Butterflies and washi tape

How could these little butterflies resist the colourful charm of the Gingham Garden washi tape? I know I couldn’t. Did you know that yellow is one of my favourite colours? It always has been and yet my friend and downline Alison was absolutely staggered by this discovery recently. Very strange.

This card was copied from one made by Lisa Curcio, who confesses that she CASEd it from her downline, Jennifer Timko. I love the fact that the idea has been copied, adapted and is now making its way around the world. 

Hmmm... you can tell I made this a while ago as I've just been outside to take a pic of another project in the same spot, and those flowers are all brown now. Shame. 

Stamps: Happy Day

Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Whisper White

Ink: Island Indigo

Accessories: Gingham Garden Washi Tape, Basic Rhinestones, Bitty Butterfly

Washi tape tip

Morning! And to my UK readers, what a glorious weekend that was, wasn't it? In between my manic weekend, I did manage to pull in a bit of sitting in the garden (in the shade, obviously, as I fry instantly in the sun) and some harvesting... as we have a bumper strawberry crop this year. 

While sitting in the shade, I did do a fair bit of worrying about my cat shelter fundraiser. Lots of people have told me they want to come to this... but not many have booked so far and I need to order the supplies very soon. I do blame myself, of course, as I didn't release details early enough. Too busy enjoying my new products. But anyway, if you could register for this event, I'd be enormously grateful (and so would the cats!). Just click here... 

On to today’s projects... and don’t you go thinking that I’ve forgotten all about washi tape. Oh no, it’s always there in the back of my mind, or being stuck to something new.

This is one of the techniques I showed at my catalogue launch. I learned it at Stampin’ Up!® Regionals but, again, I’ve forgotten who did the demo. How bad is that? I hope someone will enlighten me.

So this talented lady (it was Charlotte Harding from the European head office in Frankfurt - thanks to Val, who must have written everything down or has a better memory than me!) showed us how to use washi tape and said we should always make sure to save our little offcuts and stick them on a piece of scrap cardstock. To say I was sceptical would be an understatement.

But then she did “the big reveal” and punched out a shape from the scraps, just as I have done here with these cute little butterflies. Waste not, want not!

Stamps: Happy Day

Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight

Ink: Melon Mambo

Accessories: Gingham Garden washi tape, Bitty Butterfly Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Rhinestones

Caturday - Poseidon

WHY is this beautiful cat still languishing at the shelter when he could be somebody’s pet? His name is Poseidon and he has an almost identical brother called Pan. They are really elegant cats – probably because they came over from Crete, where they seem to make cats longer and thinner.

I think the problem for Poseidon and Pan is that they are quite shy, so they tend to hide from visitors to the shelter. But, once they trust you, they are really affectionate and sweet. Go on, you know you want them!

Talking of cats, if you're planning to come to the Fur and Feathers workshop, please do register ASAP as I have to order the products soon. I have some cute projects planned and £5 from every admission will go to the cat shelter. There will also be a craft tombola - now that sounds a lot more fun than winning a tin of beans, doesn't it?

Shabby Soho Subway mosaic card

I finally managed to get round to putting in my first order last night. And did I stick to my wish list? No, of course I didn’t. Does anybody ever do that?

I had some free stamp sets to redeem thanks to a bumper Sale-a-Bration (demonstrators are rewarded for sales and recruiting with free stamp sets during SAB)

*** If anyone heard shrieking in the Amber Valley area just now, that was me… one of the cats brought a bird into the house, just like it was a normal, everyday thing to do. He’s never done that before. ***

Anyway, back to stamping.. and relax.

So on my list of stamps to get, I have Chalk Talk, Gorgeous Grunge (desperate for this one!), Tape It, Giggle Greetings (with a question mark), World Map, Wetlands, Remembering Your Birthday and Sketched Birthday. I don’t have many sets left after the new catty clearout, so I can justify a lot, eh?

