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Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day! Here in New Zealand, we are still in Level 3 Lockdown – meaning we can’t travel out of our region, retail shops are not open although online retailers are shipping. So today’s plan is to have cake with both mine and my husband’s mother via a Zoom meeting. Sounds fun right? Three cakes were ordered, but only one has made it to its destination so far – the couriers in New Zealand say their current workload is like Christmas on steroids!!

Anyway, back to the card my mother received in the post (sent in plenty of time for arrival prior to today!).

Close up of the rainbow sunflower – can you see the shine?
Adding colour to the die cut sunflower, this doesn’t need to be tidily done as it will be hidden by the layers.

I was inspired by Laura Bassen @laurafadora and her card made with the sunflower stem from Simon Says Stamp. I loved the rainbow idea and bought this die solely to create my own.

I cut the sunflower five times, and left the petals intact in one of them so I could colour my rainbow for the bottom layer. I used copic markers, but you could use any medium you prefer.

Three die cuts, with the petals punched out were glued on top. I used my Art Glitter glue for this as I really like the super fine tip. If I had thought ahead, I could have applied stick it adhesive to my cardstock first to make the job of sticking the delicate die cuts together easier!

I also coloured the petals with my Nuvo Glimmer pen, and then added Nuvo Crystal Glaze for extra shine.

The final die cut sunflower was added to the top for a nice clean and crisp finish.

The background is the Simon Says Stamp Festive Berries stamp, heat embossed with Hero Arts Satin Pearl embossing powder.

The sunflower panel is raised with craft foam. I used the MFT stitched rectangles on both the card front and sunflower panel to get a nice stitched border.

I added the sunflower to the front and found a suitable Happy Mother’s Day sentiment in Mama Elephant’s Mini Messages. I heat embossed in white on Hero Arts Pitch Black cardstock and carefully cut the ends to create the little banner.

If you have any questions regarding the putting together of this card, please feel free to message me – I’m only too happy to help!

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Best of the Basics Series

Ever felt a little overwhelmed about just how many different things are required for cardmaking? Wondering where to start? Where to find some of the things you’ve seen on YouTube? Or maybe you’d simply like to update some of your supplies. Check out my new series covering the best of the basic supplies for cardmaking and where to get them – a resource for New Zealand Crafters.

I have started this little series Best of the Basics and it will be a permanent fixture on my website for future reference. Here, I will add articles over the coming weeks about the basic cardmaking supplies with which I have found the most success. It will be a great place for beginners and seasoned crafters alike as a handy reference, and hopefully help with deciding on which products are worth the investment to you.

When I started out in this cardmaking hobby, I searched the internet and Facebook for information – turns out I was hunting for the Stamp Junkies mere weeks before they existed! If you’re not a Junkie, come and join us already!

New Zealand is a small country and we have just a handful of brick and mortar craft stores to see things first hand for ourselves. Finding the products that have worked for me has been a journey of trial and error – and much money was spent in the process! I have learned A LOT from Jennifer McGuire and happily purchased products she has recommended – often with great results. (She is a great resource and releases incredible YouTube videos – I highly recommend her blog).

So with all that in mind, I have been wanting to create a resource for us Kiwi Crafters here at InkyandStampy – somewhere to go and find information about products available, which ones are worth the money, and more importantly, where to get them!

The first two articles are available – I look at Cardstock and their purposes, which are best for card bases and interactive cards, which are great for markers and waterbased products. I also look at basic Inks for Stamping – when to use which black ink where?

I encourage you to take a look. If there’s something you’d like me to cover in the coming weeks, please don’t hesitate to let me know!

Shop owners – I’d like to include you in my list for crafters to find you – please enquire about being included in the directory.