Thinking outside of the box with Twisty Treats kit

I know that some seasoned crafters often overlook our kits as they believe them to be just for beginners, but I disagree. I think there’s a lot of fun to be had from a kit, with a little imagination. This box is just one example. 

Take a look at the Twisty Treats kit from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue. It contains 12 polka dot cellophane bags, which are really cool, as well as 12 printed twist ties, 12 die-cut tags and a sheet of self-adhesive die-cut gliittered hearts. Put them together in the traditional manner and you end up with something like this:

But I wanted to show the ladies at my most recent Stampin’ Up!® party something a little different, so decided to think outside of the box, quite literally, and came up with the project at the top of the page. 

To create it, I made a little box to go inside the bag; this makes the polka dots on the cellophane bags show up much better. I made a tag to go with it, showcasing the In Colors and some new Spring/Summer catalogue products. 

Stamps: Just Sayin, Petal Parade

Cardstock: Calypso Coral (I used Crisp Cantaloupe on the night), Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe

Accessories: Twisty Treats kit (SAB),  Ruffled Ribbon - Coastal Cabana, Wooden Elements, Fringe Scissors, Word Bubbles Framelits

I repeated this project for Crafty Friday last week, adapting the design for Valentine’s Day. This is what we made – it’s a little more complicated in that the front panel was cut away so we could add a new panel with the heart aperture. If we hadn’t created a new panel, the punched heart would have been upside-down! 

Stamps: Language of Love

Cardstock: Primrose Petals Core’dinations, Raspberry Ripple, Pistachio Pudding, Very Vanilla, Silver Glimmer Paper

Ink: Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple

Accessories: Twisty Treats Kit (SAB), Fringe Scissors, Large Heart Punch, Small Heart Punch

Finally, here are the measurements for the box:

1. You’ll need a piece of cardstock measuring 28cm x 12cm
2. Score along the length, 5cm from the edge
3. Turn your cardstock 90º and score at 5cm, 13cm, 18cm and 26cm
4. Fold along all the score lines and cut away the smallest section, then assemble as normal
5. The finished box should slide neatly into the cellophane bag.

Language of Love Valentine's cards

What a difference a day makes! After last night’s scary storm (I thought the roof was going to blow off at work), today it is positively spring-like. Don’t get used to it...

Meanwhile, it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow and have you made a card for your loved one? Here’s one I made with the new Language of Love stamp set, which we were given at Convention. I love the cleanliness and simplicity of it - and especially the new Wooden Elements.  This set goes with several punches which you may have already, so it’s worth a look!

Language is Love is in the Spring/Summer catalogue so available until the end of June. But time is running out to get your hands on the fab products in the Whole Lot of Love promotion - they aren’t just for Valentine’s Day! Take a look here. 

I’m really into clean white background at the moment so these note cards and envelopes are getting a lot of use. They are a very quick way of making cards, a nice size and now in heavier Whisper White cardstock, too. 

Stamps: Language of Love

Cardstock: Whisper White note cards, Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Primrose Petals

Ink: Blushing Bride, Primrose Petals

Accessories: Small heart punch, large heart punch, Wooden Elements, Paper Doilies

Whole Lot of Love - brand new Valentine's products!

Christmas is just around the corner – the countdown began today as the first window of the advent calendars across the nation are prised open and, in most cases, the chocolate eaten from within. I remember the days when we had to be satisfied with a little picture of a robin! (Clearly I’m getting old.)

If Christmas is just around the corner, that means Valentine’s Day is not far behind and, as crafters, it’s helpful to stay one step ahead.

Releasing our Valentine’s products early means you can get cracking on your projects over the impending break, or even buy these gorgeous stamps and accessories as gifts for friends for Christmas. 

We saw sneak peeks of all of these products at Convention and I have to admit that, despite not being a big Valentine’s sender, I love them! I won the Love Your More stamp set (well, swapped prizes with a friend) and have been playing with it over the last couple of days.

Here’s what I made for a friend’s birthday – I don’t think she reads my blog, so it should be ok. I coloured the bird with markers – it looked really crisp until I decided to add Crystal Effects to the heart. You can just see that the word “Love” has faded slightly, where the Crystal Effects has made the ink run. I know I should have left the ink to dry for longer but patience isn’t a strong point.

