Thursday 25 February 2010

Shoebox Swap & Baby Card

Hello Everyone

I recently went to my first ever shoebox swap. If you don't know what that is - neither did I! When you go to a shoebox swap, you take all the cardstock, stamps, punches and embellishments needed to make a card or 3D item. You take enough for all the other people at the swap, along with a sample. Each crafter then makes one of each card and goes home with a shoebox full of lovely creations!
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With Easter just around the corner, (and where is this year going???), there were a number of projects using the Stampin' Up! stamp set, A Good Egg. The sweet little chick got a number of outings - including this beautiful card designed by the very talented Elaine. Love the Sage Shadow cardstock and dotty background - stamped using Versamark.

More chicks will be appearing on my blog soon - as soon as I replace the chocolate eggs that have mysteriously disappeared from Hayley's creation! LOL
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Today I am also sharing a baby card - with no Stampin' Up! prams on it. This was because I had made a baby set with the prams from Queue Up and Fun & Fast notes for my sister to give to her friend - so I wasn't allowed to do the same.
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Instead I used In The Stars stamped in Pretty in Pink and Passion Pink to welcome little Ine into the world.



We have some great projects coming up for classes over the next two weeks. If you would like to come along, click on the Stampin' Up! link on the top left of this blog, and click on the classes button for more information.
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Hope you like!

Thursday 18 February 2010

Ok - this is what is in the boxes!

Hello everyone
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Well on my last post I showed the little boxes I taught at my February classes - but I didn't say what was in them resulting in a load of questions in comments and emails! LOL
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They hold a tissues pocket pack - ideal for this time of year! Several people have also asked for some measurements. I am in the 'changeover' generation who was taught in inches and centimeters so I struggle with both! Anyway, I worked this one out in inches....
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Box cardstock at 8" X 5.5" - scored at 1" / 3.5" / 4.5" / 7" and along the bottom at 1". Snip up to that bottom score line on all the other scores and fold in the box. Fold and secure with sticky strip.
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Lid cardstock at 2.5" X 5.5" scored at 1.5" / 2.5" - fold and secure inside the box with sticky strip. Decorate with background stamps, rollers or DSP. And let me know if you post any examples - I want to see!
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I had my lovely little neice Mia over on Wednesday for the day. We did LOTS of crafting. During the day we made a half term diary, two cards, a book mark, a decorated cookie jar and we baked cookies. AND we still found time to go out for Chinese for lunch.
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Here she is with the first card - and she is drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows!


She has to keep a Half Term diary so we decided to make one from scratch. I let her choose some sparkly paper to cover it and we stamped and decorated inside and added ribbons on the outside. We made a matching bookmark too.

After lunch we baked cookies and decorated a cookie jar for her Mummy. (And we MAY have eaten some mixture and tested a few cookies too! LOL)

Mia is a very talented crafter and I love to make projects with her. She has so many ideas and loads of enthusiasm. She gets so excited and at one point held up her diary with a huge grin and said, "I have the BEST auntie!" Well I think I have the best neice!

Do leave a comment and let us know what you think of our projects!

Friday 12 February 2010

Especially for Hayley!

Hello Everyone

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This is blog posting especially for the lovely Hayley. She is looking for some good ribbon storage and wants to see some pictures of my latest system. (By the way, Hayley's creations are always amazing, so check out her blog!)
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Previously I had a home made box with all the reels on a rod - but this meant I couldn't just take one reel out easily - which I need to do for demos and classes. So here is my new solution....

The baskets are from Ikea, (no surprise - so does most of my craft storage) They are called Bygel and cost just £1.49 each. I have them hooked on over-door hooks, but they also come with a wall bar that they can hook on. (I don't have much wall space in my craft room).
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They fit all the Stampin' Up ribbon spools beautifully, except for the 1/4" ones, which are a little too large. I made a separate box for those - you can see it on the right of the picture.


As you can see from the close up, the bars are just right for threading the lengths of ribbon through so they don't get tangled, but I can also easily pull out a whole reel for a class. Perfect!

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OK so enough with the storage - now for a craft project...
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This is one of the projects we made at my craft classes this month. With Valentines coming up we made the Hearts one - but I had fun making some other designs too.






I like them all, but my absolute favourite is the black and white one which uses the gorgeous wide striped grossgrain ribbon and the birdcage image from the free Happy Moments Sale a Bration set.

Next a little thank you card I made for some of my wonderful fellow demos and customers recently. It is such a simple design, but those Greenhouse Garden flowers look so beautiful in every possible colour combination!

I am finishing with a challenge card I did during the Stamp with Us! event. Zoe challenged us to use three of the soft subtle colours, blush blossom, certainly celery and lovely lilac. Now I do use all those colours - but would usually combine with a darker shade, so it made me think creatively.

I love how this card came out! I stamped the presents image from Happy Moments three times, once on each colour of cardstock, the coloured them using the same colour in markers to give some definition. The dots along the top are done with the mat pack as a guide and then embossed using the crop a dile. I coloured them with inked daubers and am very pleased with the effect.
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Hope you like.... :D

Sunday 7 February 2010

Sooooo busy!


Hello Everyone

I have been very busy with my Stampin' Up! business during Sale a Bration. With lots of workshops and full classes I have been rushed off my feet - but loving every minute of it! Time is running out for your free stamp sets, (click here for details), so if you want one of our gorgeous free sets your need to order before the end of February.
The first project I am sharing today is inspired by a collection of mine. I love hearts and have a small display of them in my hall. On Christmas day, I opened a little package to find a sweet hand-stitched felt heart from my DH's cousin Rachel. Soooo sweet! It has joined my heart collection and I decided to make her a thank you card. (I was late sending my thank yous due to the swine flu - but not this late! It has just taken me a couple of weeks to post! LOL)

I used Bella Bleu designer series paper for the background and stamped the hearts with the Love You Much and Designer Dots stamp sets. Then I used a variety of techniques including embossing, sanding and paper=pricking to re-create my wooden, slate, metal and fabrc hearts. I made two so I could keep one in my craft room - I love it!

So with a week to go until Valentines, I will share the card I have made for my DH Michael. (He doesn't hang out on craft blogs, so I am safe to show you! LOL)


Once again, I used Love You Much, which I adore. I make a large A5 card and used the matching punch and one of the SAB Whimsical Words sentiments, (you're never more than a thought away), for the front of the card.

Inside I made a little pop up feature which I thought up myself. It is made with half a 6"X6"sheet of DSP folded into an envelope shape, but with the bottom unsealed. I then made an eyelet hole with my crop a dile in the top and threaded ribbon through. I added a secret message on one end and a heart on the other. I used sticky strip to attach the envelope to the card to give it some strength. When you pull on the heart, the message pops up! And no I am not sharing my Valentines message :D

Hope you like the projects for this week - and many thanks to everyone for visiting and leaving messages. Happy Valentines Day to all of you!