Beau Chateau accessories

The Beau Chateau Stampin' Up! fabric is my favourite. Ok, ok; one of my favourites.

It's all vintage and shabby and chic and cute and I've made several things with it already. For our team training I went all out with the accessories.

Firstly - I glammed up a pinny!



I made the basic pinny at the Knitting & Stitching Show last year, but never got round to finishing it off. Eleven months on, it is now all stitched and being worn with pride!



On the pocket I did some Big Shot flowers and a scrunched up strip to make a flower.





And some more Big Shot Fun Flowers. I edged it with the Victoria Crochet Trim and some netting.



Mummy Julie took this pic of me.



I also rustled up this bow which I stitched on to a hair clip. I made my own fabric button with cover buttons.



Here it is in situ (thanks again to Julie for taking the pic).



And finally, a brooch using the Fun Flowers die on the Big Shot.



I made two flowers of each size and added in some Seam Binding Ribbon, Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon and Victoria Crochet Trim.



Next on my to-do list with this fabric is a necklace.

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Wedding cards with lots of embossing

What did I do before the Big Shot came along?! I'm not sure how I managed to cope without quick and easy die cutting and yummy embossing options!

Back to the wedding theme (is everyone getting hitched at the moment?!), here are two cards for newlyweds. Hayley asked me to make one for her sister, who tied the knot at the weekend, so I made another one to go in my craft fair box to sell.



The navy one is for Hayley's sister - that was their colour scheme. I think these Mr and Mrs hearts are so cute. For the pink one I used some of the Springtime Vintage DSP. Both have some ruffled Seam Binding Ribbon and Pearls.



Here you can see some of the embossing a bit better. It would still be cute without it, but the Big Shot and embossing folders just add that extra something - a bit of texture can work wonders, especially when you don't want to go overboard with colours.

On the Mrs I used the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder to give her dress a pattern. The Mr's jacket and the background were run through the Big Shot in the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.

Thank heavens for the Big Shot!

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Vintage scrapbooking

Whenever I go to antique fairs I always hunt out old photos. I just love the colours, the outfits and, best of all, some of the poses and situations.

It kills me that such precious memories can be thrown away so easily, so by buying a few I hope to save these people, whoever they are, and help them live on a bit longer.

But until I started scrapbooking I never really knew what to do with them. I've only done two pages so far (one was about a year ago now and the one I'm sharing today was finished a couple of weeks ago!) but at least I have a plan and so these people won't be stuck in a shoebox forever!



This photo appealed to me because the lady is so pretty, and also the because of the story. The writing on the photo tells us that she was Tina, and died in Rochester on the 6th of July 1923.

I used the Springtime Vintage DSP to make my 8x8ins page look like a wall. The border is Taffeta Ribbon and Seam Binding Ribbon. I distressed the edges a little to give it that worn look.



I made a frame for Tina's picture using the Decorative Label Punch. I had to position the shapes all around, then I sponged on some Champagne Shimmer Paint and then to neaten the line between photo and frame, I stuck down some Sticky Strip and covered it in Champagne Glass Glitter.



I also used the Decorative Label Punch to make a plain picture frame for some journaling, if I can ever think of anything to say about Tina.

I feel much better now that she has a proper place. Now to do some more vintage photo scrapbooking!

Busy week this one. Last night I went to see the ladies at Wilsden WI to help give a talk about Denman College. It was good fun and we sang Jerusalem!

I also have two other WI meetings this week - Buns & Roses and a new group at Asda - my SU daughter Alex is coming round for chat tonight, tomorrow I have a networking event to go to ... It's all happening!

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Two tags

Just have a couple of tags to share today, using the beautiful Four Frames stamp set and matching Decorative Label Punch.



This first one I made for some of my friends and customers to go with the new Mini Catalogue I gave them.

I stamped the frame with the roses on and cooured it in using my Stampin' Write Markers. The monogram was added with Broadsheet Alphabet. I then covered both sides in sticky back plastic and punched it out. Finally, I added the Eyelet using the Crop-A-Dile and threaded it with Taffeta Ribbon.



This one is mine and it's on my summer handbag, along with my Julie's Jems team brooch and WI badge.



And here's a gift tag using the same stamp. Again, coloured in and punched out. The actual tag was cut from Crumb Cake card and I added a bit of the Springtime Vintage DSP and some butterflies made with the Beautiful Wings Embosslit on my Big Shot. It was finished off with the Seam Binding Ribbon in Rose Red.

Whoever has a birthday next may just get this label on their present. That is, assuming they get a present from me!

