Gift Cards

Isn't this a brilliant idea?  I love it!  A blank dvd style box decorated beautifully and filled with cards.  This is the last project that I made with Amanda and it's one that I hope to replicate at my own classes in the future.
 Decorating the box is dead easy, just a piece of Blueberry crisp dsp cut to size.  Then we added a label to the bottom at the front using a circle punch and letters.  I called mine "Cards" original huh!  but you could call it anything appropriate.
Inside the box I attached a length of ribbon each side with sticky strip for strength so that the cards can be tied in place. Then all was left to do was make the 5 cards that live inside.
I'll share those over the next few days :)

Christmas gift bag

I'm not really here today, I'm at a Stampin Up team training day in Fareham.  I love team training 'cos I get to meet up with lots of other lovely demonstrators and we share lots of tips and ideas.  One of the highlights for me is swapping card and gift ideas and these are my swaps.

I made them from brown paper lunch bags.  I cut off the handles and then tidied up the edge using the scallop border punch.  You can't see it very in the photo but I have stamped all over the bag with Merry Christmas from Season of Joy stamp set.  I then added a mat of Jolly holiday papers, folded over the top of the bag and punched a circle through both layers.  I punched tags in vanilla and cherry cobbler, again stamping merry christmas in cherry on the vanilla tag.  I daubed more cherry ink around the edge of the vanilla tag and then attached both tags through the hole in the bag using old olive sating ribbon.
The finished bag is big enough to hold a dvd so I can see me making some more of these as the big day approaches!  Hope the other demos like them.

Oh my goodness!!!

Oh my!  Summer camp is now only one week away!!!   Only 7 more sleeps!!!!  Sooooo much to do still where I am going to find time????
I really ought to stop over using punctuation :S It really isn't very good grammar.

So, the menu and programme are finalised but I have shopping lists to make and before I can do that I need to work out how many people are on site each day so that I can be sure to buy the right amount of food.  Then I need to make sure that there's enough mony in the budget.
I need to find some more rainy day activities - I have karaoke and paper fan ping pong but that isn't going to keep 20 teenagers occupied for very long is it!

Then there's all the packing!  Fortunately I can leave most of the hard stores to the Scout Leaders and just give them a list of things not to forget.  However, there is all of our personal packing to be done and if I don't supervise the kids then they won't have the right stuff.

Oh and mustn't forget the cats!

Organized?? Not Me!!

Grrrrr!! I don't believe it!  Another photo that I don't seem to be able to rotate :(  You will just have to turn your computer monitor upside down I'm afraid until I can fix it.

This is the second of the projects that I made with Amanda the other week. I think it could be the result of her attempts to organise me :S
We began with a piece of 12x12 card and covered it with Blueberry crisp dsp.  A second piece of dsp was added so that it sat halfway up but it was only stuck on 3 sides so that it formed a large pocket.  Then another similar layer takes the bottom third, again only stuck on 3 sides to form a pocket.  The two tiny pockets on the front are made from Stampin Up's scallop envelope Big Shot die.  I also used the Big Shot to cut the letters so I could add my name to the top.  A piece of Ribbon strung through eyelets which were set using a cropodile as a finishing touch and means that it can hang in my hallway in an effort to keep me more organised :)  
More tomorrow

Wonderful Day

A couple of weeks back, the week I was in Anything Goes as it happens, I was able to join Amanda and some other members of the team down in Fareham for a day of stamping fun.  Amanda put this day on as a reward for everyone in her team who had recruited so far this year and as Val joined me in the spring then I was eligible.
It was a lovely day, I met a few people from the Inspiring Inkees that I hadn't met before, including a girl who had been to my school!!  Small world.
Anyway, I digress, Amanda had laid on a few projects for us to try and this gorgeous little box was the first that I attempted.  Believe it or not it is made from Stampin Up's milk carton die!  4 of them to be exact and I did have to cut them up a bit but doesn't it look pretty! 

