Today saw two very important announcements from Stampin' Up! that I need to make you aware of. The first of these is in relation to the Stampin' Trimmer:

Stampin’ Up! has decided to retire the Stampin’ Trimmer as of 3 June 2019, including all accessories—replacement cutting blades, scoring blades, and cutting mats. They have experienced challenges with the supplier and are taking the opportunity to research and explore a replacement option for this product, which will not be the same as the current Stampin’ Trimmer. 

While the replacement cutting blades will also retire with the trimmer and will not be featured in the annual catalogue, Stampin' Up! has ordered what would normally be six months of inventory based on recent historical patterns to help  customers during this transition away from the current trimmer. When the retiring list goes live on 15 April, the order limit for the blades will increase from three to six (and the limit will remain at six until they’re no longer available). From now until September, Stampin' Up! will receive intermittent shipments from the supplier. But please know that this news could cause faster inventory depletion. Throughout these months, we anticipate times when the blades will not be orderable (and not offered as a backorder) - this is currently the case here in the UK. During those downtimes, you will have the option to enter an e-mail address to receive notification when the blades are available again.

Click the images below to head right over to my online store to start shopping for the Stampin’ Trimmer and the replacement consumable items:

Stampin' Trimmer (Metric) (£28.00)

Stampin' Trimmer Cutting Blades (£5.50)

The second Big News item of the day is that Stampin’ Up! also announced that they’ll be transitioning to a new manufacturer for their dies and embossing folders moving forward.

Stampin’ Up! is moving to a direct-to-manufacturer relationship. This means that they will work directly with the factories who manufacture their dies and folders instead of working with another company who then works with different factories. This gives them greater control and potential for increased speed to market, which can only be a good thing. 

Standard Cutting Pads (£10.25)	Big Shot Embossing Mats (£14.00)	Big Shot Die Brush - New Configuration (£11.75)	Magnetic Platform (£37.00)	Precision Base Plate (£23.00)	Big Shot Platform (£24.00)
Big Shot (£102.00)

Wednesday - how did we get to the middle of the week already?! I've had a busy couple of days, with today including my fortnightly coffee and card drop-in session at Bells in Kingsthorpe, Northampton followed by a get-together over lunch with one of my team members. I am busy preparing my new catalogue samples and getting my catalogues ready to go out to both my online and face to face customers. If you've purchased Stampin' Up! products from me in the last six months, a complimentary catalogue will be winging its way out to you within the next week. If you haven't purchased from me recently but would like a copy of the new catalogue, please do get in touch with me either via email joanne@thecraftyowl.co.uk or by phone and I will arrange to send a catalogue out to you too!

Today I have a video tutorial to share with you! Do you remember this card that I made a while ago?

I used this fun flower embellishment made with the It's My Party Baker's twine to decorate my Botanical Builder Framelits Die colour-blocked card. You can read more about it on the original blog post here if you missed it or would like to refresh your memory.

I promised you a video tutorial on how to make those cute baker's twine looped flower embellishments and finally here it is: 

They really are such fun to make and can be used to dress up cards and packaging and can be made from all kinds of baker's twine and linen thread. 

I hope you enjoyed today's video and it inspires you to have a go and try something new. I'll be back tomorrow with a fun birthday card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!

Good evening everyone! I hope your week has started well. I've had my first technique class of the month yesterday along with both a rounders and cricket match (observing not participating, and both wins!), and a second technique class and this month's Project Life Memory Keeping class today so it's been a busy couple of days. Just time to pop in this evening and share the first of the cards from this month's technique class, featuring the Hummingbird in the 'Picture Perfect' stamp set. I used this week's sketch over at As You See It for my layout:

I'm also linking up with Stamp Ink Paper again this week, as their challenge is to feature one main element on your project and make it really stand out. The hummingbird is the most tricky stamp in the set to align, but when you get it right is so worth it in terms of the result. Here is my finished card:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Picture Perfect Hummingbird - 'Picture Perfect' is a multi-step image stamp set, with each of the stamps having two, three or four layers. The hummingbird comes in four pieces; for my bird I stamped my first layer in Bermuda Bay, I stamped the second stamp in Melon Mambo, the third layer in Pacific Point and the fourth and final one in Night of Navy. Whilst it sounds complicated, this set is made from photopolymer which makes lining up the images really straightforward. I find it helpful to use the eye to align the images and use a piercing mat or similar foam pad as a base for your stamping for an even image. I do prefer to stamp my bird in the order that the stamps are numbered and if all else fails, a stamp-a-ma-jig will help you to align the images perfectly.  It is definitely a stamp where positioning improves with practice and I must say my ladies today stamped with amazing results, each producing four perfectly stamped hummingbirds on the first attempt!

