Banana Frog Blog

It's not hard to resist!

Resist stamping is a great technique to try for eye-catching backgrounds, and the Scribble Flowers set is perfect to try this out.

You'll need:

 

• White cardstock
• Nicely cleaned stamps
• Versamark ink
• Clear embossing powder
• Watercolour paint
• Tissues

Make sure your stamps are clean, ink up with the Versamark ink and stamp your background.

Apply clear embossing powder over the stamped images, tap off the excess, and use a fine brush to brush away any areas where the powder has clung due to static.

Heat emboss the stamped background.

Mix the paint so that it has a watery consistency (this will enable it to resist properly - if it is the consistency of acrylic paint it will simply dry over the resist image).

Apply the paint with a foam brush.

To bring out the effect, dab at the stamped image with a tissue to remove the excess paint.

Once dried, cut your background to size for your project.

Project of the Day - "Peek a Boo"

Hello!! Down here in Australia the season is changing, and it is beginning to turn cold, even snowing already in some places. So with the change in the weather, it brings with it the perfect time to scrap. Today I am sharing a Layout I completed of my youngest son, he is quickly creeping on to 2 and is at a very adorable stage where he is learning lots.  

On this layout I have used a couple of different stamps.

I love circles, and here I hand cut my patterned paper into a circle and then stamped around the edge using Elegant Swirls. Being that Banana Frog stamps are clear you can slightly manipulate them to fit around certain shapes, and here I have done that with my circle.  I also love to stamp on Transparency, for that I have used Stazon Ink as it is a Permanent Ink and have done that here with the same set of stamps and added the swirl to my flower. 

I have also stamped a little cluster of flowers with the Tropical Garden set, I then added a pearl to the centre of each flower.

 My title is Teen Large, I love this set and I have stamped it onto some co-ordinating patterned paper, hand cut it out and then used a black gel pen to trace around the edges of each letter.

And there you have it.

Thanks for popping by and till next time,

Anthea 

It's all about you - sneak peek!

On the 15th and 16th of May I am running a workshop at Paper Arts (both days are fully booked, but I think Fiona has a list in case anyone drops out) and I thought I would show you a few sneak peeks. It is a technique based class using different surfaces and although the theme of my book is my daughter Kerris, it could  be about anything you like. Among other things we will be using acrylic, canvas and shrink plastic.

So, here is a quick look at the project.

I'll show more later!

Stamping School - Stamp your Flowers

In this tutorial, i shall share with you my love for flowers and stamping !

On this card, I used Banana Frog's Funky Paisley clear stamps.

Supplies Funky Paisley (Banana Frog)
pattern paper (RoseMoka) | white flowers (Prima) | Metaallic Pigment Ink Pads (Martha Stewart)| Flower sticker (Daisy D's) | Rub On (Glitz Designs)| alphabet stickers ( Rose Moka)

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Step I : Apply brown pigment ink onto paisley stamps.

Stamp paisley motifs onto light brown paper. Keep the motifs stamped close to one another.

Step 2 : Measure and cut light brown paper (5.5" x 6.5")

Create card using dark brown paper (6" x 7"). attach stamped patterned light brown paper onto dark brown.

Step 3: Attach a textured beige cardstock onto top right corner of card.

here is the fun part !

Step 4 : Stamp paisley motifs onto white flowers. Press ink pad gently onto flowers. As flower embellishments may tend to absorb more ink,you may wishto gently transfer ink onto the flowers. Pressing too hard may result in color runs. 

Step 5 : Layer flowers one over another. Transfer flower stickers onto petal centres.

Step 6 : Apply rub ons (Pink).

Step 7 : Embellish with alphabet stickers.

 

Have fun creating with Banana Frog's stamps !! =)

April's Colour Focus

Welcome to the second round of Colour Focus! Today we'll be showcasing more lovely projects done by the girls at Banana Frog team. The challenge was to take inspiration from a painting by Picasso:

So without further ado, let's feast our eyes on ...

