Honey Doo Crafts - October 2019 Release - Selection One

Hi guys

I've been busy behind the scenes recently making sample cards for the latest release at Honey Doo Crafts.  I'll be sharing lots of samples over the next week, ahead of their next showcase shows on Hochanda TV next Thursday, 24 October 2019.

The new release includes more fabulous florals that Honey Doo Crafts do so well, some autumnal themes, Christmas sets, sentiments and also some great new stencils.


Ok, first up is a card I made using new sets, Stars and Stripes and Pumpkin Corner...

I loved the design of the flowers in the Stars and Stripes set the minute I saw it and because the flower has only four petals I knew it would work well for a repeated background.  With a bit of measuring and a ruler and a pencil I set down some guidelines and then repeatedly stamped the same flower.  Once the stamping was complete I erased the pencil lines and coloured the images with ProMarkers.  To finish, I simply heat embossed the sentiment from the Pumpkin Corner set in white on a strip of vellum, wrapped this around the panel and adhered the panel to the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Stars and Stripes, Pumpkin Corner
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Vellum from stash

Challenge entries:

Always Fun Challenges - Challenge #132 - Monochrome

Sweet Stampin' - Autumn Colours/Harvest

For my next card I've used the Stars and Stripes flowers again but to create a completely different look, and the sentiment from the Retirement set...

I stamped and heat embossed the different sized flowers from the Stars and Stripes set onto vellum, coloured them on the reverse using Zig markers and then fussy cut them out.  On the card base I masked two edges and ink blended with some green ink just to ground the design.  I then layered up the flowers, arranged and adhered them to the base and popped in behind a few die cuts from the previously released Feathered Flourishes die set, also cut from vellum.  To complete the card, I used a fancy rectangular die cut, inked up the edges to match the ink blending on the base and stamped the sentiment from the Retirement set.  This was then popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Stars and Stripes, Retirement
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Cracked Pistachio; VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Coloured with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers
• Vellum from stash
• Dies: Honey Doo Crafts - Feathered Flourishes; Spellbinders Nestabilities - Reverse Wonky Rectangles

Next up I used just the leaves from the Stars and Stripes set together with the Autumn Changes sentiment...

On a strip of vellum I stamped and heat embossed the leaves from the Stars and Stripes set in white.  I die cut a panel using a stitched rectangle die, masked a vertical section slightly wider than the vellum strip and ink blended this in autumnal colours before wrapping the vellum around and securing on the reverse.  I then stamped the sentiment called Autumn Changes using my MISTI, repeatedly stamping in varying colours of pigment ink to co-ordinate with the inked section.  The panel was then popped up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Stars and Stripes, Autumn Changes
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Frayed Burlap; Versa Color - Bamboo, Umber, Topaz
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Vellum from stash

Challenge entry:

Stamping Sensations - October Challenge - Trees/Leaves/Autumn

Next up is another autumnal themed card using new Autumn Colours and Pumpkin Corner...

I stamped the main image from Autumn Colours onto a white die cut cardstock panel and again on a scrap of cardstock, this one then heat embossed in copper.  I ink blended over the embossed image with Distress Inks before die cutting with a circle die.  The circle was then lined up over the main image and popped up on 3D foam.  The panel was matted onto a brown piece of cardstock and onto the base, and the card was finished with a heat embossed sentiment from the Pumpkin Corner set, and again die cut with a circle die.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Autumn Colours and Pumpkin Corner
• Ink: Versa Color - Bark; VersaMark; Distress Ink - Peeled Paint, Carved Pumpkin, Frayed Burlap
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Copper
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Hero Arts - Infinity Circle Dies

My final card for this first post used the new Palm Leaves stencil and the Autumn Changes sentiment...

I used the ghosting technique for my background here.  I die cut a cardstock panel then ink blended with Distress Inks before laying the Palm Leaves stencil over the top, spritzing with water and then blotting away the colour.  This panel was popped up on fun foam then the Autumn Changes sentiment was stamped and heat embossed in gold on some brown cardstock die cut with a fishtail die.

