Some sets of Banana Frog stamps are fantastic focal stamps that are super when you want to make a wow card or have a layout on the theme of the set -think Kawaii Kokeshi, Hiya Chick or Its Christmas, Deer. Then there are the other kind. The kind that you can use to make up a gazillion patterns so you always have your own patterned paper. The kind that can be the focus too, but it super at supporting other sets and designs. Some people tell me they are scared of this type of set, they are not sure how to use it and although the would love to, they often fall back on the picture type sets. This is a shame because they are really, really easy to use and so adaptable.
Perhaps my most used of this other kind of set is Fireworks (I must add, that it is quickly followed by It's all about Flourishes) and so I wanted to share 4 different cards where the Fireworks set has been put to use. Mainly as background but in such a way that they form the focus too.
Card 1 - Birthday Wish:
This card is one done by Julie Hickey who is also a big fan of Fireworks and it is one of my favourite cards. It is so simple yet stunning. Julie stamped in 3 shades of green in little clusters -a good tip is to start with the lightest shade first and then work through the darker colours. This gives a bit of depth to your background. Julie then die cut her greeting and stuck it over the stamping. To add some typical Hickey sparkle she added some gorgeous gemstones.
Card 2 - Best Friend:
For this card I have simply stamped the fireworks onto a tag shape to use it as the focus of my card. Actually, this card is one that I make time and time again. The elements always work and it always looks effective no matter what colours I put together.
Card 3 - Little Princess:
This card is one that Debbie made and it shows the fireworks as both a background and focal stamp. I love how chunky the fireworks look with the buttons on top against the fine detail of the background fireworks. Debbie stamped the chunkier fireworks on card and then cut them out (you can also punch them out), and then cut spokes round the firework shape leaving a slight edge to add contrast (and of course make it easier to cut out!).
Card 4 - Thanks:
The final card is a fun card that can be adapted to any occasion. It is also a fantastic way to use this set on a layout. I first punched out the circles (I think they are 1.5", 1" and 0.5") and stamped 3 different sizes of fireworks onto the card. I stamped first in one colour (lime green) and then inked the stamp with another colour (orange) twisted the stamp slightly so that the spokes moved and then stamped down again. The great thing about Banana Frog stamps is that they are clear so you can always see exactly where you are stamping. This made it super easy to get the multicoloured flower fireworks. I then used foam pads to make them stand out and put crystals in the middle for a bit of bling.
So, four easy cards using the Firework set. We would love to see how you use the Fireworks stamps so please do link any pictures, upload them to the Banana Frog flickr group or email me.
If you would like to win a set of the Fireworks stamps, leave us a comment below. The closing date is October 30th at 12pm GMT.
Good luck!
Hey there! Did you enter our last giveaway? Then how about a drumroll for our winning comment?
ooh nice stamps probably a teal colour, my fave at the mo. x
So if you're the teal-loving Angie, email me (shimelle at gmail dot com) your address and I'll get some Banana Frog goodness out to you for your stamping enjoyment!
....and I have a stamped project to share with you too, but I finished it so late at night that there's no light! I'll add it to this post tomorrow morning!
Love and glitter,
Shimelle
Have you seen this very pretty label from the Sentimental Style stamp set? I love it on scrapbook pages just as much as cards. Sentimental Style comes with plenty of different words and phrases that fit perfectly on this label but you can also stamp whatever wording you might like as the De Louisville letter stamps are just the right size!
It's Giveaway day here on the Frog Blog, so leave us a comment! Tell me a colour you would like to use on your next project! One randomly chosen commenter will win Banana Frog stamps! International entries are totally welcome.
Entries close on the 15th of August and the winner will be posted on the 17th.
Now click that comment button!
Love and glitter,
Shimelle
Hi there.
Are you ready for your lesson today? I promise not to keep you longer than necessary ... no one wants detention when the weather's been so warm do they?
It's been such a lovely 'real' summer here in England in recent weeks that I've had more bare flesh on display than usual and finding ways to adorn that flesh has been my inspiration for this collection of frayed and flirty fabric accessories. A collection which, so far, includes.....
An anklet:.... a wrist cuff:
.... and earrings:
The 'step-by-step' part of today's tutorial focusses on creating the anklet, but once we've covered the basic techniques you'll see how easily you can adapt it to any accessories you prefer.
Step 1: You will need ..... a selection of fabrics - I chose a lovely soft white muslin for my anklet - and a small peice of quilting wadding:Step 2: Measure around your ankle. If you don't fancy an anklet then instead measure your wrist for a cuff, your neck to make a choker or even your waist to make a belt:
Step 3: Cut two strips of muslin and one of wadding to length. The wadding should be slighlty narrower than the muslin:
Step 4: Carefully tease out some of the threads from your strips of muslin so that they fray.Select the design of stamp you'd like to wear: I chose a border design from the Matroyshka set as it has a tattoo-like feel to it which felt appropriate for the anklet.
