Paper Dolls Birthdays

Two members of our team, Hazel & Joanne, have had birthdays this week, and I am hoping that Joanne has got her card, otherwise this post will spoil the surprise!

Here is the card & gift bag I made for Hazel - the card for Joanne was similar but I used slightly different colours.

The card blank is Soft Suede with mats of More Mustard and Spice Cake Designer Series Paper.  The buttons in this product suite are really big, but I decided to make a real impact with a rosette behind using some Pool Party Designer Fabric.

To make the rosette, I punched out a circle of card and covered it in sticky strip.  Then I tore some of the fabric into a 1" wide strip and pleated it around the outside of the circle, making sure that I caught the fabric on the sticky strip.  I carried on working round the circle towards the centre.

For the middle of the button, I stamped one of the images from the Spiced Paisley stamp set and punched it out with the 1 1/4" circle punch.  I then pierced holes through, aligning with the holes in the button.  The fabric circle was positioned behind the button and holes pierced, again aligning the holes through the button.  Linen thread was sewn through all the layers and stamped & punched tags tied to the thread.

The 'bag in a box' I made to match was adapted to hold a couple of ink pads. 

Hope you both had lovely birthdays ladies?!

Just one thing before I go, Me & Sara are doing the Langsett Barn craft fair this Sunday.  If you fancy coming over for a crafty natter, here are the directions from Sara's website.

Jan x

Easter Blossoms Card

Hi everyone!
Hope you had a nice weekend, mine was really busy with moving boxes, packing and sneeking in some preparation for a workshop on Thursday! 

I also made a card for my Mums sister, Auntie Val (she hates me calling her 'Auntie' tee hee).

 The card blank is just some white card from my stash but as my Auntie Val loves pink, I used Melon Mambo for the main colour, with Pink Pirouette used on the mats, behind the vellum cardstock (with the scalloped edge) the sentiment and behind the punched corners of the Melon Mambo card.

The vellum mat was stamped in Whisper White Craft ink using the little girl image from Easter Blossoms set and then white embossing powder was sprinkled on before heating to set.  Then I stamped the blossom image in black Stazon, turned over the vellum and coloured in the blossoms with my Melon Mambo marker.  Some of the centres of the flowers also had Bravo Burgundy ink dotted to the centre to give a little bit of depth.  I haven't used this technique for ages (thanks for reminding me about it Sara!).

The mat of vellum was matted on the Pink Pirouette card (I used the Scalloped Trim and Scalloped Trim Corner punches with white brads to secure it in place.  On the bottom corner, I added some tags from Tiny Tags, punched out with the jewellery tag punch.

The sentiment is from the Curly Cute set and was stamped in Melon Mambo ink onto Whisper White cardstock and then mounted onto a mat of Pink Pirouette.  The little flowers at each side of the sentiment are made using the flower Punch from Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, the small 'eyes' from the Owl Builder Punch and Basic Pearls were added to finish off.

Bob back later in the week to see what I am doing at the workshop with Julie in Rotherham on Thursday...!

Jan
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Happy Birthday Anne!

Oh, I have had a lovely weekend!!!

I had Friday off to get everything ready for the class on Saturday (hello ladies ***waves***).

The class was great fun and the ladies loved the punch art animals.  I will post some photos of them soon.

On Sunday I finally got round to making a mini album of the photos we took in April when we renewed our wedding vows.  As I havent done any scrapbooking for ages it was lovely to sit and chill whilst looking at the pictures & it brought all the feelings back.

Today has been another day off (I have been so ready for a break from work I can tell you!).  And I have just been chilling out with my Mum & her sister, my Auntie Val.  Anyway, enough of me rambling on!  Here is a couple of picures of a birthday card I made for the lovely Anne, not just one of my customers, but a real friend too.

The outer petals are punched out of Perfect Plum card using the Decorative Label punch - trimmed to a point at one end and then curled using a bone folder.  The next row of petals were cut in half and then trimmed and curled similar to the first ones.

You might not be able to tell from the photos but the third row of Perfet Plum petals were punched out with the Curly Label Extra Large punch and then curled into a cone shape before being secured in the centre of the flower.

