Tutorial: Rooted in Nature teabag holder

Every month I like to honour and reward my team members who have gone above and beyond. for my first level team members, there are rewards for promotions, achievements and for simply selling more than they did in the previous month.

For my extended team, I also send out three “random rewards” which are little handmade gifts to three people chosen at random (the only qualification is that they have placed an order during the month).

This month I sent out these cute teabag holders, inspired by a gift from my downline Stampy Sue and shown on Monday in this post. Inside are three little envelopes, each containing an individually wrapped teabag - plastic-free of course!

But before I show you how to make these, here’s a close-up of the front. For the circle panel, I embossed using the clever leaf embossing dies from the Rooted in Nature bundle. Then I stamped on top using the Artisan Textures stamp set, for a rustic look. 

Here are the measurements... you should be able to see a larger image if you click on it.

Once you’ve made the outer, as shown above, you simply make three little envelopes using the Envelope Punch Board. I’m turning to inches for these as it’s easier... 

They are made from 5.5" squares

The first score line is at 2 3/4"

Then simply proceed as normal, turning the DSP 90º anticlockwise to make the envelope.

These are then stuck inside - onto the green M shape in the diagram above. 

Finally, decorate the front, making sure you leave the top section of your decorative panel without adhesive, so the front flap can slide in and out easily. 

Hope you like it - and have fun!

Tropical Chic in super bright colours

I held a Stampin’ Up!® party on Friday for the first time in years. This is a shameful admission when you think I am very keen for other people to hold them. And it also made me wonder I haven’t been doing it more often as I had a great time... didn’t have to pack the car or drive anywhere, and thoroughly enjoyed choosing my free products!

A BIG thank you is in order to everyone who came along and ordered products, and generally made the evening a fun one.

I demoed the Tropical Chic bundle, which I’m delighted to play with at last. I’ve had the dies since February, for my Display Team projects, but have only just taken delivery of the stamps.

Above is the Make & Take, which I CASEd from the latest edition of Stampin’ Success (the magazine for demonstrators) but changed to even brighter colours. I’m a big fan of the new, revamped Brights collection!

This was the prize for the evening which, in the absence of Karen, inevitably went to Sharon. This seems to be how it works at EVERY party. Karen nearly always wins (although she denies it!) and, if she’s not there, Sharon will win.

This was my 3D demonstration... a fun little teabag holder. I used the ‘smoosh technique’ on the watercolour paper before cutting out with this fun die.

As for the teabag holder, I have another version of this to show you on Wednesday so please do pop back, and I may even have some instructions for you.

What do you think of the colour combo? Too bright? Not bright enough? I’d love to hear your thoughts...

Caturday: Crich cat

On a walk around Crich, we spotted this monochromatic beauty... not one for cuddles, apparently.

Varied Vases vibrant colours

I had lots of fun creaeting these vases of leaves and succulents using the new Varied Vases stamp set. The stamp set was inspired by Mary Fish, a US demonstrator who recently hit her $1m sales mark and was given the privilege of helping to design the stamp set.

So it seemed only natural to turn to the creator for inspiration for this project; I love Mary’s style anyway and CASEd the vase layout from her colour block card from this post.

I liked it so much that I adapted it for a set of Thank You cards (yet to be used, so look surprised if you receive one!)...

Naturally, when making this many of the same design, things are bound to go “different” at certain points. Can you spot the differences between the two cards below?

As for the colour combination, I turned to my charts for the perfect combo, but ended up changing it slightly to add the Shaded Spruce. I do love this combo, but feel it gives the card a slight “vegetable box” vibe. If I find the image I’m thinking of, I’ll let you know.

Lilypad Lake rubber band technique

This was a super-fun and effective technique demonstrated by my friend and downline Tricia on a crafty weekend away last month, and I must get round to trying it again – a fun one for a Crafty Friday I think!

We began by masking the strip with sticky notes.

To create the “reeds”, we wrapped elastic bands around a clear block in a random fashion, then pressed it into an ink pad before spritzing lightly with water and stamping onto the masked off area. Repeat without reinking, then reink when necessary. We used Sahara Sand and Garden Green here, then sponged over the top (when dry) with Coastal Cabana. I love it!

Finally, we all added our herons/cranes? and greetings to suit. I kept mine very simple as I didn’t want to distract from the clever technique.

Delightfully Detailed Golden wedding anniversary card

I don’t normally do card commissions but my Mum laid on the emotional blackmail pretty thickly so I caved in for this one. To tell the truth, I’d agreed to create a golden wedding anniversary card before the true scale of the job was revealed. Gold-themed card? No problem. “With their names on...” Aaaaaaagh!

I have known Jean and Tony all my life so know Jean isn’t a fan of bright colours and favours pastels. (She also likes frogs but I held back, despite the temptation of using Animal Outing...) So I created a gentle watercolour wash background and, thankfully, managed to stamp their names right first time using the Pick a Pennant stamp set.

You may recognise the watercoloured background from these projects, which were made from the leftover pieces.

You can’t see from the photo but I have applied Wink of Stella all over the laser-cut DSP to give a hint of glitz, and the sequins and gold “celebrate” are a further reinforcement that this is for a 50th anniversary celebration.

Caturday: Marvin

Poor little Marvin had a tough start to life... he was from an abandoned litter of four kittens. Sadly, one died, but the rest were successfully hand-reared by veterinary nurses.

Marvin has just suffered the trauma of moving house and his owner was so worried because she thought he'd escaped and got lost. It turned out he was just hiding in his new house!