So what did I order? Chalk Talk, Wetlands, Remembering Your Birthday and Flower Power Shop (thanks, Kathy!) Flower Shop? That wasn’t even on the list! But… but… but… it has a co-ordinating punch! And we all know how much we love a co-ordinating punch. And WHY didn’t I get Gorgeous Grunge, when I’m so desperate for it? All I can say is I DON’T KNOW!!!

But those lovelies aren’t even on their way yet, so back to today’s project, which I shamelessly CASEd from Sera Lewis at Pink Paper Bakery.  It has lots of elements which please me, from the Summer Starfruit background (love that colour) to the Soho Subway paper (have I mentioned that I LOVE that paper? Probably) to the dirtiness around the edges, which I achieved with a sponge dauber and some Crumb Cake ink.

Hope you like it – and thanks to Sera for the inspiration!

Stamps: Happy Day, Mosaic Madness

Cardstock: Summer Starfruit, Shimmery White

Paper: Soho Subway

Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso

Accessories: Msoaic Punch, Sponge dauber

Grab Your Greetings promotion and Virtual Hostess Club update

There’s great news for those who want to stock up on greetings stamps. During July, you can purchase three sets at 25% off in the new Grab Your Greetings promotion: They are: 

Sassy Salutations (page 39)
Wood-mount:	132070	Normally £20.95	offer price £15.75
Clear-mount	126707	Normally £16.95	offer price £12.71
Sweet Essentials (page 41)
Wood-mount:	132085	Normally £17.95	offer price £13.46
Clear-mount:	126457	Normally £13.95	offer price £10.46
Petite Pairs (page 73)
Wood-mount:	128706	Normally £25.95	offer price £19.46
Clear-mount:	122497	Normally £20.95	offer price £15.71
The French and German translated sets are also available as part of the offer but are not listed above. The prices are the same; see catalogue for codes.

The other great news is that my Virtual Hostess Club will be going ahead, starting this month, although I do still have one place left if you’d like it! Sorry that I didn’t have time to email everyone yesterday – had a really busy day. Will try this evening if I get chance.  and there’s no let-up likely until Friday.

So, let’s try something new. If you are in the Virtual Hostess Club, please email me with your first and second choice of months to be hostess. I will try my best to please everyone (and we know that’s always a plan doomed to failure!).

If you are NOT in the Virtual Hostess Club and would like to be, please email me ASAP and I will allocate that final place on a first come, first served basis. More details can be found HERE. 

Tutorial: Selective Faux Watercolour... plus new catalogue goes live

Today is the day that the brand new 2013-14 Annual Catalogue goes live! Whoohoo! So, for those who don't already have a shiny new hard copy, here is the link to the online version. Get your pencils sharpened and your wish lists ready, because it's packed with fab products!

And now, as promised, is the stepped up version of yesterday's technique, as illustrated in the finished card, above. My friend Kelly and I were having a play the other day and decided to elaborate on the faux watercolour technique using a new stamp, Wildflower Meadow. This is a big background stamp, designed to cover the whole of your card base. There are loads of ways to use it – and it has a co-ordinating embossing folder, too. I call this new technique the...

Selective Faux Watercolour Technique

Supplies are the same as yesterday but I used stronger colours so that they’d show up in the photos. Paler colours are arguable nicer.

 1. Begin by placing your clear block on top of your stamp, with the rubber facing upwards.

2. Roughly colour the image – I scribbled Pool Party around the top corners, then followed the lines of the stems and leaves with Old Olive, adding rough flowers in Primrose Petals. 

The photo shows a double effect – this is merely the effect of the block; I only drew one image!

3. As with the technique shown yesterday, spritz the image with water.

4. Again, “stamp” onto Whisper White cardstock but this time don’t press down. If you do, you’ll lose what semblance of definition you had and all the colours will blend into each other. Of course, that’s an effect you may wish to achieve – it’s pretty random, this technique. Be patient. You need to wait for the water to be absorbed into the paper.

