2021 so happy you’re here

 2020 what a year, it hasn’t been all bad but I think everyone is glad to see the back of it. 2021 is not getting off to a great start but there is hope that things will get better and hopefully soon.

Brushed Blooms 2021

My first purchase from the upcoming Jan - July catalogue is the Brushed Blooms bundle and here I have used the rose builder dies and the Happy Birthday stamp.

Saleabration is coming

I can’t believe it’s a month since my last post! It’s been a busy time and I’ve not spent as much time as I would like crafting.

As a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator I am lucky enough to be able to preorder from up coming catalogues and today I am going to show you some cards I have made using a stampset and papers from the Saleabration catalogue coming out 5th January. 

Snowflake Wishes

 Snowflake Splendor has to be the prettiest Christmas paper Stampin' Up! has ever produced. So pretty in fact I've been loathe to chop it up, I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles to cut into those gorgeous 12 x 12 sheets.

Coming Home for Christmas

Today has felt like a colouring kind of day, an afternoon of crafting whilst it's wet and windy outside. I've created a pastel coloured Christmas card using the Coming Home bundle and Snowflake Wishes stamp set.

More Curvy Christmas

 I’ve had another play with Curvy Christmas today and the dies and dsp from the Quite Curvy Variety Bundle, all of which will be available 3rd November.

Curvy Christmas

Coming in November is a new bundle which includes a Christmas stamp set, an everyday stamp set, matching dies and 6 x 6 dsp. My first play was with the Christmas set - Curvy Christmas.

Snowflake Wishes

 The Snowflake Wishes bundle has such a good selection of snowflake stamps and the sentiments are pretty great too. I’ve made a trio of cards here in different colours including one in neutral shades which gives it a vintage look.

Christmas Owls

 Out come the owls again and this time for Christmas.

Autumnal Forever Fern

 I think Autumn has arrived, there has been a definite chill in the air today. The leaves aren’t changing colour yet but it won’t be long and when they do, the colours in today’s cards will be what we can enjoy.

Perfectly Plaid, Perfectly Pastel

I've come to the conclusion that I don't really do traditional Christmas colours. I tend to favour neutral shades, icy blues or as used, here pretty pastels.

Thinking of you at Christmas

Today’s cards showcase my favourite dsp from last winter, Feels Like Frost, I’m so glad it has returned this year.

Playful Alphabet

Stampin’ Up!’s new alphabet die set has letters and numbers that are just the right size to add personalisation to a card.

Stitched Leaves....Just Because

 Here they are again, the stitched leaves dies, and this time I’ve used three of the leaf shapes on the one card.

Stitched Leaves Simplicity

This week I've had some new 'toys' to play with and I think the Stitched Leaves dies are going to be a new favourite!

Forever Fern with flowers

 It has been a beautiful hot, sunny day and what better way to escape the heat than to head into my craft room. I chose sunny orange and yellow tones to colour the flowers in this card made using Forever Fern, Free as a Bird and Ornate Thanks.

Have a Hoot Christmas Collection

These owls are just adorable! I've kept it simple for this trio of cards, stamped in memento black on crumb cake cardstock and coloured using water colour pencils. The sentiments, from Itty Bitty Christmas are stamped onto vellum and the card base is soft suede.

Have a Hoot

One of my favourite bundles from the new Aug - Dec catalogue (out on Tuesday 4th) is Have a Hoot. I will soon be posting some Christmas cards I’ve made with it but today I’ve used just one of the owl stamps for an anniversary card.

Blossoms in Bloom

Blossoms in Bloom is one of the bundles in the latest catalogue that really jumped out at me. The dies are so big that very little else is needed to create a 'wow' card.

Forever Fern

The gorgeous Forever Fern is the star of the show again, I'm definitely getting my money's worth out of this set!

I chose a paper from In Good Taste with a mottled grey pattern and layered it onto basic grey cardstock.

The Forever Fern pieces have been stamped onto shimmery white card and then with the ink still a little wet (not too wet or you lose the detail) a blender pen was used to bring in the colour.

Whale of a time

I’ve been desperate to get my hands on the Whale of a time bundle, the dsp, the embossing folder, the ribbon....it’s all so gorgeous! These two cards only use the stamp set and punch, I’ll save the other items for a different day.

Scenic Snow Front

I must be on a roll with cards for men as I made my first one in ages last week and.....here's another.

A piece of woodgrain patterned paper from the In Good Taste dsp pack makes a lovely background for the image panels on this card. The sentiment from Lovely You is stamped directly onto the dsp layer.

