Good morning everyone - today I have something a little different for you! I ran a very successful class a little while ago to make a beautiful home decor Spring flower wreath. I am demonstrating how to make this wreath at a Spring Open Evening at Bell Of Northampton this evening so thought this was a good opportunity to share it with you too:

We started with a polystyrene wreath base and covered it with a roll of burlap, then decorated it with a selection of flowers made with a variety of dies and punches. The largest flower, leaves and the bases for the medium flowers were made using the Big Shot and Flower Frenzy Bigz L Die; the remaining flowers were made using a combination of the retiring Blossom punch, the Pansy punch and the Petite Petals punch. The Blossom punch and Flower Frenzy Bigz die are now out of stock, as is the patterend paper that I used, but you could make something similar with other punches and dies. We used a variety of buttons, brads and embellishments to decorate our flowers: I used Vintage Faceted Buttons, Something Borrowed Embellishments and some retired brads from my stash to decorate mine. I chose Elegant Eggplant, Smoky Slate and Pear Pizzazz as my colourway but each of the ladies tailored their colour choices and embellishments to their personal preferences. Here's a closeup of my flowers - I think they are gorgeous:

I created an album with pictures of their finished wreaths on my Facebook page here - you really should go and check them out as there are some amazing pieces and they all look so very different in the various colourways. If you haven't already, perhaps you could give me a 'like' whilst you're there - I'm only 10 away from my next milestone!

If you live in or around Northampton and would like to see me demonstrate how to make these flowers, do pop along to Bell's between 6-9pm this evening:

I hope you like today's project - it's one of my favourites! Back tomorrow with a card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!Full details via the link above and on my Facebook Page. There are lots of other demonstrations taking place - there will be someone fabulous chefs in residence cooking up delicious treats, a little pampering as well as other in-store delights that will all make for a pleasant browsing experience.

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Pansy Punch	Petite Petals Punch	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Card Stock A4 Pear Pizzazz	1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon
Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons	Subtles Candy Dots	Regals Candy Dots	Candy Dots Brad Bases	Something Borrowed Embellishments

I've had a week of haphazard blogging this week and not much time for making, but today I managed to get a couple of cards made so hopefully that will put me back on track. Today I'm sharing a card I made using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, the first time I've managed to play along in a few weeks:

That long vertical panel offered so many possibilities - I decided it was time to use the wedding cake for the Your Perfect Day stamp set and more of the Something Borrowed DSP for a wedding card:

I went with a base of Blushing Bride, then matted my DSP on a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock, wrapped with some lace trim and Blushing Bride baker's twine. The wedding cake was stamped in Sahara Sand onto Whisper White and matted in the same way. I used a blender pen to add some Blushing Bride and Sahara Sand ink to the image and I split the sentiment into two parts so that it would sit more neatly on my panel. I thought my card still needed a little something, so I added a few tiny pearls - still clean, but just the right finishing touch.

That's all from me today; I'll be back tomorrow with this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players where Ann has a great sketch for us to work with. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Your Perfect Day Photopolymer Stamp Set	Something Borrowed Designer Series Paper	Sahara Sand 7/8" (2.2 Cm) Lace Trim	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad
Card Stock A4 Blushing Bride	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad	Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock	Basic Pearls Jewel Accents	Blender Pens

Happy Monday everyone! No card today - I'm sharing a little 3D project for a change. Last week I was booked to craft with a local Brownie pack to help them make gifts for Mother's Day. I know a few of the Brownies - and mums! - so couldn't share our little project until today, for fear of letting their secret out of the bag. Now we all know that with a special gift it's as much about the packaging as what's inside, so this is what our gifts looked like from the outside:

Each girl had one of the Tiny Treat Boxes to decorate with papers from the All Aboom DSP stack - so pretty for spring - and one covered, each box was finished with a colour-co-ordinated bow made using the Bow Builder punch. We had great fun making these - and used hundreds of glue dots in the process!! Inside the box, it opened to reveal:

Each of them made a delicate silver necklace using one of the Simply Borrowed Embellishments for decoration, beautifully presented on a co-ordinated cardstock insert. How pretty is that? The girls were so pleased with their handiwork and all smuggled them home to keep them as a surprise until yesterday. I had lots of messages from mums today who were thrilled with their gifts, so I think we can safely say it was a job well done!

I love crafting with children, whether my own, when running children's birthday parties or in larger groups such as this. If you live in or around Northampton and would like more information about children's parties or running a Crafty Owl activity for a larger group such as a Brownie or Girl Guide group, then do get in touch - I would love to discuss options with you.

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with a card for you. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bow Builder Punch	All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack	Tiny Treat Boxes	Something Borrowed Embellishments	Mini Glue Dots
Island Indigo A4 Card Stock	So Saffron A4 Card Stock

Today in addition to my card I have some exciting news for you! I was recently asked by the lovely Connie and Mary to join their Thursday Challenge Team so it's official - I am officially a Create With Connie and Mary Designer:

As my regular readers know, I often play along with the CCMC challenges, so I'm excited to be sharing my first card as designer with you for this week's new challenge, which is a sketch challenge using the following sketch as inspiration:

I decided with Spring on the way and since we are just about to officially embark on 'wedding season', I would break out my 'Something Borrowed' Designer Series Paper and create my first wedding card this year:

I used Sahara Sand for my card base and overlaid this with a piece of 'Something Borrowed' DSP which I cut at an angle, following the line of the sketch, and covered the join with a piece of Blushing Bride Chevron Ribbon. I punched the circles from Whisper White using a variety of circle punches, one of which I matted on circle of Blushing Bride, and I stamped a variety of stamps from the new 'Your Perfect Day' stamp set in Sahara Sand. I used a Blushing Bride marker to highlight the hearts on one of the circles and on the main circle, I also stamped the wreath shape in Pear Pizzazz around my sentiment in Sahara Sand, then added my Blushing Bride flowers punched out with the Itty Bitty Accents flower punch, finished with a pearl in the centre of each. To finish, I added a bow from Blushing Bride chevron ribbon and finished the centre of this with one of the gorgeous new Something Borrowed Embellishments - this really adds a touch of luxury to the finished card I think. I even stamped a co-ordinating envelope - of all the cards that I send, I like wedding cards to be special.

I hope you like today's card - do pop over to the Create With Connie And Mary website to check out the creations of the other members of the design team. There are a few other new designers joining the team too, so go take a look! we look forward to seeing your creations in the gallery this week.

I'll be back tomorrow with a new project; until then, happy stampin'!