Stamping Shanni: January 2018

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Totally Techniques - Eclipse Technique

Welcome back to our first blog hop of 2018 - the Totally Techniques Design team have some amazing projects planned for you this year. If you want to see us feature a technique of your choice, simply comment and tell me what it is. . .

This month we are doing the very popular Eclipse Technique!

I hope you enjoyed Nadine's incredible project, she is just soooo talented. It's always hard to follow in her footsteps. Because there are a number of ways to incorporate the eclipse technique I have done three projects this month:

The first is a square card, incorporating the Sale-a-Bration set, Amazing You and an eclipse using the Layering Oval Framelits.

The base card is thick Whisper White, Mounted with a square of Pool Party card stock and the top stamping layer is a square of standard Whisper White card. I also "framed the card" with a further square of Pool Party card stock at the rear.

The flower stamp from Amazing You is stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and coloured using Stampin' Blends - I got inspiration for the colour scheme from the Whole Lot of Lovely Designer Series Papers. The Stampin' Blends are - Dark and Light Pumpkin Pie, Dark and Light Daffodil Delight and light Pool Party. I used the Colour Lifter a fair bit to blend the colours.

The flowers on the left were stamped directly onto the card whilst the flower on the bottom right has been stamped on a scrap of Whisper White card and fussy cut. I mounted it over the oval eclipse feature. I also stamped extra leaves and arranged them around the bottom of the left flower and above and below the right flower.

The ovals cut into the card are the largest from the Layering Ovals Framelits and the largest oval from the Stitched Shape Framelits, I have mounted the frame with dimensionals cut into threes. The amazing sentiment is from the Sale-a-Bration Celebrate You Thinlits, cut in Pumpkin Pie. The sentiments "you are simply" are stamps in the Amazing You set.

I like the shape eclipse because it's really subtle and can be used on cards for any occasions.

The next card I created used the word "celebrate" from the Celebrate You thinlits and the Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Papers:

This project highlights using designer series paper in the eclipse technique and you will see that I have dimensionalised the negative when the opposite has been popular in projects across Pinterest and the internet.

I call this pattern the raining confetti from the Sweet Soiree Specialty DSP. I have mounted it on a rectangle of Silver Foil Paper and the base card is thick Whisper White card stock. The only stamping is literally the "you" from the Amazing You stamp set which is just so versatile. I have stamped it in Smokey Slate ink. I haven't decided if this will be a birthday card or a congratulatory card.

I glued the "celebrate" sentiment directly to the Silver Foil and then stuck dimensionals all over the back of the DSP and the larger negative cut outs from the sentiment.

I added the thin strip of Silver Glimmer Paper as an afterthought as I hoped it would make the card pop a little more. It's a very plain and simple card but I think that the recipient will think it's fabulous!

My final project incorporates what we are used to seeing from the incredible card makers of the world - its an eclipse of the framelit sentiment:

The "you" has been eclipsed. The card base is thick Whisper White, mounted with a rectangle of Calypso Coral and then mounted with Whisper White card. I have stamped the rose outline from the Cake Soiree stamp set in Marina Mist ink and the sentiment "celebrate" from Amazing You in Calypso Coral directly onto the card stock.

I wanted the flowers to look like a bouquet so I cut out the coloured image from the Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper and mounted it directly onto the card stock, I positioned it the way that I did because of the print of the flowers and wanted it to lead naturally into the sentiment.

I love the leaves framelit from the Sweet Cake Framelit set that matches the Sweet Soiree DSP and Cake Soiree stamp set. I cut several of them in Old Olive and also some in Silver Glimmer Paper for some bling and nestled these under the DSP image. I wanted to keep the floral feature flat so that the dimensionalised words popped further.

I love how the Calypso Coral back mount peeps through around the sentiment "you" from the Celebrate You Framelits. Again I glued the centre of the "o" to the background and used dimensionals to pop the word.

I hope you can see how well it all marries in!

So - did you get some inspiration from this hop? I hope so, the next Design Team member is Annette who makes the most wonderful projects! I know you are going to be so excited to see her card this month!

Until next month, stay crafty!
Shanni xx

Order of Blog Hop for January

Nadine Weiner Germany

Shannean Moncrieff Australia - that's me!

Annette Elias Netherlands

Zoe Tant United Kingdom

Kelly Acheson United States

Marine Wiplier France

Satomi Wellard Japan

Lynsay Mahon Canada

Barbara Meyer Austria

Paula Dobson New Zealand

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Thinking Outside the Box - Explosion Boxes

Welcome back to another Thinking Outside the Box Design Team blog hop. Happy January! I hope that you have been finding time to craft. I am loving so many suites in the Occasions Mini that it's hard to do real things around the home. . . This month we are making Explosions Boxes!

It may be that you have joined us from one of the other design team members, perhaps even, Barb Stewart's amazing blog. I love the different takes and designs we have on the same project.

This is my creation this month:

I thought that most people would lean towards a cube project because I enjoy making them so I decided to change it up just a little bit. . .

