Creative Stamping Magazine Review

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

Oh my goodness I cannot be coping with this level of Cold 🥶.  Paul must have thought that I had lost the plot on Thursday night in bed, I was so cold (full on shivering) that after about an hour of shivering I was so cold down to my bones I was in tears,  I was virtually welded to Paul physically,  my feet were entwined in his legs and he was full on hugging me to share his lovely toasty body heat, but it seemed to make no difference, now whether its because of my long term blood loss or just the extra body ache that the cold brings to anyone with constant bone pain I have no idea,  but last night I went to bed in layers, with the heated blanket on before bed and the hot water bottle, I will let you know later. 

Maria I know the scenery in Zell am See is stunning, I mean I would love to see Austria,  but I would want to go in the sunshine and warm weather.  I know that you & Rick love the snow abd your photos have been stunning in the past,  I would definitely say its your 'Happy Place ' !!  I hope that you both have an amazing time, I can't wait to see this year's photos and hear all about your holiday.  I hoped you remembered your thermal drawers!! 🤣😂

It's never a good idea to be left alone in the magazine aisle,  did I need a magazine?  No i didn't but as with all craft stash,  we never need it, but its nice to have,  so I thought I'd share it with my lovely friends.....

Creative Stamping issue 143

This first issue of 2025 has some lovely floral stamps, some Spring flowers, plus a lovely Magnolia (I think) from Stamps by Me.  

The first feature has Sarah Phelan sharing ideas for Lattice cards,  we did these asca tutorial last year, they look really effective,  especially with the flowers and leaves woven through the lattice.

I mentioned that metallic/foiling would be a trend this year and here it is featured, Laura Murcott shares different ways of adding foiling to your cards,  there are lots of options from double sided tape, the heat up bonding powder that get tacky when you heat them, even glue pens will work. You just need to make sure you have the right kind of foil.  Some are heat activated, some need images printed with toner,  you could just use gilding flakes too. 

Some fab fun folds made using the free downloadable papers.  

Some lovely gifting ideas, using the free stamps and papers.  I like the chocolate bar box and  the Pocket Gift tag, which would be great for gifting seeds 

Now Mark Making is something I haven't really heard of.  Its apparently the oldest form of art and something that people have been doing for many years!  You can use anything from Bubblewrap to Vegetables. Things that inspire you in nature,  you have to go right back to basics and leave any idea of perfect stamping at the door!!  It's all about having fun and enjoying the creativity.

Glenda Hall shares different ways of getting the watercolour effect.  For istance get those watercolour markers out and use them to colour your stamped images, then spritz with water, the harder you press down the more the ink will spread.  Now if you use a stamp platform and replace the watercolour background back in place (after drying) you can then ink the stamp with black ink and add the detail back over the watercolouring.  

Stamping on vellum and then adding colour on the reverse gives a much softer effect, just go careful when heat embossing on vellum it sets very quickly

Julia Dawson shares different ways to add highlights and spotlight to your cards, each card has a different effect, all lovely 😍 

All in all there are some great techniques,  great inspiration at a time of year when we all need a bit of a boost.  The stamps are all very usable too. 

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I hope that you all have a super Saturday,  

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxx