Waterfront beach scene

Dreary February is brightened up with a cheery beach scene create with the gorgeous Waterfront stamp set. The greeting comes from the Lots of Happy Card Kit and the Pinewood Planks embossing folder is reminiscent of a beach hut. Love it... yes, even the colours!

Sneak Peek: An introduction to the new In Colors

It’s always exciting when you get a new addition to the family, so when you get FIVE new additions, that definitely calls for a celebration. 

After spending some time familiarising myself with these newcomers, today I’m all about celebrating our five new In Colors. Brace yourself, it’s a long one, but here they are...

Hello Honey
As sweet as her name, Hello Honey is rich and delicious and sure to add a splash of mellow sunshine wherever she goes. She can turn her hand to most things; she’ll switch on the autumnal charm when teamed with the Neutrals and darker greens such as Mossy Meadow. She’ll cause a stir when she’s out and about with Basic Black (but, let’s face it, who doesn’t?). 

As you can see here, she simply shines when given a touch of golden bling; if she had her way, she’d be swathed in the stuff! And when she’s in the mood to party like it’s 2014, she’ll turn to Bermuda Bay. Look around you next time you’re shopping; these colours are everywhere!

Tangelo Twist

Sassy Tangelo Twist is an attention-grabber but he doesn’t have that acidic tang of his close friend  Pumpkin Pie. He is more forward than Tangerine Tango, too; this fellow is bright and loud and wants everyone to know that he’s the “true” orange.  

Whatever you do with Tangelo Twist, you’re sure to make an impact. He loves a bit of spooky fun with good old Basic Black or his new friend Blackberry Bliss, and is looking forward to a summer of fun with Bermuda Bay and Strawberry Slush. A spring fling with Hello Honey could be on the cards, too… there really is no stopping him!

Lost Lagoon
Intelligent and cool, Lost Lagoon is so stylish as to be ever so slightly intimidating. He’s bang on trend and knows it, wearing oversized glasses and unashamedly carrying a man bag. 

When he’s feeling blue, he enjoys hanging around with Pool Party. For intelligent conversation, he enjoys the company of Blackberry Bliss. But when he’s out to impress, he prefers to bask in the reflected glory of one of the metallics, so dig out the Foil Sheets, Sequins and Glimmer Paper and really let him shine!

Mossy Meadow
The sophisticated bigger brother of Old Olive, but not quite as serious as Always Artichoke, Mossy Meadow’s favourite season of the year is Christmas. He’s a traditionalist, too, and longs to sit atop a mantelpiece above roaring fire, holding hands with Cherry Cobbler. A hint of sparkle will give him a truly festive glow. 

For the rest of the year, Mossy Meadow is quite happy being a bit of a hippy, hanging out with his pals from the Neutrals collection, or rubbing shoulders with other greens such as Old Olive and Pear Pizzazz. You’ll probably find them at an eco-festival somewhere, grooving to something dreamy, with Hello Honey flowers in their hair. Or strumming along to a guitar with Sahara Sand.

Blackberry Bliss

I accidentally typed “Blackberry Bill” which I think is a fun and apt name for this strong character. Dark and mysterious and a little bit intense, Blackberry Bliss will pontificate into the early hours over a glass or two of something dark and fruity. Who cares if nobody is listening? Blackberry Bliss works just as well on his own. 

But when he’s looking for company, he teams up perfectly well with Rich Razzleberry, and will also shine when paired with the cool sophistication of Lost Lagoon. 

For a stunning vintage style, treat him to an outing with Smoky Slate and Very Vanilla, or send him on a date with that socialite Hello Honey to make him really pop. 

As a fan of all things purple, I see great possibilities for Blackberry Bliss!

Product List

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Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Nautical but nice

I do love a seaside image, so this stamp set – Seaside – is perfect for me. I made this for a colour combination challenge, which I was struggling with until I dug out this set. I had to use Night of Navy, Basic Gray and Very Vanilla... very subtle.

I stamped the image in Basic Gray and coloured using blender pens and the lid of my Night of Navy ink pad. Lots of tearing, some linen thread and I think it has quite a nautical feel.

Stamps: Seaside, Basic Phrases

Cardstock: Basic Gray, Night of Navy, Very Vanilla

Ink: Basic Gray, Night of Navy

Accessories: Linen Thread, Earth Elements and Neutrals buttons, Stamp-a-ma-jig®, blender pens

All products by Stampin' Up!®

It's time to hit the beach

This glorious, summery weather has inspired me to create a beach scene. I’m loving my brayer at the moment so I thought I’d have a go at something a little more ambitious than previously.

