Well I’m back and the little grey cells are working a little better today and it’s a good job because I need to get everything ready for the Sandown show which starts on Thursday.  My team of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators and I have a stand at this show each January and September, it’s at Esher in Surrey and you can find out all the details here.

We have a free make and take running all day, but places get booked up quickly so pop by to the stand A6 as soon as you get to the show to make sure you don’t miss out!  We also demonstrate projects and products on the stand and have some amazing displays, do come and visit and bring your camera. Maybe, just maybe we will have some sneak peaks too……….!

Both of today’s cards uses the Open Sea stamp set, an essential set I think, so easy to use and Men’s cards are always sooooo difficult !

This first card is quite straightforward, with lots of stamping.  The designer series paper at the bottom has been put through the square lattice embossing folder and distressed a little with a sanding block.

This second card is a little more time consuming but not difficult either.  The ship is stamped in Stazon onto Vellum and then you turn the vellum over and work on the back. Use sponges and Baja Breeze, Bashful Blue and Marina Mist inks make the sea and the sky.  Less is more with this technique but if you do end up with too much ink on the vellum use a piece of damp kitchen roll to dab off the excess.  Then to make the sails really pop out you need the ball tool from your Simply Scored Scoring Tool and a foam mat, use the small end to define the sails pressing down gently, this will shape the sails and make them look white.  I have to thank the lovely Jane Cutting for showing me this technique, I love it !

You need to mat the vellum onto Whisper White card to make it really stand out and brads are best as all glue shows through vellum! Lots of random stamping makes the background.

I’m really enjoying finding projects to share with you for my 365 crafty projects challenge, but so far they have all been cards, I need to get working on some 3D things I think !

Happy Stampin’