Scrappy strip technique - and mosaic technique

 

Have you heard of the Scrappy Strips technique developed by Aussie Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators Kylie and Bruno Bertucci? It’s brilliant for using up little scraps of cardstock and DSP and you can mix and match to your heart’s content.

It’s a simple 4-step technique:

1. Cut a panel to fit your card (I make my 5mm smaller than my card front, so if you’re using A4 cardstock that’s 10cm x 14.3cm)
2. Prepare four pieces of cardstock or Designer Series Paper – I cut these to 10.5cm x 14.8cm, so a quarter sheet of A4.
3. Cut these into 2cm wide (or 1") strips (along the length or width, it doesn’t matter), then cut each strip on the diagonal, roughly, without measuring.
4. Assemble these strips onto your panel and trim off the excess.

That’s it. You now have a fun panel to add to your card front and finish off with a greeting label. 

 

Oh and best of all, if you start off with four different colours/designs on the equivalent of four card fronts, you should have enough strips to create four cards as I did here. 

 

I used a subtle colour combination of Highland Heather, Mint Macaron and Fresh Freesia against striking Basic Black, because I don’t do well with pale colours normally. I like the idea of including a metallic finish in the design, although this lovely Be Dazzling Speciality Paper from the Sale-a-Bration collection is quite thick, so make sure you stick it down firmly and be careful when you cut it up. 

Remember, Sale-a-Bration ends on Thursday so if you want Be Dazzling paper or any of the free items, or want to join my team and get yourself a free bundle, please act VERY fast. Don’t leave it until Thursday evening as the SU office will be closed so no tech help will be available. 

 

I have used this technique a few times without thinking much about its origin but last week I saw a card which took it to the next level and discovered that it had been developed by a demonstrator called Linda Driggs and again showcased by Kylie Bertucci.

This turns your scrappy strips into a wonderful mosaic pattern. What you do is complete steps 1-4 as above, then cut your finished panel up again into further strips. I learned after making my version that simple strips would suffice, but I went off-piste and cut my strips on the diagonal again. This results in a slightly eye-boggling finished card but I still quite like it. 

I mounted my panels onto black cardstock as I think that makes them extra striking, and finished off with an embossed greeting in white on black. However, I’m afraid I’ve broken my own rule here and used a retired greeting; Just a Note comes from the retired Simply Citrus Card Kit, but it’s such a useful sentiment and size of stamp that I hung onto it. I didn’t realise my error until I was taking photos of the projects. Oops.

Have you tried the scrappy strip technique? Why not give it a go this week? Honestly, if you get hooked on this technique you will never throw any scraps of cardstock of DSP away again. 

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Video: One-sheet wonder with Forever Fern

The one-sheet wonder technique never goes out of style! Simply update it by using the latest stamp sets. Here I've used Forever Fern with one of my In Color combinations. This combo really stood out to me as I loved the retro feel.

As always, my tips for a OSW are the same: Start with the largest stamp in the lightest colour and work your way through to the smallest stamp in the darkest colour. Of course, rules are made to be broken, so feel free to play around and see what you come up with.

When you have cut up your sheet into smaller pieces to make a card or other project, you may find you have some white edges but these can be filled in with a little more stamping. But if you've kept your images close together and overlapping to start with, this shouldn't be necessary.

These are all going out to my new team members who have joined me in June. The four ladies receiving these felt it was an offer they couldn't refuse; around £170 of products for just £99 (and free shipping). Want to find out more? Please get in touch.

Shabby chic Nature's Beauty cards for a team celebration

I’m still getting lots of mileage from the Nature’s Beauty stamp set - which is raising money for Mental Health Europe and other mental health charities around the world.

I used it here to celebrate my team members this month and combined it with Countdown to Christmas - can you even tell I've used a festive stamp set?

I've repeated the background stamp in Mint Macaron on the card base of the same colour. By twisting and turning the stamp, it doesn't matter if I overlap or the image doesn't quite fit because it gives it a vintage “shabby chic” look. 

Beautiful Friendship thank you cards

It’s Friendship Day on Sunday, apparently, and this Beautiful Friendship stamp set just keeps coming into its own. I love the hydrangeas stamped in Highland Heather, combined with the Seaside Spray. I've used the small stamp set, Magnolia Blooms for the words, as I needed a thank you stamp and this one fits the bill perfectly.

The images are stamped around the left edge and bottom of the white layer to draw the eye into that area. This uses the “rule of thirds” concept to create a simple but pleasing design. 

Hello card with Accented Blooms

Well, hello! I love the greetings that go with this Accented Blooms stamp set because sometimes you just want to send a card to say "hello".

I've coloured the image using ink pads and blender pens, for speed, and teamed it up with some leafy Nature's Poem Designer Series Paper. Remember, this paper will be retiring soon, as will the main colour on this piece, Tranquil Tide, although the stamp set and punch live to tell the tale for another year.

Bloom by Bloom mini pizza box and cards

Sale-a-Bration is over now, which means I now have time to show you the rest of my All-Day Craft Event projects. This was our morning project - a mini pizza box with four small cards inside (two of each design). 

