And the most popular Sale-a-Bration product is...

Bit of a daft question as the answer is staring you in the face but do you know what the most popular Sale-a-Bration product is BY FAR? Yup, it’s Hey, Chick, which comes as no surprise to me as I was so excited when I first clapped eyes on it way back in November.

It’s such a fun stamp set and was inspired by the artist’s experiences on a friend’s farm. The illustrator, Loris Sume, said:

"When I was a child growing up in Canada, I remember some family friends who had little chickens that I thought were so cute. A couple of summers ago here in Utah, I stopped at a friend’s ranch and saw all their cute animals including their chickens. They had typical chickens but also another kind called Polish Frizzle Bantam White Chickens. I think they are so funny with all those feathers flopping around on the top of their heads and how they like to stare straight at you and cock their heads.

"So when I was assigned to create the Hey, Chick Stamp Set, I was so excited. I wanted to exaggerate the rounder chickens and really make them round, and I also really wanted to draw one of those funny chickens I saw at my friend’s ranch. It was a really fun set to create."

Time is running out to earn this stamp set, if you haven’t already done so. There are just THREE WEEKS of Sale-a-Bration left, so don’t delay if you must have chickens in your life!

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.

Affectionately Yours gift bag and card

I made this card/gift combo for one of my club ladies, Sharon. In my previous Virtual Hostess Clubs, I’ve sent a small gift to every member each month but this year I decided to shake things up a bit, ditch the monthly treats and give them a proper present in their birthday month. 

Last month it was the turn of Sharon and Kelly but I’ve had to wait until now to show you as both had their birthdays right at the end of the month.  I won’t tell you what’s in them, as I may end up repeating gifts later in the club year… and also, I confess I can’t remember what was in this one! I do remember it being cylindrical and having to turn it on its side to fit it in… ah yes, it’s come back to me now. Still not telling you though.

The box is made with the Gift Bag Punch Board and one of the speciality sheets of DSP from the Affectionately Yours pack. I continued the theme through to the card with this very simple design, prettied up with some tiny flowers from the Tree Builder Punch.

And yes, I finally invested in the Layering Circle Thinlits. These are great, so much more versatile than the old circle dies, as there are scalloped dies to match each circle… and they’re a much more suitable size for cardmaking, too. 

Affectionately Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper [141632] £11.75	Tin Of Tags Photopolymer Stamp Set [142180] £19.00	Stylized Birthday Wood-Mount Stamp Set [141828] £9.00	Tree Builder Punch [138295] £16.00	Layering Circle Framelits Dies [141705] £32.00
Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock [106577] £7.25	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock [138344] £7.25	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock [121680] £7.25	Flirty Flamingo A4 Cardstock [141421] £7.25
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [126970] £6.00	Flirty Flamingo 3/8" (1 Cm) Ruched Ribbon [141426] £7.25	Pearl Basic Jewels Embellishments [119247] £4.50	Gift Bag Punch Board [135862] £18.00

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Around the World Blog Hop: CASE the catalogue!

It’s time for another Around the World Blog Hop! Thank you so much for visiting today and I’m delighted you could join me on this trip around the world, as we CASE the catalogue. You may have joined me from Julie’s blog, or may have happened upon this post by chance. Either way, please continue on to Anke’s blog afterwards and follow the trail to see the rest of the creations. 

First things first, what exactly is CASEing? It stands for Copy And Share Everything and it’s what we stampers do when we’re short of time, short of ideas or simply see something we love so much we have to make one for ourselves. 

Secondly, there is absolutely no shame in CASEing. I’m firmly of the view that, if you don’t want people to copy your projects, don’t put them on the internet! However, it is polite to give credit where it’s due, which is why I always try to link back to the person who inspired me. 

And thirdly, CASEing doesn’t have to be an exact copy. You can copy a colour scheme, a layout, or simply a cool technique. Here I’ve stayed pretty close to the original project (below), which features on page 133 of the current catalogue. When I first flicked through the catalogue, this project was one of the first to shout out at me, even though it uses a stamp set that’s at least a couple of years old. 

Stampin’ Up!®

I absolutely loved the watercolouring technique on the card, and the fact that non-traditional colours were used. The splattering of ink appealed to me, too, and I soon discovered it’s really easy to achieve simply by tapping your paint brush. 

Finally, here’s the full list of participating bloggers, so that you don’t miss a single post! Thanks again for visiting and hope to see you again soon!

