Saturday 31 January 2009

New stamps, New cards

These are the cards I made with my lovely new stamp sets: Big Bold Birthday (light blue & orange) and, from the retired section, Unfrogettable. I just love the cute froggies!!
The blue card also shows my big block stamp that creates dots all over the card. It's a really clever and subtle effect when done in the coordinating ink.
The orange card had some free-style doodling to add to it's 'wonky' feel.

Thursday 29 January 2009

Craft Open House

A free open house where you can come and see some of Stampin' Up!'s great products in person, get crafting, make and take a free craft project away with you and have a great time! Just drop me an email to let me know if you're interested or come along if you already know where I live!

When: Saturday 7th March
Where: My house, near Guildford
Time: 11am-1pm

There will also be goodies for you to take home and enjoy!

The New Look site

Yes the site looks very different... Basically I tried to do some clever template downloading and didn't save the original format. So I messed up the html code or something and couldn't undo it! Lesson duly learned!!!

So below are the posts I saved from the old style blog. Onwards & upwards...

Previous Posts

Nature cards
I thought I'd make some more nature cards. It feels like spring is on the way with the lighter evening so these were in celebration of that!The green card is using a few things I found hanging around. It features More Mustard coloured patterned paper and stamps from the Hostess sets section of the catalogue. The gold thread is from my Christmas wrapping!! There are some green glitter glue dots on the right of the greeting but I'm not sure they scanned properly.
The brown card was another copied idea from the Stampin Up! Sale-A-Bration catalogue. I really wanted to use my new stamps and I was beginning to flag!

Real Red fest
I thoug ht about making some more cards to have as a stash, and began playing about. I just couldn't resist some gorgeous Real Red card and made these simple cards.
The thank-you card has versamark background all over the red main body of the card. I added the stitching detail with a gel pen and the brad was covered with a glue dot and then dipped in glitter.
The Valentine was just me playing about with the same colours. I am so addicted to that heart stamp. It's so versatile and I love the hand-made look it gives cards. The Happy Valentine's Day wording was embossed using white embossing powder.

My 1st Sale-A-Bration Set!
I got my first Sale-A-Bration set and could wait to use it! It made great use of my watercolour pastels and also I finally figured out my Stamp-a-ma-jig, which I have to say is one of the simplest but best products that Stampin' Up! sell. It's a tool that allows you to get your stamp exactly where you want it.This card used 2 step stamping which means that I stamped the solid parts of the flower and leaf first (using watercolour pastels) and then when that had dried I used the corresponding ink (cameo coral and old olive) over the top to give the flower and leaf outline detail. I also used the markers to join the leaf to the stem of the flower.The stitching detail is just drawn on free hand to add a bit more of a border, using close to cocoa marker.
I had a bit of a shopping splurge on Friday so I have 2 more SAB sets coming next week: Yummy & Polka Dot Punches so look out for posts featuring those.

More Workshops
Right well at last I am organised and have signed up to teach 2 classes at Arty Crafty before Easter. Each class will run twice - once on a Thursday evening and once on a Saturday morning. So get booking!!!
I'll be repeating my popular tag book class and then there is this new class featuring.... BUTTERFLIES! My favourite. Each card features a different technique including heat embossing, punches, stamping, collage, wire craft and they all use lots of lovely cards and papers.

Spring cards
Spring cards! The ideas were shamelessly copied from the Stampin' Up! catalogue when I was suffering from a lack of creativity but still fancied making cards. I think they came out pretty well.They are stamps that you can earn from hosting a Stampin' Up! party. They are really popular and it's no wonder as they are extremely versatile.

Wedding invitations
As it's now less than 3 months until I get married I thought I should get the invites out. Well, actually, everyone was pressuring me so I had to (finally) make a decision. The trouble with crafting is that the more you look at and think about something the more possibilities you see before you!

Here is my final design that has been mailed out this week to our guests. I found the idea on Split Coast Stampers and adapted it to suit my own needs. I don't know if you can see from this picture but the large flowers have little diamantes that I added and also the original design I saw was in pink.
Fingers crossed the guests like it. Now all I have to do is sit and wait for replies....

My first Stampin' Up! scrapbook page
At last I have completed a scrapbook page that exclusively features Stampin' Up! products. Here it is. It had nice photo but I am shy so I covered it up on here! Anyway, just so you can imagine, it's a black and white photo of me with my fiance pulling silly faces.I've even managed to get my new Sale-a-bration set into the page! What do you think?

SPECIAL OFFER
You may have wondered where I have gone.I am still here! I've just been getting my wedding invitations out so it's been all hands on deck. To make it up to you all, lovely readers, I am offering FREE postage and packaging on all orders until 28th February. Yet another reason to join the Sale-a-bration!!

Mini File Photo Book
I made this photo file in such a short time. I got the idea from Memory Makers Magazine where they had these cute photo files. There was some patterned paper begging to be made into something... and voila!As you can see the paper is not remotely wintery but hey-ho. Inside each file I put a couple of black and white photos, but you could add journalling, ticket stubs or other momentos.

Sale-a-bration!
Hooray for Stampin' Up! They have an amazing offer available from now until the 28th February. For every £45 you spend you get a FREE stamp set only available during this period! How cool is that? Free stamps in the Sale-a-bration (SAB)!!
Plus the stamp sets are absolutely gorgeous - drop me an email if you'd like me to send you the brochure or to book a workshop.This is how to take advantage of the deal:
Customers:
Make an order of £45 to earn a free SAB stamp set. If you place an order of £90 you receive two free SAB sets... etc. There is no limit to the number of sets you can earn and you don't have to attend a workshop to earn a free set. Simply let me know what you want to order via email or in person and it'll be on it's way to you!
Hostesses:
Hold a £300 workshop and receive a free SAB stamp set. This is in addition to your usual hostess benefits. You can't lose!
New recruits:
During SAB, there are also extra free stamps for new recruits - making the Starter Kit even better value at £139. If you'd like to find out whether becoming a demonstrator is right for you, please contact me and we can arrange a chat to discuss it further.

Tiara making
I made this tiara for a friend. It was really simple! You just get a simple aliceband (I got this one in a pack of 3 for £1.99 from New Look) that will sit happily in a tiara position. Then you wind silver wire with green seed beads around the top of the band. You don't have to go right to the end as the band is most hidden.
Starting at the centre of the band, add pearl and clear beads in twists to the band. Start at the top of the sticky up bits. Try visiting your local £ shop for beads and wire. The total cost of this tiara was about 50p!!
Once all the tall twists are made, add some pearl beads in between each sticky up bit, and there you have your finished tiara!


Pencil pot
The kitchen has been redecorated and I've become focused on accessorising it! So I made this recycled pencil tin. It's an old soup tin covered in paper free from a magazine and then I tried out my new alphabet stamps and added a bit of raffia. Voila!
Useful and aesthetically pleasing!