Skull and Cross Buns - Create and Craft Launch

Hi guys

Hopefully you saw my post earlier in the week with the news that Skull and Cross Buns will be launching on Create and Craft TV here in the UK on Sunday 30 September....tomorrow!

Myself and the DT are so excited for Emily who has worked so hard for this opportunity, and we've been beavering away behind the scenes making lots of samples for her.

I have previously shared some samples using the stencil collection, here and here, and today I'm sharing samples using a couple of the stamps/stencil/embellishment bundles.

First up are two examples using the Tropical Party bundle, which includes the Tropical Party stamp set, leaf stencil and jumbo embellishment set...

On some watercolour cardstock I laid down the leaf stencil and sprinkled through it with some green and brown Brushos.  I then spritzed with water and removed the stencil and left the panel to dry before die cutting with a stitched rectangle die.  On a strip of vellum I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment and heat embossed in copper.  This was then wrapped around the leaf panel and secured on the reverse, before adhering the panel flat to a coloured card base.  To finish I adhered the jumbo leaf embellishment from the set.

Materials used:

• Stamps/Stencil/Embellishment: Skull and Cross Buns - Tropical Party Collection
• Ink: Brusho - Leaf Green, Emerald Green, Dark Brown; VersaMark
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Wonky Stitched Rectangles
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Copper
• Cardstock and vellum from stash

Challenge entries:

Alphabet Challenge - 'N' for Nature

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Monochrome

I used the same Tropical Party collection for this next card...

I die cut a panel of cardstock with a stitched rectangle die and also cut a circular aperture.  The sentiment and leaf were then stamped on the panel.  I marked on the cardbase where the aperture would be before blending selected leaves from the stencil overlapped in different shades of green.  The panel was then adhered to the base using fun foam, before adding a die cut branch from brown cardstock and adhering the jumbo red parrot embellishment from the collection.

Materials used:

• Stamps/Stencil/Embellishment: Skull and Cross Buns - Tropical Party Collection
• Ink: Versa Color - Cardinal, Sage, Olive; Distress Ink - Pine Needles, Mowed Lawn, Peele Paint, Bundled Sage
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Hero Arts - Circle Infinity Dies; Lawn Fawn - Winter Sparrows (branch)
• Cardstock from stash

And my final sample uses the I Believe in Unicorns bundle which includes the I Believe in Unicorns stamp set, rainbow stencil and jumbo embellishment set...

I inked through the stencil using Distress Inks in rainbow colours, shifting the stencil to cover the whole panel, before die cutting with a stitched rectangle die.  I also die cut a couple more panels using some cloud dies.  I adhered the rainbow panel flat to the card base and the first cloud panel flat over the rainbow panel.  On the final corner cloud panel I heat embossed the sentiment in silver and stamped the sleeping eyes in black.  This was then adhered on 3D foam before also adhering the jumbo purple unicorn embellishment from the collection.

Materials used:

• Stamps/Stencil/Embellishment: Skull and Cross Buns - I Believe in Unicorns Collection
• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin, Squeezed Lemonade; VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black 
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Lawn Fawn - Puffy Cloud Borders

All of the embellishments are acrylic so I used Glossy Accents to adhere these to my projects, not only is it great for accents, it's works really well as a strong adhesive too!


Thanks so much for popping by today.  If you can tune in to Create and Craft tomorrow at 10am I know Emily would be so happy to have the support.  In the meantime, to see more great samples from the rest of the Design Team you can visit the Skull and Cross Buns Rubber Stamps Scrumptious Group on Facebook.

Bye for now :)

Less is More Challenge #381 - Lucky Dip Week

Hi guys

After having a little break and sitting out of the last challenge, I'm back today to announce the next challenge at Less is More, which is starting right now.

As an extra Saturday has fallen in September, today we have a Lucky Dip challenge for you.  For this one we've decided to give you a Designer's card to CASE.

