Tag: Cardmaking 101

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Birthday Card Club 2017!

StampinByHannah Birthday Card Club using Stampin' Up! UK products

Birthday Card Club

I am so excited for the start of my Birthday Card Club 2017! This themed club lasts for 6 months, and gives you 24 great birthday cards for your family and friends – never be short of a birthday card when you need one!

Month 1 costs £45 and includes the fabulous Balloon Adventure stamp set, an Emerald Envy Ink Pad, a whole pack of Whisper White envelopes and a Fast Fuse PLUS you get to choose a great Sale-a-bration item too! as well as a card kit to make 4 Birthday cards with written instruction sheets.

Months 2-6 cost just £10 a month, each month you will receive a card kit of card stock, Designer Series Paper and embellishments to make 4 great cards.

Sign-up is open now, but I will not be collecting payments until 4th January 2017. You can join the club at any time in January, for club to start on the 1st February. The following 6 months club kits will ship mid-month, and you can add anything to your club order by dropping me a message before the 10th of each month

I will also be opening a Facebook group, to share more Balloon Adventure ideas and inspiration.

I cannot wait to get started!

Register your interest today by filling in the form below:

[contact-form to=’[email protected]’ subject=’Birthday Card Club’][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Address’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]

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12 Days of Christmas | Classes and Events in 2017

Online Card Classes UK using Stampin' Up! UK products

12 days of Christmas with StampinByHannah Independent Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator

I cannot believe that we are already at the last video of my 12 Days of Christmas series for 2016! I have had so much fun, and I hope you have enjoyed them too. This is my chance for a bit of a catch up with you all before the festivities begin….. This past few months have been more than a little hectic, and I have had to re-evaluate what I can and cannot do with my blog, videos and events. (as I write this I have nothing made for the new year, heaps of things on the to do list, and not a lot of prospect of finding time to do any of it!)

Which leaves me with some sad news, at least for the first half of 2017 I wont be doing any in-person events, I am gutted because I just LOVE to stamp with you all, but I just cannot commit to a regular evening, and I don’t like having to change the day the week before (which has happened more than once in 2016) so, to replace my in-person events, I will be posting 2 classes each month online! Yay! …. oh, and the videos and blog posts are staying too!

Right then, class details……

  • Class sign up’s start on 4th January, but you can pre-register your interest using the form below!
  • Class costs £45, which means that you get to pick one of the FABULOUS Sale-a-bration goodies!
  • Classes will be posted on the 1st and 14th of each month and you will have around 14 days to pre-order before I close the class and place your orders! Classes should ship to you about a week later.
  • There will be a postage fee of £3.00 per class kit
  • Each class will make 6 cards (or other projects) and comes with exclusive video tutorials as well as all the card stock, embellishments and other bits of bobs to make the cards!

[contact-form to=’[email protected]’ subject=’CLASS PRE-ORDER – Beautiful You’][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Address’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]

Giftaway: Place your order between now and midnight on the 26th December to get a FREE roll of Copper Metallic Thread (my favourite goody from this year!)

Copper Metallic Thread 12 Days of Christmas Giftaway

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To purchase any of the items featured in my projects please use the links above. To join my team of Stampin’ Friends select ‘Join My Team’ or send me a message!

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Hannah McCurley

Stampin’ Up! UK Independent Demonstrator

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Cardmaking 101 – Lets Make a Card!

Stampin' Up! UK Freshly Made Sketches

Hello!

Did you catch my mistake last week? I have complete wedding brain at the moment and managed to film this video on the wrong week! magic! but its ok, because I’ve filmed another tutorial for you this week!

I love using sketches as a quick and easy way to make a card, I will often hit Pinterest or check the latest challenges on some of my favourite challenge blogs. Sketches make card making so super quick and easy, and also stretch my card making into areas I would never have explored. Do you ‘get’ how much I love sketches! and I would love you to love sketches too!

So, this is a Cardmaking 101 – but one with a difference, because today we are actually going to make a card! So far we have explored tools, adhesives, and accessories. We have talked about stamps and stamping. But we have never actually made a card! until today. This is also the last Cardmaking 101 for a couple of months, but it will return bigger and better than ever in the Autumn – is there something you really want to learn? or a technique you would love to try but just don’t know where to start? Let me know so I can feature them as part of my next Cardmaking 101 series (or should that be Cardmaking 102?!)

