Having had a busy start to my week with two technique classes and my monthly Project Life Class, I am finally back with my blog today to share with you one of the cards we made in my technique class. The class featured the now retired set 'Painted Petals' from the Spring-Summer Seasonal catalogue; the ladies that attend my classes were so keen to have a class using this set that we decided we would carry it over into June. Here is one of the cards we made:

A beautifully bright and cheery card in Daffodil Delight and Blackberry Bliss. We used some retired All Abloom DSP matted on Blackberry Bliss, alongside a panel of Blackberry Bliss that we embossed with the Spring Flowers embossing folder (also retired), then mounted our panel of Whisper White stamped with the double flower image in Blackberry Bliss and Mossy Meadow (the yellow flower centres were added with a Crushed Curry Stampin' Write marker). To finish we added the sentiment, punched out with a large oval punch and mounted on a piece of yellow cut with the Decorative Label punch. This was our 'finishing up' card, having made a rather more complicated box card beforehand (one to share another day!).

Next month's technique class is featuring the gorgeous new stamp set 'You've Got This'. If you would like to join with me and two groups of the nicest people you could wish to know, do get in touch for more details and to book your place.

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with a card for our new challenge over at Create With Connie And Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Crushed Curry Stampin' Write Marker	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock
Decorative Label Punch	Extra-Large Oval Punch

I am starting this week with a quick post to share a card that I made with my ladies at one of my recent Stamp-A-Stack classes which was all about punch art and fits perfectly not only for the colours but also the inspiration photo over at The Color Throwdown this week:

I had been wanting to make an 'Up!' style card for a while and had seen lots of versions on Pinterest - here's my take with the card I made with my ladies:

Quite simple, but it needed to be as everyone was making a few each - Stamp-A-Stack is all about creating lots of cards in a - relatively! - short time.

The base is a piece of Soft Sky, onto which I adhered a few Whisper White clouds and stamped a few straight lines using the balloon string from the 'Celebrate Today' stamp set. We then stamped the house from the now retired Sale-A-Bration set in Memento Black onto Crumb Cake and punched it out with the retiring 'What's Up?' arrow punch and popped it on a dimensional at the base of the strings. The cluster of balloons is a carefully layered group of balloons made with the small oval punch and a foot from the Owl Builder punch. The sentiment is taken from the also retired winter seasonal set 'Holiday Home'. These bright primary colours are perfect for this card and so remind me of the scene where the house takes off in the Disney movie 'Up!'; I'm a big Disney fan and this movie holds special memories as it was the movie I watched with my daughter the first time we visited the cinema.

That's not quite all from me today - I have a second post which is my-fill in post from Saturday when I was at the Stampin' Up! UK Regional training event in Telford, so scroll back to read that one if you want to hear about the fun I had! 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Owl Punch	What's Up Punch	Cupcake Punch	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Pumpkin Pie A4 Card Stock	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Pacific Point A4 Card Stock
Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Celebrate Today Photopolymer Stamp Set

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie And Mary and this week we have a sketch challenge for you - my favourite!

This is a great card for using up scraps of DSP so I set to work with my Birthday Bash Speciality DSP and Birthday Bash Stamp set to create today's card:

I let the DSP drive the colour scheme for my card so used a Crushed Curry base with a panel of Night Of Navy down the left hand side, which I then overlaid with four co-ordinating rectangles of patterned paper. I then added a piece of Night of Navy seam binding ribbon to cover the join and for my focal point stamped the candles from the 'light 'em up' stamp in the Birthday Bash set in navy on Whisper White, having masked off the words first. I coloured this with my Calypso Coral, Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry Stampin' Write markers and layered this circle onto another of Night of Navy and two scalloped circles, one each in Bermuda Bay and Calypso Coral. I also punched the candle flames out of Tangerine Tango using my owl builder punch - a small touch, but looks so much better than navy ones! To finish, I stamped the sentiment, this time masking off the candles, in navy in the right hand corner.

I made this card with the ladies in my Stamp-A-Stack class last week and they loved it, so I hope you like it too. Don't forget if 'Birthday Bash' is on your wishlist, it will be retiring on 2nd June so don't leave it too late to place your order. 

That's all from me today - I look forward to seeing your takes on this week's sketch in the gallery. 

