Stampin' Blends NOW AVAILABLE!!

Do you enjoy colouring? Do you like blending? Then look no further.

Stampin' Blends NOW AVAILABLE.

What are Stampin Blends? - They are high-quality dual tip alcohol-based markers which come in 12 exclusive Stampin' Up! colours. They each have a light and dark shade which will give you the utmost blending experience.

- Stampin’ Blends come in Stampin’ Up! colours. Because they fit right alongside the other product lines, they give you an opportunity to play with colour in a way that adds to your Stampin’ Up! experience.

- Have a fine tip and brush tip

- Sold as individuals and as a combo pack (with a light and dark shade)

- Pssst if you join my team you can choose to have these as part of your kit ;)

If you are in the UK, You can order yours here: www.thecraftybat.stampinup.net

Not just the markers but Stampin' Up! have also released - The Color Me Happy Project Kit and coordinating stamp (while stocks last only!), which include beautiful line-art imagery that will give you ample opportunity to test these markers’ superior blending abilities. You’ll see that you don’t have to be a van Gogh to achieve great results with these products!

DT Inspiration for Sheepski Designs

Hey all

Today I have an inspiration piece to share with you all for a new challenge over on Sheepski Designs Facebook Group.

The challenge on the group runs for a month ans is Anything Goes, so for my piece of inspiration for this month I thought I would use Flump n Tic

For this little cutie I had to do a Birthday Card, to do this card I used the following products:

Distress Inks 

Berry Burst Cardstock

Whisper White Cardstock 

Frame Die 

Watercolour Pencils 

Blender Pens 

Sentiment from Number Of Years Stamp Set 

You can get this cutie of an image from SheepSki Designs on Etsy. Use code SKIKELLY10 when you order your Digi Images.

To enter the Anything Goes challenge go to SheepSki Designs Facebook Group and all details will be on there.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my inspiration piece for this challenge and I can not wait to see what you come up with.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Everyday Hero Crafty Day

Hello Crafters 

Today I am wanting to share with you some new cards I have been working on which show one of my favourite stamp sets from Stampin' Up! and it is on the retiring list, it is called Everyday Hero, grab it while you can before it sells out.

I did three cards and will show each one with a list of products used, each product will be linked also to my Stampin' Up! store.

The first card I want to share with you is a basic one and an ideal make for the beginner.

For this card I used the following:

Everyday Hero Stamp Set

Whisper White Card Stock - Cut to make a 6x6 card 

Memento Ink Pad (Used this as I was using alcohol markers to colour the image in) 

Clear Block 

Stampin' Trimmer

Stampin' Scrub and Stampin' Mist (to clean stamps)

Now for the second card I made which would suit the more intermediate crafter

For this card I used the following products:

Everyday Hero Stamp Set  (Retiring once it is gone it is gone)

Whisper White Card Stock - Cut to 6x6 card size 

Clear Blocks

Memento Ink Pad

Paper Snips

Dimensionals

Stampin' Scrub and Mist

Stampin Trimmer

The following Ink Pad Colours (always purchase the refill for the colours)

Crushed Curry (Part of the Regal collection of ink pads), Cherry Cobbler (part of Regal collection of ink pads), Peekaboo Peach (part of 2016-2018 in colour collection ink pads), Perfect Plum (part of Regal collection ink pads), Island Indigo (part of Regal collection ink pads), Cucumber Crush (retiring part of 2015-2017 in colour collection)

Regals classic Collection Ink Pads

2015-2017 In Colour Collection Ink Pads (Retiring only available until stock lasts or until 31st May 2017)

Last but by no means least.. The third card I made is more for the Advanced crafter

Inside the Card

The products used to make this card are as follows:

Everyday Hero Stamp Set (Retiring only available while stocks last or until 31st May 2017) 

Whisper White Card Stock (cut and folded to make A5 card and for topper)