So, despite being a Valentine’s set, my first use of it was for a birthday card – and I know I can get lots of use out of these stamps – in, fact, any of the products on the list below would be useful for all kinds of occasions!

The Monster Hugs received the biggest reaction at Convention – these are soooooo cute! They don’t require much crafting (you just add a chocolate or something small to the centre of the monster, wrap the arms around it and seal with a sticker) so are perfect for beginners, for children, for non-stampers you want to tempt into the craft and for when you need something really cute in a hurry. They’d be great for party favours, for giving out to the class on your child’s birthday… and just for keeping in stock for when someone you know could do with a hug.

Check them out… these products are available from 1st December to 27th January only, or while supplies last.

Stamps

Love You More Stamp Set (wood) - 131850 - £19.95
Love You More Stamp Set (clear) – 131853 - £15.95
This set is also available in French and German in clear-mount only – ask for details

Follow My Heart Stamp Set (wood) – 134611 - £13.95
Follow My Heart Stamp Set (clear) – 134614 - £10.95

Flowerfull Heart Stamp (wood only) – 134617 - £8.95 

Accessories

Sweetheart Treat Bags – 134610 - £4.50
12 Heart bags, 12 die-cut labels, 12 pre-cut pieces of Pool Party Baker’s Twine 

Monster Hugs Boy – 132162 - £5.50 (available 9th December)
Monster Hugs Girl – 132163 - £5.50 (available 9th December)
Each pack contains 18 monsters, in either pink or blue, 18 goggly eyes, 18 adhesive hearts 

Sweet Sayings Cards and Envelopes – 134609 - £5.50
12 printed card bases, 12 envelopes (four Real Red, four Pool Party, four Crisp Canteloupe) 

Recipe for my Love You More card: 
Stamps: Love You More, Summer Silhouettes
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pool Party, Calypso Coral
Ink: Pool Party ink pad; markers in Pool Party, Marina Mista, Calypso Coral, Raspberry Ripple
Accessories: Chalk Talk dies, Chevron Ribbon – Marina Mist, Baker’s Twine from Tag a Bag Accessory Kit, Crystal Effects

Valentine, collage style

Still not made your Valentine’s card? Here’s another idea, which I blatantly copied from the very talented Crafting Clare.  Well, I always set out to do a blatant copy, but things usually go “different” – largely because I craft in a different room to the computer so tend to forget what I’m copying on the very short walk to the kitchen!

The card uses a few stamp sets: the background and postmarks are from the very lovely French Foliage, which I can’t wait to get my teeth into and use properly. “Amour” is of course from Artistic Etchings, another favourite stamp set. And the heart image is from Perfect Postage – love it!

Stamps: Perfect Postage, French Foliage, Artistic Etchings

Cardstock: Confetti White, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Red Glimmer Paper

Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Real Red

Accessories: Postage Stamp Punch, 3 Hearts Punch, Velvet Ribbon, Real Red 1/8” Taffeta Ribbon, Crochet Trim - Victoria

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Simple Valentine

There's only a few days left to take advantage of the Early Bird Discount on my next class; the One-Sheet Wonder. 
Please click here for details and here to register. 
Remember, payment must reach me by the end of 10^th February for the discount. The final closing date is 8pm on 2^nd March.

Now, to today’s card. It’s only just over a week until Valentine’s Day – have you made your loved one a card yet? This idea is really simple but effective – it is inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest.

You can’t tell from the rather dark photo but I pushed the boat out for this one; the card base, the white layer and all (but one) of the hearts made with Shimmer White cardstock.

I began by punching hearts and laying them out on my grid paper, to work out what size panel I would need. I stuck the hearts down using Tombow adhesive as this gave me “wiggle room” so I could get the hearts exactly where I wanted them. The red heart is punched from our new Glimmer Paper and popped up with a Stampin’ Dimensional.

Stamping the word “love” was a nerve-wracking moment but the Stamp-a-ma-jig® ensured it landed in the right place.