Ok, so shall I stop waffling and get on with making a card!

Freshly Made Sketches #196 Cardmaking 101

This is our sketch for today, Sketch #196 from Freshly Made Sketches!

I always start by looking at the sketch, turning it around and changing the shapes. The key to using sketches is not to think of the shapes as boxes (or flowers, or butterflies) but just as shapes, shapes that your stamps can fill

Next I turn to my stamp shelves, trying to place my stamps into that shape. Sometimes I will use a stamp and punch combination for this, or sometimes I just use my current favourite!

Once I have collected my supplies and grab the sketch again. Cut my card stock, and begin to assemble my card

Stampin' Up! UK Cardmaking 101 Watercolour thank you

Here I have used the Watercolor Thank You, along with a piece of the Neutrals Designer Series Paper. I recently received a pack of the Metal Rimmed Peals, and just HAD to find away of using them!

So, what do you think? I would love to see your latest make, show me on my Facebook page!

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To purchase any of the items featured in my projects please use the links above. To join my team of Stampin’ Friends select ‘Join My Team’ or send me a message!

Please support StampinByHannah, and join my Code Club, by using the Hostess code featured in the top right hand of my blog. For orders of over £150 please do not use this code, as you are entitled to your own Hostess benefits!

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Hannah Wilks

Stampin’ Up! UK Independent Demonstrator

 

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Cardmaking 101 – Adhesives

Cardmaking class UK free

There are so many adhesives (that’s glue to you and I!) out there for card making, I thought I would select my favourites!

Snail – a great cute little tape runner. This tape runner contains 12m of permanent adhesive. Great for sticking cardstock to paper, and paper to paper, and wonderful for your basic card making needs, but not so great for 3D projects. Acid free, so great for adding those extra bits to your Project Life albums and scrapbook pages, and rubs away with a clean finger or you Adhesive Remover

Fast Fuse – The beefier brother! This super-sticky tape runner is super strong, great for 3D projects and comes with 20m of tape! Be warned though, watch the video below for usage instructions!

Tear & Tape Adhesive – I LOVE THIS STUFF!! Strong tape, with a tearable paper backing for all your cardmaking and papercraft needs! Comes with over 24m of tape, and is super sticky

Stampin’ Dimensionals – The only foam adhesive you will ever need! This hexagonal foam pieces add height and dimension to your cards and projects, with easy to remove backing paper and plenty on a sheet (300 per pack) I can’t life without these!

Mini Glue Dots – great little glue pieces for holding heavier embellishments, ribbons and punched pieces. These are pressure activated, so push your embellishment onto them on the roll, pull them off and push firmly onto you project to ensure a good stick!

Tombow Multipurpose Glue – The best liquid glue ever! Clear drying, strong hold glue, with two nozzles; a fine tip for detailed application and a broad tip when you need plenty of stick!

2-Way glue pen – Use when the glue is blue for a permanent stick, or leave to go clear for a temporary hold. I use this often for detailed gluing on die cuts, or for a temporary hold of a gift card!

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To purchase any of the items featured in my projects please use the links above. To join my team of Stampin’ Friends select ‘Join My Team’ or send me a message!

Please support StampinByHannah, and join my Code Club, by using the Hostess code featured in the top right hand of my blog. For orders of over £150 please do not use this code, as you are entitled to your own Hostess benefits!

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Hannah Wilks

Stampin’ Up! UK Independent Demonstrator

 

 

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Cardmaking 101 – Types of Ink

Cardmaking class UK free

There are so many different inks out there! Dye, water based dye, pigment, craft, alcohol, ones that smooth out, ones that are best for blending, ones that react with water, the list goes on and on and on!

As a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, I only use Stampin’ Up! inks these days, but I have used others in the past, and do still reach for them on occasion. But I truly believe for a great all round ink, that’s great for beginner stampers, you cannot beat Stampin’ Up! inks!

