Good Morning Sunshine

Late yesterday the clouds finally lifted and we got our first glimpse of blue skies in almost a week. This morning we awoke to a beautiful day and the promise of perfect drying weather. So while I wait for the washing to finish, here’s another sneak peek from the new Stampin’ Up! catalogue.

Best of Friends card created using the Free As A Bird Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!

BLOCK-FILL TECHNIQUE

As soon as I saw the Free As A Bird Stamp Set I knew it would be perfect for the block-fill technique.

I began with a layer of Shimmery White Card and the image of the four birds on a branch. I mounted the stamp on my Stamparatus and stamped it using Soft Sea Foam ink. This was so I would have a basic image to colour, but one that was light enough not to be too obvious. Then I made sure to leave the branch image exactly where it was on the Stamparatus plate.

With the bird image in place I then used a pencil and the #7 plain edged die from the Layering Ovals (counting from the smallest up) to draw an oval in the centre of the card.

Then using the dark Basic Black Stampin’ Blends alcohol marker I coloured in the oval around the bird image. Before going any further I erased any remaining traces of the pencil line.

WATERCOLOR PENCILS

Now it was time to colour the image using watercolour pencils. From the currently available set I used Bermuda Bay, Pacific Point, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive and Early Espresso. I also used Cajun Craze, Granny Apple Green and Flirty Flamingo from the Watercolor Pencils Assortment 2 from the new catalogue.

For each colour I added the pencil to the dry card, then blended it out with a damp Water Painter. I made sure each area was completely dry before adding more colour and the damp Water Painter made this process fairly quick as I wasn’t over-wetting the card to begin with.

Once I’d finished colouring I used my Heat Tool set on 1 (low) to make sure the card really was dry.

Side view of friends card created using the Free As A Bird Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!

Now I needed to decorate a layer of Whisper White Card and a Whisper White Medium Envelope. So using Gray Granite ink I stamped the left part of the branch image coming in from the right hand edge of the card. The single bird looked really sweet and I opted to leave him uncoloured. I then repeated the partial image on the front of the envelope.

With that done, I created a card base from Thick Whisper White Card and used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to fix the white layer on the inside.

FINISHING TOUCHES

It was now time to get to work on the finishing touches. So it was back to the Stamparatus as I wasn’t quite finished with that branch image.

I wiped the watercoloured panel with an Embossing Buddy to remove any oils and static, and make sure it was completely dry. Then I placed it back on my Stamparatus exactly as before. This time I inked up the stamp with VersaMark Ink and stamped on top of my coloured piece.

I removed the card and sprinkled the sticky ink with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder, tapped off the excess and removed some stray specks. Then I melted the rest of the powder using my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

Next I used my retiring Big Shot and Magnetic Platform to cut out the panel using the #C7 die from the Rectangle Stitched Dies. Then I used the #C8 die to cut a piece of Balmy Blue Card. Using liquid glue I attached the Balmy Blue layer to the card base and then added the embossed panel on top.

TIP – I identify all my nesting dies by counting from the smallest up. The Stitched Rectangles is unusual in that there are 3 distinct groups in the set. Group A is an almost square die that doesn’t nest with anything. B is the group of 4 that nest together, and Group C is the set of 7 that nest together.

BEST OF FRIENDS

All that was left was the ‘We’re the best of friends’ sentiment from the Free As A Bird Stamp Set .

Close up of friends card with gold embossing and block fill technique created using the Free As A Bird Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!

I wiped a scrap of Shimmery White Card with the Embossing Buddy and stamped the sentiment using VersaMark Ink. As before I sprinkled the ink with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder, tapped off the excess and removed some stray specks. Once that was done I melted the rest of the embossing powder with my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

I went back to the Big Shot and Magnetic Platform to cut out the sentiment. This time using the B1 die from the Stitched Rectangles.

To finish I attached the sentiment to the front of the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals and my project was complete.

FREE AS A BIRD

The Free As A Bird Stamp Set is so sweet with a mix of apple blossom and bird images. The sentiments are a nice combination of fonts too.

The stamp set is part of the Bird Ballad Suite and coordinates with the Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper and Bird Ballad Trinkets. I’ve already given a couple of sneak peeks from the suite and you’ll find them in these earlier blog posts:

Today, with the light being much improved I plan to get some good photographs of some of the new Designer Series Paper available from June 4th. In the meantime, here’s the Free As A Bird Stamp Set for you to look at.

I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for another sneak peek from the Stampin’ Up! 2019/2020 Annual Catalogue.