Postage stamp flowers

Another version of yesterday’s postage stamp punch card – this time using Beyond the Garden Designer Series Paper and a flower made using the Blossom Party die.

Don’t miss: Blossom Party Die and the Postage Stamp Punch, which are in the Spring Mini and therefore unavailable from 1^st May.

Stamps: Curly Cute

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi

Paper: Beyond the Garden

Ink: Basic Grey

Accessories: Postage Stamp Punch, Big Shot, Blossom Party Die, Brights Glimmer Brads

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Not just for babies

Showing off some more of the Nursery Nest designs – remember, this pack of paper is free this month when you spend £45... and it’s not just for baby projects!

Don’t miss: the Postage Stamp Punch and the 2 3/8” Scallop Circle Punch are both in the Spring Mini, which ends on 30^th April. Even if these products do come back in the main catalogue (there’s no guarantee they will), that isn’t until October, so quite a long wait.

Stamps: Aviary, Curly Cute

Cardstock: Basic Grey, Marina Mist, Confetti White

Paper: Nursery Nest

Ink: Basic Grey, Pear Pizzazz

Accessories: Postage Stamp Punch, 2 3/8” scallop circle punch

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Funky free papers

Beyond the Garden is another of the Designer Series Papers available for free during April when you spend £45.  It’s packed with bright, funky floral designs, some of which you can see on this card.

I’ve used the Charming stamp and some bright colours to match the papers.

Don’t miss: Charming stamp set and 2 3/8” Scallop Circle Punch, which are in the Spring Mini so only guaranteed to be available until the end of the month!

(Love that spotty ribbon by the way!)

Stamps: Charming

Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White

Paper: Beyond the Garden

Ink: Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo

Accessories: 1 ¾” circle punch, 2 3/8” scallop circle punch, scallop dotted ribbon – Melon Mambo

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Winky's the star of Caturday today

Hurray for Caturday and here he is, the picture of perfection you’ve all been waiting for: Mr Winky. That’s not his real name, which is Slinky Malinki, after the cat in the children’s book as he fits the description exactly. But somehow, over the years, his name has evolved and he’s now more likely to be known as Winky, Binky, Tinky Winky and, most bizarrely, Mr Trousers.

We didn't set out to get a black cat. We wanted "one girl cat, not black". Why not black? Purely because we were concerned about its visibility on the road. Turns out that black cats are really hard to house so now I feel a bit guilty about that. But anyway, all turned out well because Slinky and Cobweb (or Shadow and Patricia as they were then known) were the only young cats at the shelter and, selfishly, we didn't want to go through the trauma of nursing an old cat so soon after our bereavement. As soon as we lifted Slinky out of the pen, he curled up in my husband's arms and the deal was done. 

Not to mention that the shelter wouldn't separate them because "they love each other so much". Ha! Insert hollow laughter here. 

Winky isn't the sharpest tool in the box – we always say that when he was being created, he was so busy queuing up for handsome, that he forgot to queue up for brains. But he has learned a few tricks. He now understands "come on Winky, it's time for bed" and gets up off the settee to go to the kitchen. And he has learned from the ginger cats how to knock on the window to be let in. Impressive, eh?

Supplies: Black cat, broken garden chair

More Spice Cake fabric projects

This first fabric project won’t make it to the class – mainly because this bauble took me an hour and a half to make... and I still got it wonky! But it’s pretty impressive, if you only view one side at a time anyway.

I nearly fell at the second hurdle on this one as, with instructions in front of me and 42 squares of fabric cut and ready to go, I read the dreaded word “press”. Yes, you’re supposed to fold them and then iron them into shape. “Stuff that”, I thought – there will be no time to iron in a class!  So I decided to wing it. Turns out there would be no time to make one of these in a class either, unless it was an all-dayer, so I knocked it on the head.  If you’re tempted to have a go, I found the instructions here.

I wanted to use taffeta ribbon but in the end it had to be seam-binding to cover my terrible joins!

Supplies: Spice Cake fabric, Crumb Cake seam-binding ribbon

Non-SU supplies: Polystyrene ball, hundreds of pins

Meanwhile, In my search for fabric projects, I stumbled across a really cool rosette which can be attached to a bag, hair slide or band, or a box or anything really.

The sewing looked pretty easy so I stuck my neck out and decided to have a go. It couldn’t be that hard to make something reasonable could it? Well it turned out that even this was probably a bit too hard for someone as sewing-challenged as me. Look at the lovely pleating on the top left. Now look at the lack of pleating at the bottom. Hmmm.

But the main thing is that I had a go. It’s not the winning, it’s the taking part, etc etc. Bah.

To make this properly, all you need is a strip of fabric – mine was about 14” by 3” (ish). Fold it along the length and then sew with very large stitches along the rough edges to join them together. Gather it up and then sew the two short ends together. All went well up to this point, it was adding the button that made it all skew-whiff! Someone who is good at sewing would also realise that a cross stitch in the middle of the button would surely look better. Ah well. 

Supplies: Spice Cake fabric, large Designer Buttons

Spice Cake fabric - get it while you can!

Fabric has been a feature of the Stampin’ Up!® catalogue since last October but I confess I haven’t made best use of it. That’s because I can’t sew. Really, I can’t. I get in a horrendous mess, with bits of cotton everywhere.  I am impatient so I always make my thread too long to save time, then it all gets tangled up.

But I love fabric, so I’ve been scouring the web for some no-sew fabric projects. This is one that I have been trialling for my Nearly No-Sew Fabric class (provisional date, afternoon of 16^th June).

It’s made from a polystyrene ball and there really is no sewing involved. Mine is a little ragged around the edges but it was my first and I hope to get better at it before the class! I will of course provide instructions at the class and on my blog afterwards, but you can probably find them by Googling.

Just so you know, this gorgeous fabric will no longer be available after the end of April, as it’s in the Spring Mini. It might reappear in the new Idea Book & Catalogue in October but I can’t promise anything because I genuinely don’t know.

Supplies: Spice Cake fabric, linen thread, Earth buttons, clear rhinestones

Non-SU supplies: Polystyrene ball

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Earn Designer Papers FREE!

Sale-A-Bration is now over for 2012, but don’t despair – there are more lovely freebies to be had during April! This time it’s Designer Series Paper you can earn FREE for a £45 purchase.

These are the four papers being offered with April’s Gift With Purchase promotion:

Berry Blossom (from the Spring Mini)

Beyond the Garden

Nursery Nest

Pocketful of Posies (Spring Mini)

You earn any one of these packs when you spend at least £45. Unlike Sale-a-Bration, you do not earn two packs for a £90 purchase. However, if it's possible, the order can be split into two to get two packs. 

And today’s project uses the oh so sweet Nursery Nest Designer Series Paper. I fear the name could be offputting but don’t feel you have to make baby projects with this paper – it’s really versatile. In fact, there’s nothing babyish about it at all, apart from the colours – and they are suitable for many occasions.

It co-ordinates with the lovely Aviary stamp set – some of the other designs of paper feature the same birds and owl of the stamp set. But here I’ve just selected a few of the more geometric patterns to create strips across my card.

April’s a manic month for me so, if you’d like to book a party, please get in touch asap!

Stamps: Aviary

Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Marina Mist, Basic Gray, Whisper White

Paper: Nursery Nest

Ink: Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, Basic Gray

Accessories: Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Clear Rhinestone brads, ¼” taffeta ribbon – Marina Mist, Stitched Polyribbon – Pear Pizzazz

All products by Stampin' Up!®