With the help of Michelle Zindorf – widely regarded as the Queen of Brayering in the stamping world – I made this beach scene. I used Michelle’s scene as inspiration, then went my own way for the rest of the card.

These instructions only tell you how to create the main image panel as the rest is pretty self-explanatory. For tips on brayering, see this earlier post. 

I’m not sure if you can tell from the photo but I started by stamping a few shells in Versamark on the left, to see if the ghosting technique would work with a delicate outline image. It has left a very (very!) subtle hint of underwater shells.

I brayered a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock from the corners – one corner was Tempting Turquoise, the opposite was a combination of Creamy Caramel and More Mustard.

I stamped a selection of shells from the Seaside stamp set, turning them round for variety. They were coloured with blender pens and markers, although blender pens and inkpads or Watercolour Wonder™ crayons would work just as well. To add some highlights, just as Michelle did, I used the white gel pen. Wasn’t so keen on this on the bottom right shell so have brayered a little over the top, to tone it down.

Next I used the speckly stamp from Bird on a Branch – this set is worth the money for this little stamp alone – and added some speckles around the edges of the cardstock. More Mustard and Close to Cocoa on the right; Taken with Teal (didn’t show up much) and Night of Navy on the left.

To add the “surf”, I battled with the Whisper White ink pad and the speckly stamp for ages before I actually read Michelle’s tutorial and discovered that she’d done this with the gel pen. Doh!

Finally, I give it a little spritz with my Champagne Mist shimmer paint spray.  It’s very subtle – fact, in this light, I can’t even see it. I really wanted to drop water onto it to see if it would create a wet look, but I chickened out! Maybe next time...

I love the look of this card – I’ve always been a sucker for seaside-themed cards... well, everything seaside-y really.  I’m already planning my next version. I want more beach and less sea and will maybe experiment with some masking fluid (if I still have some).

Stamps: Seaside, Bird on a Branch, Tiny Tags

Cardstock: Kraft (soon to be called Crumb Cake), More Mustard, Night of Navy textured, Very Vanilla

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Taken with Teal, Night of Navy, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Basic Gray, Versamark

Accessories: Markers - Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa; Medium Jewelry Tag punch, Linen Thread, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - More Mustard, Champagne Mist shimmer paint, white gel pen, brayer

All products by Stampin' Up!®

Kelly's winning origami box

The winners of the Summer Challenge have been announced by Stampin’ Up! and I am thrilled to say that one of the winners is one of “us”!

Kelly is one of the runners-up in the competition – a fantastic achievement because this was a national competition. Kelly is delighted to win £50 of stamp sets of her choice – so she’s waiting for the new catalogue to choose them. She’s also delighted that she took the time to enter because it was very much a last-minute thing, the night before she went on holiday.

Here is her amazing entry – which certainly doesn’t look like a last-minute project!

Stamps: Doodle That, Totally Tabs
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Whisper White
Paper: Sweet Always
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Pumpkin Pie 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Felt Flowers, Silver brads, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Round Tab Punch

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

Nearly forgot...

Oops, I nearly forgot to show you this project! It’s a gift voucher bought for one of my hostesses for her birthday by her wonderful husband. The reason I didn’t show you when I made it is because I didn’t want her to see it here on my blog before the actual day. The Close to Cocoa piece pulls out with the gift voucher on it. Actually, this is an unfinished version – I added an eyelet with some caramel gingham ribbon to make pulling out the certificate easier.

If you would like to purchase a gift certificate – or can persuade one of your friends or family to buy one for you – remember you can buy them to any value and they come with a card suitable for the occasion. They are valid for six months from the date of the occasion and can be spend on any products from any current UK catalogues.

Stamps: Seaside, Happy Everything
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, Basic Gray, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Watercolour Wonder™ crayons – Earth Elements, blender pens, Stamp-a-ma-jig®, eyelets (not shown), caramel gingham ribbon (not shown), 1” circle punch.

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

Lemon and lime

Here’s some of the gorgeous ribbon that so many of us earned free with our orders during August. It’s Certainly Celery polytwill and very, very nice.

This simple card took very little time to make – I just stamped the citrus fruit in So Saffron twice and then in Certainly Celery twice to make lemons and limes, which I punched out and mounted on some So Saffron cardstock. Completely out of character, I added some glitter to the centre of each fruit – what's happening to me?

