Passionettes Spring Mini Blog Hop

Morning All! and welcome to my stop on the Passionettes' Spring Mini blog hop. Hopefully you've arrived here from the lovely Debbie's blog. Today I've got a card which was actually made by my friend Sarah the other week when we had a playday. She was playing with some of the fabulous new goodies which had arrived that day whilst I was still trying to finish my Christmas projects - I WILL be more organised next year, so that I can play with new stuff in December too! Anyways, enough of the babble, here's the card she made using one of the fabby new sets which will be released on 4th January!!

Isn't it beautiful? It's intended for a Ruby wedding anniversary. I can't publish the name of the sets yet, but here are the details for the items I can publish. All supplies Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated :

PAPER: Cherry Cobbler, Brushed Gold & Whisper White cardstock.

INK: Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake & Cherry Cobbler ink and markers

STAMPS: New Mini Catalogue set and retired level 2 hostess set ‘Occasional Quotes’.

TOOLS: Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies, Small Heart Punch & Corner Rounder Punch.

ACCESSORIES: Antique Brads, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Basic Pearls.

That's all I have for you for the moment, I might get another card photographed and uploaded today, but then I'm on with some samples for next month. In the meantime I'll leave you in Claire's capable hands - pop on over and see what she's been up to with some of the new goodies, and be sure to follow on the rest of the blog tour!

The 12 Days ‘til Christmas–Day 5

Well, I’ve got a busy day ahead of me, I’ve been on a training course for my new job all week this week, which means that the house is somewhat of a tip and needs some TLC. so, food shopping, tidying and cleaning are the order of the day, although I’m itching to get some inky time too – particularly as a big box of new goodies has arrived – wohooo, Merry Christmas to me . SO, here’s my card for today, a very simple card with minimal layers, featuring the majestic dasher. This was one of the cards I used for my recent Christmas club.

Dasher is stamped using Soft Suede ink onto Shimmer cardstock. I’ve used a red sharpie to colour in a Rhinestone and add it to the end of his nose. The sentiment, again stamped in Soft Suede, is from Season of Joy. I've layered the panel onto Soft Suede cardstock and the horizontal panel is a strip of DSP from the retired Christmas Cocoa DSP stack. I’ve finished the card with a Real Red satin ribbon. This is based on a design I found somewhere in blog land, but I’ve been searching and can’t find where I originally found it – don’t you hate it when that happens?

Right, the washing pile and Dyson are calling me, so I guess I’ll be seeing you soon!

12 Days ‘til Christmas–Day 4

Morning Folks – welcome back! I’ve got another Christmas card today – this one was inspired by my treat pouch from my last class, and is a cute little Christmas Pudding.

The base card is a folded circle, with the base cut off to help the card stand up. I’ve then cut a circle from Chocolate Chip cardstock, embossed using the polka dot embossing folder and decorated with ‘icing’ which was a Whisper White circle cut using the scalloped circle die. The holly was made using the large oval punch and 3/4” circle punch. The sentiment, taken from Perfect Pairs, was stamped using Real Red ink onto Whisper White cardstock, punched using the small oval punch and then layered onto a small Real Red oval. I’ve got another card tomorrow – see you then!45

12 Days ‘til Christmas–Day 3

Only 9 more days until Christmas Eve and 10 more sleeps until Santa! I’m back with one of my Christmas cards for this year, which features the sledging silhouette from Welcome Christmas in a side step scene.

I’ve used a colour scheme of Night of Navy, Bashful Blue and Whisper White. The background trees are from Lovely as a Tree and the sentiment from Curly Cute embossed using white embossing powder. I’ve finished the side panel with a few die cut snowflakes. That’s all for today, I’ve got another of this year’s Christmas cards for you tomorrow.

12 Days ‘til Christmas–Day 2

Morning folks! I’m back with another Christmas themed project. Today I’ve got the gift boxes which I’ve made to hold some Hotel Chocolat chocolates – yum.

The box is another template by Lauren Meader, which perfectly holds one of the trays of 6 chocolates. I’ve used Real Red and Wild Wasabi cardstock to make the boxes and topped them with Holly Berry Bouquet DSP.

The tags have been embossed using the oval designer frames embossing folder. I’ve then stamped the pine cone image from the Pines and Poinsettias stamp set onto Very Vanilla cardstock, punched it out using the extra large oval punch and layered it inside the frame. The boxes are finished with a length of Real Red satin ribbon.

I’ve got a meal out tonight with a number of my downline – I’ll have to share the gifts which I’ve made for them later in the week (assuming I get them finished in time, as I’m on a training course for the rest of today!) I’ll be back tomorrow with a Christmas card or two.

12 Days ‘til Christmas – Day 1

Morning all! Well here I am with the first of my projects for the 12 days ‘til Christmas. I’m not sure how we’ve got to the 12th December already, but I’ve been busy beavering away in my craft room trying to get everything ready for Christmas day. The present shopping was finished a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been in full swing making 100 cards, 20 gift boxes plus tags and wrapping paper. So I’ll start today with the projects we made in class a couple of weeks ago, featuring the Tags ‘til Christmas stamp set. I wanted to demonstrate to the ladies that the set doesn’t just have to be used to create gift tags.

We used the Holly Berry Bouquet DSP and a colour palette of Real Red, Wild Wasabi and Chocolate Chip. The first project was a Christmas Pudding treat pouch.

It’s a simple 5-sided box inside made from Chocolate Chip cardstock and sandwiched between two puddings, which were circles cut from Chocolate Chip cardstock, embossed using the polka dot embossing folder and decorated with ‘icing’ which was cut using the scalloped circle die. The holly was made using the large oval punch and 3/4” circle punch. The sentiment, taken from Tags ‘til Christmas, was coloured using markers and stamped onto Whisper White cardstock. It was then layered on to a scalloped square punched from Holly Berry Bouquet DSP. The handle is a length of Real Red satin ribbon, secured with two mini brads.

The second project was a design I found whilst browsing google images, there are a number of variants out there, but I CASEd this one from Cindy Lawrence.

The card has a blushing bride base, with a Whisper White beard embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper EF. His moustache is made using two birds from the bird builder punch.

I used a side plate as a template for the curvature of his hat. I’ve added a line of dazzling diamonds around his hat using tombow. The holly was again created using the oval and 3/4” circle punches and I completed the design with the sentiment from Tags ‘til Christmas, stamped onto Real Red cardstock using Whisper White ink and punched out using the curly label punch. The nose is punched from blushing bride cardstock using the small oval punch and his eyes punched using the various small circle punches from Whisper White, Marina Mist and Basic Black.

The third project was borrowed from my lovely friend Val Moody. It’s a gift box made from Wild Wasabi cardstock using the petal cone die. Decorated with a belly band made from Chocolate Chip cardstock, Holly Berry Bouquet DSP and Real Red grosgrain ribbon. The tag from Tags ‘til Christmas was coloured using markers, stamped onto Whisper White cardstock and punched using the decorative label punch, then attached to the belly band using dimensionals.

The snowman ornament card was made using the snowman tag stamp, selectively coloured using markers and then layered in a treat cup. The branch is from Lovely as a Tree, and the sentiment from Season of Joy.

And finally the gift card holder, which is always a useful project to have on hand at this time of year! I CASEd this design by Heather Summers, and adjusted the measurements slightly for UK card stock, then adjusted the colour scheme.

Well, that was one mammoth post! I’ll be back tomorrow with some photos of the gift boxes which I’ve been making. Until then

Happy Birthday Pops!

Evening All! Just popping by to share the cards and present packaging which I made for my Dad’s birthday, which he celebrated today. We’re just back from a family meal, and I’m hoping he’s opened it all by now, so I’ll be safe in showing it to you all. You might spot a couple of products in here that you’re not familiar with, but more about those later! First up, here’s his card from myself and Darren.

I’ve used the hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes from the 2011/12 IBC to create the decorated more mustard panel, along with a focal birthday sentiment from Delightful Dozen. I coloured the sentiment using Soft Suede, More Mustard, Pool Party and Pear Pizzazz markers, stamped onto Very Vanilla cardstock and layered onto a Pear Pizzazz oval.

