Mothers Day Sunflower Celebration

Hello all and a very happy Monday to you all. I'm posting a lot later than originally planned today but my life seems to be a whirlwind of medical appointments at the moment and I haven't had a second to post all day. I hope you all had a lovely weekend and to all the Mums and Nanas, I hope you had a very relaxing Mothering Sunday.

Today I wanted to share with you the card I made for my sister to give my Mum for Mothers Day. I had seen variations of this Banner Punch flower all over Pinterest and wanted to give it a go and create a Designer  Series Paper sunflower. I looked through my stacks of different Designer Series Papers and settled on these lovely Daffodil Delight coloured papers from the Quatrefancy Speciality Designer Papers. I simply punched a big pile of Banners using the fabulous Sale-A-Bration freebie punch using two different Daffodil Delight designs. I layered the Banners up and attached them to a punched circle (punched from the Natural Composition Speciality Designer Papers).

I finished with a flower cut from the Natural Composition papers and layered with a Bright Designer Button.  The leaves were created by punching a Pansy in green patterned paper and cutting the flower to form leaf shapes. 

The 'Happy Mother's Day' sentiment was stamped using the Teeny Tiny Sentiments and punched with the Word Window Punch. I attached the sentiment to my Daffodil Delight 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon bow using a tiny length of Bakers Twine.

I hope you enjoyed my crafty share today. I really enjoyed creating this punch sunflower and even more making it for my sister to give our Mum ;0)

The Banner Punch will be returning in the 2014-2014 Annual Catalogue. But today is your last chance to receive it for free as part of Sale-A-Bration. Simply visit my online store today by clicking here and spend £45 before 10pm tonight and you can choose the Banner Punch (or one of our other Sale-A-Bration exclusives) for free. 

If you have any questions or queries about my crafty project today or about placing a Stampin' Up! order please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

Happy Crafting

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Easter Chick Punch Art Treat

Hello and welcome to another cold crafty day here on the Isle of Wight. We are frizzly cold. Where did the lovely sunshine go from a couple of weeks ago? Still the forecast is looking a little better for the weekend so fingers crossed we see the sun again soon.

Here is another little Easter Treat for a March crafty day. This was designed by Lorraine, one of my downline team, for our last crafty shoebox swap. I love this little punch art chick (and I love the choccie eggs even more! Sadly these were spotted by Summer so never made it as far as Easter! In fact in my post-operative recovery state there has been very little chocolate that hasn't been eaten as it keeps my strength up. Thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!).

I love using these 1"x8" Cellophane Bags for seasonal treats. They fit lots of different shape and size choccie treats from Mini Eggs to Skittles to M&Ms. You can create a topper with punches or a mini card to seal the top. Bobs your uncle, a quick and easy seasonal treat or table gift.

Here is a close up of the punch art chick which uses the Scallop Circle Punch and various sized circle punches to create the eyes and body. The beak is created using the Small Heart Punch. This is a really quick and easy little chick to make and is perfect for a little Spring or Easter treat.

Thank you for popping by today. If you'd like to find out more about joining my team and coming along to our team monthly Shoebox Swap please pop by the 'Join My Team' tab at the top of my blog. Alternatively, please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249 to have a chat about Stampin' Up! and the flexibility of building a crafty business around your life and commitments.  And don't forget if you sign up during Sale-A-Bration (until March 31st) you can customise your starter kit by choosing £150 of product for the bargain price of just £99!! There really isn't a better time to join the Island Inkers.

I have been with Stampin' Up! for over 4 years now and I have built my crafty business around my employed job as an Admin Manager. I have also continued to run my classes and demonstrate for local craft  & community groups, women's groups & friends and family around having two babies. Stampin' Up! is flexible around your free time and can easily be fitted to your needs. You can sign up as a hobby demo (ordering at a discount for yourself) or you can set yourself targets to build it up to a full time career. There is no pressure to do more than you want to do and it really is a lovely company to be involved with. I'd love to chat to you about it, so please get in touch with any questions.

Happy Crafting ;0)

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Best of Stamp Sets......

Good morning lovely crafty friends.

I just wanted to post today as a quick reminder that the fantastic Best Of stamp sets are only available for another 6 days until the 31st of March. 