Stamps: Tart and Tangy, Basic Phrases
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Whisper White, So Saffron
Ink: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Basic Gray
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Certainly Celery polytwill ribbon

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

Summery tree with glittery butterfly

What’s that? Glitter? Hmmm... I wonder whose influence that was? Yes, my Canadian Cousin was here when I made this card – and she bullied me into adding glitter to the little butterfly.

The rest of the card is fairly simple, with little scraps of Rainbow Sherbet paper and a tiny scalloped edge to add interest. I coloured the image using ink pads and blender pens.

Stamps: A Tree For All Seasons
Cardstock: So Saffron, Green Galore, Whisper White
Paper: Rainbow Sherbet
Ink: Basic Gray, Certainly Celery, Creamy Caramel, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Whisper White, Blender Pens, Stampin’ Glitter – Dazzling Diamonds

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

Tart and Tangy triptych

This is a bit retro in its own way ... in that I received a card of this design from my Canadian cousin many years ago. But I thought it was worth reviving, just to see what it looked like – and to play with my lovely new Rainbow Sherbet paper! As you can see, I hardly dare cut into it and used the tiniest scrap... but this means the pack will just go much further!

To make a card in this design (is it a triptych? Big word, eh?), cut your white panel half a centimetre or so smaller than you normally would. Stamp it all over at random and then cut into thirds. If you make the white panel without reducing it by those all-important 5mm, you’ll end up not being able to fit in your three panels. Yes, yes, it sounds REALLY obvious but it’s an easy mistake to make. Ask me how I know.

To make the horizontal element, I stamped “thank you” on to vellum (I use the vellum cardstock as I find it easier to handle as it doesn’t crease so easily), then overlaid it onto a strip of Rainbow Sherbet paper and some Green Galore cardstock. I added a couple of black eyelets to hold the vellum on and then stuck it all together. Done.

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Wonderful Words
Cardstock: Yoyo Yellow, Basic Black, Whisper White, Green Galore, Vellum cardstock
Paper: Rainbow Sherbet
Ink: Basic Black, Gable Green
Accessories: Eyelets, Crop-A-Dile™

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

Seaside special

Here’s a project just for Anna, who has sent complaints across the Atlantic about the lack of blog posts. Anna seems think that my Canadian cousin and I are spending our days stamping – and jealously guarding our creations. Nothing could be further from the truth! In fact yesterday was only the second time we’d managed to fit in any stamping at all. It’s been a whirlwind of shopping, days out, visiting and entertaining.

But here’s a card to keep Anna quiet – it’s one of the cards we won’t be making at my Summer Special workshop on Monday. I thought about it... but needed this stamp set for another project, sorry!

Stamps: Seaside, Daily Flexible Phrases
Cardstock: Kraft, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Accessories: Earth Elements + Neutral Buttons, Scallop Square Punch

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

A word in your shell-like

I’d completely forgotten about this card, which I made a few weeks ago. I love this stamp set but sometimes there just isn’t time to colour in the beautiful images, so I tried the Poppin’ Pastels technique to see what it would look like. And I really like it – I stamped the image in Versamark, then just dab, dab, dabbed some Creamy Caramel and Cameo Coral chalk on top ... maybe even a touch of Close to Cocoa in the darker areas, I can’t remember. I chalked around the edges of the cardstock too, with Creamy Caramel; this shows you the difference between chalk on Versamark and chalk on plain cardstock – the Versamark really makes it pop.

The Cameo Coral cardstock layer is punched with the scallop edge punch. Sad to say, I can’t remember how I got the corner so neat – I’ve just nipped off to have a try and couldn’t do it again! Will have to work on that...

The Chocolate Chip strip down the left hand side of the card is simply stamped with Versamark. This shows the most common use of this versatile ink pad. It creams a watermark on any colour cardstock (except white or cream).

So the only coloured ink on this card is the greeting, stamped in Cameo Coral on a strip of Whisper White, with the edge curled slightly, to contribute to the overall shabby look.

Stamps: Seaside, Soft Summer
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Cameo Coral
Ink: Versamark, Cameo Coral
Accessories: Stampin’ Pastels, Scallop Edge punch

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

When life gives you lemons...

Come on, admit it... when was the last time you used Yoyo Yellow? There’s a lot of prejudice against this colour but I like it! And it’s perfect for this simple lemon card – teamed with Basic Black, the Yoyo Yellow is quite striking, don’t you think?

