All that glitters is.... Gold!

Wow! Who knew gold tones would be so difficult to photograph! This card was a real labour of love to get a picture of. I love how it turned out though. This is another version of the washi tape card I shared on Wednesday. I used an old star punch in my stash to create the windows through to the fabulous Watercolor Wonder Washi Tape.

All demonstrators who attended Convention last year received this fantastic gold patterned washi tape and matching Sequin Trim as part of an all attendee giveaway. I've absolutely loved creating with the gold patterns. For this card I used Whisper White for the base card and layered with a little Brushed Gold cardstock to highlight the gold theme. 

I stamped the sentiment from the Sketched Birthday stamp set using my Metallic Gold Encore ink pad (I hand cut and then layered with a scrap of Brushed Gold card which I then hand cut to form another gold accent). The final touch was the So Saffron button from my Subtles Designer Buttons pot which I tied with lovely Gold Bakers Twine from the Spring Summer Catalogue.

And as a crafty bonus I thought I would share a lovely thank you note I received from a Sale-A-Bration hostess over the weekend.  It really made me smile getting a fab handmade note in the post.

The outside of the card had the 'pssst' from Happy Watercolour stamped on it.

This was what was awaiting inside the card. A fantastic pop up banner using the Banner punch which is yours for free with a qualifying £45 order during Sale-A-Bration (which runs to the end of March so get your order in asap so you don't miss out!). I love everything about this card and just had to share with you all!

If you'd like to find out more about Sale-A-Bration, please pop by my 'Promotions' tab at the top or drop me a line on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249. Sale-A-Bration is the best time of the year for ordering Stampin' Up! products. Who doesn't love a good freebie? 

Happy Crafting

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Gingham Garden Washi Wednesday

Hello lovely crafty readers.

How is your week going? Can you believe there are only a few days left of February left? Where is 2014 disappearing too? Not that I'll be sad to see Spring and Summer and an improvement in our weather.

And speaking of better weather and Spring around the corner, today's washi tape creation was inspired by a sunny day over the weekend. Seeing the sunshine breaking through the clouds made me want to create something bold and bright to match the sky.

For this card I used Melon Mambo and Whisper White layered and punched with the Blossom Punch, Pansy Punch & Petite Petals Punch. I picked these three punches as I loved the decreasing sizes and how well they all worked together.

To create the background I stuck strips of Gingham Garden Washi Tape (a bargain at £4.50 for the three colour designs) randomly so they would show through the floral windows. To finish the card I picked three fab Brights Designer Buttons from my pack and tied with Bakers Twine. The sentiment from Itty Bitty Banners was stamped in Melon Mambo, hand cut and then blinged a little bit with Basic Rhinestones.

I love the simple effect of washi tape through punched windows. You could easily customise this with any punch shape or washi design for any occasion. I don't really need any excuse to break open a pack of washi tape though. I just love it and use it most crafty sessions.

Thanks for stopping by today and please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249 with any Stampin' Up! questions, to place an order, find out about joining my team or hosting a party. I'm only too happy to chat craftiness or stamping.

Happy Crafting

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My Digital Studio Double Page Spread

Good morning crafty friends.

I've been busy with My Digital Studio over the weekend (I can just about manage to balance the laptop on my knees while the baby dances around reminding me we only have a couple more weeks before she arrives!).

I had fun looking through some holiday snaps from last year and creating this double page layout using the Number One Kit in MDS. This is an 8"x8" designer template within the programme across two pages (they look lovely side by side as the lines carry over the two pages). I loved how the colours worked so well with my Cornish Adventure pictures of Sam and Summer.

I can see My Digital Studio becoming my best friend over the upcoming months. I have so many pictures to catch up on (my scrapbooking is so behind) and will have a number of new pictures upcoming in the next few months with Summer becoming a big sis and our new little one appearing.

Here is another quick share, I created and shared this project yesterday on my Facebook page. If you'd like to follow me on Facebook you can find me at:

https://www.facebook.com/stampinupiow

I created this little page using the fabulous Sale-A-Bration freebie download (you can choose this free with a purchase of £45) Hooray for Parties. I love the little pennants and the gorgeous floral papers too. I loved how the colours matched what Summer was wearing (not that you can see, but trust me it was very complimentary).

Don't forget, if you are unsure about digital scrapbooking or cardmaking, Stampin' Up! offer a free 30 day trial of My Digital Studio. Just click this link to be taken to my online store where you can download your free trial today.

Please get in touch with any crafty questions. I'm always happy to help:

poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk 

or

01983 609249.

