Merry Music rosette star

I saw this project on the Stampin’ Up!® Facebook page and thought it would be a great way to use up my surplus of Merry Music Designer Series Paper (you get 24 sheets in a pack!).

I made one of these for each of the ladies attending my Merry Star class, to decorate their kit bags.

The star is simple to make and the instructions are here. They're in German on the printable sheet but in English in the post. Here are my additional tips:

1. Stick to centimetres - if you try to convert it to imperial, you will run out of paper with these instructions.

2. Make one so you know how it works; I found drawing cut lines on the back of the DSP helpful.

3. Attach the two pieces of DSP together before you start concertina folding.

4. Hot glue really is the best for holding the rosette to a disc of cardstock, although strong tape could work too. When using hot glue, don't be tempted to blob a little in the centre of your disc as this won't do the job - you need a circle of glue with a hole in the middle. You'll see why!

5. When you've succesfully make one star, cut and score the pieces for a second star but don't assemble it - you can use this for further stars with no more drawing of diagonal lines; just fold and follow.

Have fun!

Mix It Up Monday: Clean and Simple Christmas stars

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

This one takes its inspiration from Germany. I am frequently drawn to the blogs of German demonstrators; I love their clean, classy style, particularly at Christmas. The demonstrators whose blogs I follow employ this “scattered elements” look to great effect and are big users of Crumb Cake, Whisper White and Smoky Slate. It’s a tasteful but subdued colour palette which doesn’t lend itself well to CASEing for a colour combination challenge.

Undeterred, I had a go at adapting the style for this week’s Mix It Up Monday project and came up with this fun card for Christmas. I die-cut the large star using the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits set, which also has a strip of tiny stars, which I used for the red and green stars. The stamped star is punched out with the Itty Bitty Punch Pack star punch. 

And that’s it. Quick, clean and simple, with just a tiny hint of grey in the stamped background. Because, even though I love those German cards, I’m still not a big fan of grey. 

Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments [119246] £4.50	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126949] £6.00	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad [138324] £6.00	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad [131179] £6.00
Real Red A4 Card Stock [106578] £6.50	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock [138342] £6.50	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper [135315] £4.50	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] £6.50
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack [133787] £15.50	Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies [137547] £36.00	To You & Yours Too Photopolymer Stamp Set [139819] £14.00

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

The magic of Softly Falling plus vellum

When you use vellum in an embossing folder, something magical happens: the raised areas turn white. This makes vellum and the Softly Falling embossing folder a match made in heaven; you’ll get lovely white snow which stands out from the background, in more ways than one. 

This was the Make & Take for my party last Friday; it’s not as straightforward as my usual Make & Takes but these were experienced ladies so I knew they’d do as they were told when I explained that the stamped trees need to dry fully before they go through the Big Shot. Because vellum is not as porous as Whisper White cardstock, the ink sits on top and takes ages to dry; emboss too early and, as long as you keep your vellum still, you might get away with it… but the next person to use the folder will end up with a splodgy green mess. Thankfully, nobody did… and they all loved the project.

Now you may be looking at the supply list and thinking that the use of the Mini Treat Bag die is a little extravagant just for the tiny star on top of the tree. But this was part of a project ensemble, which included, yep, a Mini Treat Bag, so it was perfectly logical!

Wonderland Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140365] £15.00	Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [139672] £7.75	Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies [137547] £36.00	White Vellum A4 Card Stock [106584] £6.00
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25	Tip Top Taupe A4 Cardstock [138343] £6.50	Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock [121681] £6.50	Gold Glimmer Paper [133719] £4.50
Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad [126966] £6.00	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad [133645] £6.00	Gold Cording Trim [139618] £4.50

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Star Framelits card and #christhecatalogue

Am having an exhausting evening as Mr Winky has had some dental work done today and, because of the anaesthetic, he’s not allowed outside… supposedly for 2-3 days. I vetoed that immediately as I know what he’s like but the vet did say he couldn’t go out until tomorrow at least. 

So this evening is an Ayckbourn-style farce of closing doors and running around to prevent him from escaping. “He may be a little drowsy”… I think not - he’s never been so lively! Mainly because he really needs a wee and won’t use the litter tray provided.

...

Anyway… after a short break to disinfect and mop the floor,  I’m back with a card from my now not-so-recent Awkward Cards Workshop. This was one of the cards we made for teenagers, using the Stars Framelits which, trust me, are not just for Christmas. 

In other news, I spent Saturday in the company of 350 other demonstrators at the UK Regional training event in Telford. This was a great opportunity to see some of the products from the upcoming catalogue. There were some fabulous demonstration, lots of swapping (sadly, I didn’t have time to make any swaps, but that never seems to stop me coming home with some!) and I even won a Prize Patrol, which is virtually unheard of!

The catalogue itself was launched in spectacular style by our very own Chris from Demonstrator Support. Chris has been with SU ever since they launched in Europe in November 2007 and is the one we all turn to when we need help. So it’s no wonder he gets the biggest cheer of all when he turns up on the SU stage… and dressing him as a catalogue only served to make the cheers even louder.  

He did, however confess that it was quite heavy, so I asked him to pose looking miserable and he said: “I’ll pretend that you’ve phoned me three times in a day with different problems.” Rude. 

134180	133723	137779	135315
106578	106549	135636	119246

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Tap Tap Tap birthday card

I made this for a colleague’s birthday, left it until the last minute as usual, so had to photograph it at work before giving it to her! Turns out the light is really good at work, so I may just have to do that again!

Have I mentioned how much I love this typewriter stamp? It seemed a very appropriate card to give to a journalist.

134204	134180	130916	138635
124391	106549	121688	121681
133787	102845	101406	126966
131175	126982	131179	133773

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com