Sunday 27 February 2011

Especially for the demos!

Hello Everyone

I was honoured, excited and nervous to be asked to present a project at our regional Stampin' Up! training. These events are great fun and an opportunity to meet up with lots of talented and enthusiastic UK Stampin' Up! demos.

Now you will have to wait until 1st April to hear about all the fabulous goodies that are coming up from Stampin' Up! soon - but as my projects were not made with anything brand new and are not going to be shown at any other regionals - I can reveal what I made. :)

The project I designed and demonstrated was featuring Business Basics - a great stamp set for demonstrators to use. (In the US it's called Business Boosters).

I made a handbag, (or purse), collection of goodies all wrapped in a large cellophane bag as a gift for hostesses.


Inside, along with the sweeties, there is a glass nail file holder and a tissue pocket pack holder.


I promised to put some dimensions for both projects on to my blog - so here goes:

For the glass nail file holder
Two strips of cardstock 5 1/2" X 1 3/4"
One strip of DSP 5 1/4" X 1 1/2" 

Use the 3/4" circle punch at the top and seal the edges with sticky strip and use the crimper to finish. Remember ribbon and bling along with those fabby stamps.


For the tissue pocket pack
The box is 8" X 5 1/2"  scored at 1", 3 1/2", 4 1/2" & 7" and across the bottom at 1"
The lid is 5 1/2" X 2 1/2" scored at 3 1/2" & 4 1/2" (the flap should be large enough to attach a business card on the inside.
DSP for lid is 3 1/4" X 2 1/4" and 2 1/4" X 3/4" (top)



It was a wonderful experience, (if a little nerve wracking), and I have come home tired but inspired! For anyone who has UK, French or German regionals coming up - you are going to have a blast.

And for my lovely customers......more news soon!!! :)

Friday 25 February 2011

Simply Thank You!

Hello Everyone

Whenever one of my lovely customers places an order, I like to send them a little Thank You card to show my appreciation. I usually make about 12 at a time and then do another batch.

This time I decided to use Artistic Etchings, a stamp set that keeps jumping on to my craft desk recently!  It is strange because this wasn't a set I chose for myself, which just shows what I know. LOL!

I love the gentle effects you can get with the images, as with these cards where I have used them to create a background.


I used Crumb Cake and Baja Breeze ink for the background and Not Quite Navy ink for the Thanks sentiment. That sentiment stamp is one of the A La Carte choices at the back of the Stampin' Up! catalogue and is called So Many Thanks. 

So here is another chance for me to thank my lovely Stampin' Up! customers. Thanks to each and every one of you.


Tuesday 22 February 2011

Two-step Stamping

Hello Everyone

Just a quick post today.
Today's project is using a 2-step stamping set from Stampin' Up! For those who don't know 2-step stamping is when you have two images that are stamped one over the over to create a single image. Now that sounds more complicated than it is - so what I really mean is that you stamp, in this case, the outline of the flower and then the inside of the flower over the top.


This card is made with a stamp set called Cottage Garden and the sentiment comes from Oval All. The idea is that you don't line the images up 'perfectly' to get the effect. Difficult for this neat freak - but I guess I see what they mean.


I finished with a couple of those lovely rhinestones. Back in a couple of days with more.


Saturday 19 February 2011

Owls and Inches

Hello Everyone

A couple of projects to share with you today. Firstly some sweet swaps I did for my quarterly Stampin' Up! training day.

I love SU! training. I get to play without having to think up the projects and spend lots of time with my SU! demo friends and lovley upline Amanda.

These swaps were made with Rich Razzleberry cardstock for the base, stamped with the Bliss swirly stamp, in the Razzleberry ink.

I stamped the owl twice in Early Espresso ink and cut out, (punch coming soon for you UK stampers!). The second layer I just trimmed off the eyes ears and beak area. Once I attached this portion with dimensionals to the base owl, I coloured the eyes with a So Saffron marker and then covered them with crystal effects to bring the eyes to life.


My second offering today is made using a hostess set called Cute by the Inch. The colour combination I used is Cherry Cobbler, (my favourite colour), with Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla.

First I stamped the background using a wheel called Sandy Speckles. I daubed around the edge too. As with the previous project I used the same colour ink as the cardstock, just to give some texture rather than a stand-out pattern.




I stamped the bottom three images in Cherry Cobbler ink and cut them out. The main inch image I coloured using markers direct on to the stamp to get multiple colours. To make it stand out I used a bookplate from the Hodgepodge Hardware set from Stampin' Up! The piece of Cherry cardstock it is layered on is textured which gives the card a luxury look.

I finished the card with some silver elastic and silver brads.

Hope you like today's project. Back in a couple of days with some more.







Wednesday 16 February 2011

Altered and Distressed!

