Washi tape Christmas tree

Washi tape makes everything easy. For this card I just tore different lengths to make a tree, which I embellished with a few rhinestones. You have to stick them down well as the tape is slightly shiny so the rhinestones are prone to slipping.

We made a similar one to this at my Christmas is Coming… Stamp-a-Stack at the weekend, but we used small circles of Champagne Glimmer Paper instead of rhinestones. Washi tape is one of my favourite products at the moment, so I made sure everyone had a full pack to use and take home afterwards, to make their Christmas cardmaking quick and simple!

There are only a few days left to book for my next event, which will be a fun and fab all-dayer. Places are filling fast, so please visit this link to see more details and register. 

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White

Accessories: Season of Style Washi Tape, Expressions Thinlits Dies, Basic Rhinestones

Creative Tour display - and washi tape bird

I was very honoured this summer to be asked to create some projects for Stampin’ Up!’s Creative Tour, which ended last night. The projects have had to be kept firmly under wraps while the tour was in progress but now I can show you at last.

I was asked to showcase two products from the Autumn/Winter catalogue; the Season of Style Washi Tape and the Expressions Thinlits Dies. In the beginning it was a bit of a challenge but I soon got into the groove and I think it make me think outside of the box a little, too! It helped that the colours of the washi tape are my most favourite Christmas colours – I do love to keep things traditional with red and green.

Above is (almost) the full set (I accidentally missed one off the photo) – I’ll be showing you the projects in more detail over the coming days.

Today you can take a closer look at one of my favourite projects – my little Christmas robin. I got the idea from a magazine but then went my own way. Here’s how to make him:

1. Take some newspaper and screw into two balls, one larger than the other. Make a long triangular shape, too (for the tail).
2. Bind it all together with masking tape. If you’re making your bird from DSP instead of washi tape, you could use Sellotape but washi tape is semi-transparent, so I wanted to hide the newsprint.
3. I made a black cardstock beak with quite big flaps, taping it down using masking tape.
4. Next I stuck washi tape all over the bird. I wasn’t sure whether to go random or aim for a pattern, and in the end settled on a red breast (the temptation was too much to resist) and some green “wings”.
5. The legs are made from wire. I won’t pretend this was easy – in fact I had to call on my husband for help. It might be easier if you have softer wire, but he just found this in the garage for me. The feet are so big so that the bird stands up easily.
6. To “install”, I poked them into the newspaper to make the holes, then removed them and covered them in Crystal Effects before re-inserting.
7. The eyes are Basic Black candy dots – big thanks to fellow demonstrator Michelle Bryant for coming to the rescue with those!
8. Finally I made a tiny envelope for his beak – not sure how well this has lasted on the Creative Tour; it was looking a little limp by last Wednesday, so by Convention I’m sure it will be very droopy!

Hope you like him!

Stamps: Wishing You

Cardstock: Basic Black, Very Vanilla

Ink: Cherry Cobbler

Accessories: Season of Style washi tape, Neutrals Candy Dots, Crystal Effects

Other: Newspaper, masking tape, wire… patience!

Clearance Rack is up and running!

Clearance Rack is live! So get yourselves to www.helenread.stampinup.net and start shopping! You’ll find lots of your retired favourites, such as products in Baja Breeze and Lucky Limeade, as well as bargain scrapbook albums and kits, ribbons, buttons, dies, folders… there’s even the tabletop cutter, which is well worth having – I was very sad to see that retire. Missing the fabric? There's Spice Cake fabric at just £2.19. Yes, £2.19!

Remember, items are only available while stocks last and there is likely to be a LOT of interest today with it being the first day, so don’t delay – get what you can while you can!

The Clearance Rack is intended to be a permanent feature of the website, so keep checking back, whenever you get the urge for a bargain. Even though the products are all retired, you’ll find that some have carried over in a different format, eg you can (at the time of writing) get a full pack of Primrose Petals Core’dinations cardstock, which is now only available in the catalogue as part of an In Color assortment. And there’s a pack of old In Color markers, of which four out of the five have carried over to become core colours.