Miriam van Eyden (Netherlands)

http://miriam-cardsandscrapping.blogspot.com

Barbara Meyer (Austria)

http://barbaras-kreativ-studio.blogspot.com

Martha Lucia Gomez (USA)

http://stampartpapel.com

Julie Davison (USA)

http://juliedavison.com

Helen Read (UK)

http://allthingsstampy.blogspot.com

Anke Hämsch (Germany)

http://leipzig-stempelt.blogspot.com

Kristine McNickle (New Zealand)

http://www.creativestamping.co.nz

Alisa Tilsner (Australia)

http://www.alisatilsner.com

Wetlands Clear Stamp Set [126697] £16.00	Thoughtful Banners Photopolymer Stamp Set [141614] £19.00	Affectionately Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper [141632] £11.75	Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50
Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock [121685] £7.25	Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock [106577] £7.25	Jet Black Stazon Ink Pad [101406] £8.25	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad [138324] £6.00
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad [126944] £6.00	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [126970] £6.00	Metallics Sequin Assortment [138390] £4.50	Gold Metallic Thread [138401] £2.75

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Around the World Blog Hop: Showcasing new stamp sets

I returned from my holiday last week to learn that another Around the World Blog Hop was planned, and the topic was “new stamp sets”. Fortunately I’d taken some crafting supplies away with me so I could have a quiet stamping day, and had just the project up my sleeve already, which was lucky as otherwise I wouldn’t have had time to play along. 

I’m glad I could join in as it’s always a pleasure to work with such a talented group of ladies from around the world, and it’s lovely to welcome blog visitors old and new. So whether it’s your first or 91st visit, thank you for dropping by. Maybe you’ve joined me from Martha’s blog, or maybe you’ve happened upon this page by chance; whatever route you’ve taken, I hope you continue on to the rest of the tour.  And I hope you like my creation, which uses the new hostess set, Love You Lots. 

Regular visitors will know that this is just about all I have so far from the new catalogue, as I didn’t go mad on the pre-order. But my BIG order arrived this week and hopefully I will get time to play along SOON.

For this project, I stamped the elephant and mouse in Black Stazon and painted them using Crumb Cake ink from the lid of my ink pad. I then stamped both animals again on very thin scrap paper (well, a receipt, I was on holiday so supplies were limited!) and used this to create a mask which I attached using Tombow (if you allow it to dry it becomes a temporary adhesive). 

Masks in place, I then began to add the colour, by loading up my paintbrush and simply tapping it to create splashes across the watercolour paper. The results were a little unpredictable, but at least the masks were there to protect my elephant and little mouse.

The greeting is stamped on watercolour paper, too, with the long thin strip stamp (bet you wondered what that was for!) in Mint Macaron and the word on top in Night of Navy. 

Hope you like! Thanks again for visiting: please now pay a visit to Miriam. But if you get lost, don’t worry, the full list of participating blogs is here, too: 

Julie Davison (United States)
Martha Lucia Gomez (United States)
Helen Read (United Kingdom) (that’s me!)
Miriam van Eyden (The Netherlands) 
Anke Hämsch (Germany) 
Barbara Meyer (Austria) 
Liz Goldhawk (Canada - English)
Cécile Ortiz (France)

Love You Lots froggy card

Oh happy day indeed! My big order came - it was sooooo exciting, especially as much of it was for me, and most of my stuff was FREE. Why free? Well, as a demonstrator, I get to earn special rewards for sales and recruiting during Sale-a-Bration - and the long redemption period means I can save them up for new catalogue products. 

There was a distinct animal theme to my order, with birds, a flamingo, llama and foxes among my stamp sets, plus another out-of-character floral set. One of my flower-loving customers, Grace, says her influence is rubbing off. And it probably is; I do think that stamping with other people opens your eyes to other styles and ideas… not to mention giving you access to even more fun products! So if you’re not hold stamping play dates with your crafty friends, why not? And if you don’t have any crafty friends, why not join a class or sign up as a demonstrator? (There’s a GREAT offer on at the moment - just sayin’.)

Anyway, today’s project is project is another Love you Lots card, as I haven’t actually had time to make anything with my new stuff yet. Hope you like the fun froggy!

Please come back tomorrow for Caturday in the morning... then another Around the World Blog Hope late in the evening. 

Love You Lots Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141801] £8.00	Thoughtful Banners Photopolymer Stamp Set [141614] £19.00	Hardwood Clear-Mount Stamp Set [133035] £13.00	Affectionately Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper [141632] £11.75	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25
Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock [106577] £7.25	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock [138342] £7.25	Blender Pens [102845] £9.00	Jet Black Stazon Ink Pad [101406] £8.25	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad [138324] £6.00
Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad [126975] £6.00	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [126970] £6.00	White Perfect Accents [138416] £4.50	Gold Metallic Thread [138401] £2.75

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com