I love all of these exclusive 5 stamp sets which were released to celebrate the Best of Stampin' Up!'s 25 years. And best of all these stamp sets are just £13.95 each (clear mount only).

To find out more about these sets please click here to visit my online store. And if you were to pick 4 of the 5 sets to add to your crafty collection you could also pick a Sale-A-Bration freebie to go with your order too. Only 6 more days to take advantage of our Sale-A-Bration exclusives.

Best of Butterflies

Best of Shelli

Best of Sale-A-Bration

Best of Christmas

Best of Flowers

And here is my favourite make with my favourite image from the Best of Flowers stamp set. I love this silhouette stamp and think any of these stamp sets are a fantastic crafty essential at a steal for £13.95.

Thank you for stopping by today. Please visit my online store to find out more about all our products. And don't forget to choose your Sale-A-Bration freebie if you spend £45 or more (excluding P&P). Alternatively get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249 to place an order direct with me.

Happy Crafting

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Easter Basket Surprise Gift Box

Good morning and a very Happy Monday to you all. How is the weather in your part of the world? We have lovely bright sunshine here on the Isle of Wight (interspersed over the weekend with some serious hail stones!) so have made the most of it by taking the girls out to the park and to the beach. Sylvie doesn't seem to appreciate it quite as much as Summer does just yet as she continues to mainly sleep her days away (but I am not taking this for granted! Sam and I are both enjoying this quiet phase before we have two loud littlies running around the house).

Today's crafty project is a lovely little surprise Easter Basket. The surprise comes when you take the lid off and open the basket to reveal the contents. I found the template for this basket over on Tanya Bell's blog, a very talented Australian Demo. I recommend checking out some of her fantastic tutorials as she has some great 3D item ideas.

Here is the lid off. The lid is decorated using the Floral Fusion Sizzlits Die which is one of my current favourites for Easter. I love how all the flowers fit together in lovely layers. I secured the handle with a Candy Dot Brad Base and a Subtles Candy Dot.

Here is the basket completely opened out. See what I mean by an Easter surprise? I absolutely love this project and the simplicity of creating a little garden within to hold a mini Lindt gold rabbit. I made this one and have tucked it away as an Easter gift for Summer.

To create the grass around the rabbit I used my fantastic new Fringe Scissors. I was a bit hesitant to invest in them to begin with but now I am hooked on using them to create grass borders, perfect for Easter and Spring projects.

A close up on my favourite detail, the choccie rabbit surrounded by daisies created using the Itty Bitty Punch Pack and the Heart/Beak from the Owl Punch. The stamping around the edges uses the Heart and Flower stamps within the Banner Blast stamp set (for 7 more days you can get this stamp set for FREE with an order of £45 or more as part of Sale-A-Bration!! Click here for more info).

The colours I have used for this project are:

Chocolate Chip

Crisp Cantaloupe

Crumb Cake

Melon Mambo

Pink Pirouette

Pistachio Pudding

So Saffron

Whisper White

Embellishments:

Subtles & Brights Candy Dots

Subtles & Brights Designer Buttons

Crisp Cantaloupe Ruffle Stretch Trim

Punches:

Itty Bitty Punch Pack

Scallop Ribbon Border Punch

Owl Builder Punch

Other:

Floral Fusions Sizzlits Die

Fringe Scissors

Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder

Banner Blast Stamp Set (free with an order of £45 placed before March 31st)

You can find all the products you need for this project through my online store.

If you click here or on the picture above you will be connected straight through to my store where you can browse all Stampin' Up!'s current products. It will take you to the Sale-A-Bration page for details of our current promotion (only one week left to take advantage!!!)

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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My Digital Studio Special Delivery Scrapbooking

Morning crafters!

I'm a day later than anticipated with my My Digital Studio make today. I had an idea in my head of wanting to create a page with two newborn pictures of Summer and Sylvie to show how similar they are as littlies. So I set about creating a baby page within My Digital Studio. I found in my downloads that I had all the component parts of the Special Delivery Subtles Kit which is designed to be used for baby layouts. So it was perfect for the page I wanted to create.

