Back again with the last of my teacher cards (I think!) this year - this time a pop-up card using my dress up framelits. The credit for this design goes to Fran Sabad; you can see her original card, a teacher birthday card, here. If you're looking for ways to use your Dress Up Framelits, I thoroughly recommend you check out Fran's blog - she has made some amazing cards using the Pop 'n' Cuts base and co-ordinating framelits. I thought this card would work equally well as a teacher thank you card with a few minor alterations and give me yet another opportunity to get stuck in to my Storytime DSP. So here is the outside of my card:

It's the inside that is the real star of the show though - a teacher mannequin in her classroom, in front of a traditional blackboard:

I absolutely love this card, complete with all the little details - check out the apple on the corner of the teacher's desk - how cute is that?! In case you're wondering about the glimmer paper 'brooch' pinned to the teacher's blouse, I know it looks a little out of place against the muted colours and traditional classroom feel, but Rebecca's teacher has what can only be described as a glitter obsession - she can't complete an art project without using tons of the stuff, so I know she wouldn't think this card complete without just a little bit of 'bling'. I wish I could convert her to the benefits of SU no-shed glimmer paper; well, Ben is likely to have her as his teacher the year after next, so there's still time!

The funniest thing about this card was when I showed it to Rebecca to see if it met with her approval; she said, "I love it - but why is there a blackboard? We've never had one of those in the classroom Mummy, all our classrooms have interactive whiteboards". What can I say? A sign of the times and made me feel quite old!

Back tomorrow with something different; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Word Play (retired), For My Family (retired)

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Pink Pirouette, Gumball Green, Crumb Cake, Storytime DSP

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Cherry Cobbler

Tools: 1 3/4" Circle Punch, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, Large Scallop Edgelits, Dress Up Framelits, Pop 'n' Cuts Card Base

Finishing Touches: White Baker's Twine, Silver Glimmer Paper

Apologies for a few blog-less days - lots going on in the James household, and most of it not at home! Both James juniors have had their sports day this week and Rebecca has just finished a three night run singing in her school musical 'Bugsy Malone'; I honestly feel like I've been running around like a mad thing these last few days. Having put up tents and got out the sand and garden play toys this morning, I spent a couple of hours finishing my ironing before it got too hot (I'm not complaining - I love that summer has arrived at last!) and following a pleasant lunch in the garden, I'm now taking the opportunity to catch up with my blogging whilst cheering on Andy Murray in the Wimbledon Men's Final.

So, another teacher thank you card from me today - this time an old fashioned blackboard, which gave me the opportunity to have a little go at the 'chalkboard' technique that is so on-trend in the world of papercrafting at the moment. So here is my card:

It's based on a teacher Valentine's card that I saw on Pinterest but I think it makes a nice simple teacher thank you card. Once I stamped the sentiment, I just used a sponge to smudge some of the white ink across the card to give the impression of chalk dust. I stamped the inside with a bright red 'Thanks a MILLION' from the retired 'Word Play' stamp set, to pick up the red of the apple - well, it is for a teacher, right?!

I also made another teacher thank you card using my Storytime designer series paper - check it out:

I think this paper really lends itself to teacher thank you cards. I'm having fun creating these in between playing with some of the stamp sets from the new annual catalogue.

Should be back on course now with another project to post tomorrow; until then, enjoy the sunshine and happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies (Blackboard Card):

Stamps: For My Family

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red, Gumball Green, Chocolate Chip

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: White, Real Red

Tools: Corner Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, Sponge Dauber

After all the excitement of yesterday's catalogue launch, today I'm sharing another mosaic card. This is a simple white card and features a small flag of the co-ordinating Quatrefancy Specialty paper:

This card was really easy to pull together and just goes to show you can get a nice card design without the need for a stamp-a-ma-jig to line up all the various mosaic tiles. The sentiment comes from a new greetings stamp set called 'Really Good Greetings' and is one of those general stamps that will suit lots of occasions.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stamping!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Really Good Greetings

Cardstock: Strawberry Crush, Whisper White, Quatrefancy Specialty Designer Series Paper

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Pumpkin Pie, Strawberry Crush

Tools: Mosaic Punch, Itty Bitty Punch

Finishing Touches: Basics Rhinestones, Island Indigo Bakers Twine

Just a quick interim post from me today to bring to your attention yet another great Stampin' Up! offer this month. As if the launch of the new annual catalogue wasn't enough, Stampin' Up! are offering a selection of greeting stamp sets at 25% off when purchased before the 31st July.

