Floral District patchwork card

This should only be half a blog post really! This was one of the cards that Kylie had in mind to make for the inspiration station, and allocated to me to make. I got half of it done, and she finished it off. I'm sure she won't mind me sharing it too.

I used the square punch to cut out a piece from every design of the Floral District papers. I tried to arrange them so the same colours or patterns were not next to each other. These were stuck onto Whisper White card stock, in a grid, and then carefully lined up on the Big Shot using the Top Note die. I also ran a piece of Baja Breeze through the Swiss Dots embossing folder, which Kylie then later edged with a stitched effect in White pen. She tied a piece of Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon around the Top Note shape, and tied a bow. Rich Razzleberry card stock was punched with the Curly Label punch, and the sentiment is from For My Family, which was punched out with the Large Scallop punch.

Betsy's Blossoms Inspiration Station

I mentioned last week that I'd helped out with an Inspiration Station for our last team training event. I've got a few projects over the next few pages that I'd like to share.

Firstly, here's a picture of the table from the day.

Unfortunately I can not take credit for the majority of the items on there, they were made and arranged so nicely by my downline Kylie. You can find her blog here if you're interested in seeing more of her creations. She'd based her projects around the stamp set Betsy's Blossoms and the Floral District DSP. The colours we mainly used for the project were Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Rose Red, Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango and Whisper White. The thing that was most enjoyable from doing the table was concentrating on one stamp set and papers and exploring all the possibilities of what to do with them. I'm sure any crafters reading this can think of a stamp set they've bought, that's still sitting in its box waiting to be used, or was used once for one card.

The first card I'm sharing is a triangle fold card. I got the template for this from Pinterest, which is great for finding ideas, especially for Stampin' Up! products. Here's the link to the tutorial I used. I used a 12"x 12" sheet of Rosé Red card stock, and cut it to the triangle shape. Next was scoring in the right places according to the tutorial. Then it was just a matter of cutting the Floral District Papers to the correct sizes and sticking them to the front and back of the card. To keep the card closed, I stamped a bird from Betsy's Blossoms and punched it out with the Circle punch and mounted it onto a piece of Rose Red cut with the Scallop Circle punch.

The card shown flat

The card shown with a fold - see how it fits together?

The card folded up

The bird stamp from Betsy's blossoms

I'd like to make some more of this style of card, it's perfect for special occasions or for a special person at Christmas.

Christmas bunting card

Morning,

It's a bit chilly isn't it this week? Definitely the right sort of weather for getting in the right mood for making Christmas cards, snow and dropping temperatures! I hope you all made the most of your extra hour of sleep today, or will you spend the day, like I will, checking every clock twice and not quite trusting any of them!

Today I'm sharing the last of the Christmas cards I made a few weeks ago. This one uses retired papers, Jolly Holidays, the same papers I used on a card I shared a few days ago. This design is based on a card I made at a class last year, with the bunting flags across the card. I used Cherry Cobbler card, with an embossed Whisper White layer. I made four cards of three designs, using the embossing folders Swiss Dots, Vintage Wallpaper and Square Lattice. I stamped onto the papers with Basic Black ink using the Pennant Parade stamp set, and used the Petite Pennants punch to cut out the flags. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes, which has changed names from the old catalogue, and is now known as Teeny Tiny Sentiments. The sentiment was punched out with the Word Window punch and mounted onto a punched out piece of Cherry Cobbler using the Modern Label punch.

Snowflakes Christmas Card

Here's the third card from my Christmas card making session. I had lots of Bashful Blue cardstock in my stash, so I thought I'd try to use some of it up. I combined it with Not Quite Navy. I used the Broadsheet Alphabet stamp set to stamp the letters S N O and W and stamped on the Bashful Blue card stock with Whisper White Kraft ink, and the letters were the cut out with the square punch. A background was punched out with the Square Scallop punch. I then used the Whisper White Kraft Ink to stamp the Serene Snowflakes stamp set onto the Not Quite Navy card stock, which was punched with the Scallop Square Punch. I cut a square piece of the Subtles Paper Stack and placed it on a square card blank I had in my craft room. I'm so used to cutting cards now from Stampin' Up! coloured card stock, I had forgotten about using bought card blanks like I used to. When I'd stuck everything together, I used the Shimmer Paint in Frost White to create a shimmer effect over the whole card.

