Banana Frog Blog

POTD - Have yourself a {black &} White Christmas

Hi all and welcome to my little corner of the Lily pad once again. Today I’d like to share a simple but stylish black and white Christmas.

In the form of these easy peasy black and white stamped cards.

The ingredients: Banana Frog stamp sets; It’s Christmas Deer, Winter Wonderland and Retro Christmas. I also used white card stock, coloured card blanks, Black archival ink, Stickles and some bright festive ribbon.

For each card I cut a white square to fit on the front of each card blank and distressed the edges to add interest. I stamped the main image in the centre with black ink and then stamped a random pattern around the edges with the same stamp.

On some more white card I stamped my sentiments and cut them out, mounting them on the same coloured card as the relevant card blank. I added a strip of festive ribbon across the card and then added the sentiment on top of it with a foam pad for a little added dimension.

And finally I picked out a few little details on each central image with some stickles, well you can’t have Christmas without a bit of glitter!

And that’s it some super simple and speedy black and white cards that have a stylish modern twist!

Well it’s time for this froglet to hop off the lily pad I’m afraid. After much soul searching and juggling of time I have decided with great sadness it is time for me to step down from the Banana Frog DT. I have had an amazing 2 and ½ years with the lovely Bev and all the other froglets and have loved sharing with all of you many stampy projects and thank you all for your lovely comments over my time on the lily pad. I’ve had a blast and I hope to continue seeing you all in cyber space.

Much love MJM x

POTD - A spooky twist

Hi all, it’s my turn to share a project of the day with you and I cannot believe it’s October already! As we’re coming up to that spooky time of year I thought I would do a spooky twist on this project that I did way back last summer.

 
I’ve only used one stamp set for this project, Fairytale Princess with some coloured card, co-ordinating distress inks, pro-markers and a photocopier!

 
I stamped the castle image onto some white card with black ink and then took the image to a photocopier, enlarging it by 175%. I printed this into some green card 4 times and when I cut the images out made sure I added tabs to the bottom edge of all 4 and to the two sides of two of them so I can join them together as a square.

 
I also printed an enlarged image onto some white paper a couple of times so I had a template for embellishing the castle. I cut out the sections and cut out 4 of the larger arched windows to make green ones to cover the central heart window (not very spooky!) I also picked out some details with pro markers and coloured in the windows (you could of course cut them out)

 
I joined all the sides together and then cut a base out of green card to add to the bottom. Using my paper templates I built up sections on the castle in different coloured cardstock, using distress ink around the edges to add definition and also added them on foam pads to add dimension.

 
And that’s it a cute spooky castle! This would make a great little table decoration filled with Halloween goodies for a grown up party or why not add a handle and give it out to special trick or treaters. Whatever you choose to do I hope you feel inspired to look at your Banana Frog stamps with a new eye, maybe not seeing the obvious, and get creative?

Thanks for hopping by and until soon Happy Crafting

Love MJM x

 

POTD - Tweet and fluffy

Hi all and welcome to my little fluffy corner of the Lillypad for this month. I came across a box of feathers in my studio the other day and apart from wondering why I had them, I also thought what can I do with them and came up with this...

 
 ‘Tweet and fluffy cards’

I used the Hiya chick stamp set with its tadpole sister shake your tail feathers and the It’s all about hearts stamp set alongside my new favourites Letraset flex markers, coloured card, a doodle pen, a crop-a-dile and some black brilliance ink. Oh and some cheap hairspray (all will become clear!)

 
I stamped the bird with a big tail from the tadpole set several times onto some letraset paper and then here’s where the hairspray comes in, when the ink was dry sprayed the images with hairspray, this fixes the ink so it doesn’t run when the images are being coloured in.

 
I coloured in one complete bird image and then just sections for layers on another. Flex markers are brilliant if you haven’t tried them. They are lovely to work with and work well with the other letraset markers, they kind of work like coloured blenders.

 
I cut out a bird and its matching layers and curled these for dimension and then added some feathers behind the tails for some fluffy fun!

 
For the pink square card, I stamped out the large heart from it’s all about hearts onto some red card and some paler pink card. I cut out the pale pink heart losing the scallops and cut the red heart out leaving a border around the scallops. I also cut out the centre of the red heart and kept it to one side for another card. Using the small heart stamp from the Hiya chick set and the sentiment from the tadpole set I filled in the pale pink heart.

 
 
Sticking the pale pink heart to the base of the card I added the red frame on foam pads as well as the bird for dimension.

 
 
I used the red heart I had cut out of the previous frame on the blue card and added a sentiment from Hiya Chick. The pink strip of card is doodled with a scallop and cut out then punched with a crop-a-dile. The pattern on the pink card is created using the cute little flower stamps in the Hiya chick set.

