Timeless Tropical with the brightest of brights

On cold winter days, a splash of tropical colour is always welcome. The beautiful Tropical Oasis Suite is perfect for brightening up dark days but it’s easy to go overboard and end up with a project which takes you until spring to complete.

For my Stampy Buffet, I kept things relatively simple with this project CASEd from Cindy Elam. Guests could die-cut or fussy-cut the stamped flowers, and the punched greeting is as quick as they come.

With a juicy ink pad such as Lovely Lipstick, used here, you don’t need more ink on your blender pen when colouring the image; in fact, adding extra ink can just make it blotchy. Instead, I just dragged the ink from the centre of the flower to add some depth.

Fast cards with Happiness Blooms Memories & More Cards

Every month I celebrate my team achievers but this month I was REALLY strapped for time. I didn't want to make them wait longer than necessary so turned turned to the Happiness Blooms Memories & More Cards and the co-ordinating Night of Navy note cards and envelopes - I love these products! You get two of each card and some of them have glossy embossed designs, too.

These Memories & More Cards AND the Calligraphy Essentials stamp set I've used here will both be retiring soon so if you want to get your hands on them, I wouldn't delay!

Super-fast One-Sheet Mini Album

This mini album is so easy to make - and all you need are a single sheet of cardstock and some Memories & More cards (the smaller ones). 

Cut and score the sheet as shown, cutting a sliver of cardstock away where you see the bold black lines, as this makes it easier to close up. Then decorate as desired and tie closed with ribbon.

Bloom by Bloom One-Sheet Wonder

I do like a One-Sheet Wonder; it's a really satisfying way to make a lot of cards in one session.

If you’ve never heard of this, you simply stamp all over your cardstock at random, then cut it up to make projects. There are lots of OSW templates out there – just Google "One sheet wonder A4" (or whatever size you want) – or you can just make your own up as you go along.

Here are my tips for One-Sheet Wonders:

1. Start with the largest image using the lightest colour.
2. Work your way to the smallest image in the darkest colour.
3. Don’t be afraid to overlap images.
4. Fill in any gaps with the smallest images in any colour – use this as an opportunity to balance the colour distribution.

Bonus tip: Stamp with just a few colours, then cut your sheet in half. Continue stamping in more colours onto one sheet only. This way you can get two completely different looks from just one sheet.

Clear Tiny Treat Box gifts

I used the lovely and soon-to-be-retired Painted Seasons bundle to create some cute little welcome gifts for the ladies who attended my event on Saturday. Inside the clear tiny treat boxes are a chocolate chick and some mini eggs.

The Bitty Blooms Punch Pack fits perfectly on the Painted Seasons Designer Series Paper to make these striped punched flowers, too!

Bloom by Bloom Journal

Saturday was my Spring All-Day Craft Event and we had a lovely, relaxing time creating projects using the Bloom by Bloom stamp set.

Everyone received the stamp set in their kit and brought along their own ink pads, so they could stamp merrily away without having to leave their seats.

There were two separate classes, with lunch provided in between.

One of the afternoon projects was a one-sheet wonder, which allowed guests to use their own colours combinations... as long as they included Daffodil Delight and Night of Navy. They made four cards (coming soon!) and this lovely cheery journal.

Some of the products in their kit were Butterfly Elements, so they could sprinkle these liberally across their projects, and some Grapefruit Grove and Lovely Lipstick Foil Sheets, so they could choose which went with their colour scheme the best. Here I've used Lovely Lipstick as I love the way it pops.

Incredible Like You Week: very simple projects for Cuppa & Card

It’s Incredible Like You week here at All Things Stampy and this is the perfect set for new stampers because you get a good variety of images and greetings, which you can maximise with just two stamp sets if you wish.

I was inspired to start using this set by Mikaela Titheridge at The Crafty oINK Pen, who has been showcasing some beautiful projects with it.

These are the projects I am making with the good folk of Borrowash this morning at my Cuppa & Card session at Dawson’s Café.

This first card is incredibly simple and, as well as the stamp set, uses just a Notecard, a scrap of Whisper White cardstock and two ink pads. The images in this set are so clever that you can stamp them with the same ink pad without stamping off; you’ll still get this amazing two-tone look.

For our second project, we will be making an ever so slightly more complicated card... in that it has a zingy Lemon Lime Twist layer and a little more fussy cutting. I hope it goes well!

Incredible Like You - Crafty Friday projects

Today is Crafty Friday and the first day of a new organised me! With an increasing number of events planned, I have decided to focus on one stamp set per month ... for most of my events at least. This means that this month, at least three of my events will be using this lovely stamp set called Incredible Like You.

I have owned this stamp set since last November, when I was given it at OnStage Local in Telford. However, I dismissed it as “not really me” until last month when I was inspired by Mikaela at The Crafty oINK Pen to start using it. And, I have to say (U-turn alert!), I’ve really enjoyed it.

