Ahoy there!

I'm all at sea with today's card. Ho!

My friend Fay asked me to make a card with a boat for a friend of hers who loves sailing and luckily, the Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue 2011 has a fab new stamp called Sail Away.

I saw this design on the SplitCoastStampers site and just loved it, although it turned out to be quite time consuming because of all the different elements.



The edges of the sails were coloured in using Blender Pens and the three stripes of cardstock were run through the Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.



These were matted on to Whisper White and Crumb Cake cardstock then I tied some of the Real Ride Striped Grosgrain Ribbon around and ruched it using some Linen Thread.



All this also made the front of the card quite heavy, so I added a piece of Whisper White to the inside to balance it a bit and added a little stripe in opposite corners to complete the nautical theme.

Fay loves it and rekons her friend will too, so the hard work does pay off!

I have just passed one year of blogging, so to celebrate I have some surprise blog candy up for grabs. Please check out Friday's blog candy post and leave a comment to enter! You have until midday on May 6th.

I'm back at home for a few days at the moment and although I'm still battling with some sort of illness (the cold has now developed into a poorly tummy) I am managing to get in some quality time with the family, including Bodd! Pics coming tomorrow!

Read more...

Stampin' Up! regional training

Today I am off for a whole day of crafting fun with my good friends at the Stampin' Up! regional training tour.

We will be seeing and playing with some new products. And talking and laughing lots too! I am so excited, we always have such a great time together.

Of course, we always do swaps. We each make a stack of one design of card and swap with each other. This gives us lots of inspiration - they are a really talented bunch of ladies.

So here is mine ...



I have used the Always Elegant set, which is very pretty and particularly good for weddings.





There are slight variations as I tried out different combos of colours, DSP and ribbon. Some of the DSP is the coordinating Elegant Soiree. And my fave ribbon is the Striped Grosgrain.

As soon as I've recovered from all the excitement I'll be back to tell you all about it!

Read more...

Experiments in ribbon ruffling

At training yesterday my lovely SU mummy Jules showed me how to ruffle ribbon. I've seen this loads but never managed to get to grips with it.

The trick is to use the wider Taffeta Ribbon and pull out one of the strands. It is a little bit fiddly - you cut into the ribbon and fray it up then use your nails (or tweezers) to eek one of the threads out.



Here are the cards I made featuring this technique. I used the Color Coach to determine the combo - Crumb Cake, Real Red and Bashful Blue. I love the Color Coach because I would never have thought of utting these colours together, but they look amazing. The stamp set is the now retired SAB Bliss, but I've not yet been able to put it down!



On this one I pulled out a thread in the middle, so it went crinkly on both sides. You can loosen it up a bit as you go along or pull it really tight.



Here I pulled out a strand at the very edge, so it created a valance effect.

Now I just need some of this ribbon in different colours ...

Read more...

A baby card

Hot off the press, here is a card I have literally just finished! This afternoon I've been prepping for my class on Monday and my good friend Hayley came round to do some crafting too.
I made her this card for a friend of her husband who is due to give birth soon. I used the Baby Tees Jumbo Wheel on Whisper White, coloured them in with Blender Pens in Certainly Celery, Daffodil Delight and Bashful Blue, cut them out and hung them on to the Linen Thread with an old earring hook. The thread was secured at each end with a Brad and I stuck the tees down with a sticky foam pad. The bottom of the matting was shaped with the Scallop Trim Punch and I added a bow with Certainly Celery 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon.
Phew! It was a really nice card to make as there are lots of different bits to it. And who doesn't love colouring in?!
Now I have all my stuff out I'm going to spend the rest of the evening crafting.

Read more...

ILWS Super Summer Swap

I just realised I never showed you the final ILWS Summer Swaps!
Here are the cards I made ...

I used one of my favourite sets Botanical Blooms and the colours are Bashful Blue and Rose Red.
And here are the cards I received, very yummy.

Read more...

Another card for another Julie

Here's another card for a Julie! This one I made for my SU mummy (see why she's so fab here). The colours are Bashful Blue and Night of Navy again. I'm loving this combo at the moment! Stamps from Tiny Tags and the punch is Heart to Heart. DSP is from an SU stack.
The nice UPS man brought my Starter Kit this afternoon so I had a quick play. I am particularly impressed with the ink cartrdige for the wheels - great invention! Tomorrow I will have a good session to try out everything properly so please come back to see the results.

Read more...

A cake that doesn't ruin the waistline!

I came across the most awesome thing this morning - a papercraft cake! Check this SU design out ...

The lovely Julie Davison had made a fab version so go see! Totally CASEing the idea. Give me a shout if you want the template.
Julie is also the fab person who sent me a US Stampin' Up! peacock stamp I fell in love with. I used it to make this card for her. Colours are Bashful Blue and Night of Navy.

I am now going to hang out the window and wait for the UPS man to bring me my Stampin' Up! Starter Kit!

Read more...

Mini gift box

I had a quick play this afternoon as I wanted to try out a little gift box.
Julie had made me a big one of these at my party in May and she shpowed me a mini one yesterday, so decided it was a good one to start off with.
The card is an A5 piece of Bashful Blue, stamped randomly with the flowery stamps from Tiny Tags. The sentiment is also from that set and stuck on to a piece of ribbon I found in my stash that was just right. Tied at the top with a piece of Bashful Blue Gingham Ribbon.
I'm really in love with the Tiny Tags set. When I finished my job they organised a gift voucher with Julie for me and that is what I spent it on. It's a really fab set as it's so versatile, despite being very ikkle, I hope it stays in the new catalogue.

Read more...