Anthea's layout. She used stamp sets from Whirligig, Sewing Kit, Pharmacy, Teen Large and Elegance.

Tip - Stamp out the circle shaped stamps and use a circle punch to punch them out, they make a great little embellishment to add to your next project.


Julie has also come out with another layout using stamp sets from 'I Heart You' set and 'FT Rosecube' alphas - both of which she stamped directly onto a page from a vintage Romance novel.

Here's a closer look at the layout:

The next project comes from Lory. It's a little line canvas 15x15 cm. She was inspired by the colours in the painting. She used acrylic colors bronze and brown! She mixed many embellishments, rub ons, trasparencies, old book paper and felt. She used the rub ons to write her journaling.

The stamps she used are It's all about flourishes which she stamped using acrylic color.  The Journaling stamps were used to create a frame for the title.

Mary came up with a delightful card. She used Backgrounds, Greenwich Park, and Funky Paisley stamp sets.

Here's a closeup view of it:

Molly has created a really cute project. She decorate a bird house:

 

Here's a closeup look at it:

Tip: You don't have to make the stamping be the main focus. Sometimes just using a little bit of stamps really just helps to complete the layout, gives it that extra 'umph', as  Molly did using the Circus Stories on the roof of the birdhouse and the sewing kit on the welcome sign.


Last but not least, Trish had come up with a lovely layout.  The colour inspiration put her in mind of the Archaic papers by Basic Grey. She used stamps from the new All About Documenting set.

We hope the girls have inspired you to take out your Banana Frog stamps and create. Remember, do upload in our Flickr group. Check back next month on the 4th for another round of colour inspiration!

Banana Frog loves...Scrapbookiando!

Each month we are going to profile one of Banana Frog's stockists and friends. We will tell you a bit about the shop and show you some pictures -because we are all just a little bit nosey right?!

This month we are delighted to introduce you to Scrapbookiando which is based in Italy.

Lory and Simona are two women who have a passion for scrapbooking and had a big dream of developing scrapbooking in Italy. In 2005 Scrapbookiando was born. 

Scrapbookiando is more than an online scrapbooking shop, it is a scrapbooking community full of inspirations, challenges , contests, real friends, online classes and  cool products! There is a forum to  chat, share ideas and participate in challenges and inspirations. There is also a gallery to upload projects. Since its launch it has developed a fantastic community not just in Italy, but throughout Europe.

 Scrapbookiando has a wonderful creative team of talented girls MANU, TATI, GIULY, IRENE and PALLINA! You will can find their creations on the Scrabookiando blog www.scrapbookiando.typepad.com

Scrapbookiando also have a section for online classes by Italian and international teachers such as Kim Archer, Rhonna Farrer, Kerrin Quall., covering different projects and styles, digital and hybrid or traditional. The classes cover all kind of needs, from beginners to advanced scrapbookers!

 In addition to all this, Scrapbookiando has, for the last two years, worked in association with  Paper and Co Show France (www.paperandcoshow.com/), organised the Paper and Co Show Italy (www.paperandcoshow.it). 

This is a show with classes tought by  international and Italian talented teachers! This year the teachers included Emily Falconbridge, Celine Navarro and Elsie Flannigan. There were even creative sewing classes as well!

 

We hope that you enjoyed meeting the team from Scrapiando and PACS Italy. I would definitely recommend PACS, even to those like me who speak only random words in Italian! The whole team are super friendly and helpful and oh so talented!

Check back next month when we will introduce you to another new friend and Banana Frog stockist!

Project of the Day :: Scraplifting

Sometimes I feel like creating, but I don't necessarily feel creative. Know what I mean? And I find the best way to break through the "scrapper's block" is to simply start a cutting and pasting fever. But where to start? "Scraplifting" is a great way to rediscover your mojo! If you're reading this blog, chances are you all ready know what scraplifting entails, but if you don't, it simply means re-using another scrapbooker's design and adding your own photos and story, thereby making the page yours! After all, isn't it the reason we've been buying all these scrapbooking magazines?