Materials used:

• Stamp: Honey Doo Crafts - Autumn Changes
• Stencil: Honey Doo Crafts - Palm Leaves
• Ink: Distress Ink - Fired Brick, Brushed Corduroy, Forest Moss, Crushed Olive; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; MFT Die-namics - Fishtail Flag Stax

I hope you're loving these new products.  There's lots more that I'll be sharing over the next few days, I went a bit crazy and made lots of samples this time!

The shows will air on Hochanda TV here in the UK on Thursday 24 October 2019 at 12pm and 4pm. (Sky 673 / Freeview 85)

Thanks so much for stopping by.

(AD - some products kindly gifted for design team purposes)

Less is More Challenge #406

Good morning!

At Less is More starting today we are back with a Colour challenge.  Here is the cue card with the all important details...

Bright or pastel rainbow colours are welcome for this challenge.

Our generous sponsor for October is the fabulous Uniko and the lovely Bev is joining in as our super talented Guest Designer for this challenge so please do pop over and say hi.

I have two cards to share with you for this challenge, both of them using products by Uniko.

Here's the first...

I used stamps from three different Uniko sets for this one.  I used a double chevron stamp and used my MISTI to line up the stamping in rainbow coloours.  I then simply stamped the sentiment and heart in black ink, die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle and popped it up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders: Chevrons, Flower Power #3 (heart), Big & Bold Hugs (sentiment)
• Ink: Altenew - Crimson, Orange Cream, Warm Sunshine, Forest Glades, Caribbean Sky, Lavender Fields, Puffy Heart; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles

For my second card I used a fabulous Uniko stencil...

This was a pretty simple make.  I blended through the stencil using Distress Oxide inks in rainbow colours.  The image is quite large so I chose to cut this down with a stitched die cut to maintain white space on my card.  The panel was popped up on 3D foam and I added a small black sentiment strip, with the sentiment embossed in white.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Pure Florals: Chrysanthemum
• Stamp: Uniko - Just Because
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Salty Ocean, Cracked Pistachio; VersaMark
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #362 - Make Your Mark

Dream Valley - Challenge #211 - Clean and Simple

The Flower Challenge - Challenge #37 - CAS

STAMPlorations - October Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

As always, you have two weeks to play along before the linky will close.  And don't forget, this is a colour challenge, not a rainbow challenge, so lots of options for you, just remember to keep your creations clean and simple.

Skull and Cross Buns - Hochanda Showcase Selection 4

Good morning

Just a quick reminder that Skull and Cross Buns will be launching on Hochanda TV here in the UK this afternoon at 4pm (Sky 673 / Freeview 85).

I have a few more makes to share with you, using some of the products which you can see in more detail during the show.

Here's the first...

For this one I've used the ghosting technique with the Honeycomb Hexagon Large Stencil.  To create this effect I blended Distress Inks in two yellow shades from the corner and faded it out.  I placed the stencil over the top, spritzed with water, removed the stencil and then blotted away the colour with a paper towel.  After die cutting the panel with a stitched rectangle die I then stamped the bee and its trail from the Spring Motifs set and the hello from Quirky Sentiments.  I coloured the bee and added some shimmer to its wings before popping the panel up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Wild Honey, Mustard Seed; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Honeycomb Hexagon Large Stencil
• Die: Create a Smile - Double Stitched Rectangles
• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Spring Motifs, Quirky Sentiments
• Accents: Coloured with ProMarker; Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen - Clear

Next up I used the same Honeycomb Hexagon stencil but using a different technique...

