By the Bay Week: Masked birds, with video tutorial

Hello! A rare Tuesday post but that’s because it’s By The Bay Week here at All Things Stampy, when I celebrate this gorgeous stamp set from Monday to Friday.

Today I have the Make & Take from last Friday’s party to show you... with a lot more seagulls than you’d expect... or perhaps even want, if you’re eating a picnic on the beach.

How did I get the extra birds? Take a look at my video to see ... and watch out for the feline interloper!

By the Bay Week! Sponged seaside cottage

It’s By the Bay week here at All Things Stampy – a time to celebrate this gorgeous but oft-overlooked Sale-a-Bration stamp set with a new project every weekday. Some of you may have been put off by the thought of colouring that highly detailed main image, but here is a technique which makes it simple...

Thanks to this wonderful tutorial from Mitosu Crafts, I created this sponged image. I used slightly different colours, as I prefer the vivid Pacific Point to the dark and moody Night of Navy, and I added a red front door to make it pop.

I was showcasing the fabulous Stitched Rectangle Framelits, which can be used to make many more sizes of rectangle than the ones included in the pack. Here I used a die wider than the pouch to create the stitched effect just along the top and bottom of the image.

Inside the pouch is a pack of Old Olive Baker's Twine for the host – it’s one of her favourite colours.

I also showed this version, made into a card. This one uses the darker Night of Navy ink around the edges and, instead of creating the stars with a chalk marker, I spattered Frost White Shimmer Paint across the image and the whole card for a brighter, shinier effect. I actually prefer this but didn’t demo it as it takes quite a while to dry.

Big thanks to Barry and Jay for their tutorial!

Awesome Accented Blooms

Accented Blooms is the name of this stamp set, and it's a great one for adding a greeting to, with its perfectly shaped slot for the Tailored Tag Punch. I mixed things up a little here by stamping onto a piece of Wood Textures Designer Series Paper and then colouring it with Watercolour Pencils. This paper is absolutely gorgeous and so versatile for so many occasions - it's stuck around for TWO whole catalogues which can surely only mean one thing, right?* DSP usually only stays for one catalogue period, so I highly recommend that you stock up now! *I have no inside knowledge, just 11 years of experience as a demonstrator!

Animal Outing new baby card

I love this Animal Outing stamp set, which I received as part of a kit to create projects for OnStage Local back in April 2018 It's a lovely stamp set for lots of occasions, including for a new baby so I was delighted to have the opportunity to make this baby card recently. It was supposed to be a simple project but I ended up using three stamp sets plus dies and Stampin' Blends... oops!

Can you work out which stamp sets they are? (Clue - the answers are in the labels)

Love cats? Nine Lives gift packaging

It's not always about cardmaking. Having all these lovely supplies at my disposal means I can make matching gift packaging, too. 

I was planning to send this card to a friend and wanted to wrap the small gift to match, so I created a box using the Envelope Punch Board and decorated it with some Call Me Clover Designer Series Paper and a punched cat. The box is a bit wonky (slipped up on a measurement somewhere) but you can't tell unless you look hard or someone points it out!

If you love cats – or dogs (or both!) – don’t miss my Cats & Dogs craft workshop in Aston-on-Trent next month. Places are going fast but there are a few left so please hurry over to the registration page to book your slot.

Incredible Like You Week - celebration cards

I’m ending my Incredible Like You Week with two similar cards I made to celebrate some amazing team members.

I’ve combined the stamp set with some greetings from Stamp Your Way to the Yop, a demonstrator-exclusive stamp set which helps us honour our teams.

On the left is a welcome card for Karen, my latest recruit, who couldn’t resist the fantastic Sale-a-Bration offer and the beautiful craft tote...

From my newest team member to my oldest (in the terms of longest serving, that is!)... the second card celebrates an incredible sales milestone by Tracey, who joined me nearly 11 years ago and has worked consistently hard ever since.

The colour combination is well away from my usual palette but I really like it. Flowers, pastel shades and fussy cutting? What on earth is happening to me?

Incredible Like You Week: very simple projects for Cuppa & Card

It’s Incredible Like You week here at All Things Stampy and this is the perfect set for new stampers because you get a good variety of images and greetings, which you can maximise with just two stamp sets if you wish.

I was inspired to start using this set by Mikaela Titheridge at The Crafty oINK Pen, who has been showcasing some beautiful projects with it.

These are the projects I am making with the good folk of Borrowash this morning at my Cuppa & Card session at Dawson’s Café.

This first card is incredibly simple and, as well as the stamp set, uses just a Notecard, a scrap of Whisper White cardstock and two ink pads. The images in this set are so clever that you can stamp them with the same ink pad without stamping off; you’ll still get this amazing two-tone look.

For our second project, we will be making an ever so slightly more complicated card... in that it has a zingy Lemon Lime Twist layer and a little more fussy cutting. I hope it goes well!

Cats and Dogs class registration now open

Incredible Like You week: simple thank you cards

After ignoring the stamp set for several months, recently I’ve been stamping up a storm with the Incredible Like You stamp set, so I will be showcasing this versatile set all week. 

I made a BIG batch of cards like these to thank my February customers (and still ran out!). I’ve used Calypso Coral for the flowers, and everybody’s favourite Mint Macaron for the leaves and greeting. The Designer Series Paper is Nature’s Poem. 

And, of course, the Stamparatus made producing multiples of these cards incredibly speedy!

Incredible Like You - Crafty Friday projects

Today is Crafty Friday and the first day of a new organised me! With an increasing number of events planned, I have decided to focus on one stamp set per month ... for most of my events at least. This means that this month, at least three of my events will be using this lovely stamp set called Incredible Like You.

I have owned this stamp set since last November, when I was given it at OnStage Local in Telford. However, I dismissed it as “not really me” until last month when I was inspired by Mikaela at The Crafty oINK Pen to start using it. And, I have to say (U-turn alert!), I’ve really enjoyed it.

These are the projects we will be making at this morning’s Crafty Friday event. I love how you can make the stripes really evenly spaced using the Stamparatus, or just wing it by doing it freehand, because the stamps are photopolymer, which means you can see where you’re stamping.

We’ll start with the #simplestamping project above, then move on to the slightly more complicated card below, which uses Soft Sea Foam for the background spots (love this polka dot effect).

The flowers are stamped in Lovely Lipstick, to match the Sale-a-Bration foil (still available in the UK but low inventory!). What is incredible about this stamp set is that you can stamp the background to the flowers and the foreground petals using the same ink pad, without having to stamp off – the stamps are VERY cleverly designed. The same goes for the two-tone leaves.

Hope you like them!