Just Because

26th March 2021

Today I have a very quick and cheerful card for you using the first release from Crafty Purple Frog which I am currently addicted too.

I started but stamping some of the images from the Flowers and Berries stamp set in Versa Mark ink, this ink stays wet for a while and allows you to use embossing powders with it. For this card I used WOW! bright white embossing powder and went ahead and heat set the powder on my card layer.  After I did this I used Distress Oxide inks in colours of my choice, (I like bright colours so I chose Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers and Picked Rasberry) to blend over the embossed images with my blending brushes, once Iwas happy with my blend I gently rubbed over the top with a tissue, this takes the ink off the embossing and makes the images pop out.

I layered the piece onto black card, this seems to be my go to at the moment as it helps to draw your eye into the card.  I then selected two sentiments from the Just Because stamp set, stamped and layered them and attached them to my card. I went for Just Because and  I wanted to make you smile as I am sending the card to a friend who needs a little cheering up.

I hope you give this card a go, it was fun to make and could easily be replicated many times.

Take care and keep crafting

Lucy xx

Supplies used from Crafty Purple Frog

Flowers and Berries Stamp Set

Just Because Stamp Set

Distress Oxide Inks

Beautiful Blender Brushes by Time for Tea Designs

WOW! Bright White Embossing Powder

A Gift For You Part 2 - The Packaging

 As promised I am back again to show you how I made this cute little box with belly band.

First off I picked a colour of card that compliments the cards I made yesterday, I decided to go with the yellow because it is cheerful and inviting. I cut this 11.5 x 6.25 inches. I stamped over the card with the largest sunflower from the Flowers and Berries set from CPF and then scored on the opposite side, I have marked the card in the photo below with measurements.

I then cut up the sides to form the tabs to enable me to put the box together. ***  

Next step is to apply adhesive to all the tabs I have drawn squiggles on - the adhesive must go on the stamped side. I tend to gule 2 opposite tabs at the same time this way the box will form as you go along.

Now you will see how well your 4 cards and envelopes will fit into the box.

I have a small circle punch in my crafty stash and I used that to cut out a half circle from the lid of the box to make opening easier....***if you don't have a punch you could also use a small die but be sure to do this before you glue your box together***.

I then decided to add a belly band to the box closed and make it look pretty. To do this I cut a couple of strips of black card at 0.75 of an inch and joined them together. I wrapped them round the box snipped them to size and joined them up, I try to get the joins in the middle of the top and bottom of the band. To spruce them up abit I stamped a large sunflower on white card and coloured it in the same manner as I did in yesterday's blog post, I fussy cut it out and added a gold glitter card circle to the centre.  As I was looking through my ribbon draw I came across some thin yellow ribbon and thought that would add a cut touch to the box so I tied that round the belly band and added the sunflower in the middle..be sure to only attach this to the band otherwise you will have problems getting into your box. On a whim and last minute decison I popped a couple of gems on the band and used Wink of Stellar in the centres of all the sunflowers I stamped on the box.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post.

Stay Safe and keep Crafting.

Lucy xx

Supplies used available from Crafty Pruple Frog - 

Flowers and Berries Stamp Set by Crafty Purple Frog 

Versafine Clair Summertime Ink

Versafine Clair Verdant Ink

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Supplies from other places - 

Wink of Stellar

A Gift for You

 A Gift of Cards for a Friend

12th March, 2021

Hi crafters I am back with a cute little gift set of 4 cards and envelopes that you can give to someone for whatever reason you see fit...or just because you can.

To start this set I decided to go with 4x4 inch square cards. I cut 4 pieces of white card to 3.75x 3.75 inches and whipped out my Flowers and Berries stamp set by Craft Purple Frog. I chose the big sunflower and stamped this in Memento Black ink on all 4 cards in the middle..I also stamped and cut out a mask.

Next I opted to use Versafine Clair ink as I find them bright and cheerful, for my cards I used Summertime, Charming Pink and Purple Delight. I then masked these over one at a time and stamped in the leaf from the same stamp set, first the outline then I used Versafine Claire Verdant ink for the solid leaf. At this point I decided to layer the flowers up so stamped out 4 more and coloured them in the same way.

I cut out all my extra flowers and used foam dots on the back of them to pop them up on top of flowers already stamped on the cards. I then added sentiments from The Sett and the Just Because stamps sets also from Crafty Purple Frog...I used ones I thought would work for other people to give away, I added colour to these where I could with my Spectrum Noir Tri Blend Markers. 

To top the sunflowers off I cut circles of glitter card and popped them up in the centre of each sunflower and added some rhinestone gems around the card to add a touch more sparkle along with some faux stitching around the edges to pull the cards together.

I picked out complimentary card stock from my stash and cut 4 pieces 8 x 4 inches and folded in half before adhering the fronts to the card. 

Thank you for joining me again today, I hope you enjoyed my little make. I will be back tomorrow with a box to pop these cards into.

Take care and keep crafting

Lucy xx

Supplies used - 

Flowers and Berries Stamp Set by Purple Crafty Frog

Sentiment Sett by Crafty Purple Frog

Just Because Stamp Set by Crafty Purple Frog

Versafine Inks

Spectrum Noir Tri Blend Markers

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Spread your wings

 February 26th, 2021

A very good morning to you all. I am very pleased to be here with another card using the gorgeous Spread Your Wings stamp set from Crafty Purple Frog. 

Ok let's get going. For this card I opted to go with a blue theme as the stamp set has a swan in it, so the blue tied in the water element for me. First of all I used the Splash Stencil with Tumbed Glass Oxide ink and a blender brush (I already have these in use but will link to some others in the supplies list below)  to get these super cute little rain drops trickling down my card front..I used a C6 size card for this.