Ok, so; there are several different inks in the catalogue. I’ll start with our Classic Inks. Available in Stampin’ pads, as refils, or in Stampin’ Write Markers, the classic ink is a great all round ink. It stamps wonderfully, often a little darker and splotchy at first but it smooths as it dries leaving a perfect crisp image every time! And if you think that is all Stampin’ Up! ink is good for, you are about to learn something! I use our Classic ink for water-colouring, adding some ink onto a clear acrylic block and adding water before using a paintbrush to colour my image. It’s also reactive to water, meaning that you can splatter water onto a project (before it’s completely dry works best) to bleach away some of the colour. It blends beautifully with sponge daubers or a blending tool. And it comes in 46 different colours!

Currently we don’t have a black Classic Ink (I am assured it will return, but it needed re-formulating to make it even better!), but we do have two great black options!

Memento Tuxedo Black is my go-to black ink, and I am so pleased Stampin’ Up! have continued to carry it. I have loved this ink for years! I can guarantee a clean crisp true black image with this ink, and it is safe to use with your Alcohol markers too. The Other option for Black ink is Stazon. Stazon is an alcohol based ink, great for stamping on slick surfaces like Window Sheets or tiles, but its also waterproof, and so great for stamping your images before you watercolour. One thing to be aware of with Stazon though is that it will stain your stamps, special Stazon cleaner is recommended, and I prefer to avoid using it at all with my photopolymer stamps (but sometimes it can’t be avoided!). Stazon is also available as a white ink, which comes with its refill as it is known to  dry out quickly.

White ink is also available as a pigment ink; Craft Stanpin’ Ink, is a permanent pigment ink. This is a great white ink, but it takes a while to dry. You can speed up the drying process with your heat tool, you add embossing powder to set it. Craft ink looks awesome on dark card stocks such as Night of Navy or Basic Black.

The final ink I’m going to talk about in Versamark. I love this ink! Versamark is my first choice for stamping and heat embossing, it is a clear sticky ink that holds your embossing powered to the card stock while you heat set it. It is the best! Versamark is also great for creating a tone-on-tone stamped look, or watermark effects.

What’s you favourite ink?

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Hannah Wilks

Stampin’ Up! UK Independent Demonstrator

 

 

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Cardmaking 101 – How to Stamp

Cardmaking class UK free

Hello!

Welcome to another episode of Cardmaking 101! This week we are looking at ‘how to stamp!’

I think this is one of those things that new card makers can really struggle with, getting a clear, crisp image, and avoiding those dreaded inky halo’s.

Stampin' Up! UK how to stamp tutorial

I think the best way to explain this one is in video, but the key really is a smooth action (and practice!) getting the stamp mounted properly on your block, and stamping down and straight up – No Rocking!

check out the video to see what I mean

If you have any burning card making 101 questions please let me know in the comments below, or email me via the Contact Me button at the top of the page. Thanks

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Hannah Wilks

Stampin’ Up! UK Independent Demonstrator

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Cardmaking 101 – Stamping Accessories

Stampin' Up! UK cardmaking 101 stamping accessories

Cardmaking class UK free

There are so many accessories for stamping, I thought I would give you my top picks to get you started.

Stampin’ Blocks!

There are so many different blocks on the market and I will admit to having quite a collection, however, I only use a few. Last year before I became a demonstrator for Stampin’ Up! I thought that a clear block was a clear block, that they are much of a muchness, and didn’t really matter. I was wrong! I now only use my Stampin’ Up! blocks, and not because I’m a demonstrator, but because they are the best!

There are several things I look for a in block, is it easy to hold? what about the weight? size? and durability. The blocks I use are available in a range of sizes, are a nice weight and are really durable, but the best thing about them is the hold. I’m sure you have a few blocks, and they are probably those nasty thin ones from the cheap section in the craft store?! I have some too, and why don’t I use them? because my fingers go over the edges and into the ink! I make enough of a messy without my blocks helping me out! Stampin’ Up! blocks feature a wonderful groove for your fingers to sit, keeping them out of the ink and helping prevent inky finger prints on your nice piece of Whisper White!

Stamp-a-ma-jig

I know there is lots of buzz around the crafty world at the moment about stamp positioners, in particular a very expensive one from the States, and while I’m sure its great, as a beginner its is an unnecessary expense. I have a whole video on the stamp-a-ma-jig, and I love it! Its a great way of getting nicely straight sentiments and centred images, and its only £11!