The colour palette for the whole day was Pacific Point and Very Vanilla and the designer papers were Blueberry crisp.  The box was decorated with strips of the designer paper and flowers made from the 5 petal punch

Starry

 Oh dear, something's wrong here but I can't seem to fix it. This photo is upside down!  On my computer I have turned it round but when I upload it to blogger it's always upside down again!  How's that work ??? Fortunately this design can turn almost anyway up (just as well really!)
I have to confess that I was a little concerned about this one, I'm just not sure about the colour scheme of So Saffron and Certainly Celery, maybe I would be happier if it was brighter colours; the ladies at Make Do and Send liked it so that was ok. 
I punched a star out of the whisper white base card and mounted it onto the celery base card then, using the Seeing Stars stamp set, stamped it all over with a mixture of saffron and celery stars.  For a bit of dimension I punched out some more stars from Saffron designer paper, 3d mounted them and added a few rhinestones.

Plane & Simple

Another offering from last month's Make, Do and Send club but this one has been CASE'd from a fellow Stampin Up! demonstrator.  That's one of the great things about SU, noone minds when you Copy And Share Everything :)  I did change the colour scheme slightly however, I used Poppy Parade designer paper which is one of 2011's In colors and crum cake card and ink.  The stamps are from the Plane Handling set which is one of my favourites, maybe because planes are so much part of our family life. The last card from card club tomorrow :)

Embossed Roses

Morning all,  I am finally beginning to catch up with myself.  Today I have a card that we made at Make, Do and Send card club at the end of June, Yes I am THAT far behind :(
This technique is so simple but it looks so effective.  Take a piece of Stampin Up whisper white card and insert it into the Manhattan Flower embossing folder which previously has been inked by simply rubbing with an inkpad. Run the folder through the Big Shot and the paper comes out both embossed and inked all in one go!!  clever huh! I then trimmed around the roses and mounted it onto coordinating Pretty pink card and added a sentiment.  More tomorrow :)

Tickle Me Elmo!!

This post was supposed to publish with a photo but Blogger isn't playing ball today so I will have to edit it later on,

Everyone loves Elmo don't they? Well I know I do, so, when I found that it was easy to make my own in card form using the Bigz circle scallop dieand my Big Shot, I thought I would share it with the ladies who are coming to my Make, Do and Send Card club tonight.  I attached two real red scallops together to make the card and then used lots of punched circles in various colours to make his face.  I reckon that some of the other Sesame St characters could be made this way too.

Anything Goes

This post was supposed to publish on Wednesday!  sorry :/ 
It's Opening Night of Spotlight's production of "Anything Goes" !!!  OMG!!!! This is the card I made to express both my thanks to the cast for having such a no hoper in the gang and also to wish everyone the best of luck.
The base card is Daffodil delight and Certainly Celery with a layer of Stampin up designer paper in there too,  I used the watercolour crayons and an aqua brush to colour the image.

MonoChrome

I do like a bit of Black and White, it has a simple elegance I think and as I have a fair bit of black and white card I think I may ake a few more of these!  The stamp set is Artistic etchings, all stamped in basic black onto whisper white card.  I used the topnote die in my big shot to create the centrepiece trimming the edge from the white one to create the black mat.  Finished off with some Stampin Up striped grosgrain ribbon.

Pillow Box

Morning! How's the weather today?  I have to confess I cheated and scheduled this to post while I'm at work today.  I have such a busy few days ahead, I have an interview as a volunteer for the London Olympics this afternoon, prep for card club to do tomorrow oh and collection of my costumes for next weeks show and then Saturday is a visit to Birmingham with my daughter to look at the university.  On Sunday we get to the theatre for the last couple of rehearsals before opening night on Wednesday.  So you may not see much of me next week.
But back to today's offering, we made this at card club last month but I first did this at the Girl Guiding event I did in March.  The card stock is So Saffron and I inked boho blossoms in the same colour.  I added some butterflies in Marina mist ink and 3d mounted a marina butterfly and boho blossoms cut of course with their matching punches, so much easier and lovely to have an exact match. The Thanks sentiment is again stamped in Marina mist onto marina card and punched with the scalloped circle before being adhered to the matching satin ribbon.  Add a bit of bling with rhinestones and there you are!

