Gorgeous Grape Biggest Wish

June 29, 2021June 28, 2021 ~ Karen Young

This Gorgeous Grape Biggest Wish Stamp Set project is a remake of this previous project.

Gorgeous Grape Biggest Wish. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

It uses the opposite stamps, with the script and block text swapped around.

As with the previous project, it can be used in either portrait or landscape orientation.

Gorgeous Grape Biggest Wish. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

For this version, I have kept the monochrome design but used Gorgeous Grape.

Gorgeous Grape Biggest Wish. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

Using my Stamparatus and the hinge-step technique, the ‘happy’ forms a line with alternating first and second generation stamping.

Gorgeous Grape Biggest Wish. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

A length of coordinating Gorgeous Grape ribbon creates a line between the ‘happy’ and ‘birthday’ greetings

Gorgeous Grape Biggest Wish. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs Finally, Pastel Pearls in Gorgeous Grape bookend the ‘birthday’ sentiment.

I love the fabulous stamps in this set as they do a lot of the work for you.

Don’t forget the January-June Mini Catalogue leaves us tomorrow. Make sure you don’t miss out on any retiring items.

Why not join me for one of my online classes. Head to my Class Timetable for full details.

Happy crafting

Karen Young HIPPOFROG Designs

To order any of the supplies shown below, head to my Online Store

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You Decide Your Biggest Wish

May 28, 2021May 27, 2021 ~ Karen Young

Well, not quite! You decide your Biggest Wish card orientation, portrait or landscape?

You Decide Your Biggest Wish. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

Mr Hippofrog helped design this Evening Evergreen Monochrome Birthday Card. He’s very proud of it!

If you want to create quick and easy projects, the Biggest Wish Stamp Set from the Annual Catalogue is really useful.

For this project, the Stamparatus is your friend. Once you’ve lined everything up, it’s just a case of hinge-stepping ‘Happy’ down the slots.

The first is first generation stamping, with the next in second generation. This alternates down the page.

You Decide Your Biggest Wish. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

Birthday is then stamped along the edge.

A length of coordinating Chevron Ribbon splits the two parts.

Finally, a small Pearl coloured with a Stampin’ Blend is added as the dot of the ‘i’.

You Decide Your Biggest Wish. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

Which orientation do you prefer?

I can definitely see me creating this design in different colours, and with different greetings from the set too.

Why not join me at one of my Classes. The new In Colors will be making an appearance at regular classes very soon. Visit my Class Timetable for full details.

Happy crafting

Karen Young HIPPOFROG Designs

To order any of the supplies shown below, head to my Online Store

Online Shopping Club Code Join my team Current Products Offers & Promotions Book a Class

Plenty of Patterns Decorative Masks

May 21, 2021May 19, 2021 ~ Karen Young

The new Plenty of Patterns Decorative Masks from the Annual Catalogue definitely appeal to my style. I saw the triangles and instantly knew the type of design I wanted to make.

Plenty of Patterns Decorative Masks. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

As I love monochrome projects, Night of Navy and a Blending Brush were the products I reached for. I also used my Stamparatus to hold everything in place.

It was my first time using a Blending Brush and it was so easy. My ombre design took no time at all.

Simply use the brush at the darker end when it has more ink and work to the lighter end. Reload your brush as many times as you like to make it even darker.

Plenty of Patterns Decorative Masks. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

You can use a Sponge Dauber if you prefer, but it was much quicker with the brush. The bristles are really soft and they have a larger surface area too.

Blending Brushes were a new item in the January-June Mini Catalogue and I have to admit I overlooked them to begin with. I’m pleased I have some now.

Using the mask to draw one of the triangle shapes, I cut this out before adding a sentiment from the Artistically Inked Stamp Set.

Plenty of Patterns Decorative Masks. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

If you watched my video from yesterday, you’ll know that I love to revisit, reuse and refresh previous projects. This is certainly a design I’ll be reusing lots of times in lots of different colours.

Don’t forget to take a look at my class timetable for details of all of my online classes.

Happy crafting

Karen Young HIPPOFROG Designs

To order any of the supplies shown below, head to my Online Store

Online Shopping Club Code Join my team Current Products Offers & Promotions Book a Class

Heartfelt Thank You With Forever Fern

May 18, 2021May 17, 2021 ~ Karen Young

I recently made these Thank You cards for my Mum.

Heartfelt Thank You With Forever Fern. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

Mum asked me to make a batch of cards she could send to those who have supported her since we lost Dad in January.

As Dad loved all things nature, I just had to use the Forever Fern Stamp Set.

Heartfelt Thank You With Forever Fern. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

It’s a simple, yet striking design in various shades of green with Very Vanilla providing a lovely warm contrast.

The leaves are stamped in Garden Green and Pear Pizzazz, with the background splats in Old Olive for extra texture.

