Stamp-a-stack Christmas 4 - Merry Minis

I hope you've all had a good week, I've not posted much for a few days. An update on the broadband situation-it works, but I have discovered it's very slow, and when using my phone it's quicker to have the wifi switched off and use 3G instead! That's no good is it? I'll have to do a speed test and do some call centre ringing again.

So here's another post (from my phone!) from the Christmas Stamp-a-stack class from a few weeks ago.

This one used the Merry Minis stamp set and punches, a co-ordinating set. They are cute little images of Christmas trees, stars and baubles, three of each. It's a set that's mostly aimed at Christmas, but I think it could be used all year round, especially the stars and one or two of the trees. The baubles could even be used as fairy lights.

Crumb cake card stock was inked around the edges with the White Kraft ink and the daubers, and then a strip of the Festival Of Prints DSP was placed at the side of the card. The Apothecary Accents Framelits Dies were used to cut the Whisper White card stock, with the rounded shape cut off one end. A Bronzed Button with some linen thread tied around the holes was placed on top. The Merry Minis had been stamped in Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler and Baja Breeze, and were placed across the card. The Merry Christmas sentiment is from Petite Pairs.

Retired stamps and other items sale

It's coming to that time of year again, when a new catalogue is just around the corner. I can't wait! One of the down sides is that some of my favourite products will be retiring, and as a demonstrator, it doesn't make much sense to keep hold into items unless I can not live without them!

I have taken the brave decision to sell off my retired Stampin' Up! stamp sets. I have 20 or so sets that I'm looking to pass onto a loving home. I also have a couple of Big Shot dies that are also retiring, and I'm sure I'll come across other bits and pieces. All the stamp sets are in great conditions, and many of the sets are unmounted and never used.

If there's enough people interested, I'll organise a gathering somewhere in Leeds, so you can have a good look through the items. If you live further afield, or wouldn't be able to make it, but still fancy getting some bargains, please contact me and I can send a list of what's available with prices.

I also have quite a few non Stampin' Up! items that I'm looking to clear out too, so please let me know if you'd be interested in those items too. I had a craft room clear out in the New Year, and they're all just sitting in a box still!

Please pass this information onto any of your crafty friends who may be interested, or grab a bargain and get your shopping done for Christmas!

Stamp-a-stack Christmas 3 - Snow Flurry

Morning,

How are you all today? After a sad weekend, as I had to take my old cat Rusty to be put to sleep on Friday, I'm looking forward to a brown box of Stampin' Up! goodies when I get to work. There's nothing like a delivery from UPS to cheer you up is there! It's actually not a very exciting order, it's just a few bits and pieces for my next few classes, but there are catalogues in the box! I managed to get my hands on one of the new Annual Catalogues when I called to see Kylie on Saturday, so I've barely left the house all weekend! I'll be doing a post soon about how you can get hold of a Catalogue, watch this space. I've also got the new In Colour ink pads, pens and card stock arriving, so I'm looking forward to getting to know and use them.

Rusty had not been too well for a while, and I did a post about him to wish him get well wishes a few weeks ago.  He was 18ish, and my family had him as a kitten and then he came up to live in Leeds for his last few years.  He will be missed.

Right, onto the card I'm sharing today...

This is the third from the Christmas Stamp-a-stack class I went to last week. It's made with the Festival of Prints paper stack again, and the main feature of this card is the snow flake made with the new Snow Flurry Bigz Die and the Glimmer paper. Another new product is the Brushed Bronze Deisgner Buttons, and the 1-1/4" (3.2cm) Scallop Circle punch. Linen Thread was put through the button and a Merry sentiment stamped using Tiny Tags and punched with the Jewelry punch was threaded on. A strip of Crumb Cake Taffeta ribbon was placed behind the snowflake.

I really like the glimmer paper, it's paper embedded with the glitter, rather than the glitter being stuck to the surface. This means it's really easy to work with and there's no mess everywhere! The glitter stays on the project, not everywhere else.

Close up of the Snow Flurry die cut in the Glimmer Paper
and the Brushed Bronze Buttons

Catalogue information for the Snow Flurry Die

Stamp-a-stack Christmas 2 - Ornament Keepsakes

This is the second card from the Christmas Stamp-a-stack. It's another card that has products that can be purchased in a bundle, saving 15% when the dies and the stamp set is bought together. The set, called Ornament Keepsakes has been popular so far, and one of the main reasons for this is that it's used to create the stunning decoration on the front of the catalogue. There's 9 stamps and 8 matching dies in this set.

