Constantly Stamping

Blended Seasons Artisan Design Team Blog Hop - Part 2

Welcome to very special Artisan Design Team Blog Hop. On this hop, we are featuring the Blended Seasons Bundle featuring limited-time products only available until August 31 while supplies last.

The Blended Seasons Bundle is perfect for crafting in any season, in any part of the world! The bundle features the beautiful Blended Seasons Stamp Set, coordinating Stitched Season Framelits Dies and the beautiful new Watercolor Pencil Assortment 2, including some of Stampin' Up!'s brand new colors!

I decided to explore different ways to use the watercolor pencils other than the obvious ones. For these vibrant flowers I first colored them with a base layer using a Light Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends marker. I know that seems a little like cheating, but I think of it as using your pencils to their fullest potential. Real Red Stampin' Blends are on the way, but until then I  was able to layer Real Red watercolor pencil over the markers to brighten them up a little. Then I added shadow using the Cherry Cobbler from the new Watercolor Pencils Assortment 2. I did the same thing with the leaves except I started with the Light Old Olive Stampin' Blends and then layered Garden Green watercolor pencil over top. The key is to color lightly and then continue to build color until you get the look you want. Take your time...it works best if you let the pencil layer "rest" for a few minutes between layers. The end result is different than either coloring medium alone. Together they make a great pair.

  

I literally cut the sentiment in half and then stacked the greeting for a different look. This is a great way to extend your possibilities and you can always line it back up the way it was intended.

 

For the card base I used Real Red cardstock (#102482) and added some fun plaid from the  Under the Mistletoe DSP (#146921).

 

I used the two largest Stitched Season Framelits to create frames. I cut one from Basic Black cardstock and one frame from Whisper White. I love how these framelits add stitching to the inside and the outside of the frame.

Elizabeth Price is next on our blog hop so be sure to head on over and check out what she and the the rest of the Artisan Design Team team have in store by clicking on the button below.

 

2018 Artisan Design Team

Cathy Caines - In The Cat Cave (Canada)
Charlet Mallett - Painted Orange (USA)
Connie Collins - Constantly Stamping (USA) <- you are here
Elizabeth Price - Seeing Ink Spots (USA)
Emma Goddard - Coastal Crafter (UK)
Jennifer Frost - Jennifer Frost (Australia)
Jenni Pauli - Paulines Papier (Germany)
Jessica Winter - kunterbuntestempelwelt (Austria)
Kayla Macaulay - Love, Kayla (Australia)
Kim McGillis - Kim McGillis Papercrafting (Canada)
Lauren Alarid - Crafty Little Peach (USA)
Linda van Wely-Zwolle - Stampin with Liz Design (The Netherlands)
Rhoda MacPherson - Pretty Creative (UK)
Sarah Lancaster - Pirouette Papercraft (France)
Susan Wong - Stampin Susan (New Zealand)
Sylwia Schreck - Stempel Einfach (Germany)

 

I WOULD LOVE TO BE YOUR STAMPIN' UP! DEMONSTRATOR

If you are in the United States and need a demonstrator, then you can order your supplies in my online store here.

Farewell to Blendabilities

You have probably already heard by now, but just in case you haven't, Stampin' Up! is no longer carrying the Blendabilities alcohol based markers in their product line. While I totally understand why they made this decision, I have to admit that I feel like I have been kicked in the gut. So in honor of my short-lived relationship with these markers, I wanted to share one last card that I created recently. Ironically, the sentiment reads "hello there" but it would be more appropriate to say farewell.

To create this card, I used the masking technique and stamped several lemons with the "A Happy Thing Stamp Set".  Even though the markers are gone, you can still get this beautiful stamp set as one of your free products with a $50 purchase during the remainder of Sale-a-bration. I colored the images with the Daffodil Delight and Old Olive Blendabilities Collections and the blue background was created with the lightest Soft Sky Blendabilities marker. I distressed the edges of the card with Early Espresso ink and then added a strip of Old Olive Polka Dot DSP from the Brights DSP Collection. Finally I added some Black & White Bakers Twine and then mounted everything on a Whisper White card base.

Farewell Blendabilities...you will be missed!

 

My Last SU 2013 ADT Blog Post...

Hi everyone. I'm back from an exciting week at SU convention and will have lots to share soon. In the meantime, be sure to check out my final SU blog post as a 2013 ADT member.

