Up on the Chiswick blog I am sharing a special card for Dad, and how to stamp with masking tape
making your own paint striped stamps - quick and easy and oh so versatile.

Hop on over to see the full step x step tutorial.
Celebrate dad with a special handmade card to really show your love.
Until next time - hope you are inspired by this quick and easy stamping technique!

With the end of the year around the corner, more and more teenagers are planning some fun activities – especially the class of 2016. So instead of letting them head out on their own why not plan a fun and festive pool party for them complete with pink flamingos and lots of cool snack and sweet tubs? Today we share some fun ideas with you using a gorgeous range of scrapbooking paper as inspiration.

Start off the party with a fun invitation with a hint of the theme – complete with pink painted flamingos and lots of bright colours.

step 1 - Print the invitation onto white cardstock. Die cut flamingo out of white AC smooth cardstock. Use your Memento inks and All Purpose inks to add colour to the die-cut

step 2 - Use your Memento inks and All Purpose inks to add colour to the die-cuts. Add the ink to your craft sheet, then lightly mist with water. Use your Fantastix to pick up some ink and colour the die-cuts. Leave them to dry.

step 3 - Add some Brilliance gold ink to your craft sheet. Mist with water and pick up some of the ink with your Fantastix. Paint a layer of gold shimmer over your coloured flamingo die-cuts.

step 4 - Adhere a strip from the sticker border to the top of the invitation. Adhere the flamingo to the printed invitation. Use the same ink colours as before and a small paint brush to add ink splats to your invitation for some fun coloured effects.

step 5 - Punch leaves from your patterned paper and adhere to the side of your invitation. Scatter diamanté in between the leaves to finish off the invitations.

To minimize snack wastage, use small bamboo cups for small portions of food and chips. Decorate them with stickers, ribbon and die-cuts for a visual feast.

Use bright coloured paper straws and die cut flamingos to serve cold beverages. For the straws you can create a fun decorative element that won’t break the bank, but will certainly add to the festive feel and look.

 step 6 - Punch small circles from paper scraps.

step 7 - Fold the circles in half and adhere them together. Adhere 5 punched and folded circles together.

step 8 - Adhere the circle element to the top of a drinking straw for a fun festive element.

step 9 - Create your own umbrellas instead of buying them. Punch large circles from your patterned paper.

step 10 - Cut a slit into the side of the circle to the middle.

step 11 - Add some Tombow adhesive to the one edge and fold it over the other edge to form the umbrella.

step 12 - Die cut some flowers and assemble them using some fun brads.

step 13 - Adhere the brads to the umbrella. Use a bamboo toothpick as the umbrella rod and use large beads to decorate the top of the umbrella. Add them to some of the drinks, food cups and even cupcakes to add to the theme of your party.

A healthy and easy dessert option is to make coloured jelly in recycled glass jars. Fill the top of the jars with coloured sweets and treats. Decorate the jars with cut out flowers, stickers and twine. Serve with funky wooden spoons.

So get your thinking caps on and give the class of 2016 a fun and fond farewell as they head into the real world – time enough for just one last fun and festive summer pool party before all seriousness starts.
Products Used

Moms play such a huge part in our lives – and once a year we get to publicly acknowledge everything they do for us and how much meaning they bring to our lives. Whether it’s your birth Mom, spiritual Mom or adopted Mom, Moms everywhere need to hear how much we value and appreciate them – so make this day a really special one for your Mom. 

This year I am treating my Mom to a special mug with some vinyl lettering on it. And since white on white is one of her favourite things and I just happen to have white vinyl it all worked out perfectly.

Step 1 - Create a file in the Silhouette design software. I used a pre-designed one I had and love.

Step 2 - Insert the file onto the page. I added one for my card and one for my mug – both using white vinyl. Select the vinyl setting in the cut settings and cut the images.

step 3 - Use transfer tape or masking tape to transfer the images onto the surface you want.

step 1 - Fold your white AC cardstock to form a card base. Use a large stamp and stamp the grass image at the bottom of the folded card at the front using VersaFine Smokey Gray ink.

 step 2 - Clean the stamp and ink the same image this time using Memento Luxe Pistachio. Off-set the stamp slightly from the original stamped image and stamp it again.

step 3 - Clean the stamp and ink using Memento Luxe Angel Pink and stamp the image again slightly off-set from the other two stamped images.

step 4 - Die-cut star jasmine flowers from the Kaisercraft Cottage Rose papers.

step 5 - Use a burnishing tool to curl the flowers and ink the edges. Group the flowers together and fasten with a brad.

step 6 - Adhere the flowers to the card using Tombow adhesive. Transfer the vinyl word “Mother” to the front of your card. To highlight the white word on the white background, add a small amount of grey Memento ink using a paintbrush to the edges of your word to create a shadow effect. Finish off your card with diamanté and ink splats.

With all my crafting goodies, I am able to make this Mother’s day really special without breaking the bank. Try using what you have in your stash to make a special Mother’s day card or gifts for your Mom.

 The magic of gold and silver combined is truly timeless and classic - a wonderful play on metals. For this mother’s day card I used a combination of Delicata inks to create not only a beautiful stenciled Ombre effect, but also a lovely marble look on chipboard. The perfect combination for someone truly special

6. Stamp the word ‘mum’ onto the front panel using Memento ink. Then adhere your Marble heart and finish off with some diamanté.

Technique TIP: Marbling with embossing powder and ink is a fun and easy technique. After each layer of ink, add a layer of clear embossing powder, then another layer of ink and another of clear embossing powder. Layer these until you are happy with the final look of the marble. You can also add some technique by stamping into the hot embossing powder for texture, or use a toothpick and scribble some texture into the hot embossing powder. 

Don't forget to head on over to the Imagine Crafts blog to see what the rest of the team designs with the NEW released Delicata Ink colours.

Products used
imagine Crafts  Delicata Full-size Inkpad Shimmery Silver Delicata 4 Inkpad IMAGINE Crafts Craft Mat Sponge Dauber Embossing Powder Clear Memento Dew Drop Rich Cocoa Other: Glossy cardstock; Stencil: Celebr8 ; diamante; Tombow adhesive; Heat gun; Stamp: DoCrafts; Chipboard heart;

If you are planning preserve the memory of this year’s Mother’s Day, why not make a beautiful single page layout and pop it into a frame – a perfect reminder of the one who loves you unconditionally.

My inspiration for this layout was the beautiful scalloped tag I used on my layout. To find matching papers and elements was not difficult at all, and the range of Lady Pattern Paper papers worked perfectly.

I wanted a simple layout and made the papers the supporting stars to my photos. So I decided to punch the papers into a decorative edge using a border punch.

My photo was matted onto a Kraft patterned paper that acted as my neutral colour, and the blue and red my accents.

Use two different paper colours and designs to punch with a decorative punch.

I used this beautiful lace punch – and with stunning effects combined the teal and red paper by repeating the same pattern.

 And all I have to do is pop my single page layout it into a frame and have a perfectly preserved memory of my special Mom.