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Tuesday, 28 February 2023

Easy cards using Love Cats stamp set from Stampin’ Up!®

Love Cats card ideas Stampin Up UK

Do you love cats and cat cards? If not, I suggest you move swiftly on as today all my projects feature the fabulous Love Cats stamp set from Stampin’ Up!®

While the stamp set is in the Valentines section of Stampin’ Up!®’s January-April Mini Catalogue, this set offers so much more. 

Love Cats stamps Stampin Up UK

I don’t make Valentines projects but this wasn’t going to put me off the best cat stamp set Stampin’ Up!® has offered for years. In fact, I have taken scissors to rubber and trimmed down the “Hi there, Valentine” stamp so it reads simply “Hi there”. 

For these projects I have teamed the Love Cats stamp set with various other Stampin’ Up!® sentiment sets so I can send cards for all occasions to my cat-loving friends. 

Tuesday, 21 February 2023

Designer Series Paper projects using Sale-a-Bration papers

Stampin Up UK Favored Flowers Sale-a-Bration
 
I love all the gorgeous Designer Series Papers from Stampin’ Up!® and love making them the focus of my projects because they do all the work for you. 
 
On Saturday I ran a class on Zoom which I called a Paper Caper as customers could choose from two packs of Stampin’ Up!® Designer Series Paper from the Sale-a-Bration brochure: Favored Flowers or Day At The Farm.

Tuesday, 14 February 2023

Easy card making using Enjoy the Adventure Memories & More Cards from Stampin’ Up!®

Stampin Up easy cards Enjoy the Adventure Memories More

 
Have you ever used Memories & More Cards from Stampin’ Up!®? I love them for quick and easy projects.

They are of course perfect for pocket scrapbooking, but also great for so much more. I have used them here to make some simple cards, combining Stampin’ Up!® Enjoy the Adventure Memories & More Cards with the coordinating Enjoy the Adventure Memories & More Cards & Envelopes, with just the addition of some fab Black and White Gingham Ribbon (a favourite of mine).

Tuesday, 7 February 2023

Six cards using Dainty Delight, with top tips for using Stampin’ Up!® Blending Brushes

Stampin Up Blending Brushes Dainty Delight card ideas

My monthly Crafty Friday classes for 2023 are focussing on techniques. Each month on Zoom, crafters around the UK can learn a different technique to make beautiful Stampin’ Up!® cards. 
 
This month the focus was on our gorgeous Stampin’ Up!® blending brushes. We now sell blending brushes in two sizes; standard and small. The standard brushes are perfect for covering large areas, while the small are ideal if you want to add colour to smaller spaces. 
 
Today I have three projects to show you, plus some great tips for getting the best results using your Stampin’ Up!® blending brushes.
 

Tuesday, 31 January 2023

Stop! Don’t buy that stamp set! Check out these Rain or Shine card ideas first

Stampin Up Rain or Shine card ideas
 

Stop! Don’t buy that stamp set! Today I want to show you some cards made with the gorgeous Rain or Shine Suite – and show you why you don’t always need to buy a Stampin’ Up!® stamp set.

What? Have I lost my mind?

Tuesday, 24 January 2023

Dainty Delight projects – and a spring craft day in Derbyshire

Dainty Delight Stampin' Up card idea

I am really loving the Dainty Delight bundle and Dainty Flowers Sale-a-Bration Designer Series Paper from Stampin’ Up!®.

I often say that I don’t like flower stamps but it’s not really true; I don’t like most flower stamps. The big, blowsy flowers that are so popular with crafters everywhere do nothing for me at all, but I really love delicate wildflowers that remind me of our British countryside. And seed heads – they are a favourite.

Tuesday, 17 January 2023

Tuesday, 10 January 2023

Five projects using the new Adorable Owls Sale-a-Bration stamp set from Stampin' Up!®

Adorable Owls Stampin' Up UK sale-a-bration SAB free stamps

 
This Adorable Owls stamp set from Stampin’ Up!® is a real hoot! It’s one of the Sale-a-Bration stamp sets available when you spend £45 in the UK on Stampin’ Up!® supplies during January or February.
 
I predict that the set will be the most popular Sale-a-Bration stamp set of 2023 – you read it here first (or perhaps not). 

Tuesday, 3 January 2023

The hot papercraft and card making trends for 2023

Papercraft trends 2023 stampin up card making

It’s safe to say that 2022 was not exactly an uneventful year, and we continued to be bombarded with bad news.

But no matter what’s going on in the world around us, we always have crafting – and another fabulous year of creativity awaits, along with some gorgeous new Stampin’ Up!® products to lift our spirits in 2023.

Just like in fashion and interiors, there are trends in the crafting world – often with a surprising amount of crossover. Remember flamingoes, pineapples and cheetahs? They were on clothes, curtains, stationery, packaging, stamps and paper!

I’ve been doing quite a bit of digging to find out what we can expect in 2023 and it seems that all the predicted trends lead back to the same overriding theme: comfort.

Read on to find out how I believe this will translate into our Stampin’ Up!® projects.

Tuesday, 27 December 2022

A look back at the biggest Stampin’ Up!® papercraft and card making trends of 2022

Biggest card making papercraft trends 2022 stampin up
 

As the year comes to a close, I thought I would take a look back at some of 2022’s biggest cardmaking and papercrafting trends in the Stampin’ Up!® world.

Looking back, there were several stand-out themes which appeared time and time again, not just in my own projects but in those created by our fabulous Stampin’ Up!® Artisan Design Team and talented demonstrators worldwide.

Here are the top cardmaking and papercrafting themes which I have identified from the past year. 

The small print

This is my personal blog and my sole responsibility as an Independent Stampin' Up!® demonstrator. All images are © Stampin' Up!® All content including photographs, projects and text are © Helen Read, unless otherwise stated. Please feel free to copy my ideas for your personal use and inspiration - if you are a SU demonstrator you may use these ideas for your events but please give credit where it is due. Please do not use my ideas for monetary gain, competitions or publication. The images on this blog - including blog buttons - should not be copied and used elsewhere on the internet or on CDs.