Craft and Card Making Classes on the Isle of Wight: Afternoon Picnic Fancy Fold Sympathy Card

Good morning crafty friends. I was browsing (OK so I lost several hours!) on Pinterest for fancy fold cards for my card class last month when I came across this Fancy Flap Card tutorial. I thought this was such a simple addition to a standard card to make a fancy fold. Sadly I also had cause to create a sympathy card for a dear Demonstrator friend and wanted to make something a bit special for her. I combined the two and came up with this lovely gentle card creation.

I used the soon to retire Afternoon Picnic Designer Series Papers (items are selling fast on the retiring list. Order quickly before they are gone!) with a Pear Pizzazz card base layered with Very Vanilla and Wisteria Wonder.

The card base is a standard half A4 (14.8cm x 21cm). I cut the flap at 14cm x 12.5cm (the score line was at 2cm to create the hinge to attach to the back of the cardbase). I created the triangle by marking the flap at 7.4cm on three sides and cutting the triangular flaps off. I used my Square Framelits to create the window.

The bird image is from a retired stamp set called Elements of Style. The stamp is no longer available, however, you can still use the stamp brush set through My Digital Studio. If you colour your image and size it within the programme. You can then print on Very Vanilla and cut with your Framelits or Trimmer.

Click the image below to check all the items on the Retiring List. These items are only available for FOUR MORE DAYS. All items will be retired on Monday June 30th ready for the launch of the new Stampin' Up! catalogue on Tuesday July 1st.

Please get in touch with any questions or queries or please pop over to my Online Store for more information on all our products. Get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

Happy Crafting

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Telford Swap using Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio

Good morning and a very happy Saturday to you.

Now I don't normally post on a Saturday but I wanted to share a special project with you today. As you read this I will be swapping and sharing with fellow Demonstrators at our Regional Training Event in Telford.

I wanted to be able to participate in the swaps but have had very limited time recently with Sylvie arriving and Summer's birthday. So I decided to use My Digital Studio to design my 'Create' swap which I thought was perfect for a large group of creative Demonstrators.

For this swap I used two downloads:

• Walk in the Park II Designer Kit
• Define Your Life Stamp Brush Set

I then used the core kit elements:

• Top Note Die
• Creative Elements Stamp Brush Set

I specifically searched my online stores for downloads with the word 'Create'. I wanted to combine the fancy handwriting style Create from the Walk in the Park II kit with the definition from Define Your Life. I love how the elements combined with birds, hearts and butterflies to create this lovely little 4" x 6" postcard for fellow creators to frame or put on their craft space walls.

Once I had completed my design I exported my finished image and uploaded to a printing website (I used Snapfish for this) where I had my image professionally printed on to matte cardstock. If you look around at various printing service websites you can complete trials where they will offer free prints. I signed up and received 50 free prints with Snapfish.

If you pop over to Martin Lewis's website there is a tool there for seeing which sites are offering the best deals:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/free-photo-prints

Thank you for stopping by today. Please leave a comment to let me know if you swapped with me. I would love to hear from you.

You can order all Stampin' Up! products through my online store by click here or by clicking on any of the product links above. I will also happily order any products for you. Just drop me a line on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249 and I'll happily assist.

And don't forget to check out this weeks Weekly Deals to see what fab items are discounted for a limited time only (until Tuesday).

Happy Crafting

-XXX-

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-

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-

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 

-X-

Stampin' Up! UK December Days with My Digital Studio

Good morning crafters. Where is January disappearing to? January 10th already?! I really must start prepping for arrival number 2. Does it count as preparation to have bought several boxes of nappies? Roll on maternity leave so I can start all the baby washing and getting the moses basket ready for bubbas return home.

While Summer and I had a quiet few minutes this morning I decided to have a look at the new downloads in My Digital Studio. I found the fantastic Retro Fresh Designer Series Papers, Embellishments and stamps available for download. I received these papers as a sneak peak from the new Spring Summer Catalogue at Convention and I have used the whole pack already on lots of lovely pressies and projects over Christmas. When I saw them available in digital form I had to give crafting a go with them.

I decided to create a project from scratch using only the photo template option. I had this series of pictures from before Christmas and thought they'd fit perfectly with the 5 photo layout. I just love these papers and the retro feel of the arrows and colour scheme. I also loved matching the embellishment set with the papers. I had to restrain myself as there were a lot more embellishments I wanted to add. But they will have to wait for another project on another day.

I just love the simplicity of My Digital Studio, whether starting a page or card from scratch, or whether using one of the predesigned templates for a quick and easy crafty make. I am always left feeling very inspired after I've browsed through all the lovely embellishments, stamps and digital papers within the software. I cannot recommend MDS highly enough. 