Happy Crafting 

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Hardwood Background Petite Petals Birthday

Good morning crafty friends. How goes your week? It has been a busy one here preparing for our new little one. I sent Sam in to the loft to recover the moses basket and other baby essentials. So I have been busy washing and prepping things for our new arrival. It really does feel like everything is ready, I really just need the baby now ;0) Oh and a name might be helpful. Hopefully Sam and I will agree on something in the next two and a bit weeks.

On our recent Pinkies Blog Hop to celebrate the Spring Summer catalogue I fell in love with this card by a fellow Pinkie, Caro. I decided to create my own version of the card using Baked Brown Sugar textured Coredinations cardstock, Very Vanilla cardstock and Naturals Ivory cardstock.

I absolutely adore the Hardwood background stamp. It is just so perfect for masculine or nature themed cards and is just so effective. I think this might be a stamp easily overlooked in the catalogue but it stamps so beautifully. The Hardwood background worked so well with the Petite Petals stamp set and punch  (available as a bundle here) to create this wreath window effect.

The colour scheme used for this card: Coastal Cabana, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Baked Brown Sugar and Naturals Ivory (for the stamped background). I also used Soft Suede ink for the sponge daubering of the edges.

I hope you enjoyed my crafty make for today. I'd be happy to help with any questions or queries about Stampin' Up! so please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249. And don't forget I also have an online store that is open 24/7:

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/stampinsarah/

Happy Crafting

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Vivid Vases Paper Piecing

Good morning and I hope your crafty week is going well so far. I am completely cream crackered after a busy weekend with my card class and family fun. Sam treated me to a lovely evening out for Valentines over in the West Wight at one of my new favourite places, The Freshwater Bay House. We had an absolutely lovely 3 course meal and a fun night out to boot.

 I have since been chilling with some cross stitch and lots of cups of tea to recover (my belly is now of such huge proportions that moving from the sofa is proving more challenging each day!). I haven't cross stitched in a long time so I am finding it very therapeutic. I am working on a blanket for my new little arrival (3 weeks today and counting!!). I'll try to get pictures to share in my next post.

Back to craftiness, today I wanted to share two of the projects we made at this month's card class. I absolutely love the Vivid Vases single stamp in the Spring Summer and had seen this fabulous card by Maria Theresa. I decided to give this a go for my class and teach how to use the fantastic Stamp-A-Ma-Jig for stamp positioning. As you can see from our version of the card we used just the Vases image from the stamp and repeated the stamped image (using Stazon Black ink) in rows, being sure to line up the images carefully with the Stamp A Ma Jig. The colours are taken from the Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Stack (Real Red and Coastal Cabana).

We used the Fresh Prints papers to paper piece the vases together (stamping the image directly on to patterned papers and cutting the vases from the patterns and attaching to our stamped base). We then coloured with ink directly from the ink pad using blender pens to give detail to the flowers. The frame was cut using the fab On Film Framelits Dies. The little banner was stamped and punched using the brilliant Banner Blast and Punch from our current Sale-A-Bration promotion (choose one item for free with a purchase of £45).

Now, you may, like me, love a stamp but have less use for the attached sentiment. Just as a quick tip I will show you how I have mounted the Vivid Vases single stamp to show that you can separate the image from the sentiment. When it came to mount the rubber I simply snipped off the 'You're A Whole Lot of Wonderful' and mounted on the end of the wooden block. I then mounted the main image as usual. I also snipped the sentiment from the mounting sticker and mounted this at the opposite end of the wooden block. A quick and easy way to give you more uses from your stamps.

At Saturday's class we also created a matching Sweet Dispenser using Real Red, Coastal Cabana and the Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Stack.

Here is the matching set together.

Thank you so much for popping by today and sharing in my crafty creations. Please get in touch directly if you have any questions about Stampin' Up!, placing an order, joining my team or hosting a party: poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249. 

I am taking a short break from my classes till April to celebrate my new arrival next month (and recover from my Op). But if you'd like to find out more about joining a card class I will happily let you know when I have a date booked in for Easter craftiness. Just get in touch and let me know your contact details and I'll be in touch once a date is in the diary.

Happy Crafting 

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Happy Watercolor Tags

Good morning lovely crafty friends. How has your crafty week been? I have been tucked away in the warm of my craft room working on my card class projects all week (lots of lovely pictures to show you next week!). So sorry blogging has been a bit slow but I've been super busy creating ;0)

I thought I would share with you some pictures of a recent workshop order (and this box contained an amazing £65 of freebies for my hostess too!). My favourite part of a workshop is delivery of the big box of goodies. I have them delivered to me so I can check everything and package the goods for my hostess. It also means I can create a little handmade card or tag to go with the order to say thank you for ordering. I really do appreciate each and every crafty order placed with me.