The stamp set

Framelits Dies and details of the bundle

 

For this card, the Festival Of Prints DSP Stack was used again for the background paper, with a card blank of Baja Breeze. The baubles were stamped in Baja Breeze and Early Espresso onto Very Vanilla card. Bows were tied and attached to the tops with the Crumb Cake Taffeta ribbon. The sentiment is from Curly Cute, one of my most used sets!

 

 

 

 

Stamp-a-stack Christmas 1 - Scentsational Season

This is the first card I made at the Stamp-a-stack class. I really liked this stamp set when I saw it in the Seasonal Catalogue, and it's one of the sets that comes in the new bundles. This stamp set is called Scentsational Season, and has matching Framelits Dies called Holiday Collection. You can buy the two items separately or in a bundle, for just £31.95 in wood and £28.95 in clear, saving you 15%. The Wood stamp set on its own is £16.95 and the clear is £13.95, with the dies costing £20.95.

The stamp set

The Framelits Dies and details of the bundle

 

The background layer in Very Vanilla was embossed with the new embossing folder called Lacy Brocade, and the papers are from the Festival Of Prints DSP Stack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shoe Box Swap - Twitterpated Crackers

This is my last blog post about the Shoe Box swap event. I really enjoyed the day, and am looking forward to the next one.

This post is to share with you the project that was designed by my downline and friend Kylie. She's always coming up with great ideas, I don't know where she finds them! If you fancy taking a look at her blog, click here. These are crackers made with the Twitterpated papers, with the label from the Tea Shoppe stamp set.

The crackers were made by cutting slits in a rectangular piece of paper, which was the rolled into a cylinder and stuck with the sticky strip. Bakers Twine was tied tightly around the ends, and a chocolate sweet, a message and the snap was placed inside. Seam binding ribbon in Cherry Cobbler and Baja Breeze was tied around the ends to hide the Bakers Twine.

I love making or receiving swaps with sweets inside, but these are safe, as don't want to ruin them. They can be my real emergency chocolate stash when I really need it!!

 

 

 

 

Shoe Box Swap - Easel card

Here's another card from the Shoe Box Swap day, and it was the last one I made on the day. There were two long tables and each side of the room swapped with people on their table. There were a whole range of other projects and cards on the other table that I didn't get to make. At the end, we all had a spare, as someone couldn't make it, so we did a lucky dip to swap. I got this project, designed by Kate Martin (check out her blog here).  It's an easel style card, and the colour combo is Basic Gray, Whisper White and Pretty In Pink. Two scallop squares were cut with the Big Shot, and the Scallop Square Bigz Clear die. The Pretty In Pink layer was scored with the diagonal plate on the Simply Scored board. The flowers were stamped from the set Everything Eleanor, and had Glass Stampin' Glitter sprinkled into glue in the middle. I'd not used this glitter before, so it was nice to see what it was like. The leaves were punched out with the Bird Builder Punch, I like using a product to make something different to what it is obviously designed for, in this case, bird wings. The Small Oval punch cut out the border for the Hello sentiment from Tiny Tags, which was cut with the Word Window Punch.

The inside of the card was decorate with a square of Pretty In Pink, and a strip of Basic Gray was punched with the Scallop Trim Border Punch. A bow was tied from Pretty In Pink 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon.

 

 

 

Christmas Stamp-a-stack

On Saturday, I went to an all day Stamp-a-stack class run by Julie Kettlewell. Normally her Stamp-a-stack classes are on a Friday evening, and we make 12 cards, 2 each of 6 designs. Saturday, we made 24 cards, 4 each of 6 designs. It was great fun, and every card used the new products from the new Seasonal Catalogue, many of which I hadn't seen in the flesh or played with before. I went along with my Stampin' Up! downline Kylie, and friend Ama, who has had a few workshops and I'm slowly converting into a true addict! One of the nice things about being a Demonstrator is that it's not just about running classes or having workshops, it can simply be about having a crafty session with a few like minded friends. I go to these Stamp-a-stack classes so that I can see the products and make samples that I haven't been able to buy as I'd need another mortgage to get everything I want from the catalogues!

I was lucky enough to win one of the raffle prizes, and chose the Watercolor Winter stamp set from the Seasonal Catalogue. I've got some swaps to do for our next Team Training day, so this set will be perfect for that.

Watercolor Winter stamp set

 

Julie made these lovely bags for us, full of goodies for us to make our cards with, and take home anything we didn't use on the day. It worked well, having our initials on the bag until one point where there were four of us on the table with names starting with A!