Watercolor Winter cards

Morning,

I'm glad it's Friday! I hope you all have nice things planned for this weekend. Here's the second of the cards I made during my Christmas card session. I had some old papers left, called Jolly Holiday, from two catalogues ago! I decided I should use up as much as I could. I used a design that Kylie had asked me to make a card for her Inspiration Station, that unfortunately she didn't get a chance to finish off for the display. It's a card with half the front cut off, with the Label Collections Framelit Dies placed over half of the front. That's not explained very well, but I'm sure you'll understand from the pictures what I mean. For the card backgrounds, I used Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive, and the stamp set was the Watercolor Winter. I'm a real fan of this set now, after using it on a few cards recently. The sentiment is from a retired stamp set, Contempo Christmas. This is one of the sets I've had on my list to sell, so let me know if you'd be interested in taking it off my hands. To finish off the poinsettias, I placed a couple of pearls in the centre of the flowers.

Open up your door

A couple of weekends ago, I was at my Stampin' Up! friend Kylie's house, for a crafty get together. She was getting things organised for her Inspiration Station at our teams quarterly training and I got busy making some Christmas cards to sell. The next four blog posts will show you these cards. I used some retired items on them, to use them all up, so I can justify buying more!

This card was inspired by a card that was made for me last Christmas by a friend, and by the Tea Shoppe dresser card that we made at the Shoe Box Swap day. I made 12 of these cards, 6 using the Woodgrain background stamp for the wood effect and 6 using the new Woodgrain embossing folder in the Big Shot from the Seasonal catalogue. I used Cherry Cobbler card stock for the card blank with Very Vanilla for the background. The pieces of Woodgrain stamped or embossed Crumb Cake were sponged around the edges with the same colour ink with the Daubers. To create the wreath, I used the bird punch leaf, and the berries were punched using the owls eyes from the Owl punch. I made a couple with hearts instead of berries, also punched from the Owl punch.

*Sorry about the bits of glue on the cards, I took the photos before the glue had dried*

If you'd like to buy any of my Christmas cards, please contact me for more details.

Swaps for team training

I've mentioned the team training day I attended on Saturday in a few previous posts. The first part of the day while everyone is arriving and finding a seat and getting a cuppa, is doing swaps. Everyone has to bring a card front or a project using current products. It can be a bit mad, trying to remember who has swapped with who, and I always manage to leave with a few extra that I didn't give away.

I used the set Watercolor Winter, which I had won in a raffle at the Christmas Stamp-a-stack. I used a Crumb Cake card blank, and stamped on the bottom right corner with Cherry Cobbler ink using the Curly Cute stamp set. A strip of Cherry Cobbler card stock was punched using the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border. The holly outline was stamped in Always Artichoke onto Very Vanilla around the edges, and then using the markers, Cherry Cobbler and Gumball Green, the image was coloured in and stamped on top of the outline. I did try to use the Stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the images, but this took too long, so I had to just use a steady hand to line it up. I like how it doesn't matter if its not exactly in line, and I like the scribbled effect the leaves give.

Everyone at the training day seemed to like them, and I've started to make a few more to add to my cards for sale box.

Buns & Roses Christmas Workshop

Evening all,

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  I attended team training on Saturday with 33 other ladies from Julie's Jems team in Pudsey.  We all had a lovely day, we made some great projects and had lots of laughs.  For lunch we had hot food, jacket potatoes and chilli, instead of a buffet which made a nice change. I'll be sharing lots of photos and projects from the day soon.  

The other news I have to share is that I am running a workshop next week at Leeds City Centre WI - Buns & Roses.  I'm very excited by this, a little nervous of course, but hopefully that will wear off! On Saturday evening and Sunday morning, myself and Kylie got busy and prepped all the projects that we'll be making on the night.  If you're in the area, and fancy coming along, see the link below for details.

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=450006158398795&id=155824351150312

Here's all the projects ready in their folders.  How's that for organised!