Blendabilities On Crumb Cake Cardstock

The minute I saw the new hostess set "Hello There" I knew it was perfect mate for my favorite stamp set "So Very Grateful" (#133050W/133053C). The only thing is that "So Very Grateful" goes away in just a few days, so if you like this set as much as me, you better grab it before it is gone. The sentiment, on the other hand, won't be available until the new catalog goes live on June 2, 2014.  To make things even more confusing (sorry about that), the Blendabilities markers won't be available for purchase until possibly sometime in late June or July. I really struggled with whether or not to even show you this card, but I really love it...so I just decided to go with it and post it anyway.

This card really began as an experiment. I love kraft backgrounds on my cards and I love the new Blendabilities markers. I just didn't know how well they would work together. What I discovered is that they don't quite blend as well on Crumb Cake cardstock as they do on Whisper White or Very Vanilla cardstock. They have a tendancy to bleed a little more, too. But the color is more vibrant than our regular Stampin' Write markers and after a little practice I am really pleased with the results.

On this card I stamped the floral background on Crumb Cake cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink then I colored the flowers with Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Coastal Cabana Blendabilities Marker Assortments. The leaves are colored with the Old Olive Assortment. The little dots were added by hand with one of the new Project Life Jouraling Pens (#135304). I have found that these pens work great to touch up any black areas without causing any ink bleeding, but just to be on the safe side I waited until the ink was dry before doing any touch-up.

Normally I use bleach to lighten the areas that I want to color, but I didn't need to do that with the Blendabilities. If you would like to see some examples of that technique here is a banner that I made recently.

The ribbon behind the sentiment is actually a strip of Basic Black cardstock. I broke down the paper fibers by pulling the strip over and over with my bone folder. Eventually the cardstock begins to seperate and you can pull it apart. I gives the paper a very soft look and feel and makes it very easy to pleat.

 

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Artisan Wednesday WOW - Blendabilities Markers

Artisan Wednesday WOW - Digital MDS Images with Blendabilities

Artisan Wednesday WOW - 8x8 Canvas Wall Art

Artisan Wednesday WOW - 8x8 Canvas Wall Art

Welcome to another Artisan Design Team blog hop. The year has flow by and I can't believe it is already summer break. If you are following the hop, you should have arrived here from Cindy Schuster's blog.  Cindy is so talented, super sweet, and great fun to have on our Design Team. I am always impressed by the things she creates.

I have been featuring a lot of cards this month so I thought I would mix it up with a 3D project. I have been having so much fun using my Blendabilities markers to create flowers, I needed a way to showcase them. A card just wasn't big enough, a 12 x 12 page just didn't seem to work, but an 8x8 canvas was just right. (I'm starting to sound a little like Goldilocks.)

This is one of those projects where I worked backward. I started by making all three flowers. The largest flower is a the Blended Bloom stamp colored with Cherry Cobbler Blendabilites Assortment. I know it is difficult to see in the picture, but it actually has three layers and is very dimensional. The middle flower is from the Peaceful Petals stamp set. It is going away on May 31, 2014, so you had better grab it quick before it is gone for good. I colored it with the Rich Razzleberry Blendabilites and it has two layers offset with Dimensionals. Finally, the smallest flower is from the Secret Garden stamp set which is retiring as well. It has two layers and is colored with the Coastal Cabana Assortment.

After I created all the flowers I covered an 8"x8" canvas with some Daffodil Delight DSP and ModgePodge. After it dried, I added some dried rose stems that I had saved from Valentine's Day. I know what you must be thinking...who keeps dried rose stems lying around? LOL! Well, apparently I do. Acutally, I had another project in mind that I saved them for, but never have gotten around to making it. Anyway, I used hot glue to attach them to the canvas. To hide the adhesive, I used a lot of hot glue at the top of the stem behind the flower and at the bottom of the stem. I also attached the flowers and leaves with hot glue. Next I used my Fringe Scissors and cut two strips of Old Olive cardstock to go along the bottom and wrapped the fringe around the sides all the way to the back.

Finally, I used the Moments Ago stamp digital download from My Digital Studio and used a Silhouette Cameo to cut the words from wall vinyl. I am so excited about how cute this turned out. Even my husband (who never comments on anything I make) said that he really liked it too...Now that is saying something! Best of all, it just makes me smile!

I guess I should mention that the Blendabilities markers will probably not be available when the new catalog goes live on June 2. It looks like it may be August before you can purchase them. Stampin' Up! is working really hard to make sure they have enough on hand to fill the demand. Right now certain color families are available to demonstrators on a demonstrator pre-order, but our customers will have to wait a few more weeks before you can purchase them.

Now, be sure to hop on over to see what Erica Cerwin and the rest of the design team have created.

Gettin' a Little Artsy

Every once in a while I just like to sit down at my stamping table and just see what flows. That's what happened with today's card. Just pure stamping fun!

