Creative Blog Hop with Indescribable Gift

Apologies for my lack of recent posts, last week was a little manic!!  I should have (slightly!) more time this week so hope to remedy the lack of posts, firstly with this one.

I was nominated by Tracy Elsom in Canada to be part of the Creative Blog Hop.  I came across Tracy’s work through Pinterest, I think, and I cased a card that I fell in love with last Autumn.  We have been in contact a little bit recently and it turns out that Tracy used to live in the town I had my first job in – small world, eh?!

This blog hop gets papercrafters together from all over the world sharing our projects.  We also answer a few questions about how we work and what we are working on, just so you get to know us a little bit better. These come at the end of the post after our shares…

For my blog hop entry, I thought I would show you one stamp set in three different ways.  I’ve fallen in love with Indescribable Gift from Stampin’ Up.  I am a demonstrator for Stampin’ Up so about 99.9% of the papercrafting products I use are from SU.  I love the variety and most of all the quality of our products, so rarely shop anywhere else.

Here is my first card.  I’ve used the Whitewash Technique.

Firstly I’ve heat embossed the image with White embossing powder on Crumb cake cardstock.  Then the white wash technique involves taking an aqua painter and some white craft ink and painting the blank space of the image with this watered-down white ink.  Once dry, and again using your aqua painter, paint the flower, branch and leaves in your chosen colour.  I’ve used Strawberry Slush, Blushing Bride, Wild Wasabi and Crumb Cake.  The card is finished off with some White Baker’s Twine and mounted on a Blushing Bride base.

Onto my next card which has a totally different feel.  This time, I’ve used the Bleaching Technique

I’ve firstly heat embossed my image with clear embossing powder and painted a diluted solution of bleach directly onto the image again using my aqua painter.  The fascinating thing about this technique is it depends entirely on your choice of cardstock as to what colour the image will end up.  I used Night of Navy here and it took on a cream/beige colour that I felt paired really well with our gold foil sheets to give a rich, dramatic look for my Easter card.  This was my very first attempt at this technique (so there are a few little imperfections) but I am keen to give it another try especially with some other coloured cardstock.

Finally, another totally different look by embossing with white onto our vellum.

I have to admit I CASED this card from a very talented Australian demo, Teneale Williams. She is one of the members of Stampin’ Up’s Global Artisan Design Team and she made a very similar card a few weeks ago for the Artisan Blog Hop. Unlike Teneale’s card, I used a base of Wild Wasabi. I don’t really like using our Whisper White for a card base – I just prefer a pop of colour underneath… I’ve then coloured the image with our Stampin’ Write markers, using Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Wild Wasabi and Sahara Sand. I cut out a second floral image and coloured it the same way. This allowed me to hide my adhesive under the main image. I’ve also hidden some glue dots under the pearls and just for safe measure, I’ve tied the image down with some White Baker’s Twine. Luckily, our vellum is of a sufficient weight that all these extra measures are probably not necessary, but I added them for security and a bit of visual interest too!

These three cards were the cards my ladies made in this week’s Technique Tuesday class.  I’m taking April off so there will be no classes next month, but classes for May will be up on my class calendar this week and I look forward to you joining us.

So onto the next section where you find out a little bit more about me…

1. What are you working on right now?

I’m having a little Sale-a-bration party this Friday night  – my Final Fling of Sale-a-bration – so I’m coming up with ideas for my make and takes and also some little pillow gifts for my attendees. No doubt, I will post these after the event so keep your eyes peeled.  I’m also taking part in a Stampin’ Creative Blog Hop with some other UK Stampin’ Up demonstrators at the end of this month where our theme is ‘Masking’ so am hoping to play about with some idea ideas this week and hopefully finalise my cards.

2. How does your work differ from others in your genre?

I’m not sure if it does. I’m not really sure if I have a style as such. I think I go for the more clean and simple look, though I like layers, but maybe others view it differently.  Perhaps that’s a question that you, the blog reader are more equipped to answer.  I know what I like but I’m not sure if what I like follows a particular theme or rule…??  Does it? What do you think?

3. Why do you create what you do?

I guess for me, it’s all about having a little time and space for me.  I have 3 small children and when they are all safe in bed and fast asleep, I do like having a little time for me.  I became a demonstrator, firstly for the demonstrator discount, but then really liked sharing my craft with other people.  Some were already papercrafters, some were new to it but everyone has fallen in love with it.  Joining Stampin’ Up two years ago this May, was one of my better decisions – I’ve loved every minute of my creative journey.  I’ve been inspired by people from all around the world and have made so many new friends both virtually around the world and closer to home in my own community – all from a shared love of papercrafting!  Who knew what one little stamp would lead to?!

4. How does your creative process work?

Oh, I’m not sure I have a process?! Of course, I Google and use Pinterest for ideas and am probably influenced by what I see there.  I do CASE ideas (Copy and Share Everything) – this is how I initially made contact with Tracy – sometimes I change them up a bit to better suit my ‘style’ or my supplies.  Or sometimes it just evolves mid-way through a project.  I’ve recently started doing some challenges and find these are really helping me think outside the box and CASE less.

So that’s about it, next week do please have a look at the blogs of Caroline Thomas and Louise Sims. you can find Caroline’s blog here.  Caroline won a class with me in a charity auction last year, came along, fell in love with the products and joined Stampin’ Up as a demonstrator the very same night!  We’ve become firm friends and have attended quite a few Stampin’ Up events together – in fact we’re off to our Regional event together in a few weeks like Thelma and Louise!  The very real Louise Sims is part of my wider Stampin’ Up team, the Stampin’ Stars and is the founder of our Stampin’ Creative Blog Hop.  We’ve also become friends through the power of the internet but have met up at SU events and I’m looking forward to catching up again with her in a few weeks. You can find her blog here.

I love the style of both these ladies and am sure you will enjoy visiting them next Monday.

Don’t forget Sale-a-bration is still ongoing and any purchase of £45 will earn you a free product from our SAB brochure. You can read more about this promotion here.

I also hope you enjoyed visiting my blog today and that I’ve given you some ideas and inspiration for your own cardmaking,  do leave a comment as I’d love to hear from you and where you’re from.

Until next time, happy crafting,

Eimear