Anyway, enough rambling, take a look – and remember you’ll need an account and to pay shipping to have it delivered to your home. 

Flower Shop bundle card

This was one of my party Make & Takes for the past month or so. We used the Flower Shop bundle which features a set of flowers which all fit their co-ordinating punch. The words are from Remembering Your Birthday – I thought it would be handy to have a belated birthday card in stock!

You probably can’t see from the photo but the little flowers are stamped in Daffodil Delight on Whisper White. I used one of the other flowers from the set, which has various patterns on each petal – these Itty Bitty Punches are small enough that you can punch a patterend flower from each petal.

And in other news, this Sunday I am having a Macmillan Coffee morning in the garden, 10am-1pm. If you'd like to come along, please drop me a line and I'll send you the details!

Stamps: Flower Shop, Remembering Your Birthday

Cardstock: Pool Party, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White

Paper: Epic Day

Ink: Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight

Accessories: Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon – Daffodil Delight, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Pansy Punch, Candy Dots – Brights

Caturday: Dennis and Pan

Sorry for the Catur-delay - I've been out all day, stamping! This morning was my team meeting. We were a select few today but had a lovely time, chatting, laughing and stamping together.

This afternoon was my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack, where everyone made 10 cards in five different designs. I'll show you those another time because today is, of course, Caturday. By the skin of my teeth, anyway!

And here we have lovely Dennis and the equally lovely Pan... just before it all kicked off. Here's what happened...

Dennis is still quite shy. When he arrived at the shelter several months ago, he was totally traumatised, having been run over. For months he rarely left the safety of the rafters or the top of the shed. Lately, though, he's been coming down to sit in the Wendy House, where he's happy to be stroked and have his tummy rubbed. Even more recently, he's allowed us to stroke him outside, too, which is a big breakthrough.

Last weekend was a Big Day for Dennis, as he was being visited by a prospective owner. So daughter brushed him to make him look nice for the lady. He REALLY enjoyed this, and began rolling around, asking for more. He clearly forgot himself, as he ended up rolling around in front of Pan, who was having none of it and just after the camera went "click", pounced on Dennis and it all ended in tears.

But not for long, as the good news is that Dennis has now gone to his new home (it took an hour to catch him, apparently!) where I hope he will be very happy. I will miss him though. :(

UPDATE: Dennis was so traumatised by being moved that unfortunate he has had to return to the cat shelter for the time being. He's back to his usual self, but will need longer in the shelter before he's ready for a "forever home". Sad for Dennis but secretly pleased that he's back!

My Creative Tour swaps - and exciting news about Clearance Rack!

Long post today as I have two projects for you (scroll down) and some VERY exciting news! 

If you love a bargain – and, frankly, who doesn’t? – you will LOVE the Clearance Rack! Starting on Tuesday, 24^th September, there will be a Clearance Rack section of the online store. This is intended to be a permanent feature of the store and it means you can get your hands on retired stock at substantially reduced prices! Can I get a “whoohoo!!!!”?

There are some things you should know:

1. I will only be taking Clearance Rack orders through online shopping, so you will need to create an account at my online store and paying the £4.95 shipping charge. Due to supplies being so limited, it is impractical to include Clearance Rack items in workshop orders.  

2. Clearance Rack will be used to clear out surplus items which have retired – no current items will be sold this way. For this reason, items will only be available while stocks last.

3. Items will be listed and pictured only in the online store, so visit www.helenread.stampinup.net periodically to get the best bargains. 

4. No returns or exchanges will be accepted, except in the case of defective product. 

So, while you are waiting for the Clearance Rack to open, why not bookmark my online store, create and account and familiarise yourself with how it works?

