Home to Roost copper tin and cards

At my Hygge Night last Friday, we made this lovely tin of cards inspired by the Sale-a-Bration brochure. I’ve been looking for a reason to use these Copper Tea Tins, and this was it. 

For the samples, I used the Grapefruit Grove foil from the Sale-a-Bration brochure, but gave the guests Copper Foil, too, so they could choose. It has been run through the Big Shot using the Tin Tile Embossing Folder.

The tin is stamped with Versamark ink then embossed with clear embossing powder to create this lovely subtle effect.

The cockerel is coloured with Stampin’ Blends. I used Old Olive (light and dark), Night of Navy (dark), Calypso Coral (light and dark), Crumb Cake (light and dark), Daffodil Delight (dark) and Cherry Cobbler (light).

For the cards, I used four different dies from the Stitched Shapes Framelits set, so they could all be run through the Big Shot together, to save time.

This is a gorgeous stamp set which is one of my favourites from this year’s Sale-a-Bration collection. You can earn it FREE with a £45 order... if you’re in the UK, just click here to start shopping!

All-Day Craftathon: Window Shopping workshop

I thought I’d skip Mix It Up Monday this week in favour of showing you what we made at the All-Day Craftathon at the weekend. The day was split into three classes, beginning with this one featuring the Window Shopping Bundle.

All the guests received the Window Shopping stamp set in their kit, which is tremendously versatile; in fact we used it in every class throughout the day. 

We began by making this fun box. It’s a slight variation on the hexagon box as it opens at the side, Pac-Man style...

You do this by cutting and reassembling the box pieces as shown below, then joining the two halves together at the side. You can download a tutorial here. 

Three tags go inside, using a tiny strip of the gorgeous Succulent Garden Designer Series Paper, which featured in all three workshops throughout the day.

And there’s a matching card, too. This is made simply by sponging colour onto the front of the card base, then overlaying the die-cut piece. Simple but effective.

This completed our morning activities, so we paused for a buffet lunch before moving on to the second class, which I’ll show you tomorrow...

Mix It Up Monday: Tasty Trucks

I’m quite excited about this Mix It Up Monday project, which began its life in Friday morning’s discussion with my friend Kelly. I’m impressed that I managed to make it work all by myself without a tutorial (I struggle with anything other than basic folds!), although the slider is a little tight and doesn’t return as easily as I’d like. 

So here we have a cute little van with cakes and the fun sentiment, “Happy Birthday, now where’s the cake?”

Pull out the slider and the cakes are being stolen by a cheeky goat. Yes, I love goats, too, just as much as llamas!

In fact, it was the llama which started it all, as we were hoping to squeeze a llama into the van from the Sale-a-Bration set, Tasty Trucks. When we realised it was too big, I dug out my Barnyard Babies set and the rest is history. 

As for the colour combination, it is no secret that I have a hate-hate relationship with Pêche Fraiche (I can’t even bring myself to say the English name) but I have to confess that this colour combination isn’t too bad. And if you’re wondering why you’re seeing so many Peach combinations on Mix It Up Monday recently, it’s because I’m rapidly working my way through the Peach combinations  from my In Color charts so I can wash my hands of them!

Masculine Projects for Father's Day

Saturday was my Masculine Workshop, so that the ladies could be prepared for Father’s Day in good time. There was also the option to use different greetings for various male relatives, if they wished. 

These were the three projects for the afternoon. I roped in my friend Kelly to creating these projects for me as I’ve been so busy with work lately – and didn’t she do a great job? 

The chocolate slider is quite a - okay, a very - complicated project, taken from a tutorial by German demonstrator Alexandra Grape. I’ve made lots of these before but still struggled on the day! You pull the ribbon to the right, and the greeting pops out at the left – genius!

Because this was such a time-consuming project, we kept the other two really simple. This wine tag is really easy – just a simple score line and a punched hole and you are halfway there.

The Open Sea card is really fun. It looks pretty unassuming from the outside...