Boho Indigo with Forever Fern

I do love the Boho Indigo papers, the combination of misty moonlight and seaside spray is really beautiful.

Here I have used one of the Forever Gold laser cut elements but rather than gold, I have used the reverse side which is white and coloured it seaside spray using a sponge dauber.

In Good Taste

I’ve used the wonderful In Good Taste dsp to make this card and added an element from the Forever Gold Laser Cut Speciality Paper.

Blossoms in Bloom

Today’s card is made using Magenta Madness. It is a very bright shade of pink, some people aren’t keen but I really like it. However for this card I did want to tone it down a little and vellum was the answer.

Lovely You with 2020 - 2022 In Colors

I wanted to create some simple cards showcasing the new in colors and Lovely You was the obvious choice. The sentiments are wonderful but it's the little stamps of flowers and leaves that I really love.

I like all the new colours and for these cards I have used the ink pads, cardstock and enamel dots.

Boho Indigo💙

I think Boho Indigo may be my favourite Stamping' Up! product ever! It is available as a product medley which includes stamps and dies or as a refill kit. I ordered the refill kit as it was the 6x6 papers that I was desperate to get my hands on, turns out the included die cut sheets are pretty amazing to.

I have three cards to show you all using elements from this kit.

Tags and treat boxes to say thanks

I make no apology for getting Forever Fern out again, I love it! I felt like making something other than cards today though, so put together some gift tags and mini curvy keepsake boxes.

So what does a £99 Starter Kit look like?

Stampin’ Up! have an amazing joining offer this month. In addition to getting £130 worth of current catalogue products for £99 with free p&p you can also choose a bundle worth up to £55.75.

It’s a great offer!

If you are new to card making then choosing one of the punch bundles is a great idea, if you have been crafting for a while and already have a die cutting machine then there are loads of die bundles to choose from.

In colors 2020-2022

I’m always excited to see the new in colors when the annual catalogue comes out and I usually love two or three of them. This time however it’s a cleansweep, I love them all and I love how they look together.

Today’s card uses all of the new colours as cardstock as I haven’t received my ink pads yet. I’ve introduced a new (to me) technique in an attempt to lighten the misty moonlight layer, I’m really happy with how it turned out and will definitely do it again.

Keeping it simple with Forever Fern

The Stampin’ Up! Annual catalogue goes live today and I have to say I think it is my favourite since I became a demonstrator! Over the coming weeks and months I will be sharing with you cards created using some of the wonderful new products as well as my favourites which have carried over.

My order has gone in today and I can’t wait to get my hands on some new goodies but while I wait (not very patiently) I have reached for Forever Fern again.

This time I’ve kept it really simple and just used one of the branch stamps. The sentiments have been chosen from other sets, Ornate Thanks, Very Versailles and Itty Bitty Christmas (masked).

Creating patterned paper with Forever Fern

**updated with product links**

It’s been too hot to spend much time outside today so I enjoyed a relaxing couple of hours creating my own patterned paper using the wonderful new set Forever Fern.

Dandelion Wishes in Vases

I can’t believe I’ve never put Dandelion Wishes and the Vases Builder Punch together!

I’ve used one of my favourite colour combos for this card, Highland Heather, Balmy Blue and Coastal Cabana.

Morning Star with Honey Bees

I’ve combined the old with the new today using some retiring sets with the new Ornate Border Dies and the soon to be release Forever Greenery dsp.

I’m loving using greens at the moment and the ink colours I chose match the beautiful dsp. The trailing ivy is stamped using garden green and shaded spruce, the morning glory flower is so saffron.

Returning to Forever Fern

Just a quick post to show you a couple of cards created today using the new Forever Fern bundle but this time, not in green.

I have used two of the new in colours, Misty Moonlight paired with Seaside Spray and Magenta Madness with Purple Posy, Coastal Cabana and Blushing Bride.

This set really does make it easy to create a beautiful card with just a few stems, stamped or die cut and a sentiment.

Is it on your wish list? Product links will be posted here 3rd June when this lovely set becomes available.

Back soon x

Forever Fern coming soon

My preorder arrived today after an agonising wait. I am lucky enough as a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator to get an advance copy of the annual catalogue and a chance to order selected items early.

There are some wonderful new products in the catalogue but the one that caught my eye first was the Forever Fern bundle and the coordinating dsp.