This time I gently inked up the corner area of the stencil directly from the ink pads, spritzed with water and then laid the stencil over my panel.  Once dry I die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die.  I used a honeycomb die to cut the opposite corner and inked up the card base behind.  I wanted to incorporate one of the acrylic elements from the range so I decided to turn this card into a shaker by die cutting an aperture from the top panel, aligning the 'life is sweet' embellishment from the Retro Sweets Embellish! set and adhering this to the card base, then creating the shaker, trapping some co-ordinating jewels in the shaker window.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Honeycomb Hexagon Large Stencil
• Ink: Distress Ink - Wild Honey, Mustard Seed
• Dies: Create a Smile - Double Stitched Rectangles; Tim Holtz - Mixed Media; Spellbinders - Classic Rectangles
• Accents: Skull and Cross Buns - Retro Sweets Embellish! set; Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Jewels (Lemon mix and Cherry mix)

Challenge entry:

Always Fun - Challenge #126 - Shaker Cards

After a long day of crafting, the next card was the last one I made on that particular day.  I wasn't going to share it as it's a bit busy and quite frankly, I think I was losing my mind...it's a bit bonkers!  But it's quite fun so here it is... lol

What's the best thing to have at a tropical party?  Quite clearly, a flamingo with a pineapple on its head!  I don't know what I was thinking, this isn't my style at all, but I wanted to showcase the stamp set and the fun embellishments that co-ordinate with it.  The card base was stamped around the edge with leaves from the Tropical Party set and the flamingo scene stamped and coloured where the aperture would be.  I die cut the panel with the stitched window and stamped the sentiment in black.  Once adhered in position I then finished by adhering the acrylic elements from the Tropical Party Embellish! set.

Materials:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Tropical Party
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Rectangle Peek-a-boo Window
• Ink: Altenew - Pinkalicious, Moss, Parrot, Lagoon
• Coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils
• Accents: Skull and Cross Buns - Tropical Party Embellish! set

Thanks so much for looking.  If you're unable to watch the show, don't forget, you can watch it on catch up over on the Hochanda website :)

(AD - some products kindly gifted for design team purposes)

Skull and Cross Buns - Hochanda Showcase Selection 3

Hi guys

I'm back today to share a few more of the samples I've made for Skull and Cross Buns ahead of the show on Hochanda here in the UK tomorrow, Thursday 5 September at 4pm.

I'll get straight to it.  Here's the first...

On a die cut panel of kraft cardstock I used the Hundreds and Thousands Confetti Large Stencil and created the shadow effects, first by inking through with Distress Inks and then by shifting the stencil slightly and inking a second time with white pigment ink. The panel was popped up onto the card base using fun foam.  I then die cut one circle from vellum and another from pink cardstock and heat embossed the sentiment in white and silver from the Retro Sweeties clear stamp set.  A couple of the cute acrylic sweets from the Retro Sweets Embellish! set were added to finish.  Love the detailed etching on these.

Materials used:

• Dies: Create a Smile - Double Stitched Rectangles; Hero Arts - Infinity Circles
• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Hundreds and Thousands Confetti Large Stencil
• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon; Versa Magic - White Cloud; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White, Metallic Silver

Challenge entry:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #357 - Make Your Mark




Next up is a card which may look familiar as I made a very similar one in a different colourway, here...

Instead of the standard natural colours of leapard print I used the Leopard Animal Print Large Stencil here blended with pink in onto pink cardstock.  I die cut the cardstock with a large balloon die and adhered this on 3D foam to the corner of the card and tied some pink twine around the base.  Directly on the card base I stamped the 'happy birthday' from the Quirky Sentiments set, 'party' from the Tropical Party set and the individually coloured letters from the Lightbox Love set.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Leopard Animal Print Large Stencil
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Blueprints 26
• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Quirky Sentiments, Tropical Party, Lightbox Love
• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick; Versa Color - Orchid, Opera Pink, Pink; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Twine: Hemptique - Ruby mix

Challenge entry:

AAA Birthday - Game #5 - Use a Stencil

Last up is a really simple make...