As on my previous fruity card, I used the Poppin’ Pastels technique – it gives the lemons a nice “smooshy” look.

I’ll let you fill in the second half of this saying – suffice to say it’s not the usual chirpy homily. I think the recipient will much prefer my version. Of course, writing greetings by hand is a risky business – the inside went wrong so I had to cover it up with a piece of Whisper White.

I’m not sure what size this card is – it didn’t look quite right so I kept cutting it down... and down... and now I need to find an envelope to fit.

Stamps: Tart & Tangy
Cardstock: Yoyo Yellow, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Versamark®
Accessories: Stampin’ Pastels, Scallop Edge Punch, Stampin’ Write Journaller, Stamp-a-ma-jig®

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

Fresh and fruity

Here’s another way to use those scraps – only this time it’s the ribbon stash that gets a clearout. I’m sure people roll their eyes when they see me saving the tiniest pieces of ribbon but here’s my “I told you I’d use them!” card! The pieces don’t even have to be long enough to go all the way behind the image – you can join them behind the green panel. Remember one of my many stamping mottos: if you can’t see it, it’s not there.

I used the Poppin’ Pastels technique on this card – stamp in Versamark® then use chalks on top to see those colours pop! This of course makes lining the images up with the Stamp-a-ma-jig® fun because if you stamp with Versamark on the SAMJ sheet, you can’t see it. And if you stamp it on the sheet in a colour, you have to make sure you clean the stamp really well before you use it on your Versamark pad. In the end I stamped on the sheet in Versamark and then added chalk in a dark colour (yellow doesn’t show up, by the way) to use for positioning.

See that dot next to the words? I dropped the stamp. Oops.

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Daily Flexible Phrases
Cardstock: Whisper White, Only Orange, Green Galore, Yoyo Yellow
Ink: Versamark, Basic Gray
Accessories: ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Whisper White, 5/8” Grosgrain Ribbon - Certainly Celery, Stamp-a-ma-jig®

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

Completing the shell collection

My last Seaside card for a while and, as a finale, I really went to town, using all of the stamps from the set, arranged (and some popped up) on a piece of Kraft cardstock. I inked the edges of the Kraft with Close to Cocoa ink and then distressed the edges to shabby it up a bit.

Canvas provides the background on the Kraft piece (subtly) and the Close to Cocoa card base (more obvious) and a rectangle of Cameo Coral, with scalloped edges, provides a hint of colour.

Ooh, this set is a new favourite!

Stamps: Seaside, Sincere Salutations, Canvas
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Kraft, Cameo Coral, Very Vanilla
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Basic Grey
Accessories: Watercolour Wonder™ crayons, blender pens, scallop edge punch

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

Collecting shells

Still staying on the Seaside theme, I decided to step things up a little by adding some more shells to a card. 

After colouring the images with Watercolour Wonder™ crayons and blender pens, I cut them out and arranged them on some Confetti White cardstock, popping up the starfish to add dimension. 

I thought the linen thread looks suitably seaside-y and masculine (this card is for a man), and the Canvas background on the Close to Cocoa card base looked a little like fishing net. Again, I was going for an uneven finish with the Canvas background, so pressed harder in certain places. I added some extra ink around the edges to give it a shabby feel.

Stamps: Seaside, Sincere Salutations, Canvas
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, Confetti White, Very Vanilla
Ink: Basic Grey, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Watercolour Wonder™ crayons – Earth Elements, blender pens, linen thread

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

Starring starfish

Here’s another of the gorgeous Seaside images. For this card I stamped the card base with the En Francais background stamp, then inked around the edges to “dirty” it up a bit.

The image is stamped in Basic Grey on to Very Vanilla and then coloured with Watercolour Wonder™ crayons and blender pens. I cut out the image and then popped it up on to some Confetti White cardstock, which is layered on to some Kraft.

Stamps: Seaside, Sincere Salutations, En Francais
Cardstock: Ruby Red, Kraft, Confetti White, Very Vanilla
Ink: Basic Grey, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Watercolour Wonder™ crayons – Earth Elements, blender pens, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon – More Mustard

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

Beside the seaside... and a date for your diary

What a gorgeous set this is – and perfect for honing my blender pen skills in readiness for my May workshop.

Yes in May I finally launch my monthly workshops. They’re at the usual venue (please email for details) and will hopefully eventually take place every fourth Monday of the month, although getting the hall that day every is proving tricky.