Hello Everyone

Well you know I don't really 'do' distressed - but I think I am getting better. Having the right tools certainly helps and the Distress Essentials Kit from Stampin' Up! definitely fits the bill.


I took a simple notebook and had a play! I started with Baja Breeze cardstock and stamped it using the Artistic Etchings stamp set and the distressing inks from the kit - this stamp set works so well for a vintage feel project. Next I used the daubers and application tool to work ink into the edges of the card.

I chose a piece of Newsprint DSP and did some more stamping and daubing.

You can see a bit more of the stamps on the back of the book.

 
I then played with the embellishments. I used the distressing ink and a dauber to colour the ribbons. The one on the pen is actually Whisper White organza coloured with Tea Stain ink. I used pearls and lots of ribbons and made a tag with punches to hang from the spine.




I stamped the E (for Elizabeth) with the Broadsheet Alphabet and curled the edge of the card with the round file from that fabby distressing kit.

I am really pleased with how this notebook turned out. Hope you like it too.

Monday 14 February 2011

Happy Valentines Day!

Hello Everyone

To wish you all a Happy Valentines Day, I thought I would share this card I taught at my February classes.


We used Artistic Etchings, Newsprint Designer Paper and Tiny Tags to make this card.

Every layer was stamped and daubed, but I kept it with neat edges - so not TOO distressed!


Hope you have a LOVEly Valentines day!

Back soon with an more distressed and altered project.

Friday 11 February 2011

Crimped Bliss

Hello Everyone

Today's card uses the SaleABration stamp set called Bliss. I made it at recent Shoebox swap with my Stampin' Up! team. The original design was by Michele, who came up with a beautiful card and then I played with it. Amanda was playing too and came up with the idea of doing the butterflies with the rock n roll technique - I loved the effect so tried it myself.


My addition was the Bliss sentiment, stamped and punched out using the Curly Label punch. I daubed the edges and popped it up on dimensionals.

I love shoebox swaps - they are so much fun!

I wanted to finish today by saying a big THANK YOU to all you lovely people who leave comments on my blog. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I love to read your messages- they warm my heart.  XXX {hugs}

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Card for my Mummy!

Hello Everyone

As promised, back with another card I discovered that I hadn't shared. This one was made for my Mum's birthday, back in November.


We had just received the stamp set Just Believe at Stampin' Up! convention, so I wanted to have a play with the technique we had used there. I used Cherry Cobbler cardstock, matching ink for the flowers and butterfly and Wild Wasabi ink for the grasses.

The butterfly comes from the Cottage Garden stamp set and I added three little adhesive pearls. The ribbon across the bottom of the card is Early Espresso satin.

I will be back with another SaleABration card in a couple of days.


Monday 7 February 2011

Card for Chloe

Hello Everyone

I just realised there are a few birthday cards I haven't yet shown you - even thought I made them last year!

This is the first for sweet little Chloe, who is my downline Nina's little girl. She is now a big sister, but I made her this card just before her sister Isabel was born.


The card is made with four stamp sets. The main image is from Crazy for Cupcakes and features a few of those adhesive diamontes as sprinkles. The sentiment is from the hostess set Afterthoughts. The background is done with Confetti - currently my most used background stamp option. And finally those sweet little toadstools come from Funky Four, which also has the flowers and leaves that I used on the envelope.

I used the Stampin' Up! cutter kit to create a tear off down the side, so that the edge can be removed and used as a bookmark. With that in mind I used my crop a dile to add a jumbo brad and ribbons to the top of the card.

Back soon with another 'forgotten' card!

Saturday 5 February 2011

Baby Card - heavily CASE'd

Hello Everyone

I needed a congratulations card for friends that are expecting a new arrival and it gave me the opportunity to CASE the wonderful Sara, who made a sweet gift box that really inspired me. You can see her box here.

The card uses the small images from the SaleABration set called So Happy for You. It has some great sentiments, (including the one on the card below), but I didn't know what to do with all those diddy images - until I saw Sara's project!


I stamped the diddy images in subtle colours and because my set is in clear mount, it was easy to see where to place them.

My personal twist on this card was the layering of the image on the front, which comes from the Punch Bunch SAB set. I also used the Scallop Trim corner punch to create the shaped layer for the sentiment.

I hope you like it!

Thursday 3 February 2011

Pretty Gift Box

Hello Everyone

At Stampin' Up! convention my lovely upline Amanda achieved a whole heap of top awards, but the one she was really proud of was the Heart of Stampin' Up! award. The Heart of Stampin’ Up! award recognises demonstrators from the EU who truly exemplify Stampin’ Up!’s Statement of the Heart as they make a difference in people’s lives. The award winner is chosen by Stampin' Up! CEO Shelli based on nominations sent in prior to convention.


