About 10 days ago I participated in an online team crafting class led by one of my fellow demonstrators on Kylie's team , Shirley Jones.  We had some advance advice on what supplies to gather and cut so we'd be ready to craft along.

First, we marked the centre of a sheet of Whisper White cardstock.  Then we stamped a variety of floral/leafy images around that centre point, being sure it was pretty well-balanced in each quadrant.

Then we cut the cardstock into 4 even pieces, and then cut each panel down to be able to layer onto card bases (3.75" x 5" -or- 9.5 x 13.9 cm).  Then it was a matter of choosing orientation, to mat or not to mat, which colour base, what sentiment and how to stamp it, and embellishments.

This is a really versatile technique, and can be used with many stamp sets you probably already have on your shelf.  Here's what I used for this set;

I have teamed up with Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world to create this awesome bundle of tutorials for you!  

• 82 Tutorials exclusive to this bundle - you won't see them on blogs!
• 510 Pages
• Broken up into 4 parts, each with a linked table of contents to find tutorials easily.
• They feature products from pages 44-51 of the August - December Mini Catalogue.
• There are cards and 3-D projects. 
• No matter your crafting style, there's sure to be things you like!

Cost: $35.00 (approximately US$21.00).  Available to anyone worldwide!

Get fully illustrated instructions to make 6 cards featuring the Beautiful Autumn Bundle (MC p. 46).  Includes measurements in inches and centimetres. 

Cost: $10.00

Here's a pretty card that's easy to make in multiples...I made 4 quickly with an assembly line.

The design is CASE'd from Michele Jutrisa, but I changed the cardstock colour to Basic Gray, and used a different sentiment.

Here's what I used to make these:

Get fully illustrated instructions to make 6 cards featuring the Beautiful Autumn Bundle (MC p. 46).  Includes measurements in inches and centimetres. 

Cost: $10.00

I have teamed up with Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world to create this awesome bundle of tutorials for you!  

• 82 Tutorials exclusive to this bundle - you won't see them on blogs! See a sample in this Facebook Live video.
• 510 Pages
• Broken up into 4 parts, each with a linked table of contents to find tutorials easily.
• They feature products from pages 44-51 of the August - December Mini Catalogue.
• There are cards and 3-D projects. 
• No matter your crafting style, there's sure to be things you like!

Cost: $35.00 (approximately US$21.00).  Available to anyone worldwide!

Here are the cards I made on this week's Facebook Live video.  You can watch the replay on YouTube or Facebook.

I chose to play with the sketch at Mojo Monday this week:

I used several pieces of Gilded Autumn Specialty Designer Series Paper.  I'm not often moved to combine so many patterns on one card, but I think they work in this case, especially with the Early Espresso mats for each layer.

Everything is glued flat except for the punched leaves and acorns that are from the Beautiful Autumn Bundle, also available as part of the Gilded Autumn Suite.

For my second card I stayed with the same colour scheme, but rotated the sketch 90°.

I took creative license with a few of the elements, too.  Instead of using paper for the cross-wise layer I used 2 pieces of the Basketweave Ribbon in Mint Macaron.  And, I subbed the grouping of leaves cut with the Stitched Leaves Dies for the 2.5" circle specified in the sketch.  The sentiment comes from the coordinating Love of Leaves stamp set, and they are also offered as a bundle, saving you 10%.  I'm glad I decided to go ahead and emboss the front of the card base with the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder.  Still debating going back and adding some Champagne Rhinestones...what do you think?

Let me know if you decide to try this sketch - you can send me pics and also link up a pic in the gallery on the Mojo Monday website.

Here's what I used to make these cards:

I have teamed up with Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world to create this awesome bundle of tutorials for you!  

• 82 Tutorials exclusive to this bundle - you won't see them on blogs! See a sample in this Facebook Live video.
• 510 Pages
• Broken up into 4 parts, each with a linked table of contents to find tutorials easily.
• They feature products from pages 44-51 of the August - December Mini Catalogue.
• There are cards and 3-D projects. 
• No matter your crafting style, there's sure to be things you like!