Everyone’s kit contained – among other items – the Bloom By Bloom stamp set, a roll of Night of Navy Baker's Twine and some Butterfly Elements, which made it a very relaxed occasion as nobody had to wait around for stamps. The Butterfly Elements are no longer available as they were a Sale-a-Bration item, but the Frames Elements (146906) contain leaf sprigs and hearts, so would do a similar job.

Together, the box of small cards would make a lovely gift, or you could use the cards and use the box for a different present.

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.

Simple Stamping with Love What You Do

I have started new Cuppa & Card sessions at Bugs Tucker Cafe in Borrowash, near Derby. These are the cards we made at our first session. They use a lovely, spring-like colour palette, with blender pens to colour in the images.

Deck the halls with a woodland scene dome

This was the last of three projects made at my Hygge Night last week, where we decked the halls with handmade ornaments.

I’ll be posting a tutorial on my Facebook page later this evening if you’d like to know how to make this.

Centre Stage and team notebooks with Tin Tile and copper

Over the weekend it was the BIG event of the Stampin’ Up!® year... OnStage! We hold these twice a year, exclusively for demonstrators, but this was the BIG one because it’s the 30th anniversary of Stampin’ Up!®

I was there, with a group of team members, and I have some more news about the event below. 

But first I would like to share with you the gifts I made for my team... a monogrammed notebook with on-trend copper accents.

I used the Tin Tile embossing folder (because I love it), which I swiped with copper shimmer paint for a verdigris look. They are finished off with a copper monogram, some leaves from Rooted in Nature, a flower from Best Birds, some Rich Razzleberry velvet trim, copper thread and a wooden heart, sponged in copper shimmer paint. Oh yes, I used circle dies and the Artisan Textures stamp set, too.

Yes, they are product heavy – but there’s no need to hold back when creating for fellow demonstrators!

This one is a little different, as I have a man in my team, so I created a more masculine look for his notebook. I also used both initials as the “I” on its own looked a little lost.

The main event was held on Saturday, but on Friday evening there is an even more exclusive event, for demonstrators who reach certain sales and recruiting levels. This is called Centre Stage and they really treat us well at these events. We had an incredible four-course meal, some sneak peeks about the coming announcements and some great gifts. Take a look...

If you’d like to find out how you can enjoy exclusive demonstrator events, I’d love to talk to you about joining my growing team. The best thing about being a demonstrator is being able to do it YOUR way... whether that means holding classes and events, or running an online business, or simply stamping with friends. There's room for all of us!

Please click here if you’d like to arrange a no-obligation chat or, if you already know you’re ready to take the plunge, you can join my friendly team here.

Peaceful Noel split-top box ... but NOT Christmas

Welcome back to part two of my look back at Saturday’s projects from my All-Day Craftathon.

This was our second workshop of the day, a split-top box containing three notecards. It shows how you can use the Peaceful Noel stamp set (which everyone received in their kit) to create non-Christmas projects.

This is how the box opens; fun, eh? I’ll post the tutorial on my Facebook page tomorrow.

Inside are three very simple cards, stamped exactly how everyone wanted to (although some chose to copy exactly!) To steer away from Christmas, we used the greetings from Botanical Tags.

I love this colour combination - Blueberry Bushel goes SO well with Mint Macaron, it’s really lovely.

Dashing Along Christmas

I found this beautiful card idea on a Dutch demonstrator's blog and my limited (ie non-existent) knowledge of the language leads me to believe it was created by a lady called Janneke.

Having been totally engrossed in creating projects for my upcoming All-Day Craftathon, I needed a design in a hurry for a party last week so turned to Pinterest and found this beauty.

The only element I changed was the twine colour (because I need all the Cherry Cobbler for next weekend’s event) and I added some stamped flowers, too, as they match the Designer Series Paper perfectly.

The DSP is FREE to hostesses whose party totals reach £200 in September, so I'm delighted to say my host earned this and will soon be able to make lots of fabulous Christmas cards with it.

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!

Botanical Tags gift sachets

I rustled up these mini envelope sachets in minutes for some team gifts this month. I love the Botanical Bliss bundle with its elegant tag dies. You can use them as tag toppers/bookmarks or use the additional die to cut around the flower, as I’ve done here.

Sneak peek: Peaceful Noel

Fancy a sneak peek? This is a gorgeous new stamp set from the upcoming Autumn/Winter catalogue called Peaceful Noel. Yes, it’s a Christmas set, but I took one look at it and decided it could be so much more.

This is why I chose it for my upcoming All-Day Craftathon - everybody who attends will receive this set in their kit, and we’ll be using it during the day to make festive projects as well as non-Christmas projects such as this one.

Not everybody was impressed with my efforts though... Hamish just loves to photobomb when I’m trying to sort out my project images.

I love this colour combination, but I have to confess it’s the first outing for Pacific Point for absolutely ages. I don’t know why; it looks lovely with Mint Macaron here. Maye that’s why? Maybe I needed Mint Macaron and Mossy Meadow to come back (I’m so pleased they did).