A few crafty updates....

Spent yesterday in Bicester with my Mum. We went for a crafty day out at the Pink Ladies Quarterly Training hosted by my upline Michelle. Mum and I had spent the previous Friday designing and recreating 16 swaps to share with other demos at the training session. We decided on an Isle of Wight postcard theme using retiring colours; 'My fond farewell' swap as I called it ;0) I was really pleased with the result. I forgot to take a photo of the reverse which I had designed as a postcard complete with a Stampin' Up! stamp and address details for the Centre we were training at.

It was lovely to have a day out with Mum as well as meet other demos in the team. I was so pleased to win the second prize in the raffle. I've been umming and aahing over the 'Thank You Kindly' set for a while as I make a fair few Thank You cards so I was made up to be able to pick this as my prize. We worked on a mini scrapbook/flip album for the make and take. I chose to work with the Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin' which felt a bit weird as its only July. But I love those papers. Picture will be posted once I've done a bit more decorating and embellishing. The album is fairly bare at this minute.

For my swap (below) I used the 'Life's A Breeze' stamp set with Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion & Barely Banana Card Stock. I used my Bold Brights Stampin Writes and various punches to create this seaside postcard design ;0)

I will take some photos tonight of the lovely demo swaps I received in return ;0)


I have a jam packed crafting week this week with a workshop tomorrow and a card class on Saturday. I still have some prep to do for both so I'm going to be busy busy busy this week. Wanted to just give a little preview of some of the class and workshop projects i have been working on.

At the request of my lovely hostess Chris I will be demo-ing a variation on the A4 gift bag we made in last months card class. This is not the final version but one of my works in progress. I've used Orchid Opulence card with the Cottage Wall Papers. I have teamed this with the Flight of the Butterfly & Tiny Tags Stamp Sets, Rich Razzleberry Ink & Ribbon and the scallop punch. I'll post a clearer photo tomorrow once I've finalised the design tonight.

I've also put together designs for two of this months cards for my Saturday class. For my first card I was attempting a card for a man. I tend to fall to pieces a bit when crafting for the men in my life. So, using the Fox & Friends set (with embellishments from Tiny Tags) I set about creating a more masculine colour scheme. I used the Hostess Designer Series Paper in Mellow Moss with Brocade Blue and Chocolate Chip. I used the Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon (Choc Chip), the word punch and a sentiment inked from the 'Fun and Fast Notes' stamp set. I finished the card off with two brads taken from the Earth Elements colour set.
The second of my cards is one of my favourite creations to date. Mainly because it is my favourite SU colour- Pumpkin Pie (with a bit of Dazzling Diamonds thrown in for good measure). I used the Simply Said stamp set to stamp the background with Versamark. I then used Heat and Stick powder with my heat tool for the bold flowers to stick the glitter to the card. I embossed the outlined flowers with Versamark & White Embossing Power. I punched the heart with the large heart punch and used paper from the Pumpkin Pie designer series for the backing. I actually dont think the photo can do this card justice because of the glittered effects and the tone on tone use of Pumpkin Pie/White. I'm so pleased with this effort I may even be brave and post it to the gallery of InLoveWithStamping ;0)

Right, so I've given you a bit of a sneak peak into my crafty week creations. I'll post again with clearer photos of some of the other projects I have on the go......

Happy Crafting ;0)

-XXX-