Fancy Bags with Swallowtail

Hello Everyone




Todays projects are decorated paper bags. These bags come plain white and I decided to jazz them up and make them into pretty gift bags. I used the stunning Swallowtail stamp set. It is funny, it took me ages to decide to buy it because the image is big - but since I've had it, I have used it a lot!

I stamped in Memento black ink and coloured in with Blendabilites. This image makes is to easy to get a really great vibrant effect.

Here is a close up of the colouring - do you like it? I used Daffodil Delight and Old Olive Blendabilities here.

And then I did another colour way for this one with Rich Razzleberry and Daffodil Blendabilties and Blackberry Bliss cardstock stamped with Summer Silhouettes.








I hope you like today's fancy bags and I hope the recipients will like them too.





Love Elizabeth X

Parties? Classes? Want to become a demonstrator? 

If you have any questions - please contact me - I am here to help.

VIDEO Blended Butterfly

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Today's video shows the new Blendibilites used in conjunction with the Butterfly Framelits to make a striking card. ****Please note - Blendies are currently not available from Stampin' Up! - however as I know lots of you already have them - I have decided to leave this video on.

You can get a similar effect using Stampin' Write markers from Stampin' Up!

Love Elizabeth X

Parties? Classes? Want to become a demonstrator? 

If you have any questions - please contact me - I am here to help.

VIDEO Blended Bloom - with a subtle twist

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Today's video shows the Blended Bloom stamp done with two of the brand new Blendabilites colours now available in the Spring Summer Catalogue from Stampin' Up!

Enjoy the video :)

Love Elizabeth X

Parties? Classes? Want to become a demonstrator?
If you have any questions - please contact me - I am here to help.

Forest Critters and Flowering Flourishes

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I am almost ready for Christmas - but today I thought I would share a trio of projects I did a while ago - and are non-festive :) The first features the little mouse from Life in the Forest. This was a semi-CASE of a project I saw online - but can't find now to credit the original designer. (If it is you - let me know).  I loved the way she had her mice coming at different angles into a circle. I used the Hardwood background stamp - stamping in Mossy Meadow on to Old Olive cardstock.

The next card in similar colour way uses Flowering Flourishes for the stem and Flower Shop for the flowers. The flowers are coloured using Daffodil Delight Blendabilities.

And for the final one - I am back to Life in the Forest and those cute little hedgehogs. I used the reflection technique to make the second hedgehog a mirror image and did masking to layer up the trees. The trees are coloured with the Old Olive Blendabilities, the Hedgehogs are done with the Skin Tones set. I stamped the toadstools and coloured in - highlighting the spots with the White Chalk Marker. 

Here is a little close up of the colouring - the background is done with daubers.

Hope you liked today's non-holiday projects. I will be back with one more video before Christmas day - see you Tuesday!

Love Elizabeth X

VIDEO - Festive and non-festive tags

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Today's video shows how to make a quick holiday or non-holiday tag using the Making Spirits Bright stamp set and Blendabilites Markers.

I do hope you enjoy the video.

Love Elizabeth X

Blended Bloom in Old Olive

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I thought I would do a non-festive project today. These Blended Bloom flowers are so much fun to colour and they look great in any of the Blendabilities colours - but you wouldn't  necessarily think it would work in green - but check out this Old Olive flower.

I love the way it seems to pop off the page. I stamped the background with more of the same stamp in Memento ink on Whisper White and the greeting comes from a set called Peace, Love and Cupcakes - love the font on that greeting.

Love Elizabeth X

VIDEO Christmas Bauble using Skin-tones Blendabilites

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I made lots of versions of cards with this Christmas Bauble stamp - but I thought I would share the neutral version on a video today. I hope you like it.

Love Elizabeth X

VIDEO Turning Thanksgiving into Christmas!

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Today I am sharing another video featuring the fabby Making Spirits Bright stamp set - using the Thanksgiving stamp to make a Christmas Card.

One thing I missed on the video, was adding doodle dots around the scallop circle with the White Chalk Marker - you can see it done on the original card on the left. What do you think - does it need it?