And the designer we have joining us is the fabulous Rebecca of Mellymoo Papercrafting.  Rebecca is an Independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator and is kindly sponsoring this Lucky Dip challenge and offering a prize too :)

So let's get to it, here's Rebecca's lovely clean and simple card for you to draw inspiration from...

We also have JoJo, an earlier winner joining us as a Guest Designer this week so please do pop over and say hi, and see how she interpreted Rebecca's gorgeous card.

Now onto my card.  I loved the rich berry tone with the gold and the first thing it reminded me of was Christmas so that's the direction I took (and it also means I'll have a Christmas card in the bag...something I've still not started to even think about yet!)

I stamped the holly in VersaMark ink and heat embossed in gold, before die cutting with its co-ordinating die and adhering flat to the card, and off the edge which was then trimmed.  Afterwards I realised I could have stamped this directly on the card, but the way I did it also meant I avoided any warping of the card base!  Next I stamped the outline poinsettia image with VersaMark and embossed in clear onto some dark red cardstock, this was also then die cut with the co-ordinating die.  I popped the flower up on 3D foam squares.  Then, as a nod to the gold sequins Rebecca used, I used gold Stickles in the centre of my bloom.  I finished with a simple sentiment stamped in a co-ordinating red ink.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Chirstmas Poinsettia (holly), Pretty Poinsettia II (flower); Uniko - Pure Florals Poinsettia (sentiment)
• Ink: VersaMark; Altenew - Ruby Red
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich, Clear Gloss
• Accents: Stickles - Gold

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #311 - Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers - September Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Happy Little Stampers - September Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes

Don't forget, there's two weeks to play along with this challenge, and it will be great to see how you are inspired by the elements of Rebecca's card.

Hope to see you in the gallery! :)

Skull and Cross Buns Launching on Create and Craft!

Hi there

Apologies for being so quiet with posts lately, work has been crazily busy and unfortunately, crafting and blogging has had to take a back seat.

But today I'm super happy to announce (if you follow me on Facebook and Instagram you may have already seen my posts yesterday) that Skull and Cross Buns will be launching on Create and Craft here in the UK at 10am on Sunday 30 September!  The lovely Emily has been working so hard for a long time to make this a reality for her great little company, and myself and the rest of the Design Team have been busy behind the scenes making samples for the launch.

You can find the Create and Craft article here.

You can tune in via Freeview 23, Sky channel 683, Virgin 748, Freesat 813, Apple TV and Amazon Fire plus watch live and 7 day catch up on www.createandcraft.com/gb/

Emily has put together some exclusive sets including stamp set, stencil and embellishment bundles, as well as a stencil bundle.

I shared some cards recently using some of the stencils, here, and I have a couple more to share below.

First up, I've once again been playing with the Large Mermaid Scales stencil...

On a panel of white cardstock I made a mask using a circle die and placed it over the edge of the panel.  I then blended within the circle with Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink before laying the scales stencil over the top and blending with three more shades.  After removing the mask I used a mermaid stencil and inked through this using black ink.  The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed onto a vellum strip which was wrapped around the panel and secured on the reverse, before it was popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Die: Hero Arts - Circle Infinity dies (used to create the mask)
• Stencils: Skull and Cross Buns - Mermaid Scales; Funky Fossil - Mermaids
• Ink: Distress Ink - Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch, Black Soot, VersaMark
• Stamp: Skull and Cross Buns - Quirky Sentiments
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Vellum from stash

Challenge entries

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #311 - Anything Goes

Always Fun Challenges - Challenge #77 - Anything Goes

Allsorts - Challenge #486 - Water or the Colour Blue

AAA Cards - CAS Game #124 - Imagine

My second card uses the Decreasing Circles stencil, but masked off to create a different effect...

I began by using a circle of scrap cardstock as a mask and position this with temporary adhesive towards the top left of the card.  I then used one row of circles from the stencil, masked with post-it notes, and blended Distress Inks through to create the gradient of colour, working my way around the circle.  I wanted to create the idea of sun rays from a central point, it's not perfect but not bad as I was just eyeballing it as I worked my way around.  I then removed the masked and stamped the sentiment and image in black, these from the Skull and Cross Buns Tropical Party stamp set.  I decided to keep this one as a simple one layer card.

