Happy Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. I spent it with family and although it was busy with lots of cooking and running around, I had a great time. Not a lot of time for crafting, but I thought I would share a project I made for a recent workshop.

This was a heavily CASEd project, (that is Copy And Share Everything), so I am thanking my upline Amanda for showing us the box and the wonderfully talented Hayley for the handbags. I first have to show you Hayley's card that gave me the inspiration - don't you just love it? You can visit Hayley's blog here - she has some stunning projects that I will be CASEING on a blog near you soon! LOL

I was so inspired by this card! I decided to combine it with a little box and make a handbag gift box. Do you like?

You need four Stampin' Up! punches to make the

handbags. The main shape is the round tab punch,

the handle is made from the large oval and scalloped oval punches, the 'fastening' is from theword window. I did faux stitching using a chocolate chip marker for the 'holes' and a white gel pen for the stitching.

The other handbags were punched out of Pink Flamingo designer series paper.

Now I confess I got one present at Christmas I didn't want - I picked up a dose of flu. I am in recovery now, but DH has gone down with it, so I am blogging and nursing at the moment.

Anyway it is an appropriate project I am sharing with you next. I love to make 3D items and home decor has always been an interest of mine. We have a colour theme of Cream, Sand and Wine in our living room, so I decided to cover a tissue box to match.

I used the lovely sand coloured designer paper from the Bella Blue collection, and then punched the borders in Bravo Burgandy cardstock. Now after using all that yummy stash I didn't want to throw the box away when the tissues are finished, so I cut an opening in the bottom of the box, and made a seal that I could close with a craft magnet. That way I can refill my tissue box as often as I want.

So are you feeling inspired to make something? If you are during January and February it is Sale-a-bration time at Stampin' Up! That means you can get free stamp sets with your order or workshop. They have some wonderful freebies this year. To see more, go to my SU! blog here.

Well I wish you all a very happy new year - hope it is peaceful, healthy and full of joy.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hello everyone and a Merry Christmas to you all

This will be my last post before Christmas. I am off to my work Christmas party today, I am hosting both our families over the Christmas holidays so have plenty to keep me busy!

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I thought I would share a couple of my favourite projects from the year with you today. (It's like one of those cheating TV episodes where they show clips from earlier shows- LOL)

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The first I made a couple of months ago and I love love love it. It was made using the Flight of the Butterfly stamp set and butterfly punch from Stampin' Up! The butterflies are stamped on to vellum cardstock and regular cardstock, punched out and then the layers are joined using twine.

The fence is cut using whisper white cardstock and then daubed with ink to give it an aged look. The grass is a strip of garden green cardstock, snipped 3/4 the way down.

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I was reminded of this project just today by the lovely Tracey R, who kindly gave my a credit when caseing the card that goes with the basket. Thank you Tracey. (Check out her blog, she has some pretty projects there).

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My next project is a layout I made early this year. It shows my great grandmother and namesake, Florence Elizabeth who was a real rebel of her time. I am very proud of this layout, especially the letters spelling her nickname, Florrie, which I hand cut.

My final project is the chocolate cake shop card I made back in June. This is using the scrummy Crazy for Cupcakes stamp set. Chocolate is one of my favourite thanks so I decided to do a window display of chocolate cupcakes.

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The square of SU! window sheet is raised up using layered dimensionals to get a 3D effect and I love it!

Well I will close by saying thank you to everyone who has visited my blog over the last year. I love reading your feedback and coming to visit your blogs too. Have a wonderful, peaceful Christmas, (except for those of you with young children who can opt for a wonderful, noisy Christmas!)

Love Elizabeth X

Bad Blogger Award!

Hello Everyone

I hear the 'where have you been's' from around the world! I have been such a bad blogger! I do apologise - things have been a bit manic around here!

Anyway - enough of the excuses - here is a little of what I have been up to. I had a stall at the Twyford Christmas Fair and met some lovely people. I am planning on starting classes in Twyford in January so it was my chance to show everyone how lovely Stampin' Up! goodies are. Here is my stall:
I thought I would also share a couple of projects I have made recently. This was a thank you card I made recently using the gorgeous Baroque Motifs and Flight of a Butterfly stamp sets.


I love the way the SU! punches go with the stamps. I stamped the butterfly images on to vellum cardstock and then punched out matching butterflies on Passion Pink cardstock. I love the way it looks layered on black. The antenae are made with the silver elastic.

Now before I forget - BLOG CANDY ALERT - there is some lovely candy over on Sara Stampers blog to celebrate her first blogaversary. Visit her here for a chance to win some goodies.

My final project today are some little table gifts I have made for Boxing Day. (I know this holiday is not celebrated in the USA, but in the UK we have the day after Christmas as a bank holiday). I am doing a lovely tea and these little gift will be for my guests. The frames are from Frame with a Flourish - a really useful set. They can frame little images and sentiments. I made little envelopes for some Yankee Candle wardrobe/car scent hangers. Yummy!

Well I am glad to be back and blogging - leave me a message to show you have forgiven me for leaving you so long! :D Back soon - I promise!

Swaps & Punches

Hello everyone!

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If you saw the punch Father Christmas on my last post, you may have guessed I have a few punches. This week I finally cracked and put up a third Ikea rail to store my punches. DH thinks I have too many - but I need them! LOL.

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I love the Stampin' Up! punches and they are probably my most used tool after my paper trimmer. This is a great way to store them and I like the way they look on the wall.

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I used one of my punches on my next project - a swap for the local monthly Stampin' Up! meeting I attend. I needed to get them done ahead of time, as I have a busy couple of weeks coming up.

