An Awesomely Artistic Dragonfly Flight from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

How are you enjoying the new Stampin' Up! catalogue? It has been live for 2 months and the firm favourite product amongst my customers so far has to be Awesomely Artistic. This stamp set has flown off the shelves and I have loved seeing what my customers have been coming up with. It is such a versatile set and the beautiful dragonfly is so detailed.

So in honour of the fantastic layering stamp set I have CASED this card from the wonderfully creative Michelle Zindorf over in the USA. She uses amazing layering, inking and blending techniques with Stampin' Up! stamps to create incredible effects and cards. Her blog really is worth a look.

For this card I masked the edges with a piece of scrap paper and washi tape. I used the lines of my grid paper to mark precisely where I wanted the lines to be. I then used a Stampin' Sponge and inked Pool Party for the sky and Pear Pizzazz for the grass. I tried to get an ombre style effect by sponging darker towards the outside and lighter towards the middle.

I stamped the floral image across the bottom in Memento Black and coloured with my Blender Pens using Rose Red and Mossy Meadow.

I finished by stamping the dragonflies again in Memento Black. I then added White Gel Pen to the wings to give that extra bit of definition (I then used a non-SU silver sparkle pen over the top for a little glitter).

I am off work now for a week so hoping for lots of crafting and creating. And also lots of fun and games with the girls (*fingers crossed* for some lovely weather so we can get to the beach and splash park). I look forward to sharing my makes with you next week. I hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy whatever you have planned.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

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A Garden in Bloom Birthday from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Good morning crafters. I have a special birthday card to share today. I made this for one of my lovely crafting friends. In fact she was one of my very first class attendees. She was purchased a place at my card class as a birthday gift 5 years ago.

If you've been following my blog you will have seen the Garden In Bloom stamp set featured a fair few times. I just love the simplicity of the watercolour effect and the two step stamping. This card was inspired by this beautiful creation from Chris in the States.

I made a little mistake in my stamping and picked up my retired Pistachio Pudding stamp set instead of Mint Macaron as I had planned. But I still love the effect.

The Whisper White panel uses Memento Black ink with Blushing Bride, So Saffron, Old Olive and Mint Macaron (imagine I had used Mint Macaron to match the coloured cardstock layer).

I added the dashed line with my Black Stampin' Write marker and the birthday greeting is from Cottage Greetings.

Pop over to my online store to see this weeks fantastic new Weekly Deals.  I love the Metallic Sequins and might take this opportunity to have a bit of a stock up ;0)

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

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A From Land to Sea Turtle Trio from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Good morning and how was your weekend? The Isle of Wight suffered a wet and grey weekend. Perfect weather for crafting but sadly a washout for the big events scheduled over the past couple of days. The girls and I battened down the hatches and made cake instead of braving the miserable rain. 

My crafty share today is another take on an earlier card I made featuring the stunning turtle from the From Land to Sea stamp set. I had shown my class ladies my earlier Father's Day Card made in a similar style and they requested I taught it in this month's class. I tried a different combination of colours to create the mottled water effect.

To ink the background I scrunched up my Whisper White layer and then applied the ink pads directly to the cardstock. I used Mint Macaron, Lost Lagoon (used sparingly) and Coastal Cabana. I applied each colour separately using a Stampin' Sponge to blend the colour before it dried too much. If you do each colour one at a time you can add more of the lighter colours to achieve the effect you would like.

To colour my turtles I first stamped in Memento Black and then coloured with my Blender Pens using Old Olive and Garden Green. For the sentiment I used the Happy Birthday from the Circle of Spring stamp set.

While the weather was pretty appalling over the weekend. My sisters and I had some luck when Saturday afternoon brightened up a bit. We had tickets to a concert in Portsmouth in celebration of the America's Cup. It was a lovely bright evening (if a little windy) to enjoy McBusted and celebrate with a Hawaiian shaved ice. It is a rare occasion to get all three of us together due to work commitments. It was a great evening and a fun show.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

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A Sprinkles of Life Cloud Pop Up Spiral Card from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Happy Friday. What a grey day it is here on the Isle of Wight. We have a weather warning due to heavy rain which may put pay to our lunchtime trip to watch the Red Arrows (Summer absolutely loves all things Red Arrow since we watched them perform at Cowes Week last year from Mum and Dad's garden). So what better way to celebrate a grey day than with an 'Every Cloud has a Silver Lining....' card using the Ronald McDonald House Charity Sprinkles of Life stamp set.