To cover the centre I punched 6 Scalloped Circles out of Whisper White card and punched a hole through the centre.  I sprayed them (very lightly) with water, then scrunched them each into a tiny ball.  Whilst they were still wet, I threaded a brad throught the centre hole and arranged them so they looked like a carnation. 

Once dry, I glued the 'carnation' into the centre of the flower and sprayed with Shimmer List to give it some sparkle and then attached it to the card blank (Melon Mambo with a mat of Whisper White card).  The mat was randomly stamped with Purfect Plum ink using the little flourish from Tiny tags and the sentiment is from a lovely set called Curly Cute.

If you would like some instructions on how to make the flowers, please contact me.  I cant remember the name of the ladies blog I saw some similar flowers on - If you have seen it, please let me know so I can giver her credit.

Thanks for stopping by!
Jan
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Hope you are enjoying the long weekend?

This is my first weekend off for over 5 weeks so I have finally been having a proper play in my craft room.

A few weeks ago I took my Mum to a shop near Sheffield where the lovely Julie was doing some demonstrations using distress inks and I have finally been able to sit and do the same techniques but using Stampin' Up! products - and they work!!

I dont know why I thought that they wouldnt - they are waterbased, so theres no reason for them not to. I havent done that much distressing with inks for the last couple of years so it was fantastic to play and get really messy.  Heres one of the cards I made.

 I  took a piece of Botanical Gazette Designer Series Paper and used the Freindly Words Wheel in Early Espresso ink along the bottom.  Then I wheeled a couple of times over the entire piece in Versamark ink using the Texture Wheel (I am now in love with this wheel!!!) and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

The sides of the paper were torn and distressed and then I used sponge daubers to apply Early Espresso and Marina Mist ink, gradually blending the edges.  The embossed areas from the Texture Wheel are protected from the ink, giving a gorgeous mottled effect.  

The DSP was then mounted on a mat of Early Espresso card which was torn slightly larger than the DSP and the edges on two corners curled (you could use a coctail stick, but I used a round file from my Distressing Essentials kit). This was then mounted on a Marina Mist card blank.

I inked the edges of a die cut butterfly from Beautiful Butterflies and then stamped it with the En Francias background stamp in Early Espresso ink.  A line of basic pearls was placed down the centre and it was attached to the card.

To finish off I used my Tiny Tags set and the Medium Jewelery Tag punch, attaching the tags with linen thread.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a lovely weekend.

Jan
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Wow

What a MEGGA Week.

I havent had much of a chance to update my blog as its been a really busy week for me.

On Saturday, I held our Barnsley Crop and New Catalogue Launch Party and it was brilliant - thanks Ladies *waves*. I hire a room in a local community centre and set up our usual area as normal, then had a separate table set up with lots of samples and some of the new products.  I used a couple of table cloths to cover the new stuff and everyone was really good - no peeking, at all!  All the ladies left with goody bags and examples of ribbon/stamps (I will post pictures in the next few days).

We had our Silver Wedding yesterday so we renued our wedding vows and went out for a lovely meal.  It was a last minute thing really as my DH isnt the most romantic soul and wasnt too keen on any fuss, but it was beautiful - I dont know how I stopped myself from blubbering during the service.

We received lots to pressies and some stunning cards.  I told Ian not to buy a card (I havent converted him into making them yet...) so I made a joint card for us both.  Here it is.

The card blank is an A4 sheet of Baja Breeze, folded in half.  I stamped our names in Versamark onto Shimmery White cardstock using the Monogram Sweet Alphabet and heat embossed with silver embosssing powder.  The numbers from Schoolbook Serif, and 'years' from the Just Perfect set were all stamped and heat embossed in the same way.  Thank goodness for the Stamp-A-Ma-jig - I would have been stumped without it for this card!!!

The hearts were punched out of the Bride Specialist Cardstock (now retired) using the Full Heart Punch with a tiny bow added to one, and Basic Pearls to the other.  I used the Scallop Trim Border punch on a strip of Baja Breeze cardstock and added the punched hearts.  This was then mounted on some more Bride cardstock.