Origami Shirt

I think something similar to this may be my Father's Day card this year but it could equally be used for a birthday.  We did this at card club too; the folded shirts aren't nearly as difficult as they look and make an effective topper for your card don't you think?

I used copier paper for the shirt, stamped both sides and then run through the Big Shot in a textured embossing folder before folding into the shirt shape. It is matted onto some Pear Pizazz designer paper and Pumpkin Pie and mounted onto Crumb Cake card stock.  The sentiment is stamped in matching Pumpkin ink, punched and 3d mounted.



Lots of Scallops

I finally began my own card club last month and this is one of the cards that we made; I'll share the others over the next few days. The stamps are from Fun Fast notes, the words are stamped in razzleberry ink to match the cardstock and the image stamp was coloured with markers.  The card stock is Rich Razzleberry the image is 3d mounted onto a scalloped circle and I used the scallop border to edge the vertical strip.  The Pretty in pink papers are from the designer paper series.

Baby Cake

I made this baby cake for friends who have recently had their first baby.  It's not a good picture I'm afraid and the cake has a bit of a list which I did correct before giving it to them honest.  The cake is made up of nappies and baby gifts arranged in the form of a three tier cake and tied with some Stampin up ribbon.  It didn't turn out quite as I had hoped but fortunately they loved it anyway :)

A Commission!

I've been commissioned!  That doesn't happen often I can tell you.  Although it's an order from my husband for an organisation he is involved with (does that still count?).  In typical husband fashion he has asked me to "knock up" 30 of these by Thursday! I told him that he can have a few but I have to order supplies so he will have to wait for the complete order however, if Stampin Up are their usual efficient selves then I may well have the order by Thursday.
The invitations are very simple; whisper white card for the base with a razzleberry topnote diecut which is in turn topped with a white topnote diecut that has been trimmed to fit inside creating a neat border.  The printing on the card coordinates perfectly with the razzleberry ink daubed around the edge of the topnote and the whole thing is finished off with a band of razzleberry grosgrain ribbon which holds the insert in place.
More cards to follow later in the week from my card class which I held last week.

Bliss

Still haven't found m camera lead and therefore still struggling to upload photos here but I have found an older one on my phone to show you.  Remember I told you about my weekend at the Brighton Hobbycraft show?  Well, here is a picture of one of the make and takes we did that weekend.  It used one of the saleabration stamp sets, Bliss, which remains one of my favourites.  I love this colour combination of Pretty in Pink and Espresso.

Who's that girl?

Who is she?!!! Do you recognise her at all? We were invited to a friends 60th Birthday party recently and as part of the entertainment they had laid on a caricaturist.  Great fun :)
So this....apparently....is ME! 

Wot No Blogging?!

There's really no excuse for not blogging for so long but I do have several :/  The loss of my camera lead being a major reason...it makes it so hard to upload photos! Also, I seem to have been mega busy lately that I've not really made very many cards to share with you; we've had Ofsted in at school, I've been rehearsing very hard for Spotlight's new show Anything Goes (details above) which is now only 3 weeks away!!! Oh my goodness I hope I have the dance routines locked into my head by then.  I've also been working quite hard at my Stampin Up business.  I held my first card club this week, just a small start with 7 participants but I think it will grow.  All the ladies seemed to enjoy it and we now have plans for another card club at the end of this month and requests for a day of Christmas card making and also for a Scrap day  :) 
Talking of Stampin Up; They launched a promotion this week which gives all hostesses an extra £20 to spend in the catalogue when they hold a workshop with a minimum of £250 sales so that means my hostesses can earn a free hostess stamp set and have £45 to spend in the catalogue!
I promise to be back soon :)

