Mix It Up Monday: Inside the Lines DSP

A simple project this week as we’ve all been under the weather this weekend, so I made this yesterday and then retreated to the settee with a poorly daughter and an opportunistic black cat. 

If you like colouring, you’ll love the new Inside the Lines Designer Series Paper. It’s part of the Sale-a-Bration promotion, which means you can, if you wish, choose it FREE with a £45 order.

It’s perfect for a colour challenge, as you can make it any colour you wish. So I thought I’d give it a go for this week’s Mix It Up Monday project, using another colour combination from my In Color charts.

This is a bright and cheery colour combination, which uses two of the latest set of In Colors; Emerald Envy and (my favourite) Dapper Denim. The Daffodil Delight IS there, it’s just not easy to see in the photo. The Stylized Birthday stamp makes the greeting the focus, and goes with just about everything, making it a useful addition to your stamp collection.  

Caturday: Beau

This is Beau, who belongs to the daughter of my downline, Patsy. However, he keeps going to Patsy’s house and sticking around, much to the annoyance of her other cats! He’s a beauty, isn’t he?

Hey Chick, with watercolour pencils

Some of the most popular new products are showcased here: Hey Chick, the gorgeous Sale-aBration set, the Dynamic Hexagons embossing folder (which goes with EVERYTHING) and the Watercolour Pencils, which are causing big ripples of excitement.

We’ll be using these pencils tonight at my February Hygge Night - the focus is on colouring.

And this DSP - Affectionately Yours - features the same colours as the SAB paper, Carried Away, which means you can use the same pack of cardstock!

Lift Me Up Make & Take

This is the lovely Make & Take from a party earlier this month, which uses the fab Lift Me Up bundle from the Spring/Summer catalogue, and the free Carried Away Designer Series Paper from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue.

And the clever people at Stampin’ Up!® have even made sure there’s a cardstock assortment that goes with it... it’s the Affectionately Yours one from p172 of the main catalogue.

The circle is cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits, a really useful and versatile addition to your craft stash. You won’t find them in any of our catalogues until June, but they are available to buy now, at £27, using the code 145372.

Mix It Up Monday: Lift Me Up

If you want to know what my kind of colours are, they are not these. These couldn’t be further from my taste if they tried. But, in the spirit of Mix It Up Monday and my bid to use every single colour combination from my In Color charts, I thought I’d better give it a go. 

I’ve seen some nice cards made with this set in subtle shades so they were my inspiration, but I can’t say I’m thrilled with my output. Great stamp set though, lovely dies… and nice colours if you like that sort of thing. 

Caturday: Sasha

It’s Caturday and today’s kitty is Sasha, another from the household of Patsy, my downline/friend. It’s rare to get a decent picture of Sasha, apparently, so I was quite chuffed to get this one of her looking directly into the camera.

Tasty Trucks Sale-a-Bration set

There’s a new product in town that I know lots of you are going to love: watercolour pencils. This is something many people have been requesting for a long time so it's very exciting that they are in the Spring/Summer catalogue.

I’ve used them on this project to colour the cute little van from Tasty Trucks. I coloured the image, then blended with a blender pen. You can also use them with aquapainters or a paintbrush, or simply leave them as they are.

You get 13 pencils in Stampin’ Up!® colours. But blink and you’ll miss them in the catalogue – many people have! Look out for them on page 24.

Hey Chick! Watercoloured and doodled...

Just a tiny card with a chicken on it. Watercoloured and doodled for maximum crafting fun. I do enjoy watercolouring and doodling; I find them both very relaxing, and I think this stamp set lends itself perfectly to both techniques.

The set, Hey Chick, is free during Sale-a-Bration with a £45 order. While I think it’s fabulous that we can earn such a gorgeous set for free, I kind of wish it was in the catalogue, so it would stick around longer. Because, after 31st March, this set will be gone forever! Don’t miss out!

Mix It Up Monday: Tasty Trucks

I’m quite excited about this Mix It Up Monday project, which began its life in Friday morning’s discussion with my friend Kelly. I’m impressed that I managed to make it work all by myself without a tutorial (I struggle with anything other than basic folds!), although the slider is a little tight and doesn’t return as easily as I’d like. 

So here we have a cute little van with cakes and the fun sentiment, “Happy Birthday, now where’s the cake?”

Pull out the slider and the cakes are being stolen by a cheeky goat. Yes, I love goats, too, just as much as llamas!

In fact, it was the llama which started it all, as we were hoping to squeeze a llama into the van from the Sale-a-Bration set, Tasty Trucks. When we realised it was too big, I dug out my Barnyard Babies set and the rest is history. 

As for the colour combination, it is no secret that I have a hate-hate relationship with Pêche Fraiche (I can’t even bring myself to say the English name) but I have to confess that this colour combination isn’t too bad. And if you’re wondering why you’re seeing so many Peach combinations on Mix It Up Monday recently, it’s because I’m rapidly working my way through the Peach combinations  from my In Color charts so I can wash my hands of them!

