Mix It Up Monday: Peekaboo Peach with Stitched Framelits Dies

I messed up a bit for this one. After glancing at this colour combination from my latest set of In Color Charts for Mix It Up Monday, I went off to make my projects – and it was only when I came to create the combination image below that I realised I should have used Very Vanilla and not Whisper White. Too late now, but if you’re having a go at this combo, feel free to use whichever one you have to hand.  

Those who know me will appreciate how difficult I found this combination. I confess that Pêche Fraiche (still can’t bring myself to say Peekab... nope, not going to happen!) is not a favourite of mine and the Brights are my least-used collection. But when a Virtual Hostess Club member has a birthday and states that her favourites are brights, I do my best to please.

I was quite happy with the gift bag, then realised I had to use the combo again to make a matching card, which is where it all went a bit wrong. I’m not a fan of this card at all – looking at it now, I can see that it needs some Melon Mambo flowers – but hopefully the recipient will be of the view that it’ s the thought that counts. 

The words come from an upcoming stamp set that you will be able to order in January. I’m not a big believer in showing you things you can’t order until several weeks later but this set, Birthday Bright, just happened to be to hand (we were given it at OnStage in Telford) and I do love the great big greetings. I’ve used them with the new Stitched Framelits Dies which I absolutely love; they are a great addition to your dies collection and available now, ahead of next summer’s new catalogue. 

Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies [145372] £27.00	Layering Ovals Framelits Dies [141706] £32.00	2016-2018 In Color Designer Series Paper Stack [141408] £20.00	Sprinkles Of Life Photopolymer Stamp Set [139971] £19.00
Tree Builder Punch [138295] £16.00	Peekaboo Peach A4 Cardstock [141422] £7.25	Tempting Turquoise A4 Card Stock [108598] £7.25	Melon Mambo A4 Card Stock [119980] £7.25
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25	Peekaboo Peach 3/8" (1 Cm) Ruched Ribbon [141427] £7.25	2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes [141410] £8.25	Pearl Basic Jewels Embellishments [119247] £4.50
Peekaboo Peach Classic Stampin' Pad [141398] £6.00	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad [126948] £6.00	Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad [126952] £6.00	Project Life Journaling Pens [135304] £4.50

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Caturday: Woodland Nook 2017 calendars now available

The Woodland Nook 2017 calendar is now available! This has been designed by me, and all proceeds will go to help the cats and kittens at Woodland Nook. I have a very small number of calendars in my possession so if you’d like one (or more), please shout up quickly.

Watercoloured Merry Mice

I realised that, with all the excitement of going to Telford for Stampin’ Up!'s OnStage event, I didn’t get round to showing you the projects from my first Hygge Night.

Hygge is the wonderful Danish concept of enjoying life and its comforts, not just for winter but all year round, and I thought it would be good to embrace this philosophy over winter with monthly classes on Friday evenings. Out come the fairy lights and candles, with comforting snacks and, best of all, crafting.

Last month we spent the evening watercolouring using the Merry Mice stamp set and this is one of the cards we made. I deliberately kept the card really simple, so that the ladies would have more time to spend on their watercolouring.

For watercolouring, I prefer to use a paintbrush with water and either my ink pad lids (always remembering to dry them before closing again) or ink refills. The refills are excellent value - cheaper than “proper” watercolour paint pans and more versatile, too. After trying all the different techniques, you can even re-ink your ink pads with them! I know! Who knew?

For this event, they were a boon as I could drip them into empty embellishment pots and lids so that people could pass them round, with two of each colour on the go.

I had a minor panic while prepping the class when I ran out of this design of DSP. None of the other sheets was quite right as I really wanted the snow effect. Fortunately, there’s a design very similar in the Serene Scenery stack, which was just perfect for the job.

My next Hygge Night is on Friday, 25th November, 7.15pm-9.30pm, when we will be making a beautiful burlap wreath. You can register here or, for more details, please drop me a line!

Merry Mice Clear-Mount Stamp Set [142145] £15.00	Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper [141981] £10.00	Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock [121681] £7.25
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] £6.50	Jet Black Stazon Ink Pad [101406] £8.25	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [100531] £3.00	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [131158] £3.00
Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [141399] £3.00	Real Red Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [103287] £3.00	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [121029] £3.00

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

OnStage Local (Telford) swaps

I’m taking a break from Mix It Up Monday this week as it’s been a busy weekend with my trip to Telford for the Stampin’ Up!® OnStage Local event. Instead I thought I would show you all the lovely swaps I received.

