Retiring product: Come Sail Away Memories & More cards

Clearing out my files and found this image which I don’t think I ever shared. It shows off the Come Sail Away Memories & More cards, which I believe are no longer available, but it may just give you an idea for using them up, or for other packs which are still available.

You don't always need stamps to make great cards! Check out your Memories & More cards and get some speedy projects under your belt.
 

Magnolia Blooms note card

Introducing the Magnolia Blooms stamp set. This little set is great starter set... which is exactly why you will only find it in the new Experience Creativity brochure for new crafters.

This little publication is a great place to start someone on their crafting journey, so if you're in the UK and would like a copy to pass on to someone who needs crafting in their life, please drop me a line.

Don’t be afraid to mix and match products. The Magnolia Blooms stamp set is designed to 
co-ordinate with the Magnolia Lane Suite and the Magnolia Lane Designer Paper. However, I don’t have any of these products so used the Come Sail Away Designer Paper instead. It has a similar striped Mossy Meadow sheet which works just as well, and the fine print design is neutral enough to go with anything.

Nautical but nice in Mossy Meadow

Lovely Mossy Meadow gives you new options with the Come Sail Away Suite, instead of the predictable Night of Navy. Soft Sea foam provides the perfect contrast. What do you think? Makes a change from the traditional Night of Navy look, doesn’t it?

This card employs the “rule of thirds”, with the Designer Series Paper taking up the bottom third of the main layer. If you imagine a noughts & crosses grid splitting the card into nine, aim to have your major elements falling where the lines cross. This will give you a universally pleasing layout. 
 

Tent fold easel card with Come Sail Away Suite

I was inspired to make this card by Karen from Donemark Papercrafts but wanted to change it to fit inside a standard C6 envelope. I also simplified the easel mechanism.

So please do follow Karen’s instructions but if you want to make the smaller version for a C6 envelope, it is as simple as cutting a square of cardstock which is no longer than your envelope. So I used a 14.8cm x 14.8cm square of cardstock, scored into quarters.

For the easel mechanism, I cut an 8cm x 2cm cardstock strip and scored at 2cm and 4cm.This is where you need to score (dotted lines) and fold (solid line) your main piece:

You can make this card any size you like, just score the square in quarters, as shown in the diagram. To make it fit in your envelope, just make sure the square is no longer than your envelope - for a C6 card (which is just over 16.2cm long), I used a 14.8cm square. I could have made it bigger but this way I could get two from a sheet of A4 cardstock. 

The key fold is the centre vertical – make this crisp to ensure the card stands up nicely, with the two base squares overlapping. 

As with any easel card, weight is the key to making it sit properly. If the decorated section isn’t heavy enough, it will float mid-air. 

Finally, your easel needs something to rest against, which is why the greeting panel is popped up. This creates a step to stop the decorated panel from sliding forwards.

Sailing Home nautical duo

One reason you're mainly seeing nautical projects on the blog at the moment is that, until last week, Sailing Home was the only new stamp set I had from the upcoming catalogue.

The other reason is that I just love nautical projects. Any seaside projects, in fact, so there's another stamp set – Seaside Notions – that I can't wait to get my hands on, too.

I've made the Come Sail Away Suite the theme of this month's classes, starting with Cuppa & Card, where the ladies made these two simple projects. I know the boat card doesn't look so simple but I did cut all the die-cut pieces in advance to speed things up. Any leftover will get used with the WI craft group later in the month.

Use the long narrow stamps from Waterfront to create a quick and easy water effect to go with your sailing yachts.

Come Sail Away with brayered border

It’s time we had another sneak peek as I’ve been a little behind in this department and all of a sudden it's nearly June!

So far, I only have one stamp set from the upcoming catalogue (gasp!) and that set is Come Sail Away, a gorgeous nautical set of images including this lovely lighthouse.

You know what it's like when you have new products - you want to use it all at once so I merrily grabbed my new Pretty Peacock ink pad... and then realised there was no Designer Series Paper to match in the Come Sail Away pack. No problem: I just brayered it.

I say "just"; I actually used four colours - starting at the top with the lightest and working my way down to the bottom with the darkest. The colours are Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay and, of course, Pretty Peacock. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out - what do you think?