Once I have my card front stencilled, I cut out a frame from the Time for Tea Designs Zig Zag Frame and Tags die set from blue card stock, and 2 pieces which were taller than needed using the Heffy Doodle Slopey Joe dies..they will be used to give the effect of water and we can cut them down when we know how tall they need to be. The frame and card base will also be trimmed down at the end as the Zig Zag Frame is an American sizing..however this really doesn't matter as it can still work.

Now we have to stamp and colour the swan and lots of reeds. For the swan I just outlined him in a very pale grey..Copic marker C1, and for the reeds I used E71, E57 and YG05. 

When you have coloured them go ahead and cut them all out...it took me quite a while as fussy cutting isn't my forte but these images are really worth taking the time over. Once I had cut them all out I decided to take some Salty Ocean Oxide ink and my blender brush to add a different tone on the water edges and the Zig Zag frame. I then started to lay out all my pieces to see the card coming together. 

As I was laying this card out I decided to add a shaker element to give the card some movement and try and add a little splash! I used some sequins I had in my stash. You will need a piece of acetate big enough to fit behind the frame. Time to put this card together.

Using your shortest water piece adhere to the back of the frame at the bottom and then stick the acetate down to the back of that piece and to the back of the frame. I then arranged all my images onto the card with some inside the shaker window and some on the outside. When I was ready I added foam tapef rom Heffy Doodle to the back on my card with the acetate on and laid down some sequins to the back of my card..and carefully remove the release paper from the foam tape and stick the front onto the back. 

I decided not to add a sentiment at this time as I'm not sure who the recipient will be at the moment. Little Tip - I always keep a stash of ready to go sentiments for cards like this, you can then add one for the occassion at the time.

I hope you enjoyed this post ... I will be back soon with more from designs from Crafty Purple Frog and maybe some other things in between.

Take Care and stay crafty.

Supplies used - 

Splash Stencil from Crafty Purple Frog

Spread You Wings stamp set from Crafty Purple Frog

Tumbled Glass Oxide Ink

Zig Zag Frame and Tag Dies from Time For Tea Designs

Slopey Joes Dies from heffy Doodle

Blender Brushes fromTime For Tea Designs

Crafty Purple Frog Launch

Can I badger you for a cuppa sometime?

February 19th, 2021

Whoop whoop here we are on Friday 19th February and the lovely Amy from Crafty Purple Frog has launched her very own hand drawn range of stamps and stencils....it has been in the making for a while and we here at the Crafty Purple Frog design team are over the moon for her. (I am uber excited to have been chosen to be on the DT for Amy).

For my first card using these awesome products I have gone with a simple, bright and fun card which is perfect for the current Covid 19 situation, yet includes a technique for first time crafts or the more established crafters out there. 

To start I cut a white layer from Heffy Doodle Alcohol Marker friendly card which I am currently addicted to as it gives a great base for blending colours together and its so smooth to work on. I cut the layer at 3.75 x 3.75 inches (sorry i'm old school and haven't fully allowed CMs into my crafty life). Next I found something circular which fit onto the card about half an inch in from the top, bottom and sides to draw around in pencil, that way we can rub it out before we colour our images, I used a roll of tape for this.

I then stamped the the small sunflower from the Flowers and Berries stamp set at the top making sure that the circle I drew went through the centre of each image, I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink for this as it is alcohol marker friendly. At the same time I stamped an extra 3 sunflowers onto Heffy Doodle memo tape to make some masks.

I masked off the first sunflower and continued to stamp around to the end where you will need another mask to get that last sunflower in place. Once all stamped I rubbed out the line.

To stamp the badger from The Sett stamp set I needed to mask off the 3 bottom sunflowers to make it look like the badger is behind the them. Tip-add so more memo tape to the bottom of the card so you don't get any of the badger on the bottom!  Once stamped I coloured the sunflowers using Spectrum Noir Tri-Blends and the badger using Copics, you don't have to use these markers you can use what you already have in your stash. To make the badger complete I stamped out the tea cup, coloured it and popped it in the badgers paw my making a small slit with a craft knife.

To finish the card off I stamped my sentiment from the Sentiments Sett using an embossing ink onto black card, covered in white embossing powder and heat set with my heat tool. To add a bit of dimension I used foam dots to pop this up on my card.

I hope you like my card and it inspires you to get crafty.  I'll be back in the coming daysweeks with more cards made from The Craft Purple Frogs creations. 

Happy Crafting.

Supplies used which can all be found in the Crafty Purple Frog Online Store - 

The Sett Stamp Set 

Sentiments Sett 

Flowers & Berries Stamp Set 

Heffy Doodle Alcohol Marker Friendly Card

Heffy Doodle Memo Tape

Memento Tuxeo Black Ink

Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend Markers

WOW White Embossing Powder

Absotoothly Awesome 

For this card I used the super cute Heffy Doodle Absotoothly Awesome stamp set and co-ordinating dies, Tim Holtz/Ranger Distress Oxides which are amazing to blend with but can do so much more. To colour the fairies i used Spectrum Noir Tri-Blends which are a great alcohol marker and because you get 3 pens in one they are super to travel with.

Well hello there...it has been the best part of three years since I have posted here..shame on me but life has got in the way and alot has happened.
I am easing back on Stapmin Up demonstratorship as it just is lucrative enough for me to keep going..but in turn this has opened my eyes to new brands that I would have complete bypassed before..a few of which are Lawn Fawn, Heffy Doodle, My Favourite Things and Ranger...particularly their distress oxide inks that are so smooth and blenderly delicious.
Any I hope you will enjoy some of my new posts usings all the above products and more.
Xx