Today I have a special blog post for you - a guest blogger, none other than my 8 year old daughter! As I was eating my breakfast and minding my own business one day, she was reading over my shoulder and fell in love with the card featured - this fabulous card featuring the fox from the Life in The Forest set, by the talented Erica Cerwin.  She promptly announced she just HAD to copy the card and as Rebecca has always fancied the idea of writing her own blog, I asked if she would like to write the blog post for it and she jumped at the chance! So here is her CASE of Erica's card and a few words about how and why she made it:

"I really liked this card when I saw it and decided it would make a perfect card for my singing teacher, to say thank you for her help in enabling me to get a distinction in my recent grade one singing exam. I stamped lots of foxes on the card base, and coloured in the white bits with a chalk marker. I love how you can see them through the vellum. I then stamped another fox and cut him out and stuck him on the front behind the grass, which I cut with fringe scissors. I made the banner with 'You're one in a million' but added a row of gold sequins to mine too, for extra sparkle. I also stamped a fox on the card envelope and coloured him in with a Cajun Craze marker pen. my singing teacher loved her card!"

I hope you like Rebecca's card - normal blog service resumes tomorrow! until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Jet Black Stazon Pad	Life In The Forest	Fringe Scissors	White Stampin Chalk Marker	White Vellum A4 Card Stock
Scallop Edge Border Punch	Cajun Craze A4 Card Stock	Garden Green A4 Card Stock	Regals Designer Series Paper Stack	Oh, Hello Clear-Mount Stamp Set
One In A Million Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Regals Stampin' Write Markers	Gold Baker's Twine	Gold Sequin Trim

What a lovely Bank Holiday weekend this is turning out to be, with surprisingly glorious weather! I struggled to tear myself away from the garden to blog today, but wanted to share with you another project using the same Clockworks stamp set I used on the boxed notelets set yesterday, this time a covered notebook:

To create the notebook cover, I first scored a sheet of Basic Grey cardstock in a grid pattern, then took a piece of Whisper White card and randomly stamped it all over with the Clockworks stamps, using a Stamp-a-ma-jig to ensure the numerals on the clockfaces lined up correctly with the wider at the top. The coral stamp pattern was also lightly scored for texture and the whole thing sprayed with a Gumball Green coloured spritzer mist. A large Vintage Faceted Button was added to the centre of the complete clockface, whilst a second smaller one was added to a flower made from 3 flowers punched with the Fancy Flower punch, spritzed with water then scrunched and left to dry. The flags were also hand-crimped and finished with one stamped with another partial stamp from the 'One in a Million' stamp set.

I really like the finished effect and wonder if this notepad would make a nice Father's Day gift (maybe minus the flower?!). More masculine projects to come in the next couple of weeks, so do pop back if you're in need of some Father's Day inspiration. Just a reminder too that this months 15% discount offer on the This and That journal bundle ends on Friday this week, so if you'd like to take advantage of this, do drop me a line in advance of this date to place your order. Whilst the items will still be available after this date, the bundle will be available at the full price of £ not at £29.24 with the 15% discount.

Back tomorrow with another project, assuming I can tear myself away from the sunshine! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: One in a Million, Clockworks

Cardstock: Basic Grey, Whisper White, Gumball Green, Calypso Coral, More Mustard, Pool Party

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Calypso Coral, Gumball Green, Pool Party, More Mustard, Basic Grey

Tools: Simply Scored, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Fancy Flower Punch, Spritzer

Finishing Touches: Vintage Faceted Buttons, Calypso Coral Baker's Twine

A change from owls today! I thought I would share with you one of the 'make and take' projects I made at the Stampin' Up! regional training event in Telford a couple of weeks ago, a little box made using the Two Tags die containing a set of mini notelets. So first, a close up of the box itself:

The box was decorated with a double-layered fancy flower, stamped with one of the stamps from the Clockworks stamp set and the centre and box front finished with some stamped First Edition designer series paper. An in-colour Gumball Green dahlia adds the accent colour that really makes this project 'pop'. The box contains a set of notelets, decorated with Clockworks and a sentiment from the One in a Million stamp set:

This would make a lovely gift set - it's always handy to have a set of notelets on hand. I like the flag detail on the box too; do you recognise the 'happiness' stamp? It's actually a section of the wedding sentiment stamp in the 'One in a Million' set - I've just trimmed away the first part that said 'Wishing you a lifetime of' - a neat trick to extend the versatility of your stamps.

