Stampin' Up! Wedding Invites

I am currently in the midst of making wedding invites for my lovely friend Natalie. While I obviously cannot share with you their finished invite design I did come across photos of some of the invites I made as samples for them. They have picked an Autumnal theme for their September wedding so I picked similar colours for each design.

This first wedding invite uses Just Believe with More Mustard & Cajun Craze. I've coloured the stamp set with the matching Stampin' Write markers. The small 'Love' sentiment comes from the Tiny Tags set. Inside the invitation i created an RSVP pocket and the RSVP was stamped with the smaller flower stamp from Just Believe.

 This second sample was a lot simpler but striking all the same. I themed this around So Saffron and Early Espresso and stamped the leaf image from Paisley Prints. The 'You're Invited' is from the Cheer and Wishes stamp set.

Just a couple of the samples I made. Happy to share to show whats been keeping me so busy recently.

Happy Crafting ;0)

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Happy Sunday Crafting

Well its been a seriously busy week one way or another. I had a craft evening with friends as well as a Stampin' Up! workshop to celebrate Rachel's birthday (where I gave the ladies a sneak peak of some of the lovely things about to go live on Friday with the Mini Catalogue launch). And on top of everything I start a new job this week (Friday) so have been beavering away getting everything ready for the move.  I havent had a second to sit down and do any serious catch up crafting. But I thought I would post a few cards I've worked on recently.

This customer thank you card uses the gorgeous Stampin' Up! Cottage Garden stamp set. I havent gotten my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig out for a while and so making these flowers with the two step stamping technique was fun. It was the two step stamping that actually attracted me to Stampin' Up! in the first place. I fell in love with the sadly now retired Loads of Love set (the truck stamp with the interchangeable extras for the back of the truck) and its been stamps, stamps and more stamps ever since ;0)  I embellished with a Stampin' Up! pearl and a 'Thanks' sentiment.

 This card was designed for my latest card class but didnt make it to the final 3. It is a 'never ending' card. Not sure how to describe it. You can keep folding it in on itself to get  a different view/picture. I created it using the Celebrations Designer Series Paper and the Make a Monster Stampset (with an added couple of stamps from Party This Way). It would make a perfect childrens party invitation.

If you'd like any further info on Stampin' Up!, hosting a workshop or to order products, please get in touch: 609249 or poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk.

Happy Crafting

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What's On Your Workdesk

I finally remembered to take a photo of my workdesk (read picnic table in my living room!) for WOYWW!! I've followed Julia's blog since meeting her at a retreat last year but not once have I remembered to take a photo. So here I am! I'm now a WOYWW-er ;0)

 Organised chaos as usual. And a few things on there I probably should have hidden (sneak peaks of lovely new things coming in the new Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue- come back next Friday April 1st for more info on those!). The journal is my '2011 Tales' project. I am working on Week 11's summary at the moment (as you can see from the blank page I havent gotten very far yet!). And to the left are a pile of swaps I created for a Mini Catalogue postal swap with the lovely ladies over on In Love With Stamping. Must try and tidy up before next week ;0)

While I am blogging, here are a couple more projects we created at this months card class. The first is a drawer box in Rose Red and Pumpkin Pie. This highlights the lovely Fancy Flower Punch which is now officially back in production. I also love those chunky Filigree Brads for the drawer pull.

 The second project is a card inspired by an Australian Demo Teneale Willams. I've only recently purchased the Lovely As A Tree set and couldnt wait to have a go at making this card when I came across it online. The colour combo is Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip & Old Olive. I've coloured the stamp with my marker pens and then lightly coloured over the image with my matching watercolour crayons. It gives such a lovely dimensional and textured effect to the leaves.

Right, hopefully i'll be back tomorrow with a completed Week 11 mini LO! in the meantime, happy crafting all ;0)

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Shimelle's 4x6 Photo Love Month 2

This is a terrible photo but I couldn't wait till tomorrow to post my latest LO. Having posted earlier about losing my mojo a bit recently I decided to completely give myself the night off worrying about everything else going on and let myself just enjoy crafting for a couple of hours. And this is what I came up with.

I decided to have a go at Shimelle's second month of 4x6 Photo Love. I kept to the sketch idea quite strictly to help me get back on track with my crafting. Following a Shimelle sketch usually gives me a confidence boost when I am super happy with the result. Mind you, I think the photo content doesnt need a great deal of embellishment. My dog Kala is just too lovely and no photo can capture just how gorgeous she is.

For this LO I used a whole load of new stash!!! Woohoo for new papers and new stamp sets. I bought the Stampin' Up! Sunny Garden Designer Series Paper a month or so ago but had kept it sealed until I got myself the Cottage Garden Stamp Set to match. I layered up lots of different designs from the paper pack. Then used a strip of Peach Parfait Level 1 Hostess Set DSP to finish (the flowery strip above the photos).  I stamped both of the Cottage Garden flowers with Peach Parfait ink onto So Saffron textured cardstock and cut these out as my focus embellishments (finished with a large pearl in the centre). I should have made the flowers a bit more yellow to match the daffodils. But I sadly didnt  have any Daffodil Delight CS to hand. The base cardstock is Certainly Celery.  An almost wholly Stampin' Up! scrapbooking layout ;0)

Thanks for looking at my blog today and Happy Crafting ;0)

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Eclectic Card Class

I'm a couple of days early with this one (my March class is this Saturday). But as I have been so super busy here with so much going on, my creativity has taken a bit of a hit recently. And I miss blogging. So I wanted to post something new. I have been making a few bits and pieces but they are all using my new stash from the Mini Catalogue launching April 1st (pictures to be posted then!). So in the mean time to tide my poor neglected blog over I have a couple of pictures of cards we will be making this Saturday.

The first is a side step dresser card. This was was inspired by a beautiful card over on my Stampin' Up! friend Peg's blog. I have made a pink version and a blue version using the Teddy from the Every Little Bit stampset and the baby grow cut from the Baby Tees Jumbo Wheel (this way everyone at my card classes gets to have a unique card as each baby grow is different on the wheeled image). The 'Baby' sentiment is from the Tiny Tags stampset. The punches used for this card include: Curly Label, Eyelet Border Punch, Small Heart and various circle punches for the sentiment. And to finish I embellished with brads for the drawer handles from the Metallics collection. The colour combination is Bashful Blue with a hint of Soft Suede for the aged effect.

The second card is made using the curled Crystal Effects flower technique I perfected at Michelle's Bicester Craft Day. For this you need to remember to make the flowers first to give them plenty of time to dry. You can then curl the petals around a knitting needle or pencil to give the petals their shape. The stamps used for this card are: Vintage Vogue, For Everything, Flight of the Butterfly & Curly Cute (Sentiment). I embellished with Dazzling Diamonds sprinkled over the flowers, a pearl for the flower centre and the butterfly body, clear embossing powder for the sentiment.

These are just two of our March projects for the month. I also have a sliding draw box and a card using Lovely As A Tree to finish the afternoon off ;0)

And finally, while not technically crafty, it was my partners 36th birthday yesterday. He is notoriously difficult to buy for so I decided to make him up a 'Make Your Own Sushi' hamper. I bought all the ingredients for us to make California Rolls and then various other rolls with tuna, salmon and king prawns. We've eaten plenty of sushi in our time together but never had a go at making our own. We were pretty impressed with our first attempt. Although we'd definitely make each roll a bit more petite next time. I think we also slightly overstuffed the middles ;0)

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. If you'd like any further info about Stampin' Up! and their products please do not hesitate to get in touch. You can get in touch with me on 01983 609249 or poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk.

Happy Crafting ;0)

March Frenzy- 30% off

Stampin' Up! have announced their March Frenzy promotion details. Click on the above flyer to see the list of products that are discounted for a limited time only.

Happy Crafting ;0)

Less is More Week 5 Challenge

Not sure I could get the photograph to do this card justice. The colours are a lot more subtle in real life but have come out darker (and not so pastel) in the photo. I've used the current Stampin' Up! In Colours for this Chinese Lantern inspired card (Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Blushing Bride). Not exactly pastel, but the lightest colours in my stash at the moment. I created this last night having been inspired by a fellow Stampin' Up! Demo Andy, who I met at Michelle's Craft Day on Sunday. He had made so many lovely cards with this stamp set that I decided to give it a go. I'm not sure it is clean and simple enough, but this is a learning process and its a lot more white space than I am usually used to leaving.

I've stamped the Lantern image fron the Kimono Kids stamp set several times onto different In Colour DSP designs and then cut each lantern out and raised it from the white card base with a dimensional. I've embellished with a series of small rhinestones along the lantern string to give a bit of glitz.

I've missed the past two weeks of 'Less Is More' challenges but will definitely be getting back to it now as its really making me think about new ways of presenting images and I'm learning so much from seeing all the other lovely entries.

Happy Crafting ;0)

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Home from a crafty weekend ;0)

Well I made it back to the Isle safe and sound after a lovely weekend away visiting my friend Natalie in MK followed by a days crafting with some fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators in Bicester. My upline Michelle hosted a rewards day for us where we made the following beautiful project using the Stampin' Up! Elegant Soiree DSP and Wedding Sweet Stamp Set Flourish.

This first photo shows the tri shutter album shut.  Embellished with a stamped 'Flower Accent' image, Basic Pearls and Crystal Effects.

This is the album fully unfolded (this is actually the width of two and half pieces of 12x12 cardstock) and decorated with Elegant Soiree DSP.

This is a photo showing the first 'unfold' if you get my drift. It is a stunning album and I will certainly be making more in the future. Once I got my head around the measurements it was a simple but effective way to make a Mini Album.

Here is my new Swap Tree showing some of the lovely swaps I received from my fellow Demos at the training ;0) My cheeky cat Ella was desperate to get in the photos. You'll see her through the kitchen window behind the swaps.  I usually display my swaps on my fridge for my card class ladies. But when I saw this photo display tree I thought I would create a swap centre piece for my card class just for a change. Thank you to all the lovely demos I met yesterday who made such beautiful projects ;0)

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Any questions about Stampin' Up! please feel free to get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 07830 343830. Hopefully I'll have a bit more time  this week to catch up on some long overdue crafting and update my blog with some new projects ;0)

My swaps for Fareham Training last weekend

Here are my Make a Monster Googley Eyed swaps I made for the Stampin' Up! training I attended last weekend. I used 4 inch squares of the Celebrations DSP and folded them to create the frame. I was attempting to make it look like the Monsters were tearing out through the paper. The Monsters were finished with Googley Eyes and raised with dimensionals. I received 25 beautiful swaps in return which are now displayed on my fridge at home. I'll try to take photos later to post here of the lovely projects I received.

I also made three special 6x6 scrapbook page swaps for the ladies I attended convention with. I knew they were going to be attending the training so I thought I would create these for them. I printed the professional photographers picture taken of us at the Awards Evening and embellished it to match the Sweet & Sour DSP.

Happy to help with any Stampin' Up! related questions or queries, please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 07830 343830.