So I have a confession: I don't like all the stamps that Stampin' Up! has to offer! I like modern, clean and unfussy design and don't really go in much for the vintage, distressed look. So whilst I loved three of the four stamps in June's 'Best of Flowers' set, I struggled with the fourth one. The bouquet of roses had a real 'old fashioned' look I thought and I would probably have left it in the box uninked. I could happily spend endless hours creating things with the other three stamps in the set, each of which I love, but for the fact that I had decided to use this set for this month's card class and therefore felt I should use each of the stamps equally. After much huffing and puffing, I came up with a couple of cards and this is one, of them:

This is something of a departure from my usual style, but I quite like the way it turned out. It was also a great opportunity to teach the ladies in my class the double embossing technique, which enabled me to make the stamp the focal point, without creating an overly fussy design. Some sponging of Crumb Cake ink over the surface and some ruched seam binding ribbon were all that I needed to finish it off.

I think maybe it's the kind of card that grows on you; the more you look at it, the more appeal it has - some 'olde worlde' charm, perhaps! if you would like to own the 'Best of Flowers' set, it is still available to purchase for £13.95 until 31st March 2014. Equally, if you would like to join one of my card classes, do get in touch for more details - our September class will feature the new 'Mosaic Madness' stamp set, along with the coordinating punch and embossing folder.

Back tomorrow with another card I made using this stamp; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Best of Flowers

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Crumb Cake

Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Designer Frames Embossing Folder, Sponge Dauber

Finishing Touches: Crumb Cake `1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon

I'm back after another busy card class last night, which was great fun but I was home too late to post so am back on track this evening. We were using the 'Best of Flowers' set at yesterday's class and everyone made some great cards - I 'll share these another time. Today I have another Mosaic Madness card for you; something a little different:

To create this card, I used the mosaic stamp set along with the co-ordinating embossing folder and punch, but this time created a 'trellis' from the embossed sheet using the punch, and then stamping a two-tone pattern on the trellis so that it would really 'pop' against the Coastal Cabana ink and cardstock duo. I've been playing around with this idea in my head for a few days and having finally committed it to paper I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.

This set really is so versatile; I hope you're not tired of it yet, as there's lots more where this came from! I'll be featuring this stamp set in September's card class, so if you live in Northampton and would like to experience a little Mosaic Madness for yourself, then do get in touch for further details - whether an experienced crafter or first-time card maker, you will be more than welcome. We are not having a monthly card class in August due to the summer holidays, although on Saturday 3rd August I am holding an-all day Christmas Crafts Workshop, where we will be getting a headstart on our Christmas preparations - it pays to be organised, especially if you're a crafter!

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

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Really Good Greetings

Cardstock: Coastal Cabana, Whisper White

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe

Tools: Mosaic Punch, Mosaic Embossing Folder, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Finishing Touches: Basics Rhinestones

Today I'm sharing my team training swaps that I promised you on Saturday, but after a fun day at training yesterday was too tired to post. I completed one basic design, featuring the Mosaic Madness stamp set, but in five different colourways, each showcasing one of the new in colours. So here is the first one, with the base colour of Strawberry Slush:

The feature colours on this card are Crisp Cantaloupe and Coastal Cabana. Here is the second card, with a Crisp Cantaloupe base and feature colours of Coastal Cabana and Pistachio Pudding:

Here is the third card, with a Baked Brown Sugar base and feature colours of Crisp Cantaloupe and Bermuda Bay:

Here is the fourth card, with a Coastal Cabana base and feature colours of Calypso Coral and Smoky Slate:

Here is the fifth and last card, with a Pistachio Pudding base and feature colours of Strawberry Slush and Smoky Slate:

The design is intentionally simple - it needs to be when there are so many to make! I liked taking the opportunity to play around with new colour combinations and also I like the stamping of the same colour ink on cardstock that I used for the main card; this isn't something I do much of, usually but I like the effect and think I'll be doing it more often. So which colour combination is your favourite? Do you have a new 'number one' in-colour? Leave me a comment below or on my Facebook page - I'd love to know what you think. It's still neck-and-neck Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana for me; too close to call!

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

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Happy Day

Cardstock: 2013-15 In Colours

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: As detailed above

Tools: Mosaic Punch, Itty Bitty Punch

Finishing Touches: Basics Rhinestones

So shout 'yay!' if you've been enjoying the sunshine today - what a scorcher! I've spent much of it in my craft room preparing my swaps for quarterly team training tomorrow, but I'm not complaining! I'll be sharing swaps tomorrow, but today I'm sharing this post which was scheduled for earlier this week when I was cutting up my Storytime paper, but in the business of my week I totally forgot to post - go figure!