Materials used:

• Die: Hero Arts - Circle Infinity dies (used to create the mask)
• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Decreasing Circles
• Ink: Distress Ink - Squeezed Lemonade, Wild Honey, Carved Pumpkin; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Tropical Party

Challenge entries:

Use Your Stuff - Challenge #331 - Spots and Dots

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'll be sharing a few more makes using the upcoming bundles exclusive to Skull and Cross Buns and Create and Craft over the next few days, ahead of the launch on Sunday.

Creating with Stencils by Skull and Cross Buns

Hi guys

At the weekend I had a little creative session playing with some of the large stencils available at Skull and Cross Buns, you can find the whole range, here.

First up is the Mermaid Scales Large Stencil.  I wanted to emulate the shape of a mermaid without actually using a mermaid image and wanted to keep my card clean and simple too...

I started by using a landscape die to cut some curved edges from some scrap card which I used to mask off the shape of a mermaid tail.  I then blended with three shades of Distress Oxide ink.  Once happy with the blend I placed the scales stencil over the top and blended through with silver pigment ink.  The silver shimmer can be seen clearer in the next photo...

To finish, I removed the masks, shaped the sentiment to follow the curve of the tail and stamped in black.

Materials used:

• Die: MFT - Snow Drifts
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Wilted Violent, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers; Versa Color - Silver; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Mermaid Scales Large Stencil
• Stamp: Skull and Cross Buns - Quirky Sentiments

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge

For my next card I used the Brick Pattern Large Stencil.  I wanted to create some light and shade, a 3D effect, with the bricks so I used the shifted stencilling technique and I'm so pleased with the result...

I started with some sandy coloured textured cardstock and began by stencilling with a neutral shade of Distress Ink.  I then blended through the stencil with white pigment ink but before doing do I shifted the stencil very slightly up and over to the left.  This left the shadow of the darker ink in the lower right corner of each brick.  I stamped some foliage silhouettes in the bottom corner and added some shadow to these also by shifting the cardstock very slightly in my MISTI and using second generation stamping to create the shadow effect.

To finish, I stamped the sentiment in black and heat embossed the heart in gold to add an accent.  The panel was then trimmed down and adhered flat to a white card base.

Materials used:

• Coloured Cardstock: Bazzill Basics - from an assorted pack
• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Brick Pattern Large Stencil
• Ink: Distress Ink - Pumice Stone; Hero Arts - Unicorn; Versa Color - Charcoal; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Quirky Sentiments and Brush Hearts; Clearly Besotted - Simple Silhouettes
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich

Challenge entries:

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Keeping it Neutral

Alphabet Challenge - L is for Leaves

And for my final card I inked up the Speech Bubbles Large Stencil.  I kept this one pretty simple with some graduated blending...

I inked through three different speech bubbles from the stencil using Distress Inks, concentrating the colour on one side to add some dimension.  The sentiments were simply stamped in black and the cluster of images die cut to create a central panel which was then popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Speech Bubbles Large Stencil
• Ink: Distress Ink - Mermaid Lagoon, Festive Berries, Twisted Citron; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Quirky Sentiments
• Die: MFT - Inside and Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangles

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stamp It On

Just Us Girls - Challenge #456 - Celebrate

STAMPlorations - Summer Theme & Sketch Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for visiting today.  And if you have a few minutes free, please do pop over to the Skull and Cross Buns website for a browse :)

Muse Challenge #281 - Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful

Hi guys

The designer rota is back with me for this week's Muse challenge. 

For this card I've used a gorgeous stencil by Sarah Gray of Funky Fossil Designs, you can find her fabulous collection of stencils over at her Folksy Shop, here.  I've loved this one for ages so had a little shop the other day, and so glad I did. 

This design is also quite different to most things I have in my stash and I really enjoyed creating something different.