But I particularly love the inside of the card, with its pop-out Chalk Lines waves and bobbing ship (well, it doesn’t really bob, but it looks like it does) as the front layer of waves are popped out on window sheets, concertina-style.

The projects also showcase lots of retiring products, including the Banner Punch, Bird Builder Punch, Going Places DSP, The Open Sea, Chalk Lines, map embossing folder, corrugated paper, black satin ribbon, circle and oval framelits, decorative label punch, mini brads, word window punch… not to mention the inks and cardstock in Lost Lagoon, Delightful Dijon and Mossy Meadow. Phew!

Some of them are carrying over to the new catalogue, though, including the lovely In The Meadow and really useful Guy Greetings, as well as the Scallop Tag Topper Punch. 

I’m not going to do a recipe as it will take ages and this post is long enough already! Plus, many of the items will be sold out by now. Anyway, I think it’s now time we started looking forward, not back – it’s new catalogue time in just a few days! 

Mix It Up Monday: A Nice Cuppa teabag holder

It’s Mix It Up Monday and time for another colour combination from my In Color charts.  

I thought it was time I created something 3D, as there’s a bit of a shortage of 3D items on my blog. I used the Scallop Tag Topper punch to create a simple pouch for two teabags. Tea, teacups and teabags are preying on my mind at the moment in the run-up to my Teatime Treats class! 

I cut two 2” (5cm) strips of Tip Top Taupe and punched them, then scored about 2cm from the bottom to create the base. It’s a very easy way of making a fun pouch - the jute strands around the whole thing hold the teabags inside. 

And now I’ve completed all the Tip Top Taupe combos from my original chart - I’m on the countdown to finishing them all!

A Nice Cuppa Photopolymer Bundle [141074] £34.75	Tag Topper Scalloped Punch [133324] £21.00	Hearts Border Punch [133784] £14.50	Tip Top Taupe A4 Cardstock [138343] £6.50
Wisteria Wonder A4 Card Stock [124389] £6.50	Card Stock A4 Pear Pizzazz [131290] £6.50	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad [126969] £6.00
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] £5.50	White 1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Jute Ribbon [137904] £8.25	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897] £7.25

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Oh My Goodies - fabulous 3D "wow" project

How’s this for a project to take me out of my comfort zone? Not only is it pretty and pink, it is 3D and actually quite complex. I found the idea on Pinterest (where else?) and traced it back to a Youtube video by genius German demonstrator Alexandra Grape. The tutorial was in German but I didn’t let that put me off – and Alexandra had helpfully put the measurements across the screen. I even picked up a few new German words along the way, including my favourite, “Gästegoodies”. 

I won’t attempt a tutorial here as you really need to see the video. But I will say that the mechanism is extremely clever but very simple. It’s a strip of plastic (cut from a document wallet) wrapped around the cardstock, so that when you pull the chocolate out of the tunnel, the greeting pops out of the other side at the same time. Genius! Come back tomorrow for an Easter-themed variation on this project. 

Apologies for the ropey picture, by the way; I took them in a hurry before heading off for the weekend. 

Oh My Goodies Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134090] £16.00	One Big Meaning Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139420] £17.00	Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140517] £18.00	Love Blossoms Designer Series Paper Stack [140548] £7.25	1-3/4" Circle Punch [119850] £16.00
1-3/4" Circle Scallop Punch [119854] £16.00	Scallop Oval Punch [119856] £16.00	Large Oval Punch [119855] £14.50	Tag Topper Scalloped Punch [133324] £21.00	Early Espresso A4 Card Stock [121686] £6.50
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] £6.50	Gold Foil Sheets [132622] £3.75	Card Stock A4 Blushing Bride [131287] £6.50	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [126974] £6.00	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad [131172] £6.00
Gold Sequin Trim [132983] £4.50	White 1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Jute Ribbon [137904] £8.25	Gold 1/8" Ribbon [134583] £4.50	Gold Baker's Twine [132975] £3.25	Banner Punch [133519] £11.50

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com