And finally

I'm back in the crafting world.

Michael headed back to the UK last night. His flight was 4 hours late which meant that he did not leave until 1.00 am Monday morning and because of the time difference won't arrive back in the UK until 8.00 pm Monday evening (so about eight hours ago if my watch and maths is correct). There are no more college visits (well not this week) so I can now concentrate on other things. Hooray.

I have made half of my swaps and the other half are about 50% done so I can't really complain of not having time to do anything. I have lots of scraps left over but not enough to finish off each swap so I'm had a make do morning when it comes to the cards I've made. Basically they are all from the left overs - guess this means you will at least get to see the colour scheme!

Anyways, here's one of them and I'm saving another for a special event later this week.

This was made using two of the stamp sets that I brought over with me, and a couple of punches too. The card stock and Designer Series Paper were already here from previous visits. I am going to have to be frugal with my Whisper White card stock as I thought that I had more here but that's not the case.  Oh well, it's not the end of the world if I run out.

I have a few more things to share with you this week so please check back. I'm off now to check out some of the challenge sites to see if I can find out I fancy taking part in.

Stampin' Up! supplies used are

Flower Shop Clear Bundle

£27.25

Petite Petals Clear-Mount Bundle

£18.95

2013-2015 In Color Designer Series Paper Stack

£19.50

Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad

£4.95

Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad

£4.95

Pistachio Pudding Classic Stampin' Pad

£4.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Congratulations

A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by and said hello to us yesterday at the Sincerely Yours Papercraft Show over in Bracknell. We had lots of fun chatting to everyone.

Last night I had the pleasure in calling

 Zoe Hailey from Barkham 

to let her know that she had won the Door Prize. I will be taking her the bundle of Stampin' Up! goodies tomorrow evening. Congratulations once again Zoe.

I hope that everyone who stopped by had a chance to do our Make & Take. For those of you who missed it, it was based around the Petite Petals stamp set and punch and looked like

Those that came in the morning made the one using Coastal Cabana and in the afternoon Strawberry Slush.

Stampin' Up! supplies used:

Stamp sets : Petite Petals and A Dozen Thoughts
Card stock : Baked Brown Sugar and Whisper White and either Coastal Cabana or Strawberry Slush
Ink : Black StazOn and Coastal Cabana or Strawberry Slush
Designer Series Paper : 2013-2015 In Color Designer Series Paper Pack
Accessories : Petite Petals Punch and Basic Rhinestones

All my samples and boards that I took to the Bracknell show are now sitting in my dining room.  On Thursday I go to Farnborough to help set up for the Make It show that starts this coming Friday. If I didn't see you at Bracknell, hopefully I'll see you in Farnborough, unless you have decided to be like me and brave both.

Thank You

A big thank to all of you who sent me a Christmas card or gift. They are all lovely and thank you so much for thinking of me.

I've been playing with one of the Valentine stamps - Flowerfull Heart from the Whole Lot of Love suite of products. A photo of one of the ones that I've made is below.

Stampin' Up! supplies used:

Stamp sets : Flowerfull Heart and Lots of Thanks
Card Stock : Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe and Whisper White
Designer Series Paper : 2013-2015 In Color Designers Series Paper Stack
Ink : Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana and Pistachio Pudding Stampin' Write Markers
Accessories : Hearts Collection Framelits, Coastal Cabana Ruffle Stretch Trim, Stamp-a-ma-jig and Dimensionals.

The heart took a little time to colour in using the Stampin' Write Markers, but I love the effect. The Thank You comes from the stamp set and I used the Stampin' Write Markers because I only wanted to ink up part of the stamp. I also used my Stamp-a-ma-jig because I didn't trust myself on getting the greeting on straight.

I thought I'd also share photos of the cards that I received, as I imagined that you might like to see them. Don't worry, I not going to name names in full, unless you want me to. Let me know.

Going Clockwise from top left : Maggie, Sara, Esther, Angie and Mo

Going Clockwise from top left : Sheila, Karen, Louise, Tricia and Jayne

Going Clockwise from top left : Dawn, Paula, Susan, Helen and Alison

Please note that the cards are not actually hidden away in my craft room. I just thought that this was the best way to photograph them.