So the May workshop will not be on the fourth Monday but on Monday, 18th May, 7.30pm-9.30pm and the topic will be colouring with blender pens. The cost is £5.50 per session, which includes three or four projects (occasionally two, when the projects are larger), all materials, equipment and refreshments (please bring your favourite adhesive). There will also be a Loyalty Card system – earn a stamp on your card every time you attend one of my events for which you pay a fee and, when you have five stamps on your card, you’ll get a free gift of Stampin’ Up!® ribbon, ink pad or cardstock.

If you want to come along, please email me to let me know as payment is required at least a week before the workshop to allow me to buy the supplies. See side panel for dates of future workshops.

But back to this set... isn’t it lovely? I’ve always been a sucker for seaside images so I don’t know how I’ve resisted it for so long. It’s called Seaside and features various shells... more of which you’ll see on projects over the next few days. I coloured the images with Watercolour Wonder™ crayons and blender pens.

The base of this card is made with Kraft cardstock, which I’ve stamped with the Canvas background stamp. I don’t have a Creamy Caramel inkpad (yet!) so used Close to Cocoa, stamped off... ie I stamped it on to scrap paper first. I didn’t want an even stamped effect, so gently laid my card on to the inked stamp then dabbed at the areas I wanted inking, which was round the edges with a bit in the middle. I quite like this shabby look. Then I gently went around the edges of the card using the direct-to-paper technique, which is when you apply your ink pad directly to the cardstock. I was careful, though, as I didn’t want large amounts of Close to Cocoa on it.

A bit of punching, a bit of distressing and that’s about it really. This is a good luck card for someone at work – we have several people leaving this week but one of them is so close to retiring age that, for him, it will just one long holiday... hence the seaside theme.

Stamps: Seaside, Basic Phrases
Cardstock: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Bordering Blue, Confetti White
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Basic Grey, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Scallop edge punch, blender pens, Watercolour Wonder™ crayons, linen thread, handheld hole punch

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

Yet more beach huts

One of my “imaginary” friends, Taylor*, suggested this idea to me, after seeing my beach hut journal. I’m not sure what use this is but it was fun to make. I suppose you could use it as:

1. an ornament
2. a “scrapbook”, with photos and journaling on the back
3. cards, if taken apart and mounted on to hut-shaped card blanks.

All further suggestions welcomed!

Sorry about the ropey photos - it was a bit too sunny and the project was just too wide for me to get it all in focus, with my limited photography skills. 

Anyway, here's how I made it. All the huts are 10cm wide by 14cm tall. I measured 5cm down the side to get the roof angle. To achieve the “wood-effect” on the cardstock, I scored vertically down each hut shape at 1cm intervals.

Using the applicators that came with the Stampin’ Pastels (chalks), I chalked with a slightly darker colour down the score lines, to give it shadow. I tried it with the same colours but darker seemed to work better. These are the colours I used:

Certainly Celery cardstock – I used Mellow Moss chalk
Bashful Blue cardstock – I used Bordering Blue chalk
Barely Banana cardstock – I used So Saffron chalk
Pretty in Pink cardstock – I used Cameo Coral chalk

Next, to soften the effects of the darker chalk and give the wood a more sun-bleached look, I used a sponge dauber to apply white chalk along the length of the non-scored areas (the strips of wood on the hut). You can barely see this on the photo but it did make a big difference, honest!

I cut strips of cardstock and did the same with them to make the roofs and doorsteps. To make the shape for the roof apex (I bet they have a name but I don’t know what it is), I used the Round Tab Punch, punching twice, as shown in this post. I then cut off the piece I needed and discarded the rest.

I stamped the shell from Stipple Celebrations on the doors and then added the brads. What a happy accident it was when I discovered that my Rich Regals brads contained exactly the colours I needed for the doorknobs! They come in Brocade Blue, Regal Rose, Always Artichoke and So Saffron.

That’s it really. I popped up the roofs and doorsteps and joined it all together with Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon at the back. I’m going to cover the backs with plain cardstock… unless I decide to turn these into cards. I’m awaiting your ideas!

Stamps: Stipple Celebrations
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink
Ink: Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Stampin’ Pastels, Rich Regals brads, Round Tab Punch

(Tiny announcement: I’m not putting page numbers any more. It takes me ages to find them all and, when the new catalogue comes out in October, they’ll all be out of date anyway.)