Swatch Book

I posted a video on this recently too, my custom made swatch book. I have the PDF’s available on the coordinating blog post too. I use this all the time to match colours and choose colour combinations, and its a great tool for documenting your growing ink colour collection!

Stampin’ Scrub

This is probably the one tool I get asked about most at classes and events; my Stampin’ Scrub! I love this thing! It features two sides of of washable black fibre scrub pads that are the greatest things for cleaning those inky stamps! Use in combination with Stampin’ Mist to clean and condition your stamps after each use, less waste and hassle that baby wipes with no of the nasty residue. I wouldn’t be without mine!

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Hannah Wilks

Stampin’ Up! UK Independent Demonstrator

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Cardmaking 101 – Types of Stamps

Stampin' Up! UK Cardmaking 101 types of stamp

Cardmaking class UK free

I can’t believe we are already at week 3 of my Cardmaking 101 series; saying that, I have a heap of posts in the planning for you! I can see this series lasting a while, please feel free to drop me a message or leave a comment if you have any card making questions, and I will do my best in answer them in a future Cardmaking 101!

This week I thought it might be helpful to discuss the different types of stamps. Now, before we getting into the post proper, I just want to remind you that I am a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, and so I will be discussing there products!

Wood Mount Stamps

Ok, so Wood Mount – this refers to Red Rubber stamps mounted onto wooden blocks. There are some real advantages to these stamps; the main one being that the blocks are pre-mounted, no scrabbling around searching for the perfectly sized block each time – they are already there! Stampin’ Up!’s Wood Mounted stamps arrive as a sheet of red rubber stamps, a series of wooden blocks, and a sheet of stickers. Before you can stamp you must pop the stamps out of the sheet and work out which stamp matches which block (I’ve made this sound complicated, its really not – its usually pretty obvious which stamp goes with which block). The stamps are pre-glued, and you peel the backing paper off the stamps and stick them onto the blocks. The stickers are then stuck onto the other side of the wooden block for identification.

I love my wood mount stamps, however, they are more expensive, and they take much more space to store – although they do sit next to your clear mount stamps on your shelf.

Clear Mount Stamps

Like Wood Mount stamps, Clear mount are our classic red rubber. I am totally a red rubber girl – I just love the quality and feel of red rubber stamps. Clear mount stamps require Clear blocks to allow you to stamp, you mount and un-mount them at each use. Stampin’ Up! clear mount stamps also come with a sheet of stickers, however, I find that they affect the cling if not perfectly applied to the stamp meaning that the fall off the blocks half way through stamping! So I tend to just put the sheet of stickers inside the slip cover on my stamp cases and leave them there! Saying this, I am a Clear mount person – I love the red rubber, and the value of the clear mount wins every single time!

Photopolymer

Stampin’ Up! Photopolyer stamps are fantastic! They are the same quality as the classic red rubber, but allow you to see through the stamps for perfect alignment every time! I recommend Photopolymer for layering stamps and sentiments. Some sets are available only in Photopolymer, however, more and more sets are available in all three options. Photopolymer stamps are generally packaged in our DVD sized clear mount stamp cases, although if there are lots of stamps they sometimes come in the bigger Wood Mount cases, but they still sit nicely with your other stamps on the shelf. Photopolyer stamps are a great price, and come between two sheets of Window Sheet. Be warned though, Photopolymer stamps have a habit of ‘wondering off’ your desk and into the bin as they get stuck to things and can be difficult to see! Photopolymer also tends to stain over time, particularly if you use red/pink ink, this doesn’t affect the stamp and will not transfer to your next project.

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Hannah Wilks

Stampin’ Up! UK Independent Demonstrator

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Cardmaking 101 – Tools for Cardmaking

Cardmaking 101 - tools for card making

Cardmaking class UK free

Welcome to the second in my series of Card making 101 – this week I thought we would look at some of the tools I most regularly use in my card making.

Stampin' Up! UK Stampin' Trimmer Cardmaking 101

 

Tools are so important, they say you judge a craftsman by his tools – and card making is a craft! I have used a heap of trimmers over the years, but the Stampin’ Trimmer is by far the best! I just love the wide foot-bed, this means that to cut a card base (which is what I use my trimmer for by far the most!) I don’t need to swing out the extension arm. Saying that I love that this trimmer extends to 14″ – way more that I will ever need. The blades are so easy to replace, and you get to choose between the standard trimmer blades or the rotary attachment!

