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.

Stamp-a-stack 1 - Wedding Card

Here's the first of my last set of Stamp-a-stack cards. This one uses the Love and Laughter set from the Summer Mini Catalogue, and has the colour combo of Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake. The Very Vanilla has been embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, and the cake image has been stamped with Crumb Cake ink. A couple of flowers were punched using the Itty Bitty Shapes punch, and finished with pearls in the middle. I made two of these cards, one for an engagement, and one for a wedding, which I have sent to a friend of mine who got married last week. I hope she liked it.

Papers / Card Stock - Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Mocha Morning DSP

Stamp Set - Love and Laughter

Embellishments - Satin Ribbon, Rhinestone Pearls

Tools - Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder

Inks / Markers -  Crumb Cake

 

Jubilee Card Class - Celebrate

Here's another detailed post about one of the cards I made at the Dock Street Market class.  The colour combo is again Riding Hood Red and Not Quite Navy with Very Vanilla.  I used the Party This way stamp set for the balloons, with the Outlined Occasions Sale-a-bration set for the sentiment, which was coloured in with the blender pen.  Satin ribbon was used for the bow, I think I'm getting quite good at these now after attending the Beautiful Bows class a while ago.  I'll have to start making some of the other ones we learnt, if i can still remember how to do them.  i used the Linen Thread to make strings for the balloons, which was attached using the Sticky Dots.

Growing Green Stamp-a-stack card

Hello

I'm still getting through these Stamp-a-stack cards, I'm hoping I'll be done by the end of the week as I'm going to another Stamp-a-stack class on Friday.

Today's card is made with the Growing Green stamp set, and uses the colour combo of Pool Party, Regal Rose and Certainly Celery.  The flowers and leaves were stamped onto Whisper White and then coloured using the blender pens with the ink pads. The images were then cut out.  The flower was also stamped onto the Regal Rose card stock for a background.  The sentiment is from the Trendy Trees stamp set, and has been punched out with the Word Window Punch.

Papers / Card Stock - Pool Party, Regal Rose, Whisper White

Stamp Sets - Growing Green, Trendy Trees

Embellishments - Certainly Celery Satin Ribbon

Tools - Word Window Punch, Blender Pen

Inks / Markers - Pool Party, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Basic Gray

Aviary class card

Here's another card from the first Dock Street Market card class.  I'd seen one very similar on line, and loved the layout, using the Aviary stamp set.  I used Marina Mist and Very Vanilla card stock, with Island Indigo and Crumb Cake ink.  The Top Note die was used to cut out the Very Vanilla card stock.  The hello stamp is from Pennant Parade.

It was really good at the class to see how everyone made this card in different ways.  Some people were happy to copy it, exactly, detail for detail.  Others however, wanted to bespoke it, and were unhappy the birds were caged, and wanted to free them!  That's one thing I love about classes, some people want to be led, and others, want to break free!

Card Stock / Papers - Marina Mist, Very Vanilla

Stamp Sets - Aviary, Pennant Parade

Embellishments - Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Mini Brads

Tools - Stamp-a-ma-jig, Big Shot, Top Note Die, Paper Piercing Tool

Inks / Markers - Island Indigo, Crumb Cake

Clearly For You card

Hello,

As you can tell, I'm getting back into the swing of things with this blogging, and enjoying writing and sharing again.  Maybe I'll have to schedule in craft free weeks now and again so I can have a rest from it! I absolutely love it though (can you tell) but sometimes my brain gets a bit overloaded with ideas and plans etc etc that it gets a bit much.  Any of you other crafters out there ever feel like that?

Today I'm sharing a card with you that uses the Clearly For You stamp set.  I loved this set when it first came out, and my friend/customer (now downline) Kylie bought it, and I've had my eye on using it for a while.  We joked the other day about how we needed to live closer to each other to share each others craft stash, and when we're retired widows, we're going to share a granny flat with a Stampin' Up! craft room in the middle. Sounds great! Hahah!