And, last but not least

L to R : Nicky and Jenny

Yep, Jenny decided on the day before Christmas Eve (at about 3 pm) that she wanted to make some Christmas Cards for the family. I sent her into my craft room (which was probably a mistake) and suggested she go look at some of the samples I had from classes etc. She came back with the original of the one on the left which I had used for a Christmas Stamp-a-stack. Luckily I had enough card stock left, so having pre-cut the card and given her the stamps, ink and dies etc I left her to it. There was of course some instruction on how to ink up the stamps (she can be very a little heavy handed) and how to use the Big Shot. I think she did a brilliant job.

Happy Birthday

I made my best friend Lorrie a card for her birthday.  I know that there's nothing unusual about that but thought I'd share it with you anyway.

I used the super cute parcel image from the Best of Shelli. This could lend itself to any occassion, including Christmas.

The card was pretty simple to make but I love this colour combination - Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate and Calypso Coral.

Stampin' Up! supplies used :

Stamp sets : Best of Shelli and Bring on the Cake
Ink : Coastal Cabana ink pad and Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate and Calypso Coral Stampin' Write Markers
Card Stock : Whisper White, Smoky Slate
Designer Series Paper : 2013-2015 Designer Series Paper Stack - Coastal Cabana
Accessories : Stamp-a-ma-jig, 2-1/2" Circle and 2-3/8" Scallop Circle punches, and Dimensionals

I'll be seeing Lorrie herself in the next couple of days so I will be able to give her the card in person.

Tuesday's post will be some of the swaps that I made from the shoe box swap that I mentioned in my post on 13 August. There were 15 swaps in total (including mine) and I'll be sharing the three made with the Flower Shop stamp set.

Serene Silhouttes and new In Colors

One of my favourite stamp sets from the 2012-2013 Annual Catalogue carried over into the 2013-2014 Catalogue. This is great because it means that I can still use it in classes and on my blog.

On Monday, I showed you a couple of cards made using the babywipe technique. I decided to use the same "ink pad" and make another card but with a different stamp set. I think you can probably guess which one by now...

Stampin' Up! supplies used:

Stamp sets: Serene Silhouttes and Sweet Essentials
Card stock : Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe and Whisper White
Ink : Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding, and Crisp Cantaloupe ink refills
Accessories : Basic Pearls and Dimensionals

I am pleased to report that our weekend trip to Munich went well and Michael is now busy on his work experience there. I'm now frantically washing and cleaning house. I am off to the States again on Sunday - first to San Diego and then to East Lansing (Michigan) where Jenny will be studying at MSU. She starts college later this month (they start much earlier than the UK) and we have lots of things to do before then.

I will have another post (or two) to share before I go away and I will have more posts to share while I'm away. You all probably know by now that San Diego is home from home as I have an ever increasing stash of goodies there. I guess that this means that there's really no excuse not to post something. I do have a lot of projects to plan - swaps and name badge for the Reading Creative Tour, Make & Take for the Open House, 10 Christmas Cards for the Stamp-a-Stack classes, Swaps for Convention and Card Candy Swaps for Convention, plus of course my normal monthly classes and personal cards to send. Not much really!

Regarding Dahlias

I was umming and ahhing when the 2013-2014 Catalogue came out as to whether I should get this stamp set and I am so pleased that I took the plunge. I've seen so many different ideas on peoples blogs and of course on pinterest, that I know that I will have lots of different ideas for it's use.

The flower-head itself is a fairly large stamp and I thought I would give it a go with the babywipe technique. Here are a couple of cards that I have come up with.

Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe and Pistachio Pudding Stampin' Ink Refills

Stampin' Up! supplies used:

Stamp set : Regarding Dahlias
Card Stock : Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana and Whisper White
Ink : Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe and Pistachio Pudding ink refills
Accessories : Basic Pearls, Paper Snips, Tea Lace Paper Doilies and Dimensionals

Sorry for the wonky photo - I do have new glasses on order!