I started with a two picture 12"x12" Photo Only Designer Template (a blank template with space to drag and drop your pictures in) and then built the details of the page around the photos. This is the first time I have played with the many punches within the MDS software. I used the Full Heart punch to create the photo filled heart and resized to fit my page. The more I play with the functions within MDS the more user friendly I realise it all is. I was a bit daunted to begin with but all the elements are so simple to use. And even better, there is a simple undo button, so any changes you make that you are not happy with can easily be undone.

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 -X-

Easter Treat Bonnets

Good morning and a very happy crafty Monday to you.

I hope you have had a lovely weekend. Wasn't it lovely to see a bit of sunshine? We celebrated Sam's birthday yesterday with a little trip to the seaside with Summer and Sylvie. Summer had a whale of time at a local playground before going home for a big slice of birthday cake.

Today's crafty project was inspired by some beautiful Sweet Treat Cup Bonnets I'd seen over on Vicky's blog. What a simple yet seasonally perfect project for a quick and easy Easter gift. I just love how quickly they come together and all you need is:

• Sweet Treat Cups
• 2 1/2" Circle Punch
• A length of ribbon
• Flowers to decorate (mine were punched with the Itty Bitty Punch Pack)
• Coloured cardstock (I have used Daffodil Delight, Pistachio Pudding & Pink Pirouette)
• Treats to fill

 

These really are incredibly simple to make. Punch a circle in your chosen coloured cardstock, fill your treat cup, remove the glue liner around the edge and stick the cardstock circle in place. Finish with ribbon and flowers. And voila, a perfect Easter gift!

You can find all the products you need for this project through my online store.

If you click here or on the picture above you will be connected straight through to my store where you can browse all Stampin' Up!'s current products. It will take you to the Sale-A-Bration page for details of our current promotion (only two weeks left to take advantage!!!)

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-X-

Happy News

Well what a lovely week. Hope you've enjoyed my scheduled crafty project posts. I have been somewhat tied up with my lovely news. I am so excited to have the time to sit down and share some pics of my lovely new arrival with you all.

Sam and I were happy to welcome our new little girl, Sylvie Grace, in to the world on Tuesday. She was 1oz shy of her sisters birth weight at 9lb but a lot bigger than the 7lb something they'd predicted at my growth scan (I just had to look at my belly to know she was never going to be a tiddler!)

 As you can see from these family pictures, Summer is loving her big sister hugs and is taking her new role as protector (and Sylvie kisser!) very seriously. It has been an absolutely lovely week and Sylvie and I are both doing really well (I was very relieved to only be kept in for one night- my recovery is being greatly aided by being at home with endless cups of tea and Sky+).

Thank you for stopping by today. I have lots more craftiness to share with you over the upcoming weeks. Lots of chocolatey Easter inspiration. But please bear with me if I don't get them posted in a timely manner!

And if you wondered how I put together the birth announcement at the top of this post, I used a fab (and super quick and easy) Designer Template within My Digital Studio. This download is the Nursery Additions Designer Template Pack (127342, £1.50). I dragged and dropped my photo in to the template and voila, a perfect MDS birth announcement.

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 

-X-

Wild Wasabi Crocodile Gift Box

Hello and welcome to another crafty day at Stampin' Sarah. This is a scheduled post so no exciting news to share with you just yet. But rest assured I will be posting photos of our new little girl just as soon as I am home.

Today, as promised, I am sharing these fab little crocodile gift boxes. I'd seen this box on Nadine Weiner's blog (a German Demonstrator). However, I think the translation went slightly awry as I made some mistakes on putting the larger croc box together (it should have had slightly smaller front and edges to allow for the teeth when closing the box). So I decided to have a go at making a smaller baby croc box and correct the mistakes I'd made with my first attempt.

I also thought this little set would make a perfect gift for my cousin's little boy who has just welcomed a new baby brother to the world.

These boxes are incredibly simple to create as they are based on a simple mini pizza box design. 

To make the mini baby croc I started with a 10 x 16.5cm rectangle of Wild Wasabi cardstock. I scored along the 16.5cm side at 1.5cm, 6.5cm, 9cm and 14cm. I scored along the 10cm side at 1cm, 2.5cm, 7.5cm and 9cm. You then need to cut your score lines as below (the bold black lines) and also cut a 1cm strip off your two edge panels which will form the top lid of your box (shown below as the two stepped pieces cut on the left hand top and bottom edges). This 1cm strip cut out allows you to comfortably add teeth to your box and close it securely.

