Joy Fold

This is what is known as a Joy Fold card and I’m afraid I have no idea why it is called that, just that it’s quite cool.

You start with a side-opening landscape card made by cutting a sheet of A4 in half along the length. Trim off approximately two thirds of the front panel to leave a short front. Decorate as desired.

The centre panel is like a little card on its own but with the fold on the right. The back of this is stuck to the inside of the main card, so you are left with two overlapping flaps, as shown.

Then you need an accent of some sort – in this case the scalloped circle – to hold down the front panel. The trick is to apply adhesive carefully so that you can tuck the small flap under it to hold it down.

Confused? Yes, me too. But it all comes together in the end. The second photo shows what it looks like when closed.

I’m loving these felt flowers and being very brave in using them instead of hoarding them. I love the colours – Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive – so this may be my colour combination of choice for a while! As long as Old Olive’s in there, I’m happy!

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Circle of Friendship, Daily Flexible Phrases
Cardstock: Old Olive, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Paper: Summer Picnic
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Rose Red
Accessories: Round Tab Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, 1” circle punch, 1 ¼” circle punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Pumpkin Pie, Rich Regals brads, Flower Fusion felt flowers, white gel pen

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.

Chocolate Orange

Well, so far it’s a been a bit of a week. A pot pourri of things going wrong – some big, some tiny – the latest being a lost internet connection. As you can imagine, this really annoyed me.

So I’m posting this quickly, just in case it goes again.

I don’t love this card but I like it better in the photo! And it does make me think of chocolate oranges, which can’t be a bad thing. I never get Terry’s Chocolate Oranges any more... not since my brother finally confessed to my Mum that he doesn’t like them (she bought us both one every Christmas). Now she can’t remember which one of us doesn’t like them, so doesn’t buy any! I wish he’d kept quiet – I’d have taken them off his hands for him.

Anyway, back to the card... to get paler oranges on the white panel, I stamped off by stamping on to scrap paper before stamping on to the white panel.

Stamps: Tart and Tangy, Seasonal Wishes
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Chocolate Chip, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 ¼” circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch

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.

Apologies...

Sorry for the lack of posts. I do have some projects to show you but haven't had chance to photograph them yet. Will try to take pix tomorrow after work. As soon as they're taken, you'll be the first to know, honest! 

Swap card

I am such a cheater. This is yet another variation on a theme; this time I’ve rehashed these cards. I’ve made several of these for a swap with some other Stampin’ Up! demonstrators.

This time I stamped the two Pocket Silhouettes images using Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive and layered them on to Bashful Blue and Old Olive. The strip of Designer Series Paper is from the Summer Picnic collection, layered onto a strip of Bashful Blue with a distressed edge. I wasn’t sure if the button and ribbon were an embellishment too far but now I think I like them.

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Paper: Summer Picnic
Ink: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Scallop Square punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Pumpkin Pie, Earth Elements buttons, white cotton, white gel pen

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.

Winter blues box

This is the last project from the Winter Blues class and another of Alison’s creations. It’s a handy little box which you could use for a small gift.

Stamps: Simply Said
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Paper: Summer Picnic
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Night of Navy
Accessories: Round tab punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon – Night of Navy, Crop-A-Dile™, scallop edge punch

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.

Winter blues projects

I have three projects left to show you from the Winter Blues class which seems such a long time ago now. Here are two of them:

The first was made by Alison, using Pick a Petal. This is a lovely vibrant card in Tempting Turquoise and Night of Navy. I love the subtle strip of vellum to create the flower stem.

She made the flower centre by punching a circle, then trimming it with scissors. A swish of white gel pen gives it dimension.

Stamps: Pick a Petal, Happy Everything
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Paper: Summer Picnic, vellum
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Night of Navy
Accessories: 1” circle punch, white gel pen, scallop edge punch

The second card is one of mine but I didn’t think it deserved a post of its own as it’s just the same as this card but in different colours.

Stamps: Botanical Blooms
Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Paper: Patterns Designer Series Paper – Bashful Blue
Ink: Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue
Accessories: Tag Punch, Small tag punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Whisper White

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.

Sweet idea

This was another Valentine’s idea I failed to post on my blog before the actual date – oops. But you could use this idea for any occasion that requires the giving of sweets. 

Inside the bag are small rolls of Love Hearts, each covered in a strip of Designer Series Paper and embellished with a piece of ribbon and a punched flower. I used the punch from the Three For You Punch Box (retiring but still available) but actually think the Boho Blossoms punch would look better – because I wanted to layer on top with the small circle from Circle of Friendship saying “Hugs and kisses”.

I put all the rolls in a cellophane bag (getting them to lie down with all the flowers at the top was a challenge) and tied with a piece of Pumpkin Pie ribbon. The label is made using two stamps from the Yummy Sale-A-Bration stamp set, which you can earn free if you spend £45 during February.

Stamps: Yummy
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Sweet Always
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose
Accessories: ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White, Three For You Punch Box, uni-ball® White Gel pen, Pumpkin Pie marker

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.

Gentle blooms

Here’s a variation on this card, which I made for my workshop last week. I love the look of this Botanical Blooms stamp set and think stamping it in pink on white gives it an oriental feel.

I stamped the pink backgrounds to the flower stamp using the misting technique – I coloured the stamp using a Watercolour Wonder™ crayon, then gently misted it using a garden mister. This gives a watery effect which goes particularly well with this kind of stamping.