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

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

Happy Monday everyone! This is the start of the busiest week for me - classes, parties and a number of family commitments - so I'll do my best  to keep up with my blogging schedule. Today I'm sharing one of the cards that I'm making with my ladies in my technique class this week - an oval shaped card, using an interesting vellum technique. Here's my card:

I saw this neat technique where you stamp your image on vellum then rub the back of the image with a round ended stylus to 'colour' it in a video tutorial by Deb Valder here. I used Pink Pirouette for my background, then layered the vellum before adding my black border, cut with the largest shaped oval framelit which I paper-pierced around the edge. I needed a sympathy card for my box, so used a sentiment from the 'Bloom With Hope' set, which I cut out with the Banners framelits, and a little bow to soften the card front. I really like the effect of the vellum - it looks slightly 'raised' following the rubbing and adds a feeling of texture to the card. 

I'm looking forward to making this card with my ladies this afternoon and then this evening I'm off to craft with a group of Brownies and then Girl Guides - I'll share these projects later in the week.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Indescribable Gift Clear Stamp Set	Jet Black Stazon Pad	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Occasions Paper-Piercing Pack
Paper-Piercing Tool	Stampin' Pierce Mat	Ovals Collection Framelits Dies	Pink Pirouette 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon	White Vellum A4 Card Stock
Pink Pirouette A4 Card Stock	Basic Black A4 Card Stock

I hope you all received lots of Valentine's cards today - I certainly sent plenty! Today I'm sharing a card that I made using the Butterfly Basics stamp set to share with the ladies that attended my technique class earlier this week. In addition to the cards that I design for us to make in the class, I produce a selection of alternative samples to provide further ideas and ways in which they can use the stamp set and practise the techniques that we have covered. There are times when one of these cards produces so many 'oohs' and 'aahs' that it makes me wonder if I should have included the card as the class card - this is one of those cards!! The ladies made me promise I would blog it share with all of you, so here it is:

A monochromatic purple card on a base of Elegant Eggplant, featuring the lovely outlined bloom in the stamp set along with the lacy butterfly. There are lots of touches of sparkle on this card which in real life really add a touch of luxury: the thin strip of silver glimmer paper, the silver heat-embossed sentiment, the sparkling rhinetones and the vanilla smooch spritz sprayed onto the Wisteria Wonder butterflies that adds a subtle pearlescent finish.

I hope you like today's card; back tomorrow with this week's card for our new challenge over at The Paper Players - and it's my first one!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Bundle	Big Shot Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Silver Glimmer Paper	Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz
Elegant Eggplant A4 Card Stock	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad	Perfect Plum Classic Stampin' Pad	Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

Today's card is for this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch, where Chrissy has this rather intriguing sketch for us to work with this week:

Whilst musing the best way to create a pattern with diagonals that had a readable sentiment and used a design that was different from the designers' inspiration (some lovely plaid patterns there), I remembered this lovely card by Heather Klump that I saw on Pinterest the other week and I decided to combine both inspirations to come up with my card today. Here it is:

Using my stamp-a-ma-jig, I carefully stamped rows of love hearts from the 'You Brighten My Day' Sale-A-Bration set in Strawberry Slush, Pink Pirouette and Pool Party, aligning them to re-create the diagonal pattern of the sketch. I used a silver foil 'you' cut with my Big Shot and my 'Hello You' thinlits, popped up on rolled glue dots, for the final piece of my sentiment. 

I love this card - another pink and pretty affair this week! Looking forward to my first Project Life class of the year this morning and catching up with some of my lovely ladies who I haven't seen since before Christmas. Back with you tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hello You Thinlits Dies	You Brighten My Day Clear Stamp Set	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack	Paper-Piercing Tool
Stampin' Pierce Mat	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Strawberry Slush	Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad
Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad	Silver Foil Sheets

I haven't managed to blog the last couple of days as there's just been too much going on. Whilst I was intending to blog later today, I thought I would just share with you a card that I made with the ladies in my Technique Card Class this week, as it features two if the punches that are available on Wednesday Weekly Deals this week. My card was heavily inspired by this one by Inge Groot that a saw a couple of weeks ago. Here is my altered version, in the colourway that we made in our class:

The technique class featured the new Chalkboard paper and all the different ways in which you can use the lovely new chalk inks that are now available in the Spring-Summer catalogue. These inks have a fabulous soft chalk effect on the new Chalkboard paper; here we used it to stamp the tag from the 'You Brighten My Day' stamp set, yours free with a £45 spend during Sale-A-Bration, and behind this added some black and white baker's twine, some of the Best Year Ever ribbon and buttons (another Sale-A-Bration freebie) and a strip of cardstock punched with the Hearts Border Punch. All of this was mounted on a feature mat in Pink Pirouette that we embossed with the new Happy Heart embossing folder. I also made two more cards to the same design, but in two alternative colourways. This one is Aquamarine chalk in on Coastal Cabana, with Crushed Curry accessories:

Lastly, Yellow Citrus chalk ink and So Saffron, with Calypso Coral accessories:

I like that these cards are quite subtle, despite the bright appearance of the chalk ink in the pad itself - it's quite deceiving. Both the Note Tag punch and the Hearts Border Punch are on offer this week as part of the Wednesday Weekly Deals, as is the What's Up punch that also co-ordinates with the house stamp in the 'You Brighten My Day' stamp set. If this stamp set appeals to you and you would like to be able to create today's card, the following product bundle costs £47.87, includes both punches and would enable you to acquire the key supplies and get the stamp set for free:

Hearts Border Punch	Note Tag Punch	Chalkboard Paper	Aquamarine Colorbox Chalk Ink Pad
Happy Heart Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Basic Black Baker's Twine	Stampin' Dimensionals	You Brighten My Day Clear Stamp Set

All you need to add is the cardstock in the colours of your choice, a button and some ribbon from your stash. For everyone that buys this bundle from my online store this week and uses the hostess code 44JKUBHY, I will send you a separate little thank you gift from me in the post. 

Back soon with another creative post; until then, happy stampin'!

Today I thought I would share with you the Christmas star wreath I made at my class yesterday. I used the All is Calm Speciality Designer Series Paper for my version, which looks like this:

I layered a circle of Lost Lagoon flat stars, cut out with my Stars framelits, onto my wreath base, then cut 12 stars out of the All Is Calm Speciality DSP for the 3D stars. Each of these stars was scored from the point to the opposite side then pinched together to create the dimension and once glued to the wreath base, finished with a selction of Brights, Neutrals, Subtles and silver buttons:

To finish, a length of the luxurious In-Colour Lost Lagoon satin ribbon to create a bow and hanging loop:

You can see another example of this wreath made with the Under The Tree Speciality DSP over on my Facebook page - it looks lovely in the kraft and more traditional, red, greens and browns, so do check it out. I have another of these classes next week where the ladies will be making them using other papers of their choice.

I hope you like today's project; this is going to be my indoor wreath as it matches my dining room colours perfectly; I have another two wreaths to share with you in coming weeks, so if home decor is your thing, keep an eye out for the other versions!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

All Is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper	Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Stars Framelits Dies	Big Shot Magnetic Platform
Lost Lagoon 3/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon	Simply Scored	Mini Glue Dots	Basic Metal Buttons	Brights Designer Buttons
Subtles Designer Buttons	Neutrals Designer Buttons

A quick post from me today with one of the cards we made at my card class earlier this week. This month's class featured the Festival of Trees stamp set and co-ordinating punch - without further ado, here's today's card:

I started with a base of Crumb Cake with a mat of Cherry Cobbler, then an additional mat of Crumb Cake which was embossed with the Decorative Dots embossing folder and lightly sponged with white kraft ink to look like snow. I added two Whisper White snow drifts, edged with Dazzling Diamonds, and then stamped and punched three trees in Garden Green on Whisper White and interspersed them between the snow drifts. The tree at the front is also over-stamped with the bauble stamp in Cherry Cobbler and a few pearls coloured with Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities added to give extra dimension. A sentiment added inside and out, and finished!

All of the cards in this month's class were quite different as I was aiming to show my ladies just how versatile this stamp set and punch can be. If you live local to me in Northampton and would like to join me for a future class, do get in touch - newcomes, whether experienced or novice papercrafters, are always welcome!

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Festival Of Trees Photopolymer Bundle	Decorative Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment
Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock	Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter
Basic Pearls Jewel Accents	2-Way Glue Pen	Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad