Stampin Creative Blog Hop...

Hello.... I hope you are enjoying your hop around our little crafty world where we are focusing this month on all things Valentines. This is the first hop for the Stampin Creative and we will be with you on the last Saturday of each month.

 You will have joined me from the lovely  Pip. 

This is a picture heavy post for me but be sure to pop back next week for a closer look at the projects individually and a tutorial on creating the heart box using framelits.

My little group of creativeness which I am sure you will agree can be used all year round.

A simple but elegant card...

A heart shaped box which is big enough to hold quite a large gift!

Chocolates or jewellery - I'm sure we would all love to receive a gift packaged up like this.

and finally sweets for your sweet..... A simple topper to add to these hot little gems. 

Now it's time for you to hop on over to Emma and see how busy she has been.

Thank you for joining us on our first hop and I hope you will leave a little comment before you go and don't forget to pop back next month and see what else we have been up too

Celebrate Baby...

Hello..... 

There is always something so special about a new baby card. Of all the cards I make I think I enjoy these the most. 

This is another of the cards I had on display at team training last Sunday.

I used the ever versatile Hardwood for the background. Stamped in Crumb Cake it gives a soft background for the main image. I used the balloon from Stampin' UP!'s Celebrate Today stamp set. 

Here is a close up of the balloon and the linen thread bow and string I popped on. It's always nice to give cards texture and with this one it needed movement too as the balloon is supposed to be flying high to celebrate the new arrival.

Here you can see that I have left the string free between the balloon and the button to give some movement to the card.

Right I am off to enjoy my first cuppa  of the year at the fabulous Lady B's Cupcakery. I always find inspiration in there so pop back to see what I am inspired to create next.

Hugs

Celebrate Today...

Hello.....

As promised I am back with some of the display items I made for team training at the weekend.

Those who know me will know I am not very good when it comes to using the brighter colours in the Stampin' UP! colour families so I really had to push myself with this one. To ease me into the process I used a style of card called Card in a Box. 

I find it helps when working out of your comfort zone to fall back on something you know is tried and tested. 

I used Tempting Turquoise for my base and then just played about with all the bright colours till I found what worked for me. The beauty of Stampin' UP!  is that they have taken the hard work out of combining colours for you. As soon as I decided on my base colour I knew that if I kept to the colours in the Bright family they would all work together.

If you would like instructions on how to make this type of card then there is a fabulous video by the talented Monica Gale just HERE showing you how to create the basic box. All you need then is to let your imagination run riot!

Hugs xx

Stampin Up Swaps

Hello....

I hope you all had a good weekend? I spent most of Saturday preparing the last bits for a display I was doing at our team training in Peterborough yesterday.

I belong to a very large, very generous and very talented team called the Passionettes and as many as possible get together every 3 months to swap ideas, talk a little business but mostly have fun and craft together.

 I want to share with you my swap.

Each time Demo's get together we swap ideas and projects, usually card fronts, as a way of building up samples with lots of different styles.

Here is mine....

I used Bermuda Bay and Smokey Slate as my colour combination and a couple of old favourite stamps sets, Gorgeous Grunge and Hardwood, to create the background. 

The Banner Punch along with the small heart from the Owl Builder make cute bunting and the main image is from the set BIG DAY which you can earn for FREE with a purchase of £45.

All items used to make this card can be bought HERE in my online shop and will earn you a FREE SAB item of your choice.

This time I was asked by my upline the lovely Monica if I would do a display table and showcase just one product to the rest of the team.

I choose the Celebrate Today bundle from the new Spring/Summer Seasonal catalogue which has just launched. I will be back with photo's from the display tomorrow and will be following up with close ups of some of the projects on display later this week.

Flutterby Butterfly....

Hello....

Don't you just love it when new goodies land in your lap? Even better when those new goodies are brought to your door by a man who knows just how urgently you need them. My Mr Brown (UPS) knew this was an extra special delivery and not only did he deliver early he made me top of his list! Now that's service lol

New goodies are always important but even more so when they are this delicious. 

This card features new dies and 2 new stamp sets.

The tulips are stamped using the new Love is Kindness stamp. A single stamp which just oozes spring and the background uses the honeycomb from Butterfly Basics, which is a glorious collection of stamps.

A little bit of gentle colouring with my blender pens and ink pads and I have a bunch of tulips to last me all year.

I used Vellum to die cut this adorable butterfly and she is a real beauty. This is the middle die of a set of 3 and the smallest has a stamp to match in the Butterfly Basics stamp set. 

A close up of  the background to my card which was done with the honeycomb stamp I mentioned earlier.

I hope this brings a little spring into your day especially on a grey day like I have here by the sea.

Hugs

Sneak peek and new goodies...

Hello from a blustery seaside....

I recently had the honour of being asked for the second time to create something for a special occasion. I can't reveal what that occasion is yet or what I have created so I thought I would give you a little sneak peek. 

I have used new goodies and over on my facebook page Stampin Mermaid I have a little just for fun quiz to see if you can guess what new product I have used. Please pop over and comment.

I love the soft colour of Hello Honey, one of the new In colours from Stampin' UP!

I do hope you will remember this little sneak peek and pop back soon to see the reveal.

Meanwhile it is back into the room of craft for me and more special goodies to create.

Hugs 

Spring is in the air...

Hello... I know it seems a little early to be talking about Spring doesn't it. We are barely over Christmas and here we are talking about the next season already. 

I have good reason though. The new Spring/Summer seasonal catalogue is live for customers today and as always demonstrators get a preview of the products for the month before (if you would like to find out how to get in on the action early then please contact me using the join now button)

As well as the launch of the new catalogue we also have the start of Sale-a-Bration. For those familiar with the Stampin' UP! year you will know all about this annual excitement-fest but for those of you who are new to the Stampin' UP! world let me tell you a little more.

Sale-a-Bration is an annual promotion which runs from Jan to March and allows you to get FREE product for every £45 spent. These items are EXCLUSIVE to this promotion and you won't be able to get them at any other time.

We have a great selection this year, poss one of the best I have seen and so I wanted to share with you a card I made using one of the sets you can get for FREE.

This is the Lotus Blossom Stamp set and is a triple stamp image with such fine detail.

I have stamped it in greys and black to compliment the Designer Series Paper. 

I stamped 3 of the flower heads and cut them out by hand. I placed 2 flat to the card and then raised the third up on dimensionals to give added depth as you can see in the photo below.

I also added some background detail with Gorgeous Grunge and a few pearls to soften the look and give texture.

I hope you enjoyed and please let me know if I can help you earn FREE EXCLUSIVE PRODUCT

Hugs x

Belated Christmas...

Hello and a Happy New Year to you all!

Yesterday saw the first class of the year and we had a wonderful time blowing off the Christmas Cobwebs and trying out some techniques. More of that in another post but it reminded me that I still had a couple of cards that I was asked to make for Christmas that I hadn't showed you.

My lovely neighbour always comes to me for her cards and asked if I could do three the same but different (!)  It may not surprise you to know that I knew exactly what she meant by that either lol.

These are the cards I came up with for her and they contain a stamp set that is coming to you all really soon. 

Can you guess which one it is? If you don't have a copy of the new Spring/summer catalogue to browse and play spot the stamp with then let me know and I will get one in the post to you. 

This is the red version and uses Real Red. I also did Always Artichoke and Night of Navy

I hope you liked my same but different cards and I will be back soon with something a little more Spring like!

Hugs x