Stampin' Up! supplies used:

Stamp set : Regarding Dahlias
Card Stock : Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana , Crisp Cantaloupe and Whisper White
Ink : Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe and Pistachio Pudding ink refills
Accessories : Basic Pearls, Labels Collection Framelits, Big Shot and Dimensionals

I'm really pleased how these cards turned out using some of the new In Colors. I also have to admit to using the new Magnetic Platform in my Big Shot to cut the Crisp Cantaloupe frame. No more post it notes to keep the framelits in place. I cut the frame out in one go - I would not have done that when using post it notes.  There is however, one small problem with the Magnetic Platform at the moment and that is, that it is out of stock.  Demand for this new product has been so high that there will be none available to order until the Autumn. Those of you coming to class will be able to test this product out for yourself, but having only used this a couple of times I think it's brilliant.

A couple of new things to share

I'm off on holiday at the moment but have a card to share with you that I made before I left. 

It features the new Flower Shop stamp set and the co-ordinating Pansy Punch. Did you know that if you bought both of these together as the Flower Shop Bundle you can save 15% on the individual prices? Definitely worth considering.

I used a couple of the new In Colors too - Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana. The greeting comes from the Delightful Dozen stamp set.

The flowers were finished off by punching out the centres of alternate colour flowers using the 1/2" Circle Punch. These were then added using Dimensionals and then I also added a Large Basic Rhinestone Jewel to the centre.

I don't think that my photography does it justice but hay-ho it's a little too late to retake the photo as this morning we are off to visit the Eden Project.

One of the things I've also done this last couple of days is update my class schedule and you will find details of the classes for the next few months by clicking on link in the top banner - Events and Classes. Let me know if you are interested in attending any.

Triple Wildflower Meadow

So today should be Friday and I'm hoping that this has posted as planned because I am probably flying over Iceland or Greenland as it should post.

In case you haven't noticed,  I've been playing with the format of the blog and I hope you like the new style. I decided to simplify things a little as it was starting to look a little cluttered. Gone is the background and I hope that this simpler style will make it easier to see things and more importantly the actual posts.

On Wednesday I shared two cards that I had made using the Happy Day stamp set, today you are getting the Wildflower Meadow three ways.

All three cards had the images stamped in Whisper White. I had planned to heat emboss the images but my ancient heat tool (must be at least 10 years old) decided to give up on me. Luckily it was before I had sprinkled any embossing powder. In the end I just left the images to dry before I did anything else with them.

From left to right - Island Indigo and Pool Party, Burnt Brown Sugar with Pistachio Pudding and Crisp Cantaloupe, then on the right Coastal Cabana with Crisp Cantaloupe and Strawberry Slush.

On two of the cards I also used the matching Wildflower Meadow Embossing Folder, but I did not use it on the Strawberry Slush card on the right.  I just love that name. It makes me think of a long cold summer drink with lots of crushed ice.

If you look closely at the photo above you can make out the embossed parts (not the humming bird). The card stock was cut out using the Floral Frames Collection dies. I used the three largest and ended up having to put them on a larger card than normal (5-1/2" square). The trick is to cut the shape first and then emboss the image. That way you avoid squashing the image when you run it through the Big Shot.

The image was embossed on this card too but I simply mounted it onto a piece of Whisper White before putting it on the base card using Dimensionals. I added some Pool Party Seam Binding Ribbon and some Basic Pearls for good measure. The greeting comes from the Happy Day stamp set.

On this third card I had to figure out where to cut the image so that when mounted onto Whisper White card stock it fitted onto the Crisp Cantaloupe mat with even spacing all around. I have to say that this was the most difficult card but only in terms of the mathematics not the stamping. I added some Basic Rhinestones to these flowers rather than the Pearls. It's a simpler card and I wanted to add just a little bit of bling. In case you are wondering this is known as a triptych card (three panels).

Tomorrow I am off to Woodley for the Charity Craft Fair in aid of the MS Society. Please pop along if you get a chance.  I'll be back on Sunday with another post for you.

