Bird Ballad wine bottle tags

Packaging a bottle to give as a gift couldn't be easier with one of these tags. It's so simple I won't insult you with measurements - just wing it, as I did.

The bird is cut out from the Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper; only the leaves, floral background and greeting are stamped. 

I rattled out half a dozen of these for my husband's classroom helpers, to mark the end of term. Easy to make, easy to transport on a bike, and hopefully much appreciated.

To make a bottle tag, you don't need a tutorial, just a strip of cardstock with a hole punched in it (I used the Pretty Label Punch), and a couple of score lines to help it sit nicely around the neck. Then decorate as you wish. 
 

Mini pen holders/bookmarks

Browsing the internet for ideas, I found these really cute pen holders from The Papered Chef so adapted it for my launch party goodie bags. I wanted to make sure all my launch party guests had a pen to complete their order forms, after all!

I used the Delightful Tag Topper Punch and the gorgeous Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper but I'm afraid I don't have measurements, I just winged it (no pun intended). Without the pen, this can be flattened to use as a bookmark.

Using mini pens meant I could keep these small and stretch my Designer Series Paper further!

Magnolia Blooms note card

Introducing the Magnolia Blooms stamp set. This little set is great starter set... which is exactly why you will only find it in the new Experience Creativity brochure for new crafters.

This little publication is a great place to start someone on their crafting journey, so if you're in the UK and would like a copy to pass on to someone who needs crafting in their life, please drop me a line.

Don’t be afraid to mix and match products. The Magnolia Blooms stamp set is designed to 
co-ordinate with the Magnolia Lane Suite and the Magnolia Lane Designer Paper. However, I don’t have any of these products so used the Come Sail Away Designer Paper instead. It has a similar striped Mossy Meadow sheet which works just as well, and the fine print design is neutral enough to go with anything.

Beautiful Friendship flowerpot pocket card

It's all happening with the fancy cards this week, isn't it? Here's a flowerpot pocket card using Beautiful Friendship. 

The last time I made one of these was in June 2001 - a full decade ago! Check it out here – there's even a tutorial. For a tutorial for this specific card, please follow this link

If you prefer your card to be free-standing, simply invert the card base. Instead of folding over the flower pot rim, cut these flaps off and set to one side. Shape your card so the widest part is at the fold, then cut a slit along the fold to allow the pocket section to be inserted.

"Wow" card - Beautiful Friendship floral pop-up card

I don't often tackle fancy folds but I loved the idea of making a pop-up card using the Beautiful Friendship stamp set. What's so lovely about pop-up cards is the element of surprise – it looks like a perfectly nice but simple card on the front, then you open it and bam! You're hit by an explosion of flowers.

 Here’s a better picture but I took it before adding the greeting...

For instructions to make this card, please click here

While assembling the inner floral section, keep closing the card to check your flowers don’t spill out over the edges. Not only would this spoil the element of surprise, it would prevent your card from fitting in the envelope! 

Beautiful Friendship swap cards

I’m going to spend this week celebrating Beautiful Friendship, an oft-missed stamp set hiding on page 123 of the catalogue.  I've been using this gorgeous stamp set in all my events this month, so it was the obvious choice to use for a swap, too.

Swapping isn't usually for me but I thought I'd give it a go so I could show my customers a greater variety of project. The brief was to use at least two new In Colors, so I turned once again to Rococo Rose, Seaside Spray and Pretty Peacock and the Beautiful Friendship stamp set. 

When you need to make several of the same card, the Stamparatus really comes into its own. I set it up to stamp the background and the greeting on the stitched ovals, but stamped the foliage on the ovals freehand. 

Simple, Casual, Avid... a Beautiful Friendship card for every type of crafter

One design, three stages of crafting. A single-layer card for the time-strapped crafter, a casual crafter project with the addition of a punch and some embellishments, and one for the avid crafter who is definitely not short of supplies! Which one are you?

The same basic design can be adapted to suit your supplies. If you're just starting out, the #simplestamping project just needs a pack of Note Cards & Envelopes, one stamp set and some ink pads. But #simplestamping projects are just as useful for crafters in a hurry. If you need a big batch of these, you can stamp them using the Stamparatus and get them done in a fraction of the time it would take to stamp them by hand.  
 

Nautical but nice in Mossy Meadow

Lovely Mossy Meadow gives you new options with the Come Sail Away Suite, instead of the predictable Night of Navy. Soft Sea foam provides the perfect contrast. What do you think? Makes a change from the traditional Night of Navy look, doesn’t it?

This card employs the “rule of thirds”, with the Designer Series Paper taking up the bottom third of the main layer. If you imagine a noughts & crosses grid splitting the card into nine, aim to have your major elements falling where the lines cross. This will give you a universally pleasing layout. 
 

Birds of a feather... earn team rewards together

Sometimes I struggle with Designer Series Paper because it’s too pretty to hide. This batch of cards solved that problem - and resolved the issue of needing several cards in a hurry, too.

They were made for those members of my Stampin' Up!® who have gone above and beyond this month; Petal Pink for the ladies, and Pool Party for the gentleman stamper in my team. Yes, men can be demonstrators, too!

Don't be afraid to mix things up. You wouldn’t expect to use a stamp set called Seaside Notions with the Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper... but the greeting and speckled stamp are ideal to finish off these cards. 

Beautiful Friendship with muted Pretty Peacock

The muted, vintage shades of Rococo Rose and Seaside Spray, from our new In Color collection, are perfect for this new stamp set, Beautiful Friendship. Here I've fussy cut flowers stamped in these new colours and overlaid them onto some of our new Pretty Peacock Designer Series Paper. 

Look at that ribbon! Isn’t it gorgeous?

The Pretty Peacock Designer Series Paper was the colour I had in mind but was a bit overpowering in this context, so I muted it by adding a layer of vellum. This is just one of many ways you can use vellum in your projects – and I avoided the potential issue of glue showing through by applying it where I knew the flowers would hide it.