I paired the fabulous Springtime Foils Specialty Designer Series Paper with the Blossoming Basket stamp set to create this thank you card. But, to make the gorgeous floral designs of the designer paper even more eye-catching, I brayered some colour with an ombre-effect...

Brusho Crystal Colour is a water-based powder that works well with resist techniques. A resist technique is when you add a waxy or shiny finish that water-based inks won't adhere to; to create a pattern or to protect parts of a stamped images from subsequent watercolouring. Resist is how I got the white highlights on the tongue, laces and toe cap of these stamped Converse-like shoes. Resist is also how I got the stamped words in white, appearing through the watercolour background. For the shoes I used a white waxy crayon or pastel over the stamped image, where I wanted to retain the white (Wax Resist Technique), For the words, I stamped and heat embossed with white embossing powder (Emboss Resist Technique). I did all this before sprinkling on Brusho Crystal Colour and spritzing with water...

Yes, I stamped with Brusho Crystal Colour! That's right, I used the solid stamps from the Lots of Lavender two-step stamping set to give this image a gorgeous watercolour look...

Have you tried Brusho Crystal Colour yet? It's containers of dry ink crystals that burst in water! Just apply a generous amount of water onto your project and shake Brusho Crystal Colour over the top, then watch the colour explode and bleed into the wet areas. Alternatively, to get a splash of colour, shake Brusho Crystal Colour onto your project, spritz with water and watch the intense colour of the crystals burst and spread in the water, which I what I did to create this celebratory card...

Easter is not that far away and I am gearing up for the occasion with fun ideas to hold Easter Eggs. This cute Easter Basket was enlarged and adapted from Vicky Hayes design and easily holds two marshmallow Easter Eggs, seated snuggly in some Sweet Soirée Ready Shreddie...

Generally, there are two cards that we can never have enough of, Birthday and (unfortunately) Sympathy Cards. The need for a Sympathy Card can come unexpectedly and, often, we are not in the right space to create a card to express our heartfelt thoughts. So, with that in mind, I create Sympathy Cards at times when I don't need them, to keep on standby. If you choose your sentiment carefully, these cards can also be used for sharing handwritten messages with those who are having a difficult time too, not just in times of loss.

On Sunday we held the Hamilton Extravaganza, which focussed on a selection of the gorgeous products from the 2018 Occasions Catalogue and Sale-A-Bration. Despite the heat, the whole day had a lovely, relaxing atmosphere and everyone enjoyed the creative inspiration.

One of the most popular Sale-A-Bration products is the Heartfelt Blooms stamp set. This set contains a patent-pending stamp production process that creates photo-realistic style stamps, which Stampin' Up! have called "Distinktive". This process allows you to lay down the ink at different opacities, giving the finished image more depth. To create the gorgeous Distinktive stamp in the Heartfelt Blooms set, Stampin' Up! artists styled a bouquet of flowers, photographed it, and then the manufacturing facility turned that photographed image into a rubber stamp. Here it is stamped in Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride and Calypso Coral...