Love Elizabeth X

VIDEO Colouring DSP with Blendabilites

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I had so much fun filming this video - I hope you enjoy it too. Watch out for the one change on the card I do on the video - I made change before I took the pic below - can you see the difference?

Love Elizabeth X

VIDEO - Making Spirits Bright with Blendies

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Today's video features a really cute stamp set from the Autumn/Winter catalogue from Stampin' Up! it is called Making Spirits Bright and has loads of cocktail and champagne stamps.

Hope you enjoy the video.

Love Elizabeth X

Blendabilitiies and Lanterns

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Today I am sharing one of the projects my lovely ladies did on our Blendabilites masterclass last month.   It was great to see them in all the different colours we chose.

As you can see - I went for Cherry Cobbler and Daffodil Delight. We were focussing on light sources and practicing getting a nice rounded look on the images.

The stamp set these lanterns come from is called Today and Everyday. You can find it in the big catalogue and it is particularly designed to work with the Blendabilities markers. I love the effect.

And the colouring didn't stop with the lanterns, both the cotton ribbon and Vintage Faceted button were coloured using the Blendies. It means you can turn a white ribbon and a clear button into any colour you want to match your project - that is very Stampin' Up! isn't it?!

On this picture it is hard to see, but we used the Large Polka Dot embossing folder and the new Spiral Border Punch to add some more interest to this pretty card.

My lovely class ladies did a great job with it - I won't mention all 21 of you by name - but you know who you are! :)

Love Elizabeth X

VIDEO New Home card with Cloud Technique

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Today's video is on this 'welcome to your new home' card - and features the technique for making the clouds, and some blendie colouring. Scroll down for a close up picture and enjoy the video…

Love Elizabeth X

Colourful Bauble

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Now if you don't like Christmas in September - bear with me - I will be back with a non-Christmas video on Tuesday - but today I am feeling festive and fabulous with this colourful project.

The stamp is a single stamp called, Christmas Bauble - and yes the clue is in the name. I have had fun colouring, embossing and decorating this bauble using blendabilites, markers, watercolours and embossing powders - and it looks different every time.

I am starting though with my favourite of all - totally non-traditional in colour - but we had old glass baubles in pinks and lilacs when I was little and these colours make me smile.

I coloured the bauble with Blendabilites, often using the smaller bullet end for the detail. If you are doing this, my tip is to aim to leave half the holly berries white then what you end up with are the tiny moons of white you see below! :)

I layered Melon Mambo, Whisper White and Wisteria Wonder card strips on to the Old Olive card and stamped a greeting from White Christmas, colouring the banners with Blendabilites also.

I hope you like this version - I have more, coming up in later posts. So tell me - do you prefer modern or traditional colouring for your Christmas projects?

Love Elizabeth X

VIDEO Blendabilites with a fancy fold

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Today's video shows how to make this cute fancy fold card, (thank you my lovely upline Amanda for this fold design), and how to use the Blendabilities from Stampin' Up! Enjoy

Love Elizabeth X

Bloom with Blendabilites

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Today's trio of cards are made using the Blendabilites alcohol markers from Stampin' Up! For those not familiar with this type of marker, they come in packs of 3 - a light, medium and dark tone of the same colour. The markers allow you to blend colours together for a beautiful effect. If you want to try this yourself, you will also need the Memento black ink - stazon is also alcohol based so will smear if you try to use it with Blendabilites.

I have a video coming up on Tuesday to show you more, but here are some of my projects made using the Bloom with Hope stamp set.

This one uses the skin tone markers for the pink flower. Skintones are actually a set of 6 pinks and browns which make a very useful set for all sorts of subjects - not just skin! The yellow is the Daffodil Delight set. The darker tones of this co-ordinate well with our Hello Honey colour too.

This next one shows the Real Red and Old Olive colour sets. Colouring with these markers is so easy and the effect is lovely.

And here is my favourite of the three. So vibrant. I first stamped direct on to the white and just coloured in with the palest red. Then I stamped again, coloured with all three reds and two yellows and then cut that flower out and popped it up on dimensionals. To me it looks real - I never thought I would be able to get that effect so easily. 

