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-

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 

-X-

Stampin' Up! UK My Digital Studio Jingle and Joy Creation

Happy Monday Crafty Friends and Followers.

If you follow my Facebook business page you will have seen this My Digital Studio page on my wall over the weekend. It was my first proper 'from scratch' page I'd created and I was so chuffed with the result. I love this photo. It was taken last Christmas when we took Summer along to her first Christmas Christingle Service at my Mum and Dad's local church. It was so lovely and festive and I caught up with an old school friend there. I love Summer's little facial expression in the pic.

Currently Stampin' Up! are offering a brilliant selection of MDS festive downloads at 30% off till the end of November. I treated myself to a few of the bundles of papers and matching embellishments over the weekend and this was my first festive creation using the lovely Jingle and Joy Kit which includes (for the bargain price of £5.57):

* 33-piece SVG stamp brush set*

* 12 Designer Series Papers 
* 19 embellishments

Features:
* Digital-exclusive
* A perfect kit for your December Daily album, photobook pages, cards, and more
* Great for both winter images and Christmas-themed projects

Colors:
Basic Gray, Calypso Coral, Gumball Green, Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla

And don't forget you can also download a free 30 day trial here of My Digital Studio from my online shop to see how the software works and to see how you get on with digital creating.

If you decide to place an online order for any Stampin' Up! products add the code below and I will add your name to the draw to win the hostess benefits for the month's combined orders (with a minimum of £25 in hostess freebies):

V99TUSS2

Please get in touch if you have any questions about todays project or My Digital Studio, about placing an order or about Stampin' Up! in general. You can contact me on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

Happy Crafting

-X-

An exciting announcement

So if you've been wondering why things have been a little quiet on the crafty front recently, here is the answer. I am expecting another little Poulton-Williams. I am currently just over 14 weeks so things are getting a little easier now and I'm not feeling as green all the time.  But trying to find time to craft during the first 3 months while balancing a 16 month old, nausea and exhaustion proved somewhat challenging.

But as you can see, expecting another little one is a perfect excuse to have another go with MDS (My Digital Studio). I never need much excuse to scrapbook and I found this template within MDS that was perfect for our 12 week scan photos. This is exactly why I love the software so much, it holds premade templates within it which you can insert your photos in to if you are pressed for time. Or you can create from scratch if you have a bit more time.

You can find out all about My Digital Studio and purchase the software to download through my online store. Click here for a direct link. It really is a bargain at £13.95 (or download the trial version free for 30 days!).

Please get in touch with any questions or queries about MDS or Stampin' Up! I'll try my best to answer (or find the answer for you). You can contact me on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249. 

And please bear with me if things are a little hectic here. Pregnancy is definitely a different experience second time around with a little one on the loose to chase about the place.

-X-

Sweet Treat Christmas Cards

 At my recent all day Christmas crafting days my ladies had the Sweet Snowglobe stamp in their goodie bags along with two Sweet Treat cups. I designed these two cards for my ladies to use their stamp set and give them sweet treat ideas.

 

The first card is Bashful Blue, Garden Green and Real Red themed. We coloured the Sweet Snowglobe using Stampin' Write markers and then filled the cup with a little flaked glitter to make snow. I had to use an alternative snowflake punch for the embellishment, however, I have it on good authority that the new Stampin' Up! seasonal catalogue due to be released on Saturday features a rather lovely snowflake die.

 

The second card was Whisper White and Baja Breeze themed. The embossing folder used for this is Northern Flurry and I was given this last year from the US catalogue. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this makes it in to our new main Ideas Book in October.

I can't resist sharing this pic with you today. My Mum has been busy knitting for Summer. I'd asked for some seasonal hats for her and she started with this FAB pumpkin hat for Halloween (although I love it so much she'll be wearing it on every cold day from here till Christmas I reckon). Anyways, yesterday in full blown baby model mode, Summer gave us some beautiful expressions as we snapped away at her. Cannot wait to sit down and scrap the results as they are just too lovely (even if I do say so myself).