At last weeks party I demonstrated for a lovely bunch of crafty friends and we had fun creating with the Happy Watercolor stamp set. I wanted to create a quick and easy tag to attach to the workshop orders using the stamp set to say thank you.

This is what I came up with using my Scallop Tag Topper Punch and the watercolour stamps:

I love the absolute confidence I have in my White Craft Ink Pad for creating beautiful outlines even on Basic Black card. It made such a striking contrast for this tag. I was then able to finish with Real Red Ribbon to tie around the bag handle. I used my White Gel Pen for the name and some super sparkly Basic Rhinestones to give a little blingy finish to my tags.

If you'd like to find out more about hosting a party you can click on my 'Host a Workshop' tab at the top or drop me a line on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249 for more info. I'd be more than happy to chat you through the kind of projects we could create or talk you through the organisation of a party. I love demonstrating and sharing creativity so would love to chat to you about demo-ing for your craft group, friends or family.

Happy crafting

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Gorgeous Grunge Valentines

Good morning crafters.

Here is another project from our monthly team shoebox swap. This fab Valentines inspired card was designed by Charlotte using the Gorgeous Grunge and Crazy, Mixed Up Love stamp sets.

I love the messy effect of the inky splodge stamps in Gorgeous Grunge. A great effect achieved with no mess or inky fuss. And Crazy, Mixed Up Love is a stamp set I must have overlooked in the catalogue but I just love all the images in the set now, especially the little Bee. To find out more click on the picture below and you will be connected straight through to my online store.

The final element of this card that I loved making are the little spiral flowers. These are more distressed and grungy than the larger Spiral Flower Die roses. We created these by punching a small circle from cardstock and DSP and then ripping a spiral in to the circle. In the exact same way as the Spiral Flower Die you just wrap the spiral around and then glue down with a glue dot or hot glue.

If you'd like any more info on Stampin' Up! or our current promotions, please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249. I'd love to chat to you about our fantastic crafting products, or maybe you'd like to join my team too and purchase products with our Demonstrator discount (as well as potentially building a flexible crafty business). Just get in touch to find out more.

Happy Crafting

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Envelope Punch Board Party Gifts

Good morning and a very Happy Monday to you! Hope the weekend weather hasn't been too bad wherever you are. It has certainly been a wet and windy one here on the Isle of Wight. We've been tucked up warm, mainly watching Peppa Pig. Summer was certainly happy.

I thought I would share two Envelope Punch Board projects with you today. The Punch Board is still very much my favourite tool of the moment. It is never more than an arms reach away when I am crafting.

Today's projects are the two gifts I made for my Stampin' Up! crafty party on Friday. The envelope above was made from a full sheet of 12"x12" Watercolor Wonder Designer Series Paper and inside I had included lots of lovely handmade goodies for my hostess. To find out more about my hostess gifts, please get in touch to find out about booking a Stampin' Up! party. Every new hostess receives a party booking gift as well as a handmade crafty gift on the night (these are on top of the fantastic freebies you can earn with qualifying party sales of £150+).

This second envelope for my party Door Prize was made slightly smaller and decorated using the FAB Spiral Flower Die and Pansy Punch. Inside the envelope I included a handmade keyring, notebook and the package of Sale-A-Bration items below.

I made these little Sale-A-Bration samplers for my hostess club last month and made an extra one as a door prize for Friday. This includes some retired buttons as well as samples of the gorgeous twine included in the Sweet Sorbet Accessories Pack which you can receive for free with an order for £45 during Sale-A-Bration.

We had a lovely time crafting on Friday evening. I am very appreciative to each and every one of my hostesses and would love to chat to you more about hosting your own crafty party or ordering Stampin' Up! products. Please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

Thank you for joining me today and very Happy Crafting to you.

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Pinkies Stampin' Up! Spring Summer Catalogue Blog Hop: Fresh Prints Sweet Dispenser

Thank you for joining us on another Pinkies Blog Hop! We're showcasing lots of gorgeous projects using products from the new Stampin' Up!® Spring Summer Catalogue. Simply use the buttons at the end of each post to keep hopping!

I hope you've enjoyed the creative projects made by Lucy and thank you for hopping on over to the Isle of Wight for a little more Spring Summer catalogue inspiration.

For today's project I have taken my inspiration from the beautiful Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Stack from the new Spring Summer catalogue. I love the gorgeous colour scheme of these papers: Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Crumb Cake and Whisper White. Not a combination I would have immediately thought of but works really well.

