Come and join me in February!

Hi there!

Fancy joining me for a card-making class or scrapbooking session in February? If so, now's the time to book your place.. I've just updated the Class Dates and Details page so you can see what's happening from now til June.

February's Card-making Classes take place on Thursday 10th and Saturday 12th February. These classes will be showcasing two more of the Sale-a-bration stamp sets - Bliss and Punch Bunch - along with the chance to make a Valentine card using the very sweet Love You Much stamp set!

Scrapbook Club this month takes place on Thursday 24th and Saturday 26th February.. and we'll be continuing with the Love theme by making a chipboard album dedicated to someone (or something) special. You will be able to customise your kit using any of the colours from the delicious Subtles Collection - and use the fabulous Stampin' Up! Colour Coach to help you devise your perfect colour scheme!

Just a quick reminder, too, that Sale-a-Bration is now half-way through! You have til 28th February to earn yourself a FREE stamp set.. if you'd like more information, please check out my previous post here - and then click on the Sale-a-Bration label in the side-bar to see plenty of projects made using the sets on offer. If you would like a Sale-a-Bration leaflet, email me with your address and I'll send you a copy!

I'll be back tomorrow to announce the winner of January's Prize Draw.. good luck everyone!

And finally...

A birthday card for a friend's little girl.. happy birthday Rosie!

Colours: Pear Pizazz, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Pretty in Pink.
Stamps: Punch Bunch (Sale-a-Bration), Party This Way, Just Perfect alphabet
DSP: Brights Designer Series Paper Pattern Stack (Daffodil Delight)

Thanks for your visit!

Sarah x

Inspired by Orla

One of my Scrapbook Club ladies arrived yesterday with a brand new Orla Kiely-designed shopping bag from Tesco - only £4 would you believe!

I'd heard something about these bags but, as I don't do the shopping very often (shamefully bad wife that I am), I hadn't actually seen one. Well, I just had to have one! So I sent Gareth off to Tesco's last night with strict instructions to come back with an Orla bag.. never mind the groceries, I need an Orla shopping bag! ;o)

Bless him, he managed to procure one for me...

LOVE the pattern... LOVE that colour scheme! INSPIRED to create something!!

When you get into Stampin' Up!, a strange thing happens.. pretty soon you start thinking in SU! colours. When I saw this bag, I instantly thought Poppy Parade; Old Olive; Basic Grey; Chocolate Chip. Then I thought, how can I 'borrow' this design? Well, here's what I did:

• Punch butterflies in the four colours
• Stamp over each one in Whisper White Craft Ink using the damask stamp from the Bliss Sale-a-bration set.
• Arrange them on a square of Very Vanilla cardstock, adhering with SNAIL adhesive.
• Turn over and cut off the overhanging bits with a sharp craft knife.
• Mount onto Poppy Parade card blank (mine was 5x5 inches square).
• Add greeting 'hello' from Tiny Tags stamp set to one of the butterflies.

Now who said I couldn't do Clean & Simple?! (actually, it was me.) Well, it was a struggle, let me assure you (and I'm still tempted to go back and add bits).

I can see me coming back to this kind of simple design.. I admire it so much when I see it, so I'm not sure why I don't do it more often. Could be the way forward!


What kind of look do you prefer? Clean & Simple or Messy & Complicated?!

Sarah :o)

January Scrapbook Club - Project Complete!

As promised, here are a few more pictures of this month's Scrapbook Club project. A big thank you to the ladies who joined me this morning to have a go at the project.. I can't wait to see your finished books.. next month ok? :o)

So here's my cover:

My colour scheme is Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive. All the patterned papers are from the Brights Designer Series Paper (DSP) Pack and the Newsprint DSP pack.

The 'g' is a chipboard letter, inked and coated in Crystal Effects to make it shiny. The other letters (and numbers) were die-cut on my Cuttlebug. The tiny butterflies are from the 'So Happy For You' (Sale-a-bration) set.

First two pages:

{Eek! Wish I'd not left a 'halo' effect round my hair.. oops!}

I've used the Bliss (Sale-a-bration) set to stamp the background.

Thought I'd try doodling my title letters and the speech bubble (being more adventurous already, see? lol).

Second two pages (I showed you the pair yesterday, so here they are individually):

I used 'faux stitching' around the edges of the dotty paper - used the paper piercing template from the Mat Pack to pierce holes all the way round, then joined them up with a black journaling pen.. simple!

The bunting was made using a stamp from 'Party This Way', strung together with Linen Thread.

Third pair of pages:

 

The background was stamped with 'Sweet Summer' (another Sale-a-bration set). I doodled the scalloped boxes straight on to the DSP, then cut them in half and flipped one side round to show the other pattern (the papers are all double-sided). I used the Paper Piercing Template to help me sew the pieces together.

Fourth pair of pages:

 

The background was stamped with 'Just Believe' stamps.

And finally..(phew, nearly there) the fifth pair of pages:

Here, I made a pocket from DSP, folded over and punched with the Scallop Trim Border punch, for my tags. The colourful strips at the top of these pages were sliced from the cover of a Dulux paint catalogue.. appropriate to the theme, I thought!