I trimmed a strip of Baja Breeze cardstock and used the Scallop Trim Border punch along one edge and wrapped strips of Whisper White Organza ribbon and silver elastic cord around it before mounting on more Bride cardstock. 

I used the Scallop Trim Border on the top and bottom of the Shimmery White cardstock and then assembled everything onto the Baja Breeze card blank. To finish off, I stamped the 'friends' and 'love' from the Tiny Tags set and punched out with the Medium Jewelry Tag punch and added the bow.

Thanks for stopping by, I will post pictures of the samples of the items from my Launch Party in the next few days.

Jan
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Blog Hop 23rd January and Make & Take Church Group

Hope you have some spare time this coming weekend - were having another Blog Hop - and its a big one!!!

Its going to start on Sunday 23rd January at 10am.

There are about 40 of us from the In Love With Stamping website, split into 4 groups of 10 and we are all making projects using the stamps from the Sale-A-Bration promotion.  If you have seen the Blog Hops in the past they are amazing and give you dozens of ideas for colours and designs.  All you have to do is start at one blog, read the post and then click on the link to take you to the next one.

Make sure you put some time to one side on Sunday to have some proper relaxation and inspiration!!!

Anyway, back to reality, heres a picture of the make and take from last weeks church group workshop.

 I purposely kept it really simple as there were some there with mobility issues and lots of new crafters but I did take lots of stamps for those who fancied having a play.

The Bashful Blue A4 card was cut lenthways and scored at the centre point to give a C6 card blank.  We tied a knot in a strip of the beautiful 5/8 Organza Ribbon (this is so soft and sits perfectly on cards!) and then wrapped it around some Rose Red card.  This was just attached to one side of the front of the card blank.

The bird was punched out of Bashful Blue card using the Two Step Bird punch and the leaf / wing from Wild Wasabi card.  They were just mounted onto a square of Whisper White and mounted again on a slighly bigger square of Rose Red card.

As I took a few stamp sets for people to chose what they wanted to do, I used one of the litte stamps from the Tiny Tags set for the sentiment (here I used 'Friends'). 

To finish off, I punched out a scalloped square from So Saffron card, cut it in half and attached it to the back of the bird topper before adding it on to the card blank - simples!

The ladies loved it and seemed to really enjoy the afternoon.  Hope to see you all again soon!

Thanks for stopping by.  And dont forget to come back to look at the Blog Hop on Sunday!!!

Jan



I hope that you have had a great time with your family and friends over the Christmas period.

Apart from having a really bad cold and cough its been a lovely Christmas for us.  My Mum and brother came over for Christmas Day lunch and then we went to DH Dads for tea. All the family in a two bedroomed flat (about 28 adults and loads of children!!!).  It was a bit like musical chairs though - if you went for anything to eat or drink, you lost your seat!

Santa brought me money this year as there are lots of things I would like to get from SU - wah hoo!!  I also bought a nice bracelet with some of the money (this was partly because DH was wanting me to get a bicycle with it - yer, right...!)

I was quite ill over Christmas and couldnt deliver some of the presents and cards until recently, and I didnt want to post any pics of the items I made before everyone had seen what they were getting.  As I delivered my last items yesterday, I thought I would share them.

Heres the mini calendar and note holder.  Yes, its using my favourate DSP - Lap of Luxury - its so nice, I just couldnt resist using it.  I also made these for each of my lovely Stampers 10 ladies (hope you liked them!?)

The acrylic holders were part of a share over at In Love With Stamping ages ago and I hadnt had much chance to use them.  The holders are designed to hold paper between the layers so I just cut the DSP to size and slid it in.  The pens were a little bit fiddly, but I loved how they looked when they were done.  I bought the little calendars from a local craft shop and they were just adhered to the front of the holder with post it notes attached to the back.