The white layer is stamped using Regal Rose ink, then blended using a blender pen on the inside of the ink pad lid.

Eagle-eyed stampers will notice that the row of pink on pink stamping at the bottom was an afterthought – yes I masked it but the different levels meant that my stamping didn’t quite go up to the edge.

Don’t forget you have until 28th February to earn this stamp set FREE... and after that it will be gone forever! Just spend £45 before the end of the month and you can choose from the four Sale-A-Bration stamp sets available. Please email for more details.

Stamps: Botanical Blooms (SAB)
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Watercolour Wonder™ crayons – Rich Regals, Tag punch, Small tag punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

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.

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.

Petal Party lunch tin

As a Level 1 hostess, I earned the Petal Party Simply Scrappin’® kit free – yes, demonstrators get hostess benefits too! I’ve decided to use half of it to decorate a tin and make some cards, then scrapbook with the rest. That’s the plan anyway, but you know what a procrastinator I am.

I started by decorating this Maya Road lunch tin. This is the fastest I’ve ever decorated a lunch tin and this was partly due to the fact that Maya Road tins have a removable handle so you can decorate the top easily, and partly due to the fab self-adhesive die-cuts in the Simply Scrappin’® kit.

I used two strips of two designs of 12x12 Designer Series paper to decorate the body of the tin. I covered the horizontal join with a self-adhesive scalloped strip from one of the sheets of die cuts. I covered the top with some of the gorgeous textured cardstock from the kit, then decorated the top and front with die-cut flowers and leaves. It all came from the kit... and there’s stacks left.

If you’ve never bought one of the scrapping kits, I highly recommend them, even if you don’t scrapbook. You get an awful lot for your money and they are ideal for really quick projects. If you are a scrapbooker, then you’ll appreciate how great they are for making themed mini books or for co-ordinating pages in a 12x12 scrapbook.

Supplies: Maya Road lunch tin, Petal Party Simply Scrappin’® kit

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

Silhouette box

Boxes are fun to make and great to fall back on if you have a small present to wrap and nothing to wrap it in. This one holds about five small square cards but I haven’t made any to go in it. In fact, the box piece was left over from a class last summer!

I’ve decorated it with some Summer Picnic paper, Pocket Silhouettes, some doodling and some buttons. The paper is simply shredded printer paper. The money I save on shredded tissue paper I can spend on stamps, see?

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Cardstock: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Whisper White
Paper: Summer Picnic
Ink: Old Olive
Accessories: Old Olive marker, Earth Elements buttons, Scallop Edge Punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon – Pumpkin Pie, crafters’ toolkit

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.

Floral tags - made with free stamps

This gorgeous Two-Step Stampin’® stamp set could be yours free if you spend £45 this month! Yes, it’s a Sale-A-Bration stamp set, called Botanical Blooms. I stamped these gorgeous flowers by stamping the solid image in So Saffron, then stamping over the top in Chocolate Chip. I used a Stamp-a-ma-jig® for precision positioning but you don’t have to; the stamps look just as good stamped slightly “off”.

To make longer tags using the Tag Punch, I cut a strip of cardstock very slightly narrower than the punch, then fed one end only into the punch. I did this three times, then trimmed them all to the same length. I always stamp first, then punch, with the punch upside down so that I can see where I’m punching.

As for the rest of the card, Designer Series Paper did all the hard work for me – this piece is from the Haiku collection which I love, largely due to its profusion of Old Olive. This piece here, however, is So Saffron, so co-ordinates perfectly.

Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Seasonal Wishes
Cardstock: So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Paper: Haiku
Ink: So Saffron, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Rich Regals brads, Tag Punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

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.

Something yummy for your tummy!

Yum! Chocolate raisins. I bought a BIG bag of these to use in test tubes, filled this one small test tube... then ate the rest. Oops.

But don’t they look yummy in there, with a matching Chocolate Chip label? The fab swirly stamp could be your Valentine’s Day present to yourself, too – and free if you spend £45! Yes, it’s another Sale-A-Bration stamp set, called Yummy. There are three stamps in the set; this one (obviously), a long stamp which says A Little Something For You (click the Sale-A-Bration label to see samples) and a small stamp with a heart and the words “with love”.

To stamp this image in two colours, I used Stampin’ Write® markers; Chocolate Chip and Ruby Red. I cut out the image with my paper snips (not brilliantly but it’s not my forte) and popped it up on a large tag made from Chocolate Chip textured cardstock. LOVE that textured cardstock! Finally, I mounted it on a larger tag made from smooth Ruby Red cardstock.

I punched a hole with the Crop-A-Dile™ and tied it on with lovely Caramel Gingham Ribbon.

Stamps: Yummy (SAB)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip textured, Ruby Red, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red markers
Accessories: Caramel gingham ribbon, Crop-A-Dile™

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.

A stamp-free card

I am so sorry, I don't know where the week has gone! I hope you'll forgive me for not updating and here's a card for today...

I love small square cards, as you’ve probably noticed. This is my favourite size – 9cm square. You can make cards really quickly in this size and get three from a sheet of A4.

There is no stamping on this card at all! The flowers are rub-ons, which are easy and fun to use. I particularly love the white ones as it’s a look you can’t create with ink unless you want to emboss.

Cardstock: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Scallop Square punch, Hidden Garden Blossoms rub-ons, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Pumpkin Pie, Scallop Edge Punch

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.