Challenges, Crop & Create Delivered, Stencils

Day 4 of my virgin product challenge

I forgot to post this card on the weekend – but oh boy it makes me chuckle … as soon as I saw this sentiment by scrapbook.com I knew I wanted to use a stocking stamp or die with it.

Lots of firsts with this card – the tartan paper, the sentiment stamp and the fireplace stencil. The Mama Elephant stamp was from a class at Crop & Create Delivered – it’s actually a crumpled up tissue, but I thought it’d work perfectly as lumps of coal … it worked out so much better than I expected! I just love this whole card so very much!!

Supplies used:

  • Fireplace stencil by Honey Bee Stamps
  • Stockings die by Stampin’ Up!
  • Red and white velvet specialty papers by Stampin’ Up! (I ink blended the white paper with green ink for the stocking cuff)
  • Feel Better stamp and die set by Mama Elephant
  • Naughty and Nice stamp by scrapbook.com
  • Jolly Christmas paper by Memory Box
Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Delivered – Honey Bee Stamps

Last but not least – our final class of the weekend event, with Mari Clarke and Honey Bee Stamps. I’d only ever made one shaker card prior to this, and that wasn’t very long ago. I’m now a lot more confident making them, and I really love these cards. Once again, it goes to show how simple designs can be so effective and will have totally different looks just by changing out the papers and colours used – I’m looking forward to making more. I own a couple of Honey Bee products already, but this has really expanded my collection beautifully as I own nothing like these dies from any other companies.

Some things I loved about this class:

  • Some really fun and versatile dies in layering sizes that are super useful not just for shakers.
  • The fun collection of papers we got to choose from – I never thought of using patterned paper with sentiment dies 💙
  • The awesome shadow layer sentiment dies – I need to buy more of these, they’re amazing.
  • I’ve only ever made one shaker card before so this helped give me more ideas and built my confidence.
  • I really love sentiments that have the option of matching stamps or dies for the word – love love love it.

The inks I used were Gina K Designs Dusty Rose, Sweet Corn and Powder Blue.

Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Delivered – Pinkfresh Studio

The third Sunday class was with Laura Bassen and Pinkfresh Studio – I was really looking forward to this class, as I’d totally fallen in love with the blue card we’d seen in the sneak peeks (I may or may not have since ordered more blue inks since the class). I wasn’t disappointed, these are stunners, and it was really fun seeing how one set of stencils can be used in multiple ways. This was the first time I’d used Pinkfresh products, and another one that’s now on my wishlist for more items in the future.

Some things I loved about this class:

  • The beautiful stamp set is gorgeous on its own but using stencils to colour the images is awesome fun.
  • I love the font style and versatile sentiments in the stencils along with the coordinating dies.
  • I really love he soft pastel look of the projects which is totally different to my usual style – and I ADORE the monochrome blue version, what a stunner!

The inks I used for each card:

  1. Hello card
    Altenew – Rose Quartz, Sea Breeze
    Gina K Designs – Sweet Mango, Lemon Drop, Sea Glass (shading on the sentiment)
    Concord & 9th – Sprout
  2. Thinking of you card
    Altenew – Sea Breeze
    Simon Hurley – Clear Skies
    Tim Holtz – Prize Ribbon distress
  3. Thank you card
    Gina K Designs – Sweet Mango, Lemon Drop, Tranquil Teal
    Stampin’ Up! – Pale Papaya
    Simon Hurley – Slippery When Wet

Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Delivered – Taylored Expressions

The second class on the Sunday with was Taylored Expressions. On a high from the Concord & 9th class, I decided to keep going with the lives – this once kicked off at around 3.30am in Australia, and I managed to keep up right until 4.30am when we had to get the paper cutter out to start chopping. At that point I decided I’d better get some sleep before playing with a guillotine blade 😉 I was pretty happy I’d managed to get all the stencilling completed before bed-time, though, and really love these cards!

Some things I loved about this class:

  • Quad stencils are so much FUN! And they’re so clever – my first, but not my last!
  • The style of these cards is so versatile – just swap out the colours for amazing different looks … I can’t wait to make more!
  • I was a bit nervous about my colour choices but it turned out OK – once I started ink blending and seeing the results I realized that in fact you could pretty much use any colours and it would be stunning. It made me more confident to enjoy the process and experiment.
  • The stamp set of sentiments etc is awesome – really versatile and love the font styles 💙

The Poblano Pepper cardstock was provided by Taylored Expressions and I chose a Gina K Designs ink that was similar to it for my darkest ink colour (Christmas Pine). The Gina K inks I used were: Sea Glass, Grass Green, Blue Denim and Christmas Pine.

Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Delivered – Concord & 9th

The class with Cathy Zielske and Concord & 9th was the first class of the Sunday sessions, and I was still awake when it started live – it was 1.30am here in Australia. I was so excited to be able to watch a class live, and even managed to create along with Cathy and finished my cards during the class – the only time that happened throughout the event. Such an awesome class and products!