Cost: $35.00 (approximately US$21.00).  Available to anyone worldwide!
​

Get fully illustrated instructions to make 6 cards featuring the Beautiful Autumn Bundle (MC p. 46).  Includes measurements in inches and centimetres. 

Cost: $10.00

Nothing like a little truth in advertising, is there?  I was cleaning up my stamping desk after a flurry of projects and came across this Whisper White panel that I had masked and sponged ink on as part of preparing my tutorial for the Autumn Tutorial Bundle.  Since I also had the Life Is Beautiful stamp on my desk it was a no-brainer to make this card:

Do you wind up with leftover pieces? Not cardstock scraps, but actual stamped, embossed or die-cut/punched pieces?  What do you do with them?

Here's what I used to make this card:

Join me on the Nancy's Nifty Notes Facebook Page today at 10:00 am AEST to watch me make a project.  Ask questions, chat about Stampin' Up! or anything else on your mind...come hang out!  Click to see when I'm live in your timezone.

I have teamed up with Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world to create this awesome bundle of tutorials for you!  

• 82 Tutorials exclusive to this bundle - you won't see them on blogs!
• 510 Pages
• Broken up into 4 parts, each with a linked table of contents to find tutorials easily.
• They feature products from pages 44-51 of the August - December Mini Catalogue.
• There are cards and 3-D projects. 
• No matter your crafting style, there's sure to be things you like!

Cost: $35.00 (approximately US$21.00).  Available to anyone worldwide!

Another way to use my new "toothbrush" style blending brushes:  blending ink onto a stamped image!  In this case, I stamped the large image from Celebrate Sunflowers in Cinnamon Cider on Whisper White and the leaves onto Pear Pizzazz with Old Olive ink. I coloured them with the blending brushes before cutting them out with the coordinating dies.

This is where I found the different sizes and shapes of brushes in my set came in handy.

I used the biggest one to lay down a base coat of Daffodil Delight.  I used the smallest oval to add Soft Suede to the centre of the sunflower.  The next sizes were handy for layering some Bumblebee and Mango Melody inks onto the petals, and then I used one of the small round brushes to add just a touch of Pumpkin Pie to some of the very inner petals.

I used one of the "liner" brushes to smudge some Old Olive ink onto the centres of the leaves.

​Here's all the Stampin' Up! products I used to make this card:

I have teamed up with Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world to create this awesome bundle of tutorials for you!  

• 82 Tutorials exclusive to this bundle - you won't see them on blogs!
• 510 Pages
• Broken up into 4 parts, each with a linked table of contents to find tutorials easily.
• They feature products from pages 44-51 of the August - December Mini Catalogue.
• There are cards and 3-D projects. 
• No matter your crafting style, there's sure to be things you like!

Cost: $35.00 (approximately US$21.00).  Available to anyone worldwide

After playing with my new blending brushes on my Facebook Live last week, I had fun trying them out with one of the Basic Pattern Decorative Masks.

I used masking tape to adhere the mask to a piece of Whisper White, then swirled  on the colours with my blending brushes, starting with the Pool Party and moving to Coastal Cabana and Bermuda Bay.  

I went on and tried another colour combination:

These cards just make me happy!  I hope they make their recipients smile, too.

When I pulled out the Flowers for Every Season Memories & More Cards & Envelopes I discovered I had a lone card left from last year's catalogue, so I decided to make something with it while I was at it.

I pulled out one of the Night-Of-Navy printed sheets from the In Good Taste Designer Series Paper and cut a 4" x 6" panel.  I then stamped 2 of the flowers from the Tasteful Touches stamp set and coloured them with Stampin' Blends (and Wink of Stella in the centres!) before cutting them out.   A couple of  Stitched Nested Labels die-cut pieces, a stamped sentiment from Tasteful Touches, and a few Night of Navy Holiday Rhinestones and I've got a card!

I have teamed up with Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world to create this awesome bundle of tutorials for you!  

