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!

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Faux tiling using Crystal Effects

Apologies for not blogging for a few days - been busy!

On Saturday we hosted a WI Mixer Winter Warmer Tea Party for the new groups around Yorkshire. It was a huge success and lots of fun, but quite tiring! I ate lots of cake and drank lots of tea!

Yesterday was spent recovering and doing very litle and now I am pleased to say I have lots of work to look forward to this week.

So a quick blog update first!



This card I created with one of my new-found loves - Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects. Remember how I covered a little heart with it and threw loads of glitter on? Well this time I have just used it to create a smooth, clear gloss finish.

I got the idea from the blog of the amazingly talented Michele Kovack. You can see her design, complete with tutorial, here.

I started by stamping the beautiful Bella Toile image and colouring it in using Stampin' Write Markers. The colours are So Saffron, Wild Wasabi and Pretty In Pink. I then chopped the image up into 1" squares and covered each one in an even layer of Crystal Effects.

I left them to dry overnight and by morning they looked like little tiles!
They were then mounted on to card, to give the effect of grout, and the card was finished off with some Paper Daisies coloured in with the markers and beautiful Pearls.



It was quite a time and labour-intensive card, but well worth the effort!

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Technique: Shadow stamping with Just Believe

Here's an amazing effect I have been experimenting with recently - shadow stamping.
The Just Believe set, which all demos got FREE at the Stampin' Up! European Convention last year, is ideal for this. I have also used the wonderful Watercolour Paper for a soft effect.
First, stamp the image on to the paper in Crumb Cake and give a light mist with water. Leave to dry and while doing this stamp the image again on to the acetate sheet with the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig. Then, place the sheet over the image but not right on top of it. Line up the handle, take away the acetate and stamp the image (now coloured in with the Stampin' Write Markers) slightly out of line. Spritz again with water for an extra soft look.
This creates a wonderful subtle shadow and really makes the image stand out.
Here it is in another colour scheme.


That's it!
I'm off to bed now as I've not been sleeping too great with worrying about things, so trying to get early nights!

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A Newsprint meander book

Yesterday before my SAB workshop I sat down for an awesome craft session and decided to make a meander book. I saw the idea at the blog of a fellow SU demo Peg Coombes. She made this and it was so lovely I had to give it a go.
Luckily the actual pocket pages are really easy to do with a piece of DSP, then it was the decorating and filling that took the most time!
Here is my effort, using my favourite Newsprint DSP and my newest stamp set Notably Ornate.

This is the front, and no surprise I have also used the Twill Tape stamped with the Music Notes Wheel and the beautiful Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.
Controversially, the back is decorated in portrait orientation.

I have used the pearls all over as they are just too damn pretty.

This is how it looks inside. The DSP is folded to create five little pockets.

And these are the tags. I have done it as a kind of life book for 2011, with words to inspire and motivate me. I have space for one more though so suggestions on a postcard please!
If you would like to have a go at making one go here and ask Peg nicely! Thanks again to her for making the tutorial!

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A great way to start SAB

I started this year's Stampin' Up! Sale-A-Bration promotion with a workshop at my (old) home tonight. I had four lovely guests - two old friends and two new friends - and we had a great crafty time. Maria brought her little baby along, who was well behaved and spent most of the evening feeding while we made a card!

This is the card I designed. Of course, everyone did their's slightly differently and that's what I love about crafting and Stampin' Up! - the products are so versatile and inspirational and everyone has their own take on how to make use of the same things.
And now, to bed.

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Bags for life with the WI

We had our first Buns & Roses workshop of the year on Thursday. We decorated bags for life so it was called Bag Medicine. I did these two - a sparkly bird in a cage and some funky typography stencilling. Very pleased with my work.
The next workshop in February is being run by yours truly and we will be making several cards. Yays!

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More ideas for your FREE SU stamp sets

Here's another yummy card using the FREE Sweet Summer stamp set available only until the end of February in the Sale-A-Bration Stampin' Up! promotion.
This was one I did at training with mummy Julie last month, using the wonderful Brights DSP and Stampin' Write Markers to colour in.
Just a quickie today, as I must crack on with crafting and packing!

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More SAB goodness!

Here's another fun and bright card using one of the FREE Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, Punch Bunch.

As mentioned, we don't have the Two-Step Owl Punch just yet, but he is coming very soon! In the meantime he can be cut out. I gave him a party hat and some bunting made by punching just one point from the Star Punch. This was the other card I made at Julie's training yesterday, so thanks mummy for the fab designs!

Remember, it's easy to earn this set or the other SAB choices for free - see the main post at the topor click the menu on the right for full details.

Today I am waiting for UPS man to bring me more goodies and still battling on with the packing and unpacking!

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Another card to make with FREE SU stamp sets

Here's another card you can make with the yummy FREE Stampin' Up! stamp sets you can get in the Sale-A-Bration promotion.
My lovely SU mummy Julie showed us this at training today. The bright colours were just what we needed while it was grey and drizzly outside!
The flower stamp is from the Punch Bunch set, which you can get FREE by spending £45, becoming a demo or hosting a workshop with £300 in product sales. All the images in that set have a coordinating punch, or in the case of the owl, will do with the Mini Catalogue in April!
Most of my Stampin' Up! goodies are now packed away ready for the move, although UPS man is bringing me another big box this week and I have my goodies for Monday's workshop ready and waiting!

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All that glistens ...

I love glitter, and have no problem being covered in it when I open up a card with sparkly bits, but sometimes I do wish it wouldn't always fall off as it takes away the effect.
So, to overcome this problem I put an idea to the test. I covered a little heart-shaped piece of card in the yummy Stampin' Up! Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. I just covered the card in Tombow glue and shook on loads of glitter. Then, not quite waiting for it to dry because I'm too impatient, I applied Crystal Effects over the top and added an extra sprinkling of glitter. Crystal Effects creates a clear laquer so it sealsthe glitter in, leaving the sparkle but avoiding rub-off!
It's hard to get a good picture, but it looks really cute. The glitter still looks fab but you can touch the heart because it's all sealed like it has a layer of resin over it. Needless to say this tecnhique will feature on my cards more in future!

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Three-day craftathon

I have been busy the past few days avoiding packing and instead creating lots of lovely things and making the most of all my Stampin' Up! products before I have to put them away and get them all over to my new place!
I have done another four of the decorated tins with a calendar journal and cards inside.
This is the one I am keeping for myself and I absolutely adore it. I have filled it full of yummy cards so I have no excuse for not having one to hand!
Tomorrow I really must start to pack as I have a lot going on in the next few months aside from moving house. There are tons of SU and WI events to look forward to, details of my card events are over there >>>
Well, now to bed and tomorrow to start organising all my posessions! Anyone want to come and help?!

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SAB card - How to use your free stamp sets

Here is my first SAB card, featuring the gorgeous Sweet Summer set. It contains nine images, with a stem and different flower heads and a cute little bee, bird and butterfly. You can really go wild with this set and create all sorts of pretty flowers and it's a particularly good one for creating your own patterned paper and doing one-sheet wonder cards.
To get your hands on this set, check out the details over there >>> or see my main SAB blog post (which should hopefully stay at the top of my blog until the promotion ends!).
Oh, I forgot. Happy New Year! I am going to start 2011 as I mean to go on - in my PJs, drinking tea and crafting!

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