That's all for today; back tomorrow with another project (assuming I can tear myself away from the lovely weather outside!) - until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: One in a Million, Clockworks

Cardstock: Calypso Coral, Whisper White, First Edition Designer Series Paper

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Calypso Coral, Gumball Green, Pool Party

Tools: Two Tags Bigz Die, Big Shot, Fancy Flower Punch

Finishing Touches: In Colour Dahlia

Two posts in one day - aren't you lucky?! If you haven't read this morning's post about the new 'This and That' journal bundle, make sure you scroll back and read it after this one; if you like scrapbooking but fancy something a bit more immediate, or even if you have never got into scrapbooking for this reason, you should check it out. The bundle of products including a blank journal, 12 sheets of designer paper, 4 sheets of over 100 stickers, 3 rolls of washi tape and a rotary stamp can be purchased at the discounted price of £29.24 during the month of May only - that's 15% cheaper than the standard catalogue price that will be charged when 'This and That' is part of the annual catalogue from July. 

So for this post, I thought I'd share another card made with the Dress Up framelits, this time using the framelits on a standard card. They really are so versatile, you can achieve so many different effects. This is a case of a card I saw on Stampin Connection - Im afraid I don't know who designed it - and since I was working with my Tea for Two Designer papers too it totally fitted the bill for a birthday card I needed to make for a friend of mine who celebrated her birthday earlier this week:

I am in love with the spotty paper in this set - I've made another card with one of these dresses too - I think the muted coral and vanilla look really nice against the black, which gives it quite a modern feel. This sentiment is from one of my favourite sets too: One in a Million is a set of stamps that can be used alone in some instances but are designed to be used in pairs - the other half of this sentiment that appears inside this card says "...that makes you one in a million!"

Back tomorrow with another project; until then don't forget to drop me a line at joanne@thecraftyowl.co.uk if you would like to order a 'This and That' bundle, to be delivered directly to your door. Happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: One in a Million

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Tea for Two DSP

Ink: Basic Black

Tools: Dress Up Framelits, Big Shot

Finishing Touches: Basics Pearls, 3/8" Calypso Coral Ruffled Ribbon

Any of you who saw my Facebook post yesterday will know I am officially 'IN LOVE' with the Dress Up framelits and Pop 'n' Cuts Base in the Spring-Summer catalogue. I've been resisting purchasing them since the catalogue came out - I don't know why, because it really was love at first sight - but having used them at our last training session and spent a fun few hours with my downline Barbara playing fashion designers, I have finally succumbed. I have seen so many great examples of projects made with this set and I'm excited to share these with you in future blog posts.

Today I am going to share a card I made using all three elements: the pop 'n' cuts card base, the dress form and the framelits. So not much stamping today - Big Shot definitely required! I will share some projects later in the week that show how these can be used separately; when used together, they will make a pop up card with a mannequin to be dressed as you wish. For my first card, I used some of my favourite 'More Amore' DSP along with a Pool Party card base. Here's the outside of the card that you see when the card is folded shut:

Then when you open it, the inside looks like this:

How cute is that??! Dressed mannequin, complete with pearls and pretty cardi, in front of a mirror and dresser. What little - or big - girl wouldn't want to get this in the post for their birthday? Here's one last close-up of the mannequin:

This will, I feel, be the first of many such pop-up cards; come back tomorrow to see another use for this great set. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: One in a Million

Cardstock: Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, More Amore DSP

Ink: Pool Party

Tools: Pop 'n' Cuts Base, Pop 'n' Cuts Dress Form, Dress Up Framelits, Ovals Framelits, Big Shot, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Small Heart Punch

Finishing Touches: Basics Pearls

I know Valentine's Day is done and dusted, but this month I also celebrated my wedding anniversary, so forgive the hearts but I've another romantic card to share with you today.

The design of this card is cased from Brian King; you can see his original card here. I loved this card the first time I saw it and knew that I was going to have to re-create it. As I don't have the Hearts Framelits, my method was slightly different; I used a large heart punch to make the negative heart shape on the central panel, with the pink heart cut out using one of the Hearts a Flutter framelits and the white heart in the centre using the small heart punch. The winning element for me is the sentiment though - it summed up my thoughts perfectly and seems as appropriate after 14 years of marriage as it would on a wedding day. The colour combination also ticks my box; I find myself using lots of Grey and Melon Mambo lately.

Hope you like it; I'll be back with something different tomorrow. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Basic Grey, Whisper White

Stamps: One in a Million

Ink: Melon Mambo

Tools: Large Heart Punch, Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Small Heart Punch, Big Shot