Mixed Bunch Butterfly Card

This is my favourite card from this month's card class. It uses a new technique I have taught myself, emboss resist. This card was inspired by a card I found on Pinterest made by a US Demonstrator.

This uses the stamp sets Just Believe and Mixed Bunch. The butterfly was made using the ornate flower from Mixed Bunch. I stamped it in versamark and clear heat embossed it. I then sponged Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo over the clear embossing and wiped away the excess ink. I punched it using the matching punch and cut away two of the petals to create the butterfly shape.

I also used the lovely new Framelits from the Summer Mini to create the matching frames. The striped background paper is from a retired set from the Spring Mini Catalogue.

And here is a little Summer update. With the beautiful sunshine we have been getting on the Isle this past couple of weeks I have finally been able to dress her in her beautiful summer wear. Here is a cute little piglet outfit a friend bought her. She looked so lovely in it.

Happy Crafting ;0)
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Tea Shoppe Thank You

Woohoo!! I finally have lots of lovely things to share with you. I have been busy beavering away for classes and workshops which hasnt left too much time for blogging. So I am attempting to catch up with all the photos I have been taking by scheduling some posts for the upcoming week.

Here is the hostess gift and card from Wednesday's party with Charlotte. I made another of the fab teabag holders I found on Pinterest using the exclusive Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper (only available for another 4 days so get your order in asap!). I've shared that project before though so I thought I would highlight the card I made instead.

                                                                                                                                                           

I love this stamp set from the Summer Mini, Tea Shoppe and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it carries over into the new main catalogue. The colour scheme is Very Vanilla, Lucky Limeade, Soft Suede, Poppy Parade & Peach Parfait. And do you notice the ingenious placement of the sentiment to cover up the fact that the teacups were stamped super wonky? ;0)

I'll be sad to see this designer series paper retire (again) but I'm definitely stocking up before the end of this month.

And in other news, I got my new Autumn/Winter Seasonal Catalogue in the post this morning. It is FANTASTIC!!! I cannot wait to share all the new items with you on September 1st ;0)

Happy Crafting ;0)

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Quick customer thank you notes

I needed to make thank you notes for my customers after a workshop recently. I'm not always entirely sure on how long I'll have to finish my crafting these days so came up with this quick and easy design. I managed to make 15 of these notelets in about 15 minutes (just in time for Summer to wake up once I'd finished- making them was one thing, finding time to write them was something else!).

The colour scheme was Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla and Blushing Bridge. I used the new Summer Mini stamp set, Bordering on Romance for the central flower and Thank You Kindly for the sentiment.

Just a quickie today as I feel I have neglected my blog a bit this past week (its all fits and starts with me!). I have lots of lovely things to share with you over the upcoming weeks. I have been busy designing for this months classes alongside my extra special Christmas Craft Day projects. So please bear with me ;0)

And one last quick pic of my lovely Summer. This is what she thought of the Olympic Torch coming through Newport last weekend:

Happy Crafting all and hope to be back asap with projects to share ;0)

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The Open Sea Workshop Make

Here is my June workshop make inspired by a card I'd seen a member of the Stampin' Up! team I belong to make. I love this maritime inspired card and especially love using the new Summer Mini stamp set The Open Sea. The colour scheme is Early Espresso and Crumb Cake. I used a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes. And the embellishments are the mini brads from the main catalogue. The background is stamped using the Woodgrain stamp.

And a quick Summer update.  Here is a pic from my cousin's wedding of Summer with my lovely Dad ;0) She is getting so big now and enjoys chatting and smiling with us all (she loves being around groups of chatting women- I think the sound of chatter is soothing to her. She'll fit right in with my craft classes once she is a bit older).

Please get in touch with any questions about Stampin' Up!

Happy crafting ;0)

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Scrapbooking Class Part 2

Stampin' Up! recently ran regional training days around the country. Unfortunately I could not attend my local training as I was 39 weeks pregnant at the time. However, after the events someone posted an instruction sheet for the scrapbooking make and take at the training day. I just LOVED the layout so had to have a go. Mine isn't exactly the same as those completed at the trainings as I didn't have all the same embellishments. But this is my version of the SU layout.

The base colours are Wild Wasabi and Baja Breeze and the designer papers are the Twitterpated papers from the Summer Mini catalogue. I embellished with the matching Twitterpated mini buttons and buttons from my subtles stash. The stamping in the background and on the floral embellishments used the Summer Mini set Mixed Bunch (and matching tone on tone ink pads).

I'll be back tomorrow with a recent workshop make and take. In the mean time, happy crafting ;0)

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June Scrapbooking Part 1

Here is the first of the layouts we made at last month's scrapbooking class. Apologies for the slightly wonky photo- it looked fine until I cropped it but I've already put the page in my album so cannot re-photograph it!

I was going through my Stampin' Up! papers box and came across these lovely bright papers (sadly long retired) which matched the felt flowers (I found a full pack of these SU felt embellishments and thought they would be perfect for a scrapping class- also sadly retired now). So while a lot of the detail on this page are no longer available, I have decided to share this on here as this page shows off a lot of lovely new Stampin' Up! products.

I used the fab new edgelits dies from the Summer Mini to create the teal edging to the main patterned paper panel. I used the scallop ribbon border punch to create the teal photo edging. I used the fancy flower and 5 punch flower punches for the paper floral embellishments (finished off with a Pumpkin Pie flower brad). I also used a combination of current ribbons to create the parallel ribbon embellishments.