So here is today's creative post: another card I made this week as a 'friendship' card for Rebecca to give to one of her little friends who left school at the end of term:

The layout is simple and I know the red wagon is very American (we actually have friends stateside who have one of these - I think it's great!), but I love the feeling of friendship that the image gives. The check background also works to bring the whole card design and colours together.

Back tomorrow with news of quarterly training and pictures of my swaps. Until then, happy stamping'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet Essentials

Cardstock: Real Red, Pool Party, Night of Navy, Storytime DSP

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Real Red

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

Finishing Touches: Pool Party Baker's Twine

That's it for another year - school is officially out! Where does the time go? Today I'm sharing some of my teacher thank you gifts with you. I love to create handmade gifts and as some of my readers know, one of my other hobbies is biscuit making. So for my end of year teacher gifts, I decided to make apple-shaped chocolate iced biscuits, presented in the fab new Tag a Bag Gift Boxes and finished with a decorated tag from the co-ordinating accessory kit:

I often make mini-cookies and present in glass jars, but on this occasion these gift boxes were the perfect size and shape to hold ten of my apple biscuits. These boxes are great value at £6.25 for eight boxes and as they're food safe they are perfect for biscuits, cupcakes or other edible as well as non-edible gifts. I also made use of my accessory kit to seal and label the boxes. Here's a close up of one of the tags:

Wondering how I made the apples? I used the heart from my Hearts a Flutter framelits and then removed the bottom point with my Petite Curly Label Punch, added a leaf and stalk and done. A quick stamped and cut Bitty Banner 'thank you' and some Gumball Green ribbon added the finishing touch. One more photo for you with one of the biscuits out of the box so that you can see exactly what they look like:

Hoping to be back tomorrow with another project; have a busy day making tomorrow, as I have swaps to prepare for quarterly team training on Sunday and I haven't even started yet - oops! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Bitty Banners

Cardstock: Whisper White, Real Red, Gumball Green, Chocolate Chip

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Real Red

Tools: Hearts a Flutter Framelits, Bitty Banners Framelits, 3/4" Circle Punch

Finishing Touches: Tag a Bag Gift Boxes, Tag a Bag Accessory Kit, White Baker's Twine

Another mad busy day today, working on several commissions, a few household chores and preparing for the last day of the school term tomorrow. As promised, here's the other card Barbara and I made when we were busy embossing the other day - a sunny yellow base with a heat embossed white daisy pattern:

Here's a close up of the embossed detail where you can see the raised pattern:

I love the simplicity of this kind of card and Barbara and I originally left ours with the embossed panel taking centre stage, but I later decided to add a sentiment from the Sweet Essentials stamp set and two of the lovely new build-a-brads with Daffodil Delight candy dots (did you guess the new product correctly?!)

Just a reminder too that 'Sweet Essentials' is one of the greeting stamp sets available at 25% off this month - it can be yours for £10.46 (clear mount).

Back tomorrow with another project - another of my new annual catalogue favourites. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet Essentials

Cardstock: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Daffodil Delight, Versamark

Tools: Heat Gun

Finishing Touches: White Embossing Powder, Brights Candy Dots, Candy Dots Brad Bases

A late blog post today, but a post none the less! I've been busy putting the finishing touches to some teacher gifts that I'll share with you later in the week, but for those of you who follow me on Facebook and saw my 'sneak peek' earlier today, you will know that today's card features a butterfly - one of the stamps from this month's 'Best of' anniversary set, Best of Butterflies.

I spent some time with my downline Barbara yesterday afternoon working on different embossing techniques and this is one of the cards we produced:

The butterfly takes centre stage on this card and is stamped in Versamark on vellum then embossed in black to give a textured outline. We then picked up the colours in the now retired Sale-A-Bration Sycamore Street paper to shade our butterfly, colouring with markers on the underside of the butterfly so that the muted colours show through. Here is a close up of the detail where you can really see the texture of the black embossing on the butterfly:

This is the first time I've tried this technique and I really like the effect that this gives. I will be sharing more cards featuring the Best of Butterflies stamp set in coming days, but if you can't wait to get started creating your own butterfly cards, contact me and I will happily order this stamp set for you.

Back tomorrow with more embossing and another new product ... any guesses? I'll give you a clue - it was one of my 'top 5' wishlist products in the video I shot to accompany the launch of the new annual catalogue this month. If you haven't yet seen it, you can find it here. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Best of Butterflies

Cardstock: Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango, Sycamore Street DSP (Sale-A-Bration - retired), vellum

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Tangerine Tango, Summer Starfruit, Basic Grey, Versamark

Tools: Window Framelits, Heat Gun

Finishing Touches: Black Embossing Powder

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!