I’ve used some soft suede taffeta ribbon and finally, layered it all onto some brand spanking new DSP, which will be available in the NEW MINI CATALOGUE, which launches on 4th January – be sure to contact me if you’d like a copy posting to you!

I made a coordinating gift card box using more mustard cardstock, pear pizzazz ribbon and DSP, and decorated it with the tag from Happiest Birthday Wishes. The box is a template by Lauren Meader, cut using my trusty CraftROBO, which has been taking a hammering this last week!

My brother texted me this morning to ask me to bring along a card from him too, so I popped back into the craft room and knocked this one up, using the Petite Pennants stamp set and co-ordinating punch and the Happiest Birthday Wishes stamp set. I’ve used the Just Add Cake designer papers and used the colour scheme from those papers to create the card.

Happy Birthday Pops! I hope you liked your cards and pressies, only a few more years and I’ll have to make one covered in BIG numbers .

I’ll be starting my ‘12 Days to Christmas’ tomorrow – with a project a day up until the big day. Until then…

Long time no see…Tags ‘til Christmas

Hey folks! sorry, I’ve been MIA a little again lately. Things have been somewhat hectic, and my energies have been focussed on getting ready for convention, and prepping my class for today. I’ll get some piccies of my card candy and swaps from convention over the weekend whilst I have some daylight. In the meantime i thought I'd better post something crafty, so I’m sharing some sneak peeks for class today, hopefully to whet the appetite of the class attendees! We’re using the Tags ‘til Christmas stamp set along with the Holly Berry Bouquet papers.

I’ll be back tomorrow to show you what we made in full, and the tutorial will then be available in my sidebar. I’ve got some exciting new to come later this month, so stay tuned!!

Happy Saturday!

hey folks, I know, twice in two days, you’ll soon be sick of the sight of me! As promised, I have piccies of another couple of cards from Christmas Club to show you, and I’m hoping for some decent daylight today to photograph the remaining 5, then I can post them tomorrow! Both cards feature the Contempo Christmas stamp set and the now retired Jolly Holiday designer papers in a reverse gatefold.

I’m planning a day in the craft room today, after painting the front door that is, and I’ll hopefully have my next class designed so I can give you some sneaky peeks before I disappear off to Paris for convention. The next class will be my last for this year, and is on Saturday 26th November from 1-4pm, when we’ll be making a couple of cards and some useful gift packaging! If you’d like to join us, be sure to email me to reserve your place – the link is in the sidebar.

Well, back to the painting and the ink, see you soon.

only me…..

Hey folks, well I’ve finally escaped! that mountain of junk has been moved and sorted and I found the room hiding underneath it! I have a couple more bits to put away and then I’ll take some piccies to prove that I haven't just pushed it to one side of the room and ignored it.

In the meantime I’ve been a busy busy bee preparing swaps and card candy for THE event in the Stampin’ Up! year - convention, which is next week in Disneyland Paris!!!! this time next week we’ll be there, getting ready for the awards dinner. Miraculously I have finished my swaps and card candy, and my roommate gift is in hand, so I’m now feeling somewhat chilled, just wondering what I’ve forgotten to do!! I realised that I never shared any of the cards which we made in my recent ‘Christmas Club’ marathon. Over two days we made 50 cards each, 5 each of 10 designs. there were a minimum of 9 ladies on each day, which meant a heck of a lot of prep last month, believe me!! so here’s the first card, a simple design using Serene Snowflakes in a colour combination of Night of Navy, Marina Mist and Whisper White. the sentiment is heat embossed in white, and some of the snowflakes have been stamped in frost shimmer paint to add a glistening effect.

The second used the Season of Joy stamp set, with the now retired Jolly Holiday DSP in a twisted easel card – the poinsettia is stamped, cut out and used to create a latch for the easel.

And finally for today, a centre stair fold card in Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla and Not Quite Navy featuring Winter Post, Lovely as a Tree and Heard From the Heart stamp sets.

Please excuse the lighting in the photos – would you believe that it’s practically twilight at 3pm now? I’m hoping to finish the design of my final class of the year tomorrow, which uses the Tags ‘til Christmas stamp set, so sneak peeks should follow early next week. I’ll pop back tomorrow with more of the samples from Christmas Club.