Some things I loved about this class:

  • The pace for me was perfect and I managed to keep up.
  • Cathy is always fun to watch with clean and simple cards that pack a punch.
  • I adore the pop up dies and the stamps – I love everything about these products, and I’ve already used them since the event! 💙
  • I’m new to Concord & 9th and loved having the opportunity to try the inks too – the colours are scrumptious and so luscious to use.
  • I love that I made cards in class for the first (and only) time.

All cardstock and inks were supplied by Concord & 9th for the class, which was so great to see and play with another brand, and great colour choices too.

Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Delivered – Lawn Fawn

The last class from the Saturday sessions was with Jenn Shurkus and Lawn Fawn. I’ll be honest, this one scared me the most, and I really loved it! I’ve never been tempted by the Lawn Fawn teeny images, but I’m a convert now. That’s one thing I’ve loved about the Crop & Create Delivered classes … different styles and different brands, and trying things I’d never normally purchase for myself, and often being pleasantly surprised by the end results!

Some things I loved about this class:

  • Copic colouring isn’t quite as scary as I expected – is mine perfect? Hell no. Was it fun? Heck yes!
  • All the little critters and teeny tiny elements had always put me off this style, I’ll be honest. After trying it myself, though, I’ve realized how much fun it is!
  • Getting pushed outside your comfort zone is an awesome thing to do – if you embrace it and keep your mind open, you can’t help but be richer for it afterwards.
  • I’ll never look at critter stamps the same way again. Thanks Jenn and Lawn Fawn for broadening my horizons.
  • Using less colours and overlapping to create the rainbow ink blending – genius!

Other than the recommended Copics, the ink colours I used were Dusty Rose, Wild Dandelion and Blue Lagoon by Gina K Designs, and Crown Me by Simon Hurley.

Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Delivered – Hero Arts

The class with Libby Hickson and Hero Arts was another fun one. I’d never made a card with vellum before, and the easel card was the only style I’d made previously (although never a horizontal version. I was really nervous about colouring such a large image (the bunny) with Copics, but it wasn’t too bad in the end.

Some things I loved about this class:

  • Being challenged by colouring a large image – it really stretched me, which is good.
  • I love the cherry stamps – so effective creating the cheery bright background just with cherries – something I haven’t tried before, nor have I tried vellum for the card base – lots of new learnings!
  • I adore the sweet bunny card – the stencil background is so cheery, and I’ll definitely use it more in the future.
  • I really dislike fussy cutting, but it was so worth it for these fun projects! I may or may not have since ordered the dies for the bunnies and flowers, though, as I’ll definitely be doing more of these.

I used Gina K Designs inks for my cards – Turquoise Sea, Jelly Bean Green, Red Hot, Cherry Red, and Grass Green.

Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Delivered – The Stamp Market

The class with Amy Yingling and The Stamp Market was a challenging one – but I really enjoyed it, and the results were worth all the effort!

Some things I loved about this class:

  • I was well and truly out of my comfort zone trying some techniques for the first time – it was terrific! I’ve tried masking off parts of sentiments before but hadn’t considered a rainbow of colours – so effective!
  • I used glitter for the first time ever with stencil paste – a fun new technique for me. Luckily the one solitary pot of glitter that I own just happened to be the right colour for the class! 😉
  • Such fun bold fonts on both the sentiments and stencil and really versatile sentiments – I’ll be using this one quite a bit, I think.

I used Gina K Designs for my ink choices, matching the cardstock as closely as possible

Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Delivered – Gina K Designs

This was the first ‘official’ main class of the weekend, in which we got to make three cards in every class. Gina is the reason I found out about Crop & Create Delivered when she announced in her Facebook group that she was going to be teaching a class there. I couldn’t sign up quick enough! Gina’s class didn’t disappoint, and her new layering daisies stencil is so lovely – such a great addition to my stash. Gina K Designs will always be a firm favourite of mine, all Gina’s products are super high quality, just like the lady herself 🙂

Some things I loved about this class:

  • Being pushed outside my comfort zone colourwise again – I decided to follow the colourways for the classes and I wouldn’t have chosen them myself, but really love the results (I’m not a pink fan so I was pleasantly surprised how much I loved the pink card).
  • I love Gina’s style of teaching and card layouts, always so beautiful.
  • The new stencil set is gorgeous and a great addition to my Gina K arsenal that will be used a lot – and I just love this style font of the ‘forever’ word dies
  • I’m already thinking of new colourways to try!

Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Delivered – Kristina Werner

Friday night was the official kick-off to the weekend’s main classes and and after Catherine and Gina opened the event, Kristina taught us how to make these cards. This was such a lovely class with Kristina – it used an exclusive stamp set by Scrapbook & Cards Today, and I really loved the end results of heat embossing an image over the cardstock strip background. I’m definitely going to do more of this in the future, so simple but oh so effective!

Some things I loved about this class:

  • As a ‘non pink lover’ I pushed myself out of my comfort zone colourwise to try new-to-me colour combos, and really enjoyed doing it.
  • I love the simplicity of this design – it’s really impactful, elegant and contemporary.
  • It’s a new style for me, and I really love the endless possibilities.

I used cardstock from scrapbook.com for all of my cards, with white embossing powder by Gina K Designs.