Puff Paint

You would not believe how easy it is to make your own puff paint with simple ingredients most have at home in their kitchen pantry.  It is heaps of fun not only in making it, but colouring it to any desired colour and shade.   Apply the paste and then heat it and watching it rise (the best fun for Ben and I).  For those who do not know what it is or what it looks like, here are some finished projects I made a couple of years ago...

Melon Mambo is so bright and begged for this to be done.  The cupcakes is from the cupcake rollergraph 113121



A little closer look so you can see I've added glitter for a little bling...love glitter

Another cake from an older retired set ...


Melon Mambo, Whisper White and Black, don't get better or more striking than that!




I love the way it puffs and cracks, just like a real cake!

So how does one make Puff Paint?
Equal amounts of fresh white Self Raising Flour and Salt (that is a ratio of 1:1) with a drop or two of reinker to colour the blend and three or five drops of water - until you have a runny but thick custard consistency.  I like to make up a couple of teaspoons of the mix and add blobs around the perimeter of a plate and then colour with one drop of reinker as to minimise waste.  I mix the mixture with a toothpick and add the mixture to my stamped image with a toothpick and fine paint brush.

Once the image is coloured, simply heat your card with your heat gun, from the underside first, to cook the mixture.  Move the heat around the card and from either side (top & bottom) of the card to ensure even cooking of the mix.  Once the mixture puffs and rises, and you have the aroma of cake or bread, you know you are done.

This layout featuring Crazy for Cupcakes, was cased from my up line Lisa.  I just loved it and by adding a little puff, even better...


Colours include Whisper White, Choc Chip and Blushing Bride.

 A little close so you can lick the cakes...well I want to LOL

And again but with Pumpkin Pie as a mat.

Crazy for Cupcakes.

This is so much fun to do with children and adults alike (LOL).  I've used this on Christmas cards for that extra depth on Santa's beard, lights, leaf fond and hair, but cakes are my favourite use.  Ignite that master chief in you and start cooking on your cards.

Love

Female Card - Betsy's Blossoms

Flowers make beautiful female cards for any occasion;  Birthday, Get Well, Thank You, and much more.  Betsy's Blossoms (W126004 / C126006) is one of those sets that is gorgeous and so very versatile.  I wanted to play with Stampin' Up's new In Colours, Primrose Petal and Raspberry Ripple and of course wanted to use the cute stamp set Betsy's Blossoms.  Here is my creation....


The bird is in Midnight Muse cut out and lifted with a SU dimensional.  The branch is stamped in Gumball Green.

How cool is this photo - great work Rach :-)   The photo clearly shows the subtle layering on the card.

I am very lucky to have a talented friend, willing to share her expertise to support this blog.  Thank you Rachael and thank you for looking.  Have a great day crafting!

 

Papaya Collage

I am slowly getting into vintage art work.  I love it and admire the works of others but I have not had the confidence to dabble.  For my catalogue launch 2012 I wanted to touch on the art of Vintage and this is what we did; again inspired from fellow demonstrators works of art.


Colours used include Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Primrose Petals, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive



This card is also a sympathy card for a very dear friend of mine whose Dad passed away. I hope he and his family like it.


The frame was lifted using SU Dimensionals as were the roses and greeting.

I then ventured a little further adding frames and an embossed background.  The frame is cut out and lifted over the Square Lattice 119976 embossed background - remember to stamp your images before embossing with your big shot.

 

 



Twine is such a purrrfect touch to brown buttons. Love it.

I have to confess a story about these cards.  As I was adding the finishing touches of gold shimmer spritz to the cards, my husband was over looking with our son in his arms.  My son was drinking a cup of rice milk...can you see where this story is going?  yes the drink was dropped but Daddy tried to catch it and instead of catching it...well lets say there was a lot of rice milk EVERY WHERE including all over BOTH cards.  We dabbed and dabbed them, colours ran, colours faded, but I was too tired to remake them.  Can you tell! or did it add a great vintage effect LOL

Thank you for stopping by, if you have not tried vintage before, please do and stay posted for more to come or search for vintage and have a look at what I have created under the inspiration of others.
Craft the day away.....