Basic Black Card Stock 

Stampin' Dimensionals

Clear Blocks

TomBow Glue

Memento Ink

Stampin Scrub and Mist

Stampin Trimmer

Stamping Sponges

Aqua Painters

White Gel Pen

Stampin' Up Ink Pads in the following colours:

Elegant Eggplant (Part of the Regal Collection), Flirty Flamingo (Part of the 2016-2018 In Colour Collection), Peekaboo Peach (Part of the 2016-2018 in colour collection), Crushed Curry  (Part of the Regal Collection) and Tip Top Taupe (Retiring Part of the 2015-2017 In Colour Collection get it quick)

Regal Full Collection Ink Pads

2015-2017 In Colour Full Collection (Retiring get them while you can until stock lasts or until 31st May 2017 once they are gone they are gone)

DO NOT FORGET YOUR INK REFILL'S

I hope you have enjoyed taking a look at the cards I have made and that they inspire you to create something superhero for a loved one or a special friend or even just for a pick me up card for someone.

Don't forget to use the April Hostess Code: S436HZZV on any order of £25 min and get a free gift from me, please do not use on an order of £150 as you get your own rewards from an order of that size.

I love this stamp set and will be sorry to see it go but all good things come to an end and it is making way for some FANTASTIC NEW products EEEEEKKK.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

DIY Distress Ink Background Combination Swatch

Hi all 

I have been working on a swatch of background combinations using my Distress Inks and thought you would all like to see it and get some inspiration from it for some background combinations

This is not complete but isn't far off so once I have done the last few to add to it I shall update you all. I can not take full credit for these background combinations as I had done a lot of searching around on Pinterest, Google, Blogs and so on majority of these have come from the colors of magic which is run by Bianca, I also found some combinations from Simon Says Stamp blog and from me just playing around and making a note of the colours used.

This is what the swatch looks like

As you can see it looks very colourful. So what do you need to make your own?? You need the following Tags (any size you wish and any kind), Distress Inks, Blending Tool, and a Hinged Ring (I think the one I am using at the moment is 32mm but I would advise bigger), and lastly a pen. 

Each combination I have done one at a time and as soon as I have finished a combination I have flipped the tag over and written on each colour in the order I have done the combination. 

Here is an example of one of the swatches(Front and Back)

Lets do one together shall we :), So get your tag, distress inks (you can do the same colours as I have in the picture or your own choice) and your blending tools. Do one colour at a time starting at the top of the tag making sure you have enough room on your tag to do each one, So in this one I have 4 colours to do, I always go back over each colour a few times to lend them and to help build the colour up.

And here is how it will look once finished, Don't forget to jot down the colours in the order you did them on the back of the tag. I also always put which ink it is I have done the blend with.

This has become such a useful tool and is so handy to have, I take it with me when I have a craft day with my best friend and we have both used it, when it is not being used I hang it on a hook at the side of my small tower of drawers which sits on top of my desk so it is always at hand.

As you have seen with the first picture there is a fair few combinations, If you would like me to do a few other blog posts showcasing some more of the blends please do let me know, or if there is a particular blend you would like to know if I have done it and want to see again feel free to comment and let me know.I did not want to make this post so long that you got bored.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

NEW FIND!!! Make-Up Brush Soft Blending Background

Hello all

Well today I am sharing with you all a new tip/find to me which some of you may already do and know about.

I found this through a You Tube Video so I can not take credit for this but thought it was a fab tip and a money saver especially if you use stencil brushes and the ink dusters, so I thought I would share with all of you (Videos linked at the end of this post)

Ink blending with a £1 make up brush :O yes you read that right, the brushes I picked up are from Poundland and work brilliantly, If you are in the USA you can pick up an Elf Brush from your Dollar Store.
So chuffed I found this cheap alternative to get a softer look (you can of cause build up the colour in layers to get it darker)

So here is what you need:

Smooth White Card (Or what ever card you use to blend on)

Distress Inks (Or other inks you sue to do bending)

Make Up Brushes (try to get the full face soft brush)

I picked up two of each of the big brushes with handles and two of the small handled both work brilliantly.