To speed up the stamping process and ensure all the leaves were in the same place on each card, I used my Stamparatus.

Heartfelt Thank You With Forever Fern. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

Finally, the Vine Design Stamp Set and Mossy Meadow ink create the sentiment.

With the sentiment fitting perfectly in a Double Oval Punch shape, it then sits on top of a length of co-ordinating Mossy Meadow Braided Linen Trim.

As the Annual Catalogue has just launched, we often forget about the other catalogues, such as the January-June Mini Catalogue. This is where the Vine Design Stamp Set and Braided Linen Trim I used here can be found.

Why not join me at one of my future classes . Head to my Class Timetable for full details.

Happy crafting

Karen Young HIPPOFROG Designs

To order any of the supplies shown below, head to my Online Store

Online Shopping Club Code Join my team Current Products Offers & Promotions Book a Class

Annual Catalogue 2021 Happy Mail

May 5, 2021May 4, 2021 ~ Karen Young

The new Annual Catalogue is here, and Annual Catalogues mean happy mail for those on my mailing list.

Annual Catalogue 2021 Happy Mail included this pretty Thank You card, made using new products of course!

Annual Catalogue 2021 Happy Mail. Project desiged by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

It uses the fabulous new Flowers of Friendship Bundle (Flowers of Friendship Stamp Set and Flowers & Leaves Dies).

My colours are the new In Color of Soft Succulent for the stem and leaves. Then, Fresh Freesia, Pale Papaya and Polished Pink for the flowers.

As I was stamping batches of these, I used my Stamparatus to make the stamping of the stems consistent.

Each of the flowers is stamped tone-on-tone before being punched out and assembled. One of the flowers is layered to make it larger than the others.

Annual Catalogue 2021 Happy Mail. Project desiged by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

Next, the sentiment from the Stamp Set is stamped in the same colour as the flowers. This is cut out using the Label Me Fancy Punch.

A length of the pretty new In Color Ribbon is looped behind the sentiment.

Finally, the centres of the flowers are given a slight touch of sparkle using Wink of Stella.

Which colour did you receive in your Annual Catalogue 2021 Happy Mail pack? Do you have a favourite new In Color?

Why not join one of my classes to use items from the new Catalogue, including my popular In Color Introduction Class. Head to my Class Timetable for full details.

Happy crafting

Karen Young HIPPOFROG Designs

To order any of the supplies shown below, head to my Online Store

Online Shopping Club Code Join my team Current Products Offers & Promotions Book a Class

Field of Flowers for my Customer Thank You Cards

June 12, 2020June 13, 2020 ~ Karen Young

I’m so grateful to everyone who has placed an order through my Online Store during this strange time.

As a thank you to these fabulous customers, they have been receiving these pretty cards. Some have also been receiving little gifts too for using the Hostess Code for their order. Customer recognition is one of my favourite parts of my job.

I used the new Field of Flowers Stamp Set from the new Annual Catalogue. My colour combination is Garden Green and Seaside Spray with Whisper White.

To make sure everything was aligned each time, my Stamparatus came in very handy. On one plate I had the flowers, and on another the dragonfly and stems, inking each one up in turn.

The Ornate Thanks Stamp Set provides the fabulous sentiment and this is on a shape cut from the amazing new Lovely Labels Pick a Punch. You know how much I love my punches, well this one is something very special. Pop back soon as I’ll be sharing a video on how to use it.

I think the shape really adds a classy finish to the project.

Here is a pile of some of the cards I sent.

Make sure you take a look at the new Catalogue to see all of the available products.

Happy crafting

To order any of the supplies shown below, head to my Online Store

This Month’s Hostess Code Join my team Current Products Special Offers Book a Class

Last Week’s Card & Cuppa – Beautiful Butterfly Gala

February 24, 2020February 23, 2020 ~ Karen Young

For last week’s Card & Cuppa project, I returned to the Annual Catalogue and a stamp set we hadn’t used for a while. Here’s the project using the beautiful Butterfly Gala Stamp Set.

Beautiful Butterfly Gala. Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

I chose a colour combination of Rich Razzleberry and Melon Mambo, a very popular combination with the attendees.

An ombre background was created using Rich Razzleberry and a Sponge Brayer. The brayer was also used to ink up the Crackle Paint Background Stamp on the Stamparatus.

Butterfly outlines were stamped using Smoky Slate and were coloured using the infill stamps in Melon Mambo.

These were then cut out with the Butterfly Duet Punch. Corners were rounded with the Detailed Trio Punch.

I find adding the butterfly bodies once they have been punched much easier. The antennae were then stamped in position before attaching everything together.

More punching was a Scallop Circle that was then scrunched to create the background for the punched circle sentiment from the Rooted in Nature Stamp Set.

A length of both Whisper White Seam Binding and Baker’s Twine were attached across the project before the sentiment and butterflies were added.

