sale-a-bration is here!

Christmas has flown past...  A belated Merry Christmas to you!  I can't believe it's almost 2010.  The whole year seems to have passed so quickly.

A new Stampin' Up! promotion kicks off today and runs until the end of February 2010.  Click here to view the sale-a-bration brochure online via the Stampin' Up! website.  Alternatively, please contact me if you would like a copy of the brochure.  There are four stamp sets to choose from and you can earn them completely free!

There are three ways to earn free stamp sets during sale-a-bration:-

1. Spend

Spend £45 (before shipping and handling) and earn one free sale-a-bration stamp set of your choice.  Spend £90 and earn two...  etc.  There is no limit.

2. Host

Host a workshop of at least £300 (net sales before shipping and handling) and earn one free sale-a-bration stamp set in addition to the existing hostess benefits.  This is an ideal time to host a workshop if you were thinking of doing so anyway!

3. Join

Join Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator during sale-a-bration and choose a free stamp set of your choice (excluding hostess sets) from the Idea Book & Catalogue (up to a maximum of £38.95 in value).  Please contact me if you would like more information about becoming a demonstrator and/or if you have any queries about what it involves... you don't need a massive customer base (or, in fact, any customers at all - you can buy for yourself and get a discount on your products).

late...

This is an anniversary card which was made - and delivered - rather late... not ideal, as it was for Ian!  I told him it was better late than never!

I've used the new Love You Much stamp set for the card itself, although the 'happy anniversary' sentiment is from the Cheers & Wishes stamp set.  The base cardstock is Chocolate Chip and the sentiment is stamped with the same colour of ink, so it doesn't show up terribly well in the photo.  There's also a large heart (top left) stamped with Chocolate Chip ink which isn't terribly visible at all.  I really like the Love You Much set... I've been playing with it quite a bit and you can do so much with it.

new blog design!

I'm so glad that my old blog banner etc have exited stage left!  I'm still working on the layout of the new blog, but all of the new bits and pieces have been designed by Veronica McCollum of V K Design Company.  Veronica will use your ideas (if you have any) or give you a push in the right direction (if devoid of ideas!)... she's great to work with and I love the little multi-coloured cow which she has created for me.

As far as I can gather, it seems to be snowing just about everywhere in the UK except my neck of the woods!  It's cold here today, but no sign of snow... albeit it's a nice, bright day (the sky is really white... so perhaps we'll get some snow later?) and that means I've been able to take some decent photos or some of the things I've been making recently.  The Christmas card shown above is the one I've made for Ian this year and I made a similar one for his parents.  I've used the Sparkly and Bright stamp set for the sentiment and the background.  The two tree stamps are part of an American set, though, and are not available in the UK.

freebie!

This is a sneak preview of a card made using two of the stamps from a stamp set which you will be able to earn for free for a limited period commencing on 30th December!   Contact me by email (by clicking here) for more information.  

I've also used the star punch and "To The Nines" designer patterned papers.  It's masculine card for one of my cousins.  Cards for men are often really difficult to make, I think, although I found these papers to be ideal.  I don't like to use ribbon on male cards, so I've used the stars to make it a bit more interesting (and, for the same reason, some of them are overhanging the edges of the card... albeit it still fits in a standard size Stampin' Up! envelope).

Again, apologies for the poor lighting.  It was a case of poor photo or no photo.  Once again, the card had to make a sharp exit before daylight!

alive

Well... once again, I find myself having to confirm that I am alive!  I am pleased to say that I am, indeed, alive.  I don't know how time manages to disappear so quickly.  We were on holiday (we didn't venture terribly far afield... the north east of Scotland!) for a week mid-November and ever since then I seem to have been chasing my tail.  I can't believe it's almost Christmas.

I've got a few cards and other bits and pieces to post, the first of which is shown above... a "new home" card for a friend using the Neighbourhood wheel as the focal image.  Apologies for the shadows/poor lighting; I had to give the card away almost as soon as I'd made it and it gets dark so early nowadays. 

There's a brilliant new Stampin' Up! promotion starting soon.  It kicks off on 30th December.  Please email me if you'd like more information.  Existing customers: leaflets have been posted to you and should be with you soon if you have not already received them.  Details will also be posted on this blog shortly.

Lastly... I'm having my blog re-designed.  Hopefully it'll "go live" soon!

sage and eggplant

Two colours I don't use very often... Sage Shadow and Elegant Eggplant.  I thought I'd combine them in this card.  My starting point was actually a piece of the new Nouveau Chic patterned paper.  Sage Shadow is one of the colours featured heavily in those papers, which made me decide to use it along with the patterned paper...  and I think it looks great with the deep purple shade. 

Oh... and there's the medallion stamp again!  I've used a small amount of Old Olive ink in the centre of the medallion to give it a slight "two tone" effect.

holiday extravaganza promotion!

November already!  Time flies.  Some good news to kick off this new month...

From 1st November to 29th December inclusive, Stampin' Up! is offering a free small tag punch or tag punch (items 6 and 7 on page 88 of the current catalogue) worth £12.50 for each £45 you spend on specific items.  Spend £90 and qualify for both free punches!  There is no "catch"; the only requirement is that you select your products from the items shown on the leaflet above; click on the image to enlarge it or click here to visit the Stampin' Up! web-site for more information.  Other items are excluded from the promotion.

There are some brilliant items included in the promotion, including the new Circle Circus stamp set at £23.95 (useful for both card-making and scrapbooking) and the new On Board art journal books (perfect for making mini scrapbooks or for creating journal books to use as gifts).  There are some staple card-making items too, like Whisper White, Real Red and Old Olive A4 cardstock, Old Olive and Real Red 5/8" grosgrain ribbons (£6.25 each) and Bold Brights Stampin' Write marker pens (£24.95 for a set of 12)... so... if you've been thinking of buying any of these products, now is the time to do so!

I'll be posting some samples made with some of the items on the leaflet and both of the tag punches.  Meantime, please contact me (by clicking here) to place your order!  Likewise, please get in touch if you have any questions.  Thanks!

joy

Joy?  This medallion stamp brings me joy... I'm obsessed with it!  It's so versatile... I've been using it for scrapbook page backgrounds too.  

I thought I'd have a go at making some Christmas cards with it and this is the first of the batch.  The "joy" stamp is from the Perfect Presents stamp set.  There's a thick stripe of Dazzling Diamonds glitter along the left hand side of the Merry Moments patterned paper... again, I've used the new glue pen. 

If you'd like to purchase the medallion stamp, please contact me by clicking here. 

Thanks for looking!

stuff for sale

I have a few old Stampin' Up! stamp sets for sale.  You can view them on the side bar of my other blog by clicking here.  Thanks!

joy

This is the last of the batch of Christmas cards made last week using the Season of Joy stamp set and So Swirly background stamp.  To be honest, I'm not so keen on this one....  I think it is the red ink sponged around the focal stamped piece which doesn't do it for me!  I do sponge and distress everything to death, but I don't like the effect with red ink (well, not on this card, at least).

I do like the strip of Dazzling Diamonds glitter along the top of the scallop edged border, though - I used the new chisel tip glue pen to draw a line of glue and sprinkled the glitter over it.

cocoa christmas

Another Christmas card made at the same time as the other batch last week.  Again, I've used the Season of Joy stamp set and the So Swirly wheel.  The base layer was made from Close to Cocoa cardstock and the card itself was made from Naturals Ivory cardstock (my favourite!).

I've stamped the poinsettia stamp in Old Olive and cut out some extra petals to use as leaves.  The tree was coloured with markers and stamped; you can see the use of the two shades of green markers (Old Olive and Garden Green) much better in this photo. 

double layer tree

Another easy Christmas card using the Season of Joy stamp set.  I've coloured the tree with markers twice (two shades of green for the tree itself - Old Olive and Garden Green)... one tree was cut with paper snips and layered on top of the other.  I've layered the second tree slightly lower than the first tree using Dimensionals and I've covered it in Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  The Real Red base card was stamped using the So Swirly wheel stamp with versamark ink to give a scroll effect watermark... love those wheels... so quick and easy!

I've used Close to Cocoa card to mount the sentiment and the tree (both of which were stamped on Whisper White).  The patterned paper is from the Merry Moments set.

Have a good weekend!

tree trimmings

I love this new Tree Trimmings stamp set!  I finally managed to mount the stamps and use it a few days ago.  For this card, I've cut out the baubles and mounted them using Dimensionals foam pads.  The swirl on the base card was stamped with Chocolate Chip ink using the swirl stamp from the Season of Joy stamp set.  I also love the new Old Olive stripe ribbon... so glad we've got it in our new catalogue; I've been using it on quite a few of my Christmas cards.

silent night

At last... I've made a start on my Christmas cards!  I've used the Silent Night stamp set for this one.  The image was watercoloured with Earth Elements watercolour wonder crayons and I've used Dazzling Diamonds glitter (applied with the glue pen) for snow.

The base card was made using Old Olive cardstock and I've sponged Chocolate Chip ink around the edges.  The strip of patterned paper is from the Merry Moments pack.  I'm really pleased with this card... I'm definitely going to make a few more the same!

daylight and sunshine!

At last... seem decent daylight (with sunshine - as opposed to grey cloud) to take a photo of this card!   The card was really easy to make, but I quite like the effect.  I've used the new Retro Remix wheel with a Close to Cocoa ink cartridge on the whole of the base card... a cheap and easy way to make your own background paper.  I've sponged around the edge of the card using the same colour of ink.  I'd sponge everything given half the chance, so sometimes I need to restrain myself!

I've used the new 1 3/4" large circle punch (ideal for layering with the other circle punches), new word window punch and the 1" circle punch... also the Hello Again stamp set (for the flower)... such a cute and useful little stamp set for £9.95.  The sentiment is from the Trendy Trees stamp set. I've also used the new mat pack and paper piercing tool to make holes around the edge of the Close to Cocoa layer... easy and effective.

Lovely and sunny today... it was nice yesterday too, but I think it's to rain tomorrow, which is a shame.

Secondly, another quick photo of a card I made a couple of weeks ago... the photo was taken at night, unfortunately, so the rotten light and use of flash has bleached the image a bit.  I've used the new Circle Circus stamp set and the Good Friend stamp set for the sentiment... again - quick and easy!  Still guilty of over-use of those Earth Elements colours, I'm afraid... I'm using them for everything at the moment. I'll try to use something different in my next post (but not guarantees!).

Have a great weekend.

autumn...

Another autumnal card... and another birthday card (well, two, in fact - I made two the same, one for each of my aunts!  They're coming to visit tonight, so it was a bit of a "Last Minute Larry" job on my part... just made it in the nick of time).  I love autumn, so it's a great excuse to use Earth Elements cardstock and inks for just about everything at the moment.

This card is fairly basic to make.  The only remotely time-consuming thing was cutting out the frame.  (Yes, I DID deliberately cut off the little twirly bits at the top and bottom of the bracket - I wanted a cleaner looking bracket frame for this card!).  I've sponged Chocolate Chip ink around each of the layers.

No rain here today... a proper autumn day.  Cold, but not too cold... and lots of leaves on the ground - brilliant!

