Watercoloured Carousel Birthday

One of the things I love most about being a demonstrator is the camaraderie between demonstrators.  I have made the most wonderful connections with other StampinUp demonstrators and I call so many of them my dear friends.  We are all on this wonderful ride together and share so much in common... notably our love of creating and stamping of course.

One of the ways I love to connect with other demonstrators is via group forums... places online that we can ask questions and share our ideas... its SO valuable! In fact, Im not sure where I would be as a demonstrator without it!  Personally I run a group forum for my own team and I love watching the girls make friendships and share together.

There are other forums too (other than my own) where demonstrators generally can contribute and collaborate.  There is a fairly new one that has been set up here in Australia and it is offering Colour inspiration... and amongst other things they have colour challenges that we can participate in if we wish. Their colour challenge this week is to use these three colours.... Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight and Mint Macaron.  So the card you see today is my take on the challenge... I stamped Ferris Wheel from the Carousel Birthday stamp set in Versamark and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I then used my "E" acrylic block to apply the colours.... Mint Macaron as a base, and then I added a couple of drops each of Daffodil Delight and Bermuda bay. I used my aquapainter to add some water and  "move" the colours on the block slightly before "Stamping" my block over the original embossed image.  The result is the background you see here.  Here's a close up for you:

Now of course my question is .... who would like to see a video of this technique??  Its messy, imprecise and gives you a different result every time... but I love it!  

I love this adorable stamp set... and it will be coming your way on the 4th January 2017... so only next week now!

To order your products click the "Shop Now" button on this page!  If you are in Australia and you don't have a demonstrator please let me know and i'll pop a free catalogue package in the post for you! Click HERE to contact me!

Thailand Achievers Blog Hop - Occasions Catalogue Sneak Peek!

Welcome to the Thailand Achievers Blog Hop for the month of December. This time we are highlighting the upcoming Occasions Catalogue (due out JANUARY 4th, 2017!) and we are excited to show you what's coming your way! (And if you want your own copy of the Occasions Catalogue sent to you (anywhere in Australia) click HERE to let me know :-)

One of my favourite bundles in this new catalogue is the Dragonfly Dreams bundle.... this is a lovely stamp set AND matching framelit dies. You can of course purchase them separately, but if you are purchasing them together as a bundle you will save 10% off the total price.

Would you like to know how I created the background on this card?  Its very simple!  First I used a sponge brayer to apply the colours to the background (Peekaboo Peach, Sweet Sugar Plum and Perfect Plum) and gave it a few minutes to be as dry as possible. I then used an aquapainter (with just water inside) to brush the central area of the card... this removed a little of the background colour. I then used some folder Metallic Glitter ribbon (an upcoming SAB item... free with a $90 order!) and a strip of Gold Foil acetate plus a thin strip of Sweet Sugar Plum cardstock... I laid them in the middle of my card.  The dragonfly is the second largest one in the set, and I cut it with the framelits on my Big Shot from Gold Foil paper.  The words are from the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set, stamped in Elegant Eggplant ink.

Even though its a simple card, the colours together are striking and I loved the result! Give it a try!

Although I cant list the Dragonfly dreams bundle in the product list below (since its not yet released), I've included the other items should you wish to recreate this effect for yourself!

Product List

Shimmery White A4 Card Stock [121717] $14.00	Sponge Brayers [141714] $14.00	Peekaboo Peach Classic Stampin' Pad [141398] $11.50
Sweet Sugarplum Classic Stampin' Pad [141395] $11.50	Perfect Plum Classic Stampin' Pad [126963] $11.50	Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate [141653] $21.00
Gold Foil Sheets [132622] $7.00	Sweet Sugarplum A4 Cardstock [141423] $14.00	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad [126969] $11.50

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today!  Our Achievers group has so many great ideas for  you to check out.... so don't stop here.... Check out the next name on the list below!  (Right now you are visiting Linda Dalke's blog)  You will find lots of inspiration and new ideas on all the achiever's blogs so Enjoy!

Need some last minute Christmas Inspiration?? Try this....

It really is getting down to the pointy end of the Christmas season, and if you suddenly find yourself with another person to create a card for, the idea of getting out your stamps and supplies at this point might be all a bit much!

Instead you only need to get out a couple of things... Your Project Life "Hello December" card kit, and a card base. My card base here is Real Red, and to that I've added one of the 6"x4" cards from the kit (cut down ever so slightly to fit the red base), and then I added a 3"x4" card with the sentiment "Have yourself a Merry little Christmas". To which I added a touch of Washi Tape from the Accessory kit, and a strip of silver glimmer paper.

It probably took me longer to type that than it did to make the card!

This is me signing out to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas..... we are heading off to Tamworth to visit my family.  I hope you spend Christmas with people you love too, and I look forward to sharing more Ink and Paper Love after Christmas!  Love to you all! Merry Christmas!

