Sailing Home slider card

I'm not normally one for “clever” cards – you know, fancy folds or moving elements – but these yachts are just crying out to be made into a slider card. Pull on the wheel and the yacht sails downstream like this...

These yachts also go beautifully with the Waterfront stamp set; an old favourite that has plenty of mileage left in it yet. I love that, no matter what you do with Waterfront, thanks to its washy effects, it always looks fab.

The rope die from the Smooth Sailing Dies is the perfect size to create an aperture to house the simple slider mechanism. Just make sure you pop up the top layer on Stampin’ Dimensionals to allow the yacht to slide easily. 

Bird Ballad Suite catalogue CASE

Long-timers will remember that the Stampin' Up!® Annual Catalogue used to be called the “Idea Book & Catalogue” and, despite the name change, it remains a valuable source of ideas.

If I'm stuck, I often turn to the catalogue for inspiration; most of the time my project turns out completely different, I just need something to start me off.

This time, however, I deliberately set out to CASE the catalogue. CASE means “Copy And Share Everything” and I fancied having a go at the card showcased on page 90. I think my card is a different size - and I know I used a different bird, cut out from the Bird Ballad DSP. Why did I use a different bird? For those who know me, that will be obvious; the one used in the catalogue is from right in the middle of the sheet! There was no way I was cutting right into the middle of a sheet of brand new DSP. Would you?

If you don't have exactly the same products as used in a catalogue project, simply adapt to your own supplies. I didn't have the All Wired Up background stamp used on the catalogue card, so embossed my cardstock using the Subtle 3D embossing folder instead. 

Sailing Home nautical duo

One reason you're mainly seeing nautical projects on the blog at the moment is that, until last week, Sailing Home was the only new stamp set I had from the upcoming catalogue.

The other reason is that I just love nautical projects. Any seaside projects, in fact, so there's another stamp set – Seaside Notions – that I can't wait to get my hands on, too.

I've made the Come Sail Away Suite the theme of this month's classes, starting with Cuppa & Card, where the ladies made these two simple projects. I know the boat card doesn't look so simple but I did cut all the die-cut pieces in advance to speed things up. Any leftover will get used with the WI craft group later in the month.

Use the long narrow stamps from Waterfront to create a quick and easy water effect to go with your sailing yachts.

New catalogue goes live!

It’s here!

Please click here to view the brand new catalogue

 

 

Free As A Bird Delightful Tag pouches

Today is the very last day you can order from the 2018-2019 Annual Catalogue, so please don't leave it right up to the deadline (10.50pm in the UK).

To be honest, I'm all about looking forward now, not back... so have another new stamp set to show you. It's just a glimpse, mind as the lovely birds from this Free As A Bird stamp set just didn't want to stay put on this project. No matter where I put them, they didn't look right, so I stuck with just the flowers.

I've also used the Delightful Tag Topper punch and the frame die from the new Smooth Sailing Dies set.

The new Delightful Tag Topper punch can be used to make all the same cool 3D items as the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, giving you loads of possibilities. 

Beautiful boats in the Come Sail Away Suite

There are so many possibilities with the new Come Sail Away Suite, which is why I've bought the whole suite - unheard of for me!

I loved this card by French demonstrator Sandrine Greusard and couldn't resist making my own version. The lifebelt is inspired - although quite fiddly! I made two matching circles using Layering Circle Dies, then attached them together lightly, white on top, before snipping away sections to reveal the Blueberry Bushel beneath. I didn't have the Baker's Twine (I've ordered it now!) so used linen thread to wrap around the joins. 

You can purchase this beautiful suite from 4th June - it’s definitely one you won’t want to miss. 

 

Come Sail Away with brayered border

It’s time we had another sneak peek as I’ve been a little behind in this department and all of a sudden it's nearly June!

So far, I only have one stamp set from the upcoming catalogue (gasp!) and that set is Come Sail Away, a gorgeous nautical set of images including this lovely lighthouse.

You know what it's like when you have new products - you want to use it all at once so I merrily grabbed my new Pretty Peacock ink pad... and then realised there was no Designer Series Paper to match in the Come Sail Away pack. No problem: I just brayered it.

I say "just"; I actually used four colours - starting at the top with the lightest and working my way down to the bottom with the darkest. The colours are Pool Party, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay and, of course, Pretty Peacock. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out - what do you think?

Wedding card? It's a Piece of Cake

Pretty cards are a challenge for me so I struggled with this wedding card for my brother, who finally married his childhood sweetheart at the weekend, 40 years after they first met!

Eventually, I settled on the Piece of Cake Bundle, which has a lovely wedding cake image.

I used a watercoloured background, in Blushing Bride with a hint of Pool Party, then popped up the cut-out cake, which I'd stamped in Blushing Bride, Pool Party and the new colour, Rococo Rose. The greeting (Better Together - retiring) is stamped in Rococo Rose and embossed using clear embossing powder (the Stamparatus is invaluable for this technique).

It's all framed with a stitched rectangle frame, which I embossed using the Country Floral 3D embossing folder, a Sale-a-Bration item which is carrying over to the new catalogue.

Some self-adhesive sequins finish it all off.

Crafting with friends... and the Share What You Love DSP

Don’t miss out on the Share What You Love Designer Series Paper, as it’s really gorgeous – you get twice as many sheets as in a standard pack, so why not share with a friend?
  Crafting is always better with friends and I spent a lovely weekend with some crafty friends recently, where we each provided a project... not all cardmaking and not all Stampin' Up!® This, however, was a Stampin’ Up!® card project using beautiful products, some of which are retiring very soon.

I’ve used a variety of stamp sets – recognise any of them?

Masculine cards using Rooted in Nature

The WI group I craft with each month were saying how difficult it is to make cards for men, so this month I set out to prove them wrong.

Difficult as it may be to believe, men are people too, and they like many of the same things as us. What I don't approve of are cards made to look like shirts and ties, because I don't think I know any men who actually enjoy wearing a tie. And you wouldn't give a woman a card with a bra on it, would you?

So I made these projects using the Rooted in Nature bundle, in masculine colours, with linen thread instead of ribbon, and tasteful wooden elements instead of bling. It's not that difficult, is it?