I thought I was more of a ‘blues’ girl but these greens are gorgeous. The new green is Just Jade and it’s a lovely soft mid green colour. It goes really well with Soft Sea Foam and Pretty Peacock.

The card I’ve made is a real off the cuff creation, I haven’t even used any of the leaf stamps. In addition to the new products, I have used the rope die from Smooth Sailing, Stitched Shapes dies, Classic Label Punch and my favourite embellishment linen thread.

Watch out for more creations using this set over the next couple of weeks and if you like it as much as I do, it will be available 3rd June, I will post product and catalogue links then.

Thanks for looking x

Morning Star with Stitched Labels

I would love to be playing with new Stampin’ Up! goodies this weekend but my pre order isn’t coming until Tuesday, oh well, something to look forward to next week.

Instead I set myself a little challenge of making some cards with one retiring stamp set and one retiring die set, ok I did cheat a bit and use the Stitched Rectangles.

The sets I chose are both retiring at the end of this month. Morning Star, currently available at the bargain price of £6.40! and Stitched Labels which has been reduced to £23.25.

Saying Thanks with Ornate Borders

I've only had the Ornate Thanks bundle for a couple of weeks but I have used it loads and I love it. It is one of the new sets in the soon to be available annual catalogue but was released early.

Today's cards pair it with the Medium Daisy Punch and are made quite simply using a single colour. I have used highland heather for one card and mint macaron for the other. The dsp is retiring at the end of this month and may well be sold out already but there will be new patterns in the same colours in the new catalogue.

Beautiful You meet Painted Poppies

Today's card combines the old with the new, I will be sorry to see Beautiful You retire and I will REALLY miss Peaceful Poppies dsp. I am happy to see that Painted Poppies will carry over and there are some wonderful new products coming out in June that I can't wait to share with you.

Watch out for a link to the new annual catalogue which I will share from 3rd June. If you are in the UK and would like a paper copy please do let me know.

Colourful Seasons

It is that time of year when Stampin’ Up! demonstrators like myself are getting just a little bit excited about the new annual catalogue. The flip side of that is wondering what sets we might be saying goodbye to.

With that in mind, today I have used an absolute favourite of mine that has been around for a few years, Colorful Seasons with Seasonal Layers Dies.

Free as a bird

I think 'free as a bird' is the last thing we are all feeling right now but I am determined to stay positive and share a little joy. Todays card is all about colouring, and who doesn't need a bit of colour therapy right now.

To be fair this one took a little while to colour and I'm not 100% sure about the blue background but white was too stark. What do you think?

Well said, well written

It’s been a while since I’ve used the ‘baby wipe’ technique, it’s a great way of getting a soft blend of colour and worked really well for the pastel colours I wanted to use here.

Leave a little sparkle

I bought this stamp set a while ago and thought it was about time it saw ink! I think florals, trees and leaves, well nature in general really is more my comfort zone.

Having said that I do really like the detail in the stamp and like the way that detail stands out embossed in silver.

Sailing home

Today has been a beautiful day and in different circumstances a trip to the beach might have been in order. However, unless you are lucky enough to live on the coast, the smell of the sea is something we can only dream about, for now.

Anyway, I felt like making a ‘seaside’ inspired card today and this one kind of evolved. It was really fun to make and used one of my favourite techniques, applying colour with sponge daubers. I’ve also heat embossed and dry embossed, so read on if you would like to see how it came together.

Morning Star Collection

I think I’m a little bit hooked on this stamp set, I really love the detail in Stampin’ up! Distinktive stamps and this one is currently my favourite.

I thought I’d have a go at showing how versatile it is, so put together this collection of cards using the trailing leaves, flowers and sentiments in a variety of different ways.

Honey Bees

I got the gorgeous Honey Bee set out again today for a simple but colourful little card. I’ve also used Label Me Bold for the background and sentiment.

Morning Star #GDP233

Well this is a first for me, I decided to take part in a blog challenge.

The current global-design-project challenge features some colours I love, they make me think of ice cream.

Fable Friends

Hi everyone, I’m not sure about you but I could do with some Spring cheer. We seem to have turned the corner with the weather and walked into the wall that is Covid-19.

I am seriously counting my blessings though, my family and friends are all well, I am very lucky not to be hugely impacted financially and I have everything I need to spend many hours crafting.

Drop Anchor...

I hope everyone is keeping well in the uncertain times we find ourselves in. I have a feeling over the coming weeks we will all be spending more time in our homes and I am thankful for my love of crafting.