11th December Class Sneaky Peek

Here's a little peek at one of the cards we'll be making on Saturday morning using the Notably Ornate stamp set and Love Letter/Newsprint Designer Series Papers. If you'd like to come, please let me know by Thursday afternoon as I'll be preparing resources for the class tomorrow evening.

A Stampin' Up! Christmas

Fancy some gorgeous Stampin' Up! goodies under the tree this year? The very last date for Christmas orders is Monday 13th December - so please don't delay in sending me your Wish List and giving your loved ones my contact details!

If you'd prefer to choose your own goodies after Christmas, you could always opt for Gift Vouchers instead. Please check out the Gift Vouchers page in the side-bar for full details - including information on a couple of very special offers!

Bundle Up with Delightful Decorations!

In a change to the advertised programme, I decided to use the gorgeous Delightful Decorations stamp set, along with its coordinating Ornament punch, in my class today. Why? Well for two reasons... first, it's a fun and versatile set - and the punch makes it SO easy to create fabulous cards in minutes... and second, it's part of the Bundle Up for Christmas promotion - on now and until the end of December.

So here are the first three cards we made today:

 

Recipe:
Stamps: Delightful Decorations, So Swirly Wheel, Basic Phrases, Contempo Christmas
Cardstock: Old Olive,Whisper White,Crumb Cake
Ink: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Platinum Shimmer Paint
Punches: Ornament, Word Window
Other: Sponge Daubers, Silver Elastic Thread, Crystal Effects, Diamond Stickles (non-SU!)

And here are the last two cards we made:

 

Recipe:
Stamps: Delightful Decorations, Contempo Christmas (for the greeting)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Designer Series Paper: Jolly Holiday
Ink: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Punches: Ornament, Eyelet Border, Scallop Edge, Boho Blossoms
Other: Linen Thread, Pretty In Pink 3mm Taffeta Ribbon, Old Olive 1.6cm Grosgrain Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones

In case you're wondering about the Bundle Up for Christmas promotion.. you can get your hands on an exclusive package of ribbon for FREE when you purchase a Christmas gift-giving bundle. For example, you could buy the Delightful Decorations stamp set and Ornament punch for £37.45 and choose a ribbon package with a value of up to £11.50 for free!

If you're interested, please check out my previous post for further details.. and remember the bundles and ribbons are only available while supplies last. Do let me know if you'd like to take advantage of this deal and I'll be only too happy to help you!

By the way... stay tuned for information on the kit I'm putting together for Scrapbook Club on 27th November.. and a sneak peek at the project we'll be making!

Vintage Vogue cards from Friday's class

Just a quick post to share the three cards I made for Friday's card-making class using Vintage Vogue stamp set, along with the Very Vintage wheel and a few other goodies..

In this card (above) I used the Very Vintage wheel to create the background on the base card and Vintage Vogue vine stamp on the birds' wings. The colours are Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Perfect Plum, So Saffron, Rose Red and Certainly Celery.

This one uses the En Francais background stamp on the base card and the vine leaves were added behind the flower using the masking technique.

Finally, I used the Very Vintage wheel and Rose Red ink to create the pattern on the lower half of the card. The flowers on the upper half were stamped with Versamark ink. The main flower was stamped in Rose Red with Rich Razzleberry ink dabbed onto the edges with a sponge dauber.

The sentiments are all from the Sincere Salutations set. All three cards were inspired by projects spotted in the new Idea Book & Catalogue - available from me for the special price of £5 posted to your door!

My next class is this Saturday - we'll be making Christmas cards using the brand new Delightful Decorations stamps, along with the new Ornament punch and taffeta ribbons! If you'd like to join us, please call me or email me as soon as possible. Details are on the Contact Me page (see left side bar).

Sarah x

More Christmas Cards with 'Dasher'

I love the Dasher stamp! And in preparation for my next class on Friday, I've been making a few Dasher-based Christmas cards.

You may recognise the Old Olive one at the back.. I made that one a few weeks ago.. but the two at the front are new! As before, the inspiration for these cards was from Carolyn, a fellow SU! demonstrator - you can see her boxed set of cards here.

