I've been enjoying a quarterly training day with my wider Stampin'Up! team today, so have lots of lovely new craft things to share with you over the next week or so. The theme of our swaps today was 'masculine'; I'll share mine with you in the next day or two when I have a half-decent photo. Meanwhile, to get you in the mood another non-card project today, keeping with the masculine theme: I made these Angry Bird punch art bookmarks a while a go and for the 'little men' in my life, they were certainly a big hit:

Aren't they just the cutest? They take a little while to make and use lots of different punches, but they're really effective. Guaranteed to make even the most reluctant reader want to open their storybook! They also make a great party bag gift for a child's birthday, either ready made or in kit form: contact me at [email protected] if you are interested in either of these. I made lots of these so here's one more picture of the whole collection:

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

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Cardstock: Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Gumball Green, Basic Black, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango

Tools: Heart Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Small Heart Punch, Owl Punch

Every once in a while I get a little bit more creative than usual and make something different to a card or box. I've been wanting to have a go at a paper wreath for a while and initially wanted to make a spring wreath in pastel shades, however when I received my Summer Smooches designer paper I fell in love with the bright colours and decided they would definitely enable me to create something that would brighten things up. So, after much punching, piercing and gluing, here's what I came up with: 

I used a combination of Summer Smooches and Brights designer series papers, mixed in with some solid colours, all finished off with some co-ordinating brads and a lovely piece of wide vanilla and Rich Razzleberry ribbon, sadly now retired. I love the overall fiished effect - perfect to brighten up a dull corner of the house - and not a stamp or ink pad in sight!

Here's a close up of some of the flowers: 

I think the layered flowers look really effective; another great example of what you can do with the blossom punch. You can also make a variety of stemmed flowers using this punch, but that's a blog post for another time! Meanwhile, if you would like to see more of this punch and the co-ordinating Mixed Bunch stamp set in action, join me for next week's Card and Technique class on Wednesday 17th April. The details are included in yesterday's post - if you'd like to come along, just drop me a line at [email protected].

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

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Cardstock: Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango, Summer Smooches DSP

Tools: Blossom Punch, 1" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, hot glue gun

Finishing Touches: Brights Brads, Razzleberry Ribbon (retired)

I haven't blogged for a couple of days, so two posts today to make up for it! The first one is a really quick last-minute Easter make by Sarah Willis that I saw on Pinterest; these cute butterflies are so quick and easy to do you could easily make a whole pile of them in ten minutes:

And we did! My 7 year old made all the butterflies in today's post - they were left over from a huge pile that she made as little end of term Easter gifts for the other children in her class at school. She simply stamped one of the flowers from the Mixed Bunch stamp set in four different colours, punched out with the co-ordinating punch, snipped out the top and bottom petals then used some sticky strip to attach some antenna and a mini egg to the centre of the wings and voila - one Easter egg butterfly, done. She managed to make a whole pile of these in no time at all: 

Another great way to use this stamp set, which is one of my personal favourites. I am running a card class featuring this stamp set and the co-ordinating punch on the 16th and 17th of April. There will be more details to follow shortly; if you live local to me and would like to know more, please contact me for further details.

That's all for now - another quick post from me shortly to share an Easter card I made today. Happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Mixed Bunch

Cardstock: Whisper White

Ink: Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Gumball Green, Perfect Plum

Tools: Blossom Punch

Today I'm sharing one of my favourite Easter projects with you. I think the new oval framelits in the Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue were crying out to be made into an Easter gate-fold card, so here's my version: 

I used oval framelits 1-4 and 6 to create an Easter egg on the outside; I deliberately chose to keep the front quite simple with some paper piercing for interest and a large paper bow to tie the whole thing together. The outer oval lifts up to release the fold and reveal the surprise on the inside:

A cute punch art chick with a happy Easter message! So for this card at least, the egg came first. One last photo of a close up of the bow - a dramatic focal point for this card and I love it:

Hope you like it. Back tomorrow with more Spring loveliness; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Wacky Wishes

Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Old Olive

Ink: Tangerine Tango

Tools: Oval Framelits, Oval Paper Piercing Template, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Two Step Bird Punch (for wings), Heart Punch (for feet - retired)

Today I have a lovely treat holder for you, the perfect size for a Creme Egg or something similar as a great way to 'dress up' your egg into something a little bit special. I made something similar when experimenting with wedding favour boxes a few weeks ago (I will photograph these and share another time!) and modified my original design slightly to accommodate a small Easter egg:

They were so easy: an open box base, sandwiched between two of the bookmark-style tags from the Two Tags Die set. A small hole punched for a handle, tied with some co-ordinating ribbon and a little tag made with one of the Hearts A Flutter framelits and decorated with the basket of Easter eggs stamp from the Spring Sampler set. The photo below just shows the eggs inside so you can see in more detail:

I'd like to say the eggs were still around, but ... well it is nearly Easter, right??! Might need to buy a couple more before I gift these to anyone!

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

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Spring Sampler, Bitty Banners

Cardstock: Calypso Coral, Pool Party

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party

Tools: Hearts A Flutter Framelits, Bitty Banners

Finishing Touches: Pool Party and Calypso Coral Ruffled Ribbon, Bakers Twine

Well, not doing so well with the blogging this week - I've no shortage of things to share as I've been a very busy bee - just short on time!