 
 
And lastly the yellow card is matted with a teal and a hand doodled and cut out yellow rectangle of card. The sentiment is from the Hiya chick set as is the branch stamp which I stamped 3 times to build a bigger branch for my bird to sit on.

I like my brightly coloured fluffy birds and think they would make great scrapbook embellishments.... oh and they’d look fab on a home decor frame!

Thanks for stopping by the lillypad, I hope you’re well and happy and I’ll see you soon. Until then Happy Crafting

Love MJM x

POTD - Simply clear stamping

Hi all, here I am again to share a Project of the Day with you and as promised I expanded on the project I did for the Frog blog hop last Saturday.

 
Sun, Sand, Sea

Stamping onto acetate to create a background page for scrapbooks is super easy but quite striking especially when you add alcohol ink for added interest. All I have used is the It's all about Circles stamp set and the De Louisville Tadpole stamp set for the alphas. I have added to that Alcohol inks; stream, oregano and bottle, black Stayzon, Adirondak ink; denim, Distress ink; weathered wood, Ribbon, hessian, lace, gems and some scrap paper. Of course I also used a 12 x 12 acetate sheet!

 
I printed my photos in draft onto some copy paper and placed them where I would like them to go on the 12 x 12 to give myself a guide for the stamped pattern. I then went to town with the Circle stamp set and some stayzon creating a pattern.

 
Once I was happy with the stamping I flipped over the acetate and dripped the alcohol ink over the stamped areas and the photo area. I didn’t do anything else than drop the colour on and let it do its own thing and I made sure I left some areas clear so the acetate effect can still be seen.

 
Turning the 12 x 12 back the right way when the alcohol ink was dry, which doesn’t take long, I removed the draft photos and built up my layout using proper photos, scrap paper, hessian, ribbon and lace.

 
I stamped the rectangle from the Circles stamps to create my journaling block on to white card using blue ink and weathered wood distress ink to break down the white.

 
I stamped the title using the DeLouisville stamp set on some scrap paper ripped into strips.

 
And finally I added some gems to the circles I had stamped.

 
I love the mix of textures against the acetate and the lovely patterns that the alcohol inks create.

 

An acetate layout like this looks great on an easel and creates a great talking point.

Why not have a go at creating with some acetate? Banana Frog stamps lend themselves very well to this technique with the lovely simple graphic patterns, most of which are on sale so grab a bargain while you can!

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share my project with you and until I see you again next month Happy Stamping

Love MJM x

POTD - Happy scrappy stamping

Hi all, well it’s that time again to share another froggy project with you. With British summertime in full swing (?) I woke up one morning to glorious sunshine and blue skies and felt all was right with the world
and that was what inspired me to make this

 
A Happy Day card!

 
The Ingredients

I’ve used a whole host of Banana Frog stamps for this collage project; Greenwich park, Sentimental style, Swirls and butterflies, Shake your tail feathers, Super dreamy and Round in Circles. I also got to use up some stuff from ‘that’ bag of scraps, some brilliance inks and Ranger black archival ink.

 
From ‘that’ bag of scraps I created a collage of blue sky and ripped green hills onto a Kraft card base.

 
Using circles from Round in circles I created a rainbow arch on my acrylic block. Using rainbow colour inks, I graduated my inking onto the stamps and as the base of the arc has got a bit bunched up laid my card onto to the stamps to get the impression then cut out the rainbow.

 
Using 2 different sizes of circles and manipulating them onto my acrylic block I created some clouds with blue ink and cut them out.

 
Next up I stamped the outline tree onto brown scraps and the top of them onto green scraps. After cutting them out (just the top bit on the green pieces) I was able to layer the trees to give them nice green leaves.

 
I assembled the elements so far onto my collage and decided I needed a ‘happy’ bird in the sky. I stamped a bird from the shake your tail feathers tadpole set, cut off his tail and his legs, re attaching these in a ‘flying’ position.

 
A few flowers stamped onto some scraps of patterned paper and a couple of butterflies, cut out and curled for dimension finished the collage.

 
The last thing to add was the sentiment et voila a happy day card that makes me smile!

What will you stamp today that will make you smile? Why not get out ‘that’ bag of scraps and see what you can conjure up. Thanks for hopping by, I’ll see you with another project next month, until then have a very happy July and happy stamping!

Love MJM x

 

 

 

  

POTD - Glue stick embossing!

Hi all and welcome to my corner of the Lilly pad for today. I thought I would share a technique based project with you that you can apply to all manner of projects, it also happens to be one of my old favourite techniques that I’d kind of forgotten about until it popped into my head the other day!

 
Triple embossing with a humble glue stick! I have created a hanging wall plaque to show you an idea for using it but the scope is endless from card toppers to scrapbook quotes, home decor to jewellery.