It all started with the Regarding Dahlias stamp set (one of all-time favorite sets). I stamped once in the lower left corner with Memento ink, then I masked it off with a post-it note cut to the same size and stamped the other two flowers. Next I brought out my new Rich Razzleberry Blendabilities marker assortment (available soon) and colored the flowers. I used the Color Lifter to lighten some of the petals for a more realistic look. I am still experimenting with these new alcohol-based markers, so it is really fun to try different things to see how they turn out.

I used a sponge dauber to ink the background with Marina Mist and then with Soft Suede ink. Then I used the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set to add some splatters. I went a little over-board and got the background a little too dark, so I added a banner stamped with a sentiment from the Perfect Pennants set. I am a big fan of stamping artist, Jill Foster, and sometimes I just like to channel my "inner Jill" by sponging and distressing to my hearts content. She uses a lot of products that I don't have, so I do my best to achieve a similar look but still stay true to Stampin' Up! The good news is that all of the products I used on today's card will be available in the new annual catalog.

Artisan Wednesday WOW - Digital MDS Images with Blendabilities

Every once in a while I like to experiment with different styles and techniques. I realize that today's project isn't a typical card that you would see me create, but now that Stampin' Up! has our own line of alcohol markers called Blendabilities (available soon), it opens up a whole new world of stamping possibilities.

For this card I started by pulling the owl image from Baby We've Grown Digital Stamp set, enlarging it, editing out the momma owl, adding the sentiment, and then printing it out on Whisper White cardstock on my home printer. Stampin' Up! recommends that you use a laser printer to print your digital images for coloring them with Blendabilities, but I tried it with my ink jet printer and it worked fine. I suggest that you do a trial run to see if your ink is colorfast. (I have a HP Photosmart C5180 All-in-One ink jet printer.)

Until now, I used three colors from the same set and blended them to color my flowers. However, there are only two darker browns in the Skin Tone Assortment, so I used those to color the owl bodies. Since I was working with two browns, I decided to work with the lightest and darkest markers from the Old Olive Assortment as well.

Also, the Smoky Slate Assortment hasn't been released to demos yet, so I had to get creative and find a way to do some shading. I opted to sponge Early Espresso ink around the images and then I added the Linen Thread to give the illusion that they were standing on the ground. Besides, you know I can't hardly resist adding it to just about everything I make, LOL!

For the heart, I blended two colors of the Cherry Cobbler Assortment on a scrap piece of paper and then punched it out with the tiny heart on the Owl Builder Punch.  I also added some hand-stitching around the edge of the card to give things a little more interest, but you can definitely leave that step off if you want.

I feel like the supplies for my projects this month are all over the place...some from the new catalog and some retiring product from the old. I apologize for that, but I am fairly limited right now. Thankfully, the only thing on this card that is retiring is the Old Olive Polka Dot Parade dsp. You can try to order some before it is gone or you can easily substitute something else.

Now, be sure to hop on over to see what Erica Cerwin and the rest of the design team have created.

Artisan Wednesday WOW - Blendabilities Markers

A few weeks ago I told you about the new line of Stampin' Up! alcohol markers called Blendabilities. I am super excited about these new markers. I have always loved to color and these new markers make it so much fun. They aren't available to our customers just yet, but they are coming soon. We received several colors in our May box and I have been having a blast working with them. They do take a little bit of practice, but I can almost guarantee you that you will fall in love with them right out of the box. You can use them in so many different ways which makes them even more of a great value. One of the best things about alcohol markers is that they don't cause your paper to "pill" when you color. Also, our markers are designed specifically to be used with our Whisper White cardstock. You do need to make sure that you use a Memento stamp pad and make sure the image is completely dry before colors.

For this project I used a pocket card from the new Everyday Adventure Project Life Card Collection. Several of the cards in the kit make great backgrounds for greeting cards. They will be available to purchase on June 2, 2014. I trimmed off 3/4" from the top end of the card so it would layer perfectly on a standard A2 card base. Be sure to save that little strip that you cut off. I used mine on the inside to help coordinate the finished look of the card. I also love that this particular design has the perfect place for a greeting from the Lots of Thanks stamp set.

I stamped different flowers from the Peaceful Petals and Secret Garden stamp sets and colored them with the Blendabilities. For some of the flowers I stamped and colored them 2-3 times, cut them out and then put the layers together with Dimensionals. This is a great technique for adding depth and dimension.

One of the great things you can do with these markers is color our clear Rhinestones. I colored several different sizes and added them to the front for some added interest. I also tied on some Linen Thread and a button to give this card an extra touch of texture. Here's one more look at the card.

Now, be sure to hop on over to see what Erica Cerwin and the rest of the design team have created.