Happy Crafting (and I hope you all had a lovely bank holiday)

-X-



A little bit of crafting

A while ago I posted about how Mum and I had spent a crafty day making up a batch of birth announcements/thank you cards for Summer's arrival. This was a few weeks before Summer was born and we made them so that all they needed was a photo to finish them off. Well last weekend I finally ordered some newborn photos of Summer to finish the cards ready to write and send out to all the generous and lovely people who have sent flowers, cards and gifts for my little Miss. More through luck than judgement I was able to order wallet sized prints (3" x 2") from Photobox and they fitted the So Saffron layer perfectly.

So the birth announcement was made with Whisper White, Rose Red and So Saffron cardstock and the Bundle of Love stampset. I used my blending pens to create the watercoloured effect with the bootees, rattle and rubber duck. I combined this with Stazon black ink to ensure the colours didn't run with the outline image. I embossed the cardblank with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder and stamped polka dots using Whisper White ink and the Dot Dot Dot background stamp onto the Rose Red layers. I finished with a strip of Blushing Bride Poly Stitched Ribbon and a tag punched with the Decorative Label Punch and stamped with the 'Bundle of Love' sentiment.

I dont think the photo quite does the card justice. I am a bit behind with the housework at the moment so couldn't find somewhere nice to stage this pic. I am so pleased with how they have turned out. I just need to find the time to sit down and actually write them all out (I managed to address all the envelopes in advance!)

And just to post a few updates on my beautiful Summer. Here are some further highlights from her first three weeks:

A picnic in the garden with her Aunties and Nana ;0)

Using her bouncy chair for the first time.

A fun family portrait. I suddenly realised I had no pictures of the three of us so asked Mum to snap a few of Sam, Summer and I last week.

It has been a super busy week with lots of visitors and I'm finally a bit more mobile so have been out walking with Summer. I spent ages going through all the photos from her first couple of weeks and loading them up to Photobox. I spent a small fortune ordering lots of prints for me and the family. I can feel a mammouth scrapbooking session coming on to catch up on everything......

Happy crafting all and a fabulous long Jubilee weekend too ;0)

-XXX-

Bundle of Love for my Secret Stork

 I'm not sure what happened with the colours in todays photos. This card is actually created using Pretty In Pink cardstock but in this photo it seems to have taken on an orange-y hue.

I am taking part in a Secret Stork with a Facebook group for ladies having babies in May. I wanted to create a baby themed card to go with my baby pressie. The lady I am sending to is expecting a girl and I have bought several pink items to go in the parcel. This card coordinates perfectly.

I created this card using the Bundle of Love stamp set paired with my various sized circle punches. I punched circles using Rose Red and Melon Manbo to make the most of Stampin' Up!'s coordinating pink shades. I coloured the details of the baby images with my Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write marker. I then used a paper ribbon from my stash (the Stampin' Up! crochet trim would work just as well) and embellished with the large size Basic Pearls.

This card looked like it was going to go very wrong as it was originally created as a 15cm x 15cm square card. I stamped the images across the whole card but it just didn't work properly. The layout was all wrong. So I cut the card in half and scored down the centre (creating a 7.5x15cm card instead).  I used the circle design for the front of the card and the pram and hearts are the reverse of the card. Dividing the card up like this worked so much better and I am much happier with the result.

Now all I have to do is pack up the parcel and pop the card in and its all set for posting.

Hope your Wednesday is going well. Hump day is nearly over ;0)

Happy Crafting ;0)

-X-

My little lady

Here is a lovely little break from my JYC. Today was my 20 week scan and we went along to see how our little Miss or Mr was getting on. We had a lovely sonographer who was super chatty and talked us through every little detail of  the scan. She showed us all the organs (even saw the baby's brain!!!) and showed us the measurements of the leg bones. It was truly fascinating. And in true to our little ones form they were wriggling around a good'un. I think the sonographer might've woken them up and so there was a lot of wiggling and stretching going on.

Sam and I held off asking about the gender until almost the end of the scan when I caved in and asked (I had briefly toyed with staying yellow earlier this afternoon). She had a good look around and there were no bits to be found so she said with 95% certainty that we are expecting a little girl. So my bargain Maxi-Cosi purchase last week in Coral (it looked red in the catalogue I hasten to add) was a premonition after all. I suddenly have an overwhelming urge to go baby girl shopping..........

Here are the scan pics. SO much better than the 12 week ones......

What a treat for a cold and rainy Tuesday ;0)