 
I have used my favourite alphabet set from Banana Frog called Steelfish outline but you could use any of the lovely BF alphabets or patterns! I have worked on some chipboard rectangles as chipboard holds up to the abuse, a glue stick and a selection of cosmic shimmers ultra thick embossing powder, as well as clear embossing powder and some black archival ink.

 
Generously cover a chipboard rectangle with glue stick, make it quite thick and uneven to create the rough embossing effect.

 
Emboss the chipboard, the first 2 or 3 layers I use clear powder to save the nice stuff! You will see the surface has bubbled in places, this is where the glue has heated and the enamel has bubbled, all lending to the rough effect I love about this technique.

 
On the last layer add a few pinches of another colour embossing powder to create some more interest on the piece.

 
I carried on and embossed all 3 panels using different colours.

 
Spelling out the words with the steelfish outline on an acrylic block and inking it with black archival ink I reheated the enamel on a panel and stamped the word, get right over the top when doing this and stamp straight down firmly but not too hard to avoid the stamps slipping in the hot embossing powder.

 

 

 
I carried on and stamped all 3 plaques in the same way and then once they were cool took the glue stick to the edges of the plaques again but this time making sure to apply thick lumps of glue.

 

 
I covered the glue with some gold embossing powder and heated it ....this is my favourite bit! The glue really bubbles and moves around making the embossing powder do the same ... look at that distressed metal edge!

 

To create my hanging I glued the plaques along a length of hessian and hung it with some wired raffia.

So why not dig out that glue stick and some embossing powders and add your own twist of alternative embossing to your next project!

Thanks for hopping by and letting me share my little project with you, hop by soon to be inspired by the other froglets.

I’ll see you here next month, until then Happy Stamping!

Love MJM x

 

Project of the Day - A Right Royal Celebration!

Hi all and welcome to my little corner of the lily pad today. With all the weekend festivities, what a lovely wedding it was! I am feeling quite patriotic and as I had my sister and nieces to stay and we had a right royal a tea party I have quite a lot of photos to start scrapping so where better to start than right here with some perfect Banana Frog stamps!

 
My ingredients for my Royal tea party are That takes the cake, cupcake greetings, Fairy tale princess and Diamonds forever stamp sets alongside some momento ink in lady bug red and bahama blue, black archival ink, red, white and blue cardstock and red, blue and black doodle pens.

 
I started with a cake stand and cakes as the layout is all about the red, white and blue fairy cakes the girls made for the tea party and used the perfect title sentiment from the Fairytale princess stamp set. I also printed my photos in draft and positioned them marking their places with a pencil so I could see where to stamp the background pattern.

 
At this point I decided the edges of the layout were too boring so I doodled a scallop and cut it out, punching holes all the way round to create a funky paper doily effect adding more doodling round the holes. I then mounted it onto some blue cardstock to lift it. Using the sprinkle stamp from that takes the cake stamp set I stamped a background pattern in red and blue around the area my 3 grouped photos would be.

 
Mounting the photos on red, white and blue cardstock I created a scalloped edge for the focal photo copying the edges of the layout and then stamped another sentiment directly onto the photo from the fairy tale princess set using archival ink.

 
Using the dotty outlined diamond from the diamonds forever stamp set I stamped onto red, white and blue card ....

 
..... and then cut them in half to create some bunting.

 
Finally I created a doodled journal card and slipped it under the main photo and added some embellishments stamped form cupcake greetings coloured in with my doodle pens.

 
And that’s it

 
The first of my right royal celebration layouts!

So do you have lots of royal wedding party photos? What Banana Frog stamps will you use to scrap the memories? Don’t forget to pop to the shop, there’s some right royal bargains to be had! Thanks for visiting me today and pop back soon to be inspired by the other talented froglets, until soon Happy stamping!

Love M x

POTD - Chalky magic

Hi all and welcome to my little corner of the lily pad today where I’d like to share with you a project re visiting an old favourite technique and some of my all time favourite Banana Frog stamps.

When I started crafting seriously, after giving up life on the road working in theatre, one of the in things was to use chalks in projects. I used to love the different effects not least the way things can magically appear in front of you after stamping with clear ink. The other day I was rooting through some craft boxes and found my box of pastels and thought it would be fun to re visit the magic.

 
I have used the Tropical Garden stamp set (My first ever BF set) Round in Circles (One of my first DT sets and much loved as you will see from the photos!) and the Oh so cute Charming Prince set. I also used some bright coloured cardstock, some clear embossing ink, black archival ink, a box of cheap pastels, pro markers, Distress inks, some bobbly ribbon, paper flowers and some bling.

 
I ripped a mat from some contrasting card to stamp and chalk on and then set up some patterns on some large acrylic blocks using the round in circles stamp set, I stamped all over the yellow mat creating a pattern using the clear embossing ink.

  
Taking some shades of green from the pastel box I scribbled them onto some scrap paper to create some chalk dust ....

