Lemon and lime

Here’s some of the gorgeous ribbon that so many of us earned free with our orders during August. It’s Certainly Celery polytwill and very, very nice.

This simple card took very little time to make – I just stamped the citrus fruit in So Saffron twice and then in Certainly Celery twice to make lemons and limes, which I punched out and mounted on some So Saffron cardstock. Completely out of character, I added some glitter to the centre of each fruit – what's happening to me?

Stamps: Tart and Tangy, Basic Phrases
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Whisper White, So Saffron
Ink: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Basic Gray
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Certainly Celery polytwill ribbon

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Dreams come true

I made this for a friend’s daughter, who achieved outstanding GCSE results – 10 A*s and one A! She’s really bright (evidently) so I’m sure all her dreams will come true.

Stamps: In The Stars
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Paper: Tea Party
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose
Accessories: 5/8” Grosgrain Ribbon - Chocolate Chip, Scallop Edge Punch

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Summery tree with glittery butterfly

What’s that? Glitter? Hmmm... I wonder whose influence that was? Yes, my Canadian Cousin was here when I made this card – and she bullied me into adding glitter to the little butterfly.

The rest of the card is fairly simple, with little scraps of Rainbow Sherbet paper and a tiny scalloped edge to add interest. I coloured the image using ink pads and blender pens.

Stamps: A Tree For All Seasons
Cardstock: So Saffron, Green Galore, Whisper White
Paper: Rainbow Sherbet
Ink: Basic Gray, Certainly Celery, Creamy Caramel, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Whisper White, Blender Pens, Stampin’ Glitter – Dazzling Diamonds

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

Tart and Tangy triptych

This is a bit retro in its own way ... in that I received a card of this design from my Canadian cousin many years ago. But I thought it was worth reviving, just to see what it looked like – and to play with my lovely new Rainbow Sherbet paper! As you can see, I hardly dare cut into it and used the tiniest scrap... but this means the pack will just go much further!

To make a card in this design (is it a triptych? Big word, eh?), cut your white panel half a centimetre or so smaller than you normally would. Stamp it all over at random and then cut into thirds. If you make the white panel without reducing it by those all-important 5mm, you’ll end up not being able to fit in your three panels. Yes, yes, it sounds REALLY obvious but it’s an easy mistake to make. Ask me how I know.

To make the horizontal element, I stamped “thank you” on to vellum (I use the vellum cardstock as I find it easier to handle as it doesn’t crease so easily), then overlaid it onto a strip of Rainbow Sherbet paper and some Green Galore cardstock. I added a couple of black eyelets to hold the vellum on and then stuck it all together. Done.

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Wonderful Words
Cardstock: Yoyo Yellow, Basic Black, Whisper White, Green Galore, Vellum cardstock
Paper: Rainbow Sherbet
Ink: Basic Black, Gable Green
Accessories: Eyelets, Crop-A-Dile™

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

21 today!

I cannot believe that I have a 21-year-old nephew – that makes me feel really old! And how on earth do you make a card for a 21-year-old man?

Chipboard to the rescue. I inked the numbers using a Really Rust marker – I find it easier than using inkpads. These were slightly overlayed on a narrow strip of Designer Series Paper. I made the photo corner with the Tag punch – punch once, then use the template (not the tag) and punch again to make an L shape. Then trim it at an angle with scissors.

Lots of piercing for non-girly detail!

Stamps: Nope!
Cardstock: Really Rust, Whisper White, Sahara Sand
Paper: Haiku
Ink: Really Rust marker
Accessories: Crafters’ Toolkit, Large Tag Punch, On Board Lots of Letters

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

This takes the biscuit

These are fun to make for a party when you want the snacks to look nice but are secretly saying “only one cookie per person”. Maybe not... they’d be better to give to people as a small favour – maybe drop one on someone’s desk at work, or give them out at the end of a party. If you have a current Stampin’ Up! catalogue you’ll recognise the idea from page 11, where there’s a whole box of them decorated in the Patterns Pack of Designer Series Paper which you can earn free if you hostess a party or place a £150 order.

But back to this one ... which wasn’t actually made by me but by my friend and downline, Alison. I am sorely tempted to eat the cookie as she’s a mean baker as well as stamper but it’s been hanging around just a little too long for my liking.

Stamps: Oval All
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Paper: Summer Picnic
Ink: Always Artichoke
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Always Artichoke, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch

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

Seaside special

Here’s a project just for Anna, who has sent complaints across the Atlantic about the lack of blog posts. Anna seems think that my Canadian cousin and I are spending our days stamping – and jealously guarding our creations. Nothing could be further from the truth! In fact yesterday was only the second time we’d managed to fit in any stamping at all. It’s been a whirlwind of shopping, days out, visiting and entertaining.

But here’s a card to keep Anna quiet – it’s one of the cards we won’t be making at my Summer Special workshop on Monday. I thought about it... but needed this stamp set for another project, sorry!

Stamps: Seaside, Daily Flexible Phrases
Cardstock: Kraft, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Accessories: Earth Elements + Neutral Buttons, Scallop Square Punch

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

Oops

Another long absence - I feel I owe you an explanation. I have my cousin from Canada staying at the moment so there hasn't been much time for stamping at all... which is quite frustrating as she's a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, too! We have made a few projects but I haven't got round to photographing them yet. But more coming soon... I'll even have some new catalogue previews for you in a couple of weeks!

Hmmmm... chocolate!

Another fabulous creation by my friend Alison – I’m so glad she doesn’t have a blog of her own! She made these for a party she did for me in Derby when I was just too swamped to take on another booking. (Anyone want to sign up as a demonstrator to help me out?)