The sets on offer are:

These are three very popular stamp sets each of which offer a variety of greetings that are useful for a wide range of cards and projects. Here's a picture of each of the sets:

If you would like to see samples of projects I've made using these sets, then simply do a search on the name of the stamp set in the box on the right and you will find lots of examples. If you would like to purchase any of these sets this month, then do drop me a line or give me a call and I can arrange that for you.

Back shortly with today's creative post!

Well, today's the day you've all been waiting for: the new Stampin' Up! annual catalogue has arrived!

It is full of great new products, ranging from stamp sets, to designer papers, to embellishments and more besides - but don't just take my word for it; make yourself a cup of tea, then get comfy, check out the link in the bar on the right hand side of my page and browse for yourself!

As a demonstrator I've had the opportunity to browse the catalogue in advance and even order a selected number of new products that I've already had the opportunity to play with. That said, I have a VERY long shopping list of things I want (no, NEED!) from the new catalogue. I thought it would be fun to shoot a short video to give you a quick whistle-stop tour of the new catalogue and share with you my top 'wish list' items, so if you'd like to know what I think will be 'hot' this year, it's time to tune in:

As you can see, there's so much to choose from! If you have a long wish list of must-have items too, why not invite your friends round for an evening of crafty fun and host a Stampin' Up! party? You'll get the opportunity to create a great project, receive lots of crafty inspiration and earn free products that are beyond amazing; you can earn anything from £25 to £120 worth of free products and with party sales of £300 or more you will also be able to purchase one or more items at half price; this is a great way to reduce the cost of an investment purchase such as a Big Shot or a full marker set. So what are you waiting for? Contact me to book your Stampin' Up! party today!

Back tomorrow with a project; until then, enjoy browsing the new catalogue  !

There are a small number of catalogue corrections and initial supply issues that you need to be aware of, as follows:

Catalogue Corrections:

Two items were mistakenly given the same item number. Beautiful Butterflies Bigz and Lattice Bigz dies are both listed as 114507. The correct item numbers are: 
Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die - 114507
Lattice Bigz Die - 115958

The Ordering section incorrectly states that a customer has 10 days to cancel their order. Customers have 14 days to cancel their order.

Due to supply issues, the following items are currently unavailable; there will be an announcement to follow when they become available:

World Map Stamp (item 130342 for wood, 130345 for clear).

Label Pop ‘n Cuts (item 130160): Item will be available for order as of 12 July.

Wood-Mount Cases (item 127551 for full, 127552 for half).

Stampin’ Trimmer Rotary Addition (item 132986).

New Colour Cardstock and Pad Kit (item 132281).

I've had a busy day today, amongst other things shooting a video to share with you my absolute favourite new products from the new Stampin' Up! annual catalogue out tomorrow; but you're going to have to wait until tomorrow to see that!

For anyone reading this with children of school age, you will no doubt be looking forward to (or dreading - it depends on your perspective!) the long summer holidays that wigiftll be with us in a few weeks time. With that in mind, I've been making some teacher thank you cards for both of my children to take in and give to their teachers along with a small token of appreciation for their help and support throughout the year. I'll share the gift nearer the end of term, but today I thought I'd share the first two cards I've made. here is the first one:

This is a CASE of a Jen Arkfeld card that I saw on Pinterest and was perfect to use up some of my leftover Storytime DSP. This paper showcases some great images from childhood that make lovely teacher thank yous or even 'best friend' cards and requires very little actual stamping. Having made the above card, I then made a second one that had more of a masculine feel - perfect for my son to give to his teacher:

I even used a strip of the handwriting paper in the background, as this has been one of his key areas of focus this year and something I'm sure his teacher will remember him for!

I hope you like these cards; I have a few more ideas for teacher thank yous that I will be sharing in the next week or so, interspersed with lots of great projects using products from the new annual catalogue. Back tomorrow with the official launch of the new annual catalogue - I can't wait!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: For My Family

Cardstock: Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Midnight Muse, Storytime DSP

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Midnight Muse

Tools: 1 3/4" Circle Punch, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch

Finishing Touches: Natural Linen Thread, Brights Designer Buttons, Sycamore Street Buttons (Sale-a-bration - retired)

Two posts from me today - the first to announce the new 'Best of' set for July - Best of Butterflies. Following last month's launch, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, Stampin' Up! is releasing a new 'Best of' stamp set featuring 3-4 past favourites and one brand new design, each month until October. Each set costs £13.95 and will be available to purchase until 31 March 2014 (clear mount only). The box to the right of my blog page will show the current stamp set - the set for July is called 'Best of Butterflies' and features the following delicate butterfly designs:

I will have some samples using these stamps to share with you in due course, but if you can't wait to get your hands on them, then drop me a line at joanne@thecraftyowl.co.uk and I will happily place an order for you.