To finish the croc face I used a panel of Pistachio Pudding Coredinations cardstock which I ran through the Big Shot using my Decorative Dots Embossing Folders (yours free for a few more weeks with an order of £45 during Sale-A-Bration! Get your order to me before the end of March to qualify for the extra lovely freebies!). I sanded the panel with my Stampin' Sanding Block and then inked the edges with Old Olive ink using a sponge dauber. I layered this on to a panel of Old Olive Ink. I create the eyes with punched circles of Wild Wasabi which I cut a small slit in to which I shaped round to give the 3D effect. For the larger box I finished the eyes with smaller circles punched in Whisper White and Basic Black. For the baby box I used googly eyes from my retired Stampin' Up! stash.

The final detail to give the croc definition is to stamp a border using your Scallop Edge Border Punch and a 2cm strip of Whisper White. Once you have your scalloped strip using sticky strip or Tombow you can secure the right lengths to the top inside of your box to create the crocodile teeth.

If you'd like to have a go at the larger box also you can follow the translated instructions on Nadine's blog. She uses a 16cm x 29cm rectangle to begin with which then creates a 10cm square croc box.

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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Blessed Easter Greetings

Good morning crafty friends. 

Thank you for joining me this fine March day. As you are reading this I will be dashing around like a madwoman trying to get all the last bits ready for our new arrival tomorrow. Wish me luck! ;0) 

I have been busy planning and crafting lots of lovely seasonal projects to share with you over the upcoming weeks and Easter has been the centre of all my craftiness. This little card was inspired by this card I'd seen on Pinterest. I love the bold colour combination (Daffodil Delight, Old Olive and Melon Mambo) and how it felt very Spring-like. So I set about giving it a go myself.

I used a Melon Mambo card base and a Quatrefancy Speciality Designer Series Paper layer.  I then coloured the Blessed Easter stamp (a steal at just £10.95. And it can also be separated like in this post so that the image and words are separate allowing use of the tulips all year round) using my Brights Stampin' Write markers. I always make sure to 'huff'' (don't know how else to describe this, I guess breath over my coloured stamp says the same thing) over my stamp before stamping when I colour like this just to ensure it is moistened enough to give a good stamped image. I finished with coordinating Brights Candy Dots just for an extra little embellishment.

I made a whole stack of these cards in preparation for this months Hostess Club orders. I have an Easter themed gift to include with the orders and wanted a card to match. Having a new baby has definitely made me plan and organise my time a bit better. That and having a lot of time on my hands due to my massively expanded belly and inability to move from the house for very long at a time.

Thanks for joining me today. Please pop back on Wednesday where I will be sharing a fab tutorial for making a crocodile gift box. Here is a little sneak peak.

I would love to welcome you in to one of my hostess clubs. I have spaces available in my upcoming Stampers 10 club starting in April. You would need to place an order of at least £15 per month for 10 months and receive the hostess benefits one month and any extra freebies/promotions that I can share between the club on a month by month basis, as well as a little extra handmade gift from me with your order each month (plus a copy of any new catalogue that goes live during your 10 months, which would include both the main Annual Catalogue and Autumn Winter Catalogue for this new April club).

For more information please pop by the 'Virtual Clubs' tab at the top of my blog. I would love you to join in and to welcome you with a little hello to the club gift. If  you think you'd be interested in signing up, please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk and I can provide a bit more information.

Please get in touch with any questions about Stampin' Up! or today's project. I'm always happy to chat craftiness.

Happy Crafting

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Happy Watercolor Layered Card

Happy Friday Crafty Friends.

Here is a quick Happy Watercolor layered card I CASED from this one I found on Pinterest. I loved the layered stamped element (one of my favourite techniques- I'm always impressed with the simplicity of the technique but the 'Wow' impact of the stamping over the layers).

I used the floral stamp from the Happy Watercolor set stamped in Gold Encore Metallic Ink over the Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla layers. I then added the sentiment from the Simply Sketched Hostess stamp set  (stamped in Soft Suede) with a row of Basic Pearls to finish.

I love the simplicity of this card and the little but of glamour using the Gold ink pad. Quick and easy for a simple birthday greeting for a friend or loved one.