Twisted Easel Card

 I'm quite pleased with this one,  my inspiration was a card which we made at Amanda's last workshop, it's called a twisted easel style card because of the way it stands. I have to confess, I pinched the colour combination of whisper white, pretty in pink and rich razzleberry from Amanda too; it was one of the cards that we did as a make and take at the Brighton show. The stamps are from a current Stampin Up hostess set, I stamped the hydrangea in razzleberry ink and used a blender pen to colour it in.  I also used the tiny flower from that set on the back of the card, The background stamp, en francais, is stamped in pretty in pink.  A touch of razzleberry ribbon and a sentiment raised on a dimensional completes the card.

I'm going to use this at a workshop I am doing at the weekend along with a pillow box project.

Mad March Frenzy

 Pinch, punch 1st of the month,  Spring is on the way yay! I can't wait for some sunshine I'm definitely getting a bit fed up of grey and dreary weather.  Although the bad weather does give me plenty of excuses to stay indoors crafting, I'm sure my husband would say that I don't need excuses!  Stampin Up have launched a new promotion today, you can save up to 30% on selected products (you can view them more easily here ).  If anything takes your eye then give me a shout, there are limited stocks of these items so don't miss out!

Phew!

What a weekend!!  I've been in Brighton at the ICHF Hobbycraft fair helping out at the Stampin Up stand.  We were running a make and take table every half hour where people could join us to make a lovely card using the Bliss stamp set from the current Saleabration promo.  I met lots and lots of lovely people and had great fun all weekend, hopefully I will meet some of them again at workshops or classes.  I'm off to put my feet up now...all in the name of recovery you understand!  Later I will make a start on my thankyou cards, I'll post some here tomorrow for you.

Altered Clipboard

I'm off to the Hobbycraft show at Brighton this weekend to help out on Amanda's Stampin Up stand.  Please say Hi if you're there too.  Anyway, I digress, Amanda gave us a clipboard to decorate and this is what I did with mine, it was bright blue plastic before I started. The first picture shows the back, I covered it with papers from the Newsprint and Designer papers stacks, then added my name in board letters upon which I used a base of white craft ink and then stamped in razzleberry ink with a circle stamp from the Circle Circus set.  I also stamped the flourish from the Saleabration Bliss set in Razzleberry and sponged ink around the edges.  The flowers are paper daisies which I sponged with ink, I added a touch of bling with rhinestones for pearls for their centres.  The second photo is the front of my board, I needed to keep the hole thing flatter because I will need to write on this side after all.  Again, I covered it in razzleberry card then I added a strip of very vanilla which I had stamped with the So Swirly wheel and also a larger piece of vanilla card which has the flourish stamps from the Bliss set once again. There is a narrow piece of vanilla grosgrain ribbon around the edge of the board and lots of ribbon in whisper white, very vanilla and old olive to add some luxury

February Sunshine

I had to go a long way up to find it but there was some glorious sunshine up there on my way home from Dusseldorf yesterday.  I've been on an all expense paid trip to Germany to take part in some market research on new mpv cars.  It was very interesting and exciting but I'm sworn to secrecy, security was so tight that we had to leave behind all bags, phones, cameras and even watches and money.  I had a lovely tour of Dusseldorf too as part of the trip and took lots of photos that I shall make in to scrap pages eventually.  Something a little more urgent is on my craft table this week though...it's the Brighton Hobbycraft show this weekend and I still have some samples to make and decorate my clipboard.

Stowaway!

  I think someone wants to come away with me!  I'm off to Germany over the weekend on a freebie trip! Well, maybe not quite free, I've been asked to go and review some new cars but it's all expenses paid and some sightseeing included too.  I shall take my camera then I should have lots more lovely photos that I can scrapbook.

Sorry I've not blogged much this week, I seem to have been so busy.  I'll catch up soon promise.