Stamps: Tiny Tags

Cardstock: Shimmery White, Cherry Cobbler, Glimmer Paper

Ink: Cherry Cobbler

Accessories: Small heart punch

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Loads of lovely lolly!

Oh what a bad blogger I am. I’ve been away for the weekend and simply didn’t have time to schedule any posts for while I was away. We went to chilly Northumberland for a few days, to explore Hadrian’s Wall country, which was fascinating. Highly recommended... although perhaps leave it until the weather warms up a little.

Anyway, this is the post I wanted to leave you for Valentine’s Day. Sorry for the dull photo – looks like I missed the daylight for this one. (Edited to say I have tweaked it a bit - hope it's an improvement.)

These are two chocolate lollipops. Small confession: I haven’t had time to go shopping much recently so I ended up settling for Easter lollipops from Sainsbury’s. But if you can’t get the lollipops you need for the right season, you can always cover them with aluminium foil.

Making the covers couldn’t be easier. You need a strip of Designer Series Paper or cardstock just wider than the lollipop and twice the height, plus a couple of centimetres. These were 6” x 3” I think. I like to mix my metric and imperial measurements to suit the mood.

Fold your piece of paper in half, then punch a hole on the crease. Poke the stick through the hole then seal the paper at the top. You can do this in several ways; one of these is stapled; the other has two holes punches through both layers at the top, with a ribbon tied through. You could also make one side longer than the other to make a flap to fold over.

Finally, decorate the front. I’ve used a variety of images from Best Wishes and More (large heart), Yummy (“a little yummy for your tummy” and “with love” and a die-cut heart from the Petal Party Simply Scrappin’® kit.

But, of course, these are too late for Valentine’s Day now, so it looks like I’d better adapt the idea for Easter. Or just eat the chocolate...

Left lollipop
Stamps: Best Wishes and More, Yummy (SAB)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Regal Rose
Paper: Sweet Always
Ink: Regal Rose
Accessories: Crop-A-Dile™, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Whisper White

Right lollipop
Stamps: Yummy (SAB)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Old Olive textured, Pumpkin Pie
Ink: Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Petal Party Simply Scrappin’® kit, staple

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Valentine's card

Valentine’s Day is looming and I need some ideas for workshops, although I don’t really get the idea of sending Valentine’s to everyone and their dog. One’s enough, surely?

So here’s one anyway... based on the cracked glass card I made the other week, which you can see here. I really like recycling card designs (as regular readers will notice) – I don’t see the point in reinventing the wheel every time I sit down to stamp!

Stamps: Best Wishes & More
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Whisper White
Paper: Summer Picnic
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: Scallop Square punch, 5/8” Grosgrain Ribbon – Real Red

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Oops, forgot this one!

I forgot to include this box in my post yesterday... which is lucky really as I don't have the camera today and can't take the pic of the card I really wanted to show you. 

But back to the box - it's another of those quick little 5-10-15-20 boxes, with the sides pinched so that the top will close. 

Again, flash photography has destroyed the background stamping... this time it was the delicate little flowers from Simply Said. I coloured the image with a Real Red marker - the fine tip really came into its own for the tiny flowers. 

Stamps: Simply Said (p39)

Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black

Ink: Real Red, Basic Black

Accessories: Gingham ribbon - red (p86), Gingham ribbon - black (p86), household staple.  

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.

Not quite what it seems

This is why you should take your pictures in daylight. I'm really annoyed with myself about this because I didn't leave enough time to get a photo during the day. 

I made this as a prize for my workshop - a Valentine's card and 5-10-15-20 box (click here for instructions) filled with red heart chocolates (Sainsbury's; I think they were 79p for about 10-12). The card is embellished with one of the chocolates, too. 

What you can't see is that I stamped the background of both the card and the box with large red hearts and small red flowers. Honest, I did! 

Stamps: Simply Said (p39)

Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Real Red, Basic Black

Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch (p80), 1 3/8” circle punch (p80), gingham ribbon – black (p86), gingham ribbon – red (p86), Stampin’ Write marker – Real Red, brads – silver, red tissue paper shredded in paper shredder, chocolates from Sainsbury's. 

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.