5. As with the other technique, lift when there is no longer any resistance from the paper and allow to try thoroughly. You’ll end up with something like this … or not. Really, you get different results every time and you may need to be prepared to sacrifice some cardstock to the cause, until you’ve worked out the best number of water squirts and the best soaking in time. 

6. Finally, decorate as you wish. I've cut out some flowers and and the bird and popped them up. As you can see, I didn't colour the bird area this time round, because I thought it looked a little odd on my first effort.  

Markers used in tutorial: Raspberry Ripple, Pool Party, Old Olive
Ink pads used in tutorial: Island Indigo, Raspberry Ripple

Supplies used in finished card (top)
Stamps: Wildflower Meadow
Cardstock: Raspberry Ripple, Whisper White
Ink: Island Indigo, Raspberry Ripple
Accessories: Wildflower Meadow embossing folder, Stitched Satin Ribbon - Raspberry Ripple, Vintage Faceted Buttons, Basic Rhinestones

Tutorial: Faux Watercolour Technique

Today I’m going to show you one of the fabulous techniques which I demonstrated at my catalogue launch at the weekend. One lady was so inspired that she went home and tried this one straight away, which is always very gratifying.

After the tutorial, scroll down for a quick announcement about the July “Best of…” stamp set and updates on ordering dates for old/new catalogues. 

So here’s a finished card using what I call the “faux watercolour technique”. It uses the gorgeous new colour, Smoky Slate, a lovely soft grey.

So here’s how it’s done. It’s a technique we were shown at Stampin’ Up!® Regionals in Telford in May – I’m sorry I can’t remember the name of the lady who demoed it. Tomorrow I’ll show you a variation on the theme, which I developed with my friend/downline Kelly.

Faux Watercolour Technique

You will need:

A clear block of any size. I used the largest, to fit my stamped image

Three markers

Water spritzing bottle

Whisper White or Very Vanilla cardstock

1. Make sure your block is clean. (This is always important by the way – dirty blocks are the main reason that stamps don’t stick).

2. Colour rough thirds in each of the three colour markers

3. Spritz with water

4. "Stamp” it down onto some Whisper White cardstock. As you press down, you will see the colours blending into each other and moving around. Keep pressing… you will need to allow plenty of time for the water to be absorbed into the paper. You will see this happening.

5. When you can lift the block with no resistance, you’re done.

6. Allow to dry completely before using as a gorgeous faux watercolour background. Here I’ve stamped on top with the new Wildflower Meadow background stamp in Midnight Muse, although the photo is a bit ropey.

You’ll get very different effects if you use watercolour paper, or if you don’t spritz with water. Have a play around, you might discover something exciting!

Markers used in tutorial: Pool Party, So Saffron, Gumball Green

Markers used in finished card (top): Island Indigo, Pool Party, Gumball Green

Stamps: Wildflower Meadow

Cardstock: Island Indigo, Smoky Slate, Whisper White

Ink: Smoky Slate, Whisper White

Accessories: Markers in Island Indigo, Pool Party, Gumball Green; Modern Label Punch, Mini Silver Brads

So that's the tutorial, tomorrow I will take it up a step!

And now... today is the day that you can order the second "Best of..." stamp set, this time on the theme of butterflies. These are some of the butterflies from catalogues over the past 25 years. You'll recognise some but not others as we have only been lucky enough to have SU in our lives for the past five years.

Here it is, it's £13.95 (clear-mount only) and available until the end of March. The Best of Flowers stamp set is also still available and will be until the end of March.

Other news... sorry to go on by the way but there's a lot happening at this time of year! 

Today is the last day to order from the Annual Catalogue, so check out the retiring lists using the link at the top of the page. The ordering period has been extended by a day so that it finishes on a weekday, when Demonstrator Support are there to help us. 

The Spring/Summer catalogue has now finished. 

If you want to order from the brand new catalogue, that begins TOMORROW. Very excited about this one - it has been delayed by one day for the reason mentioned above.

That's all - "Phew!" I hear you say. Better dash!