Retiring Stamps and Colours - Blog Hop

Hi there, and if you came from Hayley's blog, welcome to your last stop on this morning's Blog Hop! For those who may have arrived here from my other blog, Paper Obsession, thank you so much for popping across - I'm delighted you made it!

So today we're highlighting some of the beautiful colours and stamp sets that will be retiring at the end of the month (boo hoo.. we'll miss you!).. if you want any of the products feautured, you'll need to get in quick.. once they're gone, they're gone!

First I'll show you a New Baby card I made using the gorgeous Nursery Necessities stamp set. I love this set so I have to admit I'm really sad to see it go!

This card was totally inspired by one I saw in the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalogue.. I just adapted it with my choice of stamps and colour scheme. I made the paper frill by cutting a long strip of Cameo Coral card (approx 2cm wide) and scoring alternately at 2cm then 1cm intervals, repeating along the length of the strip, then folding concertina-style. I stuck the frill down with Sticky Strip tape and tied Linen Thread around it.

Colour Scheme:

• Close to Cocoa (A6 base card and stamped greeting)
• Cameo Coral (frill and stamped elephant)
• Apricot Appeal (lower half of card and elephant's ear)
• Barely Banana (stamped moon and stars)

Stamps etc:

• Nursery Necessities stamp set
• Sticky Strip double-sided tape
• Linen Thread
• Corner Rounder Punch

My second project is a scrapbook page featuring a photo of my little boy, Harry, as a baby. I love scrapbooking with black and white photos as you have so much freedom in choosing your colour scheme!

I chose the lovely Barely Banana, Ruby Red and Basic Black. My Barely Banana cardstock was A4 size - to make it 'stretch' to a 12x12" layout, I trimmed the long side of two sheets to 11.5 inches, then cut the second sheet to the correct width and stuck it below the first one. I used the Striped Grosgrain Ribbon both as a design feature and to cover the join!

The black letter border at the bottom of the page was created using the Stampin' Around Nursery Letters wheel (also retiring) - I got it straight using the fantastic Stampin' Around Wheel Guide. The stars are part of the Nursery Necessities set I used in the New Baby card above. I cut out the larger one using the coordinating Stampin' Up! Star Punch.. easy!

My journaling labels were made using another retiring stamp set, Frames with a Flourish, stamped in Basic Black and Ruby Red ink. Such a versatile set both for cards and scrapping! The title letters are On Board Loads of Letters - bare chipboard letters which I inked with Basic Black ink.

Do you like the hat pin with pearls and clear beads? I made this up using the Pretties Kit I got last week - and this is retiring too (I can't quite believe it)! This kit consists of a tin crammed full of alterable white flowers, halfback pearls, round pearl beads (in cream and white), clear beads, rhinestone brads, hat pins and silver spacer beads. The kit is £23.25 but when you see how much is in it, you'll realise it's great value.

Colour Scheme:

• Barely Banana
• Ruby Red
• Basic Black, Whisper White (not retiring)

Stamps etc:

• Nursery Necessities stamp set
• Nursery Letters Stampin' Around Jumbo Wheel
• Stampin' Around Wheel Guide
• Frames with a Flourish stamp set
• On Board Loads of Letters
• Pretties Kit
• Basic Black Striped Grosgrain Ribbon (3.2cm)
• Star Punch
• Spiral Punch

I hope you enjoyed the Blog Hop.. and got a better idea of some of the beautiful products that are available just til the end of September. If you've seen anything you'd like to buy, please don't hesitate to contact me or any of the other girls on the blog hop - we'd be delighted to help!

Thank you so much Debbi for organising the Hop - if you didn't reach me via the Hop but would like to see everyone else's work, now's the time to pop across to Debbi's blog where it all starts. Thanks for joining me!

Sarah x

Dabbling in the dirt

So, the Blog Hop on Sunday went less smoothly than the first one.. I'm so sorry if you tried to get round to see everyone's pages and came across problems here and there.. Nonetheless, there were again some beautiful scrapbook layouts to see and inspiring ideas to file away for future use!

I'd just like to share a page I made last week - it's of my two boys and their little friend, thoroughly absorbed in their game in a patch of dirt in the garden. Simple pleasures!

The papers are from the versatile Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper stack (£19.50 for 48 double-sided sheets - from the mini-catalogue). If you read this post last Saturday, you'll have seen close-ups of the chipboard lettering (On Board Loads of Letters - £10.25 for three 12x12" sheets) and the orange-red 'Friends' embellishment, made using the beautiful Vintage Vogue stamp set (£19.95 - from the mini-catalogue).

Here's a close-up of those butterflies:

These were punched, using the Butterfly punch (£12.50) from scraps of Sweet Pea papers, inked with Soft Suede ink and given antennae made from small pieces of Linen Thread (£3.25 for 13.7 metres). The gems are non-SU! but are very similar to those available in the Stampin' Up! Pretties Kit (£23.25 for a huge selection of flowers, pearls, beads and other lovely pieces).

If you are interested in buying any of the above products - or any others, of course - please don't hesitate to contact me and I'll be delighted to help you.

Thanks for visiting,

Sarah x

Two-Step Stampin' Blog Hop - Part 2!

Thank you so much for dropping by.. If you're here for the Blog Hop, you've come to the right place! If you've stumbled upon me by accident, well you're most welcome!

In a nutshell, I and some lovely ladies at In Love With Stamping arranged this little event to celebrate Stampin' Up!'s August promotion - 20% off selected Two-Step Stampin' Stamp sets... click the picture to the right to find out more. The focus is on using these stamps on your scrapbook layouts.

Here's the running order of today's hop, along with the stamp sets you can expect to see in action:

1. Sarah (SarahLP) - Bird on a Branch & Greenhouse Garden (that's me!)

2. Helen (langara) - Something Sweet

3. Anthea (scrappydiva) - Greenhouse Garden

4. Caz (stampingcaz) - Big Bold Birthday

5. Rachel - Trendy Trees

6. Caroline Skinner - Tiny Tags & Loads of Love

7. Jo (Scrapbookparty) -Something Sweet


8. Kara (KaraM) - Big Bold Birthday and Greenhouse Garden

9. Sue (Frankiesue) - Trendy Trees


So here's my page...

The layout is based on a sketch from this month's Scrapbook Magazine. If you read my previous post, you'll recognise those chipboard letters.. :o) 

Here's the Bird on a Branch in more detail:

I stamped the Bird with So Saffron ink and used a Sponge Dauber to add Ruby Red to the head and tail.


And here are the Greenhouse Garden flowers in close-up:

I used the 'rock & roll' technique to darken the edges of the red flower, then added some Champagne Shimmer Paint with a Dauber to the centre of the flower (and the journaling spot.. oh, and the branch the bird is sitting on.. once you start adding Shimmer it's hard to stop!).


I hope you enjoyed your visit.. I'd be delighted to read your comments if you have a moment.. By the way, if you missed the first Blog Hop on 1st August, you'll find it here. 

OK, now your next stop on the Hop is Helen... have a lovely time!


Sarah x