Make It Sweet

You wouldn't be alone in thinking this is a real lollipop,

but it's actually a fabulous, coloured creation by Kathy Asper.

After adding all the colour to the image, Kathy used a white gel pen to enhance the lines between each section. She kept the highlight nice and bright to give the illusion of a high shine, which is one of the characteristics of this type of candy. To complete the effect, Kathy adhered a small, thin piece of dowel at the bottom of the fussy cut image and tied a piece of cellophane over the top.

Stamps:

12th Birthday!

Karin has created a fabulously colourful double Z-fold card to celebrate a 12th birthday! She has coloured one of the images from the Candy Shoppe digital stamp set with gorgeous warm colours that coordinate beautifully with the background papers. The "12" are numbers from a different set of digital stamps that she has fussy cut and added to the pot of lollipops!

Stamps:

Themed Colouring

As card makers we use colour to represent particular occasions, such as red and green for Christmas, pastel shades for new babies and bright hues for celebrations. In the photo below, I've coloured one image in four different ways to give you an idea of how we can use colour in a representative way. Of course it helps if the image used is generic, such as this bucket of lollipops, rather than specific to a certain occasion or event.

What do you think of when you see each of these colour combinations?

Stamps:

Candy Shoppe Cards

Welcome to our first Encore Week, one of the new additions to the blog this year.

At the end of each month, we'll be sharing new ideas and techniques using older images from our collection. We hope to inspire you to do the same with items you may have in your stash. To get us started, we're revisiting one of my old favourites - Candy Shoppe.

Judy VanZandt has created three fabulous pocket cards, decorated with hand-coloured images from the Candy Shoppe set, and finished with embellished tags. These little creations are perfect for holding money, vouchers or gift cards and will fit nicely in an envelope for posting.

Judy has coloured each of the images from the Candy Shoppe set, fussy cut around them with a pair of small, sharp scissors, and then popped them up with some foam tape for a bit of extra dimension. Using this technique creates actual shadows between the image and the background, which helps to ground the picture on the project.

Judy has kindly shared a colouring guide for those who wish to recreate her project.

Stamps:

Sweets for the Sweet

I was in the mood for bright colours today, and these Doodlebug papers fit the bill perfectly. A couple of lines of (wobbly) sewing, a scattering of bright buttons and a little tab finished the card nicely.

Stamps: Candy Shoppe by Beccy's Place

Colouring

Yesterday I printed a sheet of digital stamps, chose some patterned papers, laid out some Copic markers, and set to work to create a page full of card-ready images. I have to say, there aren't many things more pleasurable than having a fresh project in front of you, all your housework done and nowhere to go!!

I Like Candy...

I'm still enjoying the new Candy Shoppe digital stamp set, it's been quite a walk down memory lane for me. I remember these big lolly pops from days spent at the local fair or, if we were really lucky, a trip to the Brisbane Ekka!

Stamps: Candy Shoppe digital stamp set by Beccy's Place

Gumball Machine

Remember the old gumball machines that used to be on the counter of nearly every corner store you went into? Waiting to see what colour was going to come out after you turned the handle was always nerve wracking. I was ever hopeful for an orange or red one and always disappointed when a green or purple one came out instead. Most times I was able to swap with one of my brothers, other times I just had to grin and bear it. The flavour only lasted for a couple of minutes anyway, so it wasn't long before you were chewing on a tasteless, sticky wad! Ahhhh, the good ol' days.

Stamps: Candy Shoppe by Beccy's Place

New Release: Candy Shoppe

When I was a kid, my sister and brothers and I would walk to the corner store, pocket money in hand, to buy individual pieces of candy... or what we call "lollies" here in Australia. Just $1.00 would get you a white paper bag full of all kinds of sugary treats! The best part was being able to choose your favourites from the individual jars and boxes that lined the shelves. These days, I have only seen lollies sold like this in those old-timey shops you find in tourist destinations. It sure makes me feel nostalgic... not to mention old!

Candy Shoppe

Digital Stamp set

Available in Store Now

My designers have some sweet offerings to share with you, using the new set.

Judy's Card

Karin's Card

AJ's Card

Carla's Card

Petra's Card

Anesha's Card

New Digital Releases

The April releases have hit the shelves, and there's a little something for everyone! Pop over to the store to check out all our new digital and clear stamp releases... you can even have a little peek at the cards created with these new sets.

Visit the Store

Dancing Queen

Superb Fairy Wren

Precious Baby

Champagne Set

Candy Shoppe

Final Roll Call

A Riot of Colour

If you love colour, then this is the set for you! Filled with wonderful, vibrant candy and lots of sweet sayings, Candy Shoppe is perfect for the kid in all of us... and completely calorie free!

Candy Shoppe

digital stamp set

Available from April 1st