• 82 Tutorials exclusive to this bundle - you won't see them on blogs!
• 510 Pages
• Broken up into 4 parts, each with a linked table of contents to find tutorials easily.
• They feature products from pages 44-51 of the August - December Mini Catalogue.
• There are cards and 3-D projects. 
• No matter your crafting style, there's sure to be things you like!

Cost: $35.00 (approximately US$21.00).  Available to anyone worldwide!

These are the projects I made on my Facebook Live video this week.  You can watch the replay on Facebook or YouTube.  Don't forget that you can sign up for reminders when I go live on my Facebook Page, or subscribe to my YouTube channel to get informed when I post new videos.

On this video I compared the trendy, new "toothbrush" style blending brushes, sold both as a craft and a makeup tool with Stampin' Up!'s blending tools, the Stamping Sponges and Sponge Daubers.

As you can see, all 3 methods made pretty cards.  I think that the blending brushes were easier to use, and I wound up with more consistent, less blotchy results, and less ink on my fingers with them.  Just FYI, the cards are, left to right, blending brushes, Sponge Daubers, and Stamping Sponges.

I had one more background that I had made off-camera with the blending brushes, and after the video ended I added texture to the grass using the Sponge Daubers, since they give the strongest definition.

Here are the die-cut pieces I used to mask for the clouds and grass:

This also gives you a good sense of how the ink can build up in layers to become quite intense...I only used Balmy Blue and Pear Pizzazz on each of these!

If you want to track down some blending brushes to play with there are many options to choose from, all over the price spectrum.  Mine were very cheap through Amazon U.S., and I don't know why you would shell out more $$.  To find them here are my best suggestions:

• Amazon (US): search toothbrush makeup brush -and- craft blending brushes.
• eBay (Australia): search toothbrush makeup brushes.

Here are the Stampin' Up! products I used to make these cards:

I have teamed up with Stampin' Up! demonstrators from around the world to create this awesome bundle of tutorials for you!  

• 82 Tutorials exclusive to this bundle - you won't see them on blogs!
• 510 Pages
• Broken up into 4 parts, each with a linked table of contents to find tutorials easily.
• They feature products from pages 44-51 of the August - December Mini Catalogue.
• There are cards and 3-D projects. 
• No matter your crafting style, there's sure to be things you like!

​Cost: $35.00 (approximately US$21.00).  Available to anyone worldwide!

Continuing my play with the Flowers for Every Season Memories & More Cards & Envelopes, I decided to pair a bit of the Gilded Autumn suite with one of the Cinnamon Cider cards.

I cut a 4" x 6" panel of this beautiful Gilded Autumn Specialty Designer Series Paper and used a circle punch to snip the corners before adhering it to the card base.  I stamped the image and sentiment from Beautiful Autumn in Versamark and heat-set with Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder.  I cut it out with one of the Painted Labels Dies and cut a mat for it from the Brushed Metallic 12x12 Cardstock in Copper, again snipping the corners.  See the picture below for my template to do this!  Once I've cut my mat to the right size I just hold the template on top and insert into my punch, aligning the edges of the yellow snipped corner with the edge of my punch.

Here's what I've used to make the card:

Another play with the Flowers for Every Season DSP and Cards & Envelopes.  This time I've paired it up with the beautiful rose from Healing Hugs.

These images are made from the photo-realistic DistINKtive™ technique, which gives them lots of depth and dimension.  One key to getting these to work well is to have a fairly dry ink pad so that the millions of little etched lines don't get filled with too much ink.  To do this I use the back of a spoon to push the ink to one end of the pad. If I need the whole pad juicy again right away I can smooth it back in, or I can just store it and the liquid evens itself out over time.

Since these images don't have coordinating dies I did have to do a good amount of fussy-cutting, but I find it quite relaxing.

The sentiment is from the new Beautiful Autumn set, and it's cut out with one of the Tasteful Labels dies.  A few 2020-2022 In Color Enamel Dots finish it off.