This card was inspired by a project made by a very talented French demonstrator Katia. Such a clever fancy card. You have to open it for the surprise.

It has a clever spiral pop up made from a circle punched with the 2 1/2" Circle Punch. You cut the circle in to a spiral and attach the spiral inside your card with two glue dots (one on the centre of the spiral and one on the alternative outer side of the spiral). If you close the spiral and close your card base you ensure your pop up with sit flat when the card is closed.

Once your spiral is secure you can attach your decorations. I have used clouds stamped in Encore Silver ink and punched with the Tree Builder Punch. But this style of card could be customised for any event or occasion by using pop up flowers, butterflies or any stamped image you fancy.

I punched Dazzling Diamonds Bitty Butterflies and glued them to the clouds for an extra bit of sparkle and texture.

For the front of the card I used Cherry on Top Washi Tape to create a flash of blue for the sky and added Metallic Sequins to represent rain.

Thank you for popping by today. I hope you have a lovely weekend ahead whatever your rainy day plans. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

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Circle of Spring Birthday Greetings from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Hello crafters. A bit later than planned for my crafty share today due to an unscheduled sick day for me and my family. Thankfully it all seems to have passed as quickly as it arrived and we're all on the mend.

So here is the project I planned to share this morning. A birthday card I created for a friend using Circle of Spring and the English Garden Designer Series Paper.

I stamped the Circle of Spring wreath stamp in Memento Black ink and then coloured with Hello Honey, Mint Macaron & Blushing Bride Stampin' Write Markers. I layered my wreath panel on to Island Indigo and raised with Dimensionals on to my English Garden panel.

The banner was stamped from the Endless Thanks stamp set and layered with the Birthday greeting from the Circle of Spring set. I finished with Subtles Candy Dots.

New Weekly Deals went live this morning. They are only while stocks last. So pop over to my online shop and have a look.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

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A Barnyard Babies 1st Birthday Card from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Good morning crafters.

How is your week going so far? I hope you enjoyed the lovely weather over the weekend? I had my fab ladies over on Saturday for my July card class. We had lots of fun creating and chatting.

I had a special 1st birthday party to go to on Saturday evening. My friends grandson lives on a farm and he was having a big party to celebrate his birthday. So I wanted to make a special card and knew the Barnyard Babies stamp set would be perfect.

This is what I came up with:

I used a cardbase measuring 10cm x 29.7cm. I scored the long side at 9.9cm and 19.8cm. This gives you the three panels to stamp and means the card will stand up on its own.

I then simply stamped all the animals and coloured with my Blender Pens and ink pads. I used the little banner from the White Christmas and coloured with my Island Indigo Stampin' Write marker (meaning I was able to not colour the Happy Christmas greeting). I actually stamped the banner first so I was then able to place the goat and sheep correctly with my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig. 

Just a quick reminder. My Christmas Craft Days are coming up in August. I have three spaces available for my Monday August 17th class. The class takes place from 10am-4pm at my home in Newport and is a fun filled day of crafting, cardmaking, fun 3d projects and basically everything you need to kickstart your Christmas Crafting mojo for 2015. Class cost for all materials and fun prizes is £25. Drop me a line on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk if you'd like to book your spot.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

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A Circle of Spring Stamped Mini Muslin Bag from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Good morning crafters. What a gloomy start to a Friday here on the Isle of Wight. I'm hoping it'll brighten up for a walk later. But in the meantime I am enjoying a peaceful morning snuggle with the girls watching Wall E (and simultaneously blogging too).

I have a project to share with you today that I made with my lovely Hostess Club ladies at our get together this month. For anyone belonging to one of my virtual clubs we get together every other month for a coffee and a crafty project. And for those that join from afar the project is mailed out with your order as a thank you for being a part of the monthly club. You can find out more by clicking the Virtual Clubs tab above.

This months project was a little different. We used the Mini Muslin Bags and stamped the beautiful Circle of Spring wreath.  We stamped the wreath using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. We then coloured with the Subtles Collection of Stampin' Write markers.

I used Pool Party, Blushing Bride, So Saffron and Wild Wasabi to colour my wreath. We then created a little tag using the Triple Banner Punch.  The greeting is from the Work of Art stamp set. We pegged the banner to the bag with a Mini Metallic Clothespin.

This is such a simple little gift bag and really fun to stamp and colour. This would be perfect for an end of term teacher gift or little gift packaging idea for jewellery or sweeties. I think the Mini Muslin Bags are a great addition to any crafters stash as they can be personalised for any occasion or event.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

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A Garden in Bloom Gift Set from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Good morning crafters. It is Weekly Deals Day. A perfect time to pick up some bargains including the fab Star Framelits for £18.00. I love these Framelits for all occasions but with Christmas crafting preparations starting very soon these are a great addition to your crafting tool kit.

As promised, I have my Garden in Bloom gift set to share with you today. I made this little thank you set for my weekend party Hostess.

I used Soft Sky, Island Indigo & Marina Mist to stamp the flowers matched with the English Garden Designer Series Papers.

For the sentiment I used the Cottage Greetings stamp set and added Basic Pearls.

I created a matching Thank You tag using the Scalloped Tag Top Punch which I added to the stamped candle I shared on Monday. A simple matching gift set.

Don't forget to pop over and have a look at this weeks Weekly Deals to see what bargains are on offer this month.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

Garden In Bloom Candle Gift Set from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

It is a new crafty week at Stampin' Sarah HQ and a fun week of craftiness ahead with classes and crafty get togethers. I had a lovely weekend catching up with some Stampin' Up! friends and sharing the new catalogue and all the goodies contained within with them.

Now the party is over I can share with you the candle I made as my Hostess thank you gift. I have gotten a bit carried away with the Garden In Bloom stamp set recently. Everything I have been stamping seems to feature this lovely triple stamping set.

I created these two candles using the tissue paper technique. I stamped the floral images on to white tissue paper and then wrapped the tissue around my candle and held in place with tightly wrapped greaseproof baking paper. I then used my heat tool to melt the wax a little and soak the tissue paper in to the candle. Such a simple technique but perfect for all occasions.

For the blue tone floral candle I used Memento Black, Pool Party, Marina Mist, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight ink to stamp my flowers and leaves.

I was really pleased with the way the candles turned out. My second attempt was a little more detailed and I forgot that the ink was still wet on my craft table so it all got a bit smudged. But Summer absolutely loved it and has adopted the bumble bee and butterfly candle as her own.

If you pop back on Wednesday I will share the matching thank you card and packaging for this card. I had so much fun designing the cute little set for my hostess at the weekend. Half the fun of prepping for a Stampin' Up! party is coming up with the gift set for my hostess.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

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A Garden in Bloom Gift Box from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Happy Friday Crafters. What a week it has been! Thank goodness for weekends and crafting with friends.

This gorgeous sunshine we have here on the Isle of Wight inspired me to create this little Garden in Bloom gift box. A perfect little box for anyone celebrating a sunshiny summer birthday.

This is one of my favourite stamping techniques- creating my own stamped Designer Series Paper. I have often had people ask me if Stampin' Up! now sell cardstock thickness DSP. When in actuality it is a design I have stamped myself. It is such a simple effect.

For this stamped box I used the Garden in Bloom stamp set with the following pairs of colours: Rose Red and Blushing Bride, Old Olive and Mint Macaron, Daffodil Delight and So Saffron, Pacific Point and Soft Sky.

For the Pear Pizzazz Base:

• Piece of cardstock measuring 6-1/8" x 8-1/8"
• Score around all edges at 1-1/16"
• Cut the corners and fold up in to a box

For the stamped Whisper White lid:

• Piece of cardstock measuring 6-1/8" x 8-1/8"
• Score around all edges at 1" (this makes the box slightly bigger so it fits nicely over your base)
• Trim 1/4" from each edge to make the lid slightly shorter (this will show your Pear Pizzazz base)
• Stamp your chosen design
• Fold up in to the lid shape.

I created the matching tag with the Note Tag Punch. I created the little banner using the Endless Thanks photopolymer stamp set. I cut the banner and layered over my stamped tag.

