Summer snuggles

Sorry for the silence over the last few days;  not only have I been preparing for my Catalogue Launch (which is today) but I had one day with no phone line. Anyway, it’s the final Caturday of the summer and what better finish than this group soaking up the last rays of September sun? These are the “teenagers” of the cat shelter. How many can you see?

There are actually five of them: from left...

Harley (black and white) – sadly this lovely cat has been poorly for some time and it turns out that he suffers from FIP (feline infectious peritonitis) which is usually fatal. He does not need to be isolated as apparently many cats can be carriers and it’s pretty rare for the full disease to develop. Very sad news about a cat so young.

Solo – the lovely Greek boy who has been inseparable from Harley since his arrival at the shelter. He’ll miss his buddy when he’s gone.

Bandit – another beautiful cat from Crete. So long and sleek and such a speckly tummy.

Hawthorn – a gorgeous, sleek black cat who looked like this when he arrived at the shelter... when everyone thought he was a girl. Hawthorn was due to be rehomed this week with last week’s cutie, Bramble.

Tiger – the brother of Bandit and the owner of another very speckly tummy. He’s gorgeous and always up for a cuddle!

I love it when they all snuggle up together for a lunchtime nap – but I suspect the naps will be moving indoors from now on. After all, this is no ordinary shelter and they can snuggle up on a choice of settees, chairs and beds – even watch TV if they wish!

Looking ahead with Betsy

Time is running out to order from the current Idea Book & Catalogue – your last chance is 9pm on Sunday, although I prefer to keep my Sundays free where possible so please get any orders to me by the end of Saturday. As I won’t be placing an order for myself until 1^st October, the cost of shipping will be £4.95 per order. Please do check out my “out of stock” page before ordering as items are going out of stock all the time. I keep the list as up-to-date as possible but sometimes we just don’t know until we try.

Meanwhile, we demonstrators (and lots of customers, I’m sure!) are looking forward to the next catalogue, which I have in my possession and is an absolute whopper! Here’s a sneak peek of what’s to come...

Stamps: Betsy’s Blossoms, Mixed Medley

Cardstock: Whisper White, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse

Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse

Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, 1 ¼” Scallop Circle Punch, stitched satin ribbon – Gumball Green

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Hot cocoa weather

Brrr... wasn’t yesterday horrible? There was a real wintry feel and it was definitely a day for steaming mugs of cocoa. I spent the afternoon and evening making samples for my forthcoming Annual Catalogue launch and playing around with new Autumn/Winter catalogue goodies. Can’t wait to show everyone what I've been making next weekend.

Here’s a card made using the Scentsational Season bundle from the Autumn/Winter catalogue. I love the clean lines, crisp colours and simple design... which I CASEd and simplified from Cindy Malone.

Stamps: Scentsational Season, Curly Cute

Cardstock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake

Paper: Snow Festival

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green

Accessories: Big Shot, Holiday Collection Framelits

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Caturday kitten

All together now... awwwwwwww! How cute is this kitten? His name is Bramble and, when we visited last weekend, he was the newest addition to the shelter, after being found wandering along a road all by himself. He seemed to be a little intimidated by the bigger cats at the shelter (he’s the smallest one there right now) so daughter and I settled him down in this cosy bed, and watched as he fell asleep. I love how kittens fall asleep – their eyes close and they start to sway slightly as they try desperately to stay awake so as not to miss anything. And then they fall over.

And if you're after a furry addition to your household, head here - loads to choose from!  They aren't all listed on the site as cats come and go quite quickly sometimes, especially the kittens. 

Really simple tag project

Not the most elaborate project in the world but quick and simple to reproduce – and another use for those handy little tags in the Autumn/Winter catalogue. I’ve taken the plainest tag, scored it down the middle and used it to decorate a cello bag topper. I would probably stamp it with some festive words, too, but I was waiting for my Greetings of the Season (p8) set to arrive when I made this and, somewhat inevitably, haven’t got round to changing it.

If you wanted to make a lot of these – bear in mind there are only four - oops sorry, FIVE - of each design so, at first glance, only five tags suitable for this project. But don’t forget that all the tags are double-sided, with a funky DSP pattern on the reverse – so, if you can bear to hide the cute little owls, baubles and reindeer, you have plenty of options. Great for craft fairs, Christmas gifts etc!

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler

Paper: Snow Festival

Accessories: Cello bag, Snow Festival Designer Printed Tags

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Simple tag Christmas card

Got your Autumn/Winter catalogue? Turn to page 12 and check out the Snow Festival Designer Printed Tags. They’re really cute (really cheap, too!) and so much more than tags.

As tags, they’re really useful – and I’m sure they’ll be popular with those guests at Stampin’ Up!® parties who just don’t “get it” (yes, it happens sometimes!). But for those of us who really do “get it”, they’re actually quite versatile.

One has been used in the catalogue to dress up a mug as a gift and here I’ve used one for a really quick and simple card. All I’ve done to the tag is stamp a greeting (from Polar Party) and add a touch of Crystal Effects® to highlight the bauble. Then, treating it as a stamped image, I’ve layered it onto a card as normal.

