More Spice Cake fabric projects

This first fabric project won’t make it to the class – mainly because this bauble took me an hour and a half to make... and I still got it wonky! But it’s pretty impressive, if you only view one side at a time anyway.

I nearly fell at the second hurdle on this one as, with instructions in front of me and 42 squares of fabric cut and ready to go, I read the dreaded word “press”. Yes, you’re supposed to fold them and then iron them into shape. “Stuff that”, I thought – there will be no time to iron in a class!  So I decided to wing it. Turns out there would be no time to make one of these in a class either, unless it was an all-dayer, so I knocked it on the head.  If you’re tempted to have a go, I found the instructions here.

I wanted to use taffeta ribbon but in the end it had to be seam-binding to cover my terrible joins!

Supplies: Spice Cake fabric, Crumb Cake seam-binding ribbon

Non-SU supplies: Polystyrene ball, hundreds of pins

Meanwhile, In my search for fabric projects, I stumbled across a really cool rosette which can be attached to a bag, hair slide or band, or a box or anything really.

The sewing looked pretty easy so I stuck my neck out and decided to have a go. It couldn’t be that hard to make something reasonable could it? Well it turned out that even this was probably a bit too hard for someone as sewing-challenged as me. Look at the lovely pleating on the top left. Now look at the lack of pleating at the bottom. Hmmm.

But the main thing is that I had a go. It’s not the winning, it’s the taking part, etc etc. Bah.

To make this properly, all you need is a strip of fabric – mine was about 14” by 3” (ish). Fold it along the length and then sew with very large stitches along the rough edges to join them together. Gather it up and then sew the two short ends together. All went well up to this point, it was adding the button that made it all skew-whiff! Someone who is good at sewing would also realise that a cross stitch in the middle of the button would surely look better. Ah well. 

Supplies: Spice Cake fabric, large Designer Buttons

Spice Cake fabric - get it while you can!

Fabric has been a feature of the Stampin’ Up!® catalogue since last October but I confess I haven’t made best use of it. That’s because I can’t sew. Really, I can’t. I get in a horrendous mess, with bits of cotton everywhere.  I am impatient so I always make my thread too long to save time, then it all gets tangled up.

But I love fabric, so I’ve been scouring the web for some no-sew fabric projects. This is one that I have been trialling for my Nearly No-Sew Fabric class (provisional date, afternoon of 16^th June).

It’s made from a polystyrene ball and there really is no sewing involved. Mine is a little ragged around the edges but it was my first and I hope to get better at it before the class! I will of course provide instructions at the class and on my blog afterwards, but you can probably find them by Googling.

Just so you know, this gorgeous fabric will no longer be available after the end of April, as it’s in the Spring Mini. It might reappear in the new Idea Book & Catalogue in October but I can’t promise anything because I genuinely don’t know.

Supplies: Spice Cake fabric, linen thread, Earth buttons, clear rhinestones

Non-SU supplies: Polystyrene ball

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Earn Designer Papers FREE!

Sale-A-Bration is now over for 2012, but don’t despair – there are more lovely freebies to be had during April! This time it’s Designer Series Paper you can earn FREE for a £45 purchase.

These are the four papers being offered with April’s Gift With Purchase promotion:

Berry Blossom (from the Spring Mini)

Beyond the Garden

Nursery Nest

Pocketful of Posies (Spring Mini)

You earn any one of these packs when you spend at least £45. Unlike Sale-a-Bration, you do not earn two packs for a £90 purchase. However, if it's possible, the order can be split into two to get two packs. 

And today’s project uses the oh so sweet Nursery Nest Designer Series Paper. I fear the name could be offputting but don’t feel you have to make baby projects with this paper – it’s really versatile. In fact, there’s nothing babyish about it at all, apart from the colours – and they are suitable for many occasions.

It co-ordinates with the lovely Aviary stamp set – some of the other designs of paper feature the same birds and owl of the stamp set. But here I’ve just selected a few of the more geometric patterns to create strips across my card.

April’s a manic month for me so, if you’d like to book a party, please get in touch asap!

Stamps: Aviary

Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Marina Mist, Basic Gray, Whisper White

Paper: Nursery Nest

Ink: Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, Basic Gray

Accessories: Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Clear Rhinestone brads, ¼” taffeta ribbon – Marina Mist, Stitched Polyribbon – Pear Pizzazz

All products by Stampin' Up!®

It's Caturday again!

Today is Caturday and our featured moggy is the one we call Hamish. That’s not his real name and he’s not ours, just a regular visitor who likes to lounge in our herbaceous border. Daughter is a bit of a cat fanatic (as you may have gathered) and she does tend to encourage visiting felines, despite the protestations of our own two.