Pop back on Tuesday for a Blendabilites video - and if you want to order some for yourself, check out my online store here - and don't forget the Memento Ink if you don't already have some. :)

Love Elizabeth X

Swallowtail Butterfly as Home Decor

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Today I am sharing a little sneak peek of one of the projects I will be teaching at my upcoming Blendabilities Masterclass. If you can get to Southampton, contact me if you would like to join one of my sessions.

First I have to credit my lovely downline Carolyn for her idea. She showed how to make a similar project using inks and Crystal Effects. It was stunning, (she is very talented), but I just felt it would be difficult to do in a class because of the impossibility of getting the Crystal Effects to dry in time.

Then along came Blendabilites - our fabulous alcohol markers and I knew at once it would be the perfect way to create this home decor item.

The background in this sample is done with Regarding Dahlias, but I am also offering an option with the Typeset DSP background and of course the colour of the butterfly will depend about the chosen Blendability markers. I can't wait to see what they all look like!

I hope you like - I will be back on Tuesday with a video for a completely different 3D project.


Love Elizabeth X

The Perfect Blend of Blendabilities

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Not a new stamp set - but new to me! This is called Perfect Blend and would make a great card for some of my Starbucks and Costa obsessed friends. They have lured me in for Lattes covered with whipped cream and caramel and I might be a little obsessed too now!

I used the paper piecing technique to create the basic cards, (check my videos for a tutorial of this using Vivid Vases). I think used the Skin Tone Blendabilites to create shading. I love how these pens make colouring so easy. The coffee cups look as though they are popping off the page don't they? I will be teaching this project, along with others, in my Blendability Masterclass. Get in touch if you are in the Southampton area and would like to come along. 

The base cards are made from Blackberry Bliss, layered on Hello Honey - two of our new In Colours. The matching Blackberry Bliss satin ribbon gives the finishing touch. 

Love Elizabeth X

Trio in Hello Honey

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Today I am sharing a trio of cards made in Hello Honey. I confess that I don't like yellow and rarely use Daffodil Delight or So Saffron or Crushed Curry - but this yellow is different. It is warm and vibrant and I really enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone and discovering the wonder of Hello Honey!  (Also it got me singing Honey I'm Home by Shania Twain!)

So enough about me :) - here are the cards. The first one is a re-work of a card I did last month - check out the video for how to do the feathers. The black and white designer paper is from a set called Back to Black. I've used it in all the cards and you can see some of the lovely patterns in this pack.

The second card shows up the embossing which I have used on all three cards. I used the Decorative Dots embossing folder in my cute little Texture Boutique machine - back in the catalogue. Love the effect. All the stamps in this trio are from a hostess stamp set called Life's Adventure. If you want it - let me know - you can book a party or a virtual party and it could be yours!

On the third card you can see colouring done with the Blendabilities markers from Stampin' Up! These are alcohol based pens which allow you to blend and build vibrant colours. They co-ordinate with Stampin' Up! colours, (as you can see), and are really easy to use. We are launching them in stages as and when each colour arrives in our warehouse, (demonstrators get a sneak peek - and I can tell you they are amazing to use). Contact me or check my online store to see availability of the colour range you fancy. Below I used Skin Tones (a neutral set) and Daffodil Delight. 

I hoped you liked todays projects. I love how a single stamp set, DSP pack and embossing folder can give such a range of effects. Which is your favourite?

Love Elizabeth X

BONUS VIDEO - Introducing Blendabilites

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I am SO excited - we just found out last week that the Blendabilites - our fabulous new alcohol based colouring tools from Stampin' Up! are launching with the catalogue.

I was so sure we would have to wait a month, I hadn't scheduled anything to show you, so a quick video and quicker photo, (sorry - not my best photography work LOL), and here I am ready to share some hints and tips.

COMING SOON:

I am going to be running a Blendabilites Masterclass during August. In this class I will be sharing how to get the best from your Blendabilites and we will be making some beautiful projects including this stunning home decor Framed Butterfly.

The class includes two packs of Blendabilites of your choice, so you can make it to match your room or for a friend - it would make an awesome gift.

If you can get to Southampton, UK, and would like more details, please contact me.

Enjoy the video.

Love Elizabeth X