How to step up from Simple Stamping with The Gang’s All Meer

I’ve had enormous fun with these meerkats throughout Sale-a-Bration so far, but now I think it’s time to move on. The set has proved really popular, being chosen by the majority of my customers for their free Sale-a-Bration item. And the ladies who attended my Cuppa & Card sessions all enjoyed making these two #simplestamping projects.

The same basic card design can be stepped up or down, according to your time, your supplies and your skills. Take a look at the evolution of this project... 

And, to a lesser extent, this project...

Both series use the same card sketch, but add or remove elements according to the time restraints and the crafting audience.

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! 

Meerkat Week: The Gang's All Here treat holder tutorial

 

I was wandering around B&M Bargains the other day, like you do, trying to avoid buying a load of stuff I didn’t need because it’s cheap… when I spied a Christmas reductions shelf. Whaaat? It’s February already!

Unable to resist a bargain, I found some tubes of mini packs of Love Hearts which are just perfect for Valentine’s Day treats! There was no price on them but the tubes of other Christmas sweets and chocolates had been reduced to 49p so I grabbed three packs. But when I got to the checkout, it turned out they were reduced to 10p! If the shop wasn’t so huge I’d have dashed back for more.

Anyway… this is what I made with some of them. I adapted a Hershey’s Nugget holder because

a) you can’t buy these in the UK and
b) if you can, please don’t tell me where because I’ve tasted them and have no desire to repeat that experience.

Download the tutorial here
 

Here’s another version, which holds a pack of mini doilies (still on the Clearance Rack last time I looked). No tutorial for this as it’s just a standard card base cut down to a square, with a piece of ribbon tied around it!

If you're cutting your meerkats out and intend to add hats, there's no need to fussy-cut around the tops of their heads. In fact, leaving a tab of cardstock gives you something to attach your hat to. Which doesn’t matter such much when gluing flat, as I’ve done above on the circle, but is very helpful on the popped-up meerkat on the first little treat holder. 

Sneak Peek: Timeless Tropical

Happy New Year! In the crafting world, a new year does, of course, mean new stamps!

Flower power is not my area but something odd has happened: I've gone bafflingly botanical! I honestly don't know what's come over me but I do know that I love this new stamp set, Timeless Tropical, which is coming to Stampin' Up!® on 3rd Jan. What do you think? Looks great stamped in brown Stazon, doesn't it? Yep, that's another fabulous new product we can look forward to.

When creating cards with lots of elements, it's a good idea to lay them all how you want them then take a quick photo with your phone. It makes it a lot easier to recreate the same layout when you start adding adhesives. 

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. 

Painted Seasons – don’t leave it too late!

I’m having some blog trouble – it won’t keep me logged in. Even though I can post, I can’t reply to comments and I have no idea why. I’ve wasted too much time on it already and am hoping it just resolves itself. Meanwhile, please forgive me if I don’t reply to your blog comments!

And now to today’s projects... this Painted Seasons Designer Series Paper is one of my very favourites - so I find it particularly sad that it’s been available for such a short period of time. I only managed to open the pack last week and now I wish I’d taken advantage of it sooner.


It’s my personal choice not to use retired products – purely because I don’t like having to say “no” to potential customers if they ask to buy it. However, if this isn’t an issue for you – and if you’re not a demonstrator, it most definitely won’t be – then I highly recommend you get this paper while you can. This is just one of the fabulous designs. The others are below...

Incredible Like You Week - celebration cards

I’m ending my Incredible Like You Week with two similar cards I made to celebrate some amazing team members.

I’ve combined the stamp set with some greetings from Stamp Your Way to the Yop, a demonstrator-exclusive stamp set which helps us honour our teams.

On the left is a welcome card for Karen, my latest recruit, who couldn’t resist the fantastic Sale-a-Bration offer and the beautiful craft tote...

From my newest team member to my oldest (in the terms of longest serving, that is!)... the second card celebrates an incredible sales milestone by Tracey, who joined me nearly 11 years ago and has worked consistently hard ever since.

The colour combination is well away from my usual palette but I really like it. Flowers, pastel shades and fussy cutting? What on earth is happening to me?