I die cut a panel of lilac cardstock using a stitched rectangle die and inked through the Cloud Rainbow Pattern Stencil using white pigment ink.  Once dry I adhered the two closed eye eyelashes from the I Believe In Unicorns Embellish set.  I stamped the cloud from the Planner Banners set and within it stamped 'dream' from the I Believe In Unicorns set, fussy cut this out and then stamped two of the thought bubbles from the I Believe in Unicorns set and coloured these in with a white pigment pen.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Cloud Rainbow Pattern Large Stencil
• Ink: Versa Magic - Cloud White; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Die: Create a Smile - Double Stitched Rectangles
• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - I Believe in Unicorns, Planner Banners
• Accents: Skull and Cross Buns - I Believe in Unicorns Embellish! set

Thanks so much for stopping by to take a look, I'll be back with my final selection later.

(AD - some products kindly gifted for design team purposes)

Skull and Cross Buns - Hochanda Showcase Selection 2

Hi guys

Apologies for the timing of this post, I'm off work this week so rather than schedule it I thought I'd just publish it right away when I finished typing it up.

Another batch of makes for you where I've used products from the Skull and Cross Buns ranges which will be showcased on Hochanda here in the UK this Thursday, 5 September, at 4pm (Sky 673, Freesat 817, Freeview 85).


This first card uses a mix of products; one of the stencils, two of the clear stamp sets and an acrylic embellishment...

One of the stamp sets in the range is called Days and Months.  Although great for lots of crafting products and of course, scrapbooking, journalling, calendars, etc. I wanted to come up with an idea of how to use the stamps on a card.  So this idea came into my head...love you every day!  I started by using the Decreasing Circles Stencil to create the rainbow of dots in the background, just by blending one colour, then cleaning off the stencil, shifting over and re-blending in the next colour, and so on.  And it worked out perfectly that there are seven colours of the rainbow and seven days of the week!  I stamped the days in black and also the 'love you' from the Brush Hearts clear stamp set, but I chose to emboss this with clear embossing powder to add a little gloss.  The panel was die cut with a stitched rectangle and adhered to the card base on fun foam.  I finished with a pink acrylic heart from the Brush Hearts Embellish! set.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Decreasing Circles Large Stencil
• Ink: Distress Ink - Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac, Tumbled Glass, Cracked Pistachio, Squeezed Lemonade, Dried Marigold, Candied Apple; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Days and Months, Brush Hearts
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Clear Gloss
• Die: Create a Smile - Double Stitched Rectangles
• Accent: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts Embellish! set

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #356 - Anything Goes

Time Out - Challenge #143 - Inspired by Words

Next up is a card using another stamp set which you wouldn't initially think of using for cards...

The stamp set I used for this bubbly background is called Planner Banners, and is perfect for crafting, scrapbooking and of course bullet journalling, and works so well with the Days and Months set I used on the first card.  I chose to use the three circles of varying sizes and stamped and heat embossed them in white on some watercolour cardstock, before watercolouring the 'bubbles' with Distress Inks.  I mounted the panel onto black cardstock and then flat to the base.  To finish I cut another piece of black cardstock in a diagonal strip and adhered this, topped with a clear acrylic embellishment from the I Believe In Unicorns Embellish! set.  I think the cloud works well with the bubbles theme.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Planner Banners
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Worn Lipstick, Shaded Lilac, Salty Ocean, Cracked Pistachio
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White
• Accent: Skull and Cross Buns - I Believe In Unicorns Embellish! set

Next up, I've used the Planner Banners set, combined with two other sets in the range...

On a die cut panel I drew a pencil line in a curve and then stamped the flags from the Planner Banners set.  I then joined them up with a fineliner pen and erased the pencil lines.  I used one of the circles from the set to create the balloon and curved one of the straight lines in the set to create a balloon string.  Next I stamped the letters from the Lightbox Love set and the word 'time' from the Tropical Party set.  I coloured the flags and balloon with ProMarkers and then stamped some of the smaller elements from the Planner Banners set to finish.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Planner Banners, Lightbox Love, Tropical Party
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versa Color - Silver; Altenew - Olive
• Coloured with ProMarkers

And the last for this post is another using the Planner Banners set...