Pages were stuck together back-to-back on three sides to form pockets for my tags. I used a circle punch to cut the semi-circles to allow easy removal of the tags. The numbers on each page were cut from a sheet of Newsprint DSP.

I hope you liked my project! Saturday ladies.. now you know what you have in store! ;o)

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask in the Comments box (by the way, anyone should be able to comment now.. I've changed the settings!).


Thanks for visiting,

Sarah x

January Scrapbook Club - Sneaky Peek

Well, the first of this month's Scrapbook Club sessions is tomorrow morning.. and the project is at last (more or less) finished! I really do struggle with 'quick and simple', no matter how hard I try..

So here are a couple of pages from my mini tag book on my crafty goals for 2011.

 

I will post pictures of the whole book very soon, along with a few details on the materials and techniques I used.

Bookings are now closed for this month's Scrapbook Club, but if you'd like to join in next month, we'll be making a mini-album loosely based around the theme of Love.. more details to follow. Dates for February are Thursday 24th and Saturday 26th Feb, 9:30am to 12:30pm. Book early to receive a discount on the class fee..Click on Scrapbook Club and Class Dates and Details in the side bar for more information.

Thanks for visiting!

Sarah x

Another scrapbook layout

 

This page was made using the Sale-a-bration stamp set 'Bliss', along with 'Notably Ornate' which is another vintage-style set that I'm loving at the moment. I'll just show you a few details..

 

The flowers were from the retired Pretties kit but similar ones are available separately. I coloured them pink using a sponge dauber and Blushing Bride ink, then layered them up. The leaves were cut using the Two-Step Bird punch. The metal frame is from the Hodgepodge Hardware kit - love those frames!

I made the journaling tag using a piece of white card stamped with the tag stamp from 'Notably Ornate' using Blushing Bride ink. The photo was matted on Blushing Bride cardstock punched with the Scallop Trim Border and Corner punches. The patterned papers are all from the Neutrals DSP stack.

The butterflies were stamped on the black cardstock using white craft ink, then I did three on Blushing Bride cardstock using Basic Grey ink. I cut these ones out and stuck them on the layout, adding adhesive rhinestones for a bit of sparkle!

Scrapbook Club is on this coming Thursday 27th and Saturday 29th January and we'll be making a mini tag book to record our goals for 2011. It's not too late to join in! Call me or email me to book your place as soon as possible if you'd like to come along.

Thanks for looking!

Sarah x

A couple of Punch Bunch cards

Been so busy creating things this week I haven't had a chance to share.. so here's a couple of quick and easy cards I made for two little boys' birthdays:

Both cards use Designer Series Paper scraps from the Celebrations pack - just perfect for kiddies' birthdays with its bright primary colours and bold patterns!

• I stamped the Owl from 'Punch Bunch' in Pacific Point ink directly on to the white cardstock. 
• To make the balloon, I stamped the balloon from 'Party This Way' on to a scrap of Bashful Blue cardstock and cut it out. I then cut out numbers from a sheet of Celebrations DSP and stuck them on the unstamped side of the balloons.
• The greeting is from the lovely Sale-a-bration set, 'So Happy for You' - just love the cheerful font!
• I cut the leaves using the Two-Step Bird punch and Pear Pizazz cardstock.
• On the second card I stuck on some googly eyes from a craft shop - super cute!

Remember, Sale-a-bration stamp sets are only available through January and February - they will not be appearing in future Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogues!

If you like the Owl stamp but don't fancy cutting him out - good news! There will be a punch to match the Owl stamp in the Stampin' Up! Mini-Catalogue, which comes out on 1st April. It's going to be a two-step punch, so you can piece together your owl's body, wings and eyes in whatever colour combinations you like.

Thanks for looking!


Sarah x

Some more Sweet Summer cards!

Well it's hardly Sweet Summer at the moment! So here are a couple of bright and cheerful cards to make up for the gloomy weather..

This first one was totally inspired by a set of cards by GOLDCATS2003 on the fantastic In Love With Stamping forum. The greeting is from 'So Happy For You', another very lovely Sale-a-Bration set that's only available until the end of February. I coloured the flowers using Stampin' Write Markers in Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive.

The next one was inspired by a lovely card by pegcraftalot on ILWS, although I did change it by adding the ribbon and the butterfly. The colours are Pear Pizazz, Regal Rose and Rich Razzleberry (with a bit of Pumpkin Pie and Tangerine Tango for the butterfly!).

Do you like the background these cards are sitting on? I just received the 'Brights' Designer Series Paper Patterns Stack with my last order - you get 40 sheets of 12x12" paper in the stack - 2 each of 2 double-sided designs in all ten colours in the Brights Collection - for £15.50... that works out at an excellent 39p per sheet. I can't stop flicking through and gazing at the beautiful colours and patterns... they are SO yummy! :o)

We'll be using these gorgeous papers and coordinating cardstock in Scrapbook Club in two weeks' time.. that is, if I can bear to part with them! We're going to make a mini tag book on our 'Goals for 2011'.. if you'd like to join in, there's still time! Check out all the details on the Scrapbook Club page and then get in touch. I'd love you to join us!

