Nautical news

Sorry for the lack of blog posts, I’m having a really busy week, trying to prepare for the big Fabulous Places event at the Roundhouse in Derby at the weekend, while also getting ready for Christmas in July the weekend after. Please bear with me over the next few days as I won’t be around much to post to my blog.

But, to keep you going for a while, here’s an idea which I saw on the great Shelli Gardner’s blog. Shelli, as many of you know, is the co-founder and CEO of Stampin’ Up!® If Shelli and her sister hadn’t had the idea to set up a rubber stamping home party business from their living room 20-odd years ago, you wouldn’t be reading this blog today! Here’s a link to Shelli’s blog post which inspired today’s card. I just love the idea of using Newsprint (one of my favourite Designer Series Papers) for sails.

All you do is stamp once on Very Vanilla cardstock and then again on the Newsprint. Cut out the sails and stick them on top. It’s called “paper piecing” – and if you ever wondered if that was a complicated technique, now you know it’s not!

I kept the colours simple – just Sahara Sand (love that colour!) with Basic Black and a bit of linen thread and a button.

Stamps: Sail Away

Cardstock: Basic Black, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla

Paper: Newsprint

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: Linen Thread, Neutrals Buttons

All products by Stampin’ Up!®            

Sail Away

Have I introduced you to this sailing boat yet? I don’t think so, and yet I’ve been using it quite a lot recently. It’s from the very back of the Mini Catalogue, where you’ll find some really nice individual stamps – perfect for presents, for those getting started who don’t want to splash out on everything immediately and, of course, for those who just like the images.

I’m a sucker for all things nautical – before I became a Stampin’ Up!® demonstrator I had an entire box devoted to seaside images, lighthouses, seagulls etc – so couldn’t resist this boat stamp.

This is a really simple card – just a bit of corrugating, some linen thread and a splash of red. I coloured the image – just the sails and the sea – with Watercolour Wonder™ crayons and a blender pen.

Stamps: Sail Away
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Night of Navy, Real Red, Basic Grey, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Paper Crimper, Linen Thread, Watercolour Wonder™ crayons, blender pen

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Mother of Pearl MkII

Ooh, just found this in my files – something I made a while ago and forgot to post. It showcases the Mother of Pearl technique, which you can read about here so I won’t go over it again.

After stamping the tree, I punched some tiny flowers with the Itty Bitty Punches and added some ever-so-tiny pearls. I stamped “just for you” from the Just Believe stamp set – see? This tree doesn’t have to be for a sympathy card. In fact, I really like this tree for lots of occasions.

(By the way, that isn't a fancy corner on the right of the card front - it's just my black cloth which I use as a backdrop!)

Stamps: Hopeful Thoughts, Just Believe

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Basic Black, Whisper White, Melon Mambo

Ink: Black StazOn®

Accessories: Wide striped ribbon – Basic Black, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Itty Bitty Punches, Basic Pearls

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Peeping monsters

When I saw this Designer Series Paper form the Celebrations collection, I just had to punch holes in it and make the monsters peep through!  Aren’t they great? And the cheat-y part is that you can stamp the monsters on individual scraps of Whisper White and position them behind the holes – you don’t have to get it right every time, thankfully!  I still can’t use this stamp set without chuckling to myself, it’s such a fun set.

Stamps: Make A Monster, Party This Way

Cardstock: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White

Paper: Celebrations

Ink: Basic Black, Old Olive

Accessories: Markers - Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Real Red; Circle punches – 1”, 1 ¼”, 1 3/8”

All products by Stampin’ Up!®            

Such a great team!

My team have been working very hard lately – so hard that, in fact, two of them promoted! It’s a complicated system but the short version is that, through sales and recruiting, we demonstrators have the opportunity to promote to different levels, and receive recognition and rewards from Stampin’ Up!

I was delighted to be able to congratulate Jacqui and Tracy recently for their efforts – and can’t wait to see them at our next team meeting to give them their team reward, too. Tracy will be getting a special bead keyring, while Jacqui will be getting an extra bead to add to the keyring she earned previously.

Meanwhile, this is the card I sent them both, again using my favourite set of the moment, Nature Walk.

I inked the stamp in Pear Pizzazz, then cleaned off the flower with a cotton bud so that I could ink it up with a Bravo Burgundy marker.

Stamps: Nature Walk, Something to Celebrate (hostess)

Cardstock: So Saffron, Bravo Burgundy, Pear Pizzazz

Ink: So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Bravo Burgundy

Accessories: Modern Label punch, taffeta ribbon – Old Olive, Stampin’ Pastels

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Appreciating Eileen

Here’s the second card I sent off to Germany for Demo Support Appreciation Day, this time for the lovely and super-helpful Eileen.

Again I used the Nature Walk stamp set, my favourite from the Mini. I inked the stamp with markers. Let’s pretend I used Early Espresso and Cherry Cobbler, as that’s what it looks like, although I have a horrible feeling it was Real Red on a dirty stamp!

The strip of Designer Series Paper is Elegant Soiree, which is one of the most popular collections in the main catalogue. I topped it with a strip of Baja Breeze seam-binding ribbon and my very last piece of Early Espresso taffeta.

Stamps: Nature Walk, Tiny Tags

Cardstock:  Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler

Paper: Elegant Soiree

Ink: Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler, plus markers

Accessories: Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Seam Binding Ribbon – Baja Breeze, 1/8” taffeta ribbon – Early Espresso

All products by Stampin’ Up!®            

Egging Chris on...