Hamish is a lovely cat, although a little on the shy side. Unless hubby happens to be gardening – which is when Hamish decides to overcome his fears and rub round his ankles.

He and his brother have huge fights in our garden, leaving piles of ginger and white fluff everywhere. Last weekend they left enough to make a whole new cat, I’m sure!

Supplies: Cat (borrowed)

Easy notebook

Finally, my last SAB project of the year because, while SAB doesn't end until tomorrow, Saturday is of course now Caturday!

This little notebook is an easy way to make party favours or a little gift to go with a matching card, for instance. This is the easiest sort of notebook to cover – the kind with the black binding strip along the top.

All you do is trim off the cover, up to the binding strip, and replace it with your own cardstock, fixed securely under the strip.

Stamps: Outlined Occasions

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White

Ink: Rich Razzleberry

Accessories: Grosgrain Ribbon - Whisper White, Rhinestones

All products by Stampin' Up!

Triangle box

I want to show the new ladies on Friday just how versatile stamping can be, so I have a couple more Outlined Expressions projects to show them, too.

The first I will demonstrate as an easy little party favour. It’s made from a rectangular piece of Designer Series Paper (trust me, squares don’t work). You simply fold it in half, short edge to short edge, and crease along the fold. Then open out and mark the centre point along both short edges. Score and fold from this centre point to the centre point along the long edge. Take a look at the template, it’s easier than it sounds.

Fold everything inwards and overlap the side flaps. On the top one, mark about 1cm from the top and punch a hole. Fold again and mark through this hole onto the bottom flap and punch again. Repeat on the opposite side. Now you can use ribbon to hold it together and decorate the front as you wish.

I haven’t given measurements because no measurements are required – you can make these any size you like, as long as it’s a rectangle. If you insist on knowing, this one was made from a piece of 6”x4” paper.

Stamps: Outlined Occasions

Cardstock: Old Olive, Whisper White

Paper: Elementary Elegance (SAB)

Ink: Old Olive

Accessories: Rhinestones, 1 ¾” circle punch, large scallop circle punch, Grosgrain Ribbon – Pumpkin Pie (although I’m hoping to scrounge some Old Olive from someone before Friday!)

All products by Stampin' Up! 

Sale-a-Bration for beginners

We’re on the Sale-A-Bration home stretch now: don’t forget that this fabulous promotion ends on Saturday 31^st March. And if you’ve been meaning to sign up as a demonstrator and want to take advantage of the extra free stamp set that Sale-A-Bration gives you, you need to get all your paperwork to SU by 2pm on Friday. It must be signed by me (or your chosen upline) but can be faxed or emailed.

So, with the end of SAB looming, I thought I’d better cram in a few last-minute projects. On Friday I’m doing a last SAB party for a group of ladies who are mostly new to rubber stamping and the joys of Stampin’ Up!®, so I’ve been playing around with a bundle of products which are perfect for beginners, and still give you a free stamp set.

The Outlined Occasions stamp set is ideal for new stampers as it contains stamps for lots of occasions, and can be coloured in. Here I’ve shown three different ways of colouring an image – there are many more ways but these are the three I use most.

1. The card on the left uses Watercolour Wonder™ crayons – which I love. You can scribble on your image using the crayon and then blend the colour using a blender pen or wet paintbrush. Because this is a detailed image, I used them a different way; I put the blender pen straight to the crayon to pick up the colour instead. I used the Brights pack for this card.

2. Top right is simply coloured with Stampin’ Write markers. I don’t use markers as often as many stampers but they are very popular. I find them easier to use for smaller images such as this one. For this card, I used Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Daffodil Delight.

3. Bottom right is simply stamped in Rich Razzleberry and then coloured in using Rich Razzleberry ink picked up from the inside of the ink pad lid using a blender pen. This is probably my most used method of colouring because I’m lazy and the ink pad is usually in front of me and I always have a blender pen to hand.

These three cards are made with a bundle I will be showcasing on Friday – although I couldn’t resist adding a background of Fruit & Flowers on one of the cards, just because the stamp set will be going soon (at the end of April) and I don’t seem to have used it much.

So, ignoring Fruit & Flowers and the colouring media, here’s the bundle:

Assorted A4 cardstock: Getting Started colours (20 sheets)	121799	88	£6.25
Word Window punch	119857	116	£14.25
Ink pad – suggest Old Olive	102277	91	£4.95
Ink pad – suggest Rich Razzleberry	115658	91	£4.95
Tombow multi-purpose adhesive	110755	114	£3.25
Stampin’ Dimensionals	104430	114	£3.25
Grosgrain Ribbon – your choice of colour:		107	£4.50
Glimmer brads – Brights	121006	109	£4.50
OR Basic Rhinestones	119246	110
Outlined Occasions stamp set (wood)	126014	SAB	FREE
TOTAL			£45.90

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Mmmmmm Mocha Morning

Caturday proved to be more popular than my stamping projects! Not sure whether to be pleased or a bit miffed, LOL!