 
....And then using a cotton wool ball built up the colours over the stamped pattern watching it magically appear in front of me! I also like the way the chalk dust settles in the ripped fibre of the card around the edges. Tip! If you don’t know already a good way to fix chalk is to use a cheap hairspray, the cheaper the better!

 
I cut a mat for my topper and stamped the small leaf from the tropical garden set onto it blending 2 colours of distress ink onto the stamp before stamping the image. I also added the small sentiment from the Charming prince set in the bottom corner.

 
I stamped froggy from the charming prince set on a scrap of white card and coloured him in with my pro markers...

 
I cut him out and added him to the now distressed topper using foam pads to make him stand out.

 
Some bobbly ribbon, paper flowers and bling finished of my card along with a little doodling and hopefully I will have found out by now my mum loved it (It’s her mother day card! She loves frogs :))

So what oldy but goody technique do you feel inspired to revisit with your Banana Frog stamps? Whatever it is enjoy the re discovery and please do share!!

I hope you’re all well and happy and until soon Happy Stamping!

Love MJM x

Project of the Day: Masked wreath

If you want to bring a clean yet striking design to your Christmas cards this year, why not give this rustic wreath look a go?

 

You only need a few items to put this together.

• Smooth cardstock
• Stamps of your choice (I used the branch and a greeting from Christmas Elegance)
• Dies of your choice (I used the largest Labels 17 Nestabilities die to make the card blank and the smallest label to cut the mask)
• Post-it notes
• Inks
• Stickles

1. Create a regular card blank from the cardstock but to give it a fancy touch, run it through a die cutting machine with a large label die. You need to align the die so that as much as possible of the spine of the card blank remains intact.

2. Cut a small label from the sticky end of a post-it note - this will be your mask.

3. Position the mask on your card blank and using the branch stamp, stamp over the mask to create the look of a wreath. The great thing about using the post-it is you can peel it away to see how your design is progressing and stick it back down again if you need to build up the wreath further.

4. For the finishing touch, stamp your greeting in the middle and accent the berries of the wreath's branches with red Stickles.

 

Lilypad lesson - Canvas on canvas

Hi there and welcome to class. Today we’re going to look at altering a canvas on a canvas, do an image transfer and create a bespoke piece of home decor. Are we ready? Then we’ll begin, this is what we are creating

 
Me and you

11 years ago this month I was lucky enough to marry my soul mate. I came across this photo while I was looking through our wedding pics and thought it would be perfect to transfer onto a mini canvas I bought recently at the Artisan craft show.  The technique is very simple but effective and is a different way to display those special photos.

 
The ingredients; I used the swirls stamp set (on sale half price right now!) for this project as well as a small canvas about 7’’ x 5’’, an even smaller canvas about 2 ½’’ square. A big and juicy ink pad in waterfall, a clear ink pad, some blue embossing powder, some matt gel medium, a piece of overhead projector transparency to print on and some ribbons, gems and flowers for decoration.

 
Using some cut and dry build up your ink on the canvas, do it the same way as you would on paper baring in mind it stays a bit wetter sitting on the canvas. Using the waterfall ink pad gives lots of shades of blue to build up into a pattern. Dry the canvas with a heat gun once you’re happy with the pattern to fix the ink.

 
Pack the back of the canvas with some cardboard to create a solid unit to stamp onto

 
Using the large swirls stamp a pattern around the canvas using the different colour blues from the big and juicy pad. Again the ink will sit on the canvas so be careful with smudging and heat set as soon as you are happy, leave to one side to dry thoroughly and note that the images will fade slightly as they dry.

 
Size your photo to fit the mini canvas and print it on to a piece of transparency, the kind that is used for overhead projectors, you can get it in good stationary supply stores. Pack the back of the mini canvas as you did the main one to add a solid base to work on.

 
Cut it to size and apply a generous layer of gel medium (the stuff used to thin acrylic paint without diluting it, use a matte one) to the mini canvas, NB apply to the canvas and NOT the image!!! Lay the transparency onto the canvas straight away, print side down and rub the image onto the canvas, use your thumbnail or the back of a spoon. Keep rubbing until the image ‘melts’ off the transparency onto the canvas then peel away the transparency. Similar to using a rub on but a little more patience is required

 
The distressed look is part and parcel of the technique. Ink any exposed canvas including the sides.

 
Go back to the main canvas and this time use a clear ink pad to stamp the swirls and emboss them, building up the pattern on your canvas.

 
Attach the mini canvas to the main canvas with some strong glue, I used gel glue and then add ribbons, gems and flowers as you want.

 
I love my little canvas with all it’s dimension and swirled patterns, I hope you feel inspired to have a go yourself, I also hope you’ve enjoyed class for this session and thanks for stopping by, hop by soon as there is inspiration to be had in abundance from the other froglets and I’ll see you soon, until then Happy Stamping

Love MJM x