Hello everyone! Did you miss me? My extended blogging break wasn't anticipated. I have had a few big things on of late: a girly weekend, a thirteenth birthday to prepare for and celebrate and I was performing in Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat along with the youngest of my James Juniors on Friday evening. Add to that a persistent knee injury from running that finally resulted in me needing an extended course of physiotherapy to put right, along with a spell of single parenting and well, as you can probably tell, family and school life has somewhat got in the way! I still held a couple of wonderful launch parties to welcome the arrival of the new catalogue, my class schedule is uninterrupted and I have been finalising the details for my next 2 retreats (I will blog these another time but meanwhile you can read all about them here) but blogging has had to take something of a back seat.

However, today is Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! I'm a little late but here nevertheless! It's the turn of the marvellous Jaydee to host this week and she has a clean and simple challenge for you to work with:

Thank heavens this week was clean and simple - although I must confess I had a couple of aborted attempts in order to achieve today's card - not enough time spent in my craft room, methinks! I eventually settled on a bright and colourful thank you card  - take a look:

I decided to go with a thank you card (we always need those, right?!) and some bright and colourful banners courtesy of the 'Pick a Pennant' stamp set and this week's challenge colours over at Just Add Ink featuring amongst others the new vibrant Granny Apple Green - love it! Now I know the challenge is 'clean and simple - birds' and there's only one feathered friend present amongst all those banners, but he's there and so I'm hoping that counts! I stamped my banners directly onto my one layer card, stamping the backgrounds off once to better highlight the patterns, whilst fussy cutting my bird and bows as I'm still waiting for my framelits to arrive.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. Today's card really is clean and simple - stamps, ink and paper: the 3 things Stampin' Up! do best!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I can't wait to see your clean and simple creations and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I'll be back as soon as I can with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Pick A Pennant Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock (£7.25)	Lemon Lime Twist Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad (£7.00)	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)
Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad (£7.00)

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host this week and I have a fun theme challenge for you to work with - I used the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and the colour palette at TGIF Challenges as the basis for my card too:

I chose my theme for this challenge ages ago but knew as soon as I received the set 'Animal Outing' in my bag at Onstage that it would have to be my set of choice for my card today - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Animal Antics - I didn't think it was possible for a rhino to look cute, but the chap on my card today with his birdie friend is definitely a cutie to me! Along with a koala-carrying kangaroo, a giraffe and a frog, this pair make up the collection of animals in the 'Animal Outing' stamp set, which forms part of the Animal Expedition suite - a bundle of animal themed stamps and framelits with a range of sentiments that make this set work for a variety of of occasions: thank you, new baby, friend, birthday, anniversary and more. There are also co-ordinating papers, leaf ribbon and wooden frames elements - this is a set that I'm sure I'm going to get lots more use out of in the coming months so watch this space for more projects! I stamped my cute pair onto a stitched circle and coloured them with my Stampin' Blends.

Layered Leaves - I layered my stitched circle onto a rectangle of Old Olive cardstock, embossed with the Lovely Leaves embossing folder - this is a firm favourite of mine, it adds great detail and texture and I really like the way the random leaf pattern. There is just enough detail to add interest behind the image whilst still retaining an overall CAS feel to my card.

A New Trio - My embellishments are minimal, in fact just some Night of Navy baker's twine, but I did want to point out something that you might have missed both on my card and in the new catalogue: I rounded the corners on my embossed panel, as per the sketch, using the new Detailed Trio Punch. Found on page 211 of the new catalogue, this punch rounds corners, creates an oval-shaped eyelet and a pretty trio of petals that will add a subtle detail to your layers. Very useful!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I can't wait to see how you interpret this week's theme and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend as it will be over all too quickly. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Detailed Trio Punch (£19.00)	Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.25)	Animal Outing Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£20.00)	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies (£28.00)	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Old Olive A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£9.00)	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (£5.50)	Night Of Navy Medium Baker's Twine (£2.75)

