If Carlsberg Made Blog Posts........

The post title refers to this just about being the BEST blog post I could ever write ;0)

If you are all wondering where my blogging has disappeared to. Well let my photos explain...

My beautiful and perfect Summer Rose arrived at 13.23 last Friday (May 11th).

Sam and I are about as proud as parents can be and are still wrapped up in our own little new family bubble at home. We've been home since Sunday so still finding our feet a bit what with the new routines and endless amounts of washing (who knew something so small could create so many loads of washing? Still, it makes the house smell lovely so who am I to complain?)

I am so overwhelmed by the kindness of everyone who has sent cards and gifts. I have my thank you cards ready to write but please bear with me as it might take a little while (I spent a vast majority of my day watching a sleeping baby and when I am not doing that I am playing with and chatting to an awake baby- which doesnt leave a great deal of time for anything productive like getting dressed or crafting or writing cards!)

Looking forward to updating again soon. Hopefully I might even get some pics on of all the lovely Stampin' Up! baby cards I have been receving from some super talented crafters ;0)

Happy Crafting (or not in my case!)

-XxX-



Two Birthdays

Firstly, I must start by apologising today as both todays cards are Stampin' Up! inspired but they are not strictly all SU product and also utilise retired stamps too. Since being on leave from work I have been going through old stash and having a play and these are two of my results. Hopefully we might see a few of these fab products return in the new main catalogue in October.

I couldn't share my Dad's birthday card with you on his actual birthday yesterday due to the blog hop. So I thought I would share the birthday tidings today with my sisters card also. Dad's card was inspired by this incredibly creative creation over onVicky's blog. As soon as I saw it I realised I would have to have a go for my Dad as he is an avid stamp collector. I love how these punched stamp shapes all fit together so perfectly. I went through all of my stamps to find an appropriately masculine image to include on the stamped images and came up with this now retired set from last years Mini catalogue. I stamped them tone on tone in Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Island Indigo, Pumpkin Pie and Elegant Eggplant.

Happy Birthday to my sister, Sophie, whose birthday it is today. Her card was inspired by the little owl image in the Aviary stamp set. I came across some old (non-SU) papers in my crafting cupboard and thought they would be perfect for her (covered in glitter and mini cupcakes). I matched the colours of the owls to the colours in the papers. I embellished with a flat bow made from Blushing Bride Stitched Poly Ribbon and a Happy Birthday stamped in matching ink from the Curly Cute stamp set. I, like all crafters, have amassed a lot of lovely papers and products over the years,  I love to sometimes challenge myself to match up Stampin' Up! colours and accessories to papers I already have. And I guess this card is a simple example of how complimentary Stampin' Up's stamps and embellishments can be.

In other news, I am still on a countdown to my 40 weeks next Tuesday. Fingers crossed it will be any day now ;0) And if my blog goes quiet, you'll know where I am....

-XXX-

New Summer Mini Catalogue Blog Hop

Happy May 1st and welcome to my little part of the In Love With Stamping Summer Mini Blog Hop. A group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators have organised this hop to celebrate the launch of Stampin' Up!'s first Summer Mini catalogue which is live as of today. I thoroughly recommend taking in the hop as a whole as I am sure there are a hundred and one different creative ideas to see and you'll get a fantastic introduction to all the lovely new stamps and products too. You should have joined me today from Pat's blog which I am looking forward to hopping too very shortly.

And now for something completely different. I have participated in several catalogue launch blog hops before and always completed a card or scrapbooking project. I've never been brave enough to try something with the beautiful Stampin' Up! fabrics before. I wish I could take the whole credit for todays project. But due to my current status as 39 weeks pregnant I had to enlist the help of my lovely Mum for this hop offering. My Mum and I have been teaching ourselves to quilt since I started my maternity leave. So armed with my Mum's sewing machine and a rough idea of the size jacket we needed, and of course a pack of the lovely Twitterpated Designer Fabric from the Summer Mini, we (mainly Mum) created this beautiful quilted baby jacket.

I wish I could've found a way to make the photos do the jacket (and the fabric prints) justice. But the light was fading before I had a chance to take these photos so they are slightly darker than I would have liked.

The jacket uses all three fabric designs. The beautiful floral print is perfect for the outer of the jacket with the pink pattern forming the lining and stripey accessorising the jacket's trim. Mum did such a lovely job creating this and now all I have to do is wait for my Little Miss to finally make an appearance so she can wear it ;0)

This final photo is to show how Mum created a tie for the jacket using the striped fabric.

Hope you've enjoyed your Isle of Wight stop off on todays hop and that you're inspired to try something new with the beautiful Stampin' Up! fabrics. The next stop on the hop today can be found here with the lovely Sue.

-x-

A Stampin' Up! wedding gift

Has it really been so long since I last blogged? Just logged in to Blogger and everything has moved around and it has taken me 10 minutes to find out how to post a new entry. Oh Blogger, you do know how to confuse a frazzled 39 week pregnant lady ;0)

So I can finally share a project I made for my lovely friends Natalie and Will. They got married last September. If you have followed my blog for a while you may remember this post where I shared the wedding invitations I made for them. They had a beautiful wedding day and it was all coordinated around the invites I'd designed for them (Autumnal/Gold themed). Well it turns out I was 6 weeks pregnant at their wedding and completely shattered (a feeling that has been familiar over the past 8.5 months). Life seems to have gotten in the way a bit since then and we haven't had a chance to meet up till yesterday. I was finally able to give them their wedding gift I had made: a tri-fold shutter album designed with their wedding theme colours and design in mind.

 It has been a bit of a labour of love due to ongoing pregnancy exhaustion. I loved all the photos I'd taken and struggled to narrow them down to the spaces I had in the album (which I had actually made before the wedding even took place). I'd managed to sneak in to the reception venue before the event started to get photos of the beautifully decorated tables and wedding cakes (family and friends had all contributed home made cakes instead of a traditional wedding cake). Once I'd decided on the photos and stuck these in it took me a while longer to finalise my embellishments (I finally completed the whole album back in February at our local scrapbooking retreat).

 Its not strictly all Stampin' Up! product but the main basis of the album uses Stampin' Up! colours and cardstock. The colour theme for the invites and album was Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip and So Saffron. The stamped leaves are from a now retired Hostess set from several years ago. I embellished with lots of lovely Basic Pearls and inked Paper Daisies to match the colour scheme. I also used the Heart to Heart punch repeatedly through the album to match the theme of the day.

I left some blank spaces for them to add journalling or their own mementos of the day. On the whole I was really pleased with how well this matched their day and I was happy to have been able to share their day from my perspective and give them a little reminder to keep of their wedding.

I have a few projects to share this week with birthdays and scrapbooking galore. I'm also taking part in an In Love With Stamping Summer Mini Blog Hop on Tuesday. So feel free to pop back on Tuesday morning at 10am to see all the lovely projects on the hop.

Please bear with me at the moment. My crafting is somewhat sporadic with my due date now only a week away ;0) I have finalised my upcoming class schedule and have new classes starting in June. I will be back to publish these dates later in the week.

Happy & Productive Crafting to you all ;0)

[what else is there to do with this delightful British weather outside?]

-xxx-

Free Designer Series Papers in April

Stampin' Up! have announced another fantastic promotion for April. For every £45 order placed in April you can choose a free pack of Designer Series Paper from the selection below.

Please click here for more information. This runs right through to the end of the month so take advantage of this fab offer before the end of April.

Please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249 to find out more or to place your April promotion order

Happy Crafting

-XXX-

Sneak Peak Scrapbooking Part 2

Here is the second of our April scrapbook pages. Again this uses some sneak peak items from the Summer Mini including the Twitterpated Designer Fabric (cut using the Fun Flowers Bigz L Die to create the layered fabric flower embellishment), Bordering on Romance stamp set and the Blushing Bride Pleated Ribbon.

The colour scheme is Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze, Whisper White and Blushing Bride. I used  a large scallop circle template to create the Whisper White circle (which I cut out by hand) which we then stamped to create a matching self designed designer series paper.

If you'd like to find out more about any of these products or get hold of a copy of the Summer Mini, please get in touch on 01983 609249 or poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk. I'll happily help with any Stampin' Up! query ;0)

Happy Crafting ;0)

April Scrapbooking Sneak Peak 1

Another sneaky peak at some of the lovely new products from the Summer Mini Catalogue. This scrapbook page that I taught in my April scrapbooking class uses the Twitterpated Papers coupled with Apothecary Art and Bordering on Romance Stamp Sets. The embellishments are the beautiful new Pleated Satin Ribbons and Twitterpated Designer Buttons (these are lovely and petite and beautifully subtle). I love this springtime colour scheme and the subtlety of the colour theme. I also enjoyed trying out a new technique with the paper daisy. I inked this with a sponge using Blushing Bride ink and then sponged over Frost White Shimmer Paint to give a lovely glittery sheen. This made a perfectly matching embellishment.

Looking forward to being able to show you these new products in full come May 1st. I'm giving a little sneak peak now as I may be a little exhausted or preoccupied in very early May. But I will be back blogging asap.

Happy Crafting ;0)

XXX