And now, as promised, here are my swaps from the Creative Tour. I made Christmas cards as I'm in a festive frame of mind right now, with my Christmas stamp-a-stack coming up tomorrow. Photos are a bit dodgy, but I just took them on my phone a few minutes ago because I'm feeling lazy today.

Stamps: Santa's List
Cardstock: Old Olive, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Paper: Season of Style DSP
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso
Accessories: Chevron Embossing Folder, Ovals Framelits Dies, Basic Rhinestones

Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Greetings of the Season

Cardstock: Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive

Accessories: Mosaic Punch, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Mosaic Embossing Folder

Chalk Talk and Alphabet Press - masculine card

What’s the weather going to do today?* After a summer of sweltering because the air-con apparently wasn’t working properly, I went to work on Monday and it was ab.so.lute.ly freezing. So yesterday I wrapped up warm and guess what? Boiling! I think layers are the answer today.

Last night was Stampin’ Up!® Creative Tour in Loughborough and it was a really enjoyable event. MUCH smaller than SU events have been of late, which was really nice and relaxing – it was like the old days! Lots of great demos and and some exciting news, which I can’t share just yet but I promise I’ll tell you as soon as I can!

I don’t have a photo of my swaps just yet (it’s on the massive “to do” list) so I’ll show you this very clean and simple project instead.

I am loving this Alphabet Press embossing folder and think it looks great done in Whisper White cardstock, which makes the letters look so crisp. I kept this card really simple as it was for my 25-year-old nephew (25!!!!! Makes me feel VERY old).

* Answer: Rain!

Stamps: Chalk Talk

Cardstock: Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Whisper White

Ink: Midnight Muse

Accessories: Naturals Trim, Chalk Talk Framelits, Alphabet Press embossing folder

New Christmas-themed single stamps

Here’s exciting news if you like making Christmas projects – a new set of single stamps!

There are eight stamps to choose from, six of which co-ordinate with an existing punch or die. They are:

Be Merry – 134767 – £7.95

Joy and Love – 134771 – £6.50

Prince of Peace – 134811 – £6.50

A Gift For You – 134765 – £4.50

Cheers – 134769 – £4.95

Christmas Star – 134813 – £8.95

Magical Season – 134777 ­– £4.95

Wonderful Blessing – 134779 – £7.95

These stamps are available in clear-mount only and come packed in a cello bag. They are available until January 31, 2014, or while supplies last.

Don’t delay, if you’d like to place an order, please email me! Alternatively, you can order anything, day or night, through my online store!

Wetlands - faux watercolour note card

How can anyone fail to love Wetlands? Barring Christmas, I think I could manage with this set all year round… just don’t tell anyone I said that or they’ll wonder why I have quite so many stamp sets in my possession!

We made this at one of my Crafty Fridays, where I host a small group of stampers and we keep things simple. I hold these events on the second Friday of every month and the cost – if you’d like more info, please email me.

We used one of the new Note Cards and Envelopes from page 162. They are the same as the old Note Cards but made from heavier cardstock, which is fabulous. If you’d like Stampin’ Up!® to introduce some A4 cardstock in this heavier weight, don't tell me, tell them! You'll find their contact details on the SU website relevant for your location. 

We had great fun playing around with the faux watercolour technique – inking up our clear blocks with markers and pressing onto the Whisper White cardstock. 

Stamps: Wetlands

Cardstock: Whisper White

Ink: Basic Gray, So Saffron, Summer Starfruit, Pool Party

Accessories: Note Cards and Envelopes

Christmas crafting... messy desk

Managed to craft myself into a tiny corner of the kitchen table yesterday. But it was all in a good cause - I was making the samples for next weekend's Christmas is Coming Stamp-a-Stack, where we'll be making two each of five easy-to-reproduce designs. You would not believe how much Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler cardstock I managed to get through! Well, perhaps you would, as you know how much  I like the traditional look for Christmas.

And if you're looking for clues on the desk, concentrate on the products not on the cards you can see!