Yesterday I held a class attended by a lovely group of ladies to make this waterfall album designed by Becca Prideaux:

The album opens up to reveal a waterfall of pockets that can be used for all kinds of things: photos, recipes, journalling, a birthday calendar ... the possibilities are endless! It also makes a nice Mother's Day gift and there will certainly be some lucky recipients following yesterday's class.

There was lots of cutting, punching, stamping and gluing, and enough of that lovely silver glimmer paper to add some real sparkle. Thank you to everyone who attended - it was a very fun evening. If anyone following my blog would be interested in attending any of my classes, do drop me a line for more information. There will eventually be a full schedule available on my website which is still currently under construction, but if you'd like to know more in the meantime, do give me a call or drop me a line and I can share with you my schedule of both card and project classes.

Back tomorrow with a Mother's Day card for you; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Bloomin' Marvelous

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Sycamore Street DSP

Ink: Crumb Cake

Tools: Bitty Butterfly Punch, Elegant Butterfly Punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch,  1 3/4"scallop circle punch, 2 3/8" scallop circle punch, scallop edge border punch, Stampin' Trimmer

Finishing Touches: Silver Glimmer Paper

I have been very busy exhibiting at my first wedding fair today, so today's work is that of a guest crafter - my daughter! Today is Chinese New Year and as my daughter is very fortunate to learn Mandarin at school, we decided to make a new year card for her Mandarin teacher, Wan Lau Shu (or Mrs Nelson to the uninitiated - apologies for  the poor phonetics!!) and a small gift.

So first up, the card:

This year is the Year of the Snake, so we decided to decorate the card with a golden snake (yellow/gold is considered the most important colour and the colour of Imperial China) made using a paper-folding technique learned at a lunchtime 'Maths through Art and Design' club (aren't schools great these days?!). We stuck the snake to a bright red card, as red is an important colour in Chinese culture symbolising good fortune and joy and is very popular during new year celebrations. To finish, my daughter carefully wrote 'Happy New Year' in her best character writing alongside it.

She then also made a small gift of a punch art panda bookmark to go with the card. Isn't he cute?

Just a few simple punched shapes, diamantes to give his eyes some sparkle and a red bow for luck. So to everyone out there who is celebrating today, a Happy New Year! Until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies (Panda Bookmark only):

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black

Tools: Large oval punch, 2-step bird punch (the wing), owl punch (circles for eyes and heart for nose), diamantes

Back today as promised with a 3D project for you. I've seen a number of versions of similar pictures to these in cyberspace and am not sure who gets the credit for the original version - possibly the Australian company Mondo Cherry (you can check out their website here). Anyway, I've always wanted to have a go at creating one of these hearts, so inspired by my absolutely favourite new designer paper, More Amore, and hearts in a variety of shapes and sizes, this is what I came up with:

I kept things simple and just finished off with a few pearls to add interest. I love the way you get to see both sides of the paper in the design too - often one side is sacrificed for the other.

I think this would make such a lovely piece of wall art and would look beautiful in a little girl's bedroom. That's where this particular version is headed; my daughter loved it the moment she set eyes on it and has been desperate for me to take its picture and blog it so that it can be hung in its final destination! I love the effect that this kind of design creates; I may have a go with brighter colours and a more random pattern some other time - watch this space!

That's all for today - until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Paper: Whisper White, More Amore (DSP)

Tools: Full Heart Punch, Small Heart Punch, Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Simply Scored, Bone Folder

Finishing Touches: Pearl Basic Jewels

We are back to the LOVE theme today, with a cute set of four notelets with a coordinating box. I have designed them with Valentine's Day in mind, but these little 3" notelets are perfect for tucking into a lunchbox or loved one's pocket for a surprise love note.

I've used a selection of stamp sets to create this set:

From the left, do you recognise the stamp used on the first card? I created the patchwork heart design by using my marker pens to colour the central section of the 'recover rapidly' Band-Aid stamp from the Sale-A-Bration Patterned Occasions stamp set, aligning each one with my trusty stamp-a-ma-jig to align them into a neat patchwork pattern. The second stamp is from a now retired set called 'Sprinkled Expressions' and the third uses the cross stitch heart from the Hoop La La set in the main catalogue. Lastly, the heart/flower stamp is one of 24 available in the set 'Spring Sampler' available in the new Spring Summer seasonal catalogue that goes live TODAY! There are lots and lots of lovely new items, some of which I've already featured and many of which you will see on my blog during the coming weeks and months. There is a link to the catalogue on the right hand side of my page; if you would like your own copy of the catalogue or would like to place an order, do get in touch with me at joanne@thecraftyowl and I will be happy to help.

I also whipped up a lovely two-tone box to keep them all in out of melon mambo cardstock with a co-ordinating regal rose flap shaped using one of the small Labels Collection framelits. To finish off, I stamped and cut a pair of hearts using the Hearts a Flutter set to tuck the box flap into and hold it in place.

My little girl has had her eye on these ever since she saw me putting them together, so I'm thinking I might slip the first one of mine into her school bag for a little surprise. The second might go into my husband's lunch box - assuming I stop crafting for long enough to make him a sandwich of course! I hope you are inspired to have a go and make something similar - do leave me a comment and let me know who you are sending yours to. Off to create now - until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Patterned Occasions, Sprinkled Expressions (retired), Hearts A Flutter, Hoop La La, Spring Sampler, Tiny Tags, Hearts a Flutter

Paper: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Regal Rose

Stampin' Write Markers: Real Red, Melon Mambo, Regal Rose

Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Labels Collection Framelits, Simply Scored

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