This card is for a friend of mine, and I wanted to make something a little vintagey, and classy.  I used Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake for this card. I used the 1-1/4" (3.2cm) Square Punch to cut out the tiles, some of which were stamped first, and others stamped after.  That's one of the great things about using punches and stamps, you can line the punch up over the image to make sure it's lined up correctly, or cutting the exact area that is wanted.  I love all the stamps in the set, the birds, the butterflies and the ladybirds, it's hard to say which is my favourite.  I used the Sponge Daubers around the edge of the tiles with the Always Artichoke ink, to soften the edges.  Using one of the techniques I learnt at the recent Beautiful Bows class, I made a bow with the Very Vanilla satin ribbon, held together with a Antique Brad to the bottom of the card, adding an extra bit of glamour. 

I love this card, and I'll be recreating it again soon, and the beauty of it is that it can be done with many different stamp sets.  Watch this space!

Beautiful Bows Card 5

Morning,

At last, here's the fifth and final card from the Beautiful Bows class.  A nice simple card, with a really easy bow.  There was no tying involved for this bow, simply a bit of folding of the ribbon, and a carefully placed Antique Brad to hold it in place.  Clever eh? The Large Scallop Circle was used to punch out one of the stamps from the Everything Eleanor set, don't forget this punch is only available until the end of this month, with the end of the Spring Mini Catalogue.  The swirly stamp was stamped in Lucky Limeade onto Crumb Cake card stock and then embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder in the Big Shot.  It's always a good idea to do your stamping first, else it can be difficult to stamp after the card has been embossed.

I hope you've enjoyed these Beautiful Bows cards, and if you'd like to learn any of the techniques, I'd be happy to demonstrate them.  Contact me to book a workshop, or enquire about attending a class.

Paper / card Stock - Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Stamp Sets - Petite Pairs, Everything Eleanor

Embellishments - Satin Ribbon, Antique Brads, Rhinestone Pearls

Tools - Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch

Inks / Markers - Basic Gray, Lucky Limeade

Beautiful Bows Card 4

Hello there!

Have you missed me? I hope you've even noticed I've not blogged for over a week now, I hope you were all checking every day for a new post from me! I'm back anyway, I've had a hectic week or two, and have not kept up with these posts.  This has been the busiest crafty week or two I've had for a long time, lots of preparation to do.  I had a card class on Wednesday in Bradford, and on Saturday I am attending an all day training session, with 30 swaps to make.  I've another class on Tuesday in Leeds, and then tomorrow evening I'm going to a Stamp-a-stack class!  Busy busy busy.  I'm looking forward to it all though, and can't wait to share everything with you.

Here's the fourth card I made a few weeks ago at the Beautiful Bows class.  This was the first bow we were shown how to make, and it was a very simple one to do, once we got the hang of where our fingers and thumbs were meant to be.  I've tied bows like this before, but getting shown how to do it that little bit better made all the difference.  The Everything Eleanor stamp set was used again, with the now retired Sale-a-bration papers Everyday Enchantment.  Missing those already.  However, it's not long until the release of the new Summer Mini Catalogue, so there'll be plenty of new products for us to swoon over!

 

Paper / card Stock - Pool Party, Very Vanilla

Stamp Sets - Sincere Salutations, Everything Eleanor

Embellishments - Satin Ribbon, Rhinestone Pearls

Tools -

Inks / Markers - Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Pool Party

Beautiful Bows Card 3

Hello!

Here's the third card from the Beautiful Bows class.  This one features "the Julie bow"! Julie my upline, used to make wedding stationary, and she used this bow on her items.  It was probably the most simple of all the bows to make, but still looks really effective, and elegant.  It's also a great bow for cards that require posting, as there's not too much bulk to it, and wouldn't get squashed in the post.  As with the others in this set, the Everything Eleanor stamp set was used, with Pool Party and Crumb Cake, and we used the Lace Ribbon Border punch for the strip under the ribbon. 