We were all proud of her, so after convention we sent her flowers and chocolates and then secretly bought a special Pandora bead for her braclet which we presented to her at our quarterly team training.

I made a box for the bead a while ago and now that Amanda has recieved it, I can share the pictures with you.

I used so many stamps for this project, I am not sure I can list them all. I see I used Greenhouse Garden in Soft Suede and Crumb Cake on the box. The top layer is done with Fresh Cuts and Just Believe in Baja Breeze and Marina Mist. The butterfly is a single stamp called All A Flutter and I stamped it in Stazon and coloured in using markers. Don't the little pearls looks sweet?

I also made a little holder for the bead, which we didn't use in the end, (the bead came in sweet Pandora packaging), but I thought I would show you what I made here:


I stamped the tissue paper and created a closure with the butterfly stamped on Window Sheet and a diamonte brad to hold it closed.

Because I never know when to stop, I also stamped the inside of the box...


The interior is stamped with the Ornate Bloom stamp, using the rock n roll technique to add a variation in colour. I also had fun creating the belly band closure, with lots of stamping and daubing and finishing with the Marina Mist 1/4" taffetta ribbon.

I hope you like it as much as Amanda did!

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Altered Tissue Box & an Award!

Hello Everyone

I always have tissues on my craft desk - great for cleaning up excess glue, ink on the desk, wiping your fingers and of course blowing your nose!

My previous box was getting a bit tired, so I decided on a re-make using the lovely Pom Pom trim sent to me by Anne Marie from Texas. See her fabby blog here.


I started with some of the beautiful Lap of Luxury designer series paper from Stampin' Up! One of my new year's resolutions was to USE my DSP, rather than just stroking it and putting it back in the cupboard!

I covered the box in the DSP, Basic Grey printed with the 'Love' sentiment at the bottom and Concord Crush at the top. I used that fabulous Pom Pom trim, (not yet in the UK, but in the US mini), to cover the join.



I then got punching. 3/4" circles, small hearts and large hearts. The top was finished with the tiny SU! adhesive diamontes and and the large hearts each with 3 pearls. You get 150 in the packs, you can afford to be generous with them!

Hope you like my new tissue box - I love the rich colours! Now let's all plead with Stampin' Up! to bring that trim to the UK this year! LOL

Anne has given me another gift too - a blog award!


Thank you Anne! So the rules with this award are to thank and link to the sender - tell 8 things about yourself - pass the award on to 8 other talented bloggers.

8 things about me:

  1. I LOVE everything about being creative. Being a Stampin' Up demo has brought me lots of wonderful new friends and lots of crafting goodies!
  2.  I LOVE Disney - especially Walt Disney World. I have over 100 WDW Disney Days to my credit. My niece calls me Auntie Disney. :)
  3. I cook dinner from scratch 6 days a week. I really enjoy cooking and baking.
  4. And on the 7th day - DH and I go out to dinner. LOL Usually Indian, Chinese or Steak and chips.
  5. I lost 50lb during 2009 with the help of Weightwatchers along with lots of work at the gym and apart from a bit of a festive blip, which I am working on right now, have kept the weight off. Yay me!
  6. My DH Mike is a songwriter. He has had several european releases and an Australian release and we have our fingers crossed for a UK and US release during 2011.
  7. I read every day. I enjoy all sorts of fiction, but my 'comfort food books' are from Terry Pratchett, Agatha Christie and PG Wodehouse. I read their books over and over.
  8. My two crafting new year's resolutions for 2011 are 'Tidy up as I go along' - struggling with that one so far and 'Use my DSP, don't just stroke it and put it away again'. Over Christmas I designed upcoming classes with DSP in them, so that one has started well!
OK - choosing 8 bloggers is hard because there are so many talented people out there, so other than those I have previously nominated for awards, here are some of my most visited blogs...

  1. http://sarastamper.blogspot.com/  - Sara has a lovely style - she really inspires me
  2. http://blinkthinkink.blogspot.com/ - Ellen creates amazing punch art
  3. http://valitasfreshfolds.blogspot.com/ - Valita comes up with some unique designs
  4. http://stampinat6213.blogspot.com/ - Nancy finds her favourites from craft blogs and shares them
  5. http://luckystamper.blogspot.com/  Lovely projects and see what dog Lucky has been up to
  6. http://stampingaddict.blogspot.com/ Lorrie has some fabby 3D projects which I love   
  7. Now the following two bloggers are SO famous I bet you know them, but they have such fabby videos I am going to nominate them anyway!  http://www.mychicnscratch.com/ 
  8. http://dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com/dawns_stampin_studio/
Why not have a quick blog hop and visit them all?

Back soon with a new project.