 To create these mini sweetie dispensers I used a fantastic tutorial I found from Erica Cerwin. I thought they would make perfect little Valentines gifts for Sam and Summer. I used the beautiful papers with the Language of Love stamp set to create these embellished little treat boxes. Although they might need refilling as I'm quite partial to jelly beans!

Thank you for stopping by my little piece of today's hop and I hope you liked my Fresh Prints creations. Now hop onwards to Lizy's blog for more creativity and inspiration.

Happy Crafting

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Sweet Sorbet Thank You and Party Gifts

Good morning all. 

Hooray for Friday. It is nearly the weekend ;0) It has been a fab week here on the Isle of Wight. I've been given the date for the arrival of my new little one (coming in 4 and a bit weeks now *so excited*), had fun with friends at a crafty party, been swimming with Summer and generally been prepping for little Miss's imminent arrival. And the fun hasn't quite finished yet, I'm meeting with another group of crafty friends this evening for another fun Sale-A-Bration party!

I thought I would share with you today the crafty creations I made for Wednesday's Stampin' Up! party. The card above was inspired by this lovely Thinking Of You card I had seen on Pinterest. I loved the idea of using the Sweet Sorbet DSP (free with an order of £45) in this way, cutting the branch image from the design and using this as a focal point. 

I wanted to create a bolder colour scheme so I used Strawberry Slush as my base (my hostesses favourite crafting colour) and highlighted with Summer Starfruit (this fab twine could be yours for FREE with a £45 Sale-A-Bration order!). I also used the cork embellishments from the same Sweet Sorbet Accessory Pack under the stamped greeting.

The following two pictures show the gifts I created for my hostess and the for the party door prize.

I love the 1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon. It is perfect for wrapping and making gifts extra special. I also love reusing my empty stamp boxes to create little gift boxes. Inside I put a selection of little handmade gifts as well as lovely Stampin' Up! product too.

Here is the door prize: a little cardmaking starter kit filled with card blanks, DSP, an ink spot and a Celebrate stamp. 

We had so much fun crafting together and my hostess received a huge £40 in product freebies. If you'd like to host your own crafty party and receive a handmade hostess thank you gift as well as Stampin' Up! products for free, please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249 and I'll talk you through hosting a party (super simple on your part as I provide everything for your guests to make a crafty card or scrapbook page).

Or if you'd like to have a look at all the new Spring Summer catalogue products online and take advantage of Sale-A-Bration (a fantastic freebie with every £45 spent) please click through to my online store using the following link:

http://stampinsarah.stampinup.net

And you can see the Sale-A-Bration brochure by clicking the picture below:

Thank you for popping by this morning. Please pop back tomorrow for another fantastic Pinkie blog hop and some Spring Summer creative inspiration. I'll be sharing a lovely little Valentine's sweetie dispenser project ;0).

Happy Crafting

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Scallop Tag Punch Fancy Fold Card

Good morning crafty friends.

I've had a few enquiries about this card I created a couple of weeks ago and how to create the Scallop Tag Punch closure for this card. I was looking for a project to prep for my Sale-A-Bration parties this week and came across this beautiful card on Pinterest. So I decided to multitask, I have prepped this project for my parties while simultaneously putting a few pictures together to help you to create your own Scallop Tag cards.

Before I get to the tutorial, here are a couple more close up pictures of this Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Gold and Crisp Cantaloupe creation.

I am so in love with the Happy Watercolour stamp set and this fab watercolour effect background stamp. I loved adding the gold dot background and the extra shimmer with gold Stampin' Up! glitter (applied with a two way glue pen).

And for extra pizzazz I removed 3 sequins from a length of gold sequin trim and attached with Tombow glue.

To create your own cards with this fancy fold Scallop Tag Punch closure you just need the following instructions:

Start with a standard piece of A4 cardstock and cut in half (standard UK measurement 14.8cm x 21cm). For this card I have started with a Crumb Cake cardbase.

Mark with a pencil on both the 14.8cm sides at the middle point (7.4cm)

Push the edge with the pencil mark face down in to the Tag Topper Punch. By carefully positioning the card you can push over the top of the grooves which are there to guide the normal width of a tag. You then need to line up your pencil mark with the centre of Tag topper and punch. Repeat this for the opposite side and pencil mark.

Line up this punched edge in your paper trimmer. Trim off the excess pieces above and below the Scallop Tag punched shape. You then need to score the Tag Topper piece in line with the edge of the card to allow you to fold the Tag over as part of the closure.