For me, inspiration is no further away than Robyn Werlich's on-line class, A Year of You. I simply love her style, and so I scraplifted her design from the February class, but I added my own personal touch with Banana Frog stamps from the It's All About...Hearts set! As you can see, I used the large scalloped heart as a frame for my title. Using Versamark, I stamped the image onto textured cardstock and embossed it with white embossing powder. The image wasn't quite as solid as I wanted, but because the Banana Frog stamps are clear, it was so easy to line the image up, stamp it again and add more embossing powder!

I also stamped the heart flourish from this set on my green cardstock strip and colored it with shimmery chalk - can you see it? It's very subtle in this photograph.

Along the bottom of the page, I used the mini scallops from It's All About...Hearts to create a stamped border.The mini scallop stamp is small, but once again, because it's clear, it was so easy to stamp repeatedly to create a unique border image!  Stamps are the perfect way to add your personal flair to any projects!So next time you're mojo goes missing, take out your Banana Frog stamps and a design from your scrapbook idol and get creating!  Happy scrapping!

Mary

PROJECT OF THE DAY: MY LOVE FOR YOU

I've been lucky enough to work with the "It's all about hearts and elegance" ranges. I've used the Little Yellow Bicycle chipboard album and a range of their papers and they went so well with both of these sets.

The big scalloped heart is blank inside, so I filled it with the word LOVE, whilst I inked all the words in black I done one in magenta to make it stand out

I also took one of the borders from the Elegance set and curved it on the acrylic block and stamped it around the chipboard circle, one of the MANY advantages of using clear stamps!

On this page I stamped onto acetate and filled in with Glamour Dust and then stamped onto the black grosgrain ribbon with the Elegance Swirl

Other stamps used (My favourites) Simple Greetings.
Tips: This would make a lovely wedding gift and in the Scalloped Heart you could put the Bride and Grooms names and/or wedding date
Now go play!!!

Dedicated to Darcy...

My friend Darcy has recently become a little obsessed with ProMarkers - a range of permanent marker pens manufactured by Letraset and after seeing her amazing collection with its vast range of pretty colours it got me thinking... 'how could I use them with my favourite Banana Frog stamps?' After playing 'colouring in' for a while inspiration struck - colour onto acetate!

 

I created this pretty, colourful card using the Scribble Flowers and the Pharmacy stamp sets along with some acetate, Stazon Ink pad, some art glitter and of course the lovely ProMarkers.

After stamping the three flowers onto acetate with the Stazon Pad I turned them over (so you don't smudge the stamped lines) and coloured the flowers with the ProMarkers and added some fine glitter to one image to add a bit of sparkle.

I then layered the flowers up (adding a small white one behind the top flower to add contrast) and attached them to the card with a large brad.

Add your greeting with the Pharmacy stamp set and away you go - a bright, pretty springtime card to brighten up someone's day.

Have fun!

Hannah

x♥x

Project of the Day: Colour Therapy

Lately I'm into colouring my stamped images especially after investing in some Promarkers (alcohol-based markers). I was looking at my Banana stamp sets and spied a couple of set which I could unlease my colouring desire!

I chose Greenwich Park and Steelfish Outline (lower). After stamping the creatures from Greenwich Park, I took out my Promarkers to colour them.What I like about these markers is that it allows you to shade without leaving any streaky marks.

I then proceeded to stamp some alphabets for my title and coloured them as well.

The coloured images were then put together on a page and here's the outcome:

 

These Promarkers have certainly took my colouring to a different level. It certainly made stamping more fun now. You could make use of other means to colour your stamped images, e.g. watercolour pencils, twinkling H20s etc. Whatever you do, have fun and do upload to our Flickr group to show us!