Next lay your strips on a flat surface of scrap paper and repeatedly stamp the design along your fabric using a fabric ink or a Stazon pad: Step 5: Lay one strip of muslin face down and then layer ontpo of it the wadding and the top strip facing up.
In between these layers slip in two lengths of ribbon which will become your anklet's tie fastening. Pin through all of the layers to prevent them moving: Step 6: Carefully run the pinned anklet through a sewing machine and stitch around all 4 sides at least twice ... just to be safe and to prevent the edges from continuing to fray:
Step 7: Wear it! You now have a super-speedy, unique, bespoke beautifully soft and comfortable summery accessory:
Step 8: Now you have a feel for the idea, try something else.
I stamped a starburst disc design from the Superlicious set several times onto muslin, laid it on top of a piece of cotton sandwiching a small disc of wadding in between the layers.
Next I ran the fabric under the machine, sewing through both layers at once: Tip: Obviously it's trickier to sew around the circular designs than straight lines but I kept the whole feel of the collection 'free and easy' so I didn't worry about going wonky!
Step 9: Oncethey were stitched in place I cut around each disc and gently frayed the edges.
Next I took a lenght of cotton webbing tape to fit my wrist, added a velcro fastener, then sewed my stamped discs into place using some of my favourite vintage buttons:
As someone who cannot keep some styles of bangle and bracelets on for very long before they start to annoy me ... I can promise that this style is so comfortable you won't even remember it's there ... until someone compliments you on it of course! Step 10: Now you're getting the hang of things, keep going! I returned to the Matroyshka set for a larger ornate disc design to repeat the process from above. IRather than sew it onto a cuff I added a tiny wooden bead and a jump ring onto an pre-made earring 'blank' widely available from craft shops:
All that's left to do now is enjoy your finished pieces, which I've been doing with mine practically every day since making them! So, what do you think? Can I tempt you into trying some frayed, flirty fabric fripperies?
Even if you don't see yourself wearing these specific designs, you could always adapt the idea to suit your own preferences or how about whipping up a few in advance to to give as gifts? They really are simple and satisfying to make.
So much so that I actually kept on experimenting with the idea and made a pretty little brooch using the 'Hiya Chick' set. If you'd like to see that then pop over to my 'notes on paper' blog where I'm offerning it as a giveaway!
Thanks for reading today, you did very well sitting still for so long ... you can go out to play now ... unless you want to stay in and craft?
Decisions, decisions ....
Julie :)
First off, happy weekend everyone!
For today's Banana Frog inspiration I have some card ideas to share.
We're going to be looking at thinking outside the box for your card shapes and using your stash of dies to quickly create cute little card blanks for cards and notelets.
Also we're creating some layers with a whole host of new Banana Frog stamps.
The sets I've used in these projects are:
So for the first card, I cut the background of my card using the largest Scallop circle in my Nestabilities collection and chose my background paper and stamps:
Next up I needed to cut a strip of the background paper to stamp my background, I usually just use the corresponding die as a guide when cutting things on my trimmer to make sure there's enough leeway for stamping, but also I'm a bit of a miser when it comes to wasting stash!
Then I inked up the main stamp in the Totally Tropical set using a hot pink ink:
Once that was done I used a darker shade of red to ink up the stand-alone hibiscus flower in the same set and stamped over the flower to create a bolder design:
I added a few more over-stamped accents and once I was happy with my background, I positioned the large circle die over my background in my Cuttlebug to ensure everything fit nicely:
Once that was cut out I was ready to add my greeting. I used the frame from the coordinating Tropical Taste tadpole set:
Again I layered up the flower accent in another bolder colour. I then worked out how best to use the inside of the frame for a greeting from the Sentimental Style set, and decided it needed to be on two lines here. To get the positioning right I inked up half of the greeting, then once stamped cleaned it thoroughly (and stamped on some scrap paper to make sure it was dry) before inking the rest of the greeting:
After mounting the background on the scalloped blank I added some more layers to the card. I stamped more flowers from the two sets in bold red on some of the left-over background paper, cut the flowers out and curled the petals a little around a pen, then mounted them with 3D foam:
If you're wondering how my cards stand up, I make a little foldy bit from left-over cardstock and attach it to the back:
And the finished result:
Some bling, Liquid Pearls and Stickles (Fruit Punch) totally finished it off:
The next card is seriously simple and quick.
