The Paper Creative LLC-Stamp the Fun Up

Hi crafty peeps! Once again, I am excited and honored to be a guest designer for the July Release of Artistry By Altenew’s Paint-by-Numbers Instant Artist sets! I cannot remember the last time I did a paint by number…. lol, probably back when I was a kid, so holy cow was this a fun release! It brought back all the feels 🙂 I used the Altenew Acrylic markers on both of these patterns, however, I did a lot of mixed media experimenting with the Lillies. These two sets, Feathered Foliage and Artistic Blooms are 8″ x 10″ sheets, perfect for framing, or you can cut them down to card size as I did. The sheets are made of 140 pound water color cardstock (so it will hold up to pretty much anything you put on it-and trust, me, I used as many media as I could!) If you are unsure on your ability of using the acrylic markers, or don’t trust your own hand to follow the lines, let me tell you, turning the Lillies into a mixed media project really changed the game of following the lines. I layered acrylic markers, watercolor, woodless watercolor pencils, and the dual tip pens. I finished it off with a coat of iridescent spray. If anything, these are a great way to practice layering media which is a huge crafty passion of mine.

The third card is from the smaller Blossoming Florals set. I paired the tulips sheet with the Tulips stencil and embossing folder. After coloring the paint by number sheet, I cut the flowers and leaves out and layered them over the embossed background, using bits of foam tape to add depth.

I really love the options with these sets! Head on over to the Altenew store to get yours, just click the link below:

https://altenew.com?sca_ref=6442205.Cy3WhHYLAt

I hope you consider giving these a try! If you do, don’t forget to tag @altenewllc and me @scrappystampthefunup on Instagram, we’d love to see your work!

Artistry By Altenew Paint-by-Number Instant Artist Artistic Blooms

Artistry By Altenew Paint-by-Number Instant Artist Feathered Foliage

Scrappy here, dropping in with a Stampin’ Up! update! I will be posting monthly host codes as the beginning of each month right here on the website blog so make sure you click on the “create account” tab and enter your email, so you get that update and any and all updates of all my up-coming crafty shenanigans. What you’ll do is, go to Stampinup.com, create your order and on your order, you will see an area to enter a host code. This code is good for any order under $150. IF YOUR ORDER IS OVER $150, do not enter it online, email it to me at stampthefunup@yahoo.com because when your order is $150 or more you get free stuff!!

This month’s host code is: NPECURRY

Also, July is Bonus Days! For every $50 you spend, you will get $5 to use in August. And let me tell you, right now I highly recommend heading to the website and checking out the online exclusive page-it’s basically its own catalog of super cool new items that are only available online.

If you haven’t checked out my YouTube page in a while, head on over there now and subscribe so you can catch all my new content. I am happy to announce that I can now do voice-over videos so I can get more crafty goodness out to you 🙂

That’s all for now, but stay tuned, another post will be coming tomorrow 😉

How fun is this month’s inspiration photo?!? I love all the bright colors in this photo. I challenged myself to use these bright cheerful colors in a celebration card that was non birthday. I am super happy with how my project turned out. To check out the rest of the design team photos and to play along with the challenge, click the link below 🙂

https://inspirationstationchallenge.blogspot.com

I’ll start my spiel about this project with a pro tip: whether or not you swatch your inks, I highly suggest making a swatch per project.

I then chose my color pallet from my scrap stash.

I made this a 5×7″ card because my envision for it was that it should have enough room for a bunch of balloons. I made the card base from a pale pink so the layers of color I planned to add would pop.

I wanted to make layers of texture and geometric shapes because I think, regardless of the colors or theme of a card, sticking to a structural base or background can make any aesthetic look sophisticated.

I cut a fuchsia layer of cardstock at 4 3/4″ x 6 3/4″ and then measured out lime green triangles. To give the structure of the card some texture, I chose the Angled Mosaic 3D embossing folder from Altenew-my absolute favorite for subtle, sophisticated structure building. Before running them through, I laid the triangles in a way on the inside of the folder so the pattern of the folder would keep a consistent pattern on them. ran the triangles thru the 3D embossing folder from Altenew,

Using a scrap of the light pink paper from the card base, I laid it in the area between the two green triangles. This is where I was going to build up for the sentiment.

On top of the light pink layer, I measured out some white cardstock to stamp the sentiment on. I did make light pencil marks at the center of the white cardstock. This is so I can stamp the words and they will be centered on the front of the card once the white stirp is adhered.

Woo hoo it worked!

I trimmed the sentiment strips down then glued the entire panel to the face off the card.

I used scraps with coordinating ink to stamp balloons using Mini Delight sets from Altenew.