Partial Die Cutting using Circle Framelits - I stamped my bird onto a piece of Whisper White and having fussy cut his wing tip by hand, I then cut a partial circle up to the diagonal before adhering behind so that it aligned with my cut away circle on my card base. Circle Framelits are invaluable for this kind of partial diecutting, as you simply roll through the Big Shot to the desired point without cutting the whole way through. I've used this technique with this stamp before here; it adds an interesting detail to an otherwise clean and simple card.

Pop of Pink - Melon Mambo is one of my favourite pinks in the Stampin' Up! colour collections and whilst there is only the smallest amount featured on the throat of my bird, I picked up this colour in both my card base and satin knotted ribbon to give a real pop of colour to my otherwise blue card.

Here's today's visual summary of the key things needed to make today's card for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

That's all from me today; I have another busy day tomorrow, with my Coffee and Card Drop In Session at Bell of Northampton in Kingsthorpe and I'll also be at the in-store Spring Open Evening at Bells too. you can find full details on the latter here. 

Hopefully I'll squeeze in time for a quick blog post with another of my Picture Perfect class cards. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Picture Perfect Photopolymer Stamp Set	Melon Mambo 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock
Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a colour combination for you:

This colour combination left me stumped for a while, until I decided that Soft Suede would be a good colour for a bear - take a look:

The low-down on today's card is as follows:

Papa Bear - I stamped my Daddy Bear from the 'Bear Hugs' stamp set in Early Espresso on Soft Suede card stock and cut him out using my Big Shot and co-ordinating Bear Hugs Framelits, curving his arms in slightly so that he could 'hold' on to his fishing pole. 

Gone' Fishin' - The 'Bear Hugs' set comes with lots of fun embellishments; I decided to go with a fish on this card that I coloured in Mint Macaron and Lost Lagoon with my Aquapainter, then painted liberally with clear Wink of Stella to give him shimmery scales. I attached my fish to a piece of white baker's twine, which I in turn knotted to my cocktail stick fishing pole. How cute?!

Geometrical Forest - I decided I needed to conjure up some forest or at least a feeling of the outdoors behind my lake, but was somewhat at a loss as to how to do this with such a limited colour palette. I perused my designer series papers and bingo - this geometrical design, whilst not including trees of any kind, works as a background. I do think those triangles are evocative of trees (ok, I know it's a stretch, but if you have a better suggestion do leave me a comment below - I'd love to hear it!) And where did I find it? In the 'It's My Party' Designer Series Paper stack of all places!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's colours; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

I've had a busy day today with both my first Technique Class of the month and my monthly Project Life Memory Keeping Class. Today's card though is all about tomorrow; it's the card that we will be making at my Drop-in Coffee and Card morning at Bell of Northampton. This week we will be making a pop up card using the Party Pop-Up Thinlits - take a look:

I've featured a card front similar to this one on my blog previously (you can read the detail here) - for this one though the fun happens on the inside:

I used one of the fun Party Pop-Up Thinlits for a surprise inside greeting, cut out of Whisper White and coloured with my Stampin' Write markers to co-ordinate with the front of my card. Added gold Wink of Stella for the candle flames, of course!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any.  

I would love you to join me at Bell's tomorrow between 10-12 (you can find a reminder of the full details here) - hope to see you there!

I will be back tomorrow with one of the cards from today's technique class featuring the Rose Wonder bundle and the new, final set of Weekly Deals; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Party With Cake Clear-Mount Bundle	It's My Party Enamel Dots	Gold Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Lots Of Labels Framelits Dies	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad
Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Big Shot	2015-2017 In Color Stampin' Write Markers	Many Marvelous Markers
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Party Punch Pack

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host our challenge this week and I have an interesting colour combination for you to play along with:

I knew when I chose my colour palette some months ago that I would do something with flowers; for my card this week I was inspired to use the Botanical Builder Framelits Dies - I just love those flowers and I knew they would be great to create the tropical flowers I had in mind with my colour scheme. I also used this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday for the layout for my card:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Lots of Layers - I love layers and this card has lots of them! I kept them either plain or with a unified pattern of polka dots so that they wouldn't overwhelm the sentiment and flowers that are the focal point of my card.

