Faux tiling using Crystal Effects

Apologies for not blogging for a few days - been busy!

On Saturday we hosted a WI Mixer Winter Warmer Tea Party for the new groups around Yorkshire. It was a huge success and lots of fun, but quite tiring! I ate lots of cake and drank lots of tea!

Yesterday was spent recovering and doing very litle and now I am pleased to say I have lots of work to look forward to this week.

So a quick blog update first!



This card I created with one of my new-found loves - Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects. Remember how I covered a little heart with it and threw loads of glitter on? Well this time I have just used it to create a smooth, clear gloss finish.

I got the idea from the blog of the amazingly talented Michele Kovack. You can see her design, complete with tutorial, here.

I started by stamping the beautiful Bella Toile image and colouring it in using Stampin' Write Markers. The colours are So Saffron, Wild Wasabi and Pretty In Pink. I then chopped the image up into 1" squares and covered each one in an even layer of Crystal Effects.

I left them to dry overnight and by morning they looked like little tiles!
They were then mounted on to card, to give the effect of grout, and the card was finished off with some Paper Daisies coloured in with the markers and beautiful Pearls.



It was quite a time and labour-intensive card, but well worth the effort!

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Technique: Shadow stamping with Just Believe

Here's an amazing effect I have been experimenting with recently - shadow stamping.
The Just Believe set, which all demos got FREE at the Stampin' Up! European Convention last year, is ideal for this. I have also used the wonderful Watercolour Paper for a soft effect.
First, stamp the image on to the paper in Crumb Cake and give a light mist with water. Leave to dry and while doing this stamp the image again on to the acetate sheet with the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig. Then, place the sheet over the image but not right on top of it. Line up the handle, take away the acetate and stamp the image (now coloured in with the Stampin' Write Markers) slightly out of line. Spritz again with water for an extra soft look.
This creates a wonderful subtle shadow and really makes the image stand out.
Here it is in another colour scheme.


That's it!
I'm off to bed now as I've not been sleeping too great with worrying about things, so trying to get early nights!

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More ideas for your FREE SU stamp sets

Here's another yummy card using the FREE Sweet Summer stamp set available only until the end of February in the Sale-A-Bration Stampin' Up! promotion.
This was one I did at training with mummy Julie last month, using the wonderful Brights DSP and Stampin' Write Markers to colour in.
Just a quickie today, as I must crack on with crafting and packing!

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