Seeing double

I guess that since it's the beginning of the month that I should get on with a challenge.

Being away at the moment I am making do with the supplies I have brought with me, along with others I left behind from the last trip. The plan is to try and have a craft room away from home but my purse strings are really not going to stretch that far, so some things are make do.

I found a challenge on the CAS- Colours and Sketches blog that fitted my supplies. This time, it is a colour challenge.

Challenge #32 - Colour

 

I chose this as I do have all these colours with me - some only as Stampin' Write Markers but they do just as good a job as the ink pads.

I used the Happy Day stamp set and stamped the medallion in the three colours before punching them out using my 1-3/8" Circle Punch. The centre medallion is popped up on dimensionals. To finish off I added some Basic Rhinestones.

As I was stamping my entry for the challenge, I couldn't help but wonder how the same card would look if I stamped using some of the new In Colors.  So here is the same card but this time stamped using Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe and Coastal Cabana. The colours are a little more muted than the first combination, but I do like the effect. This card I finished off with some Basic Pearls as I thought that they suited the colours better. In case you are wondering the center medallion is not popped up on dimesionals but the whole of the Pistachio Pudding strip is.

Here are both cards side by side - the card for the challenge is the one on the left.

I am heading home tomorrow (Thursday) and because it's an overnight flight I should be home late Friday morning.  I have a post scheduled for Friday morning so hopefully that will post at the appropriate time. Don't forget to check back on Friday but in the meantime, please feel free to leave a comment.

A Bit of A Surprise

I hope you all had a great time hopping around the Stampin' Stars Blog Hop. If you haven't had a chance to take a look, scroll down to the next post and take a peek at some of the projects we made.

If you visited yesterday you may have noticed the changes I made to my side-bars.

To the left there is the link to the new Annual Catalogue. I am pretty sure that you would have noticed that!

To the right there is a new link that you may not have noticed. Yesterday, Stampin' Up! announced a special promotion for July - 25% OFF Selected Greeting Stamp Sets. I didn't want to detract from yesterday's blog hop which is why I didn't announce it on the blog. But, here are the details.

There is something for everyone, so let me know if you are interested in purchasing any of these great greeting sets. Who can't resist them at 25% OFF?

To those of you who have a copy of the Annual Catalogue - have you noticed the back cover? Yep, I guess it's no longer a secret (especially if you made it around to Victoria's blog) but My Digital Studio (MDS) is on it's way.

One of the perks of being a demo is that we get to play first. I downloaded the FREE 30 day Trial before I headed here to the USA, and have been playing with it over the last few days. I have to admit that I was a bit sceptical about it (call me old fashioned) but I have been having so much fun that I downloaded the full version last night. I don't know when it will be available for download to non demos but I will get you know the minute it is. Once the on-line shopping is up and running you will have the option to purchase the downloads directly through my on-line store or by placing an order in the normal way. I will be posting some of my projects in the near future, I just need to fine tune them a bit more before I do.

In the meantime, here's a little something that I made yesterday.

 

I de-constructed one of the Stampin' Up! Kraft Boxes so that I could cut the window using the Labels Framelits Dies. Inside is four candles - each has a paper topper, made from the same Designer Series Paper as the belly band that goes around the box. I will have to remind the recipients of this gift box to remove the toppers before they light the candles.

 

Here's the box from the top. The Strawberry Slush flower was made by cutting the card stock using the Floral Frames Collection dies and then cutting into the centre of each flower and curling the petal up using the bone folder. I then used a sponge and some Strawberry Slush ink to highlight the petals.

Stampin' Up! supplies used:

Stamp set : Mosaic Madness and Itty Bitty Banners
Card stock : Whisper White and Strawberry Sluch
Designer Series Paper : Quatrefancy Specialty (including the window sheet)
Accessories : Labels, Bitty Banners and Floral Frames Framelit dies, Kraft Gift Box, Tea Lace Paper Doily, Sponge, Basic Rhinestone and Dimensionals

I hope you like the project and I promise to update with more information about MDS as soon as I am able.