Here it is...

On a panel of white cardstock I began by blending through the stencil with purple, blue and black Distress Inks.  I then made a big faux pas! I wanted to add some sparkle so spritzed some Cosmic Shimmer Mist before removing the stencil.  I completely forgot that Distress Inks would react with this, hence some bleeding of the ink in her hair.  I don't think it looks too bad so decided to go with it anyway :)

You can see the shimmer much better in the photo below...

All that was left was to create the sentiment, half of which I heat embossed in silver, then popped the panel up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil Designs - Elegant Lady
• Ink: Distress Ink - Chipped Sapphire, Wilted Violet, Black Soot; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Stamps: Uniko - All Occasions Sentiments #6
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Mist - Pearl Mist

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge

Thanks so much for visiting today, and I hope you'll find some inspiration from my card and play along at Muse this week :)

Happy Little Stampers September 2018 CAS Challenge

Good evening

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend.

Can you believe it's the beginning of yet another month so that means it's time for the new challenges over at Happy Little Stampers!  I'm here to announce the new CAS challenge so I'll get straight to it.

Here's this month's cue word...

Our winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE OUR RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

Ok, onto my Design Team card, and I've chosen the Dandelion Wishes stamp set to use here, dandelions are certainly wild in my garden!

I started with a die cut rectangle for my top panel and also die cut a circle aperture.  I laid this onto my card base and marked in pencil where the aperture would be so I knew where to ink blend.  Before starting the blending I cut a small circle to use as a mask.  I then blended a night sky using Distress Inks and inked up the 'ground' by using a post-it note and swiping downwards using a black ink pad.  I remove the circle mask and then stamped the single dandelion stem.  To finish, I stamped the sentiment onto the top panel and popped it up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Hero Arts - Circle Infinity Dies
• Ink: Distress Ink - Salty Ocean, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Dandelion Wishes

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #307 - Make your Mark (ink sponging)

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge
AAA Cards - CAS Game #123 - Sketch
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

There are lots of ways to use this cue word, and don't forget, the challenge will run for the whole month so there's plenty of time to play along and link up.

Less is More Challenge #379

Good morning

Apologies once again that it's been two weeks since my last post.  But, I can happily say this is the first of a few shares over the next few days.

Of course, as it's 8am on a Saturday I'm here to announce the new challenge over at Less is More and today we have a Colour challenge for you.  We would like to see...

And we have a great new sponsor for September...CAS-ual Fridays Stamps!

At CAS-ual Fridays Stamps, we've been creating clever, stylish and sorta sassy designs in beautiful Colorado since 2012. All the stamp and die sets you'll find here were personally dreamed up and designed by owner Michele Gross - just a little glimpse of the fun stuff happening in her head! With new designs released throughout the year, and regular jaw-dropping inspiration from our amazing design team, you'll want to visit often so you don't miss a thing.

Let us inspire you! Follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Blog

So, please do play along in our September challenges for a chance to win this great prize!  And they are also offering a great 20% discount with the code 'lessismore'!!

Ok, just the one card to share with you this week, and I had to choose one of my favourite ink colours for my plus one...Peacock Feathers!

I started with a panel of white cardstock and stamped the large rose image off the edge.  As this is such a beautifully detailed stamp I chose to use colour in my background instead.  So, next came the time consuming part, cutting out masks to cover my rose and leaves!  It was worth it though because I love the final result.  I placed a stencil over the masks and faded out the ink blending from the corner upwards.  I die cut the panel using a stitched rectangle and then stamped the sentiment flag before popping the panel up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Roses are Red; Clearly Besotted - Flag It
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Peacock Feathers
• Stencil: MFT - Fishnet
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #307 - Make Your Mark

AAA Cards - CAS Game #122 - Use a Stencil

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Please do pop over to the main Less is More challenge blog, here, where you'll find lots more inspiration from my fellow teamies.  And don't forget, the challenge runs for two weeks so plenty of time to play along :)