Incredible Like You week: simple thank you cards

After ignoring the stamp set for several months, recently I’ve been stamping up a storm with the Incredible Like You stamp set, so I will be showcasing this versatile set all week. 

I made a BIG batch of cards like these to thank my February customers (and still ran out!). I’ve used Calypso Coral for the flowers, and everybody’s favourite Mint Macaron for the leaves and greeting. The Designer Series Paper is Nature’s Poem. 

And, of course, the Stamparatus made producing multiples of these cards incredibly speedy!

Flowering Desert Week: Party time!

To mark the end of Flowering Desert Week, I have the projects from last week’s party to show you. All the guests made the card above, adorning their cacti with a wooden flower from the Butterfly Elements Sale-a-Bration pack, and I demonstrated this fab little box below...

The box is made using the Stitched Rectangle Framelits which are hidden away on Page 28 of the Spring/Summer catalogue. I used a tutorial from Chicnscratch.com to make this cute little box from two of the largest rectangles, which gives the box a cute stitched edge.

The ribbon is dyed using Stampin' Write Markers. You just have to make sure you leave it time to dry. For instant drying, use Stampin' Blends, which are alcohol markers so dry much quicker.

I hope you’ve enjoyed Flowering Desert week and are inspired to take another look at this fabulous stamp set.

Flowering Desert Week: Hot and fiery sunset cactus scene

This month I celebrated my team achievers with some colourful cactus cards with a brayered sunset background and the Dot to Dot embossing folder. I love the warmth of this colour combo...

If you’d like to join my Stampin’ Up!® team, there really has never been a better time to join. Right now you can join for £99 and get £170 of craft supplies of your choice. Upgrade to the tote option, for £125 and you get all those craft supplies AND the beautiful tote!

Please get in touch for more info, or you can join right now by clicking here.

Stamparatus Skills Workshop projects

Saturday was my much-anticipated Stamparatus Skills Workshop. I have been waiting for Sale-a-Bration to offer this class so that everyone could use the same stamp set. Guests each received a Stamparatus and the Hello Cupcake set in their kit and we made these two cards, using seven amazing Stamparatus techniques.

If you’d like the tutorials for these two projects, detailing all the Stamparatus techniques, simply order a Stamparatus and the Hello Cupcake stamp set from me before the end of February and I'll send them to you.

You can order by emailing me or shop at my online store using the host code VSQ3YGCB

Celebrate gift envelopes with Tropical Chic

These envelopes contain a little gift for some of my team members who took part in a challenge recently. I used the Calligraphy Essential stamp set combined with the Celebrate You dies in the cheery colours of Grapefruit Grove, Bermuda Bay and Pineapple Punch.

The focal point are these lovely flowers from Tropical Chic, sponged and stamped to give them a slight two-tone effect. Simple, and effective.

Brayered background with Delightfully Detailed laser-cut paper

I do love a fancy background technique. Well, I say “fancy” but often they are really easy to create, as with this one which is simply brayered with Grapefruit Grove, Poppy Parade and Lovely Lipstick. 

It goes really well with the Very Vanilla laser-cut paper laid on the top. But what do you think of the colour combo? Be honest, I can take it!

Tropical Chic with a brayered background

I thought it was high time I tried the sponge brayers so gave them a whirl for this card. I’ve always loved playing with background techniques and enjoyed creating this graduated look with Pool Party, Bermuda Bay and Pacific Point.

It’s a six-colour combo, but I think it works... and sometimes you need two or three shades to really make the most of a brayered background. 

I topped it off with some Tropical Chic flowers and some beautiful leaves from the Delightfully Detailed Laser-cut Designer Series Paper, which is a total must-have as it will add a real “wow” to your projects. This special paper is Very Vanilla on one side and Whisper White on the other, which is perfect for sponging as I’ve done here with Soft Sea Foam and a hint of Old Olive. 

One simple kit: three different cards

A bit of a stamping mash-up today, from a play session using Love What You Do, the absolutely stunning Share What You Love Designer Series Paper and the Vertical Greetings stamp set.

These three cards just show how the same simple kit – Poppy Parade card blank, Whisper White layer and a strip of DSP – can make such a variety of projects. The only limit is your imagination!