Supplies:

Stamps - Dasher, Sincere Salutations
Cardstock - Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Whisper White, Soft Suede
Punches - Oval, Scallop Oval
Ink - Basic Black, Soft Suede
Other - Champage Shimmer Paint, Sponger Daubers, Black & White Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Soft Suede Polka Dot Ribbon, Diamond Stickles (non-SU!)

And finally, a couple more Dasher cards made to a different recipe:

Supplies:

Stamps - Dasher, Punches Three, So Swirly Jumbo Wheel
Cardstock - Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink, Rich Razzleberry, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Very Vanilla
Punches - Scallop Edge, Scalloped Oval, Corner Rounder (non-SU)
Ink - Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry, Bashful Blue
Other - Soft Suede Polka Dot Ribbon, Diamond Stickles (non-SU)

The first of these two was inspired by a card made by Pat, and the second one was inspired by Carol's use of the So Swirly wheel on the In Love With Stamping gallery. Thanks for sharing your cards, ladies!

So, which card do you like the best?

Sarah x

Thank you, teacher!

It's the last day at nursery for my boys tomorrow, so I made a couple of quick Thank You cards for the staff who have been wonderful this year.

The first one was totally inspired by a box of chocs I spotted in the Co-op yesterday.. and just had to buy for Charlie's teacher, mainly because of the matching-card-making potential.

I was instantly thinking colour schemes.. 'Hmm, looks like Choc Chip, Cameo Coral and Very Vanilla'... shortly followed by.. 'Hey, I can use my new So Swirly wheel!'

Here's what I came up with, anyway. I couldn't resist adding a splash of Old Olive and some Sweet Pea felt pieces.

Supplies:

Cardstock - Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Old Olive
Stamps - So Swirly wheel, Sincere Salutations
Inks - Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip
Punches - Scallop Edge, Oval, Scallop Oval
Embellishments - Sweet Pea felt pieces, green rhinestones (non-SU!)

My second card had to be super-quick as I was running out of time this afternoon.

 Supplies:

Cardstock - Old Olive, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie
Paper - Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Stack
Stamps - Flight of the Butterfly
Punch - Butterfly
Embellishment - green rhinestones (non-SU!), Diamond Stickles (non-Su!)

You know what? In hindsight I think the second one is a bit plain.. it could do with something else.. more butterflies maybe.. perhaps a scrap of the patterned paper with a bit more 'going on'? Oh well, too late - it's been handed in!

More scrapbooking with Sweet Pea

It's been a while since I did any scrapbooking.. card-making seems to have taken over for the last few weeks. But I've been itching to get back to it, and yesterday I came up with this:

The photos were taken in our garden and at the Chalk Farm Hotel where I was experimenting with the macro setting on my camera. The patterned paper is from the Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper stack - I used one sheet and cut out a couple of butterflies from another and stuck them on with foam pads. Can you spot them?

I used Old Olive cardstock to mat the photos, stamping it with flowers from Baroque Motifs and Flight of the Butterfly stamp sets. I layered the Old Olive with So Saffron cardstock, using the Scallop Edge punch on the top and bottom edges.

The 'Summer' part of the title was made using Stampin' Up!'s chipboard letters pack - On Board Loads of Letters, £10.25 for three 12x12" sheets in various designs. I pressed each letter on to an ink pad - Ruby Red and Old Olive - until the letters were covered in ink.

The 'garden' letters were stamped using the Just Perfect alphabet stamps - Ruby Red ink on So Saffron cardstock - then cutting out each letter. I gave the letters an aged look by dabbing around the edges with an orangey-yellow chalk ink, then creasing them up a bit.

To complete the distressed look, I ran the blades of a pair of scissors around the edge of the patterned paper and turned back the corners before adhering to a 12x12" piece of Summer Sun cardstock. The Sweet Pea designer papers are double-sided with coordinating patterns on each side, so it's nice to be able to see both sides of the paper in this way!

It feels good to be scrapping again.. watch this space for news of a scrapbooking blog hop coming soon!

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah x

Happy Father's Day!