These would make a fab gift for someone... well, for me in fact because Green & Black’s chocolate is my favourite chocolate of all time (Milk please! If you can't get Green & Black's, I also love Galaxy, in case you were interested).

The projects are similar with subtle differences, so I’ll only give you one recipe – I’m sure you can work it out!

Stamps: Oval All, True Friend
Cardstock: More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Paper: Patterns Designer Series Paper - Bashful Blue
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard
Accessories: Large Oval punch, Scallop Oval punch, ¼” ribbon – Whisper White, 5/8” Grosgrain Ribbon - Brocade Blue, Spiral punch

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

Crazy fold card

Does anyone know what this card fold is called? Because I don't.

And I have to confess that it is a blatant CASE (copy and share everything) ... if only I could remember where from....

.... ah yes, it was from a lovely blog called A New Song by a US demonstrator called Amy. Now don’t get excited because we don’t have many of the products you’ll see on her blog in the UK catalogue – fingers crossed that some of them will be they’ll be winging our way on 1st October.

The card looks complicated but is actually very simple – it’s just a piece of 12x12 cardstock strategically cut and scored. The measurements are all there on Amy’s blog so I won’t repeat them. It fits in a standard C6 envelope, by the way. At some point in the future I will try to convert the card to make it from A4 cardstock, which should still fit in a standard envelope, but it means you'll be able to mass produce them cheaply if you want to. But remember the old saying: don’t hold your breath!

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, In The Stars
Cardstock: Really Rust, Very Vanilla
Paper: Haiku, Patterns DSP – So Saffron
Ink: Really Rust 12x12, Old Olive
Accessories: 5/8” Grosgrain Ribbon – Old Olive

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

More houses

Here I’ve used just two houses from the wheel as a focal point for this card. They are mounted on some textured Bordering Blue cardstock. I love the little banner of cardstock – I’ve been meaning to do this for ages, having seen it done many times elsewhere.

Stamps: Neighbourhood jumbo wheel
Cardstock: Bravo Burgundy, Bordering Blue, So Saffron, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Basic Black ink cartridge
Accessories: Scallop Square punch, Rich Regals buttons, 5/8” Grosgrain Ribbon – Old Olive, Watercolour Wonder™ crayons, blender pens

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

Wheely great

I don’t know about you but I don’t like to borrow friends’ stamps until they’ve used them at least once. Before that it just seems rude.

So I’ve been asking and asking and asking my friend Alison if she’s tried this wheel yet. In the end I decided she was never going to use it – bear in mind she’s had it since Christmas – so I decided to risk being rude and asked to borrow it. Of course then she needed it for a new home card!

But we came to an arrangement and I got to play at last. It’s lovely – you can wheel it as a border or a main image and you can cut the images out either to embellish the border, as I’ve done here or as a focal point in its own right, as you’ll see in the next few days. Love it!

Stamps: Neighbourhood jumbo wheel
Cardstock: Bravo Burgundy, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black ink cartridge
Accessories: Striped Grosgrain Ribbon – So Saffron, Watercolour Wonder™ crayons – Rich Regals, blender pens

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

A simple birthday wish

I really like the clean and simple look but don’t always manage to pull it off. I think I managed it for this card, though – although I couldn’t resist a strip of scalloped Brilliant Blue cardstock down the left-hand side.

Stamps: Happy Everything
Cardstock: Green Galore, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Brilliant Blue
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Bold Brights buttons, Stamp-a-ma-jig®

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

A word in your shell-like

I’d completely forgotten about this card, which I made a few weeks ago. I love this stamp set but sometimes there just isn’t time to colour in the beautiful images, so I tried the Poppin’ Pastels technique to see what it would look like. And I really like it – I stamped the image in Versamark, then just dab, dab, dabbed some Creamy Caramel and Cameo Coral chalk on top ... maybe even a touch of Close to Cocoa in the darker areas, I can’t remember. I chalked around the edges of the cardstock too, with Creamy Caramel; this shows you the difference between chalk on Versamark and chalk on plain cardstock – the Versamark really makes it pop.

The Cameo Coral cardstock layer is punched with the scallop edge punch. Sad to say, I can’t remember how I got the corner so neat – I’ve just nipped off to have a try and couldn’t do it again! Will have to work on that...

The Chocolate Chip strip down the left hand side of the card is simply stamped with Versamark. This shows the most common use of this versatile ink pad. It creams a watermark on any colour cardstock (except white or cream).

So the only coloured ink on this card is the greeting, stamped in Cameo Coral on a strip of Whisper White, with the edge curled slightly, to contribute to the overall shabby look.

Stamps: Seaside, Soft Summer
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Cameo Coral
Ink: Versamark, Cameo Coral
Accessories: Stampin’ Pastels, Scallop Edge punch

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

Twill turn out ok in the end...

I'm sure I've just posted this but I can't see it, so having another go. Apologies if it turns up twice.

There’s a Stampin’ Demonstrator in Wales, whose blog I’ve been following lately because her work is just so lovely. So when I saw this card on the eve of placing a Stampin’ Up! order, I just had to add twill tape to my order.

This is my version – not as nice as Emma’s but at least I had a go! And I have stacks of twill left so will have to have another go ... and another ... until I get it “right”

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Twill tape, Earth Elements buttons

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

Free ribbons!

Fed up with all this wet weather? This offer from Stampin' Up! will cheer you up!

During August, if you place an order of £45 or more or host a £300 workshop, you will earn a FREE ribbon bundle that is not available in the current catalogue. The bundle comprises:

* 5/8" grosgrain - So Saffron (approx 9.1m)
* 5/8" polytwill - Certainly Celery (approx 9.1m)

They sound fabulous and I can't wait to get my hands on my bundle!

Please email me to place your order!