Thank the crafting gods for the invention of sticky mats! I laid the balloons face down on a sticky mat and using some festive bakers’ twine and regular cellophane tape, I attached strings. I left the string long, probably at least twice as long as the card so I could play with the strings and arrange them how I wanted.

I attached the balloons to the card face. A couple of them I used adhesive foam dots to attach so they were floating over the other that were glued flat to the card face. I then took a small piece of twine and tied a bow round the balloon strings. I set the bow firmly to the card face with a glue dot and trimmed the strings up.

I really am happy that this project came out exactly how I had envisioned it. I can’t wait to see your takes on this inspiration photo, so be sure click the link above to check out and play along with the challenge! Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!

https://inspirationstationchallenge.blogspot.com

Welcome to another inspired month at The Inspiration Station! Unfortunately, since I made this card, my studio is in the process of a total remodel… great for me, however, EVERYTHING I have is in a box somewhere in my house! So, I cannot list out exactly what was used in this month’s creation, but, I can tell you I was inspired by that one, random cornflower blue flower on the right side of the basked, and I really wanted to stick to the jewel tones I was picking up from the inspiration picture. What inspires you from this month’s inspiration pic? Click the link above to follow this month’s hop and play along with the challenge! I can’t wait to see what you create!

It’s here, it’s here!! Click the link below to sign up for this year’s Educator Craft Fest!!

https://altenew.com/pages/aecp-cardmaking-workshops

Click the link below to head over the Altenew store to pick up the kit for this event!

https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=888816&u=2976214&m=66850&urllink=&afftrack=

Woohoo!! It is time to celebrate double digits!!! Thanks for stopping by after checking out Erin Thompson’s blog www.everydayexpression.com I wish I could say my 10th birthday was this fun lol, but I did get a Barbie doll, so that was super cool! Hop along with us as we all celebrate the first in many milestones for Altenew!! I am so proud to be a part of this amazing crafty family!! Head on over to April Leithner’s blog Inky Creations with April – Creating Handmade Hugs with Stamping and Papercrafting or you can start at the beginning at:

Altenew https://wp.me/p6Dps1-jZX 

https://www.craftstash.co.uk/inspiration/

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/?p=93385

https://www.paperieexpressions.com/

https://www.thelittlecraftcorner.com/

https://www.everydayexpression.com/

https://stampthefunup.com/ <—— YOU ARE HERE

https://inkycreationswithapril.com/

https://rejoicingcrafts.com

Home – Cut Color & Create (cutcolorandcreate.com)

https://designsbymichi.blogspot.com/?m=1

Nicki Hearts Cards – Cardmaking – Scrapbooking – Paper crafting – Blog

• Blog hop full list (use the InLinkz provided below)

Giveaway Prizes CHECK OUT WHO’S COMING TO THE PARTY!!!

Over $3,500 in total prizes! We are giving away a $50 Altenew gift certificate to 10 winners, a $20 ArtistrybyAltenew gift certificate to 5 winners, and an online papercrafting class ($39.99 value) from Altenew Academy Online Class to 14 winners. There are also 28 awesome companies/crafty friends who are celebrating with us, and they are offering the following prizes:

• Altenew: 10 x $50 Altenew Gift Certificates
• ArtistrybyAltenew: 5 x $20 ArtistrybyAltenew Gift Certificates
• Altenew Academy: 14 x Online Papercrafting Classes ($39.99 value each)
• Crafter’s Companion: 1 x Gemini II Die Cutting and Embossing Machine ($329 value)
• LDRS Creative: 4 x $50 LDRS Creative Gift Certificates
• Online Card Classes: 5 x Online Card Classes ($25 value each)
• Jennifer McGuire Ink: 1 Share Handmade Kindness goodies bag ($100 value)
• Honey Bee Stamps: $100 Gift Certificate
• Hero Arts: $100 Gift Certificate
• Lawn Fawn: $100 Gift Certificate
• Pink and Main: $100 Gift Certificate
• Scrapbook & Cards Today: $100 Gift Certificate
• Taylored Expressions: $100 Gift Certificate
• Gina K. Designs: $100 Gift Certificate
• CraftStash: $100 Gift Certificate
• Brutus Monroe: $100 Gift Certificate
• Picket Fence Studios: $50 Gift Certificate
• Pelletier Craft Studio: 3 x $25 Gift Certificates
• Michelle’s Cards and Stamps: AUD $100 Gift Certificate
• Spellbinders Paper Arts: 2 x $25 Gift Certificates
• Scrapbook.com: $50 Gift Certificate
• My Craft Room: $50 Gift Certificate
• Krafters Cart: $50 Gift Certificate
• A Cherry on Top: $50 Gift Certificate
• Simon Says Stamp: $50 Gift Certificate
• My Favorite Things: $50 Gift Certificate
• Pinkfresh Studio: $50 Gift Certificate
• Bumbleberry Papercrafts: £25 Gift Certificate
• Seize the Stamp: CHF 25 Gift Certificate
• MarkerPop: $25 Gift Certificate
• Auzz Trinklets N Krafts: AUD $25 Gift Certificate

Be sure to leave comments along the hop by 04/16/2024 for a chance to win one of 68 prizes! To make the hop more exciting, start your comment with “Hi from (city or country where you’re from)!” 68 winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the blogs listed below and will be announced on the Altenew Card Blog on 04/19/2024.