The wait is over - it's June 1st and the new 2018-19 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue is here! I have updated my links on the right hand side of my blog and you will find a permanent link to the new catalogue there, but for today you need look no further than the picture below which will take you straight to the new catalogue:

The catalogue is fantastic, with so many great new products to choose from. The new catalogue is posted above and will be permanently linked via my blog on the right hand side if you don’t have a paper copy and wish to browse. If you have your paper copy and just want to go straight to the shop to place your order, click here - ordering systems have now fully transitioned from the old stock items to the new so you are good to go! Also, remember to add the current hostess code for June QCW2Y7SW if your order is less than £150 and ensure your preferences are set to 'contactable' to receive a thank you in the post from me.

There are a few items that due to unexpected shipping delays will not be immediately available - they are as follows:

• BIG PLANS PLANNER KIT (146859)
• BIG PLANS PLANNER KIT REFILL (146861)
• METALLIC PEARLS (146282)
• LEAF RIBBON (146905)
• PETAL PINK RHINESTONE GEMS (146914)
• METALLIC BRADS (146929)
• BASIC BRADS (146930)
• 2018-2020 IN COLOR MINI BINDER CLIPS (146932)

New Stampin' Up! Blends colours are also unavailable at this time, but rest assured I will post more information on this as they come online. There is plenty that is available though, so you can always add these items to your 'next time' list!

I'll be sharing my favourite items from the new catalogue in a blog post soon, but in the meantime if you would like to get hands on with new products then save the following dates: 

I will be holding two Annual Catalogue Open House Drop-in Sessions next week on Wednesday 6th June from 10am-12 noon and then again on Thursday 7th June from 6-8pm. If you live in or around Northampton this is a great opportunity for you to see some of the products up close, take advantage of my BOGOF sale of retired stamp sets, do a make and take and more! If you would like to put your name down for these exclusive events then do get in touch!

I also have a number of classes lined up in coming months featuring products from the new catalogue - here's a quick summary for you below:

• 18th June - Share What You Love Suite
• 5th July -Lilypad Lake Bundle
• 16th July - Serene Garden Bundle
• 2nd August - Abstract Impressions
• 13th August - Darling Label Punch Box
• 10th September - Pop of Petals Home Decor Frame

Full details for these classes can be found on my Facebook Events Page  or alternatively under the 'Events/classes' tab on my website.

That's a lot of information for one post; if I were you I would put the kettle on, put your feet up and get comfy and settle down with your new catalogue for a browse and start creating that all-important wish list!

Back tomorrow with a new project; until then, happy shopping!

Today is the last day for lots of things - you can read all about those in my earlier post here - but for today's creative post I'm sharing a piece of framed home decor that I made recently for a recent event and my upcoming new catalogue launch to illustrate to my customers the new Stampin' Up! colour collections following the colour revamp, whilst also highlighting both current sets of in-colours. 

I wanted something that would serve as a conversation-starter for questions and enable comparison of the new colour families so decided to take the opportunity to highlight one of my favourite bundles from the new catalogue, the Lined Alphabet bundle, to create a colour-themed piece of home decor - take a look:

This is a rather large framed piece, measuring a whopping 17 1/2" x 17 1/2" square (or 45cm x 45cm), so I've photographed it quite tightly so that you can see the detail. You might recognise the quotation - it is attributed to the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky, famed for painting the first works of modern abstract art in the 20th century. In defining life, painting and the psychological impact of colour, he is quoted as saying:

"Colour is a power which directly influences the soul. Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammer, the soul is the strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul" (V. The psychological working of Colour: Quoted in: Hajo Düchting (2000) Wassily Kandinsky, 1866-1944: A Revolution in Painting. p. 17). 

