Inspiring Inkee Blog Hop

Woohoo!  This is new territory for me!  My very first blog hop!!

Welcome, if you are new to my blog, lovely to meet you and it would be great if you like what you see here and become a regular visitor.
You should have arrived here from Elaine's blog, isn't her work gorgeous?! I adore her creations, I just wish I could emulate some of them.  Elaine is going to be my room mate at the Stampin Up convention in November maybe some of her inspiration will rub off on me.

Anyway, enough of my rambling, I have a couple of cards to share with you.  I am definitely beginning to get into the Christmas mood, I have been playing with a new stamp set form the Autumn and Winter seasonal catalogue called Snowflake Soiree.

I stamped the snowflake with Staz-on ink onto vellum cardstock and then took  the tool that comes with the score board and embossed parts of the design from the back.  It really enhances the snowflake and makes it look really frosty.  The flower punch is perfect for cutting it out then I attached it to the card with a brad in the centre. 
This photo has distorted the colour slightly but the card base is Night of Navy, I stamped randomly over the background with the "Merry" stamp and then just once with Whisper White Kraft ink.

I have another for you! 

I have been wanting to try this technique for a while, layering up three pieces of card and then stamping across them.  It looks so much more complicated than it is and I really don't do difficult; life is too short.
The stamp is another snowflake from Snowflake Soiree, stamped in Night of Navy ink as is the Noel greeting. I added a touch of sparkle using another new product to Stampin Up, Dazzling Details glitter.  It shows up better if you click on the photo.

I hope you're enjoying the blog hop, next stop is Hayley but just in case you get lost along the way here is the whole list. 

Have a great day, hope to see you again soon 


1. Amanda www.inspiringinkin.com
2. Elaine http://blog.stampwithelaine.com/
3. Kazza www.kazzasworld.blogspot.com
4. Hayley http://hayleygg.blogspot.co.uk/
5. Jane www.haveagostampin.blogspot.com
6. Elizabeth www.elizabethscraftroom.blogspot.com
7. Lynne http://scrapcomber.blogspot.co.uk/
8. Sarah http://www.sarahscardsandcupcakes.blogspot.co.uk/
9. Elizabeth B http://www.stampingwithelizabeth.blogspot.co.uk/

Perfectly preserved

Another card from team training, this one uses the Perfectly preserved stamps from the Autumn and Winter seasonal catalogue.  I have to confess I wasn't taken with this stamp set when I first saw it, it was one of those that I needed to see in action before I fell in love with it.
The jar was stamped onto the whisper white card and also onto acetate and cut out. The card jar was then water coloured using an aqua painter and the clear acetate jar attached at the top using a sliver of sticky strip.
The flowers were stamped and then the centre flower was embellished with itty bitty punched flowers with added pearls.

Pop back and see me tomorrow, I am taking part in a team blog hop.  There will be links to lots of lovely inspiration from the Inspiring Inkee team and the new Autumn and Winter Seasonal catalogue.

Four Seasons

This gorgeous stamp set will be available as a hostess benefit from October 1st as it appears in the brand new catalogue!  So exciting!!!!  It features four discs, one for each season of the year.  This card makes use of the winter snowflakes which has a cheeky robin nestling inside.  We made this card at team training earlier this month and used core-dinations card stock, embossed and sanded to reveal it's inner beauty, as a base then added the punched snowflake design, some ribbon and an additional snowflake hanging from the ribbon.

One of those cheeky robins has escaped to the inside of the card!

Sandown Make and Take Christmas card

Isn't this pretty? This is the card that Amanda designed for our Make and Take at the Sandown craft show.  We had six ladies at a time, all day making this lovely Christmas card.  
The colours are Bashful Blue, Marina Mist and Chocolate Chip. We used the ornament punch and the Delightful decorations stamp set and embellished with ribbon and pearls.

Stampin Up at the Sandown Show

This is what I was up to in my hotel room in Wales last week; I'm there again now but I will share what I am doing this week with you later.
Last weekend was the Sandown Stitches and Creative Crafts Show, Amanda had a stand there and I was going to help out for a couple of days.  Of course to really stand out from the crowd we needed LOTS of samples to decorate the walls so I said I would make some bunting to hang up.
This picture shows my work in progress and the ones below show how pretty my hotel room looked once I had hung it all up.  Well I wouldn't want to crush it would I? It was much safer up on the wall, I wonder what housekeeping thought!

I think our stand looked wonderful; some of the other ladies had made so many samples and worked so hard.  What do you think?

We were demonstrating and had make and take sessions running all day and we completely booked up very early on which was great. We were able to share Stampin Up with so many lovely people. I do have a picture of the card we made somewhere, I will find it for tomorrow for you.  Meanwhile, here is my bunting in situ!

Memo pad holder

This is my favourite make and take from  team training this month.  It is a design that has a bit of a history, Amanda got the details from Teri Pocock ( you can see her wonderful work here) who in turn got the original idea from an American lady Jan Ferring but had to alter the sizes slightly so that it would be a better fit for UK paper sizes.  To give you a better idea of size, the paper is A6.
My memo block is now in use in my daughter's room at university :)

Snowflakes in September

When I first saw the new Autumn and Winter seasonal catalogue from Stampin Up the snowflake die was at the top of my wishlist. There are three snowflakes but on this card I only used the largest. 
It has two of the large snowflakes, the top one is slightly offset and 3d foam mounted to give more dimension.  The other new product on this card is the tulle ribbon, it comes in three colours; cherry cobbler, crumb cake and this one early espresso.  It really is lovely to work with, really really soft and very wide too so you can use it flat and gather it together or fold it over several times for different looks.

Cool Christmas

Remember this?  I made the topper as my swap for the Reading Training day, you can read all it here. I thought the ladies at card club would like to have a go too and so I turned it into a larger card and added the greeting.

New wood grain embossing folder

This new embossing folder is great, such a deep, crisp impression and so effective.  I used it on this card which would be a great card for the men in our lives. The squares were punched from designer series paper and opposite corners rounded using another punch. The bottom right square has a greeting stamped on it and is then raised on 3d foam.

All of a Flutter

I am having a strange few days! I am writing this post from a hotel room in Wales where I am settling my daughter into university; she doesn't need me to crowd her of course so I brought a few crafting bits and pieces with me to keep me occupied.  I am busy making some bunting in preparation for the Sandown craft show next weekend where I will be helping out on the Stampin Up stand, do pop along and see us.  Consequently my hotel room is looking very cheerful at the moment! I will have to take a photo before I leave and share it with you later in the week.

Anyway, back to today.  This bright and cheerful card was for Make, Do and Send card club at the beginning of September.  The layers are Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight, very summery. I stamped the All of a Flutter butterfly randomly over the yellow layer in matching ink and also brushed the inkpad very lightly over the white panel to soften it slightly.  The butterfly was inked using marker pens and then stamped at a jaunty angle.

The final swaps

These are the last of the swaps I received at Leadership training, lots more Christmas ideas. The top two cards demonstrate how different and yet how similar two cards can be. They both use the new holiday frame embossing folder; Caroline Barker's uses the coredinations card which she has sanded to display the colour beneath while Jane Cutting's retains the elegance of the white embossed design and adds a splash of colour with the tree and ribbon. Below Jane's card is another of those cheeky gingerbreadmen this time from Hayley Gillie and then a lovely tag using some bakers twine and the new gold glimmer paper from Marisa Van Amson.

Want some more?

Ok I am now in no doubt, I need to get that gingerbread man! This one has been embossed with our new scented embossing powder and attached to the wonderful tulle ribbon, it's from Pip Todman. Then another christmas tree inside the embossed frame, this time in red but I don't know who made it, sorry. Emma Shelcot made the tag in Summer Starfruit and Gumball Green; the other tag is from Michele Gatrell and makes good use of the framelit dies.
The tree card is from Fiona Whitten using the Scentsational Season stamps.

Too early?

Can we do Christmas yet?  Can we?  Please?
Lots of the swaps I received were Christmassy and I will take a lot of inspiration from them when I come to make my own cards and when I design projects for my classes.
We have SO many gorgeous new products in the Autumn and Winter catalogue, everything you could possibly want for your Christmas projects.