You then need to repeat the trimming for the other side. However do not score this Tag as this forms the foldover decorated section on the front of your card.

You need to score the centre fold of your card by measuring 10.5cm from the scored Tag edge. This will give you a 10.5cm x 14.8cm inner section and the foldover section for the front (ready to be decorated). The picture above is technically upside down as the flap will foldover from the other side.

To decorate and layer I used a Very Vanilla insert measuring 14.5cm x 10cm and for the front layer 14.5cm x 5.8cm.

I hope this all makes sense. Please let me know if I can help with anything further on how to create your own Scallop Tag closure card.

Thank you for stopping by today and get in touch with any Stampin' Up! questions: poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249 / 07830 343830.

Happy Crafting

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Time For A Spring Summer Sale-A-Bration

Sale-A-Bration is the absolute BEST time of the year for ordering new products, hosting a party or joining as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. There are so many ways to qualify for fabulous freebies. 

The picture below shows you all the ways to get extra this Sale-A-Bration.

My favourite is the new recruit promotion. You can get £150 of product (choose any products from any of our current catalogues!) for just £99! I'd love to chat to you about joining my Stampin' Up! team, or you can sign up directly using this link. If you'd like to find out more about becoming a Stampin' Up! Demo whether just for product discount or to build an extra income through a crafting business, see the 'Join My Team' tab above.

To find out more about Sale-A-Bration and the new catalogue please get in touch directly:

poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk

01983 609240 or 07830 343830

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Watercolor Wonder Note Cards

Good morning crafters and a very Happy Monday to you.

I hosted an Open House this weekend to celebrate the launch of the new Spring Summer Catalogue and enjoyed sharing a selection of new products and crafty projects with the ladies that popped along during the day.

For our Make and Take project I designed several cards using the fabulous Watercolor Wonder Designer Series Note Cards and Envelopes coupled with the Happy Watercolor Stamp Set.

I love these preprinted watercolour effect notelets. They are perfect for adding layers and stamping to.

The colour scheme for our stamping was Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango. We added gold detail for the sentiments and dotted background with a Metallic Encore Gold Inkpad.

If you'd like to find out more about the products used for these cards you can clink on the links directly above or on the photos below which will connect you directly to my online store. Alternatively I will be more than happy to place an order on your behalf, just get in contact on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

Thank you for stopping by today and for joining me for a bit of Monday morning crafting. I had better publish this now and get on with getting Summer and I dressed ready for our Monday morning trip to playgroup. 

Please do not hesitate to get in contact with any Stampin' Up! enquiries or crafty question, I'm always happy to chat Stampin' Up! ;0)

Happy Crafting

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Language of Love Desk Calendar

Good morning crafty friends.

I am not sure what happened to my crafty post yesterday. It seems to have not published. Another scheduling miss on my part I fear.

So I am announcing our FAB new product today instead (what better way to celebrate the start of the weekend!). Stampin' Up! have launched a sibling to the Big Shot, the Texture Boutique Embossing Machine. If you click on the flyer below it will connect you straight through to my online store for you to find out more about this fantastic new tool.

I love the smaller size and portability of the Texture Boutique machine. It is perfect for taking to craft groups, parties and crops as it is light and easily packed away. It is quick and easy to use and is designed to fit our Stampin' Up! Embossing Folders perfectly.

I love that combined with a purchase of our 3 most recent Embossing Folder additions (Ampersand, Arrows and Scallops) you can qualify for the new and exclusive Decorative Dots folder for free as part of Sale-A-Bration! What a perfect time to invest in a fab new crafty tool for your craft space and creating.

And it wouldn't be a crafty weekend kick off without a quick project to share with you today.

This is another of our team shoebox swap makes. This project was created by Lorraine and I so enjoyed making this little desk calendar.  Although it wasn't until I came to take the pictures that I realised just how wonky it was! Oops, I'll blame it on the baby brain!

This project uses a Crumb Cake base with Cherry Cobbler layer and stamping. The hearts are from the lovely new Language of Love stamp set which is brand new in our Spring Summer catalogue (please see the sidebar to the left if you'd like to view the catalogue online, or drop me an email on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk if you'd like a paper copy popped in the post to you). I love how these little hearts can be stamped and punched with the Small Heart Punch (a bargain at just £5.75).

I hope you have lots of crafty loveliness planned for your weekend. I am hosting a new catalogue Open House today so I am excited to welcome lots of lovely crafters to mine for a cuppa and a bit of crafting. If you are in Newport at all, please feel free to pop in and say hello.

Happy Crafting

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