Products used:-

- stamps: Autumn Days; Frames with Flourish; A Bit of Birthday Cheer

- cardstock: Whisper White; Ruby Red textured; More Mustard

- inks: Chocolate Chip; More Mustard; Really Rust

- other: Pumpkin Pie stripe ribbon (love this!); antique brass large brad; stampin-ma-jig (to line up the birthday sentiment in the frame)

thanks so much

I had to try out my new medallion stamp and eyelet border punch straight away... so used them both (and the new Pumpkin Pie striped ribbon and word window punch) on the same card!  Again, Earth Elements colours for the main image layers.  I've stamped on Naturals Ivory cardstock (which is a really rustic cardstock - nice and thick and a totally different effect from the much smoother Whisper White/Very Vanilla cardstocks which are designed for clean stamping).  Colours soak or "bleed" into Naturals Ivory cardstock, which gives a nice effect and is useful for watercolouring.  

The base cardstock is SU Real Red and is approximately 4" x 4.5".  I've inked the medallion with Ruby Red and Pumpkin Pie (and was going to use Ruby Red as my base cardstock, but just fancied the brighter Real Red; Ruby Red would have co-ordinated better, but Real Red is a bit brighter and livens up the card!).  The Close to Cocoa strip was cut from a sheet of 12" x 12" textured cardstock.

Can't get enough of the medallion stamp...

good friend

A really quick and easy card made using some of the circle stamps from Circle Circus and the "good friend" sentiment from the stamp set of the same name.  Again, I've used more-or-less Earth Elements colours... I can't see past those colours at the moment (it's the "autumn feeling"!). The base card was made using So Saffron SU cardstock.

major excitement...

A new box of SU goodies!  My UPS man came late at 3.30pm... it was very much a case of "watched kettle doesn't boil"/"watched doorbell doesn't ring"... I was starting to hyperventilate!  Then, when he did eventually materialise, I almost didn't answer the door... I couldn't see his van through the glass (it turned out he had parked it at a distance) and assumed it was another junk caller trying to sell me monoblock cleaning or tree cutting services that I don't want (but, if I did, I wouldn't buy it from a bloke who randomly turned up at my door anyway... funnily enough).

Can't wait to play with my new things!  I've got the medallion stamp... excitement!  And... the new border eyelet punch!  Now I just need to find some free time to play with everything... that's the hardest part. 

cupcakes

I've been busy cutting out cupcakes... 12 large ones and four small ones!  One or two doesn't take too long, but 16 takes a fair while.  I've made four of these cards, you see... three for birthdays and one to keep as a sample.  I'm really pleased with the colour scheme... I've used Earth Elements, which wouldn't be the most obvious colour scheme to use with cupcakes... but I was thinking "autumn" and thought I'd give it a try.  I used the Stampin-ma-jig to line up the "happy birthday to you" sentiment to make a circle... the idea came to me in a flash of inspiration and it worked!

Gone are the days when I used to make one of each card. I've been making cards for 20+ years and I never, EVER used to make more than one of the same card... but for the last few months I've been making multiples of most cards - it saves time and time is something most of us don't have much of (or, at least, much to spare!).

Products used:-

- cardstock: Close to Cocoa textured cardstock; Whisper White

- stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes (page 32 of the catalogue)

- ink: Black Stazon; Close to Cocoa

- Patterned paper: Spiced Cider

- punches: scallop circle; scallop border; 1 3/8" and 1" circles

- ribbon: Chocolate Chip tafetta

- other: Stampin-ma-jig; white gel pen; glue pen; Tombow mono multi glue; Dazzling Diamonds glitter; Earth Elements watercolour wonder crayons

new catalogue

At last we have a brand new Stampin' Up! annual catalogue!  It was launched on 1st October (whilst I was on holiday - good timing on my part!) and it contains some great new things... I'm really glad that we have the Flight of the Butterfly stamp set and matching butterfly punch, as well as 12" x 12" packs of kraft cardstock, the eyelet border punch and the word window punch.  Click here to view the catalogue on the Stampin' Up! website.  Please drop me an email if you would like more information.  I have purchased catalogues for all existing customers... your free copy of the new catalogue will be with you shortly, if it is not already.  Otherwise, please contact me if you would like to purchase a catalogue at the reduced price of £4 inclusive of postage.

changes...

I've been on holiday for the last week in a place called Gardenstown on the Aberdeenshire coast.  I've posted about it here... I now have two blogs!  My other blog, Carpe Diem, will become the repository for my ramblings, scrapbooking photos, general photos and other random stuff.  This blog will become my Stampin' Up! blog from today onwards, so this will be my last "non-Stampin' Up!" post.  I've moved my lovely cow banner to my other blog (which is now the Carpe Diem blog).  All a bit confusing for now, I know, but it will make things easier in future and I've been meaning to get this sorted for a long time... but just haven't had time.

still here

Yes, I'm still here...! Nothing much to report, aside from running around non-stop after a baby and a dog. I've managed to find some time to do a few scrapbook pages, though, including this one. My tactic is to stay up very late at night and get no sleep, but that way I find time to craft! (OK... I didn't say it was sensible). I've used a lime green Maya Road mist with a mask made from an old scrap of scalloped square cardstock found in the midden-ous pile on my desk; I love these mists and I find I'm using them a lot at the moment. The new colours have a bit of shimmer in them - just the right amount and not as much as the Tattered Angel glimmer mists (which I don't like quite so much). The photo of my page isn't the best, I'm afraid, primarily because the lighting at 2am isn't particularly good!

I also seem to be making (and eating) a lot of cherry scones. Why? I don't know. All I know is that I make the scones and then they disappear. Marley quite likes them, as does Ian. I've scoffed a fair few myself.

The other thing I seem to be doing a lot of is washing/laundry; whatever you want to call it, it's the same - time-consuming and there seems to be lots of it. What really gets my goat is finding a pair of socks (or two or three) on the floor once I've got the stuff in the machine and the machine is running. Do men ever pick up socks? I need a better sock radar.

Erin is being a good wee soul. Lots of fun and she's smiling and laughing all the time. Yesterday morning she tried to sit up on her own, which is amazing (to me, at least - I wasn't expecting that quite so soon) and she tried twice more last night and once again this morning... a determined and persistent wee girl!

Marley's birthday book

No sunshine today thus far, but no rain either... so I'm fine with that. It feels like a nice autumnal day. Autumn is by miles my favourite season, but preferably not with torrential rain and gale force winds that we've had over the past few weeks! This is another of the mini books I managed to complete over the course of the "summer". It contains a bunch of photos I took to celebrate Marley's first birthday. I've used black, white and silver, lots of white gel pen and little circular distressed embellishments made from punched circles. The back cover is stamped on the right hand side (see below) with one of the stamps from the Stampin' Up! Fresh Cuts stamp set. I think the chipboard album was a Cosmo Cricket one, but can't quite recall as I'd had it lying in a cupboard for ages crying out to be used!

I've been up since 5am this morning (not with Erin... she slept until much, much later!) as I've got a billion things to do... so I'm off to do them! If I'm lucky, I might manage to find time to do something creative later (ok... much later)!

ice cream and cherries

Well... some sunshine at last! It was sunny yesterday and it's the same again today. After all the rain, it seems incredible that we've had a few days of sunshine in a row. The weather encouraged me to make this ice cream card for a friend. The stamps are by Unity Stamp Co and the cardstock is SU. The ribbon and patterned paper were bits and pieces from boxes on my desk, so I'm not sure about the manufacturers.

I was very bad yesterday when I went shopping, as I bought more baby clothes... there are such nice clothes for babies and I didn't realise H&M sold baby clothes - a friend told me they had some nice things and it's not a shop that I've ever shopped in, really. They had a whole range of Hello Kitty and Bambi things and I had to buy a few, notwithstanding the fact that the last thing Erin needs is more clothes. My tactic now is to buy bigger sizes with a view to justifying purchases and saving money in future.... Seems logical to me!

mini books

Aside from thank you cards in spades, I've been working on quite a few mini books over the last few months.

This one uses a template from the Cocoa Daisy web-site (created by the talented scrapper who owns this blog; a link to the template is here). It's a book covering the months of June, July and August and, in retrospect, the "warm days of summer" front cover was probably tempting fate (or, perhaps, just being rather too optimistic for the west coast of Scotland). I haven't quite finished it, but the front cover is shown above and the inside front cover is shown below. I managed to bind it today using my bind-it-all (which always takes me forever - I seem to have a mental block with it).

... another (easy) thank you card

Another easy card. I've used stamps from Unity Stamp Co for this one (and, once again, Stampin' Up! oval punches).   The cardstock is SU Regal Rose and Whisper White and the patterned paper is also by SU.

Bizarrely, it hasn't been raining for two days out of the last four.... that's the first two days in about six weeks that we've had no rain. Everywhere is like a swamp and Shrek has taken up residence at the bottom of my garden.

thank you cards

Some fairly quick and easy thank you cards I've been making over the last few months... I've made loads of each (and I don't usually make more than one of the same card)! I've been using them for baby gifts and a number of other things and I made the first batch of 20 or so for a card swap I was involved in back in June.

I've use the Stampin' Up! oval and scallop oval punches on both cards (and there's Dazzling Diamonds glitter around the scalloped sections). I've also used the Oval All stamp set and I've used the Paisley background stamp for the Regal Rose card and the Pocket Silhouette stamp set for the Real Red card.

Alive!

Alive! Yes, I'm still alive (notwithstanding three days of labour... they call it "labour" for a reason). Baby Erin is now part of my world and she's two months old. Time has flown and everything - including this blog - ground to a halt for a while, but I'm back in the land of the living once again (well... sort of). Erin is brilliant... I don't remember what life was like without her and I feel very privileged indeed to have her. She is truly a little miracle. I think she thinks I'm her personal stalker, as the first thing she sees in the morning is my face peering at her and it's the same last thing at night! She hasn't learned how to use a rubber stamp yet, but it won't be long.

Owl

An owl birthday card made for a friend using some of the new Hero Arts stamps and Nestabilities "Labels 1" dies.

The rain seems to have stopped this evening... we'll see how long it lasts! I'm still hoping we'll get a proper summer this year and that the sunshine we had earlier in the month will return in May. Fingers crossed.

In the time taken to upload this photo, Marley has destroyed two of Ian's socks...

Fresh Cuts

A birthday card made for my mum. Happy birthday!

Products:-

- stamps: Fresh Cuts; Oval All

- cardstock: Whisper White; Certainly Celery

- ink: Lavender Lace; Almost Amethyst; Certainly Celery

- punches: Oval and Scallop Oval

- other: Pretty in Pink tafetta ribbon; Stickles Stardust glitter glue

Also... some random photos of Marley enjoying himself whilst out on a walk with Ian during the spell of good weather last week... he (i.e. Marley - not Ian!) loves to paddle in the river.

Thanks... and 3rd Birthday

Firstly, a batch of very quick and simple thank you cards I made a few weeks ago using the new Stampin' Up! Forest Friends stamp set, Sweet Always designer paper, white taffeta ribbon, the scallop circle and circle punches and Close to Cocoa and Pumpkin Pie cardstock....

Secondly, a birthday card made for a friend's three year old son. I've used Copic markers to colour the stamped image, which I can't usually be bothered to do (as it takes too long and I'm too lazy!).

Happy Easter!

Some easy Easter cards... I made a bundle.

All products are by Stampin' Up!, except the green dotted notecards (Amuse ArtStamps), which I think I bought ages ago in America...... I found them at the back of a cupboard and thought I should use them before they rotted away! I've used the Never Ending Joy and Occasional Greetings stamp sets with Soft Subtles ink pads, markers and cardstock. There's some Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the tulips.

Happy Easter! Looks like we'll get some sunshine this weekend.