It's been a busy week but I just about managed to get a couple of Father's Day cards completed in time (well almost... sorry Dad, yours will arrive tomorrow). I used more of the gorgeous papers from the Sweet Pea paper stack, along with the Butterfly and Two-Step Bird punches. The letters were cut using the Cuttlebug and Red Tag Sale alphabet dies, then embossed using Cuttlebug embossing folders.

I'm loving these papers - such a great combination of colours and patterns!

Thanks for visiting..

Sarah x

My first card-making class!

Well, after lots of nervous anticipation and frantic last-minute advertising, I held my first card-making class on Friday. Although it was not a sell-out, my ladies spent a very pleasant couple of hours making some beautiful cards and trying out a variety of stamps, punches and techniques. They were delighted with what they'd made!

I didn't think to take my camera with me to photograph their creations, but here are the cards I demonstrated for the ladies to make themselves:

Supplies:

Stamps - 'Fun & Fast Notes' set
Cardstock - Earth Elements colour family, Very Vanilla
Ribbon - Very Vanilla grosgrain
Ink - Black Staz-on
Colouring - Stampin' Pastels
Punch - Scallop Edge

The image was coloured by dabbing gently with Stampin' Pastels, which coordinate perfectly with the Earth Elements cardstock colours.

Here's the second card we made:

A close-up of the details...

Supplies:

Stamps - 'Bird On A Branch' set
Cardstock - Earth Elements colour family, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink - Basic Black, Ruby Red, Cameo Coral
Ribbon - Black & White Gingham
Punch - Butterfly
Other tools - Paper Piercer



The class included full tuition on all the techniques used, along with all materials needed to make each of these cards, including envelopes and protective cellophane card bags.

The next class is on Friday 9th July and we'll be playing with the Sweet Pea collection of papers and stamps (click on the Mini-Catalogue button on the right to see the Sweet Pea collection - it's gorgeous!).

If you'd like to join in next month, please get in touch - leave a comment here or email me on slpiggott73@gmail.com.

Hope to see you then!

Sarah x

Scrapbooking with Sweet Pea

So today I attended an all-day crop run by two lovely ladies, Becky and Teresa, in Hailsham. What a friendly bunch they were - it was such fun! I took along my new Stampin' Up! goodies, along with a few photos of the boys, and got to work on a layout.

Here's what I made:

Cardstock: Whisper White; Old Olive; So Saffron, Pretty in Pink
Paper: Designer Series Paper Stack - Sweet Pea
Embellishments: Stitched Felt - Sweet Pea
Punch: Scallop Edge
Non-SU!: American Crafts Thickers

The ladies were really interested in the products I was using, had a thorough browse through the catalogues and were particularly impressed with the Butterfly punch... in fact we arranged a home workshop in a couple of weeks - I'm so excited!

I have another layout in progress which I'll be back to share soon.

Sarah x

Welcome to my new obsession.. Stampin' Up!

Welcome to my new blog! As you'll see, it's all about my new venture into the world of Stampin' Up!

I was introduced to Stampin' Up! (or SU as I'll be calling it) by my scrapbooking and cardmaking friend, Pat, some months ago when I was still in Croydon. She became a SU demonstrator back in January and has been enjoying wonderful success with her cardmaking classes. I've been thinking about becoming a demonstrator myself for quite some time - and now we've achieved our dream relocation to Eastbourne, the time feels right.

So here I am.. a new Stampin' Up! demonstrator, living by the seaside and doing what I love.. playing with paper, stamps and ink.. what could be better?!!

I took delivery of a thrilling box of goodies yesterday.. and here are a couple of cards I made this afternoon.

Stamp set: Basic Phrases
Punch: Extra Large Two-step Bird
Cardstock: Very Vanilla; Summer Sun; Pumpkin Pie

Stamp sets: Basic Phrases; Bird On A Branch
Punches: Butterfly; Scallop Edge
Cardstock: Very Vanilla; Chocolate Chip
Ribbon: 1/4" Grosgrain - Very Vanilla

I'm off to a crop in Hailsham tomorrow so I'll be back soon to share what I make there.

Thanks for looking!

Sarah x