If you visit the MDS page through my online store (click here) you can find the full version available for download (a bargain at £13.95) or you can download the free trial version for 30 days. The trial version is perfect for having a go at creating digital cards and scrapbook pages and getting to know all the features of the software.

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-

Stampin' Up! UK My Digital Studio Summer Love

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2014 and a whole new year of crafty inspiration. I hope you have had a suitably fantastic festive season and that your New Year has started well. 

New Year's Day is my birthday so I spent the day doing lots of lovely things yesterday. A crafty friend popped in yesterday morning with some lovely flowers, then my Mum cooked my favourite spinach and pesto lasagne for lunch, Sam treated me to a trip to see The Hobbit, and then the day was rounded out perfectly with Sherlock in the evening. All in all a perfect day of fun and family.

I'm a bit sad that the festivities are all over for another year now. But there is certainly a lot to look forward to in 2014 so I should probably start getting organised and ready for Poulton-Williams the 2nd. Sam and I should really agree on a name for her too ;0)

This morning I was seeking a little creative inspiration for some of my December photos of Summer using Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio software. I was looking through some of the Designer Kits I had purchased and I came across the absolute perfect kit called 'Summer Love'.

Within the kit was this photo layout all ready designed within the software which I thought would be perfect for some of my outdoorsy pictures of Summer enjoying the winter weather on the beach, feeding the ducks and playing with our dog Kala. It really is as simple as opening your photo files on your computer and then dragging and dropping in to the template. And voila, your page is finished. I always like to add a few embellishments of my own. But the templates are designed to give you a perfectly finished page with a few clicks. Perfect for a starter scrapbooker or for getting to know the software a bit better.

I just love the simplicity of My Digital Studio, whether starting a page or card from scratch, or whether using one of the predesigned templates for a quick and easy crafty make. I am always left feeling very inspired after I've browsed through all the lovely embellishments, stamps and digital papers within the software. I cannot recommend MDS highly enough. 

If you visit the MDS page through my online store (click here) you can find the full version available for download (a bargain at £13.95) or you can download the free trial version for 30 days. The trial version is perfect for having a go at creating digital cards and scrapbook pages and getting to know all the features of the software.

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-

Journal Your Christmas Week 1

Good evening all.

A bit of a late one from me today. And not entirely Stampin' Up! either. For those that have been regular followers of my blog you will know I take part in an annual scrapbooking class called Journal Your Christmas. Each day I get sent prompts to reflect on for the days journaling or photo taking. Normally I stick quick strictly to the prompts. But this year I have decided to make a guilt free, no pressure December journal without the frills and over the top embellishments. I am just going with the flow and enjoying the prompts for a creative kick start but doing my own thing with my pictures and pages.

This year I have simplified. I purchased an album kit which I had shipped over from the US complete with album, inserts, embellishments and divided page protectors. I decided that not every day in December will be entirely journal worthy so I'll make the most of the days I do have things to share and just capture the fun of the festivities. I wanted to keep my supplies very limited so I didn't get overwhelmed with pretty sparkly things. I have been beating myself up about the simplicity a bit. But actually I am enjoying the process and know i will love the result in years to come when I reflect back on it.

So here is the album cover. I couldn't resist a bit of extra sparkle in the form of some lovely gold sequin trim. To be seen in a Stampin' Up! catalogue near you very soon!

Each December diary starts with a Day 1 Manifesto. This year I didn't really write a manifesto just more of a reflection on what I hope to achieve through the creative process. I used My Digital Studio to create my opening 8"x8" mini scrapbook page. I loved the ease of using the digital design software to put this together and get such a professional result. I simply saved it to a SD card and printed it off an instant printing machine in Boots to include in my journal on the same day!

Page 1: A simple calendar intro to my journal ;0)

Day 1:

Quick and simple pages capturing a walk on the beach last weekend to welcome in December on an unseasonably warm December 1st. I love the happy pictures we captured of Summer enjoying running around picking up stones and chasing the tide.

 Day 2:

Capturing my handmade Advent Calendar (hopefully I can add to this year on year to show my calendars development).

 Simple page to include the years postage stamps. It is a bit of a tradition now to pop along to the Post Office to buy some single stamps to include in my journal. I also included a handmade card between these two pages to journal about my week as I didn't have too many photos to share. The second page captures Summer enjoying a trip to Mothercare (her own personal playground it seems).

Day 7:

Festive treats and another walk on the beach.

I love the simplicity of the divided page protectors and how easily I can put my very simple pages together. Summer doesn't allow me much free time for scrapbooking on a daily basis so its lovely still being able to produce my pages in a time efficient way.