These are the tools and materials I have used:

Perennial Birthday Stamp Set

Amazing You Stamp Set

Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper

Old Olive Card Stock

Marina Mist Card Stock

Daffodil Delight Card Stock

Whisper White Card Stock

Silver Glimmer Paper

Smokey Slate Ink Pad

Old Olive Ink Pad

Daffodil Delight Ink Pad

Aqua Painter

Layering Circles Framelits

Celebrate You Thinlits

Rhinestone Jewels

I started with a circle cut out to build a hexagon shape that would form the centre of my explosion box. I found the centre of the circle then divided it into 6 even segments using a rule.protractor and pencil.

This is roughly how it looked before I trimmed it down. Each side on the hexagon is 111/16" or 4.3cm.

I used the hexagon as the centre of the design and measured the sides of the box from the base outward. I was mindful that I needed to keep the box at a size that could be cut from an A4 piece of card.

This is the template for the base of the explosion box. Every other part fits inside this shape. The sides coming off the central hexagon are 111/16" x 21/2" or 4.3cm x 6.4cm. It's best to design a box with even numbered sides so that you can draw through the angles of the hexagons to match up the sides.

Keep the hexagon template, I actually stamped on this and made it the feature on the top of the explosion box.

See how the hexagon forms the centre of the design?

This is the template for the middle layer of the of the explosion box. The hexagon is the same size. The sides are 111/16"x 23/16" or 4.3cm x 5.5cm. You can make these any size in reality provided they are slightly smaller than the base sides.

I used Marina Mist Card stock for the middle layer. The hexagon again gives you context.

This is the centre layer of the explosion box. Again the hexagon is the same size and the sides are slightly shorter. the side measurements are each 111/16" x 2" or 4.3cm x 5cm. I wanted to have a lotus effect in the centre of the explosion box.

The centre of the explosion box is cut from Daffodil Delight. I chose these three colours to match the paper that I selected from the Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper. I wanted the Old Olive with embossed silver lines as the feature paper and the other two colours appear on its reverse.

This is the lid and I made it using a slightly larger hexagon as my central feature. The sides in this instance are designed to be folded inwards the measurements are 13/4" x 2" or 4.5cm x 5.5cm. You will see that I have also incorporated tabs for adhering the lid together, the dimensions for these three sides are slightly wider to accommodate the tabs - 21/2" x 2" or 6.5cm x 5.5cm.

I suggest folding the side-tabs in before folding each of the sides of the lid towards the centre.

The lid virtually makes itself.

To ensure that you are on track compare how the box folds together the folds on the side tabs should all marry up and the lip of the lid is formed. I adhered my lid with Tear and Tape and Glue Dots.

Cutting out the base of the explosion box - this is what it looks like.

The middle layer of the explosion box.

The centre layer of the explosions box.

I suggest layering the feature card, paper and stamps before constructing the box. Once it is adhered together it will be quite awkward to stamp or glue some areas. By adhering everything together, it creates a really sturdy and substantial item.

This is the three layers positioned inside each other to give you a visual on what to expect.

I have used the Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Papers as the feature on two of the layers (the white background with the dots is the reverse of the Old Olive and Silver paper). I stamped the flower stamp from Perennial Birthday set in Daffodil Delight on the same coloured centre layer.

As mentioned above I used the hexagon template as my stamping base on the lid. I have again stamped the flower from Perennial Birthday in Smokey Slate and coloured just the leaves in Old Olive. The sentiment "celebrate" comes from the Sale-a-Bration set Amazing You and the Silver Glimmer Paper "you" comes from the Sale-a-Bration Celebrate You Thinlit Dies

I could imagine making little pockets and embellishments for the inside of an explosion box like this but I wanted to keep it simple on this occasion and allow the design to speak for itself. The Silver Glimmer Paper marries in nicely with the embossed silver feature on the DSP.

Because the inside of the box is so "busy" I wanted the outside to be clean and clear.

I lined each of the "sides" of the centre layer of the explosion box with Whisper White and stamped them in a random fashion similar to how I stamped the lid liner. I added Daffodil Delight to the centre of the small flowers with an aqua painter. The hexagon centre is 1/16" or 2mm smaller around the perimeter than the template used for the front of the card. The Rhinestone Jewels add a touch of bling!

The Marina Mist middle layer is stamped randomly with the flower stamp from Perennial Birthday in Marina Mist ink. The reverse side of this layer has the Sweet Soiree Specialty DSP layer.

One of the reasons I chose the Sweet Soiree Specialty DSP is because it is so sturdy. The paper is thicker than most DSPs and reinforces the explosion box sides beautifully. I especially wanted the bottom of the box to be strong (given its the outside which will face the most wear and tear), so it ias the Old Olive with Silver emboss feature on both sides (inside and outside the box).

I think it looks a little like an exotic lotus flower! That was my goal. . . The senitment on the inside of the box are from the Sale-a-Bration set Amazing You - the "you" and "are simply" are stamped in Smokey Slate and the "amazing" is stamped in Old Olive. I love that with this set you can create any combination of sayings.

So the box from the exterior is pretty unassuming and that's part of the joy of making hand made cards and gifts - it's only once people have opened them that the really cute and fun part begins!