It uses the Top Note die for the card blank and background.
I really wanted a bold greeting here, and the Budmo Jiggler tadpole set was the perfect fit. Plus it can be seriously glammed up!
All it takes is some teeny dots of Stickles in the dotty bits of the letters and you have some real sparkle:
Budmo Jiggler is just perfect for bold and striking colour schemes and designs. All the more so when you accent some of the letters in a different colour.
And finally for that special someone, a card literally from the heart. I used the Nestabilities heart and heart scallop set to make this card. But this time the layering is created with lots of 3D foam!
The whole background is mounted on 3D foam dots, then the greeting from Sentimental Style and little birdhouse from Hiya Chick! are on even more 3D foam dots, so it really pops!
And of course there had to be more Stickles!
It's a very simple card, but sure to be noticed on the mantelpiece. :o)
I'll be back tomorrow with another project using the new range of Banana Frog stamps, but if you fancy winning a set of the Tropical Taste tadpole stamps just comment here on this blog post, and to have your name thrown into the hat twice, go comment over at my blog too!
Happy creating!
Just dropping by to let you know the winner of this giveaway is...
Video montage of storage/organization ideas... That would be extremely helpful.
Posted by: DaniH | June 08, 2010 at 06:09 PM
So DaniH, send me an email so we can get your stamps in the post!
I'll be back with a video based on all the suggestions left... as soon as youtube decides to be my friend again! Very soon!
Have a happy day Frogfans!
-Shimelle
I love it when I get to share new designs and this month we are getting ready for the summer months with a tropical feel!
The first design is called Totally Tropical and is full of swirls and hibiscus. Also, the journaling spot is the perfect size for a 2 inch punch -because who has time to try and cut a perfect circle, right?!
The second set is called Tropical Taste and it is Tadpole size. I love the journaling label.
Here's a super simple card I made. All I did was stamp the corner swirl onto kraft cardstock, then stamp it again and cut out the flowers. I popped these on foam pads for some dimension, then stamped and punched out the journal spot. Finally I added some lovely stickles for a bit of glitz. Like I said, super simple, but stylish.
Here is a second card using the same corner stamp. This time I heat embossed the design using versamark and clear embossing powder and then rubbed ink over the card. On the background card I used the swirl stamp -loving using that as an accent!
The next set is one that I know lots of people will love as since I mentioned I was going to bring it out I have had lots of emails from people asking when it was due. Well, it is here! De Louisville is a fantastic, quirky font that is great on cards as well as layouts especially in the Tadpole size.
For this card I paired the De Louisville with Totally Tropical. See how lovely and at home it looks :)
Nat has already been using this set like crazy, so I wanted to share a couple. The first card was for the birthday blog hop, lovely and pink.
Nat's second card uses the smallest die in one of the Nestabilities range. Fantastic idea to use these for letters, and I love the colour combo!
Finally, time to bring one of my favourite big alphabets to a small size. I love Budmo Jiggler and it looks fantastic in its new Tadpole size! It is a real stand out alphabet and the addition of some bling really adds the wow factor :)
This card is so easy, but looks so effective. I simply drew some lines in pencil and then stamped my word repeatedly. I highlighted Love you in red to make it stand out even more. I rubbed out the lines and then added stickles!
I hope you like the new sets as much as we do. The design team have got some fantastic projects lined up to show them off :)
Leave a comment below and let us know what you think -you could win one of the new sets!
Also, every order placed in the shop this month will stand the chance of winning £50 worth of stamps!
Fancy a little something different with your Banana Frog stamps? I stamped a design from Swirls and Butterflies onto shrink plastic, then coloured it with Copic markers, cut it out and shrank it with a heat tool. The second butterfly was punched instead of stamped, but everything else was the same. I've added them to some fabric flowers to make a pretty headband in my favourite colours!
Today you can win your own set of Swirls and Butterflies! To enter, leave a comment below saying what you'd like to see demonstrated in my next Banana Frog video! (See earlier examples here and here!) One comment will be randomly selected as the winner -- and I'll choose one of your suggestions for my next video, posted here on the 17th!
Comment until midnight (UK time) on the 15th of June to enter. International entries always welcome!
Happy stamping!
Love and glitter,
Shimelle
Came over from Craft Gossip! Thanks for a chance to win!
kmassman gmail
I'm putting you in my RSS feed.
Posted by: Kelly Massman | October 27, 2010 at 02:45 PM
Congratulations Kelly! Drop me an email with your address details and I will get a set of Fireworks in the post to you.
As well as fantastic inspiration, we will have more giveaways this month so make sure you keep checking back.