Shoe Box Swap Card

Evening all

I hope you're having a nice weekend.  It looked nice and sunny today as I was driving to and from the Shoe Box Swap crafting day I attended with a group of demonstrators from Julie's Jems.  It was a bit of a struggle to be honest, I've got terrible dizziness (some would say that's no different to normal!) following a trip to Bruges last week on the ferry.  I've never been on a long ferry journey before, and wasn't sure what to expect, luckily I felt fine whilst I was on board, it was after I got back onto land that the swaying continued.  I've got some tablets from the doctors now, so I hope it won't go on much longer!I think out of the 11 projects I made today, I completed only one or two fully, and I made a couple of daft mistakes on the other projects, but I think I did well considering.

Just in case you're wondering what a Shoe Box Swap Day is, and you haven't seen my previous blog posts about the day we had last year, it's where each attendee brings along a project prepped for everyone else to make.  Each project should take about 30 minutes to complete, and it's such a great way of learning new techniques or trying out different products that we might not have bought ourselves yet.  Today, there were some gorgeous projects, and everyone went to so much effort before today making sure that they were prepared.

Here's the card that I designed and brought along for the ladies to make today.  It's the same design as I used in my card class on Tuesday, just with a different stamp set and different papers.  The theme was to use products from the Spring/Summer Catalogue, and since I've not gone too mad with buying products from it yet, I was limited to this stamp set.  For once, I've not bought everything I possibly can (or can't!) afford.  I made a tri fold shutter card, with Crumb Cake card stock as the card blank.  The papers are from the In Colours 2012-13 Designer Paper Stack, in Summer Starfruit, Primrose Petals and Midnight Muse.  These papers stacks are great value, for just £19.50 you get 40 sheets of 12"x12" papers, and they come in all the colour families and In Colours.  I'm still getting through the Subtles pack that I got when I first signed as a demonstrator two years ago.

I used the Collage Curios stamp set for this card.  It's one of the sets I really liked from the Spring/Summer Catalogue, and co-ordinates with the Bottle Tops.  The images were stamped in Summer Starfruit, Baja Breeze and Primrose Petals, and were punched out using the Petite Curly Label Punch which is one of the Sale-A-Bration items this year.  These were then daubed around the edges with Crumb Cake Ink.

This is a close up of the Baja Breeze panel, which has been embossed using the Big Shot and the Honeycomb embossing folder, another product from the Spring/Summer Catalogue.

This is a view of the card from the top.  You can see how each fold alternates to make a zig zag effect.  I've not taken a picture of it flat, but it folds together so it would fit inside a normal A6 envelope, for easy posting.

I hope you like this card, and if you were one of the lucky ladies that attended the class today and happen to be reading this, please leave me a message to let me know what you thought of it.  If you'd like the tutorial, please also leave me a message or drop me an email at mycardsandcrafts@hotmail.co.uk 

As I spot the other ladies projects appearing on their blogs, I'll be sharing the projects that I made today.  If you like them, why don't you drop onto their blogs too to take a look at their other creations.

1. Papers / Card Stock - Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, In Colour 2012-13 Designer Paper Stack
2. Stamp Sets - Collage Curios
3. Tools - Petite Curly Label Punch, Sponge Daubers, Paper Trimmer
4. Embellishments - Dimensionals
5. Inks/Markers - Baja Breeze, Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit

Birthday balloons

I've recently moved into a new office at work, and I've been chatting away to my colleagues about my hobbies and interests. At the recent regional training event in Leeds, one of the key messages that came across was to share Stampin' Up! as much as we could, with everyone. Sometimes us crafty folk are shy about talking about our passions, for fear of looking silly, but when it's something we love, why not share it with the world. Enthusiasm is catching, and every Stampin' Up! demonstrator was once hooked because of someone sharing what they love.

As a result of talking about my cards, a colleague asked me to make a card for her Mum for her 65th birthday. I love being asked to make custom cards, it's very flattering, and I love making things to make people smile. The only specification she asked for was something bright and colourful, and perhaps with balloons.

