Caturday: Tabitha 'helping'

You’ve met Tabitha before; she belongs to my loyal customer Tracey. And here she is “helping” Tracey unpack her bag from the All-Day Craftathon the other week. She really means business, take a look...

Tutti Frutti cards with In The City hostess stamp set

These are this month’s Thank You cards for my lovely club ladies. I had a fun morning stamping these little street scenes using the colours from the cards - get me with my Calypso Coral tree! Normally that sort of thing bothers me, so I must be evolving.

Don’t forget these Tutti Frutti cards are only available until TOMORROW, which is when Sale-a-Bration ends - they are one of the items you can choose free with a £45 order.

Waterfront with Sweet Sugarplum

Today pink mountains... and come back Friday for orange trees. What is happening to me?

This card is a timely reminder that Sweet Sugarplum is due to retire at the end of May as it is part of the 2016-18 In Color collection. In Colors are always the first items to sell out, and Sweet Sugarplum has been the most popular colour from this batch, so make sure you don’t miss out!

Waterfront should be around until the end of May, while supplies last but still, if you really want it, I personally wouldn’t delay as that too has been really popular.

Mix It Up Monday: Celebrate You dies

It’s a watercolour theme for today’s Mix It Up Monday project, so I needed juicy ink pads or ink refills. Fortunately I found a colour combination from my In Color charts that fitted the bill.

These cards are for the latest group of ladies who have joined my team. I’m proud to say that we’ve had a record number of people joining the team this year… all taking advantage of the two extra stamp sets you can choose for your Starter Kit during Sale-a-Bration (which ends on Saturday!).

If you’d like to join, you can do so by clicking this link. All you have to do is choose up to £130 of catalogue products, and two stamp sets on top of that. Just make sure they are paid-for items - ie you can’t choose SAB items or stamp sets from the Stampin’ Rewards section of the catalogues. The cost is £99, and you won’t need to meet your first quarterly minimum until the end of June. 

Back to the cards… I began by stamping and white embossing some flowers and circles, then I spritzed the watercolour paper with water before adding splashes of ink, allowing them to run into each other. 

It was a similar process for the word “celebrate” – I painted the watercolour paper first, then die-cut it. You probably can’t see from the photo, but I’ve gone over the whole word with Wink of Stella to give it a satisfying shimmer. 

The Celebrate die is part of a Sale-a-Bration product but rest assured it is carrying over to the new Annual Catalogue which comes out in June, so there will be another opportunity to get your hands on it. 

Caturday: Sawyer

If waiting for spring is getting you down, why not take a leaf out of Sawyer’s book? This is his favourite pastime, according to his owner, Sue. Doesn’t surprise me - we have a ginger boy who favours this position, too.

Springtime Foils Week Part 3: Sponged in Flirty Flamingo

To conclude Springtime Foils week here at All Things Stampy, here’s a really delicate project using shades of pink.

I love that you can easily add colour - here I’ve just sponged some Flirty Flamingo ink (retiring soon!) quite roughly, but it still looks lovely.

This card was heavily inspired by this project by Monica Gale – it’s definitely not my usual colour scheme or style, but it’s always good to challenge yourself.

Don’t forget you need to hurry if you want to order this Designer Series Paper as it’s a Sale-a-Bration freebie and therefore only available until the end of March.

Springtime Foils Week Part 2: Colouring with Stampin’ Blends

Here is a really fun way to use the striped sheet. I simply used my Stampin’ Blends to colour the stripes in candy shades. I used the light shade of each colour, and try not to go over the edges or the colours will blend into each other (don’t zoom in!).

The box is made with a 6"x6" sheet of DSP and the Envelope Punch Board. Simply punch and score at the 2" and 4" marks, then assemble into a cute little box. I punched holes in the flaps and threaded ribbon through to tie it closed. I finished it off with a piece of the leaf patterned DSP, coloured with Blends and fussy cut.

Inside are some tiny dog-shaped shortbread biscuits from Sainsbury s for my host, Mandy, who has a Scottie dog and is therefore obsessed with all things Scottie dog!

Springtime Foils Week Part 1: Mixed Metallics gift bags

No Mix It Up Monday project today as I’m working on a super-secret crafting project so have no time for any other crafting.

Instead, it’s Springtime Foils week here on AllThingsStampy, as I show you some projects using the gorgeous Springtime Foils Designer Series Paper (Sale-a-Bration).

These are the gift bags everybody received at my All-Day Craftathon on 10th March. I really milked the “mixed metallics” trent here with these gorgeous gold-striped bags, some silver glimmer paper and the Springtime Foils DSP which I sponged in Flirty Flamingo and *gasp* Peche Fraiche. The strip was brayered in black to give the copper dots a striking background.

Each bag contained a pretty guest soap, but my friend and helper Kelly needed a bigger gift, in a bigger package, so I made her this...