Finally, three Rhinestones were added for a touch of sparkle.

I’m one of those people who manages to get covered in Melon Mambo ink just by looking at it! Are there any colours that you do that with?

Why not join me at a future class? My Class Timetable has all the information you need.

Happy crafting

Karen Young HIPPOFROG Designs

To order any of the supplies used, click on the product images below to go to my online store.

This Month’s Hostess Code Join my team Current Products Special Offers Book a Class

Whisper White 1/4" (6.4 mm) Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon

Mostly Men Class – A Really Quick & Easy Stamparatus Card

October 17, 2019October 14, 2019 ~ Karen Young

The final project of the Mostly Men Class was this easy Stamparatus Card.

Easy Stamparatus Card. Designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

This project was the quickest of the 6 and it’s all because of the Stamparatus.

If I hadn’t added the ribbon, or the extra sentiment, it would have been completed in about 2 minutes maximum!

The key to this project is using a stamp that has a large sentiment or image, plus choosing a colour that still stamps after 4/5 stampings.

Perennial Birthday Stamp Set gave me the sentiment. Blueberry Bushel was my colour choice.

After inking up the sentiment well and lining everything up, it was time to use the ‘hinge-step’ technique to stamp multiple times. This is where you move the Stamparatus plate down one notch each time.

I demonstrated this project to everyone at the start and I don’t think they believed how quick it was, until they did it themselves!

An extra sentiment from Itty Bitty Birthdays and the co-ordinating Blueberry Bushel Ribbon complete the project.

It’s mounted onto a Blueberry Bushel layer and a Thick Whisper White Base Card for a monochromatic look.

Which project was your favourite from the class?

Why not join us for one of our remaining Papercrafting Classes of 2019. Head to my Class Timetable for more details and to book your place.

Happy crafting

Karen Young HIPPOFROG Designs

To order any of the supplies used, click on the product images below to go to my online store.

This Month’s Hostess Code Join my team Current Products Special Offers Book a Class

Perennial Birthday Cling-Mount Stamp Set

Blueberry Bushel 1/8" (3.2 mm) Grosgrain Ribbon

Seaside Spray with Dandelion Wishes

July 13, 2019July 4, 2019 ~ Karen Young

Following on from the previous Introduction to In Color Class project I shared, today we meet Seaside Spray.

This was one of the favourite projects among the class attendees.

Seaside Spray In Color from Stampin' Up! Project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

This lovely light blue from the In Color 2019-2021 Collection is teamed here with So Saffron and Pear Pizzazz.

A strip was masked and sponge daubers used to create the soft two colour effect.

Using the Stamparatus, the large image and sentiment from the Dandelion Wishes Stamp Set were stamped onto the piece using Seaside Spray. The second image with the extra floating pieces was stamped afterwards as the placement was down to each individual.

Finally, a Rhinestone was added to the centre of the main dandelion and Wink of Stella on each piece. You can’t see it in this picture, but it gives the card a lovely subtle shimmer.

If you’re wondering how Seaside Spray fits into the colour range, here is a comparison I’ve put together with other current colours. It actually reminds me of the colour of my first car!

If you’d like to join us for future classes, visit my Class Timetable for more details. All abilities welcome.

Happy crafting

Karen Young HIPPOFROG Designs

To order any of the supplies used, click on the product images below to go to my online store.

This Month’s Hostess Code Join my team Current Products Special Offers Book a Class

Last Week’s Card & Cuppa – Bee Thankful meets new Watercolor Pencils

June 10, 2019June 8, 2019 ~ Karen Young

At least week’s Card & Cuppa I decided to use a mix of carryover items and products from the BRAND NEW Annual Catalogue.

Stampin' Up!'s Bee Thankful Meets... Card & Cuppa project designed by Karen at HIPPOFROG Designs

This project saw the carryover cute Bee Thankful meet the brand new Watercolor Pencils Assortment 2.

These are a pack of 10 more pencils in Stampin’ Up! colours to add to the original 13.

We used the Stamparatus to ensure the image was aligned and stamped it with Gray Granite.

It was then coloured in a range of different pencils from the 25 available. A Blender Pen was then used to smooth out the lines and to blend the colours together.

Using the Detailed Trio Punch, we rounded the corners on the layers before adding a length of Baker’s Twine.

Another bee was stamped and the body and wings were cut out by hand. This was then attached over the original bee using Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals to make a more 3D effect.

The final little touch was some Wink of Stella on the wings for some bling.

Using Thick Whisper White Cardstock for the base with a Gray Granite layer is perfect for projects like this this as they work with any colour.

Don’t forget to take a look at the new Catalogue and book your place on one of my classes, where you can use the products.

Happy crafting

Karen Young HIPPOFROG Designs

To order any of the supplies used, click on the product images below to go to my online store.

This Month’s Hostess Code Join my team Current Products Special Offers Book a Class