A good pair of scissors is so important, and I would suggest two pair – a good pair of long scissors for cutting along the score lines of boxes and bags, and a pair of paper snips for fussy cutting, and detailed bits. A separate pair of scissors for cutting ribbon is also a good idea as paper will dull the blades and make ribbon cutting difficult. The Stampin’ Paper Snips are excellent, blades sharp right to the tip and comfortable hold.

Stampin' Up! UK paper snips

I also use my scissors for picking up jewels and pearls, candy dots and other little sticky things. But I mostly grab for my paper piercing tool for these sorts of jobs, I’m sure if you have seen some of my YouTube tutorials you will have seen me do this. A paper piercing tool is also great for adding pierced details to your cards and projects, as well as getting all those fiddly bits out of your dies when die cutting.

I think one of the most important card making tools is a good bone folder. For years I had a cheap plastic bone folder, and it wasn’t until I started with Stampin’ Up! that I changed to a ‘proper’ one, what a difference! A clean, crisp edge to all folded projects, cards and boxes. My plastic bone folder has now be relegated to re-inking ink pads!

Stampin' Up! UK paper piercing

The most random tool in my kit though must be my emery board! I use this so much, and it has several uses! Mostly it gets used when my trimmer blade needs changing, when card stock starts to cut a little fluffy, an emery board is great for sanding away the rough edges. Or for when you want that distressed look. Or when you catch a finger nail with your paper snips!

I hope you are finding these posts helpful, and if you have any questions about card making, stamping or Stampin’ Up! either drop me a message via my contact me page, or leave me a comment below

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Shop Now button-001Join my team button-001To purchase any of the items featured in my projects please use the links above. To join my team of Stampin’ Friends select ‘Join My Team’ or send me a message!

Please support StampinByHannah by using the Hostess code featured in the top right hand of my blog. For orders of over £150 please do not use this code, as you are entitled to your own Hostess benefits!

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Hannah Wilks

Stampin’ Up! UK Independent Demonstrator

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Cardmaking 101 – how to cut a card-base

cardmaking 101

Cardmaking class UK free

Today marks the start of my completely free weekly card-making class here at StampinByHannah. This class has been in the planning for ages and I am so pleased I am finally ready to share it with you.

Each week, on a Sunday, a new tutorial will be released focusing on card making basics; hints and tips, tools, techniques and useful information to help you to make amazing projects. I am so excited! shall we begin?

cardmaking 101 - how to cut a card base

This week I thought we would start at the beginning; how to cut yourself a card base. I know that not everyone will cut there own card bases, but I think its a useful thing to know, particularly as then your not stuck with white or cream cards all the time – lets get some colour in here!

How to:

I use A4 card stock, I know that these measurements will not be useful for everyone, particularly those who use 8.5×11″ however, I live in the UK and A4 is all we have

There are two ways to cut a card base, depending on the style of card you wish to create. I frequently use tent fold cards and so cut my A4 length ways at 10.5 cm to create two long skinny pieces of card stock, I don’t tend to score in the middle for these and find that folding them in half and burnishing with my bone folder is enough

The other common card base is a ‘book style’ card, and for these I cut my A4 width-ways at 14.8 cm, scoring them in half at 10.5 cm and folding to create my card

These two methods create the same size card; 14.8 x 10.5 cm

To create a layer for the front of your card, take an A4 piece of Whisper White and cut at 10 cm, and 14.2 cm to create a slightly smaller piece that will fit beautifully on the front of the card base you have already created.

To create further layers reduce the size of your card stock by 0.5 cm each time, the next layer would therefore be 9.5 x 13.8 cm, the next 9 x 13.2 cm, and the next 8.5 x 12.8

 

I hope this has been useful, if you have any card making questions or queries please let me know and I will endeavour to answer your questions in later editions of Cardmaking 101

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To purchase any of the items featured in my projects please use the links above. To join my team of Stampin’ Friends select ‘Join My Team’ or send me a message!

Please support StampinByHannah by using the Hostess code featured in the top right hand of my blog. For orders of over £150 please do not use this code, as you are entitled to your own Hostess benefits!

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Hannah Wilks

Stampin’ Up! UK Independent Demonstrator