Not ready for Winter

I can't quite get my head around the fact that it is December and that there are still some leaves on the trees by our house.

Although I was pretty busy preparing for the Christmas Party the other weekend,  I took sometime out to make a couple of different samples for the Make and Take. Even though it was a Christmas Party I decided to go the non Christmas route as I was sure that people were probably getting a little tired of making Christmas cards.

Everyone got to make one of these. Their choice of course.

I used Crumb Cake note cards (they come with envelopes) for the base cards. It meant that I had one less thing to cut in my prep.

When it came to people making the card at the party it was quite funny as there was one person who wasn't that comfortable ripping her Very Vanilla card stock. But she did, although I'm not sure that she would do it again.

Stampin' Up! supplies used to make these cards are :

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

If you are wondering how I coloured the wooden acorn, I simply pressed it into the Crushed Curry ink pad and then into the Blackberry Bliss ink pad.

It's November!!!

My last few posts have been very non-Christmas (although you could make a Christmas version of the box) so today I thought I'd share some of the stars from the Many Merry Stars Simply Created Kit. This kit features in the Autumn/Winter Supplement and is on a while supplies last basis.

I have one of the kits and so far have made a few of the stars but I'm planning on playing around with a few more to see about making them into boxes that can be opened and closed.

The three smallest stars now hanging on the tree in my craft room

2nd smallest - I love the wooden embellishments

The smallest box

This is the largest box and you get one of these

To give it some perspective this is it hanging on the wall in my craft room

The simply created kit contains everything you need to make the star boxes, as the tabs on the side pieces come with double sided tape on them.

It also comes with all the embellishments needed - baker's twine, stars, wooden elements and greetings. It does not however come with ribbon, and I've used some Cherry Cobbler Sheer Linen Ribbon to hang my boxes.

Have you noticed the little square boxes also hanging on the tree? The lovely Carol helped me make these using the Gift Box Punch Board and pieces of 6"x6" of card stock.  There are some little treats hiding inside the boxes. The boxes were pretty quick and easy to put together and are finished off with some Designer Series Paper from the Trim the Tree Designer Series Paper Stack and greetings from the That's the Ticket stamp set.

I'm currently putting together my last classes of the year and I have a sneaking suspicion that a star and a box might just be part of them.

Autumn/Winter Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stampin' Stars Blog Hop, where we will be featuring projects made using products from the Stampin' Up! 2014 Autumn/Winter Catalogue.

If you have hopped here from Sarah's blog, or even hopped back from Tracy's blog then welcome. Welcome too if this is your starting point.

There are 25 (now 24) blogs for you to hop around (including mine) so I would suggest you make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, or even pour a glass of wine, depending on the time of day of course, and make yourself comfortable. Please note that once you get to Kim's blog you will have to copy and paste the URL for Lynn's blog as Kim can't put in the link (isn't technology wonderful), sorry.

Today, I thought I would share with you a couple of projects that I have made using the Bright & Beautiful Stamp set with co-ordinating Star framelits. I love framelits and life is so simple now that we have the Magnetic Plate for the Big Shot.

I picked up some metal wreath formers from a florists wholesaler ages ago, and I thought I would use one of them for my first project.

I used the All is Calm Designer Washi Tape to cover the extra large wooden pegs (from a well known auction site). This meant that I had all the pegs covered and ready to go in less than 1.5 hours, so this is a quick and easy project to make. I also used one of the Washi Tapes to wrap the outer layer of the metal wreath as I quickly realised that you would be able to see it between the pegs.

The stars were stamped in a variety of colours, namely Pear Pizzazz, Lost Lagoon and Smoky Slate.  The top-most star was mounted onto a Brushed Silver star and an Island Indigo greeting was cut using one of the greetings from the Wonderful Wreath Framelits Dies.

The other stars were topped with a Silver Glimmer Paper star and then an Island Indigo Candy Dot from a pack of Regals Candy Dots. I used Island Indigo Chevron Ribbon to hang the wreath as this gives a lovely contrast and ties in the candy dots and greeting.

My second project is a card that I have made using the same stamp set (Bright & Beautiful) and framelit dies (Stars Collection).

I have kept to the pretty much the same colours, Lost Lagoon, Pear Pizzazz but used Soft Sky instead of Smoky Slate. I added some silver by way of the Silver Foil star that the smallest (in Soft Sky) is sitting on. All topped off with a Basic Rhinestone of course - it's a Christmas Card and a little bit of sparkle is a must.

Here's the card face on and you can see that I attached the greeting to the card using some Lost Lagoon Silky Taffeta Ribbon.

Well, that's about it from me for today and I guess it's time to let you go check out the rest of the blog hop.  If you would like to hop forward to Tracy's fabulous blog please click on the forward button but if you would like to go back and check out Sarah's blog and lovely ideas please click on the back button.

Happy Hopping and have a great weekend.

If you get lost you can check back here, as I have a complete list of all those taking part.