This seemed perfectly suitable for my interpretation of the Stampin' Up! colours. All 53 colours feature: the new 2018-20 In-colours feature first (I repeated the Lovely Lipstick and Grapefruit Grove colours as I needed 6 colours for this word and a seventh panel to give me the symmetry for my overall design, but otherwise all colours feature just once). You can see each of the families in sequence, highlighted below - a little messy to label to be fair, as two of the colour families span more than one horizontal line, but hopefully you can make them all out:

This is then complimented by the three basics of Whisper White, Very Vanilla and Basic Black to make up the background.

What do you think of the new Lined Alphabet and the co-ordinating Layering Alphabet Edgelit Dies? I love them! Rest assured, these are an investment item and I will be getting my money's worth out of them so you will see lots more projects using them in the coming months for sure. They are really easy to use - I actually cut the letters first then stamped afterwards, but you could do the other way around which is the more conventional approach I guess. I like the subtle line detail that stamping the diecut letter adds for just that little bit of extra definition and the marker lines on the dies make it easy to get the words lined up. This is just one of the ways that I will be sharing the new colours with my customers - along with colour swatches, guides and the new in-color bookmarks that I sent out with my catalogues too.

I will be having a couple of new catalogue drop-in sessions next week for anyone who is local to me and would like to have a look at my new product displays including this frame in more detail, pick up their new catalogue, shop my 'buy one, get one free' stash of retired stock and more. These drop-ins will be on Wednesday 6th June 10am-12 noon and then again on Thursday evening 7th June from 6-8pm - please get in touch and let me know if you would like to attend either via email or my Facebook page.

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with news of the new catalogue. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Lined Alphabet Photopolymer Bundle (£133.00)	In Color 2018–2020 A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	2017-2019 In Color A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Neutrals A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Brights A4 Cardstock (£8.00)
Subtles A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Regals A4 Cardstock (£8.00)	Classic Stampin' Pad Assortment In Color 2018-2020 (£31.50)

Public service announcements first today - bear with me, there will be a creative post to follow for those that are here for the pretty stuff! It's sharing lots of new product too, so you're going to want to stay tuned!

Counting down now - only 1 day to go until the new 2018-19 Annual Stampin' Up! catalogue launches!

I have already sent out copies to everyone on my catalogue mailing list who has purchased from me in the last 6 months - if you haven't received one, then do give me a call on 07773 421446 or drop me an email and I will pop one in the post to you today.

This also means the following: 

Today is the last day that you can order from the 2017-18 Stampin' Up! catalogue - this includes any of the 'Bundle and Save 10%' bundles. Even though many of the products they contain are being carried over to the new annual catalogue, they will not be available as a discounted bundle.

It is also the last day that you can order from the 2018 Spring-Summer Seasonal Stampin' Up! catalogue - a number of the products in this brochure are being carried over to the new annual catalogue, however we will be saying goodbye to many items. There are still a few items available at a discount on the Retiring List here - today is your last chance to grab a bargain! 

Today is also the final day to purchase any of the special Share What You Love Suite bundles. You can read more about these fabulous bundles in my blog post here which also contains the link to the store should you wish to purchase any of the bundles. Whilst all of the items contained in each bundle will be available to purchase individually once the new annual catalogue launches, the bundles along with the free gifts won't. So if you what to start Sharing What You Love, get yours today!

If you are placing an order online today, don't forget to use this month's online hostess code T3H6GHNT to receive a little thank you from me. 

I will be back shortly with today's creative post - it's so good, it deserves a post all of its very own, so be sure to check it out!

It's half term here so I'm feeling stretched again this week, hence no blog post yesterday. I was also sending out my new annual catalogues to everyone who has ordered from me in the last 6 months so that they will be with you in time for when the catalogue goes live on Friday - can't wait! If you haven't ordered from me in the last 6 months and don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator but would like to receive a catalogue, then send me your details to joanne@thecraftyowl.co.uk and I will arrange to post one out to you.