Now to put them to practice

You can use any colours you like but for this one I have used Distress Inks in the following colours: Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry and Carved Pumpkin.. To get started all you need to do is load your brush up as you would you blending tool, and dab off any excess, Then just brush across your page lightly

Doesn't the soft shades of colour look beautiful and using this brush makes it so easy to blend them.

Here is a closer look at the colours

I ended up making this into something after doing the stages to show you all, so here is what I did 

I have used a Visible Image Stamp called Stay Strong and inked it up with some Versamark, I then stamped the sentiment onto the blended background and used some beautiful Rose Gold Wow Embossing Powder and then heat set it. 

I will be cutting this down and will be framing it along with more of my makes and will be putting them up on my walls.

I hope this inspires you all to give it a go and saves you some money, Just a quick thank you to KWCardDesign and Laurie Willison on You Tube for doing the videos to show how well this tip works.

If you would like to check out their videos here are the links 

KWCardDesigns - Soft Ink Blended Background

Laurie - Make Up Brush Blender

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Visible Image Crafty Afternoon

Hi all

Welcome back to my blog, Today I managed to get some creating done in between taking photograph's for two other blog posts which are to come over next couple of days.

So I thought I would have a Visible Image afternoon, I had two of the stamps sat on my desk for a couple of weeks so I grabbed those and was on my way.

Here is the first of two new makes today 

The sentiment which is one of Visible Image's new stamps gave me the inspiration for this piece, I love how it turned out using the Joseph's Coat Technique. The supplies used for this piece were as follows:

5x7 White Card

Smooth White Matt Card

Distress Inks

Blending Tool

Visible Image Stamp Set - Leave Your Fears (is used to do the border)

Visible Image Stamp Set - Behind Every Mask (Retired)

Visible Image Stamp Set NEW RELEASE - Bold Colour

The next piece came about from experimenting a new technique with some Brusho's and here is the outcome 

The materials used to make this piece were as follows:

Watercolour Card

5x7 Card

Back Card

Brusho's 

Water

Pipetter

Canned Air 

Sequins

Visible Image Stamp Set NEW - Outside The Lines 

Black Watercolour Pencil

White Gel Pen 

I was so pleased with how both of these cards came out and hope they have given you some inspiration.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

I would like to enter the First card into the following challenges

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes With Optional Twist 

Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes 

Make My Monday Challenges - Colours Of The Rainbow

QKR Stampede - Anything Goes 

Oh La La Creations Challenge Blog - Embossing 

Follow Your Dreams ATC

COOOOEEE!!!

I am flying in today to share with you all another ATC in my ATC range that I have done and once again with this one I have tried a new technique to me.

I love how the rainbow of colour has turned hot this technique is known as Joseph's Coat and it is so easy but effective, I can see me using this technique a lot more.

The products I used to do this piece are:

Smooth White Card

Lavinia Stamps - Fairy Moon, Sentiment and Mini Stars

Distress Inks

Versamark Ink Pad

White Ink Pad

WOW Embossing Powder - Clear 

Heat Tool

I would love to see what you come up with using this technique and that this has given you some inspiration.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Crafty Day With The Bestie

Hi all

Well today's post is so I can share with you all some recent makes I did when me and my best friend had our first crafty day of the new year, We don't get to have crafty day's as often as we used to so when we do we make the most of it, with sharing new techniques we have picked up new products and of cause plenty of giggles and chatting.

So armed with my stamps, inks, blending tools and more off I went with what I wanted to do while my bestie did some collage backgrounds, here is what I come up with 

You may recognise the background colours from a previous make I did, I wanted to do the same blended background as I really like the colour combination. So this piece was done using the following products:

White Matt Card 250gsm

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Versafine Inks 

Lavinia Stamps 

Inkylicious Stencil

Hampton Art Stamp Perfect Tool (New Toy - Blog Post to come about this)

The second piece I wanted to do a more of a daytime background so I referred to my Distress Ink Background Swatch which I have slowly been putting together I will of cause share this with you all as soon as I have finished it. I also wanted to use some of my new Lavinia Stamps... Now I had the stamps I wanted to use and the colours for the background.

