Hopping Around The World Blog Hop - Sketch

Hi Crafters,

On the last weekend of the month you'll find the Hopping Around the World team sharing their latest Blog Hop creations.  This month we have a sketch to follow.  I had the honour of designing this one and I can't wait to see everyone's projects.  If you've come from Rebecca-Jo's post, you are on the right track.  The full list of participants is also shown below if you get lost along the way.  

Even though I designed the sketch, I had some trouble coming up with the perfect combination of products for my card.  In the end I used a background I had made a couple of weeks ago and it became the perfect setting for my Piece of Cake stamping.  Can you guess what colour I used for the dotty background?   

Anyone who guessed Merry Merlot was right!  I certainly wouldn't have known that Merry Merlot would make such a pretty bubblegum pink tone when mixed with Shimmery White Embossing Paste.  After mixing the Merry Merlot ink with the Shimmery White Embossing Paste, I applied it through the dotty mask from the Basic Pattern Decorative Masks pack.  I used a half sheet of A4 Whisper White cardstock for my card base and then attached the embossing paste background panel using fun foam.  This card will be mailed and I didn't want it to get squished.  I stamped the fun cake from the Piece of Cake stamp set in Merry Merlot ink and the cake stand in Gray Granite ink and used the co-ordinating punch to cut them out.  I coloured the ribbon on the cake using my Merry Merlot Stampin' Write Marker which is becoming a little dry.  I added colour to the cake stand using the combo pack of Gray Granite Stampin' Blends.  

I stamped the lollipops in Merry Merlot ink directly onto a small panel of Whisper White cardstock cut using the Stitched Rectangle Dies.  I embossed the bottom of the panel using the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder so that the cake stand didn't appear to float.  My sentiment was from the same stamp set and was heat embossed in white on Gray Granite cardstock and I used Stampin' Dimensionals to pop up the panel and sentiment strip.  The Gray Granite Textured Weave Ribbon was the perfect grounding element behind my small cake panel.  

I hope you are inspired to give this sketch challenge a go too.  To keep hopping, head to Jennifer's blog for more inspiration.  

I would like to enter this card into the SUO Challenge 247 - Embossing.  

Happy crafting,
Rachel x


Blog Hop Roll Call List

1.      Claudia Christensen (D)

2.     Rebecca-Jo Unwin (Australia)

3.     Rachel Macleod (UK) *** You are here ***

4.     Jennifer Downey (USA)

5.     Mo Rootes (UK)

6.     Margriet Siekman (NL)

7.     Melanie Igelbrink (D)

8.     Maï Chapelain (France)

9.     Susan Simpson (UK)

10. Maureen Rauchfuss (USA)

11.   Sheila Turner (Canada)

12. Pamela Poli (FR)

Product List

Piece Of Cake Photopolymer Bundle [150579]	Stitched Rectangle Dies [148551]	Subtle 3D Embossing Folder [151775]	Basic Pattern Decorative Masks [150697]	Shimmery White Embossing Paste [145645]
Palette Knives [142808]	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549]	Gray Granite A4 Cardstock [147008]	Merry Merlot Classic Stampin' Pad [147112]	Gray Granite Classic Stampin' Pad [147118]
Versamark Pad [102283]	White Stampin' Emboss Powder [109132]	Heat Tool - Uk Plug [129054]	Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers [147158]	Gray Granite Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [149537]
Gray Granite 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Textured Weave Ribbon [147656]	Multipurpose Liquid Glue [154974]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

We Fall In...Colours Blog Hop - April

Hi Crafters,

It's time to hop again with a Blog Hop from the We Fall In... Colours team.  We are an international group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators who love to share our passion for creativity through colour.  If you've hopped from Simone's blog post, you are on the right track.  However, if you get lost a full list of the blog hop participants is at the end of this post.  

This month's colour challenge features So Saffron, Merry Merlot and Crushed Curry.  These colours certainly pushed me outside my comfort zone but I ended having so much fun I made two cards!  

My first card features the Good Morning Magnolia stamp set and co-ordinating dies.  I feel like I'm the last Demonstrator in the world to use this set!  I started by creating a watercolour panel on Fluid Watercolour Paper using the three colours given for the challenge - Merry Merlot, Crushed Curry and So Saffron.  I used an Aqua Painter to pick up the colours from the lids of the stamp pads and applied straight to the watercolour paper.  This might be the best watercolour panel I've ever done!  