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

* Edited to add: Okay so it wasn't Taylor, it was Victoria, who clearly won't let it lie until I've corrected the error.  

Life's still a beach

You all said such nice things about my beach hut journal that I was inspired to make another one. I really wanted to make one using the bright striped paper from the Petals & Paisleys collection but I didn’t have quite a full sheet. So I was delighted to find that I did have a full sheet of this striped paper from my favourite collection, Cutie Pie. I’ve used this so much that I can’t believe I still have so much left!

While I was searching through my Designer Papers I discovered the Cutie Pie floral sheet and realised that the flowers are idea for use with the Three For You punch, so this beach hut has flowers round the door.

The sign this time is a shell image from Stipple Celebrations, a Level 3 hostess set.

I had planned to make the front door open on this one but it didn’t quite work out so, in the end, I just stuck the hinges down with glue dots. Maybe next time.

For details of how to make this journal, please click here.

I have become a little obsessed with beach huts - please keep checking back as I have another, different, beach hut project to post in the next few days! 

Stamps: Stipple Celebrations (p19)
Cardstock: So Saffron (inside cover), Bashful Blue, Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Paper: Cutie Pie (p73)
Ink: So Saffron
Accessories: Three for You punch (p80), Corner Rounder (p80), Crafters’ Toolkit (p85), Hodgepodge Hardware® - Pewter (p84), Jumbo eyelets – Pewter (p85), Crop-A-Dile™ (p85), Linen Thread (p87), ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Whisper White, 3/8” Grosgrain Ribbon - Certainly Celery (p86), Book Rings from Staples

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

Life's a beach

I was browsing the internet the other day and saw a chipboard journal in the shape of a beach hut. “I could made one of those,” I thought. So I did.

It was pretty easy, albeit quite time-consuming.

I started with a template made from scrap paper. This book measures 12cm wide by 17cm tall. I cut diagonally from the centre top of the paper to a point 6cm down the side. This was made much easier by folding the template in half lengthways first and cutting while it was still folded.

I made two covers, each from two pieces of cereal box stuck together for thickness. I covered both of them using this striped paper from the Dashing collection. It’s a Christmassy collection but I thought the stripes had a beach hut feel to them, and the colour was just right for sun-bleached wood.

I covered and decorated the covers, in the same way as shown in this tutorial.

To decorate, I cut a strip of Naturals Ivory cardstock and scalloped the edge using the Corner Rounder, piercing for decoration. I cut this into two pieces and attached them separately. This did leave me with a join, which I wasn’t so happy with, so I decided to add the “sign” above the door. This is “hung” with Linen Thread and the ends covered with strips of Basic Gray (sorry, I hate spelling it the American way but I don’t want to confuse it with a certain brand of patterned paper!) cardstock.

The scalloped eaves are popped up, as is the sign.


To make the door, I covered more cereal box card with some Bordering Blue cardstock. I did this to give the door a bit more substance than you’d get from a single sheet of cardstock. All the door furniture is made from Hodgepodge Hardware® - Pewter. The door handle is a photo anchor, secured with a brad (and a Glue Dots behind to stop it spinning round). The hinges are those things whose name I don’t know. I prised them open so they’d fit over the thick door and, by a happy accident, the D rings fell off.

The doorstep is yet more cereal box cardstock covered with Basic Gray cardstock. This is popped up to make it stand proud of the door slightly.

Making holes in the covers was really easy with the Crop-A-Dile™ - which also has guides so that the holes line up perfectly. I also used the Crop-A-Dile™ to set the Jumbo Eyelets.

The inside pages are simply made from cardstock, using the same template as for the covers.

Finally, I held it all together with book rings (I get mine from Staples) and decorated the rings with various co-ordinating ribbons.

We're hoping to pull in a trip to the beach in the next few weeks, so I'd better take some photos to fill this album. Hope this inspires you to make your own beach albums, too! 

Stamps: Daily Flexible Phrases (p65)
Cardstock: Naturals Ivory, Bordering Blue, Basic Gray
Paper: Dashing (p73)
Ink: Brocade Blue
Accessories: Corner rounder (p80) Hodgepodge Hardware® - Pewter (p84), Jumbo Eyelets – Pewter (p85), Linen thread (p87), Crafters’ Toolkit (p85), Crop-A-Dile™ (p85), 5/8” Grosgrain Ribbon - Very Vanilla, Brocade Blue, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon 0 Very Vanilla, Gingham Ribbon – Caramel (p86), Book rings (Staples)

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