Today I'm sharing one of my favourite cards made with some of the products in the fabulous Share What You Love Suite that has been on early release this month - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Lovely Floral - Dynamic Indeed - You all know how much I love designer series paper and the papers in this suite are no exception, however for today's card I wanted to showcase the fabulous Lovely Floral Textured Impressions Embossing Folder and needed it to take centre stage, without a paper pattern to distract from it. The embossed detail is just gorgeous - I think this folder may move into my top 3! Whether on its own or tucked behind some additional layers as on my card today, it makes a card all on its own. I think it would make a fabulous design for wedding stationery too and so easy to mass produce.

Embellish With Love - I also used a number of the accessories from the Share What You Love Embellishment Kit: the label, twine and metallic rose brought my card together really quickly. Add some of the velvet ribbon, some coloured pearls and a sliver of pearl doily and it steps up the embossing folder to make for a quick card with lots of interest and detail.

A Beautiful Day - The only stamping is the simple layered floral and sentiment on my diecut piece - I stamped my petals in two different strengths by stamping off the outer petals first for added interest.

You have just one more day to take advantage of the Share What You Love Bundles, including free products and the exclusive 'Statement of My Heart' stamp set, before these items can be purchased individually in the new annual catalogue. This suite will also feature in one of my Monthly Product Technique Clasess in June - check out the details on my Facebook page or contact me if you would like to know more.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Gotta Have It All Bundle (£118.75)	Lovely Floral Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (£8.25)	Share What You Love Embellishment Kit (£10.25)	Love What You Do Photopolymer Stamp Set (£20.00)	Rich Razzleberry 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Velvet Ribbon (£7.50)
Pearlized Doilies (£4.25)	Share What You Love Artisan Pearls (£5.50)

Happy Memorial Day to all my US readers! Today has been a Bank Holiday here in the UK too and despite the severe flash flooding of yesterday evening (I haven't sen rain like it!!), today the sun managed to come out again and this afternoon was warm once more, so I've been otherwise occupied today. I've just time for a quick share of some humorous 3"x3" customer thank you cards that I made recently using up some of my Tutti-Frutti designer series papers and a punny sentiment from Beautiful Bouquet:

I wasn't sure how I was going to use that banana patterned paper then suddenly thought of this sentiment from Beautiful Bouquet and thought  - well, why not?! I'm not sure I would thank someone with a bunch of bananas as opposed to a bunch of flowers, but it made me giggle - maybe I'll have to give it a try! 

Here's a selection of my cards together:

They all fit perfectly into a 3"x3" envelope and are just the right size for adding to the bagged orders for my face-to-face customers.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Beautiful Bouquet Photopolymer Stamp Set (£24.00)	Tutti-Frutti 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£9.00)	Daffodil Delight 1/4" Double-Stitched Ribbon (£6.25)	1-3/8" (3.5 Cm) Scallop Circle Punch (£14.50)	1-1/2" (3.8 Cm) Circle Punch (£14.50)
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)

It's Sunday and time for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my awesome friend LeAnne to host this week and she has my favourite, a sketch challenge, for you to work with:

I struggled a little with my card this week; I think too much time spent on admin and not enough crafting, coupled with new catalogue syndrome (so many new things to play with and a ton of things on their way out, sometimes it's hard to know where to start!) left me feeling a little stuck for inspiration. Eventually I decided to go pink and have a play with my stamps and papers from the new Garden Impressions Suite - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Garden Impressions - The new Garden Impressions Suite is a collection of papers and images inspired by Impressionist art. The abstract florals and paper patterns are reminiscent of Monet's fabulous flowers and garden at Giverny, with broad brushstrokes and bold use of colour. I know this is going to be one of my favourite sets in the new catalogue.

Abstract Flowers - Having chosen the pink floral paper, I set about creating a single stamped abstract flower on a layered circle, stamping off the first layer and stamping layers two and three at full strength. These stamps are super-easy to line up and I just love the loose abstract effect. 

A Pink Pair - I used a combination of white and the two pinks in the designer series paper, melon Mambo and Powder Pink, as the colours for my card today - here they are if you would like to save them for your future inspiration:

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my Product and 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'm still not sure about this card - I added the ribbon as I felt it needed a little something, but I don't know if it works? Maybe it's just too pink?! I do love that sentiment though.

