Meerkat Week: Simple or stepped up?

A simple card is taken to the next level with the addition of a few extra supplies. I swapped the Delightful Tag Topper Punch for the Stitched Nested Labels dies, added some Noble Peacock Foil Sheets, some 2019-2021 In Color Faceted Dots, a tone-on-tone cactus background and, of course, a little gecko friend. Which one do you prefer?

Colouring around your image using the light Pool Party Stampin' Blend makes your images really stand out. It’s a bit scary, but give it a try! 

Do the Impossible runner card

Do the Impossible is a stamp set that's just made for those with active friends. And my friend Hilary is an incredibly keen runner; in fact, in 2019, she set herself the challenge to run every day – and actually did it! That’s 365 more runs that I went for last year.

I stamped the image using Gray Granite ink and then coloured it using Stampin’ Blends. The papers is from the Bird Ballad Suite – I just liked the cheery colours for a dark January day.

You can use any of our water-based Classic Stampin’ Pads with our Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. The pads to avoid with alcohol markers are any permanents inks such as Stazon, as the alcohol markers will drag the ink around and cause smudging.  
 

Team rewards slider pen boxes

There’s a big Stampin' Up!® event in Germany this weekend called OnStage Live... but unfortunately none of my team members, including me, were in a position to make the trip. 

Instead, we held our own event – OffStage Derby – with demonstrations, Make & Takes and even our own awards ceremony. I decided to award certain team members with these lovely Stampin’ Up!® pens in a handmade box. It’s simply a tray with a piece of DSP wrapped around it but the black foil cardstock adds a touch of glamour and the sentiment on top is sincerely meant! 

Rewards were not for top sales or recruiting but for making an extra effort – for example, one team member has worked tirelessly to create videos and blog posts and has finally been rewarded with two customers. Effort pays off in the end!

Make any sized box, to suit your gift, by drawing a plan around your gift on some grid paper. 

Read my 10-year-old tutorial here!

Perfectly Plaid Christmas gift tags

It can be very difficult working out how long projects will take to create, especially as everyone works at different speeds.

For my All-Day Craft Event, I thought I’d play safe and pack an extension activity... and I’m glad I did because I think everybody moved onto it.

These cute tags are simply made using leftover cardstock (plus a bit!) from our earlier projects. They're simple and fun, and will make your presents look really impressive.

When using the Perfectly Plaid stamp set, you'll see that some of the trees require the trunk to be stamped separately. If you are planning to punch out your tree, my top tip is to stamp and punch the main body of the tree, then stamp the trunk on last, as it will be easier to get it in the correct position.

Mini pen holders/bookmarks

Browsing the internet for ideas, I found these really cute pen holders from The Papered Chef so adapted it for my launch party goodie bags. I wanted to make sure all my launch party guests had a pen to complete their order forms, after all!

I used the Delightful Tag Topper Punch and the gorgeous Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper but I'm afraid I don't have measurements, I just winged it (no pun intended). Without the pen, this can be flattened to use as a bookmark.

Using mini pens meant I could keep these small and stretch my Designer Series Paper further!

Free As A Bird Delightful Tag pouches

Today is the very last day you can order from the 2018-2019 Annual Catalogue, so please don't leave it right up to the deadline (10.50pm in the UK).

To be honest, I'm all about looking forward now, not back... so have another new stamp set to show you. It's just a glimpse, mind as the lovely birds from this Free As A Bird stamp set just didn't want to stay put on this project. No matter where I put them, they didn't look right, so I stuck with just the flowers.

I've also used the Delightful Tag Topper punch and the frame die from the new Smooth Sailing Dies set.

The new Delightful Tag Topper punch can be used to make all the same cool 3D items as the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, giving you loads of possibilities.