But back to stamping today and this little beauty arrived in the post from a fellow demonstrator and friend, Ann Wall. Ann is an adopted member of our team as her own upline lives far away and she sent me this gorgeous card recently using that favourite Sale-a-Bration stamp set, Fresh Vintage. I love how she punched out the postage stamp shapes from the images and also from Mocha Morning DSP.

Would you believe I have a full pack of Mocha Morning, as yet untouched? All I’ve done is open it and drool over it. I MUST make something with it, as it’s beautiful, especially these flocked sheets.  Yes, flocked. This gives the paper a lovely texture, which is echoed in Ann’s use of the velvet ribbon. Yum!

If you love this card as much as I do and want to recreate it, here are a few warnings:

1. The Fresh Vintage stamp set is only available until March 31^st – and comes free with any £45 order
2. The Velvet ribbon is only available until the end of April, when the Spring Mini makes way for the Summer Mini
3. The Postage Stamp punch is also only available until the end of April, as it’s in the Spring Mini

My gut feeling says the punch MIGHT reappear in the new catalogue, but there are no guarantees. I suspect the ribbon will not. So you are advised to buy now while you know you can get them.

Everything else is in the main Idea Book & Catalogue and therefore available until the end of September.

Stamps: Fresh Vintage (SAB)

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Very Vanilla

Paper: Mocha Morning

Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Postage Stamp Punch, Velvet Ribbon (Spring Mini), Antique Brads, Crochet Trim – Victoria

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

It's Caturday!

Introducing a new, possibly unsustainable and totally non-stamping related blog feature: Caturday! Daughter has a habit of filling my camera with cat pictures and it seems a shame that they go to waste so she and I reckon my blog could benefit from some furriness.  Readers with cat allergies can rest assured that no dangerous dander can reach your tender nostrils from behind the safety screen. However, I do extend my apologies to any cat phobics and advise you to skip my blog on Saturdays in future.

Today’s poster girl is sure to be a regular; it’s Cobweb, our largely misunderstood female feline. This was taken by my daughter on one of her first voluntary forays into the garden of the year. That’s Cobweb’s first foray, not my daughter’s, although on reflection, it was probably her first, too.  And I say voluntary because Cobweb is of course turfed out daily in the hope that she’ll wee outside instead of in the litter tray we have been forced to provide for her since the incident I will refer to as Legogate.

But the sun came out a few days ago and Cobweb decided, all by herself, that it would be a good thing to investigate. She loves being high up as there’s less chance of getting beaten up by ninja neighbour cats or her brother – even though the chances are pretty slim as they’re all terrified of her due to her “whack first, don’t even bother asking questions later” policy of defence.

So here she is, at the top of the pergola, eyes set to “stun”. Hope you like her – if not, see you next week for some stamping stuff! And if you don't like stamping stuff, see you next Caturday!

Supplies: Black and white cat, pergola, camera (operated by daughter)

French Foliage one-sheet wonder

Finally, the one-sheet wonder projects from my class at the weekend – well, most of them, as I accidentally used one of them before taking the photo. Oops.

We made nine cards using  these gorgeous colours – Island Indigo, Pool Party, Sahara Sand and Early Espresso. The choice of stamp sets was this one; French Foliage, which I absolutely love... and Spiced Paisley, which I also love but I needed an excuse to buy French Foliage!

I thought the theme of the cards and the colours would go some way to redress the balance in favour of masculine cards a little; it’s so easy to get drawn into pretty ribbons and colours and forget about the men in our lives. So many of these cards can be used for male birthdays etc.

The class worked quite well; everyone had a sheet of Whisper White A4 cardstock to stamp at a separate stamping station, then returned to their table to assemble the projects. The supply list is going to be a big one but here goes...

Stamps: French Foliage, Happiest of Birthdays (Hostess), Curly Cute, It’s Your Day, Perfect Punches

Cardstock: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Whisper White

Ink: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Sahara Sand, Early Espresso

Accessories: Scallop Edge punch, Wide Oval punch, Square Punch (to create flag), Big Shot, Lots of Tags, ¼” Taffeta Ribbon – Early Espresso, Ruffled Ribbon – Island Indigo, Linen Thread, Itty Bitty Buttons, 1¾” circle punch (not shown),  large scallop circle punch (not shown)

All products by Stampin’ Up!®