January Card-making Class - Sweet Summer

Thought I'd share some pictures of the cards we made in today's card-making class using one of the Sale-a-Bration stamp sets, 'Sweet Summer'. LOVE how simple these cards were to put together.. (well.. relatively simple.. let's just say lessons were learned by me as well as my ladies from today's class ;o) ;o) )!

The colour scheme used was Certainly Celery / Rose Red / Concord Crush - love this vibrant combination (OK, if you want to split hairs, the ribbon is actually Pear Pizazz and the ink is Old Olive but hey.. they coordinate perfectly)!

We used the 'One-Sheet Wonder' technique on an A5 size piece of Whisper White cardstock, stamping randomly all over the sheet with three stamps from the set, one colour for each stamp. The cardstock was then cut into pieces which were used as the basis for four cards.

I used a mixture of greetings on these four cards - the 'good luck' is from another Sale-a-Bration set, 'So Happy For You' and the others are from 'Sincere Salutations'. The border punch used on the first set of cards is the Scallop Trim Border - isn't it FABULOUS!! It's my new favourite and will definitely be getting a lot of use!

I'm doing this class again on Saturday morning - so if you'd like to join in, please get in touch with me as soon as possible! Check out the Card-making Classes page for full details.

If you would like to own either of these Sale-a-Bration stamp sets, please check out this post for details of how you can earn one for FREE! Here are pictures of the two sets we used today:

*I would like to credit Doris Kroh, a German SU! demonstrator, for the design idea in the second set of cards.. I loved it and adapted it for this class!

Thanks for reading!

Sarah x

A scrapbook page!

This is my dear little Harry at the park. Lots of details on this page!

The title was made with Stampin' Up!'s bare chipboard letters and shapes. The 'i' was first covered with white craft ink, before using a sponge dauber to cover with blue ink from the Distressing Kit. I then daubed the edges with black ink.

The heart shape was covered with paper from the Love Letter DSP pack - draw around the shape, cut out (slightly smaller than the shape), adhere with Tombow liquid glue, sand the edges with a sanding block (from the Distressing Kit), then ink around the edges with Cherry Cobbler ink using a dauber. I added a loop of Linen Thread to the back, and a red button tied with Linen Thread to the front.

The letter 'u' was covered with Newsprint DSP and the edges inked in black as described above for the heart shape.

 

Sorry about the blurry photo! The bird from the Notably Ornate stamp set was stamped in Baja Breeze, then over-stamped in blue from the Distressing Kit using the En Francais background stamp. I then cut it out and inked the edges using the blue ink. The yellow strip you can see was crimped using the Paper Crimper.

 

The flower (from the retired Pretties Kit) was coloured using inks and daubers. The word 'harry' was done with rub-ons from the Vintage Rub-Ons pack (you get one sheet each of capitals and lower case letters in both black and white).

Tiny tags.. held on to the ribbon by a blue safety pin!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizazz
DSP: Greenhouse Gala, Love Letter, Newsprint
Ribbon: Old Olive Grosgrain 5/8", Marina Mist Taffeta 1/8", Linen Thread
On Board Alphabet Soup, On Board Mix & Match
Vintage Rub-ons
Brights Buttons
Rhinestones
Hodgepodge Hardware

Tools:

Stamps: Notably Ornate, Tiny Tags, En Francais
Punches: Jewellery Tag, Boho Blossoms, Scalloped Circle, 1 1/2"Circle, Eyelet Border
Distressing Kit

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

I hope you had a lovely time last night, whether your celebrations were full-on or not! We had a pretty quiet one, nice meal, good bottle of wine and a bit of Jonathan Creek. Not such a party animal these days.. :o)

Anyway...

I've just done the December Prize Draw - check your receipt numbers, ladies!!

And the winner is.....

Linda!

Congratulations Linda... you have won a Stampin' Up! stamp set by the name of 'In My Garden'. This was one of the Hostess sets in last year's catalogue so it's no longer available.. but still rather lovely!

Linda also happens to be my very first customer to take advantage of Sale-A-Bration! She will be receiving one of the gorgeous Sale-A-Bration stamp sets absolutely FREE with her order in the next week or so. Lucky lady!

If you'd like to earn yourself FREE stamps too, there are three ways you can do so.

Customers:

For every £45 you spend on yummy Stampin' Up! products, you will earn one free Sale-a-Bration set of your choice. Just email or call me with your selection and I'll place the order for you.

Hostesses:

Let me help you host your own Stampin' Up! party at home and if your party sales reach £300 or more, you will earn one free Sale-a-Bration set in addition to the already-fabulous hostess benefits (see Host a Workshop page for details)! Why not book your workshop now and enjoy a fun evening crafting with your friends and family?

New Demonstrators: 

Join Stampin' Up! before the end of February and you can choose a free stamp set from the Idea Book & Catalogue (valued up to £44.95) - see Join my Team page for information on becoming a demonstrator!