Female Card - Perfectly Perserved

Perfectly Preserved is a great stamp set SU have put together - with flowers, a glass jar, cherries, pear, apple and corn cob, this is a great set to add to your rubber stamp collection.

This card is heavily cased from a couple of cards made by fellow demonstrators.  I wanted to incorporate a couple of techniques in this card, including paper piercing, faux frame and sponging, so this is the end result.

I highlighted the paper piercing in Gumball Green (another in colour) and framed the jar of flowers by placing a rectangular template on the Whisper White card stock and tracing around that template with the coordinating SU Marker.  The jar and flowers were stamped from Perfectly Preserved (W126690 / C126692) is lightly sponged with Pool Party just to give it a little depth and colour.  The 3D flowers were punched out of the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack 118309 and the centre rubbed with the end of a pen to give them shape.  The centres were filled randomly with different sized pearls.


The jar and flowers are lifted using SU Dimensionals (foam squares) to give the card a lot more pop.

And a lot closer...where you can see the faux frame is rough, and that is the idea.  The punched out flowers are curved and the image is raised.


I hope you can see the sponging in the jar and the bow that ties on the Jewellery Tag 117190 a darling little punch.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at this card, there is so much more one can do with this set.  I look forward to being able to sit and just do that.  Hopefully after the rain and the arthritis in my hands settle down!

Female Cards - Fresh Cuts

 

The versatility of stamping was easily demonstrated with this retired stamp set "Fresh Cuts".  It was the set I used when I was learning techniques and here is the collection of cards I made in my early days.  If you are looking for a stamp in the current catalogue that you could use instead of Fresh Cuts, may I suggest Postage Due (W126395 / C126397) or Just Believe (W121540 / C120453) or Pleasant Poppies (W126480 / C129499).

This is a simple Mothers Day card designed by a very dear friend and fellow demonstrator Sherenne.
She hand held me through the meetings, catalogue launch and how to's.  I am a slow learner in that I have to be shown with extensive explanation, stepped through as I actually make the project and then do the same project under instruction - I have come a long way with confidence and knowledge since then.  My sincere thank you to you Sherenne for stepping me through and being so friendly, nurturing and inspirational.


Stamped in Lovely Lilac on confetti white and mounted on Very Vanilla with Lovely Lilac highlights, this card was designed by Sherenne and used for the catalogue launch - my first.

This card was cased from an amazing creator on the web.  I do not know who so if it was you please leave a comment or e-mail me so I can credit you for a truly gorgeous card.


I cased this card and unfortunately I cannot tell you where from.  I used Rich Razzleberry and Pink Pirouette on Whisper White. I love this card.

SU had these wonderful pre-cut cards, I loved them.  I stamped on the front, popped the petals out and lined the inside of the card with cardstock of the same colour - in this case Melon Mambo.  I tore the edge and then with a re-inker and paintbrush inked the torn edge.  Last but not least, I stamped the centre flower from xxx, punched it out and with a brad mounted it in the middle of the card.




Just a bit of fun with colours here, Perfect Plum, Lovely Lilac, xxx and xxx

It did not take me long to fall in love with the colour Old Olive...technique learned here is sponging


Stamped then sponged with Old Olive, this image is then mounted on Pumpkin Pie.





Last but not least, embossing. I love the raised effect, powder embossing gives.  SU embossing powered is one of the finest on the market which means it pick up all the fine detail of finer stamps, and look at how the black glossy embossing powder gives this stamp an whole new dimension.

Looking closer at the embossing and how well the powder picks up the detail of this stamp.


Black, Whisper White and Bashful Blue is a purrrfect combination for demonstration colour likeness and layering

Thank you for stopping by and having a look, I hope you are inspired to use any of your stamp sets in a different manner.  Stay warm and dry and happy crafting.