Anniversary Special Offers

• 20% off Stamp & Die & Stencil Bundles and More until 04/04/2024 at 11:59 PM EDT. Shop here: https://altenew.com/collections/popular-bundles Exclusions apply. Not valid on previous purchases.
• Receive a FREE Craft Your Life Tote Bag($12.99 value) on orders over $79 on 04/03/2024 from 12:01 am EDT until 11:59 pm EDT. While supplies last, the free gift will be added to your cart automatically. Shop here → https://altenew.com/
• FREE U.S. shipping on orders over $29 (no code needed) or $10 OFF international shipping on orders over $129 with code HAPPY10TH at checkout until 04/05/2024 at 11:59 pm EDT. Not valid on prior purchases. Shop here →

https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=888816&u=2976214&m=66850&urllink=&afftrack=

Here’s a few highlighted projects of mine over the last year:

Above is this month’s inspiration photo and below is the link to hop along!

https://inspirationstationchallenge.blogspot.com/

Bring on all the Earth love this month! Here’s my take on the inspiration photo, and i feel it came out nearly exactly like it did in my workbook. Yes, it’s a shaker card too! Below is how I created it with things from my stash!

First of all, this is an A1 card base from 80lb Nenah solar white cardstock. The panel on the front is 110lb Nenah solar white cardstock with a die-cut circle I cut out and kept it closer to the top than bottom because I knew I wanted this row o houses to run along the bottom and just slightly cover the bottom of the “world” so I did use the largest circle die I felt I could without losing room around the edge of the panel for adding the foam tape behind it.

The “Earth” was made with some sloppy mixing of watercolors: blues for water, browns for earth area. I mixed them together on a panel of Cason 140lb cold press watercolor cardstock. I spritzed the painted area with water and wipe it off with paper towel. then i heat set it with my heat gun. I repeated this process a couple times until I got a good look.

To create clouds, I used just a small amount of watered down Cloud Whip and applied with a palette knife in specific areas over the “earth” painted panel.

The neighborhood was a very large sticker I have had in my stash, and I have no idea where it came from. I stuck it to a scrap of cardstock, then cut off a line of “clouds”. I stuck it to the front base of the card, then trimmed it to fit.

To create the shaker element, I glued the “earth” panel to the front of the card. On the cut-out panel, I flipped it over and taped an acetate panel over the cut-out circle. I then folded my double-sided foam tape in half to double up the size and laid it around the area for the shaker bits and also around the edge of the panel. I chose some earthy colored shaker bits and set those on the “earth” panel, in the center.

Then I attached the cut-out panel over that.

What a fun class we had this past Saturday, 03/30/2024. We learned how to bring all the skills and concepts of fine art watercolor and colored pencil into the work of paper crafting-making it an easier and more accessible art form for those of us who are not fine art painters. And of course, becoming brave and empowered as we went. Everyone did amazing! I am so proud with how far everyone has come with their bravery in trying new things. We learned pro-tips with watercolor:

And for colored pencils:

After class, the students were given homework assignments to expand on what they learned in class-I cannot wait to see how they finish their projects!! Here’s what I did with my examples I used in class. Can’t wait for next class! The link to the Altenew shop is below the photos here, so you can get all your crafty supplies!

Simple botanicals are a great base for masculine cards, so that’s the direction I went with these: a 5 x 7″ and an A2 card I used Altenew Craft cardstock spritzed with Altenew Antique gold ink spray. I cut an oval out of the craft panel for the A2 card to highlight the best parts of my botanical panel. For the 5 x 7″ card, I also spritzed the cardstock panel, but it will be used as a frame for the panel.

I chose some supplies to finish the cards:

I added some antiquing to the craft cardstock face panel for the A2 sized card for a more mature asthetic:

Finished cards! Simple 🙂

Click the link below to shop the Altenew store!

https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=888816&u=2976214&m=66850&urllink=&afftrack=

Above is my take on the colors that inspired me from this month’s inspiration photo below.

