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!

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Bitten by the scrapbooking bug!

I have definitely got another love now - I am well and truly hooked on scrapbooking!

Yesterday (actually today still as I've scheduled this post for the morning! That'll confuse ya!) I made THREE pages! And I've not even shown you the ones I did at mummy Julie's club yet! Or the many other cards I have made and stored up to show you!

But one of yesterday's (today's) layouts to show you first!

My mum sent me a selection of pics a while back so I have finally got a good use for them! There were two lovely ones of the two of us - one when I was a baby and we were off to someone's Christening (I think, could have been a wedding!), and the other from my cousin's wedding in Cyprus a few years ago.



The problem was they didn't really go together as their main and accent colours were different. After some deliberation and a few tips from my fellow crafters, I sat down with my stash (this was at 10.30pm) and discovered that the Greenhouse Gala and Woodland Walk DSP from Stampin' Up! each matched a picture perfectly!



To bring them together I cut out a flower from each and added it to the opposite photo and then used the green and red in the title and journaling (to be completed with dates when I find them out!) to pull it all into one.

I'm really pleased with it and will now be on a mission to find and print lots more photos!

Today (tomorrow!) I am off to my first WI committee meeting at the federation offices before coming back for some work. I have half resolved not to do more crafting for a few days as I have a lot of writing to do, a class on Thursday at Buns & Roses WI and my mum is coming up to see me!


PS This is actually the third time I have posted this now as I kept forgetting to schedule it and it just went live. So I have no idea what day it is anymore! All this crafting makes me giddy.

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A new colour combo

I bought the yummy Woodland Walk DSP a while back but haven't done much with it, so decided to get stuck in. I used the colours in the sheet as the inspiration for the card and ink colours used, so we have Garden Green, Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip, which I think work wonderfully together. The stamp is one from the Cute By The Inch hostess set and I added some Linen Thread and Regals Buttons for extra interest.
It was a little bit fiddly to make, as I had to wrap the thread around the two separate pieces of DSP/card then stick it all down straight, but it was worth it.

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Christmas robins

Christmas will soon be here! I've not got a single present sorted yet! My mum's is nearly finished, but I don't even have ideas, let alone the time to make them, for anyomne else!
But at least I have cards! I love these robins, made with the Two-Step Bird Punch. They're so simple but very effective and the colour combo of Crumb Cake and Cherry Cobbler is yummy.
So, best get cracking on the present making!

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Dashing towards Christmas

It's not really that long until Christmas now so I have made a start on some cards and gifts. This reindeer stamp is called Dasher and I think he's fantastic! I stamped him using the Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad. I am also loving the colours used - Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip and Crumb Cake - and of course, the cutesy Tiny Tags as well.
I have a box of SU goodies due to be delivered today so should have more exciting things to show you over the weekend!

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A quicky with Trendy Trees

Had a last-minute request for a good luck card for a friend of a friend who is moving away.
The brief was "elephants" and I remembered this awesome wooden button I had in my stash. He is combined with the Tall Tales DSP and a bit of Always Artichoke Grosgrain Ribbon. I added in the foliage and sentiment from Trendy Trees, which is one of the sets in this month's 20% off promotion.
Not bad for a late night quicky!

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SU Two-step stamping promo blog hop

Hello!

Today's post is part of the August Promo Blog Hop organised by fellow SU demos from the In Love With Stamping forum. For all of this month Stampin' Up! is giving you 20%off selected two-step stamping sets. You should be familiar with this method from the Greenhouse Garden cards I have shown you recently! The Botanical Blooms (now retired), Trendy Trees and Tiny Tags you will find in my posts also use this technique.

I hope you enjoyed the gorgeous work of Debbi Taylor. You can re-visit her creation here.

Now for my turn ...



For my scrapbook page (8ins x 8ins) I used Greenhouse Garden, which is easily one of my favourite SU sets.
The backing is a piece of Pretty In Pink card and the photo one I found at an antique stall years ago. I have loads of these and I never knew what to do with them so this could be a new project for me.
For the piece down the right side I used the Tea Party designer paper and stamped on one of the flowers in Regal Rose then cut around them. The other cut out flowers were stamped in Regal Rose and Chocolate Chip and stuck on with Dimensionals to raise them up. This is such a gorgreous colour combination. The blank card for journaling was torn around the edge and sponged with the same colour inks. First time I tried this and it's turned out so well. I also added on some pieces of the Stitched Felt. This is only available until the end of September so get in touch quickly if you would like to order some. And the final touch is the Double-Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon in Rose Red. I used the Very Vintage wheel in Basic Black over the top to add another antique element to the page.



Below are the details of the 20% off promo. Please do get in touch if you would like to order any of these or other SU items.



The next stop on the hop is over with Karin at Tea Cup Designs. Enjoy her creations.

As always, your comments are appreciated. I hope you have fun seeing all the lovely things you can create with Stampin' Up! products on our blog hop.

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Trendy Trees pizza gift box

Here is a little pizza gift box I made. I'm still getting to grips with doing boxes, need to invest in a decent scoring mat and tool so I can get the folds nice and crisp. Stamp set is the lovely Trendy Trees and the colours are Rose Red, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun and Pumpkin Pie. Thanks to Vicky for pointing me in the direction of the box tutorial.
This afternoon I'm off to prep for my workshop tomorrow and crack on with some swaps.

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Playing with my Starter Kit

Time to show you a couple of things I have made with my Stampin' Up! Starter Kit ...

I did two cards using Trendy Trees this morning, combined with Fox and Friends. Colours include Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke and More Mustard. I have also used a bit of ribbon and the DSP Tall Tales, which matches these stamp sets perfectly. I also used the Two-step Bird Punch, which is one of my favourite SU items.




And here's a real quickie using the Very Vintage wheel, Vintage Vogue stamps and ribbon. The wheels are really great, especially the ink cartridges - I love little inventions like that!



I will be back tomorrow with more.

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New SU goodies

Julie brought round the Stampin' Up! goodies we ordered from my workshop on Monday so I had a quick play!
The Fox & Friends stamps are soooo adorable! Got a few friends with babies on the way so they will get lots of use!
I am also in love with the Bird punch.
Colours used here are Chocolate Chip ink, Old Olive card and ribbon and Tall Tales paper. And a Stitched Felt leaf.
The letters are some random stamps I have.
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