Thanks for popping by today. I really appreciate your visits. Things might be a little quieter on the blogging front over the next week or so. I have a couple of fab projects scheduled for you while I am in hospital next week. But please bear with me. Normal service will resume once I'm home and we've settled in to some kind of new routine (!!).

Happy Crafting ;0)

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New Baby Card in a Box

Good morning and welcome to another crafty Stampin' Sarah! day.

To any of my Facebook followers, you might have seen a sneaky peak of this card over the weekend. I couldn't wait to share it with you but needed to ensure the card was winging its way in the post before I blogged it here. My cousin had a baby last week. He arrived a bit earlier than anticipated (we were due within a week of each other!) but is happy and healthy and doing super well. 

Using a Pool Party base and the fab tutorial I found over at The Serene Stamper I set about creating this pop up card. The colour scheme is Pool Party and Soft Suede (with a touch of Wild Wasabi for the hearts). The Designer Series Paper is the Retro Fresh papers in the Spring Summer Catalogue.

All the pop up elements were stamped using two stamp sets, Baby, We've Grown (LOVE those owls!) and Zoo Babies. I stamped each outline stamp in Soft Suede and then coloured with my Blender Pens and ink pads.

I needed to create an extra little baby boy owl to complete my cousin's family so stamped the image again and cut the smallest owl removing the wings and feet so it looks like a swaddled baby owl.

I love this layered 'Brand New' image from the Baby, We've Grown set. It is designed to match the Starburst Framelits Dies which I have yet to purchase so had to improvise with a small scallop circle instead.

Here is the card from different angles. I created the Congratulations banner using the Itty Bitty Banners stamp set and handcutting the layers using Whisper White and Pool Party cardstock.

And one final view of the card. I love how these pop up box card fold flat to allow you to post them in a standard envelope. So easy!

Thank you for stopping by today and hope you enjoyed my crafty share. Please get in touch with any questions or queries about my project or Stampin' Up! I'd be only too happy to help you with placing an order, any product queries, information on hosting a crafty party or joining my Stampin' Up! crafty team: poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

Happy Crafting 

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Sweet Sorbet Hostess Club Gifts

Good morning crafters and friends. How was your weekend? Hope you had a good one. We briefly saw sunshine on the Isle of Wight. But sadly it was replaced with wind and rain yesterday. I've been more than happy to stay tucked up indoors getting some crafting done and hibernating until Poulton-Williams the 2nd arrives next week.

One of the projects I worked on over the weekend was my hostess club gift for February's orders. Mum recently picked up these fantastic note pad blocks from Tesco. They were perfect for covering in Stampin' Up! papers and embellishments to include as a thank you to my ongoing hostess club ladies. It is one of the crafty highlights of my month making an extra little something to include with the orders. I'm already working on something to include with March's bags too.

I covered each note pad block box with Sweet Sorbet Designer Series Paper (free with a Sale-A-Bration order of £45- don't forget Sale-A-Bration ends this month! So get your orders in before March 31st to qualify for your fantastic freebies).

I wrapped each lid with a length of Natural Chevron Ribbon and secured with a Regals Designer Button. I created the embellishment using Summer Starfruit, Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe & Pool Party cardstock punched with the Blossom Punch, Pansy Punch and Petite Petals Punch. The layers were secured with an Antique Brad. 

The last detail I added was the small monogram stamped with the Occasions Alphabet stamp set and punched with the Petite Curly Label Punch.

I would love to welcome you in to one of my hostess clubs. I have spaces available in my upcoming Stampers 10 club starting in April. You would need to place an order of at least £15 per month for 10 months and receive the hostess benefits one month and any extra freebies/promotions that I can share between the club on a month by month basis, as well as a little extra handmade gift from me with your order each month (plus a copy of any new catalogue that goes live during your 10 months, which would include both the main Annual Catalogue and Autumn Winter Catalogue for this new April club).

For more information please pop by the 'Virtual Clubs' tab at the top of my blog. I would love you to join in and to welcome you with a little hello to the club gift. If  you think you'd be interested in signing up, please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk and I can provide a bit more information.

Please get in touch with any questions about Stampin' Up! or today's project. I'm always happy to chat craftiness.

Happy Crafting

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