I'll be writing my blog posts soon, hopefully my broadband will be fixed this week at long last, and I can start doing these posts properly instead of on my phone.

Shoe Box Swap - Tea Shoppe Dresser

This card from the Shoe Box Swap day was designed by Chris Chamberlain. I like this card, it's made to look like a dresser, using Crumb Cake cardstock and ink with the Woodgrain background stamp. The edges of each piece was inked with the Sponge Daubers, and the handles were punched with the small circle from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack. The tea cups and the label are from Tea Shoppe, and uses Not Quite Navy and Real Red ink. The plates were created with various sizes of the Circle Punches and the Regals Paper Stack.

This card could be adapted to look like a dresser or a wardrobe for a baby card, for example.

 

 

Shoe Box Swap - Distressed Creative Elements card

This is quite a different style of a card from what I usually make, and I'm pleased that this was brought to the Shoe Box Swap class by Caroline Lovett. The technique is known as distressing, and around the edges of the layers of the card were roughed using the edge of the Paper Snips scissors. The edges of the Very Vanilla layer were also curled for extra detail. I'll be using this style more often.

The background was made using the flower stamp from Creative Elements, in Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango. The Tangerine Tango was stamped into the ink pad, and then once on scrap paper, to give a less strong colour. The flourish stamp from the set was stamped in Soft Suede. A spritz spray was used with the Champagne Shimmer Paint to give the golden effect. The Music Notes wheel stamp was rolled across in Basic Black ink. The flower stamp was then stamped onto Tangerine Tango card stock and cut out, as was the sentiment from a new stamp set called Itty Bitty Banners.

I've got another project in the pipeline from this card. I said above that I stamped off some of the Tangerine Tango ink to make it more subtle for the background. My sister saw the sheet I'd stamped these on, and has asked me to make something for her bedroom for her walls. I've got my thinking cap on for this, and hopefully I'll design and share the project with you soon.

Shoe Box Swap - Bow Card

Today's card from the Shoe Box Swap class was designed by Ciara Jennings. It's a really simple, but effective card, and the bow looks so fancy. Ciara had provided a template that we used to cut around the Pool Party dotty paper from the In Colour paper stack. The Crumb Cake card blank was stamped in Crumb Cake ink with the Confetti background stamp, inside and on the outside of the card. The Rich Razzleberry card was punched with the Scallop Edge Border Punch, And a strip of So Saffron card stock was placed on top. The sentiment was from Teeny Tiny Wishes and cut out with the Word Window and the Modern Label punches. A flower was punched out using the Itty Bitty punch, with a Pearl in the middle. On the inside, a piece of So Saffron cut with the Top Note die using the Big Shot was added, for somewhere to write the greeting.

My very first (completed) scrapbook page

I'm very proud of this post! It's my first ever completed scrapbook style project I have ever made. It was one of the projects that I got to make at the Shoebox Swap event I attended, designed by the very talented Lesley Sharpe. She'd done so much hard work before the class for this project, with full instructions given, and lots of the stamping already done for us, to make sure we got it made in 30 minutes. We used the Artistic Etchings and Aviary stamp sets, with the First Edition Speciality DSP, and a colour combo of Crumb Cake and Real Red. I especially liked the distressed effect of this project, as it's something I don't do very often, but will be trying to incorporate the technique into more of my cards and projects. I also liked making the paper roses, and was shown a new way of making them using a quilling tool (not Stampin' Up!). They are just circles punched with the circle punches, and then cut into a spiral, and twisted round.

I decided to make this into a gift for my Mum and Step-Dad Ray, as it was their wedding anniversary a few weeks ago. I bought a 6" square box frame from The Range, so it could be displayed in their house. They were really pleased with it. I'm hoping to try a few more projects like this, they'd make a lovely present or gift for any occasion.

Next card class -Tuesday 25th September

This month we will be making another Wow card to impress your friends and family. As the nights are getting closer, and the temperature is dropping rapidly, we'll be making a Christmas card for your special friends and family.

Using the Apothocary Art stamp set and the Framelit dies I will show you how to make a diorama card. You'll be making two cards.

All equipment will be provided, and no experience is necessary. If you have your own craft kit, including scissors and glue, please feel free to bring them along.

The cost of this class will be £12, and as an extra special treat, you'll receive a pot of Stampin' Up! Shimmer Paint to take home with you (worth £4.95) so you'll be able to add a touch of glamour and sparkle to all your projects this Christmas. Early booking is essential if you'd like to take advantage of this offer