Social Stamping - Animals

A little late to the Social Stamping Blog Hops being hosted by the lovely Kelly Kent, but managed to get there eventually. Kelly was inspired to get a group of stamping friends together to craft and share their ideas each week as a welcome distraction to the worry and uncertainty happening around the world at this time. This was also a way to help fill the void when classes couldn't be held and social distancing was common place. 

If you'd like to check out the other blog hops and the themes telling a different part of the Covid story each week click on Kelly's name above.

This week's theme is 'Animals'. That's right up my alley with 2 dogs and 2 cats residing with us. Our pets, like many others, have enjoyed the extra human company and adjusted easily to seeing us - especially the dogs. The downside is they get a little more stressed when they need to be left but I don't think we have that problem on our own.

Today I've gone with the retiring Animal Outing stamp set and Animal Friends dies. This set always reminds me of my Australian Stampng friends, so I felt it fitting to dust them off for today's hop.

Kenny couldn't help checking out what I was up to when I headed outdoors for the photo.

My base card is thick Very Vanilla cardstock. The top layer is Old Olive embossed with the Layered Leaves 3D Embossing folder. I spritzed the card first and it really holds the texture well, I've wrapped linen thread around the top and adhered this to a mat of Smokey Slate. 

The greeting is from Stitched All Round and I'll be sorry to see it leave.It's been inked with the Black Memento stamp pad onto Very Vanilla cardstock and I've used a Painted Labels die for the shape. The images are stamped with Black Stazon onto watercolour paper and coloured by swiping an ink pad or marker onto a non porous surface and picking it up with an aqua painter. 

I've worked out where I wanted everything to sit and stuck them all down with multi purpose liquid glue, tying a bow around the linen thread to finish.

Thanks for stopping by, next up we have Vicki: #keepstamping everyone :)

#CTC242 CASE Woven Threads DSP

We can choose all or any of the colours of the Woven Threads DSP: Pretty Peacock, Purple Posy, Rococo Rose, Sahara Sand, Seaside Spray, Terracotta Tile and Whisper White:

I've chosen to use them to add colour to my image. They are all there, but some a little harder to find than others. I've used a base of Purple Posy. My mat of Sahara Sand has been embossed with the Layered Leaves 3D folder and has a piece of linen thread wrapped around. 

Bit of a story with my image, initially I stamped the milk can from Country Home in Terracotta Tile, masked it and stamped the flora image with Pretty Peacock, coloured it in and was going to sponge around it - however, I wasn't happy with my sponging effort. Fast forward and the next effort saw me sponging the background first, and adding my (now) fussy cut image - not something I'd recommend with this image but I am a lot happier. I've torn the top of the white mat on an angle, sponging the edges as well. A linen bow to finish with a swipe of Wink of Stella on the arrangement.

Thanks for stopping by. Please continue over to Monique's lovely project:

#CTC224 - Favourite Occasions Big Shot Project

Come on guys - play along! Your favourite Big Shot project from anywhere in the Occasions catalogue - make your project, then add to our Facebook page using the link over on the right:

This Case usually has me going back and forth through the catalogue, but  you know it's going to be the Butterfly Beauty Thinlits for me! My inspiration being the card on the bottom right of page 13 (want to know a secret? these little cuties will appear in the new catalogue!! - be warned as they won't be a bundle, see your demonstrator now if you want to save some $$)...

As you may have noticed, it's a while since I've shown any scrapbooking. A lot of messy fun was had with this layout.  I started with a base of Petal Pink (12" x 12") from the Floral Romance cardstock pack and attached a sheet of Whisper White which was trimmed to 10 1/2" square.

For my top layer, I used a sheet of Watercolour Paper (sorry not SU as I needed a bigger piece). Tip of the day - after diecutting your butterflies, keep the discard or negative, in this case I've used two and held them in placed with a little washi on the watercolour paper. I've used Berry Bliss ink and water to colour inside the negative, where the mix was a little watery, it ran under the edges a bit, but it didn't matter. Some parts were more ink intense than others which also didn't matter. After this had dried a bit, I added a mix of Granny Apple Green and water - using a pipette and a water brush I've covered most of the remainder of the blank paper. Try not to let it the colours mix too much as it has a tendency to turn a muddy colour. Where it needs it, spritz with water to dilute.   This is what I ended up with:

Yeah Nah??  Ok, I agree - it is not too pretty, but read on. After it was dry I used the large bubbles image from Beauty Abounds with Granny Apple Green to add a little more depth to the background. I've trimmed that sheet to approx 9 `/1" square. Using Whisper White, I cut two top layer butterflies (the one with more detail), and 1 of the 2nd layer butterflies (more solid).  I've placed the detailed diecuts over the Berry Bliss areas and just used the multipurpose liquid glue to hold in place. The more solid image was trimmed to separate the butterflies, then Berry Bliss ink was added randomly then spritzed and left to dry. My photo was matted with Basic Black to replicate the CASE and is in lieu of the greeting. I used a Memories and More journalling card for my record keeping and tucked it under the photo then popped the extra butterflies in place when they were dry.

This is what I call the top layer of butterflies:

A closer angle:

I've just returned from attending the Onstage Live event in Auckland which saw many of the team getting to meet or reconnect, fabulous to be making memories, although we did miss those who were unable to make it - you were definitely in our thoughts!! Now we are heading over to see what Liz has created for us: