to try something before I put it all together...

So out came the Balmy Blue & Grapefruit Grove marker pens and the Light Old Olive Stampin Blend marker pen... and 5 minutes later... multi-coloured Polka Dot Tulle ribbon to match!!

And a bonus tip for you... the white would need colouring on both sides if you can see the ribbon from both sides...

Love it when a test works out positive!! And great card design too Julie...

Stampin Markers... Blending Tips...

Ok... yes, you have seen this little card before... click here for the card fold details...

But 3 variants to show a quick comparison between the currently-not-available-for a few-weeks Stampin Blends... and Many Marvellous Markers (aka Stampin Markers)

First up... the original Stampin Blends version... click here for more details on the colouring...

Second up... straightforward Stampin Markers colouring... looks somewhat... flat! Lovely coral colour... but no colour variation at all...

Look in comparison to the Stampin Blends at the top... 

And lastly... after a bit of a Eureka moment in a class... the Blended Stampin Markers option...

Now isn't that better than the first marker version! Just a little bit of marker direct colouring... blended out with a Blender Pen... colour variation a go go... quicker than Blends... and nice and controllable if you do one flower/leaf at a time... and actually my preferred colouring method with the Springtime Foils papers... as they have a slight sheen to them... which allows the marker ink to be moved round brilliantly in this way...

Here are the Fully Marker (top) and Blended Marker cards side by side... what a difference...

Oh and the ribbon was also coloured using the Stampin Markers too... just had to wipe the ink off (particularly off the metallic silver edge)... and leave the ribbon to dry a bit longer... 

So grab your Blender Pens and Stampin Markers... and blend your inky heart out!

And I would love to start a new Stampin Markers Club if there is enough interest... £45 per month plus P&P for 2 months starting now (so you could get 1 Sale A Bration freebie with your March order too!!) OR £33 per month plus P&P for 3 months starting in April . So contact me by clicking here if you would be interested...

OR for anyone that can order all in one go by the end of March... so £99 now... and 2 free Sale A Brations... order direct online here... and I will refund you the £4.95 postage (by cheque) and send you a gift worth over £10 too...

OR as the best value option... you could sign up with Stampin Up! for £99... which pays for the markers... and select another £31 product... plus 2 free stamp sets (any value)  if you sign up by 31st March... Free P&P... And I would be very happy to send you that £10+ gift too... Click here for more information.... and /or Click here to join my Team...

Want Stampin Blends alcohol markers? Act Fast...

Second post for today... with some important and urgent news...

Due to their popularity and long supply lead times....which has resulted in many back order situations over the past few weeks...

Stampin’ Blends alcohol based blending markers will be made unorderable beginning on Friday, 23 March, 6:00 p.m. (GMT) ... 

Which means that tomorrow (or today if you are reading this on Friday!) is the last day you will be able to order Stampin Blends until later on in May... for which more details will be released as and when available... 

This affects all versions of the Stampin Blends... the whole Collection, the duos and the singles... A few colours are already out of stock... they will just follow direct to you later... as and when they come into stock...

So if you have been thinking about purchasing any of these wonderful alcohol blending marker pens... please do it now!! 

Want to maximise the value you get with the Collection RRP £108... then sign up with Stampin Up here... as you would get 2 extra free stamp sets as well as have another £22 of free product to select... more details/ideas on this option here... 

Or if you would prefer just to order... you would also get 2 free Sale A Bration items (or one Level-2er) with the whole collection RRP £108... though you can order one, two or however many you would like... all £4 each... so 12 would get you one free Sale A Bration item... 

Here is the direct link to the collection on my On Line Store... 

Or here is the direct link to all the options (singles, duos and collection) if you prefer to pick n mix at £4 each... 

Please remember to add this month's host code 6EVXZYDQ (if your order is under £150)... for an extra gift from me... PLUS a £4.95 postage refund cheque from me too... if your order is over £60. 

If your order if over £150... then please select your own Stampin Rewards... you will still get the gift and postage refund from me

Gift and postage refund cheques will follow in about a fortnights time...

Happy Blending!

The Ways we Colour... for Jems Monthly Blog Hop

Well hello and welcome to today's Jems Team Blog Hop .... featuring simply ... colouring... whichever way...