Subtles versus Brights - Balancing my colour choices today may be considered a challenge in itself. I used my Brights largely as accent colours, although the one thing I did differently on my card was stamp my sentiment if Soft Sky, the lightest colour. This is a real departure for me as normally I would stamp it in the strongest darkest colour for impact, yet sometimes it pays to take a more subtle approach - I hope you agree :-)

The Perfect Accent - Yes I used those White Perfect Accents for my flowers again - I love them, whether left 'naked' as here today or coloured up using my Sharpies. They make such a great flower centre.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colours. We are off to basketball today but no hockey - one more week off for Easter until we are back on the pitch! This means cycling if the sun is shining or board games if it rains - let's see where we end up!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Botanical Builder Framelits Dies	Tin Of Cards Photopolymer Stamp Set	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad
Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock	Brights Designer Series Paper Stack	Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock
Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Big Shot	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	White Perfect Accents
Melon Mambo 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon

Today the lovely Kylie Bertucci, an Australian Stampin' Up! demonstrator, is hosting an international blog highlight with the theme of 'love'. I am delighted to be taking part and since I have been working with the Rose Wonder stamp set and Rose Garden Thinlits a lot lately as they feature in one of my April Stamp technique Classes, I decided to use them to create a special wedding card to share with you today:

Whilst the photograph is lovely, I can't tell you just how pretty and sparkly this card is in real life! Every part of it shines. So here's the low down on today's card:

A White Wedding - Whilst white cards can be tricky to photograph, there is nothing more stunning for a special wedding card. I used shimmery white cardstock which has a wonderful subtle sparkle and lustre and is perfect for a special card. I also kept my roses white in colour, using Dazzling Diamonds glitter in its 'raw' state to add to the purity of my card. 

Roses, Roses - My regular blog followers will know that my style generally is very clean and layered and today's card is very typical of that. I decided to create an inset panel of roses using my Rose Garden Thinlits, cutting them to fit into a frame that I'd cut out using my Big Shot and Square Framelits. As an alternative to paper-piecing the outlines and centres, I decided to try something different: I backed my frame with acetate, turned it over and painted inside the rose outlines with Crystal Effects, then sprinkled it liberally with Dazzling Diamonds glitter and left it to dry. I then flipped it over again before adhering to my card. This creates a sparkle that will even outshine glimmer paper, but has the benefit of being contained within the frame so no worries about glitter shedding from the completed card. Bonus!

A Touch of Silver - The only colour other than white that I used on my card was silver, with silver foil for my background mat layer and for my heat embossed sentiment. Just enough to frame my card and enable my sentiment to stand out - well, you can't really read white-on-white can you?!  I did toy with adding some silver satin ribbon, but decided against it as it detracted from the clean lines of my frame. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Do check out the other cards in the blog hop for inspiration; I would love it if you could pop over and vote on my card in the gallery by clicking here - the designers of the cards with the most votes will get to participate in one of Kylie's monthly international blog hops, so your votes all count!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Rose Wonder Photopolymer Bundle	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock	Silver Foil Sheets	Window Sheets	Crystal Effects
Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter	Squares Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)

I've had a busy day today hence my late post - more time crafting and less time blogging, I'm afraid! Anyway, I just thought I would write a quick post to share a 'something old, something new' card that I made today using this week's Mojo Monday sketch:

My 'something new' is the 'Picture Perfect' stamp set that I had out on my desk preparing for May's technique class when we will be using that set. For today's card I paired it with some retired DSP from my hoard:

The details for today's card are as follows:

Something Old - This retired High Tide Designer Series Paper has lots of nautical and sealife patterns and I remembered this one featuring a coral starfish. The panels on this sketch lend themselves to co-ordinating DSP and I knew this card would give me the perfect opportunity to use up some of my old papers.

Something New - The starfish is the only image in the 'Picture Perfect' stamp set I've yet to use, so that was naturally my image of choice today. I stamped my starfish first in Blushing Bride, then overlaid the second image in Calypso Coral to tie it in with the coral starfish on my chosen DSP. I then cropped my image using my Circles Framelits.

Something Blue - Whilst I didn't borrow anything to make today's card, in keeping with the saying there is most definitely 'something blue': I used Pacific Point cardstock to give me a bright and solid base for my background to bring together my sentiment and patterned papers and ensure my card remained cohesive. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on this project for you to pin for easy reference:

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Picture Perfect Photopolymer Stamp Set	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad	Pacific Point A4 Cardstock
Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad

Good Friday blessings one and all! I've spent most of today outdoors making the most of the sunny weather; I met my girlfriends for a run this morning and we went on a James family bike ride this afternoon. No time to craft, but since the forecast is dreadful for the rest of the week I'm sure I'll make up for it! Today's card is for the challenge over at The Friday Mashup. I love this challenge and am sad to read that this one is their last one!

This week you can use the sketch above or create a project with an Easter theme and chicks or bunnies, or mashup and create with both. I went with the latter for this card, although I do have a mashup card planned for a few days time! Here's today's card:

I actually made this card with the ladies at my Coffee and Card session at Bell's in Northampton this week. The key elements of my fun Easter card are as follows:

An oval egg - I used my Big Shot and Ovals Framelits to create my fun Easter egg in my layer of Pink Pirouette cardstock. Now I know that technically an egg is more pointed at one end, but without an egg framelit this oval makes a pretty good alternative! Before cutting out my oval, I stamped my chick onto the card. Why? Read on below to find out!