Have a fantastic evening!

Buried Alive…

Hello, hello lovely blog readers! long time no see… thank you to all of you who have emailed/texted to see if I’m ok, and in fact still alive.  I finished work two weeks ago, and instead of having lots of time on my hands, I'm wondering when on earth i ever found time to go to work! I’ve started the mammoth task of ‘spring cleaning’ the house – which has included a massive sort out of all of the cupboards, cleaning the oven, defrosting the freezer and cleaning out all of the kitchen cupboards and appliances. Next on my list to tackle is my craft room, which at this moment in time resembles a complete hovel…..

my usually very tidy and organised room has turned into a complete bombsite, thanks to a number of back to back events, my week away in Canada and then my efforts being focussed elsewhere!

I’ve just finished prepping my all-day Christmas Club class for tomorrow, so my plan is to try and tidy up this disaster zone this afternoon, then take some photos of the completed projects which are amongst it, and get back on top of my blog updates has anyone got a rope the can lend me to tie around my waist before i venture in there??

I’ll try and get back later to share some sneak peeks of Christmas Club tomorrow, if you don't see me back here by 7pm, please send the search party around!

I’m not dead, just absent

Hey folks! thought I'd better pop along and explain the reason for my silence, despite all of the yummy new products! I’m in Canada this week for work, and in the rush of preparing for my new catalogue launch last week, and packing, I completely forgot to take any pictures to upload this week. So never fear, I’ll return next Monday (once I know what day of the week I’m on!) with some piccies of projects using the fabulous new products in the new IBC. in the meantime, I must go and get some breakfast and then get to work!

See you soon

New Product Shares

Papers

So, you've had a chance to look at the yummy new catalogue, and if you're like me - you want ALL of the fantastic new designer papers, but can't afford them all, so which do you choose? How about every single design?? For £32 (+£2 p&p) receive 180 sheets of 6"x6" designer papers from the new collections. The papers in this selection will include 2 pieces of every paper measuring 6"x6" from the following collections:

• Mocha Morning (12 pieces)
• Flirtatious (12 pieces)
• First Edition (24 pieces)
• Holly Berry Bouquet (12 pieces)
• Paisley Petals (12 pieces)
• Beau Chateau (12 pieces)
• Beyond the Garden (12 pieces)
• Domestic Goddess (12 pieces)
• Frightful Sight (12 pieces)
• Timeless Portrait (12 pieces)
• Just add Cake (12 pieces)
• Nursery Nest (12 pieces)
• Big Top Birthday (12 pieces)
• Well Worn (12 pieces)

If you wish to purchase 2 shares, then you will be sent whole 12x12 sheets of each paper. Please note: this share does NOT include the colour family DSP stacks.

New Product Shares - Ribbons

And now you've picked the papers, what about the accessories? We have a whopping 45 new ribbons in the new catalogue!

I'm offering 1m of EVERY NEW ribbon For £33 (+£1 p&p - free if you've had papers too) receive 45m of ribbons from the new collections (you can identify what's new by the 'n' in the catalogue).

The following are included:

  5 metres ruffled ribbon

  7 metres of 3/8" taffeta

  2 metres of denim jean ribbon

  4 metres of 1/4" grosgrain

  2 metres of 1/8" taffeta

3 metres of seam binding

  7 metres 1 1/4" striped grosgrain

 

  1 metre chantilly crochet lace

  1 metre Victoria crochet lace

  10 metres of scallop dot

  3 metres of 5/8" satin

To order Paper and/or ribbon shares you can email me, OR pay via paypal (the buttons are in the sidebar).

It’s Here!!

Morning all! As you might have sensed from the title, I'm a little excited about our new arrival - the all NEW idea book and catalogue from Stampin' Up! packed full of new stamp sets, papers and accessories (sigh!). You can see it online here.

If you have yet to get your hands on a paper copy, then please feel free to email me and I can arrange to post one to you. Alternatively you can use the order buttons in the sidebar.