If you'd like to know any more about this layout or any of Stampin' Up!'s current offers or promotions, please get in touch directly on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

Happy Crafting

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A Happy 40th Birthday

Sam, Summer and I were invited to a 40th Birthday Barn dance on Saturday evening. This was for one of my lovely ladies who I have met through Stampin' Up! Wendy, so I set about creating a Stampin' Up! birthday card for her. I started with a blank canvas of Crumb Cake cardstock and I was a bit stuck. Then I remembered this fab card I'd seen on Pinterest (while I am getting used to life with less sleep Pinterest is often my saviour as it helps me no end with my sometimes lacking mojo- well not so much lacking, it is more likely tucked up in bed somewhere sleeping!). The Aviary stamp set is one of my go to favourites. I just love those bird cages. And tone on tone stamping is also one of my favourite techniques.

I always forget you can colour the white organza ribbon with the reinkers or pens to create a perfectly matching ribbon for any card. I love the sheen of this ribbon as it really sets off any project.

The colour scheme for this card is Cherry Cobbler and Crumb Cake. The numbers are from my scrapbooking stash. I used them as they matched the Antique Brad perfectly.

I'll have to tell you about the barn dance on another occasion as I am writing this in advance and scheduling this post (so as I write I haven't yet been to the party!!!). I've had to schedule some posts as I have a rare hour or so to get online while Summer is sleeping ;0)

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and happy Monday crafting

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A bit of Summer scrapbooking

Good morning all and a very happy Saturday to you all.

I am taking a little break from normal service for today to share with you some of my (non SU) scrapbooking.

I spent a lovely afternoon this week at Mum's house scrapbooking with my Mum and sister while Summer snoozed contentedly in her travel cot. I haven't properly sat down and scrapbooked for months and months. So I decided to limit my scrapping confusion by limiting my supplies to one bag that I carried from my craft room. I often get overwhelmed by my punches, my Cricut, my papers, my embellishments, my alphas, my stamps, my glues, my glitters, my inks, my dies..... so sometimes it is nice to just pack a bag of vaguely relevant and matching papers and see what happens. I already had a few packs of baby themed papers all together so that made life a little easier. And considering I haven't scrapped in a while I am really pleased with my results. It was super satisfying photographing these layouts and then putting them into their page protectors in my Summer album (which tells the story from scans and bump pics to date).

My partner took this pic of me the day before I went in to hospital to be induced. I was HUGE!!! But it is a lovely memory as now I have Summer here and all the uncomfortableness of pregnancy is a rose tinted memory ;0)

 I had planned a duck themed layout for these photos as I had specifically chosen this lovely pale yellow baby grow for Summer's 'going home' outfit but then I found this fab die cut paper in my collection and had to use this instead. I thought it matched the theme of the photos perfectly. Shame you cannot capture on paper how happy you were to leave your little hospital room ;0)

 And this final double layout uses some of the gorgeous snaps Sam took of Summer while I was still in the operating room. Sam left with Summer and the midwife as she was being cleaned up and dressed in the recovery room and he captured some beautiful shots of her as a newborn. I especially love the photo of her little feet beside her first nappy ;0) Would you believe these papers and embellishments were all free with a scrapping magazine. I usually discard the free A4 papers or add them to my family scrapping share box. But these just caught my eye and fitted my pages perfectly.

Right, thats me done for today ;0) Hope you all have lovely weekends planned and a very happy weekend of crafting to you all. Normal SU blogging service will be restored on Monday with some projects I have been working on.

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An Everyday Enchantment Hostess Thank You

I just wanted to share with you today a Hostess Thank You gift I made for my lovely hostess Andrea last week. I had seen this set on Pinterest and wanted a good reason to recreate it. So when I set about coming up with a Hostess thank you I thought this would be perfect, and it fits perfectly with this months Everyday Enchantment promotion.

Here is the thank you card I made using Tea Shoppe stamp set and the Everyday Enchantment papers. The colour scheme is Peach Parfait, Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade.



I created this teabag dispenser and filled it with calming fruit teas. This again is focused around the colours in the Everyday Enchantment paper and the stamp is from Tea Shoppe. The ribbon is Peach Parfait Poly Stitched.

 Here is a close up of the tea bag dispenser details. The flower on the top is made from two paper daisies stamped with Calypso Coral and Peach Parfait and sponged around the edges. The centre of the flower is an Antique Brad.

 If you have any questions or would like to take advantage of this months fantastic free ribbon and brad promotion please get in touch directly on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

Happy crafting ;0)
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Forever Young Card Class Make

Here is another of our card class makes from June's class. This was again inspired by Pinterest (how many hours have I lost surfing Pinterest for ideas to help regain my mojo after a couple of months away from crafting) and another Australian Demo.

I love this colour scheme: Island Indigo, Baja Breeze and Rich Razzleberry. I enjoyed working with the different layers and textures and it showcases the gorgeous Twitterpated papers (or one design from the set anyhow).

This card uses the Forever Young stamp set and the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

If you'd like to take advantage of this months fantastic freebies offer with a £45 purchase, please get in touch directly on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

Happy crafting

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Free Stampin' Up! ribbons and brads

During the month of July Stampin' Up! have announced a fab freebie offer with a £45 spend.

If you purchase £45 of products this month you will receive a bundle of brads and ribbon for free.

 These lovely brads and ribbons match the Sale-A-Bration papers, Everyday Enchantment, which are available to purchase for £9.95 for the month of July only.

To take advantage of this offer get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

Happy crafting ;0)
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