Tracy  - http://clactoncrazycrafters.wordpress.com

Pip  – http://www.queenpipcards.com

Eimear - http://stampincolour.com

Emma  - http://coastalcrafter.com

Caroline  – http://www.craftwithcaro.com

Kim  - http://kimfeecrafter.blogspot.co.uk

Lynn – http://www.heavenlycrafts.com

Cary  – http://2biggirlscrafting.blogspot.co.uk

Cat  – http://wiggle-craft.blogspot.co.uk

Nic   - http://thestickyelf.co.uk

Diane  - http://www.craftyducks.co.uk

Christine  – http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/diamondstamping/blog

Di – http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/kingdomcards/blog

Jamie  - http://paper-crafting-mad.blogspot.co.uk

Sara  – http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/craftylittleminx/blog

Natalie - http://www.natalieoshea.co.uk/blog

Louise -  http://stampindelight.co.uk

Katie - http://deepbluecrafting.co.uk

Cayleigh  - http://cayleighscards.com

Nikki  - http://frankieeatsworms.blogspot.co.uk

Sue  – http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/suebridge/blog

Cathryn  - http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/cathrynscraftcellar/blog

Sarah  - http://www.papercraftartistry.blogspot.co.uk

Fiona  – http://oakfieldcrafts.blogspot.co.uk     YOU ARE HERE

Wonderous Wreath - Card and Box

It's been a busy week so far, how about you?

After a bit of a break, my monthly classes start again on Friday evening. We will be using some of the goodies from the new(ish) Annual Catalogue. I'm still working on a couple of projects for the weekend and I don't want to spoil the surprise for those coming so I will share them with you another time.

I've also been playing with some of my new goodies from the Autumn/Winter Catalogue in preparation for Saturday's Blog Hop.  Obviously I'm going to save that project for Saturday but here's another that I have been working on.

I've also taken time to set up the photo cube/booth in my craft room on my son's desk. He's now in college in Chicago so I have use of the desk for the time being.  I suspect that I am going to have to move the lights about a bit more because there are more shadows than I wanted.

These projects were made using the Wonderous Wreath Bundle (Photopolymer stamp set and matching framelits)

A side view so that you can also see the greeting stamped on the inside of the card. The wreath is adhered to the card front with Dimensionals to give it some extra depth.

The box is one of the Tag a Bag Gift Boxes and I've decorated it with a cut down Polka Dot Tag a Bag Gift Bag and some paper from the Trim the Tree Designer Series Paper Stack. If you are wondering how I manged to cut the hole in the gift bag, I simply adhered the wreath first and then cut away the middle.

I love this Bundle and can think of tons of projects that I want to make. I just need the time to be able to do so.

Here's the details of the items used for the two projects:

Wondrous Wreath Photopolymer Stamp Set

£22.95

Old Olive A4 Card Stock

£6.25

Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock

£6.25

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

£7.50

Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad

£4.95

Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad

£4.95

Trim The Tree Designer Series Paper Stack

£6.25

Tag A Bag Gift Boxes

£6.25

Polka Dot Tag A Bag Gift Bags

£3.75

Stampin' Dimensionals

£3.25

Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive

£3.25

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

I sent out an email last night to everyone who have said that they are interested in attending classes.  The email details the classes for the rest of the year and by popular demand I have changed the two regular monthly classes in October to mini Christmas Stamp-a-Stacks. If you are interested in coming along please let me know as space will be limited to 12 people.

A Couple More things to share

The Autumn/Winter Catalogue 2014 has now gone live. You can click on the picture in the left-hand side bar and be taken to an electronic version of it.

I will be mailing out actual copies of the catalogue next week. If you are not sure if you are on my mailing list please email me your details and I will make sure that one is sent to you FREE of charge.

Being away from home means that I still haven't been able to get my hands on the large boxes of goodies that the very kind Mr Brown (our UPS delivery man) has left for me. A few friends have offered to look after all the new stuff for me but I have politely declined their kind offers. Despite this, I have however been able to get my hands on the Bright and Beautiful Stamp Set (Page 25 of the Autumn/Winter Catalogue) as part of the Special Framelits and Stamp Set bundles Offer that has been going on this month. There are matching Star Framelits (Page 231 of the Annual Catalogue) and during August you are able to purchase both of these items as a Bundle and save 15%. Alternatively, if you purchase the Big Shot this month you are able to choose one of the Special Bundles for FREE. Full details of the offer are on my News and Offers Page.

Today's card was made using just the stamp set and I will share another (made using the matching framelits) with you tomorrow.

Apologies for the poor photography, one of the things that I plan to do when I get back to the UK is set up an area where I can take better photos.

I stamped the stars in three colours - Lost Lagoon, Coastal Cabana and Pool Party. The Basic Rhinestones were coloured using the darker of the Coastal Cabana Blendabilities.

Last but not least I want to tell you about a fantastic offer that starts today and runs until 31 October. The Good Greetings Stamp set is absolutely FREE when your party or personal order reaches £200. This brand new stamp set is in addition to all the other hostess benefits you would receive.

Not sure what the stamp set looks like? Check out the flyer below.

Weekly Deals

I've not updated you for awhile, but the Weekly Deals are still running and this week's specials are

You can click on the photo to go to the Weekly Deal page or use the link in the left-hand margin to go to my Online Store. New deals are available each Wednesday so don't miss out as they only run to the end of the following Tuesday.

If you are hankering to make a start on those Christmas Cards then check out the Clearance Rack for some items.

The Autumn/Winter Catalogue goes live on 28 August, so not long now but there are still some items on the Carry Over List. Details of what's in the list are on my News & Offers page. These items will only be available until 27 August.

I will be sending out the Autumn/Winter catalogue the first week of September so if you are on my mailing list you should receive your copy by the end of that week.