Product List

Hello December 2016 Project Life Card Collection [142004] $19.25	Project Life Hello December 2016 Accessory Pack [142693] $31.50	Real Red A4 Card Stock [106578] $14.00
Silver Glimmer Paper [135314] $8.75

10 Days of Video Tutorials: Day 10 - Introducing the Lift Me Up bundle!

Welcome to the LAST DAY in this current series of Video Tutorials.  The "10 days of Video Tutorials" was something I decided to do as a little Christmas gift to you.  I've thoroughly enjoyed doing them... the hardest part was picking what to do each day when there are sooooo many options!

In this last video I mentioned that I would see you in the new year... Im not sure if I will make another video before that or not... its possible. So maybe you'll see another one after all. The problem is.... I have way too many exciting things to show you! The new Occasions catalogue (coming January 4) is FULL of wonderful projects and lovely products.  You are going to love it! I've started sending the catalogues out to my customers, so most will arrive in the days between Christmas and New Year.  If you haven't requested one, make sure you let me know!

Thank you so much for watching my tutorials... let me know if you have enjoyed them. And don't forget that if you are in Australia, I will be offering an Online Class to go with the "Lift Me Up" bundle.  I'll have more information about this as it goes live on January 4th... but I know that if you love this set, you are going to love the class projects!  And the class will be free when you purchase the set.... that's a great deal!

The daily tutorials might be done for a little while, but don't worry.. I'll still be back with other projects to show off... so stay tuned!

Linda x

Here is today's video for you:

10 Days of Video Tutorials: Day 9 - A Storage Tip for you today!

Today I have copied a fantastic idea off another demonstrator.... but it was so good I had to share it with you too!  One of the benefits of being a Demonstrator is having access to fantastic resources.  One of those resources is a fabulous forum of demonstrators from all over the world. It's a place where demonstrators can share their ideas and their projects, as well as ask questions on anything StampinUp or papercraft related.  And thats such a valuable thing... to be able to share ideas with each other.

This idea caught my idea the other day and I wish I thought of it myself! But I have to give credit to Karen Curd, who is a demonstrator in the UK.  She came up with this brilliant idea to store our new Watercolor Pencils (coming in the soon-to-be-released Occasions Catalogue, due out on January 4th 2017) in our clear mount cases!  This is a super quick video to show you how I am now storing my pencils, and how you can too. This is great if you need to transport your pencils, and will offer them protection as well as make it easy to find the ones you want.

Our new Watercolor Pencils are one of the items I am most excited about in the upcoming Catalogue.... and they offer a whole range of colouring options! You are going to see a lot of projects using these :-)

Enjoy this quick tip video today... back tomorrow with Day 10!!

10 Days of Video Tutorials: Day 8 - Introducing the Stylish Stems Framelits

Welcome to Day 8 of my "10 Days of Video Tutorials" which is my Christmas gift to you!  Today's video features a brand new product from our upcoming Occasions Catalogue which is to be released on January 4th.   Its a new set of framelits called 'Stylish Stems'... they are truly lovely and a bit different to other flower framelits that we have on offer. The difference is that you can use either the negative images or the positive images...or both (as I have done on this card).

I've created a video today to show you how.  I hope you enjoy using these dies and cant wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Here's the video... Enjoy!

10 Days of Video Tutorials: Day 7 - Lace Doilies and the Cupcakes and Carousels Embellishment Kit

Today we are playing with BRAND NEW PRODUCTS!  Woohoo!  This is Day 7 of my "10 Days of Video Tutorials" and I am introducing you to a couple of products in the upcoming Occasions Catalogue (2017) that I am really excited about.  You'll be able to add these items to your orders from January 4th onwards.

Firstly the doilies.  Im not normally a big doily fan, but I do love these! I like the elegant design of them, but what I REALLY love is the fact that they are white on one side... and vanilla on the other! So you can use them with almost anything really!  My tutorial today shows how to use them for masking to create a really rich background for your cards :-)

And then the Cupcakes and Carousels Embellishment kit.  This kit is super cute and has all kinds of fun elements to add to your cards. On today's card I have use the diecuts, the Ombre ribbon and the sequins... love them!

I am sure you will enjoy the tutorial for this simple but effective card!  Dont forget to hit the "Subscribe" button on the Youtube channel so that you don't miss any of the upcoming videos. At last count I had over 75 videos in there so there is a fantastic lot of information in those tutorials.

Enjoy!

10 Days of Video Tutorials: Day 6 - Creating Masked Backgrounds

If today's card looks a little familiar, there is a good reason for that!  I did the same design in completely different colours and NOT a Christmas version of this couple of week's back (Click HERE to see it)

I was looking today to make a video tutorial about using masked backgrounds (because I love them) and i decided to recreate the same design but this time as a Christmas card.  What do you think?  I think the colours came up awesome... I've used Tip Top Taupe as my base cardstock, and then my elements are Emerald Envy, Read Red and of course Basic Black.  With some gold glimmer thrown in :-)

To see how I got this soft and subtle background please watch this little video to show you how.  The masks are on our current retiring list and they are also marked down to only $7 for all 4... that's a BARGAIN!  To go shopping click on the "Shop Now" button on this page.

Here is the video... I hope you enjoy it.