June 9^th has been unofficially designated Demo Support Appreciation Day, by some of the demonstrators over on In Love With Stamping.

As demonstrators, we all help each other out and our upline (the person you sign up under) is your first port of call for any advice and questions. But there are always times when you upline isn’t available, or the question requires an answer direct from Stampin’ Up! – and, of course, some of us signed up too early in SU’s UK career to have an upline... and this is where Demonstrator Support comes in.

The US demo support team is huge – we have just two people, Chris and Eileen, which is lovely as we really get to know them. They couldn’t be more helpful and friendly – so thanking them once a year with a card is the least we can do!

This one I made for Chris. I tried to keep it masculine but couldn’t resist some ribbon – it looked too plain without it! I sincerely hope this card has reached Germany by now as I know that Chris can’t resist stalking our blogs on occasion.

The eggs are stamped in Early Espresso and then coloured very carefully with a blender pen and Baja Breeze ink. In fact, I had to “dot” the ink on (there’s a fancy word for that, isn’t there?) to stop it smudging.

Stamps: Nature Walk, Tiny Tags

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla

Paper: Elegant Soiree

Ink: Early Espresso, Baja Breeze

Accessories: Jewellery Tag, Scallop Edge Punch, Seam Binding Ribbon – Baja Breeze

All products by Stampin’ Up!®            

Oops, forgot the title!

Something a bit different from my usual creations, this card uses the bright and zingy Sweet & Sour Speciality Designer Series Paper. What’s so special about it? Well, you can’t see from the photo but one side of each sheet has a glossy finish. Not all over, that would be too much. But on this piece, for instance, some of the circles are glossy and raised. My favourite sheet is the one that’s in the bottom centre in the catalogue (p88) – the whole of that large swirl is glossy. I don’t have much of that though as I only have a tiny piece leftover from the paper share and making my paper sampler.

The colours are what give the paper its Sweet & Sour name. I probably would never have put Pumpkin Pie with Rose Red without the influence of this paper.

The stamp set is Hello Again, which is such a bargain – and great for beginner stampers. I stamped the flowers in a row in Rose Red and then again on a piece of scrap Whisper White in Pumpkin Pie. I cut out the centres and popped them up.

This is quite a big card (14.5cm square) so I decorated the inside, too!

Stamps: Hello Again, Something to Celebrate (hostess)

Cardstock: Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

Paper: Sweet & Sour Speciality

Ink: Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: Taffeta Ribbon - Pumpkin Pie, Scallop Edge Punch

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Oh what a beautiful morning...

Somehow this card feels just right for such a glorious morning. I made a few of these to welcome some new recruits to my Stampin’ Up!® team. My team have been very busy in May, recruiting more demonstrators to our little family and I’m looking forward to meeting some of the new ladies at our forthcoming team meeting.

If you’re interested in joining our team as a demonstrator, please do get in touch – you are welcome to attend one of our meetings to find out more information before you decide whether to sign up or not. There will be no pressure – just lots of enthusiastic demonstrators happy to share their experiences with you. If you’d like to find out more, or come along to our next meeting, please email me.

Meanwhile, back to the card, which is made with Nature Walk, my most favourite set from the new Mini catalogue. I began by repeatedly stamping the foliage stamp in Pear Pizzazz – I stamped a few times without reinking, to get the paler images; this is called “stamping off”. Next I stamped the bee in Bravo Burgundy, although the photo makes it look like Cajun Craze, which would have worked just as well.

As I couldn’t lay my hands on my Distressing Kit (MUST have a sort-out!), I sponged chalk around the edges of the Very Vanilla panel in various colours; can’t actually remember which ones I used, sorry.  This was mounted on a Bravo Burgundy panel.

The “Welcome” comes from Something to Celebrate – I inked just the “welcome” part using a Bravo Burgundy marker. It was a bit tricky, as there’s a comma attached to the E but I mastered it after a few attempts.

The ribbon is Old Olive but, because it’s that lovely taffeta, it’s a little paler than Old Olive, so goes perfectly well with Pear Pizzazz. Pear Pizzazz ribbon is available, too, but I don’t have any unfortunately.

Finally, I stamped the sprig again in So Saffron on the edge of the card base.

Stamps: Nature Walk, Something to Celebrate (hostess)

Cardstock: So Saffron, Bravo Burgundy, Pear Pizzazz

Ink: So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Bravo Burgundy

Accessories: Modern Label punch, taffeta ribbon – Old Olive, Stampin’ Pastels

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Keeping it simple

You may have noticed this but rubber stamping can be a little addictive. It doesn’t take long before you accumulate lots of different products – stamps, cardstock, patterned papers, ribbon, embellishments. It’s no wonder it can seem a daunting hobby to some people – they think you have to spend a fortune.

Well of course you don’t. The beauty of rubber stamping is that you can still make beautiful projects with just a few products, and I recently designed a workshop just for new crafters. It illustrates how you can get all the basics for around £45, without being too minimalist.

This is one of the samples I made with this limited supply kit – I used the Pocket Silhouettes stamp set, which is hugely popular with my customers. I also used the Getting Started cardstock pack, which is designed with new crafters in mind. It’s perfect because it features a wide range of cardstock colours – a black, brown, red, green, yellow, a couple of blues etc – as well as Whisper White, so you only have to buy one pack of cardstock to get going.  I added a roll of ribbon because we all need something pretty in our lives.

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes

Cardstock: Getting Started assortment (used here - Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight)

Ink: Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight

Accessories: 1/8” Taffeta ribbon – Marina Mist, C6 envelopes

All products by Stampin’ Up!®