I finished the box with a length of Soft Sky ribbon and a couple of Basic Pearls.

I hope you have lots of crafty loveliness planned for the weekend ahead. I have made a little time to catch up with my Project Life album. I am hoping to continue that and bring it a little more up to date (it is currently floundering around Easter).

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

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A Farmers Market Recipe Book from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Good morning stampers. How is your crafty week going?

Have you seen these gorgeous Farmers Market Designer Series Paper? I just love these big bold kitchen garden style prints. I have had to buy an extra set just to keep and look at as I love them so much.

As soon as I saw these prints I knew they would be perfect for covering journals to make recipe books for my lovely Monthly Hostess Club ladies. We often share recipes and tips over cardmaking classes so I thought these little books would be perfect for keeping a note of shared recipes.

I used each of the designs to cover a set of 10 journal books. I then used the Awesomely Artistic stamp set to stamp the tag and the Simply Serif Alphabet to stamp the 'Recipes'.

I created a matching patterned pen by wrapping Bohemian Designer Washi Tape around a fab gel writing pen.

 

To finish I mounted the label on Dimensionals and then twirled Linen Thread to give a more rustic-y feel to the cover. 

As it is Wednesday don't forget to check out the new Weekly Deals by clicking below.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

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A Trio of Garden in Bloom Cards from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Good morning crafters and a very Happy Monday. What a beautiful weekend of weather we had here on the Isle of Wight. Perfect for another campervan adventure and cycle ride with the girls in their cycle trailer. I also hosted one of my special product based classes on Saturday. The class was themed around the lovely Garden in Bloom stamp set and matching English Garden Designer Series Papers.

The first of the projects we made was this trio of notecards inspired by cards pictured in the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue (a wealth of inspiration to be found amongst the pictures in the catalogue- sometimes when I am stuck for a little crafting mojo I turn to the catalogue as the cards and projects are often easy to recreate and spark your creativity).

This first card uses a layer of Vellum Cardstock layered over the gorgeous rose papers from the English Garden DSP pack. We simply stamped the greeting and butterflies in Memento Black and then finished with a little Linen Thread.

This card uses a Mint Macaron cardbase which we stamped with Mint Macaron ink (for the butterflies we stamped the outline of the butterfly by stamping directly to the card. Then the inner colour was stamped off first to give these different shades of Mint). The colours used for the flowers are: Blushing Bride, Soft Sky and Mint Macaron. 

 We added another layer of Vellum for the greeting and finished with Silver Metallic Thread.

The final card was a quick stamping project using the same colours as above with the addition of So Saffron and Wisteria Wonder. We added some sequin sparkles for an added bit of texture.

And here is the page in the catalogue that inspired these cards. The many pictures throughout the catalogue pages are such a great starting point for creating. As you can see I didn't case them exactly. I just used them for inspiration.

I hope you've had a lovely creative weekend. I have lots of crafty things to look forward to this week including my hostess club crafty evening on Wednesday and a fun Stampin' Up! party on Saturday. I look forward to sharing our crafty makes with you later in the week.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

-XXX- 

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Bonus Weekly Deals and a Clearance Rack Update from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Good morning and welcome to a fantastic morning of bonus Weekly Deals and product discounts.

This morning Stampin' Up! have announced a limited time expansion of the normal Weekly Deals. So for the month of July you can benefit from extra products at fantastic prices.

Starting with this fantastic selection of products including washi tape, punches, cardstock and ribbons. Click on the picture below for more information on the products.These products are available in limited quantities while supplies last.

New items have been added to the Clearance Rack today too. Some great punches, kits, embellishments and stamp sets to be found at prices up to 60% off their original catalogue price.

And before I leave you to explore all the lovely product offerings this morning, I wanted to share a quick Father's Day card I made for my girls to give Sam. I forgot to share this last week. I used the gorgeous Neutrals Designer Series Paper Pack as a background which I distressed and daubered with Soft Suede. I added the Happy using the Simply Serif mini alphabet which I punched and layered on to Island Indigo stars (punched with the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack). I stamped the 'Daddy' using the Layered Letters alphabet (stamped with Memento Black ink). The last detail I added were the shades of blue Candy Dots.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

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