This is what I came up with.

I used the same layout as I'd used for one of my Jubilee class cards, with the crowns from Artistic Etchings. This time, I used the stamp set Party This Way, with the 2011-12 In Colours. I used Pool Party for the card blank, with panels of Whisper White stamped with the in colour inks using the balloon stamp. Inside the card I put numbers cut with the Big Shot and the Bigz Alphabet Simple Numbers dies. The sentiment is from Curly Cute.

She was really pleased with the card, as was her Mum. I do like a satisfied customer! In fact, her Mum liked it do much she wouldn't even let her write in it!

If you've got a special occasion that you need a nice card for, please get in touch. I'd love to help you out!

 

 

 

The inside of the card

The back of the card

Pop Up Cupcakes

Here's another card CASEd from Julie Kettlewell, another which I loved immediately. It mainly uses the colour combo of Pool Party and Pink Pirouette, with lots of other colours from the Subtles and 2011-2013 In Colours. All together there are nine cupcakes on the card, which were just stamped in random colours from the selection I had on the table.

This is the first pop up card I have made, and I didn't quite get my measurements right! When I initially closed the card over, the bottom pop up panel stuck out the side! I must have cut it too far across from the middle, at least I know for next time how to improve it.

Although I enjoyed making the card, it did take quite some time, as I wasn't sure of all the measurements for the different bits and pieces. It won't take as long next time as I'll know what I'm doing.

Paper / Card Stock - Pool Party, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Subtles Paper Stack

Stamp Set - Create A Cupcake

Embellishments -

Tools - Scallop Edge Border Punch, Cupcake Punch, Paper Trimmer / Scorer

Inks / Markers - Lucky Limeade, Perfect Plum, So Saffron, Pink Pirouette, Crumb Cake, Pool Party,

Celebrate Sale-a-bration

Afternoon all,

I hope you are all well this lovely sunny spring afternoon.  I've just found the first daffodil in my garden, so that's pleased me.  I've got a Stampin' Up! workshop this evening, I'm really looking forward to it.  Hopefully, everything is packed ready to go, and so far, I've not forgotten anything.  I've got a few crafty things I've been working on that I'll be putting out on display this evening, I can't wait to show you on here what they are. 

 

On Tuesday, I attended a team training event run by Julie Kettlewell and other members of her team.  There were a few new faces around the table, so it was nice to meet them, as well as hear stories of how well other demonstrators are doing.  It's great to know how they run their workshops and classes, and knowing that they love Stampin' Up! as much as I do is a relief that I'm not the only one obsessed!

As well as the business training side of the get together, we also get hands on and do a bit of crafting.  As we've still got a month of Sale-a-bration left, we used the Outlined Occasions stamp set.  Julie loves the bunting cards as much as I do, so we made another bunting themed card.  We focused on the 2011-2013 In Colours, and just used the markers for these two cards.

 

We made a fancier version of the card, using the Everyday Enchantment papers, and added extra bling with the Rhinestone Jewels and ribbon.

I love these cards.  It's amazing the difference a few extra products can make to a card, to add that extra wow factor.  If you fancy having a go at making these cards, you can get your hands on all the products you need for just £46.25 for the first card.  That includes a pack of the In Colour card, the In Colour markers, a pack of Whisper White card stock, The Itty Bitty punches, a Basic Gray ink pad, and you'd get the Outlined Occasions stamp set for free.  For the second card, for another £45.20, you'd receive the Word Window punch, the Large Oval Punch, a pack of the ruffled ribbon, a pack of Rhinestone jewels and the linen thread, and you'd also get the Everyday Enchantment papers for free.  If you are interested in making these cards, please let me know.  If you've already got some of the items, you can always swap and change to another product.

We also made a gift bag at the training session.  It's a style I've never seen before, and I was impressed at how simple it was to make.

Don't forget, these papers and stamps are only available until the end of March, so get in touch if you'd like to get your hands on them.