I simply stamped lots of the images from this set in different directions and colours.  I stamped the 'happy birthday' from the Quirky Sentiments stamp set and finished the card off with a few different enamel dots.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Planner Banners, Quirky Sentiments
• Ink: Altenew - Lagoon, Olive, Starlight, Ultraviolet; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Accents: Enamel dots and stars from stash

Thanks for taking a look.  I'll be back soon with more of my samples ahead of the show on Thursday.

(AD - some products kindly gifted for design team purposes)

Skull and Cross Buns - Hochanda Showcase Selection 1

Hi guys

As I mentioned in my last post, the lovely Emily of Skull and Cross Buns will be showcasing some of her lovely products in her very first show on Hochanda TV on Thursday 5 September at 4pm.

The Design Team have been crafting away behind the scenes to create some samples for the show and I'm sharing some of mine in this post and over the next few days ahead of the show.

There will be clear stamp sets, stencils and mini embellishment sets (mixes of acrylic and some wood) which co-ordinate with the sets.

I won't lie, because of my clean and simple card making style the embellishments did scare me at first, I had absolutely no clue what to do with them!  They are great for all types of crafting, scrapbooking, mixed media projects and journalling, etc. but by using them sparingly I managed to incorporate them into my CAS makes too.

So here you go, my first make is actually a tag, as I wanted to use one of the wooden embellishments...

I couldn't think of a way to use the 'handmade with love' on a card so I thought it could be used for a tag to add to a handmade gift.  These acrylic and wooden additions are from the Crafting Is My Super Power Embellish! Set which co-ordinates with the Crafting Is My Super Power clear stamp set, which I've used here for the stamped words.  I die cut two blue tags so I could adhere them back to back for a cleaner finish.  The words were stamped multiple times diagonally across the tag using grey ink.  I punched a hole in the top of the tags and tied the wooden element on using some jute twine.  I then finished by adhering two of the silver glittery acrylic embellishments.  I've found the best way to adhere these is by using Glossy Accents, once that's dry it's going nowhere!

Materials used:

• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Traditional Tag Stax
• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Crafting Is My Super Power
• Ink: Memento - London Fox
• Accents: Skull and Cross Buns - Crafting Is My Super Power Embellish! set

Challenge entry:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #356 - Anything Goes

And secondly...

I began with a piece of bright pink cardstock slightly smaller than the card base and stamped various hearts from the Brush Hearts clear stamp set using VersaMark ink, for a tone on tone effect.  I then used a heart die to cut two apertures.  I adhered the panel to the card base then adhered a few elements from the Brush Hearts Embellish! set.  Some of the acrylic elements in these sets are smooth and others have designs etched into them, like the lips and 'love you' here.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts
• Ink: VersaMark
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Hearts
• Accents: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts Embellish! set

And finally for this post...

I die cut a heart from some tan coloured cardstock and blended some slightly darker Distress Ink in from the edge.  I then used the fabulous Leopard Animal Print Large Stencil and blended through it over the top with black Distress Ink.  Before adhering to the card base I added some triple score lines for a little background interest.  To finish, I adhered two of the elements from the Brush Hearts Embellish set, the heart and the 'mwah', these both being smooth black acrylic.  So, still very CAS and not really any different from using stacked die-cuts :)

Materials used:

• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Hearts
• Ink: Distress Ink - Tea Dye, Black Soot
• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Leopard Animal Print Large Stencil
• Accents: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts Embellish! set

Hopefully this gives you a taster of a few products Emily will be bringing to Hochanda next week.  I'll be back with more samples very soon.  Enjoy your weekend, whatever you're up to :)

(AD - some products kindly gifted for design team purposes)