Check back tomorrow for another simple use of these great tags!

Stamps: Polar Party

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, Lucky Limeade, Cherry Cobbler

Paper: Snow Festival

Ink: Lucky Limeade

Accessories: Big Shot, Polka Dots embossing folder, dotted scallop ribbon border punch, Crystal Effects®, Snow Festival Designer Printed Tags

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Really cool Christmas tree card

I LOVE this card – I demoed it at my Autumn/Winter catalogue launch and will be demoing it at parties for anyone who couldn’t make it to the launch, simply because it’s so fab.

It wasn’t my idea of course – I couldn’t come up with anything this cool. I found it somewhere on the web and traced it back to the blog of Melissa Stout, who rather handily has posted a video tutorial here.

For the swirly “sweet”, Melissa used a set called Sweets for the Sweet, a set we won’t have until 1^st October, so I used Trendy Trees (which is retiring) instead.

You can change it up however you liked – I made one using Festival of Prints paper stack, and another using Snow Festival DSP. I used green cardstock to create my scalloped strips, while Melissa used Whisper White. My downline and friend, Donna, used new Champagne Glimmer Paper on her version for a really blingy touch! 

SNOW FESTIVAL VERSION (above)

Stamps: Scentsational Season, Trendy Trees (retiring)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Gumball Green, Chocolate Chip

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Summer Starfruit, Cherry Cobbler

Accessories: Square punch, Perfect Pennants Bigz die, Holiday framelits, scallop edge punch, dotted scallop ribbon border

FESTIVAL OF PRINTS VERSION (left)

Stamps: Scentsational Season, Trendy Trees (retiring)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso

Ink: Early Espresso, Summer Starfruit, Cherry Cobbler

Accessories: Square punch, Perfect Pennants Bigz die, Holiday framelits, scallop edge punch, dotted scallop ribbon border

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Mmm...marmalade

And now for something completely different! Although I can’t lay claim to much of this project at all; it was more of a committee effort.

My daughter made the marmalade, although she insists it was “cheating” as we used some pre-cut oranges in a can, from Lakeland.

I borrowed my downline Alison’s scallop circle die to make the fabric tops.

A fellow downline, oops, I mean demonstrator, Joanne, kindly provided the stamped and punched the pieces for me, when it looked like my SU parcel wouldn’t arrive in time for my Autumn/Winter catalogue launch. In the end it did arrive the day before the launch, but having the pieces stamped ready saved me from a last-minute rush, so thanks Joanne! She used the cute new scallop circle punch, which is only 1¼” in diameter. If you already have the original, or some circle punches, imagine the layering possibilities!

The jars? Cute, aren’t they? They’re only about four inches tall and are recycled yoghurt pots. We bought the yoghurts in France this summer – they were Nestlé La Laiterie. I haven’t seen them over here but, to be fair, I haven’t really looked.  

Stamps: Mixed Medley (hostess, Autumn/Winter catty)

Cardstock: Whisper White

Fabric: Orchard Harvest

Ink: Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo

Accessories: Baker’s Twine – Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade; Scallop circle die, 1 ¼” scallop circle punch,  ¾” circle punch

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Cretan caturday

These are two of the Greek cats at the shelter – yes, they’ve travelled all the way from Crete because there’s a shelter there that is so overwhelmed. They’re called Tiger and Bandit and they’re absolutely gorgeous – so long and sleek, with fantastic speckled tummies!

Tiger got stuck on the roof the other day and had to be rescued – he couldn’t get down because Pebbles was there. Yes, Pebbles (the one with issues) is still there, not sure what’s happening about her new home. I suppose it doesn’t help that the cat carrier which has been put in her favourite spot in the hope of trapping her has become the favourite sleeping place of Teddy.

This takes the biscuit

This is my take on a fab card by Margaret Raburn. I love these little gingerbread men and the way Margaret combined them with the new Woodgrain embossing folder. In fact, this card was the inspiration for one of my launch party Make & Takes... you know, the one I still haven’t taken a photo of!

The Woodgrain folder goes perfectly with our new Core-dinations textured cardstock. Unlike our retiring textured cardstock and our smooth cardstock, this has a different coloured core so that you can sand it to reveal shade beneath. This is how you get such a great wood-effect – emboss with the folder, then sand the raised areas. Love it!

Red pearls and brads? Yes, very easy if you use a permanent marker (I used a Sharpie). I’ve also been told by the very knowledgeable Monica Gale that you can indeed use Stampin’ Up!® markers for this... just give them a blast of hairspray afterwards to seal.

I’ve also used the new Snow Festival DSP, which is just gorgeous. And the eyelet border punch, to show people how great it was before it retired... sadly it’s now out of stock so if you don’t have it by now,  you’ll have to manage with a different one!

Stamps: Scentsational Season, Pennant Parade

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Core-dinations – Early Espresso

Paper: Snow Festival

Ink: Soft Suede, Gumball Green

Accessories: Big Shot, Holiday Collection framelits, Woodgrain embossing folder, Word Window Punch, Basic Pearls, Basic Rhinestones

All products by Stampin’ Up!®