I've been out a wedding fair all day today but as I haven't blogged for a few days, thought I'd do a quick post to share with you some thank you cards I made for the lovely ladies who placed orders at the last party I ran. I wanted something simple as I had several to make and decided to use the Sale-A-Bration Bloomin' Marvelous stamp set as many of them had chosen it as their free gift with a £45 order and I wanted to give them a little inspiration. So this is what I came up with:

I love the effect you can get by using a frame within your picture to add focus, and by stamping the third butterfly and punching out it looks like the butterflies are almost flying off the page. A little sparkle adds a finishing touch. I also used the precut notelet and envelope sets to make these (card measures 12.7 x 8.9cm), so I didn't even need to cut and score the basic cardstock - super quick. If you would like this stamp set, Sale-A-Bration is running for another 19 days so drop me a line if you would like to place an order. That's it for today - I'm off to soak my aching feet!

Until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Bloomin' Marvelous

Cardstock: Pool Party, Whisper White

Ink: Pool Party, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Island Indigo

Tools: Bitty Butterfly Punch

Finishing Touches: Dazzling Details, Whisper White Notelets and Envelopes

Today I thought I'd share with you the 'make and take' card that I made with all the lovely ladies who attended my first party recently (Hello ladies, if you're reading this!). It's similar to something I saw whilst browsing on Pinterest, but with my own twist and designed to make the most of some of the lovely goodies that are available free during Sale-A-Bration. It uses four of the possible 17 items on offer - see if you SU! fans can spot them all!

We stamped a greeting from Bloomin' Marvelous and a simple flower from the Madison Avenue stamp set onto Whisper White card stock, then layered this piece of card using dimensionals onto a Crumb Cake card base, having first adhered a couple of coordinating strips of Sycamore Street DSP along each of the vertical outer edges. The flower was finished with a button threaded with a piece of contrasting ribbon from the matching accessory pack. I sized the card to fit the new Crumb Cake medium envelopes and we stamped a flower onto the front of the envelope for a finishing touch.

A great night was had by all: thank you ladies for being kind to me on my first outing. If you love to craft, need a reason to get together with some like-minded friends and would like to host an evening to make this card or something similar, do get in touch - there are great additional hostess benefits during Sale-A-Bration too, the perfect way to grow your own craft stash!

Until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Madison Avenue, Bloomin' Marvelous

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Sycamore Street (DSP)

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Tangerine Tango

Finishing Touches: Sycamore Street Ribbon and Button Pack, Medium Crumb Cake Envelopes

Just a quick post from me today! Before I move on to the last stamp in this set, today I thought I would share with you another ferris wheel stamped using the rock and roll ink technique; this time an easel birthday card I made recently for a friend of mine, whihc also includes the 'Celebrate' stamp from the same set.

As you can see, this time I've used a trio of ink colours; I think it makes a lovely female birthday card and the easel card design just makes it a little bit different.

Remember, the 'Feeling Sentimental' stamp set is just one of the 17 items you can receive free with a £45 spend during Sale-A-Bration, so if it appeals to you just contact me to host a party or place an order before 22nd March and this set could be yours.

Until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Feeling Sentimental

Cardstock: Whisper White, Primrose Petals

Ink: Primrose Petals, Perfect Plum, Regal Rose

Hope you all enjoyed Valentine's Day yesterday. Today I thought I would share the second instalment of my experimentation with 'Feeling Sentimental' - this time, with the ferris wheel stamp from the set.

I've used the same simple layout as for the phone box, but this time have used a blue midnight muse card base and experimented with the 'rock and roll' stamping technique to add some interest. On the first card I've stamped in blue straight onto the card and left it at that; the second card I stamped in a combination of midnight muse and pacific point. This is a really easy technique: you simply ink your stamp all over in the lightest colour you are going to use, then 'rock' sections of your stamp over the top with a darker colour to get a graduated colour. I actually quartered mine, but you can achieve a different effect depending on how you ink up, roll and how many ink combinations you use.

I'll be back tomorrow with another example using this stamp and technique, but on a birthday card using a triple ink combination, so do come back and see how different this stamp can look. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Feeling Sentimental

Cardstock: Whisper White, Midnight Muse

Ink: Midnight Muse, Pacific Point

A quick post from me today as I've been busy preparing for a forthcoming wedding fair. Another card with Valentine's in mind: this time, using the 'together' stamp from the 'Happy You' hostess set in the main catalogue: 

I've used a front fold overlapping design in vanilla for a change, with the stamp coloured with markers and a blender pen and showing through a punched circle. I've used a lovely piece of More Amore designer paper on the right for contrast and a punched Pretty Petites label to hold the card closed.