Caturday: Simba

Here’s Simba “helping” Patsy, one of my downlines/friends to craft. He’s nearly 14 and likes to get involved. I’ve lost count of how many cats Patsy has; not because there are so many, but because her daughter’s cat visits and refuses to go home!

Desktop Calendar with Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits

These Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits just cry out for copper foil, I think. They were the finishing touch of this very simple project we created at my Christmas Hygge Night.

The calendar is really easy to make; just half a sheet of A4 (cut lengthways) scored at 10.5cm, 13.5cm, 16.5cm and 27cm. Fold this piece to create the stand-up bit then decorate as desired.

It was such a happy accident that the curved sprig from Foxy Friends fit the shape perfectly!

We added a little pocket for a notepad (I have LOADS of these notepads; they must have been a bargain!) and a calendar tab. We were going to add a pen but I couldn’t find them in time – but the craft room is tidy now so no more excuses!

Detailed Dragonfly gift bag

A bit of coppery bling for the depths of winter... guaranteed to brighten up the darkest day. I created this gift bag using the Gift Bag Punch Board for my friend and downline Alison, who unfortunately has her birthday on Christmas Day. I thought the dragonfly hinted at brighter, sunnier days to come... and also made for a really quick and easy project in the busy days running up to Christmas! A little glimpse of Emerald Envy really stands out from the copper, I think.

Mix It Up Monday: Hey, Chick!

Only 12 hours late for today’s Mix It Up Monday project using another colour combination from my In Color charts… but better late than not at all. 

I’m being brave, with lots of encouragement from my customers, and using Peekaboo Peach again. This fabulous card idea is a CASE of one made by my friend and helper, Kelly. I simply remade it in Mix It Up Monday combination. 

I love the quirkiness of the colours and design and think they go perfectly with the quirkiness of this fabulous stamp set, Hey, Chick! It’s a Sale-a-Bration stamp set, free with any £45 order during the promotion, which runs until 31st March. Do get it if you can as it’s a lot of fun. 

Caturday: Molly

Not a great photo but it was indoors in a dimly-lit room... not the best circumstances for taking a pic on your phone!

This is Molly, who belongs to some friends of ours - she's a lovely long-haired grey, who lives next door to her sister. Her full name is Molly Billy Bunny, but that's a bit of a mouthful for everyday use...

Carried Away Sale-a-Bration DSP with a llama!

I love this paper so much that I really struggled to cut it up but I just knew these mountains needed a llama to go with them! The paper is called Carried Away (143608) and is FREE with any order of £45 during Sale-a-Bration.

Hot air balloons are a recurring theme of this year’s Spring/Summer catalogue and Sale-a-Bration. There’s a fabulous stamp/die bundle that goes with this paper (that’s where the greeting came from) but I thought I’d craft outside of the box and leave the balloons for another day...

Exciting times... Sale-a-Bration begins and a new catalogue, too!

The Stampin’ Up!® website is now back up and running! Thank you for your patience!

What could be more exciting than a whole new set of Stampin’ Up!® products? The fact that you can earn some of them FREE, of course!

I’ll keep it brief as I know you want to get browsing...

Sale-a-Bration

This is the most exciting and wonderful time of the Stampin’ Up!® year, because there are free products for everyone!

There are THREE ways to earn free products…

Customers: Get a FREE Sale-a-Bration product with every £45 you spend!

Hostesses: Get £20 EXTRA in Stampin’ Rewards when you party total reaches £200!

New demonstrators: Get an EXTRA TWO FREE stamp sets* in your Starter Kit!

*Stamp sets can be any value, and chosen from the Annual and Spring/Summer catalogues.

Check out the Sale-a-Bration brochure here! 

Spring/Summer Catalogue

As if Sale-a-Bration wasn’t exciting enough… we have a whole new catalogue to explore! 

Take a look at the Spring/Summer catalogue here!

Mix It Up Monday: Frosted Medallions

Happy New Year! I hope 2017 turns out to be a good one for you. To get things off to a remarkably efficient start, I have a Mix It Up Monday project on a New Year theme for you. 

But before you feel even a glimmer of admiration for my organisational skills, I confess I made this hurriedly on Friday evening, during my Christmas Hygge Night, inspired by one of the guests, Grace, and the beautiful cards she’d made. 

It’s a tricky colour combination for me, but I cannot deviate from the In Color charts, so I inked up the medallion in Peach, then sponged the edges with Rose Red before stamping. Then I inked the same stamp again in Blushing Bride before sponging a little Tangerine Tango in the centre. I – well, Grace did it for me, actually – fussy cut the centre medallion and popped it upon top, finishing off with an enamel shape. 

If this stamp set is on your wish list, please don’t delay... as it retires tomorrow!