I struggled to find a way to hold the pens but the ribbon seemed to work OK.  For the ones at the front (using the narrow Grossgrain ribbon) I made loops of ribbon which the pen nib sits in.  Then I wrapped a strip of ribbon around the holder to hold the top of the pen.  The wider ribbon did work better though and I didnt need to do anything else to hold the pens as the ribbon is strong enough on its own.

Heres a photo of the back showing the post it notes attached to the rear of the holder.

The friends sentiment is from Tiny Tags and was mounted onto a scalloped oval stamped with Perfect Punches.

Sorry its taken so long to post photos of the holders.  I will post a picture of the last Christmas cards I made (not using a Christmas themed stamp set though!) in the next couple of days. 

Hope you are enjoying the Christmas period and thanks for bobbing over.
Jan
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New Catalogue Launch Party

Its here!

The new Stampin' Up 2010-2011 New Ideas Book and Catalogue is available now. Yey!!!  Its a big file so takes a while to download - but its worth it!

As demonstrators we got to see the new catalogue at the begining of September, and its been soooo hard not letting everyone see how good it is.

I am having a party tomorrow so all my friends and regular customers can see some of the new products including the new colours, clear mount stamps, Colour Coach etc.  Here is the invitation I sent to them.

As I wanted to show them some of the gorgeous new colours I used Marina Mist, Cajun Craze and Crumb Cake.  Now, you will probably look at this combination and think 'I would never have put these colours together'.  But the new Colour Coach takes lots of the hard work out of choosing colours as it has examples of colours which work really well together.

I would also like to invite anyone else who wants to look at the new stuff to come to the party. My friends and regular customers are having the first look - so this invitation is for you to come between 11am and 2pm. Please contact me so I can give you directions to the party!


Recipe
Cardstock - Cajun Craze, Marina Mist and Crumb Cake
Ink - Cajun Craze and Marina Mist
Stamp sets - Vintage Vogue, Sincere Salutations, Tiny Tags
Accessories - Two Step Bird Punch, Medium Jewelry Tag Punch, Linen Thread

I will post some pictures soon of the swaps from a Stampin' Up! training event I went to in Manchester recently so you can see the amazing work of some of the other Demonstrators.

Hope to see you in Saturday, dont forget to contact me for details!!!!
Jan
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All Heart Wedding Card

Good morning. 

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, we are in the middle of trying to get our house ready to put on the market so I have been busy 'decluttering' and taking things to charity shops etc.  DH is frantically decorating so we have been soooooo busy for the last couple of weeks.

I also spent 5 hours ironing the other day so we now have an additional bedroom which we had forgotten about - oh, what fun...!

Anyway, I have a wedding to go to this weekend and thanks to Sara, I dont have to worry about a design for their card (check out hers here).

The Bridesmaid designer series paper (well, its more like card really) is stunning.  Like the Bride DSP it can take on other colours too by adding ink / brayering so its very adaptable.

Recipe
Stamp set - Tiny Tags
Cardstock - Kraft, Very Vanilla
Designer Series Paper - Bridesmaid, Bella Bleu
Accessories - Full Heart Punch, Medium Jewelry Tag, flat backed pearls (pretties kit)
Ribbon - Very Vanilla 1/4 Grosgrain ribbon

Get Well Soon

My friend, Kath, had a car accident last week.  She is doing ok now but is still battered and bruised - glad you are starting to get back to normal Kath.

Here is the card I made for her - can you guess what punch I used to make the petals of the flowers?

They are the wings from the new Extra Large Two Step Punch!!! I inked around the edges of each 'wing' and grouped them into threes before attaching to each branch (also from the punch) to look like flowers.  I first saw this idea on Julie's blog.

The tiny tags attched under the bow are so cute - I couldnt resist using them! There are 17 stamps in the Tiny Tags set (thats right - 17 stamps for £18.95) and the Meduim Jewellery Tag Punch fits some of them perfectly.

Recipe;

Cardstock - Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Rose Pink, Certainly Celery and Whisper White.

Ink - Rose Pink, Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose.

Accessories - Two Step Bird Punch, Scalloped Border, Pretty in Pink ribbon, Medium Jewellery Tag.

Non SU - Die Cut.