That's all for today. Join me tomorrow for a 3D project - meanwhile, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Happy You, Pretty Petites

Paper: Very Vanilla, More Amore (DSP)

Ink: Real Red; Stampin' Write Markers: Real Red, Primrose Petals

Tools: Blender Pen, Petite Curly Label Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch

Yesterday I held my first Stampin' Up party - thanks to all the lovely ladies who attended for being so kind to me on my first outing! I thought I would do a quick post today to share with you the gift I made for the hostess as a thank you.

It's a set of four notelets in a co-ordinating box, featuring the Madison Avenue and Vintage Verses stamp sets and the Sycamore Street designer series paper and designed by the lovely Monica Gale for our recent training event. You can check out her blog here - and spookily, as I've just gone to create the link I can see she has blogged her own set today; clearly great minds think alike!!!!

If you would like to receive a similar gift set, then all you have to do is get in touch with me and arrange to host your own Stampin' Up party - it's a great opportunity to get together with your crafty family and friends, make a project and receive lots of free goodies; in addition to free products of your choice depending on your party sales, you can also receive some of the lovely silver glimmer paper featured in the cards above with orders above £150. This is a great product - it doen't shed, like some glitter card, it can be coloured with the aid of ink and rubbing alcohol to match specific projects and a little goes a long way!

Come back tomorrow for some more cards on a Valentine's theme and the launch of the new Spring-Summer catalogue.

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Madison Avenue, Vintage Verses

Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White, Sycamore Street (DSP), Silver Glimmer Paper

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Pool Party, Summer Starfruit

Tools: Bitty Butterfly Punch, Oval Punch, Elegant Butterfly Punch, Small Heart Punch, Scallop Border Punch, Apothocary Accents Framelits

Finishing Touches: 1/4" Rich Razzleberry Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon

At last - the best party of the year has begun, and will last right through until the 22nd March 2013! Stampin' Up's Sale-a-bration is here and has to be one of the best times in the Stampin' Up calendar to get involved: whether you're an avid crafter or a newbie who fancies some free gifts to get you started, then read on for ways in which you can join the party!

PARTY ON YOUR OWN - During Sale-a-bration, you can earn a free gift for every £45 you spend. There are 17 different items to choose from and best of all you can order as many times as you like! The full set of sale-a-bration items can be seen below:

Better still, get together or host a PARTY WITH FRIENDS who share your love of crafting and you can get even more for your money:

WITH ORDERS OF £150 OR MORE, you will receive:

• A free sale-a-bration gift for every £45 spent
• A free pack of silver glimmer paper
• At least £25 of free products from any current catalogue too!

WITH ORDERS OF £300 OR MORE, you will receive:

• A free sale-a-bration gift for every £45 spent
• A free pack of silver glimmer paper
• At least £50 of free products from any current catalogue
• A great free sale-a-bration product bundle (Sycamore Street designer paper, Madison Avenue stamp set and Sycamore Street ribbon & button embellishment pack)
• At least one item at 50% DISCOUNT as well!!

PARTY ALL THE TIME - As if that wasn't enough, there are also great benefits to joining Stampin' Up as a demonstrator during sale-a-bration: you'll get 25% more in your starter kit than usual, that's £162.50 worth of products for £99 and you can choose what you'd like - your kit, your way. I'm quite new to Stampin' Up but I love being a demonstrator and sharing my ideas; if you'd would like to share my enthusiasm and become a member of my team, please email me at [email protected] or call me for a chat - I would be happy to talk about the possibilities and where I can add value.

I've already shown you a couple of card sets made with the Bloomin' Marvelous stamp set and today I would like to share with you some of the swaps I made for a recent team training that showcase a number of additional free products: 

So what are you waiting for? All this and more could be yours! Drop me a line at [email protected] and arrange to book a party or place an order today.

Keep watching my blog for lots of other great ideas and ways in which you can use the great free sale-a-bration gifts.

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Madison Avenue, Vintage Verses

Paper: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Pool Party, Summer Starfruit, Tangerine Tango, Sycamore Street (DSP)

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Pool Party, Summer Starfruit

Tools: Scoreboard, 11/4" circle punch

Finishing Touches: Sycamore Street Ribbon and Button Pack