And here we have it :)

I absolutely adore how this one came out and how well the background came out, for this piece I used the following:

White Matt Card 250gsm

Distress Inks 

Baby Wipe

Lavinia Stamps 

Inkylicious Stencil

Hampton Art Stamp Perfect Tool 

So there we have it two beautiful scenes all completed and ready to either be framed or made into cards.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at these pieces and any questions feel free to comment and I will get back to you :)

Don't forget to keep a look out for my posts on the Stamp Perfect Tool and the Distress Ink Background Swatch.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Gelli Plate Play Time

Hello all and welcome back to The Crafty Bat Blog :D , I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas It has been hectic here hence why I have not posted for a little while.

So I thought I would bring the new year in with some Gelli Plate makes, These are my first ever makes using a Gelli Plate and I am chuffed to bits with them for first attempts and here they are:

 I will link you to the Lavinia Stamps website below including a link to the Gelli Plate starter kit they offer which is what I had purchased a few months and is worth every penny as you even get to pick ANY TWO Lavinia Stamps of your choice.

Before I get to the list of products used I thought I would also share with you individual pictures of each piece.

The products used for both of these pieces are as follows:

Smooth White Matt Card

3x5 inch Gelli Plate 

Adirondack Ink Pads 

Versafine Ink Pads

Lavinia Stamps

Brayer Roller

You can find all the stamps HERE and the Gelli Plate Starter Kit HERE

If you have never used a Gelli Plate before then the kit I mentioned is a fantastic starting place also Tracey who is the person behind Lavinia Stamps has done some tutorial videos on the Gelli Plate which can be found on You Tube there is also many more videos on the Gelli Plate showing different techniques and different materials used including stencils, stamps, acrylic paints and so on.

I hope you like what I have done and make sure to pop back soon to see some more of my most recent makes.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Forest Friends

Hi all.

Well I am back again as I managed to get in my craft room again today YAY!!, So i decided to do a make with some bits I hadn't got around to using yet.

I am really chuffed with this piece love how the colours have come through and how the whole thing comes together perfectly.

So here it is 

Forest Friends

To do this piece I used the following products:

Smooth white card

Distress Inks

Distress Marker

Inkylicious Stamp 

Inkylicious Stencils

Lavinia Stamps

WOW Embossing Powder - Gold 

The picture really does not show how beautiful and vibrant the colours really do look, I really enjoyed doing this piece and already have my next make idea. So make sure to keep a look out for that :D 

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Inspired Make

Hi all

Welcome back to my blog, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Today's post is to share with you a piece I did yesterday when I finally got back into my craft room YAY!!.. This particular piece I was inspired by Mrs Davies Crafts after watching one of her videos on her Facebook page. So here we have it my take on what Karen did :) 

For this piece I used the following products:

White Smooth Card

Distress Inks - Salty Ocean and Cracked Pistachio

Inkylicious Stencil

Lavinia Stamps - Fox and Leaves

I loved how this came out once I had finished with it I wasn't so sure while I was doing it but once I had done all the focal points and then bought it all together at the end with inking the edges and bringing them in.

I hope you like what I have done here, I also have another make to share with you all which I will be doing a separate post for.

Xx The Crafty Bat xX

Gorjuss ATC

Hi all 

Today's post is another ATC post, I think I have caught the ATC bug lol

I wanted to do something a little different with this one and finally use one of the beautiful mini collectible Gorjuss Girls stamp.

For this ATC I used the following:

Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry and Black Soot

Gorjuss Girls Stamp - The Getaway 

Watercolour Pens

Sentiment is from - Quote Bubbles Set by Dylusions

I thought the quote I chose for this suited the image perfectly with how she is stood - Yeah "Don't give me attitude I already have it!"

Hope you like what I have done and keep your eyes open for more ATC's 

Xx The Crafty Bat xX