Click the link below to check out all the amazing projects on this month’s hop or to jump in and play along!

https://inspirationstationchallenge.blogspot.com/

I started this project with picking the colors I wanted to use, since the colors are what inspired me for from this picture, as well as the challenge of making pink an official color for St. Patrick’s Day, lol.

Like last year’s March project, I wanted to do another impact card so I chose a 6 x6: pop-up easle card.

Next, I thought I’d try something I’ve never done before in an easel pop-up card. I used a concentric oval die to cut out a window.

I used all scraps of paper to make everything on this card, and loved the dark, rough green I chose for the card face and inside. However, it is a really cheap cardstock so of course the design cracked all over when I embossed it with the Book Cover Engravings 3D embossing folder from Altenew.

No worries, some dry brushing in Altenew Crisp Dye Green Opal Ink and some gilding with some Tsukneko Co. Dew Drop in Brilliance covered the cracks right up.

And since I had the Green Opal ink out, I did three stampings on the inside panel, off-set on the left corner with the In the Woodland stamp set from Altenew. I had to do three stampings, made much easier thanks to the Altenew Stamping Wheel, because this cardstock has a canvas like texture so the first stamping didn’t stand out over that.

To assemble the card so the easel pops up, the front of the card base is folded in half. I put glue on the right side of the folded front and then place the cover layer over the entire card face. This way only half the card layer sticks to the base below and this is what allows it to pop up.

I then used the next size up from this oval die to cut out a frame from gold cardstock.

I set an acrylic stamp block on top of this to set up good once I glued the frame over the hole. While that was setting up, I picked out scraps of pink patterned paper, pink metallic and gold metallic cardstock and used the Charming Foliage layering die set from Altenew to make a whole bunch of leaves, greens and flowers to accent this card.

I glued these all up, set them aside to dry and went back to the card. Behind the window I glued some vintage look patterned vellum.

On the front side, I used an old wood block shamrock stamp and a custom mix of embossing powder, Pesto (green) from Recollections and Copper by Darice to emboss on the vellum window.

Next I created my floral bouquet on the front.

I used the cut-out oval scraps to make the stopper inside the card (pro tip: use two layers of foam tape to make your stopper high enough to work good) and used some leftover flowers and leaves to embellish the stopper.

I hope you like this project! Don’t be afraid to push things and go for some “Maximalism” as I talked about in my previous post regarding 2024 trends. Something to note: pinks and greens go well to gather because they are variations of red and true green which are complimentary colors on the color wheel. And also, never cry over cracked cardstock! It’s an opportunity to add depth and interest with dry brushing or gilding!

Don’t forget, if you try any of the techniques I used in the project, or you re-create this project, please tag me on IG @scrappystampthefunup, I would love to see your work! See you all next month and good luck if you jump on the hop challenge!

https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=888816&u=2976214&m=66850&urllink=&afftrack=

Click the link above to snag the Altenew products I used in this project, from the Altenew store

Hello my crafty peeps! So, first of all, not gonna lie; last week was a bad week and I ended up falling asleep under a pile of cats after work last Wednesday and totally forgot to do a Facebook Live! So, head over to the Facebook page and check out the amended events page for the upcoming live crafting.

BIG NEWS hitting my social media this week, so make sure you have an account here, so you get the details via email and follow me on Instagram @scrappystampthefunup. Hint: Altenew Retreat I will be teaching at in April!! Woot woot!! I am beyond proud and excited for this opportunity!!!

I know you don’t see me using the markers much, but I go through Tombow glue like water!! They are having an amazing sale until March 7th, hit the link below to check it out!

https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=913105&u=2976214&m=67805&urllink=&afftrack=

Here’s some 2024 trends you may wanna think about if you are in a crafting slump-I search fashion, home, art and designer sites to try and bring inspiration into my paper crafting. Head over to the Pinterest page (link at the bottom of this post) for all kinds of new inspiration photos, but in the meantime, below is my list of design trends to try this year.

Potpourri: combine multiple design styles, i.e. modern with shabby chic.

Handcrafted look: vintage pieces in artsy display or colors.

Maximalism: go extra! Don’t stop at the rule of 3, make it the rule of 7.

Bold patterns: backgrounds with bold patterns look amazing when accessorized with solid black embellishments.

Wallpaper: funky is back. Think vintage colors and modern shapes, or random animals in 70’s colors, large leaves in bold prints, etc…

Biophilic design: use natural materials and found objects.

Shapes: curves and organic shapes are in!

If you try any of the above trends, be sure to comment here or tag me in Instagram, I’d love to see your work! Stay tuned, tomorrow is the monthly post for The Inspiration Station Blog Challenge, so make sure you check that out to join the hop and win a prize!! See you soon!