Getting ready for Christmas!

At our Julie's Jems training session this week we were all about the dreaded C'word .... Christmas! It's only five months away, and considering I try to make all my gifts I really should start thinking about it now!

At least we got a couple of cards and a gift box done, so I can say I have started my preparations!



Here's one of the cards we made. In fact, they were both the same design but the other one didn't have the ribbon and Rhinestones.

We used the Ornament Punch to make the baubles from the Jolly Holiday DSP, stuck them down and stamped the sentiment before running it through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.



Hopefully you can see the quilted effect here.



We also made a gift box using the Pillow Box Dies. The two boxes were just slotted into each other (one was also embossed using the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder) and this time we used a strip of the DSP to decorate and a bauble from the COntempo Christmas stamp set.



I might keep things simple this year and just make the same card and gift for everyone and mass produce these designs!

Read more...

SAB ideas - flowers in a vase

Here's another awesome way to use one of the Sale-A-Bration sets you can get for FREE!
It's the Sweet Summer set and I have made a little vase of flowers. The vase is actually the Ornament Punch with the pointy bottom chopped off!
The flowers were stamped on an extra bit of card and stuck on with Dimensionals for a lovely 3D effect.
I'm quite taken with this free Stampin' Up! stamp set as I get to colour in! And it doesn't even matter if you go outside the lines!

Read more...

Festive spirit

As Christmas is creeping up on us rather more quickly, here are some more festive cards! We did this style at SU training in September using Contempo Christmas and the Ornament punch so I decided to do some more using the pretty Jolly Holiday DSP. The Delightful Decorations stampo set with several bauble designs and the punch are available as one of the Christmas bundles with free ribbon - pefect!
Only two sleeps now until I head off to SU Convention 2010. I'm pretty much all sorted with swaps and clothes and soooo excited to spend two whole days with around 300 fellow demos!

Read more...

Bauble barmy

I am loving the Stampin' Up! Contempo Christmas stamp set and matching Ornament punch. They are ideal for quick and fun cards. We made one of these cards at team training at Julie's the other week and I decided to make more. As well as the stamp set I used the Jolly Holiday DSP for some of the baubles. I love this stack - it is red, green, vanilla and pink with spots and stripes and good for other occassions as well as Christmas.
Today I'll be doing more crafty things and watching the F1 so expect more goodies in the week.
PS Bodd now has his own blog, please check it out www.busyboddcat.blogspot.com. He reckons he can get more followers than me!

Read more...

Xmas bits

Last night I had a card class at my house and six lovely friends came round to get crafty. We made several cards, as well as these Christmas decorations and tags. And drank plenty of tea. I am in love with the Contempo Christmas stamp set and matching Ornament punch and the So Swirly wheel, still! They work so well together so I'll be cracking on with my Christmas cards soon.
Today I got a big box of Stampin' Up! goodies so I have sorted all my swaps for Convention 2010. I have to keep them a secret for now though, so tomorrow I'll make some other things to show you in the meantime!

Read more...

Christmas is coming!

It will soon be here! Twelve weeks today it will be Christmas Day! Really need to start making all my cards and presents!

Luckily, we did a couple of things at the Stampin' Up! regional training in Manchester. We used the lovely new stamp set Contempo Christmas, which we got FREE! One of the perks of being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. This set is available in the traditional wood mount or the new clear mount. We got the clear mount, which means the usual red rubber and foam stamp can be placed on to an acrylic block each time you want to use it, saving storage space and cost! There is a matching punch for the bauble as well, so you can make 3D bits too!
This is the card we made. The red is Cherry Cobbler and is simply beautiful. It really does look good enough to eat.


And here it is with a bag tag as well.


That's Christmas started then!

Read more...