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Scrapbooking and stitching

My SU mummy Julie set us all a challenge to CASE a project from the new Mini Catalogue but change a few elements. We had to switch the colour scheme, the size and an embellishment.

This is my entry.



The Sew Sweet Suite immediately appealed to me and I love the piece on the front cover of the catalogue using the embroidery hoop, so I used it as the basis for a scrapbook page.



I cut out the dressing model stamp from Sew Lovely and used the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Dies in my Big Shot for the initials.



The picture is me working on a cross stitch piece that I turned into a cushion for my mum's Christmas present.



I ruffled up some Seam Binding Ribbon (really easy and so cute) and added lots of Big Buttons (and regular ones) as well as some flowers made from the Sweet Stitches DSP and Fun Flowers die. The middle of the flower is a button from the Sweet Buttons Embosslit.

This has to be one of my favourite scrapbook pages!

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Another wedding card and the WI

The fun never stops around here at the moment! I am still mega busy with all sorts of things going on in the next few weeks. Can I go back to Denman College for a break please?!

Today's card is another that went to my friend Georgie on her wedding day. I made it on behalf of my friend Sam with one of the new Stampin' Up! sets Clearly For You.

I went for a vintage look (surprisingly!) and used lots of my favourite things.



The background is a piece of the Newsprint DSP, which I scrunched up and inked a bit using the Distressing Essentials kit. I then stamped randomly with some of the smaller images from Clearly For You - a crown, butterfly, cherub and ladybug.



The focal piece uses the rectangle background stamp and the birds on a branch. Again, I just coloured in two of them using a Stampin' Write marker pen. I wrapped some Linen Thread around and included a tag made using the Jewellery Tag Punch and phrase from the Tiny Tags stamp set. The ribbon is the amazing Crumb Cake Seam Binding.

I hope George and Brendan liked it!

Today I am out at the West Yorkshire Federation of Women's Institutes AGM. As well as running a craft stall, singing Jerusalem and eating cake with the ladies, I am giving a presentation on my visit to Denman College! I have made a slideshow of some of my pics and will have my embroidery on display.

And the rest of this week is just as crazy - lots of work to do, my Stampin' Up! Mini Launch Workshop on Thursday evening, a craft fair on Saturday! I really need more hours in the day!

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Clearly For You cards

I fell in love with everthing in the new Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue straightaway, but Clearly For You was a particular favourite.

I'm totally into the vintage look at the moment, and Stampin' Up! has brought out some wonderful goodies that are ideal for this trend.

Today's two cards are pretty similar, but you can see that by changing colours and embellishments you can create all sorts of different looks.



I'm still on a Night of Navy ride here! I stamped the rectangle pattern all over the cardstock in Versamark to create a subtle background. The strip of DSP is from the Springtime Vintage range.



To add a splash of colour I used some Daffodil Delight cardstock behind the frame, and stamped the birdies in yellow too. And check out the mega Night of Navy Big Button! Of course, there is some ruffled Seam Binding too!



The second card also uses a Night of Navy base. This time I have added colour using Rose Red ink for the birds, some DSP from the Subtles DSP Patterns Stack and Seam Binding (ruffled, obviously!)



I also used some Crumb Cake Seam Binding and a piece of cardstock in the same colour, scrumpled up and inked for the vintage feel.

Tomorrow we're off to the Baby Blossoms stamp set.

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A pair of Big Shot cards

For today's cards we go back to the Big Shot. Honestly, I don't know how I lived without this awesome die cutting machine!

These were sent to my mum as part of her recent order, and although I made them separately, it turns out they will be going to a lovely couple who have been family friends forever. Uncle Pez, who isn't really an uncle just a close friend of my dads since they were younger, and his wife Julie, are the lucky recipients!



For Julie's card I used the Fun Flowers and Leaves #2 Dies. I ran one of the leaves through the Big Shot again on the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder for added texture. I punched a hole in the middle of the flower and poked through a bit of curled up Seam Binding.

A bit of inking around the note card, and some ruffled Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding Ribbon finished it all off nicely.



And for Pez's card, we have beer! The background strips were created with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder. It probably would have looked alright if they were just flat pieces of cardstock, but the embossing really gives it the wow factor and turns a simple card into something special.

The beer is from the Cheers To You set and a few strips of ribbon brings it all together.

I actually prepped the Big Shot bits of these cards during the Stampin' Up! Regional Training Tour in March. More perks of the job!

Come back tomorrow for some cards using the Clearly For You set.

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