10 Days of Video Tutorials: Day 5 - Quick tips to create a Chalkboard Effect

Welcome back to Day 5 of my "10 Days of Video Tutorials"... which is my little Christmas gift to you!  Today I am showing a couple of quick tips to help you create gorgeous Chalkboard looks for your cards.  This is one of my favourite looks right now... you will have seen me using it quite a bit of late. (See some other examples HERE and HERE)

Because the background is so busy on this card, I kept the large "With Love" sentiment fairly simple so that the card didn't become overwhelming. I like how it turned out.

Click the video link below to watch it and let me know what you think! I hope you are enjoying the "10 Days of Video Tutorials!"... back tomorrow!

10 Days of Video Tutorials: Day 4 - Using Dynamic Embossing Folders

Welcome to Day 4 of the "10 Days of Video Tutorials".... which is my Christmas gift to you!

Today I am focusing on our Dynamic Embossing Folders, which is a fairly new product. Our first one, the Cable Knit Dynamic Embossing folder was featured in our Holiday Catalogue for 2016 which came out in September.  The next one you will be meeting shortly in the upcoming Occasions Catalogue (due out 4th Jan 2017) and it is the Hexagons Dynamic Embossing folder.  I've featured it in today's video tutorial to give you a little sneak peek!

What do I love about these folders? They are so deep!  So you really do get a 3d feel, and the result is amazing!  There are a couple of ways to enhance this, and that's what I talk about in the video.

To order any of these or other products for yourself, click the "Shop Now" button on this page to be taken to my Online Store which is open 24 hours a day.  Go shopping in your PJs!  Products can be delivered directly to your door, anywhere in Australia!

Enjoy today's video :-)

10 Days of Video Tutorials: Day 3 - Sparkly Tree Cards

Welcome to Day 3 of my 10 Days of Video tutorials... my little Christmas gift to you!  Today we are making these little Christmas cards which feature Foil Acetate and some Sparkly Trees. There are a few little tips in the tutorial to show you how to best attach your acetate, and how to get these different sized trees out of one basic framelit die.

Without further ado here is the video... I hope you enjoy it! Back tomorrow with Day 4!

10 Days of Video Tutorials: Day 2 - Creating Simple Christmas Tags

It's Day 2 of my Christmas gift to you... to create 10 days of video tutorials.  Today I had a beautiful lunch with some of my class ladies.... it was a little get together to celebrate the end of the year.  So I decided I would make some little gifts for them and attach a cute tag to each one.

For these tags I used the Larger tree framelit from the Santa's Sleigh thinlits. The tree is actually much larger, but I needed it smaller for the tags, so I cut it down on the Big Shot.

You can see how I created these tags in this video tutorial below.  I hope you enjoy it. 

 (To order your StampinUp products click over on the "Shop Now" button.  Your products will be delivered to your door, anywhere in Australia!)

10 Days of Video tutorials: Day 1 - Project Life tips

Its Christmas and I've decided as my Christmas gift to you this year I am going to do "10 days of Video Tutorials".  So make sure you have subscribed to my Youtube Channel so that you don't miss any!

I'm aiming to make most of the videos a little on the shorter side.... we are all super busy at this time of year, and really who has time to sit down to watch hours and hours of videos??  Not me!

Today's video features our Hello December Project Life card kit and co-ordination accessory kit, but it contains useful info for anyone using any Project Life cards, regardless of the season.

If you still have creative friends to buy for for Christmas can I suggest that a Project Life bundle would make an awesome gift!

Here's a gift suggestion:

Of course the Accessory pack is optional... but I do love it!  And right now the Card kit is being offered for $13.48 (instead of $19.25).  To order any of these items visit the Online Store by clicking HERE... you will just need a Credit card and the items are delivered to your door, anywhere in Australia!

 I hope you enjoy today's tutorial below... make sure you check back here again tomorrow to see the next one!  (The next one will be a card idea)

Video: More Retiring products (Part 2)

As we approach the end of the year and the end of our Holiday catalogue, I am still finding so many things I want to do with the Holiday sets that I have! So many sets.... so little time!  For a while Ive been wanting to use the "Wonderful Year" stamp set for the Chalkboard look.... the big lettering in the greetings and the mixed fonts really lend themselves to this particular look.  I embossed the words with White embossing powder on Basic Black cardstock and the result is really striking.

And yes, this is another retiring stamp set from the current catalogue...  if you haven't checked out the list yet to see what is available then its not too late!  And many items are at reduced prices too!  HERE is a link to the list.

Below is a product list so that you can see the supplies I have used. I hope you love it :-)

Product List

Wonderful Year Wood-Mount Stamp Set [142155] $49.00	Wonderful Year Clear-Mount Stamp Set [142158] $35.00	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] $12.25
Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688] $14.00	Gold Glimmer Paper [133719] $8.75	Presents & Pinecones Designer Series Paper [141986] $19.25
Versamark Pad [102283] $15.00	White Stampin' Emboss Powder [109132] $8.75	Heat Tool [129056] $50.00

And last, but not least, I filmed another video of some of my favourite retiring products, and how to use them.  Check out the Youtube video below (and don't forget to subscribe to see some new upcoming creations from me!)