My launch event for the new book is this Saturday, 8th October from 10am-12pm and costs £3.50, which will include a copy of the new catalogue, 2 make and takes, a free prize draw, treasure hunt and light refreshments. There will of course also be the opportunity to see some of the new merchandise in the flesh.

I'm also offering a number of product shares to enable you to get your mitts on the fabulous new papers and ribbons, without the cost of purchasing them all.

Please note that the closing date for bookings for the second instalment of my Christmas Club is on Friday 21st October. Please email or phone me (07764815797) to reserve your space for any of the events.

I look forward to bringing you lots of exciting new products and samples soon.

Birthday Wishes…

Morning! here’s my final post using lots of retiring products. I’ve got two cards for you today, the first uses the motorcycle, which those of you who struggle with masculine cards will be pleased to hear is staying (whoop) in the new book. I’ve covered a marina mist cardstock base with the classic stars jumbo wheel in marina mist ink. I’ve added a strip of Newsprint DSP (I don’t know what I'll do when we lose this one, it’s one of my all time favourites!) which has been edged using the spiral border punch. I’ve added layers of night of navy and basic black cardstock and the motorcycle is coloured with night of navy and marina mist markers. The sentiment is from the level 1 hostess set Afterthoughts inked using a night of navy marker. I’ve added an embellishment using the star punch and a brad from the hodgepodge hardware.

The second card features the funky four stamp set and play date papers. I’ve used the colour scheme in the papers to create my card – real red, so saffron, tempting turquoise, chocolate chip and old olive. The sentiment is from the level 2 hostess set something to celebrate.

That’s the end of my retiring products cards, I'll start with some sneak peeks from the new catalogue on Wednesday, and I’ll have some sneak peeks for Christmas Club later today.

Thanks Sew Much

Howdy! It’s Saturday at last – I’m looking forward to a fairly chilled weekend, finishing off the odds and ends on the decorating, and hopefully playing with some of my new stash in preparation for my new catalogue launch event – more details on that one coming soon! In the meantime I’ve got a couple more cards featuring retiring products to share. the first one uses the Sew Lovely and the coordinating Sweet Stitches DSP.

I’ve created a stair fold card base using tempting turquoise DSP and stamped the cotton reel image over in the same coloured ink. The measuring tape is made from daffodil delight satin ribbon stamped with stazon. the end of the tape is made from some chocolate chip cardstock and an eyelet. The large button comes from the coordinating designer button pack. None of these items will be available in the NEW idea book and catalogue, so if you’d like to get your hands on them let me know ASAP! The card also features the tiny tags stamp set and jewellery tag punch, which are staying in the new catalogue .

Moving on to my second card today, it features more products from the mini catalogue – Baby Blossoms and Springtime Vintage DSP. The sentiment is from Occasional Greetings.

I’ve cut a freehand curved edge on the DSP and used it as a guideline for the flowers which are stamped in baja breeze, not quite navy, night of navy, pretty in pink, rose red, cherry cobbler, always artichoke and pear pizzazz. The sentiment was inked using baja breeze and pear pizzazz markers. I've added a length of ruffled baja breeze seam binding ribbon along the join between the cardstock and DSP.

That’s all for today, I have two more to show you on Monday, along with sneak peeks for the Christmas Club which starts next Saturday, 1st October. There are still a couple of spaces left, so if you’d like to join us then email me to book your place.

Because I Care…

Morning All! I’m back with yet more cards featuring retiring projects – I know, it’s a famine and then a feast . This card is based on some designs that my fantastic downline Rebecca came up with for one of our team training sessions. The papers are from the Springtime Vintage collection and I’ve used the colours which are in them – pear pizzazz and baja breeze. The focal hydrangea image is from the beautiful level 1 hostess set Because I Care, which I believe is now no longer available in the wood mount option.