An Easter work of art - To decorate my egg, I cut a second mat of white the same size as my pink layer and stamped the large brushstroke stamp from the 'Work of Art' stamp set in a variety of pastel colours and placed this behind the aperture. The curve of the stamped image adds to the illusion of the egg shape.

A happy chick - The little chick from the 'Honeycomb Happiness' Sale-A-Bration set has been getting lots of use this week as he is perfect for Easter cards. I stamped mine onto So Saffron cardstock, snipped him out with my paper scissors and coloured his beak with my Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write marker. I didn't fussy cut those fiddly legs though - remember the chick I stamped on the pink layer earlier? Yes, I simply coloured the ones on this layer with my Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write marker and then lined up my yellow chick with the stamp outline, adhering him with a couple of Stampin' Dimensionals. Clever, right? You have just 6 more days to get your hands on the 'Honeycomb Happiness' stamp set for free with a £45 order; if it's on your wish list, don't leave it too late!

An Easter sentiment courtesy of the 'Easter Lamb' stamp and a trio of Itty Bitty punched flowers completes my card. 

Here's the visual summary of the key supplies used to make today's card for you to save for easy reference:

That's all from me today; if you would like to know more about my drop-in Coffee and Card Sessions, you can read all about it here. We have a short break for Easter then the next one is scheduled for 13th April - I'd love to see you there. I'll be back tomorrow with another project. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Honeycomb Happiness Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Big Shot	Ovals Collection Framelits Dies	Work Of Art Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack
Pearl Basic Jewels	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad	Pear Pizzazz A4 Cardstock	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad	Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock
So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron A4 Cardstock	Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Wisteria Wonder A4 Cardstock	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad
Brights Stampin' Write Markers	Easter Lamb Wood-Mount Stamp

The middle of the week has arrived - and a short week at that! Today I have a card to share with you for this week's challenge over at TGIF Challenge that also uses the sketch layout at Fab Friday:

I got such lovely comments on my card for last week's TGIF Challenge, that when I saw the badge for this week I just knew it was the perfect opportunity to get out the ice cream patterned paper in the Birthday Blossoms DSP and play along. Here is my card:

My card is a mix of mouth-watering ice-cream in pastel colours, with a little texture and another go at no-line watercolouring. Today's highlights include:

A sweet treat stamp and paper combination - The Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper has some gorgeous florals, but also includes a number of great alternative patterns that are perfect for a sweet celebration. I love these soft, watercoloured ice creams and decided to stamp one using the ice-cream stamp in the 'Honeycomb Happiness' Sale-A-Bration stamp set onto watercolour paper and coloured it using inks and my aquapainter to mirror those on the paper. I needed a small sentiment that wouldn't overwhelm my cone, so I trimmed the top part away for a better fit.

A colour combination that's good enough to eat - I love the combination of pale pink and pale green, with the warm brown of soft suede - the ice-creams combine these colours perfectly and the pink and brown make the perfect base for my card. Here's this colour combination if you would like to save it to use on your projects:

Waffle-y Versatile Stylish Stripes - I used the pastels for the horizontal stripes on my card and decided to use Soft Suede to mat my watercoloured image. I don't often use texture and embossing on my cards but decided to create a little more interest with a textured layer that emulated the cone of my ice cream. The Tiny Triangles or Zig Zag Textured Embossing Folders would have been good choices, but since I don't own either of those I embossed my cardstock twice with my trusty Stylish Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, embossing once then rotating my cardstock through 90 degrees and embossing again to give a criss-cross look. It works for me!

Here is today's visual summary of the key products used for you to save for easy reference:

I hope you like today's card. As I mentioned yesterday, today is the first day of the school holidays and when I returned from my drop-in Coffee and Card session at Bell of Northampton this morning (I'll be back to share the card we made today later in the week), Rebecca decided that having played outside all morning, she wanted to do something creative this afternoon. So what do you do when two of your greatest passions in life are Lego and craft? Well, you use your Lego Mindstorms to build a robot that you can programme to decorate your Easter eggs! We made a short video to show the results and I thought I'd share here as I thought the results were rather impressive:

Who said school holidays were boring? Not when you're 10 years old and a member of the James family, for sure!

Back tomorrow with this week's card for the new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper	Honeycomb Happiness Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Stylish Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Big Shot	Aqua Painters
Watercolor Paper	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad
Soft Suede A4 Cardstock	Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad