Happy Birthday Natalie ;0)

It is my sisters birthday today and I made her a matching card and peek-a-boo box using the fab sneak peak Hostess Designer Series Papers (Cheerful Treat).

I've had all these lovely exclusive products just crying out to be used and my sister loves the bunting trend. So I unwrapped my pennant punch and created this chain across the card.  I used the Just Perfect alphabet and Lucky Limeade ink for the letters. The scalloped part of the pennant was punched using Rose Red and Rich Razzleberry alternating. The ribbon behind the pennants is Pink Pirouhette stitched poly ribbon. I stamped the balloon from Crazy For Cupcakes and raised with a dimensional.

 I followed a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers to create the box. I punched the candle from the top of the Crazy For Cupcakes single cupcake and layered on top of a scalloped circle (punched out of a post it note as I didnt have any So Saffron card to hand). I colored the image with my watercolour crayons.

 Inside the box. I matched the cardstock and images to the sweetie shrimps I'd put inside.

 I love these new bright hostess papers. And with the brand new hostess benefits system about to be launched they are even easier to get your hands on ;0) Get in touch to find out more.....

Hope your week has started well. Dont forget, the Last Chance List is only available until Friday. After that these products will be retired for good. Get in touch asap to order your last chance products....

Happy Crafting
-X-

A Scrapbooking Sneaky Peak

I thought I would share a scrapbooking layout I designed for a Stampin' Up! competition for Demonstrators. Our brief was to only use current product (meaning it had to be products moving over into the new catalogue). So I chose the new In Colours as my focus for this page. The Lucky Limeade base colour matches the sunny photos of my Kala perfectly.

The embellishments were all stamped using Circle Circus and the In Colours (Pool Party, Island Indigo, Calypso Coral & Wisteria Wonder).

The title was stamped using my favourite Broadsheet Alpha stampset.

I have embellished with a Subtles Button and a large basic pearl.

 I have layered the Circle Circus images on top of each other and embellished with buttons from both the Brights and Subtles collections. All of these circles were punched with the coordinating sized circle punches (including the scalloped circle).

 The final embellishment was punched in Wisteria Wonder using the Tab punch. I then stamped the small heart from Tiny Tags and embellished with a line of basic pearls.

Hope you enjoyed this little sneak peak into the new catalogue and that you are loving the new In Colours as much as me (I cannot stop stamping using Pool Party- makes me want to pack up and take a sunny holiday somewhere). If you'd like to book a place at my Catalogue Launch Open House on October 1st, i still have spaces available for the 1-3pm session (£4 to include refreshments and a new catalogue). Just get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

Happy crafting ;0)

Lovely as a Tree Thank You

I demonstrated for a lovely group of crafty ladies on Friday evening. I prepped in advance this Thank You card for the hostess using one of my favourite (and so effective) stamp sets, Lovely as a Tree. The theme of the workshop was Christmas crafting so I decided to design a card with a Christmas-y feel but not overtly red/green/Christmas.

I stamped the row of trees in Baja Breeze and Pool Party (one of the exclusive new In Colours launching October 1st) and then stamped the single tree in Night of Navy. I cut around the single tree and sponge daubered the edge in Baja Breeze. I raised this tree with dimensionals to give a bit of depth to the design. I then finished by using Dazzling Diamonds to embellish the trees and to give a snowy ice feel. I also used my Shimmer Paint to ice the base of each of the trees. The final detail is the Concord Crush Poly Ribbon around the top of the card.

The sentiment is from Thank You Kindly.

Happy Crafting

-x-

Good morning lovely crafters.

I'm posting my Saturday projects early today as I'm off to High Wycombe for a Stampin' Up! training afternoon. Hopefully we might get a few sneak peaks of some more lovely new products launching on October 1st. I'm so excited as I love meeting up with other Demonstrators and catching up with the Pink Ladies (the team of Demonstrators I am part of).

Now speaking of sneak peaks. Here are a two layouts I created for my Stampin' Scrappin evening. Those with eagle eyes might notice a new stamp used in this Christmas tree design (and a couple of the baubles are also stamped with the fab new In Colour Lucky Limeade). I cased this layout from the current Stampin' Up! catalogue (page 26). I've loved this tree made of baubles since the catalogue came out and thought it was time I had a go.

The base colours are Wild Wasabi and Crumb Cake. The baubles are stamped and punched with the Ornament Punch and Contempo Christmas (and sneak peak set Tags Til Christmas) in Pear Pizzazz, Wild Wasabi, Lucky Limeade, Old Olive. I also punched a few from scraps of Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper which is now sadly sold out.

 The second layout is on a base of Cherry Cobbler with strips of Jolly Holiday DSP. The lovely scalloped dotty Chocolate Chip ribbon is another exclusive sneak peak from the catalogue launching October 1st. The flourish from Season of Joy was stamped as a border down the side. The embellishments were stamped in Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler (onto Very Vanilla) and raised with dimensionals (and accessorised with Pearls).

I will be holding a New Catalogue Launch Open House on:

Saturday October 1st.

10am-12pm or 1-3pm.

I will have two Christmas themed make and take projects as well as a complimentary copy of the Stampin’ Up! Catalogue for every attendee. The cost for the session is £4 to include refreshments, catalogue and project kits. It will be a great introduction to all the lovely new products in the new catalogue. Please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 07830 343830 / 01983 609249 to reserve your space.

Happy Saturday Crafting ;0)

-x-

Last Chance List Blog Hop

Welcome to my little part of todays Blog Hop. Thank you for joining me from Laura's blog and I hope you've enjoyed all the inspiration so far.

For todays Last Chance List inspired hop I have chosen one of my favourite Stampin' Up! sets, Love You Much (if you click here you will find all my blogged projects using this stamp set previously). When I first discovered Stampin' Up! a couple of years ago this was right at the top of my shopping list and I will be so sad to see it retire come September 30th. Its been perfect for the recent spate of engagements and weddings amongst my friends and I've given this stamp set a fair few outings.

And on that note, that is where I am today. At one of the many weddings of 2011. So fingers crossed technology hasn't failed me and that you can all see this at the right time ;0) I will be home tomorrow and will be completing the hop and commenting on all the participants lovely projects then. Please bear with me.....

For todays project I decided to have a go at making an acetate box. I've seen lots of these made around the blogosphere and always think they look so lovely.  I wanted to use one of my less used colours, Rich Razzleberry and combine this with retiring striped ribbon and DSP (Love Letter).

My card and gift box together:

For the card I used the large Love You Much heart stamped in Rich Razzleberry onto Very Vanilla. I wrapped my Rich Razzleberry card stock layer with a trimmed length of striped ribbon and glued the heart to this. I then embellished with Basic Pearls (I used the smallest ones for the centre of the flowers on the heart and the pearl lengths to line the striped ribbon).

My acetate box is a small 2"x2" square base. Perfect to fit 4 pink heart shaped bath bombs in to make a lovely hostess gift or Valentines pressie. I created the top and bottom of the box using plain Rich Razzleberry cardstock. I then cut lengths of Love Letter DSP which I wrapped around the top and bottom. I embellished this with hearts punched with my Heart to Heart punch. The front embellishment is a Rich Razzleberry scalloped circle layered with the 'Hugs and Kisses' stamp from Love You Much (and basic pearls circling the scallops).

I hope you've enjoyed your stop by my blog today and be sure to continue by hopping onwards to Theresa's blog.

The full list of participants can be found below:

1. AlisonP http://craftyalisoninlyon.blogspot.com/
2. Twintrouble (Erika) http://twintroublescreations.blogspot.com/
3. Lauralou http://airingcupboardstamping.blogspot.com/
4. Sarah (IOW Sarah) http://www.stampinsarahiow.blogspot.com/
5. Theresa M http://my-next-chapter.blogspot.com/
6. Rozelle (LittleMoo6) http://thepapercraftsessions.blogspot.com/
7. Valerie (valmoody) http://stampingwithval.wordpress.com/
8. EmmaH http://emma-letsstamp.blogspot.com/
9. Donna (DonnaM) http://www.head-over-heels-by-dlm.blogspot.com/
10. Julie H (The Crafty Bug http://the-crafty-bug.blogspot.com/
11. Elaine (Sassy Stamper) http://www.thesassystampers.blogspot.com/
12. Sandra (Sarnie) http://www.kraftybiker.blogspot.com/
13. Natalie http://www.natalieoshea.co.uk/blog.html
14. Kimf http://kimfeecrafter.blogspot.com/
15. CarolineSkinner http://stampinupandbranchingout.blogspot.com/
16. VickyLou http://www.vickylouscorner.blogspot.com/
17. Michelle (ShellieStamps) http://michellescraftypaper.typepad.com/
18. allyf http://www.serendipitypapercuts.blogspot.com/
19. Maggiemae http://thefineartofstampin.blogspot.com/
20. Evy C http://www.evyscraftycreations.blogspot.com/
21. Niki http://www.mygroovystampinup.blogspot.com/
22. Sarah-Jane www.cardsandacuppa.blogspot.com
23. Tina( Tina Faghy) http://littlewhitehousecrafts.blogspot.com
24. Sally (Pink Sky) http://pinkskysu.blogspot.com

A final wedding card

Good morning all. Not sure whats got me up so early this morning. But as I am awake I thought I would share a new project with you. This Saturday is the final of my three summer weddings this year. I am safe to put this on my blog a bit early as I am sure the Bride and Groom have much more pressing matters to deal with than surf my blog ;0)

I made this card with the left overs from the wedding invites. If you see this post you can see that I have themed the wedding card with both the acceptance and invites that I made for them. They were so pleased with their invites that I wanted to tie in the additional cards I made for them (I also have one final project themed in the Cajun Craze, So Saffron, More Mustard, Early Espresson colour scheme to share. But that will have to wait until next week....)

To create this card I used a base of More Mustard and added Cajun Craze and stamped layers to this.  The leaf stamp is unfortunately from a retired Hostess Set from 2009-2010. I stamped the 'Congratulations' from Curly Cute in Chocolate Chip and added a length of Early Espresso ribbon. The hearts were punched with the Heart to Heart punch (the tiny Kraft letters are not SU but from my scrapbooking stash. They were the smallest letters I could find to add a tiny monogram). And finally I embellished with a length of linen thread and two tags stamped with 'Mr & Mrs' and 'Love' from Tiny Tags.

Really pleased with the result. I think the tiny tags finished the card off perfectly ;0)

And one more thing while I am blogging on this fine Thursday morning. This Saturday is the In Love With Stamping Last Chance List blog hop. So please pop by at 10am (*fingers crossed* the technology doesnt fail me as I will be at the wedding on the mainland!) and see all the lovely projects created by Stampin' Up! Demonstrators with stamp sets and products that are about to retire from the catalogue.

Happy Crafting ;0)

-X-

Last Chance List

So its that time of year again. The new catalogue is drawing nearer. I've seen it and there are lots of new products to be excited about. But it also means we have to wave goodbye to some favourite items and sets from the current catalogue.

The Last Chance List is live as of today and will be updated daily through to September 30th. Supplies are only while stocks last so don't delay in placing your order if there is a Wish List item on this list. Come September 30th these items will be retired and no longer available.

If you'd like to order, book a workshop or find out more about Stampin Up products, please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249/ 07830 343830.
-xxx-

Season Of Joy Christmas Card

I am a little bit obsessed with Christmas crafting at the moment. I cannot seem to switch back into "normal" crafting mode (although I have been working on a wedding card and some swaps for a Stampin'  Up! training day I am going to which are totally unrelated to Christmas- more on those later in the week....)

I was going through a pile of papers earlier and came across this card from my Christmas Craft Day from last month. I really enjoyed this colour combination (Cherry Cobbler and Chocolate Chip). Its not a traditional Christmas Combo but it reminded me of a hot chocolate on a cold winter day. Or more accurately it  reminded me of the Dark Cherry Mocha's that Starbucks sold a couple of Christmases back.

I've been trying to design simple and quick stamped Christmas cards to prove that handmade isn't necessarily a lot more work and time than shop bought cards. I've got so much lined up between now and Christmas that designing cards that can be created en masse is my new solution. Plus I am starting my planning super early too ;0)

So this is it. It uses the flower and flourish from Season of Joy. I have used my circle  and scallop circle punches to create the embellishment. The ribbon is a Chocolate Chip retired ribbon from last years Stampin' Up! catalogue.

I hope all is well wherever you are reading this from. I cannot believe the kids are back to school already and summer is officially over. Here on the Isle we had a big illuminated carnival on Saturday which always marks the end of the summer season of events here. Oh well, at least we can all legitimately start Christmas crafting without wishing our summers away ;0)

-XXX-

Christmas Candle

I have been so busy of late that I'm really beginning to feel craft deprived. I havent had a second to sit and do any original crafting. I did however make a version of a card I saw on Monica's blog. She is such a creative demonstrator and the moment I spotted it I knew I wanted to give it a go. I loved the finished product so much that I'll be sharing this card with my class on the 28th September. So if you fancy having a go yourself, book your spot now (poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249).

This uses the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder for the Big Shot to texture the candle and background. The colour scheme is Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive. The leaves and flame are punched with the bird punch. The flowers are one of the Boho Blossom three. And the tags are stamped with Tiny Tags and punched with the jewellery tag punch. I finished the card with three of the large basic pearls.

As you can see my thoughts are well and truly turning to Christmas crafting now. I have had a bit of a sneak peak of the new catalogue and I cannot wait to get new products for my Christmas makings ;0) And don't forget that the Last Chance List is now live and products are only available while stocks last. I'm putting an order in over the weekend so get in touch if there is anything you would like me to order.

Happy Weekend Crafting ;0)

-XXX-