I’ve stamped the image on naturals ivory cardstock and used the Stampin’ Pastels to add colour. I’ve then stamped over the image using the French Foliage stamp set in river rock. the card base has been stamped using the hydrangea in versamark ink and then a ruffle of baja breeze seam binding and some pearls finish it off. I’ve just noticed there are only 2 pearls in the picture – one must have fallen off somewhere along the way as there were 3 previously! The sentiment is stamped in early espresso ink, and I’ve used the scallop trim border punch to add a decorative edge under the DSP.
My pre-order goodies have arrived, so I’m hoping I’ll get some time this weekend to make a few samples to whet your appetites next week in anticipation of the NEW catalogue launch. Don’t forget to get in touch if you’d like your personal copy posting out to you!

A Tree-mendous Birthday

Hey folks! I’m back with another project featuring retiring products. Don’t worry – it’s not Lovely as a Tree that’s leaving us (thank goodness – I think this was the first SU set I ever bought, and I hope it never goes!). Instead I’m focussing again on the accessories which are retiring.

We have the Woodland Walk DSP, early espresso satin ribbon and a brad from the Hodgepodge Hardware set. The colours are garden green, early espresso and the cream cardstock is actually the naturals ivory cardstock, which is a fantastic weight for card bases. The tree was stamped in early espresso and then watercoloured using early espresso and garden green inks.

The sentiment is from Plane & Simple which will also be retiring on 30th September. I’ve stamped it onto naturals ivory using early espresso and punched using the word window, then layered onto a modern label punch in early espresso. I’ve again used the distressing kit and French Foliage on this card.

I can’t claim this one as an original idea though, my mojo left the building last week when I was in the thick of everything else, so I CASED this one from the fantastic Teneale Williams.
Well, that’s one thing off my to-do list this week anyway, as it’s Darren’s Dad’s birthday next week and he requested a card, voila – one masculine card at the ready! I’ll see you on Friday with another card featuring retiring products, until then I hope you find some inky time!

Last Chance Saloon…

Morning folks – long time no see!

Sorry for the lack of posts of late, unfortunately I’ve not had much time for crafting as my energy has been focussed on finding a new job.

But, I’m back now and over the next few days I’ve got some projects from my stamp-a-stack retirement class last Saturday to share with you. The class featured products which were retiring to make way for all of the exciting stash coming in the NEW idea book and catalogue, which is released on 1st October (believe me it’s well worth the wait!! there is a link in the sidebar where you can purchase a copy now, and I’ll get it in the post to you).

Here’s the first card, which features probably my favourite paper from the current catalogue, Love Letter, it’s one that I’m going to miss. I’ve paired it with the Artistic Etchings and French Foliage stamp sets to create a vintage anniversary card. A simple colour combination of Riding Hood Red, Basic Black and Very Vanilla, aged using the distressing kit.

The sentiment is from the Level 2 hostess set Something to Celebrate and I’ve finished it with a length of the Basic Black wide striped grosgrain ribbon and a French filigree brad.

We made 6 more cards during the session, I’ll be back tomorrow with another. In the meantime I’ll be painting the front door step and 2 internal doors and trying to clean up the bombsite that is my craft room – I’ve pulled out all of my retiring goodies to make way for new stash, and they’re all over the floor!

A copy of the retiring list can be found here. If there’s something in particular that you’d like, be sure to contact me soon as many items have already sold out, including: Jolly Holiday DSP, Choo Choo & the Right on Track wheel, Antique Brass & Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Sense of time, Star Punch, Sanded, Spiral Border Punch, Forest Friends & Christmas Jingle simply scrappin’ kit.

See you soon

Going, Going, Gone

Hi all sorry for the late postings. I’ve been on holiday for a few days – climbing mountains in gale force winds! Back to business now though and there’s quite a bit to share.

First and foremost the ‘last chance list’ - in order to make way for some of the lovely new goodies we need to retire some of the existing accessories and sets. You can see the most up to date version of the list here, please be advised that these items are available whilst stocks last, be sure to order your favourites soon! The last date which they will be available for purchase is 30th September, and all orders must be placed by 9pm. After this date they’ll be deleted from the system and will no longer be available to order.

The new catalogue launches on 1st October. There are over 45 new stamp sets available along with a fantastic new ribbon and paper selection. You can pre-order your new copy now for £4.50, which will be delivered to your home address by the launch date. Details of my catalogue launch event will follow shortly.

I'll be back over the weekend with some retiring list projects.