Carols of Christmas stamp set and Card Front Builder dies available now

Available now: the brand new Carols of Christmas stamp set

and Card Front Builder Thinlits!

Please click the images to start shopping 

or contact me to place an order. 

Mix It Up Monday: Picture Perfect with Timeless Textures

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

Introducing the five-minute card… because I was packing away my craft supplies when I remembered that I didn’t have a Mix It Up Monday project for today.

I’m running out of colour combinations as I tick them off my charts and this is the last Mint Macaron combo; I’ve also completed Tip Top Taupe. Just one left to complete on Cucumber Crush and Delightful Dijon; and two Watermelon Wonder combos to take on then I’m done! And in the nick of time, too, as we’ll be getting a new set of colours at the beginning of June.

Anyway, back to this project. I wasn’t too excited about the colour combination but now I really like it; it looks soft and vintage-y to me, and I think it goes well with the rose in Picture Perfect, my latest stamp set.  The flower is created in three steps, as are the leaves. I stamped the leaves simply with Mint Macaron, stamping off* twice for the background, once for the middle layer and not at all for the detailed stamp. 

For the petals, I stamped with So Saffron, then Watermelon Wonder (stamped off) and finally Watermelon Wonder without stamping off. 

The background of the Very Vanilla layer was fun to create with Timeless Texture. I stamped all round the edge in So Saffron, repeat stamping in the bottom left corner to intensify the distressed effect. I added some grid lines with Mint Macaron (stamped off) and the splatters are Watermelon Wonder, also stamped off. In an ideal world I’d have made the card base from So Saffron cardstock but I don’t have ANY; I don’t know why, as it used to be one of my favourite colours!

*Stamping off means to stamp on scrap paper to remove some of the ink and create a paler image. 

Picture Perfect Photopolymer Stamp Set [140520] £24.00	Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140517] £18.00	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock [138344] £6.50	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550] £7.25
So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad [126957] £6.00	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad [138323] £6.00	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad [138326] £6.00

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Painted Petals notecard

This is another note card made with the limited supplies I took on holiday. I stamped the rows of dots by stamping off, ie repeatedly stamping without re-inking.  You can’t see it too clearly on the photo but I have scored a few lines along the bottom edge, to add interest, too.

137146	131527	106549	133643
126959	133642	119246	122334

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Festival of Trees shaker card in cool blues

This week I have been focussing on the Festival of Trees stamp set/punch bundle, which is absolutely fabulous. I hadn’t realised just how versatile it was until I started perusing Pinterest. Then I had to stop myself because I realised it was nearly Christmas and I should make some things! (Pinterest has a lot to answer for.)

Here I’ve added a fun shaker element and stuck to cool blues, with bright white and shimmery glimmer paper. Love it! (Oops, did I say that out loud?) I’ve just used two ink pads; Basic Gray and Lost Lagoon, stamping off with the latter to get the pale trees at the bottom of the project.

I’ll be demonstrating this bundle (but not this project) at a party this Friday. Really looking forward to showing yet more gorgeous Autumn/Winter products to a lovely group of ladies.

137640	135823	114323	124155
135835	131292	106549	135315
118874	119850	133644	109120

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Roses in winter

Well I think my workshop went okay. Everybody seemed to love the Two-Step Stampin’® technique and the Wonderful Words set proved extremely popular.

This card was the first demo of the workshop – stamping off and Two-Step Stampin’® (click here for both techniques) with this beautiful Roses in Winter set.

Stamps: Roses in Winter (p47), Wonderful Words (p60)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Rose Red, Always Artichoke
Ink: Rose Red, Always Artichoke
Accessories: ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon – Always Artichoke

And here is the card, pictured with the same design of card made with colours from the Soft Subtles and Earth Elements families. The Soft Subtles card uses Perfect Plum and Mellow Moss on Whisper White; the Earth Elements card uses Ruby Red and Old Olive on Very Vanilla. I can't decide which one I like best! 

If you want to see projects and techniques like this, please get in touch to book a workshop.