Stamp-a-stack Christmas 6 - Joyous Celebrations

This is the last blog post about the Stamp-a-stack class I went to a few weeks ago. I'm pleased I've got through these all now, as I've been busy with lots of other projects I can't wait to share. I've made lots of Christmas cards, I helped my downline prepare for her "Inspiration Station" at our team training event which is tomorrow, I've had a customer workshop, and in a few weeks time I am running a workshop at the Buns & Roses Leeds City Centre WI. Busy eh!

This card uses the Joyous Celebrations stamp set, with the new embossing folder called Holiday Frame. Gumball Green card stock was used for the card blank, with Whisper White. You might notice on the pictures that some of the white card is wrinkled. A tip I have read on how to avoid this, is to slightly dampen the paper first. I've not tried this tip yet, but I'll let you know if it works. The oval frame was punched with the Large Oval Punch, and the cards were decorated with the new Silver Sparkle Dazzling Details, a little tube of silver glitter glue with a fine nozzle for easy application. Nice simple effective cards aren't they?

I'll be back soon hopefully with lots to share. As I mentioned above, it's our team training day tomorrow, so I'll have my swaps to share with you, and lots more.

Stamp-a-stack Christmas 5 - Owl Occasions

Morning,

Hope you're all well, I'm doing good, got a few days off work and I celebrated my birthday yesterday. I got some lovely gifts and cards, but I worry that my friends think they have to apologise for not making me a handmade card! Please don't feel obliged, I like any card, whether it be handmade or not, it's the thought that counts.

I've not blogged for a while, and I've just realised I've not finished sharing all the Stamp-a-stack Christmas cards yet. So here's the fifth card. We used Cherry Cobbler card stock for the card itself, with a Crumb Cake layer that had been embossed with the new Woodgrain embossing folder. The Window Frames Collection Framelits Dies were used to cut out the Gumball Green background and the Whisper White card, where the Owl Occasions stamp set was used to stamp the owl stood on the branch. I love this set, it's perfect for any occasion and can be used all year round. For a bit of dimension, the hat was stamped on a separate piece of card, and cut out. Finally, Crumb Cake Taffeta ribbon was tied in a bow around the card.

I was made a birthday card from this stamp set by my downline and friend Kylie. When she's blogged the card, and doesn't mind me sharing it, I'll post a picture of it on here to show you another way the stamp set can be used.

Free Papers - Join Today

To celebrate the launch of the new Annual Catalogue, Stampin' Up! are offering a fantastic promotion.  If you sign up as a demonstrator during the months of October and November, you can receive a pack of Designer Series Paper every month, for six months! 

If you've been thinking about signing up, now is the time to take advantage of this offer.  Contact me for further details about this offer, and to hear more about all the reasons why it's great to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. Or, if you're really keen, follow this link to sign up today!

Shoe Box Swap - Kindness Matters

This is a post with a product from
the new Annual Catalogue. Excited? I am! This was one of the cards that we made at the Shoe Box swap class that I have mentioned before. This card was designed by Jane Bisby.

The colour combo for this card is Rich Razzleberry, Regal Rose, Crumb Cake with Very Vanilla. The stamp set is from the new Annual Catalogue and is called Kindness Matters. The butterflies were stamped three times and coloured with the marker pens. The middle butterfly on the bottom row has another one stamped and cut out and placed on top to add a bit of dimension. The Crumb Cake card stock was embossed using the Big Shot and the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. The Regal Rose card stock was punched with the Scallop Trim border punch, and a piece of Scallop Dots Ribbon in Old Olive was tied around the centre of the layers in the middle.

The inside of the card was decorated too, I really like this idea and it adds an extra level of detail and makes it a little more special.

Annual Catalogue Launch Day

It's here! The day we've been waiting for has finally arrived! The new Annual Catalogue is live from today, and I must say it's an exciting catalogue indeed.  It's a whopping 205 pages, and it's packed full of new products.  I just can't decide what to buy first, and seeing as it's my birthday month, Stampin' Up! give their demonstrators an extra 15% off an item for their birthday.  What a treat. 

Please contact me if you'd like to get your hands on a catalogue, it really is much better looking at the catalogue than online, I have seen so many more items I'd missed before.  Some of my regular customers and card class attendees have already got their copies, and if you book a workshop, you'll of course receive a complimentary copy.

Click here to view online
Click here to view or download the pdf