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I love the Flight of the Butterfly stamp set, and the fact that there is a matching punch. This card was made using both. The colours are all based on the Bella Bleu designer series paper which is so subtle. It works well with the Night of Navy ink and the Kraft cardstock. The brads at the bottom are faux brads. I made them by punching a 1/4" circle in Night of Navy cardstock and topping with crystal effects to create the glossy, raised surface.

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Thanks to all those that called by for the 12 days of Christmas blog cruise. I really enjoyed reading all your messages as well as all the inspiration I found by visiting the other blogs on the circuit.

12 Blogs of Christmas Blog Cruise

Hello everyone!

Would you like some lovely Christmas inspiration today? I am taking part in the 12 Blogs of Christmas blog cruise and there are some wonderful festive blogs for you to visit.

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At the bottom of this post is the link to the next blog - the lovely Amanda at Inspiring Inkin' - she will link you to the next fabulous blog until you do the full circle and come back to me.
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So what have I made for my part of this Christmas circuit? Well I started with some gift lables which are going to be one of the projects for my next class. (If you would like to join us, click here for more details).

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They are made using my favourite Christmas stamp set 'Season of Joy', along with 'Spotlight on Christmas' and one from the 'Occasional Greetings' set. I used the round tab to punch the tabs at the top and used the silver elastic to secure the ribbon.

Next is something I have been working on for a couple of weeks, as you may know if you are a regular visitor to this blog. I have a stall at a local nursery Christmas fair in December and have been making a range of goodies to sell.

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So I spent an evening this week making 25 punch Santa's - amongst other things. These Santa's are so much fun to make, and looked so sweet under constructions that I had to take a photo....

To make the Santas you need the following Stampin' Up! punches:

• scallop circle - white, with four scallops snipped off and glued on top to make the mustache


• 13/8 inch circle - real red for part of hat with a sliver snipped off, and blush blossom for his face - daubed with a little pretty in pink ink for rosy cheeks


• small oval - real red for top of hat


• word window - white for hat brim


• boho blossoms - white for bobble on hat


• 1/4 inch circle - blush blossom for nose

I used a blush blossom marker to highlight under the mustache and make it pop, and basic black to draw in his eyes.

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As you may have seen on a previous post, this Santa makes a great card embellishment, but mine were to decorate mini cello bags of marsh mallows. Hope you like!

So we are at the end of my post. Leave me a message if you would like, but then do go and visit Inspiring Inking by clicking here - and say Hi to Amanda from me! :D

So Many Boxes!

Hello Everyone


I have a Christmas craft fair coming up in less than a month, so this week I have been making goodies to sell.


First I made lots little bags which hold individual bags of bath confetti - don't they look cute? I know it is hard to tell the scale, but they are about 3 inches tall. Because I used the lovely double sided Stampin' Up! designer paper, the inside of the bags look really pretty too.





Next I made lots of little gift boxes containing mini lip gloss and two tealight candles. I decorated them using the dauber technique to make the baubles and added some dazzling diamonds to make them sparkle, (which I notice you can't see at all in this photo - but they really to sparkle!)



My sister also asked me to make some gift tags for Mia's 7th birthday party bags. The text, which says 'thank you for coming to my party' was written using a versamark pen and then embossed in silver.

The pretty flowers are made using a stunning two step stamping set from Stampin' Up! called Greenhouse Garden. I punched a slot using the word window stamp and folded a strip of punched Rose Red cardstock through. The striped grossgrain ribbon finished the tags nicely.

Finally it was time to do some stamping for ME! I decided to stamp a large candle for my living room. I used the Baroque Motifs stamp set. Love it!

OK, enough from me for now...what have you been stamping?

Classes and Cupcakes!

Hello Everyone

I ran my very first class this week. We made stamped candles and Christmas cards. I was all set up in advance for my three lovely ladies.

Tracey, Kathryn and Jan were all star crafters and made a lovely job with their projects as you can see! I just love our new Stampin' Up! border punch, so I designed a card using the punch Santa using a lovely red border.

We used the Season of Joy stamp set to make the stamped candles. These were done by stamping on tissue paper, then applying them to the candle, covering with baking parchment or greaseproof paper and heating with a heat gun until the candle wax just starts to melt.

We had a great time and if you would like to join us next month, click on the link at the top left of this blog and contact me.

Today I am also sharing a couple of new projects made with the cupcake wheel. I adore this new wheel and it is so versatile. As well as working well as a background, border or to decorate envelopes, you can also cut or punch out the indivdual cakes and colour them to make really pretty projects. I thought today I would give a little tutorial about how to make this card.

I started by making a card using Sage Shadow cardstock as the base of the card. I then used the cupcake wheel and Pretty in Pink inkpad to make several rows of cupcake on a rectangle of Blush Blossom cardstock. Using a aquabrush, (paintbrush), I used a little ink from the lid of the inkpad to paint some of the cupcakes and cases for a subtle effect.

On a scrap of Blush Blossom cardstock, I wheeled out another row of cupcakes. There were colouring using inks and markers. I cut out three cupcakes leaving a small border around the edge.

Next I cut a rectangle of Pretty in Pink cardstock, slightly smaller than the card and layered it on with the cupcake background rectangle - trimming the rectangle to fit once stuck on using tombow glue. I used a dimensional to attach each individual cupcake to the top of the card. I finished with a ribbon and Happy Birthday sentiment and used the wheel again to decorate the envelope.

I also made a little gift box to match the card. It could have been made in the Sage Shadow, but I chose the Blush Blossom as the base.

Isn't it sweet?

Thanks as usual for all comments, I love to read them!