I stamped the large magnolia image in Versamark ink onto Fluid Watercolour Paper and heat embossed in copper.  Then I used the wet on wet watercolouring technique for each of the petals and leaves in Merry Merlot and So Saffron inks.  I cut out the floral image with the co-ordinating die from the Magnolia Memory dies.  I also cut one from fun foam to make sure that it didn't sag in the mail.  I cut the sentiment using the Well Written dies from a piece of Whisper White cardstock topped with a layer of heated copper embossing powder.  My top tip is to heat the die cuts for a few seconds once they are in place as this will give smooth edges.  To finish, I added some white sequins from the Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins pack.  

My second card features products from the new Ornate Garden Suite which is available to purchase for a limited time until 30 April 2020, before being available in the Stampin' Up! 2020-2021 Annual Catalogue.  The new catalogue launches early in June so get those countdown clocks at the ready!

I used the Ornate Floral 3D embossing folder with three panels of Whisper White cardstock.  Before running through my die cutting machine I applied a layer of Merry Merlot ink, Crushed Curry ink and So Saffron ink to the embossing folder so that each panel would feature the three colours in the challenge.  Once these were dry, I tore them into strips and added to my card using Multipurpose Liquid Glue.  I kept the torn edges free from adhesive and roughed these up with my fingertips for added dimension.  

The So Saffron and Crushed Curry panels were very similar in colour so I chose to use a So Saffron die cut butterfly from the Springtime Impressions dies to better showcase this colour.  I cut two of the butterflies in Whisper White cardstock and one from So Saffron cardstock and only adhered with Multipurpose Liquid Glue in the centre of the butterflies allowing the wings to stand off the card.  I chose a sentiment from the Ornate Thanks stamp set and heat embossed in white onto Merry Merlot cardstock.  I added the same white Basic Adhesive-backed Sequins to finish the card.    

I hope you are enjoying our colour challenge for April and to keep hopping just click the next button below to head to Angela's blog.  Don't forget to leave a comment to let us know you've visited too.  

Happy crafting,
Rachel x


Blog Hop Roll Call

1.       SandraHerzog

2.      SilkeTrapani

3.      MartinaSchmitz

4.      KarinHobelsberger – StempelPünktchen

5.      ClaudiaStrauchfuß

6.      SandraHagenlocher

7.      LianeGorny – Jungle Cards

8.     ManuelaAuer

9.      SigridJoch – Sigrids kreative ART

10.  Samira Merzouk – Samira’s KreativeWelt

11.   IrisPhilipps – Der Papierhimmel

12.  Rene Guenther / Stempeln-mit-Rene.de

13.  Simone Kleine – derdiedasKleinebastelt

14.  Rachel Macleod – On The Wings of Craft ***You are here***

15.   AngelaKöber – Stempelfamilie

16.  Margriet Siekman – Creatief Marsie

17.   AnjaEhmann – Bastelanja

18.  Katja Martins – Stempelpfau

19.  Melanie Igelbrink – MellisStempelParadies

20. Veronika Karner

21.  Christiane Knapp – StempelPalast

Product List for Card 1

Good Morning Magnolia Bundle [151087]	Well Written Dies [148534]	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549]	Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper [149612]	Aqua Painters [103954]
Merry Merlot Classic Stampin' Pad [147112]	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [147087]	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad [147109]	Embossing Buddy [103083]	Versamark Pad [102283]
Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder [141636]	Heat Tool - Uk Plug [129054]	Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins [146933]	Multipurpose Liquid Glue [154974]

Product List for Card 2

Ornate Floral 3D Embossing Folder [152725]	Springtime Impressions Dies [146326]	Ornate Thanks Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [149471]	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549]	So Saffron A4 Card Stock [108611]
Merry Merlot A4 Cardstock [147005]	Merry Merlot Classic Stampin' Pad [147112]	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [147087]	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad [147109]	Embossing Buddy [103083]
Versamark Pad [102283]	White Stampin' Emboss Powder [109132]	Heat Tool - Uk Plug [129054]	Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins [146933]	Multipurpose Liquid Glue [154974]