These are the projects we will be making at this morning’s Crafty Friday event. I love how you can make the stripes really evenly spaced using the Stamparatus, or just wing it by doing it freehand, because the stamps are photopolymer, which means you can see where you’re stamping.

We’ll start with the #simplestamping project above, then move on to the slightly more complicated card below, which uses Soft Sea Foam for the background spots (love this polka dot effect).

The flowers are stamped in Lovely Lipstick, to match the Sale-a-Bration foil (still available in the UK but low inventory!). What is incredible about this stamp set is that you can stamp the background to the flowers and the foreground petals using the same ink pad, without having to stamp off – the stamps are VERY cleverly designed. The same goes for the two-tone leaves.

Hope you like them!

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.

Flowering Desert week: A colourful start

Okay, let’s have a Flowering Desert week with a post every weekday to celebrate this much-neglected stamp set from the Spring/Summer catalogue.

When I first saw this set, I loved it... but I knew it wouldn’t be a big seller as I do tend to favour the slightly off-the-wall stamp sets. So if you’ve rejected this set out of hand, this week I am going to attempt to change your mind by sharing the cactus love.

I found the idea of sponging a sun from US demonstrator Mary Fish, and this colourful combo uses some of my favourite bright colours and In Colors... what could be cheerier?

Video tutorial: three ways to dye your own ribbon

This spring-like card showcases a variety of products from the Spring/Summer catalogue, including the fabulous Stitched Rectangle Framelits - which stitch outside AND inside the cut line. As you can see above, this creates a really lovely frame.

I’ve added my flowers and leaves from the Well Written Framelits set (it’s not just words!) and finished off with a Pool Party ribbon, which brings me to the reason for this project...

The pastel ribbons from the Sale-a-Bration brochure have proved so popular – staggeringly so – that they are now all gone and won’t be available again. But this needn’t be an issue... as you can easily make your own using supplies you are sure to have in your craft stash.

Watch the video below to see how...

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

Video tutorial: Reverse stamping with Nine Lives cats

This is such a fun technique, I can’t understand why I haven’t tried it before. It worked first time and blew my mind, so I knew it would have the same effect when I demoed the technique at a party on Friday evening. This little box uses the new Nine Lives stamp set, which co-ordinates with the existing cat punch. For this cute project, I stamped the cats on both sides of the cardstock so, no matter which way you turn it, the cats are facing you.

Bloom by Bloom one-sheet wonder

A one-sheet wonder was just the ticket to create a big batch of these for my team. My tip for a one-sheet wonder is this: Start with the largest stamps in the palest colours, and work your way down to the smallest stamps in the lightest colours. You can then use the tiny stamps to fill in any gaps and balance out the colours to they are relatively evenly distributed.

This is the Bloom by Bloom stamp set and I love its bold imagery. Even if you’re not keen on bright colours, don't dismiss this set as it looks fab in subtles, too!

Colourful Christmas with Snow is Glistening

I have loved playing with the Snow is Glistening stamp set, and really enjoyed creating these colourful cards with the Stamparatus.

I inked up the stamp using sponge daubers, then stamped onto the Whisper White cardstock. The great thing about the Stamparatus is that if you miss a bit, you can stamp again, perfectly.

Scroll down for close-ups of all the colours...

Dandelion Wishes gift box

A project from the (not-too-distant) archives which I knew would come in handy one day!

It uses the delightful Dandelion Wishes stamp set and was the 3D demo I made at a party a few weeks ago. I refrained from posting it as I felt I’d overdone the Dandelion Wishes projects.

However now, with my All-Day Craftathon tomorrow, I need a post and have nothing to show you without ruining the surprise for 12 lovely ladies who will be joining me for a full day of crafting.

Come back on Monday to see some of our Craftathon projects. I think you'll love them!

Sneak peek: Peaceful Noel

This stamp set from the upcoming Autumn/Winter catalogue is called Peaceful Noel but I think it's versatile enough to use for much more than Christmas projects. 

Here I've stamped in Lovely Lipstick to make an everyday card with a greeting from Love What You Do. Not sure I've quite pulled off the non-Christmas effect, but it was fun trying!

Blueberry dandelions

Let’s start the week with another Dandelion Wishes project - and why not? It’s proving to be the most popular stamp set from the 2018 Annual Catalogue so far!

I used the Stamparatus to stamp the image in Blueberry Bushel, then stamp again on top in Versamark so it could be embossed. Clearly some of the embossing missed the mark as the blue ink has spread when I watercoloured in Lovely Lipstick, but I don’t mind as the result is quite effective.

I know some people are resistant to the new In Colors, because they’re rather bright, but I think they are a great addition to our collection, and can be quite tasteful when separated from the crowd!

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!