Thursday 30 December 2010

SaleABration Is Here!

Hello Everyone

For those who don't know, Stampin' Up! don't have a Sale - we have a SaleABration! It means that for every £45 ordered you get to choose a FREE stamp set.

It means that this is a GREAT time of year to host a workshop. If you are in the Southampton, Romsey, Winchester or New Forest area and would like the chance to have a Stampin' Up! party for your friends I would love to come and entertain you. And hostesses get the chance to get an extra SaleABration set too.

At my January workshops, I will be showing you how to make this cute gift card holder using the Sweet Summer stamp set, (and yes - it is one of the free ones you can recieve!)



Now it is quite cute on the outside - but wait till you see the inside...



The idea for this pleated bag came from a swap I received at convention. A VERY talented lady called Jackie Abdellaoui made the original - I just changed it up by designing a version with the beautiful SaleABration stamp set.

I hope you like it - and if you are nearby, why not book a workshop and see how it is made?

Have a great day. X


Monday 27 December 2010

A Vintage Birthday Card

Hello everyone

I hope you all had a GREAT Christmas.

Today I am going to share a birthday card I made for my DH Michael a couple of weeks ago. He has a December birthday, so it is a good time to take a break from making holiday cards and create something especially for him.



For those of you that don't know, Mike is a songwriter - so I decided to use my new Music Note wheel and some images from Artistic Etchings, Notably Ornate and a scrap of Newsprint DSP. Oh and the background image is the Medallion stamp. My desk was really messy by the time I was done.

Now I have been waiting to play with these toys - sorry I mean tools LOL. I was lucky enough to have my name called by the Prize Patrol at Stampin' Up! convention in November. I was given both Artistic Etchings and the DSP, neither of which I owned. It was so exciting to get freebies. :)

I used a colour theme of Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso and Crumb Cake to create a vintage feel card. There was lots of use of the dauber and punches too. I used the Tiny Tags set too - see I keep remembering something else I used as I look at the picture!

Here is a close up.


I hope you like and I will be back really soon with a lovely SaleABration project.

Have a great day. 

Friday 24 December 2010

Happy Christmas Candles

Hello Everyone

My final Christmas project of the year - I can't believe Santa will be round so soon! Where did that year go?

Today I am sharing a stamped candle set that I made using Season of Joy, Contempo Christmas and Perfect Punches stamp sets.


If you have never made stamped candles before, it is easy to do. You stamp your image on tissue wrapping paper, cut out the images and place on the candle. Next to tightly hold them on to the candle using baking parchment. You then hold a heat gun over the image until the surface wax starts to melt - the tissue is then absorbed into the candle.

Watch out for your fingers - it is easy to burn them if you are not careful. All candles melt at different rates, so you will need to check as you go and re-heat if you can still see the tissue paper.

Wishing each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year. X

Tuesday 21 December 2010

Did you make this card?

Hello Everyone

Today's card is a swap my upline Amanda received at a training session. I don't know who created it - but whoever it was she did a fabulous job. (If it is you  - let me know and I will give you proper credit).

It is made using the Delightful Decorations stamp set and I love it.



The colours are Early Espresso, Pretty in Pink and Pirouette Pink and I adore the way the dazzling diamonds is used all over the pink bauble.

Back on Christmas eve with one last festive project for this year.

Saturday 18 December 2010

Kimono Kids Card

Hello Everyone

I had a request to teach a card that I had in my samples book which featured three Christmas socks hanging on a line, but because I plan my classes quite far in advance, I was concerned it would be too late in the year to do a Christmas card.

So I decided to offer a choice this month - my class ladies could make the Christmas version, or a Thank You card - always useful after Christmas!

Today I am sharing that Thank You card and a similar one I made at the same time.

This is the class one.  I LOVE those little Kimono Kids - they remind me of the animated dolls in It's a Small World at Disney! (Now you are going to be singing that song all day - LOL) I kept it clean with the little girls stamped in Real Red with their hair done with a black marker and their Kimonos painted with an aqua painter.

The lantens are cut out and 'hung' from the silver elastic with dimensionals. The buttons have their thread drawn in with a white gel pen.

I did the sentiment using Curly Cute in clearmount - I love the way those sentiments look and they are so easy to place.

Here is version number two, done without the elastic.

This time I stamped the lanterns directly on to the cardstock in Stazon ink and then coloured the images using real red, cherry cobbler and bravo burgundy markers, and a white gel pen. Here is a close up:


Hope you like them - now all together "It's a small world after all......." LOL

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Glittery Razzleberry Card

Hello Everyone

Well after my 'boys' card, I thought I would share a really sparkly and cute Christmas card. This one uses the Ornament punch from Stampin' Up!


Now I made a similar card last year using a circle punch, but this is SO much better with the ornament shape. I punched the baubles out in whisper white cardstock and then stamped them using the snowflake image from Season of Joy, my all time favourite Christmas stamp set. I then daubed around the edge using matching Rich Razzleberry ink.

The background is stamped with the swirl and flower image from Season of Joy and the greeting comes from the same set - love the way they all work so well together.

I made two colours - but I think this card would look great in any colour.



I finished the cards with a twist of elastic cord to create the loops and after gently curling the baubles with a bone folder, I attached them to the card using dimensionals.

Can you see the dazzling diamons glitter I added around the snowflakes? It looks so sparkly in real life.

Hope you like them.

Thursday 9 December 2010

Grundgy Christmas

Hello Everyone

As a neat freak, I don't do messy - well apart from my craft room! I like quite clean projects so a grungy look is way out of my comfort zone - but I was playing with my crimper and came up with this card.


I gritted my teeth and tore my cardstock and dirtied it all up with lots of daubing in Always Artichoke and Crumb Cake ink.

I used a border of orange to add some zing - and I think I quite like it. I guess it could be a Christmas card to send to a man! DH likes it. LOL

I will be back soon with something much more girlie for Christmas!

Monday 6 December 2010

Watch the Birdie

Hello Everyone

Have you seen the birds made from Designer Paper in the Stampin' Up! catalogue. (Page 89 on the UK catty - and probably with the DSP if you are not in the Europe).

One of my lovely hostesses asked me to find out how to make them so I had a try and worked on a template.

This is the bird I came up with. Not sure if it is how it was envisaged by the originator, but I like it. The DSP is a retired one, (sorry - I am only stroking my new DSP now - not actually CUTTING it! LOL)


I might have to try it with some new designer paper - when I can bear to let it near the paper trimmer! :)

Hope you like.

Friday 3 December 2010

A Card By Accident

Hello Everyone

A little break from Christmas projects today. I am going to share a card I made almost by accident while playing the the goodies from my new catalogue.

I bought Hopeful Thoughts and had been using the marker to stamp technique to see how the stem image looked in different colours. Then I started playing with my new scallop trim corner punch. I had seen a video from Stampin' Up! showing how you could make a little frame using a 2" square piece of card.

I grabbed a random piece of whisper white cardstock off my very messy desk, cut it with my trimmer and tried to create the frame. It worked beautifully, but when I turned the cardstock over, I realised I had just punched the piece I had previously stamped.

It actually looked so pretty that I made it the feature of this card.


I used lots more new toys! The Confetti background and Curly Cute are both clear mount stamps - which makes placement a breeze. No need for the stamp a ma jig here. And I got to use my wide oval punch too - just the right size for the Curvy Verses stamp.

The colours I used were Certainly Celery, Whisper White and Riding Hood Red.

Do you every have projects that happen by accident?