Also, this month's card class will feature last month's 'Best of Flowers' stamp set. This month's classes are scheduled for Monday 15th and Wednesday 17th July; we will be making one card using each of the stamps and the cost of the 2 hour class is £10. If you would like to attend, do drop me a line or give me a call for more information.

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

A busy day today with lots more swimming and family fun in the garden, making the most of the sunshine. Time for a little bit of crafting this evening, but today I'm going to share a card I made a little while ago when I was last playing with my Dress Up framelits that features two retiring products - the Elements of Style stamp set and the lovely Tea for Two DSP. This is a case of a card by Julie Kettlewell, who like me also seems to have had something of a love affair with the Dress Up framelits and has made some fabulous cards with this set: you can check out her card here and look at lots of other great examples of how to get the most from this versatile set. So here is my card:

As my regular blog followers will know, I don't really do 'fussy' and this card is about as vintage as I get! I really like the flower stamping over the newsprint though, and I think the Crumb Cake ribbon really finishes off this card. I used a Calypso Coral marker pen to colour the flowers to echo the colour of the flowers on the designer paper and used a blender pen to get some depth to the colour. The tri-fold design is also just a little different and yet the card still folds flat for postage.

That's all for today - tomorrow is the start of a very busy Stampin' Up! week: a new annual catalogue, a new monthly stamp set and lots of other great news and new products to share in the coming weeks, so lots of planning, making and fun to be had!

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

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Elements of Style

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Tea for Two DSP, First Edition Specialty DSP

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Early Espresso, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade

Tools: Dress Up Framelits, Blender Pen

Finishing Touches: Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon

A quick - and early! - blog post from me today as I am out this evening as Rebecca is competing in a local swimming gala and based on previous experience, they can finish quite late in the evening - it all depends on how many swimmers are entered. So today I'm sharing the thank you cards I made yesterday for Rebecca to send to friends and family to say thank you for the lovely cards and gifts she received. We stayed with the 'watery whale' theme, but this time went for something much more girly and pink. Here is our card:

It was inspired by a get well soon card I saw made by Penny Smiley (you can see her card here) a while ago and I love the girly feel of this card and its simplicity - when you've 20 or more cards to make, this is an important consideration!

'Thanks a ton!' is one of a number of themed greetings that come with the 'Oh, Whale' stamp set. This is one of the sets in the Spring-Summer Seasonal Catalogue which also retires next Monday 1st July and whilst the stamp sets in this brochure are not on the retiring list, many of them will be unavailable from 2nd July onwards. If this set appeals to you, you've only 3 days left to place an order as this set will not be carried over into the new annual catalogue.

I'm off to spend a quick half an hour in my craft studio before getting ready for this evening's swimming event. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Oh, Whale!

Cardstock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Marina Mist

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Pacific Point

Tools: Happy Whale Clearlits Die, Large Scallop Edgelit

All is well in the James household today, so it has been a day of catch-up crafting with the opportunity to tick a few things off my 'to do' list and also have another play with some new goodies! One of the best things about being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is that we get the opportunity to purchase items before the new catalogue goes live and in some instances even receive new product free.

For today's 'sneak peak, I've made a card that showcases some fabulous new mosaic products - take a look:

The word 'mosaic' means 'to create images with a collection of small pieces of glass, stone or other materials' and the products I've used in today's card are great for paper ones. There is a patterned embossing folder, a stamp set and a co-ordinating punch that makes it so easy to create these mosaic shapes in super-quick time. For my card, I embossed the background and then stamped and punched a variety of patterned mosaic shapes, interspersing these with one of the smaller images from the stamp set stamped straight onto the background. I cut away the outer edge to show the profile of these tile pieces and anchored the banner with a final mosaic piece on dimensionals and finished with a coloured rhinestone. Here's a close up of the detail:

I also took the opportunity to play with two new colours: the card base is one of the new in colours, Coastal Cabana, and the yellow I used is the returning Regals colour Crushed Curry. I love this colour combo. I hope you like this card as I think the set is called 'Mosaic Madness' for a reason - I am brimming with ideas on how to use it, so there will be lots more where this came from. There is a co-ordinating set of designer series paper too - a blog post for another time though!

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

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Happy Day

Cardstock: Coastal Cabana, Night of Navy, Whisper White

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Night of Navy

Tools: Mosaic Embossing Folder, Mosaic Punch

Finishing Touches: Basics Rhinestones