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.

Browned off?

Now what's wrong with brown flowers? Don't be put off by brown - it's the colour of chocolate, after all! Here are two cards in shades of brown and cream. Very similar designs but with a few variations.

The stamp set is Heartfelt, which is a Level 3 Hostess set which you can earn for free by hosting a qualifying workshop in your home. I've used two-step stamping to create the flowers. For the solid image, I stamped off with Close to Cocoa. There are more details about stamping off, and other techniques used on these cards, here.

Landscape card
To add depth to the background of this card, I used the Direct to Paper technique, applying the ink pad onto the edges and corners of the card. If you've never tried this method, be warned; the first time you do it you'll hate it and think it looks like a mess. You'll look at other people's efforts and love them but think your own aren't up to scratch. (Ask me how I know!) You'll get over this eventually... unless you're a Virgo or a similarly-minded neat and tidy person, in which case you'll probably never embrace this Shabby Chic look!

Stamps: Heartfelt (p20), Birthday Best (p34) - I inked part of the greeting with a marker
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Paper: Brocade Background (p72)
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Chocolate Chip marker (p70), Twill tape (p87)

Portrait card
You'll no doubt notice that this card has a wonky layer... I like to call that "endearing" rather than faulty! To create a "tone on tone" background, I used the Close to Cocoa inkpad on cardstock of the same colour. To make it a little more subdued, I stamped off on scrap paper first.

The patterned paper is from the Prints Designer Series Papers - you get 12 sheets in six patterns, all in one shade. I bought the Certainly Celery but have swapped some of it with Alison - this is a useful way of making your budget give you more variety.

Stamps: Heartfelt (p20)
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Confetti White
Paper: Prints Designer Series Papers - Close to Cocoa (p72)
Ink: Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Gingham ribbon - caramel (p86), Crafters' Tool Kit (p85)

All products are by Stampin' Up! Please email me to request a catalogue, or see right for a link to the online version.

A Christmas card? In January?

I know, I know, Christmas was simply AGES ago... but I wanted to post this gorgeous card I received from CC, my cousin, who just so happens to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator in Canada. I want to have a go at making a version of this for a birthday as I love it so much.

CC says to tell you that it wasn't her own design... but this one has become so popular with stampers that neither of us now knows who created the original. So thank you to the anonymous genius who came up with this one!

To create the panel, you have to mask off a frame; probably the best way is with sticky notes. Then you can sponge the central panel with ink, or apply chalks. This one looks like ink to me. 'Stamp off' the trees - on scrap paper first and onto the card second (and third if you want an even paler tree). 

Remove the sticky notes and then stamp your main image. CC says she inked the stamp with green then removed the ink from the trunk with what she calls a Q-tip (she means a cotton bud). Then she inked the trunk with a dark brown marker. There's glitter on the tree - she's known for her love of glitter!

Oh, one more thing; the ribbon goes all the way round both the front and back of the card. The front and back are stuck together at the left and the front of the card is scored just to the right of the ribbon. I don't if there's a particular reason she's done it this way (perhaps she'll tell us!) but it looks very cool. 

Edited to add:  CC has posted an explanation but you might miss it buried down in the comments section:  I love this card too and I'm not just saying that-LOL! The fold started as an error when I was scoring the card in half. I always like to say "There are no mistakes in stamping", so I just scored it again in the right spot and glued that 1/4" bit down. I knew the ribbon was going to go there anyway so that's how it all happened. Does that make sense? CC

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree (p45), Seasonal Wishes (p62)

Cardstock: Whisper White

Ink: Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Sponge Daubers (p81), Marker - Chocolate Chip (p70), 1.4" grosgrain ribbon - Always Artichoke (p86), Stampin' Glitter - Dazzling Diamonds (p82).

(All page numbers refer to the UK Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue 2007-2008.)

Stepping things up...

Here are two cards which are the same... but different.

Both cards are inspired by a blue and yellow card made by a Canadian demonstrator called Natasha (I can't show it to you as it's in a subscription-only gallery.)

I changed the stamp set and the colours but kept to the same design. The first card is quite simple while the second one is "stepped up"... I added some distressing and paper piercing, and popped up the image with Stampin' Dimensionals to give it ... er... dimension.

The patterned paper is Prints Designer Series which come in packs of 12 sheets of double-sided paper. They come in six colours; as you can see, I chose Certainly Celery because - as you've probably guessed by now - it is one of my favourites.

Two-step Stamping & Stamping Off
The main image comes from the Hostess set, Heartfelt. It's such an absolutely gorgeous set that it's worth getting everyone you know round to your house for a Stampin' Up! party so that you can earn it for free.

This is two-step stamping. I inked the first stamp - the solid image - with markers; the flower head Rose Red, the leaves and stem Always Artichoke. I then "stamped off" on scrap paper before stamping on the white cardstock. For the detailed image, I inked the second stamp with markers and stamped straight on top of the first image. This doesn't require any special equipment, I just guess... as you can probably tell. But I don't think it needs to be "perfect"; I like it as it is.

Background Stamping
I stamped the background with En Francais, one of Stampin' Up! large background stamps. I used to hate these. See? Another U-turn! I hated them because I didn't know how to use them. Now I think they're fantastic. Here's how to use them - it works every time:

1. Turn the background stamp upside down, rubber facing up, on top of a piece of A4 scrap paper. Have the paper lengthways (landscape) and the stamp to one end of the paper.

2. Ink the stamp all over - SU's inkpads are designed to be able to do this easily, with finger grips and a raised pad. Tap, tap, tap; don't rub your pad in a circular motion as it makes the edges fray. Ask me how I know!

3. Place your piece of cardstock on top of the inked stamp.

4. Fold the scrap paper over the top of the cardstock and rub gently all over. I suppose you could do it without the scrap paper but you'd get filthy.

Finally, the recipe...

Stamps:  Heartfelt (p20), En Francais (p58)

Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Rose Red, Whisper White

Paper: Prints Designer Series Paper - Certainly Celery (p73)

Ink: Certainly Celery

Accessories: Markers - Rose Red, Always Artichoke; 5/8" grosgrain ribbon - Certainly Celery (p86); 1/4" grosgrain ribbon - Always Artichoke (p86), Crafters' Tool Kit (p85)

(All page numbers refer to the UK Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue 2007-2008)

And now for something completely different...

I thought it was time for something a bit more elegant... a style that doesn't come naturally to me! But as soon as I received this stamp set in my Demonstrator Starter Kit I couldn't wait to play with it! I used a few techniques on this card:

Two-step stamping: This is the technique I used on the butterfly card. You stamp once in a pale shade, then again on top with a co-ordinating stamp in a darker shade. Accuracy is not important!

Distressing: I distressed the edges of the card by running the blade of my scissors along it to roughen it up. You can do this as much as you like until you're happy with the effect. It does create a lot of paper dust so do it over some scrap paper to catch the bits! This technique comes in REALLY handy when your paper cutter blades are getting blunt. If you're not happy with the cut, just distress the edges and nobody will know!

Direct-to-paper: This is when you hold your ink pad in one hand and apply it directly to the edges of the cardstock for a shabby chic effect. Stampin' Up! ink pads are designed to make this easy as they have non-slip sides for your fingers.

Stamping off: This is a great way of getting the most out of your ink pads and is perfect for two-step stamping. On the sample above I only used this method on the leaves but the example below (sorry about the ropey picture) shows you just how many shades you can get from one ink pad. For lighter shades, stamp your inked stamp on scrap paper once, twice or even three times before stamping on your project. The roses are stamped in Rose Red (what else?) and the leaves are stamped in Sage Shadow.



And, finally, here's the recipe for the Roses in Winter card above:

Stamps: Roses in Winter (p47), En Francais (p58).
Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Rose Red, Very Vanilla.
Ink: Sage Shadow, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink.
Accessories: Hodgepodge Hardware - Pewter (p84).

(All page numbers refer to the UK Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue 2007-2008)