For the body of the pouch I used the beautiful floral sheet from Springtime Foils, and didn’t ink it or sponge it or colour it at all. It’s just beautiful as it is.
SaveSaveSaveSave

Caturday: Ajax

Sorry for the late post but I ’ve been out today, crafting with Ajax and his Mum, who is one of my downlines. He doesn’t look too happy about having his picture taken, does he?

Flirty Flowers envelope pouch

The final project of the day from my All-Day Craftathon last weekend was this clever pouch made from three standard envelopes. I found the idea on the blog of a Dutch demonstrator called Carmen Morris and adapted it for the lovely Petal Passion Designer Series Papers and Flirty Flowers stamp set.

This paper is so versatile because you can stamp on it and make it fit any colour scheme you like. It’s black and white, so we stamped extra leaves (from Petal Palette) in Lemon Lime Twist to bring the colour scheme together. 

What I forgot to photograph was the flip-down section on the left inside the pouch - this is another little pocket which is just sized perfectly for a gift card or a packet of postage stamps.

Inside the left pocket of the pouch are these cute little notecards. You’ll find these in the Spring/Summer catalogue but they fall into the “I don’t think they wanted you to see them” category, as they are pretty well hidden on page 19. So if, like me, you tend to skip the Valentine’s stuff, you’ll miss them!

In the right hand pocket is this slim notebook which is simply covered in a piece of DSP. We had to avoid any bulk on this, and on the note cards, otherwise they wouldn’t fit inside the pockets, which are simply envelopes so not particularly roomy.

It’s a fun project which can be adapted to include all kinds of goodies – hop on over to Carmen’s blog to see what she put inside hers!

Tutti Frutti notecards Panda pouch

This project, from my All-Day Craftathon at the weekend, used the Tutti Frutti Notecards from the Sale-a-Bration brochure. Everybody made four cards, one in each colour, and an envelope box to put them in. Stamp set? Party Pandas of course!

Petal Palette candle and pocket card

This week I will be showing you the projects from my All-Day Craftathon at the weekend. There were three classes throughout the day, in no particular order. This one was ideal for Mother’s Day, or could be used for other occasions, to. There’s a candle in a box, and a pocket card. Guests could choose their colours as they each had all of the 2017-19 In Colors at their disposal...

Caturday: Walk cat

Met this sweet little cat on a lunchtime walk the other day. She (I think it's a she) was very happy to be stroked, and didn't try to follow me home, which is a bonus.

This Little Piggy... can fly

Only an idiot would make a set of cards and only photograph the top once once it’s in its acetate box, right? Well that’s what this idiot did, so you’ll just have to imagine the rest. I love these piggies and the way this one is flying on a watercoloured background really makes it pop out of the page.

Off for more All-Day Craftathon preparations... it’s happening tomorrow!
SaveSave

Bubble Over with excitement

It’s a busy week here as I prepare for my All-Day Craftathon this weekend, so here’s one from the archives that I haven’t had chance to show you yet. It uses the Bubble Over Bundle from the Spring/Summer catalogue.

You may, of course, have seen it on a blog elsewhere as it’s one of the Make & Takes from OnStage, the big event where demonstrators gather together to share ideas and see brand new products. It’s weird to think that I made this card way back in November!

The next OnStage is coming up next month, and we get to see the unveiling of the new Annual Catalogue. This is just one great perk of being demonstrator – there are so many more! If you’d like to be part of the Stampin’ Up!® family, and live in the UK, please do get in touch with any questions you may have. Now is a great time to sign up as not only do you get two extra stamp sets in your kit, you will be around for all the Sneak Peek excitement and pre-orders from the Annual Catalogue.

Mix It Up Monday: Springtime Foils get the In Color treatment

What’s this? Flowers? You don’t see pretty floral cards here very often, do you? But I absolutely love this new Designer Series Paper which is part of the second wave of Sale-a-Bration freebies and fits in nicely with today’s Mix It Up Monday colour combination from my In Color charts. 

There’s copper in the paper, which I’ve brayered in Basic Black (you should see my brayer now!) and also coloured with Blender Pens using Berry Burst and Tranquil Tide ink. The flower from Happiest of Days goes perfectly with these flowers, too. The paper is called Springtime Foils and is free with a £45 order. Take a look here:

Caturday: Pooboo's comfort pose

I'm not sure cats are supposed to sit like this but Pooboo certainly looked comfy in bed yesterday morning. Please excuse the horrible blankets - it's been horribly cold here in Derbyshire this week!

Waterfront box frame

When I stamped some scenes using Waterfront (favourite stamp set), I thought they looked a little like watercolour paintings, so here I've framed one in a small (3"sq) box frame. 

The image is stamped first, then scored and cut to fit inside the frame perfectly, as below. 

They’re quite addictive, as you have probably guessed!