I’ve categorised them and, as you can see, the overwhelming theme was Christmas – and if my haul was anything to go by, that gingerbread man was very popular, too.

I know you shouldn’t have favourites, but I do love that vellum Totally Trees card... and the Swirly Bird Christmas card is very cute, too.

Next up are non-Christmas cards and, as you can see, I didn’t receive very many of those at all, although they are all very lovely. 

Finally, the 3D (non-Christmas) selection. I’m always amazed what people manage to create for their swaps as I am really not so good at 3D projects. I’m always doubly amazed that they manage to get them to the event in one piece as I rarely manage to get them all home safely and, in fact, one bit the dust. I haven’t shown it in case I didn’t put it back together properly and don’t show it to its best advantage. 

Hats off to the lady who made the little box holding the jar of lemon curd, both for the lovely gift and for getting that ribbon through those tiny holes. I have removed the jar but will never manage to get the ribbon back!

And those are my swaps. I don ’t go overboard on swapping and made about 40 I think. I have found that any more than that become hard to get rid of because people are “all swapped out”. 

Thank you to everyone who swapped with me – your creations are fantastic!

SaveSave

Hygge Night - Burlap Wreath

Caturday: cat on a wall

Just because I’m in Telford at Stampin’ Up!’s OnStage Local event doesn’t mean it’s not Caturday! I met this cat on one of my walks recently. As I mentioned last Caturday, I’ve been trying to do at least a mile a day. It’s still not happening every day but last weekend’s seven-miler set me up for a few days I think. Or, rather, made my feet hurt so much that I needed a rest!

But I bet I’ll walk at least a mile at OnStage today – it’s a very big venue and those steps soon rack up.

Copper Leaflets CAS Telford OnStage swap

Now there’s a snappy title! Yes, this is my swap for Stampin’ Up!’s OnStage Local event in Telford this weekend. It’s not a great photo because I took it at night – waited all day yesterday for it to get light and it didn’t really happen.

Anyway, I’ve made about 40 of these little devils, although when we demonstrators make swaps,  we only do card fronts, to save on supplies... because what we’re really swapping is the idea.

This is an idea I CASEd from what I think is a non-SU project that I saw on Pinterest. I struggled to get the lovely embossed effect just by using the Versmark pad so I hit upon the brilliant idea (if I say so myself) of using Timeless Textures, stamped repeatedly to build up the ink towards the tip of the leaf. 

Although I love the Clean and Simple (CAS) look, it did feel a little bare, so I embossed the background with the brick wall... remembering just in time to stamp the greeting first. I do hope people like my swaps – I can’t wait to see what I get in return! I’ll report back next week.

Leaflets Framelits Dies [138283] £22.00	Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140517] £18.00	Birthday Blossoms Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139471] £17.00	Brick Wall Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [138288] £7.75	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25
Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock [141419] £7.25	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad [141394] £6.00	Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder [141636] £4.50	Linen Thread [104199] £4.25	Versamark Pad [102283] £7.75

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

In The Meadow CAS card

This card combines my current love of white backgrounds with my ongoing love of watercolouring. I made it for my Mum’s birthday as I know she isn’t too keen on over-fussy styles. She’s definitely a fan of the “Clean and Simple” (CAS) approach.

I love this stamp set, the dies and, perhaps most of all, the mini pinecones, which I have been hoarding since the arrived, unable to bring myself to use them because they fall into the “too nice” category. Yes, I can preach it, but am not so good at practising it myself!

In The Meadow Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140754] £18.00	Wetlands Clear Stamp Set [126697] £16.00	Layering Circle Framelits Dies [141705] £32.00	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £8.25	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] £6.50
Dapper Denim A4 Cardstock [141419] £7.25	Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Dapper Denim Classic Stampin' Pad [141394] £6.00	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad [126975] £6.00	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [126965] £6.00
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [126953] £6.00	5/8" (1.6 Cm) Burlap Ribbon [141487] £6.50	Linen Thread [104199] £4.25	Mini Pinecones [141990] £6.75	Jet Black Stazon Ink Pad [101406] £8.25

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Discounted stamp sets and some new dies!

Exciting times! Discounted stamp sets throughout November!

Please click the image to go to my online store. 

But there’s more... a brand new set of dies to create fabulous stitched effects. I can’t wait to get my hands on these!