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I can't wait to see what you create with this week's sketch and look forward to visiting your blogs this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend - we have a Bank Holiday here in the UK so are looking forward to an extra day and hopefully some BBQ weather too. I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Abstract Impressions Photopolymer Stamp Set (£24.00)	Garden Impressions 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper (£10.25)	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)	Powder Pink Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)
Powder Pink A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Layering Circle Framelits Dies (£32.00)	Petals & More Thinlits Dies (£31.00)	Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Powder Pink 3/8" Shimmer Ribbon (£6.25)

Today a quick post from me to share something a little different - a 3D framed home decor piece featuring the Statement of My Heart single stamp that is available exclusively this month with the 'Gotta Have It All' Bundle that forms part of the early release of the Share What You Love Suite. 

You can find full details of the bundles that are on offer in my previous blog post here - I was inspired to create this piece, which features the Stampin' Up! Statement of the Heart for my office, using the stamp and some of the fabulous Share What You Love Specialty Designer Series Paper:

I went for something of a vintage theme, stamping my words and then after sponging the edges of my white cardstock with some Crumb Cake ink, framing the verse with the oval piece of Delightfully Detailed Laser-cut Specialty Paper. I backed this piece with a sheet of the Share What You Love Specialty DSP, and to finish, I added some of the lovely pearlescent embossed flowers that I fussy cut from the DSP, some pearls and a little Rich Razzleberry velvet ribbon, before framing in a rather elaborate frame.

A little different in style for me, but so pretty and a great way to immortalise these wonderful words. If you would like to create a home decor piece like this one, you only have until the end of the month to purchase the bundle and receive this exclusive stamp set for free, so hop on over to the online store before it's gone for good.

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Gotta Have It All Bundle (£118.75)

Today I'm sharing a card that uses the sketch over at As You See It that I also created with the Global Design Project theme this week in mind:

I was intrigued by the sketch at AYSI and thought I'd go one step further than the lovely LeAnne's card and not only use up some of my retiring DSP, but use it to create a kind of relief pattern that added interest to my main image - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Petal Garden - I had some sheets of Petal Garden DSP left over and most of them had a single stem image like the one on my card. I thought this sketch would be an alternative way to add interest to the basic paper pattern by adding dimensional panels in the same design. I really like the finished effect - although it did challenge my mathematical skills to ensure that all of the pieces were the correct size and correctly spaced, whilst the image remained aligned. For a card with very little stamping, the mosaic element was rather time-consuming - a good thing that I like jigsaws!

A Note For You - This card is all about the paper, so a small sentiment was the order of the day. I chose the simple 'For You' from the Graceful Garden stamp set, masking each word so that they would sit one on top of the other and fit into my 3/4" punched circle. I added a little of the new velvet ribbon beneath it.

When Is A Scalloped Circle Not A Scalloped Circle? - My sentiment needed a border so that it didn't get lost on my card, but I didn't have anything small enough to fit. Then I remembered a trick I have used on a previous card - I used the outer framelit of the wreath in the Santa's Sleigh Thinlits, circled below:

A clever trick! It's always worth checking your framelits to see if they can be used for purposes other than those intended :-)

I needed a 'just because' card and this one fits the bill nicely; it's always good to have a few of this type of card on hand. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day; I'm off to watch the cricket this afternoon so hoping that the sun continues to shine and it's a little less windy than last week! I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack (£9.00)	Graceful Garden Clear-Mount Stamp Set (£17.00)	Rich Razzleberry A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Pool Party A4 Cardstock (£7.25)	Brights Enamel Shapes (£6.19)
Whisper White A4 Cardstock (£8.25)	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad (£6.00)	Santa's Sleigh Dies Thinlits (£27.00)	3/4" (1.9 Cm) Circle Punch (£11.50)	Rich Razzleberry 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Velvet Ribbon (£7.50)