Not being a "colouring because it is my creative therapy" kind of a girl... I opened my brand new Stampin' Blends alcohol based marker pens out and got to work... and I am very very impressed... but much more on that another day... Maybe there is even a colour-ista in me after all... though there will need to be lots of practice first!!!

So my first "practice run" had to be simple... and had (of course) to involve architecture!! 

Well that was easy... just open the Just Add Colour papers... and Stampin Blends in Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake and Smoky Slate and get to work...

Soon I had a little row of houses...all ready to go...

And then a reason to chop my little row up... as some friends are off to live in sunny France...so I had an urgent need for a New Home card... or in this case New Beginnings... as the house they are moving to isn't new to them... but life in France certainly will be...

So here is my very simple little card... greetings care of Happy Celebrations... and final dress up with Night of Navy 1/2" Gingham Ribbon. So quick & Simple...what's not to love...

And an extra Bonus use of the Stampin' Blends too... I quickly added dark Cherry Cobbler to the hashed areas of the Happy word (which I had already 2 step stamped/filled in using Real Red)... not obvious (as I forgot to take a close-up shot) but made it all pop the more! Just remember to use your Memento Black ink to stamp Happy though!!

Live in the UK? Want your own Stampin Blends? Then click here to see the various ways to purchase them and support The Craft Spa...

Now what shall I do with these... 

And now it is time to pass you on to the lovely Sarah Jane... who I know has something cute for you.... 

Red... and yellow... and green... and blue

Well just red in my case today... but yours can be any colour you like! Well once you have your Stampin Blends safely in your hands...

So this made me very happy this week... and I couldn't wait to share this Top Tip with you... the project will have to wait until another day!

I needed a red bauble for a project... and I only had the silver Mini Ornaments to hand...

Perfect size... love them... but definitely not the right colour!! 

And then I thought...why not! So I grabbed my dark Cherry Cobbler Stampin Blend marker and coloured them easy peasy... and it has not shifted since! And a little tip... easier with the brush end...

So what colour will you make yours??

Stampin Blends alcohol markers coming very soon... just 48 hours to wait! Remember to click here to email me for the leaflet and details on my Stampin Blends club... I promise you won't be disappointed...

Floral Statements oh so simple...

Simply white embossed on Crumb Cake... on a Whisper White panel... onto a Crumb Cake card... you really don't need to do anything more with this beautiful greeting!

Though I do highly recommend colouring in the flowers if you have a bit more time... click here for details on that... 

The coloured version was so popular I thought I should share the even simpler one!

And a couple of tips for you if you like "looking" around my blog... 

I couldn't find the coloured flowers version by searching in the Search box on here... but I remembered my Pinterest board onto which I pin all my projects... and it took me seconds to find it on there! Click here for the "Made at The Craft Spa" board... 

Or click here for my "Tutorials at The Craft Spa" board... I am adding to that one somewhat more ad-hocly at the moment... but they will all get on there eventually! 30 or so on... 100s to go!

Or just click here to follow me on Pinterest.... 

And finally.... I should be back to normal service very soon... been such a busy few months... my feet will be so glad to see the ground for a change!

Floral Sentiments - Subtle Colour on Neutrals...

Just realised I didn't share this card with you when I posted my series of Floral Sentiments cards earlier in the year...

This was a simpler more straightforward version of this one... and I think I decided that I had posted a few cards that looked quite similar... so I resisted to post at the time... and then I forgot! But this was actually one of my favourites of my makes.... clean & simple with just a bit of subtle colour!

Embossing and colouring details here...

Embossed & Aqua-painted Floral Statements

Thought I would try out another experiment seeing as my aqua-painted Floral Sentiments card with sponged Fresh Florals papers posted here proved so popular...

Again on Crumb Cake... but heat embossing the image this time... and using softer pinks for the flowers... pretty!

So first the image was heat embossed in white... then Craft Whisper White was aqua-painted over all the flowers and leaves... followed by colouring the flowers with the Powder Pink marker pen... then aqua-painting Berry Burst at the tips and shadows and Tranquil Tide for the leaves...

Finished off with a very careful " wiping" away off the ink from the white embossed surfaces...

Matted onto a thin border panel of Whisper White... then onto a Fresh Florals paper panel brayered in Crumb Cake ink... and mounted onto a Tranquil Tide card blank...