Three done, two more to go! I hope you're enjoying these cards.

Paper / Card Stock - Pool Party, Very Vanilla

Stamp Sets - Sincere Salutations, Everything Eleanor

Embellishments - Satin Ribbon

Tools - Lace Ribbon Border Punch

Inks / Markers - Basic Gray, Pool Party, Crumb Cake

Beautiful Bows Card 2

Well it's all back to normal now after the long weekend, shame the weather wasn't like it was last weekend, but at least I wasn't tempted to sit outside, and instead I got some planning and organising done for my next two card classes.  I also realised at the weekend that as well as having two card classes in a week, I have an all day team training event with swaps to make, and another stamp-a-stack class to attend.  I'll be crafted out by the end of all of that! I'll have plenty of blog material to share with you at least, if I ever catch up with it all.

Here's the second card from the Beautiful Bows class.  This one features a double looped bow, and was the most scary looking one out of all the bows we made, I was sure I wasn't going to be able to make this one.  Luckily, it wasn't as hard as it looked, and ended up looking pretty good.

Paper / card Stock - Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Lucky Limeade, Everyday Enchantment (Sale-a-bration papers)

Stamp Sets - Everything Eleanor, Petite Pairs

Embellishments - Satin Ribbon, Rhinestone Pearls

Tools - Scallop Edge Border Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch

Inks / Markers - Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party

Beautiful Bows Card 1

Hope you're having a nice Bank Holiday Monday.

Last weekend I attended a Beautiful Bows class run by my upline, Julie Kettlewell.  This was a great class, as we learn five different bow techniques, something that I've always been a bit nervous of! Mine never look quite like they are meant to, so it was good to be shown the tricks of the trade. I just hope I can remember them when I come to try them again.

All the cards that I will be sharing with you over the next five days use the Everything Eleanor stamp set, which is really versatile.  The colour combination of Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla was used.  All of the stamped images fitted onto one A4 sheet of Very Vanilla card stock, so it was an economical use of card.  The sentiment on this card is from Sincere Salutations, and the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder has been used on the Very Vanilla background. 

The bow on this card was made with a fork! Yes, a fork.  All the ladies at the class were a bit confused when we sat down at Julie's dining table, we thought maybe she was serving us lunch! It makes such a cute bow, and I can't wait to try this with different sized forks to see what effect it has.

Paper / Card Stock - Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Stamp Sets - Sincere Salutations, Everything Eleanor

Embellishments - Satin Ribbon

Tools - Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder

Inks / Markers - Basic Gray, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party

Stamp a stack - Motorbike card

Morning!

What strange weather we're having at the moment, I was applying suncream on Sunday when I went on a 32 mile bike ride, and then last night as I left a team training event in Pudsey, it was snowing. Crazy! I remember my Mum telling me she's got photos of me as a child in the snow with my Easter eggs, maybe that will happen again this year!

Here's the third card from last weeks Stamp-a-stack class.  It's a great card for men, or ladies who like bikes, I don't want to be sexist!! The stamp is called Motorcycle, and is one of the A la Carte stamps, and is a bargain at only £7.95.  I love the sketched effect, and the clarity and quality of Stampin' Up!'s rubber stamps really shows with this image.  I learnt a new technique with this card, using a small circle punch in the top corners of the Whisper White card stock, to make a crescent for the mini brads.  I've only ever seen that done with a special punch, it's good to learn new ways of using products to their full capabilities.



Paper / Card Stock - Basic Black, Basic Gray, Whisper White

Stamp Sets - Motorcycle, Party This Way, Dot Dot Dot

Embellishments - Satin Ribbon, Mini Brads

Tools - Stamp-a -a jig, Paper Piercing Tool, Extra Large Oval Punch, Modern Label

Inks / Markers - Basic Gray