In this picture from top left going clockwise: A beautiful snowflake card from Sally-Jo Houghton, a Christmas tree in the new Gumball Green In-colour from Lynne Freeman, a very elegant ornament in brushed gold and vanilla from Emma Crockett who travelled to Reading all the way from Glasgow! She also made a silver version of this card. The pencil in presentation folder is by Sarah-Jane and then lastly that very cheeky gingerbread man is from Julie Halls

Cards or not cards?

More samples from other demos, these are a little different!
Top left is a beautiful tag from Jane Adams using the Creative Elements stamp set. Then an unusual idea but one I will definitely try out myself from Zoe Tant, next is a lovely packaged pen from Elizabeth Shannon she used the vellum cardstock and embossed it beautifully. In the middle there is a tiny gift package holding some Hershey kisses, it's from Teri Pocock. finally there is a little card from Caroline Skelton.

Stowaway!

I think we're finally there!  Alice begins her new adventure at uni tomorrow and we seem to have spent all this week packing.  As you can see in the picture though there is someone who would quite like to go with her!
We are off in the morning to Wales so I fully expect it to be raining haha; I have a packed a bag of crafting supplies (make that two bags!) so I will be well occupied for the couple of days I am spending there even if it does pour.

Lots of Alice's friends are also beginning their exciting journeys tomorrow and over the next few days so I will take this opportunity to wish them all well.  Work hard, play hard, make lots of new friends and make the most of every opportunity. 

A few more

Swaps received from other demonstrators is my favourite starting place when designing new cards for my card club.  Sometimes I copy them almost exactly, other times they are simply a springboard for my own creations.
Starting top left and moving clockwise these are from Kerry Timms, Natalie O'Shea, Sally Bowman and Nikki Raine.

Here's a few more!  This time from Angie King in Norfolk, there is a little glitter at the centre of that blue flower! Val Winter made the calypso coral flower, her blog is here and the last one, using coredinations cardstock is from  Bekka Prideaux.

More swaps

Yet more inspiration in the form of wonderful swaps from lovely ladies. They are not all card fronts, sometimes people make small 3d gifts or boxes, bookmarks, decorated notebooks, all sorts of things.  In this picture you can see a 6x6 scrapbook page by Elizabeth Billingham, a bookmark decorated with the Aviary stampset from Alison Smith, a card front using a forthcoming poppies stamp from Sandra Roberts and a lovely business card tin from Jenny Moors.

More soon :)

Halloween come early!

This gorgeous little witches hat was the team gift from Amanda Fowler at the recent training day. If you want to know how to make then head over to her blog. She has used some of the new ribbon and stamps from Scentsational Season.
I got some more Halloween swaps too...

Clockwise from bottom left they are from Amanda Fowler, Joanne Penney, Bev Heslin, Karen Young and Michelle Last.

Loads of Inspiration

I thought I would share some of the things I received from other demonstrators at the recent Leadership Training day.  At every Stampin Up event we all make a swap to exchange which help to give us all ideas and inspiration for our future projects.  These are some of the swaps I received, I will try and make sure that I credit everyone and where possible give you a link to their blogs too.

So, top left is from Jackie, her blog is here. The stamp set is new, Make a cake. Top right is from Carolyn Exwood, I don't have a website for her sadly but aren't those bold butterflies effective!
Bottom right showcases the forthcoming In colours for 2012-14 and one of my favourite stamp sets Circle Circus. Last but not least, bottom left is from Cate Terry, Cate's website. Again it showcases the new in-colours and how a simple design can be so striking.

Want some more?

It doesn't show up very well in the photo but the top left design has been embossed with the new lacy brocade folder, another for my wish list! It is by Joanne Gelnar here is her website.
Top right is one of my favourites and I will probably case this one for my card club.  It is by Maria, www.goldcatsstampingheaven.blogspot.com and used the new in colours and the new Flower garden embossing folder.
Bottom right is from one of my Stampin up "sisters" Elaine Harding, you can see her blog here. Elaine has used the new Perfectly Preserved stamp set which has a coordinating framelits set.
The last one uses the Open Sea stamps and is from Jill Jones, her website is here.

Lots more swaps to share tomorrow

More Stampin Up samples

I think this is a great ribbon sampler, it shows off all the colours and types of ribbon perfectly. I may have to make one of these myself!

What a great way to use up all those short scraps of leftover ribbon! I so wish I had thought of laying them behind the punched window, it looks fabulous!

Here's an alternative design.