 Thank you for popping by today and visiting Stampin' Sarah. Normal Stampin' Up! service will resume tomorrow ;0)

Please get in touch if you have any questions or queries about Stampin' Up! or My Digital Studio, I'd be only too happy to help: poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

Happy Festive Crafting ;0)
-X-

Stampin' Up! UK Favour Tin Advent Calendar

Happy December 1st to all my lovely blog readers and followers!

Let the festivities begin. I love December 1st as it symbolizes the official beginning of my Christmas celebrations. I have refused to watch Christmas films or click on the Christmas CDs. But from today, it is all fair game. And I should probably warn you (and my neighbours!) I did find the Muppet Christmas Carol soundtrack on offer in Tesco yesterday. That will be my festivity music of choice for the foreseeable future I am sure.

So with December 1st brings lots of traditions including my annual Christmas scrapbook album which I complete with prompts and ideas from Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class. This years album is suffering a slight delay due to a customs hold up. I purchased a lovely kit of bits from the US but it has yet to arrive so I'll probably have a mad catch up once everything arrives (I realise a kit is sort of cheating but with my time constraints with Summer and Bump, I tend to prefer stash restricted crafting for this annual project. It means I don't spend 3 hours deliberating over papers or embellishments and just get on and make something every day).

Anyways, enough of my chatter. I was talking about traditions and the date. Here is a new creation, and something I intend to make in to a new family tradition, my favour tin Advent Calendar. I have seen so many lovely examples of these on Pinterest and purchased all the tins in time for last Christmas. But I never actually had the time to sit down and create the bones of the calendar itself.

So yesterday, with a little help from my Mum, I actually set about creating:

 The calendar itself is made from a baking tray, some fancy Designer Series Paper (the spotty design is from Stampin' Up!'s Season of Style DSP) and 24 wedding favour tins (I found mine on Ebay). I punched circles in Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler and Crumb Cake and layered these with slightly smaller circles punched from the Season of Style DSP. I then used glittery Mod Podge to seal these circles into the inside of the tin lids (which have a pre cut and fitted thick acetate window lid).

I then stamped all 24 images from the sadly now retired 25 and Counting stamp set and punched with my square punch to layer on to the top of each tin. Now, while the stamp set itself may be retired, it is still very much available to use within My Digital Studio. Another of the great perks of using our MDS software, stamp sets never retire! You can find more info on purchasing these images through MDS here. To finish I glue gunned magnets to the back of each tin to ensure the tins stay put against the baking tray.

 Here is today's tin filled with a little chocolate-y treat for Summer:

And here is the little girl herself (complete with fancy Christmas jumper) finding her way in to today's tin:

A closer look at some of the stamped number images:

I had such fun creating this project and I am glad I made the time to create my calendar in time for December 1st. I have plans to add details to this calendar year on year to make it a living activity as Summer grows. I have plans for added embellishments and Christmas activity inserts as well as sparkle and glitter. Hopefully along the way Summer will be interested in joining in and adding her own little touches too. 

So I say again, Happy December 1st to you all and I hope you liked today's creative share. I look forward to being able to share the calendars evolution year on year ;0)

Thanks for popping by today. Please say hello and leave a comment. I have set myself a target to find new blogs to read throughout December with some creative makings, so leave me a comment and I'd love to stop by and say hello.

And if you'd like to find out more about any of the Stampin' Up! products used for today's creation please drop me a line on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249. Or alternatively pop by my online store which you can find here:

http://stampinsarah.stampinup.net

Happy Crafting ;0)
-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-

Stampin' Up! UK Warm Holiday Wishes

Good morning crafters.

Thank you for joining me this lovely Autumnal Thursday morning. Today is an exciting day for us in the Poulton-Williams household as we have our 20 week scan this afternoon and *fingers crossed* we can find out what flavour our new little one is. And today is 2 years to the day since we had our 12 week scan with Summer. What a coincidence ;0)

So as promised I have been having a play with some of the lovely new promotional downloads in My Digital Studio. MDS is proving an even bigger time waster for me than Pinterest. Once I start looking through all the content and then start matching up my photos I get lost in a scrapbooky daze. If you haven't had a look at My Digital Studio yet, I strongly recommend giving it a go. You can download a free trial version here and find all the promotional downloads here. 

This project uses the Warm Holiday Wishes Photocard Template currently part of the 30% off promotion at the brilliant price of £1.05. It is one of MDS' fantastic photo card templates ready for you to add photos to and then print either at home or through a printing service. And voila you have a ready made family greeting card to send to friends and family.

I cannot sing the praises of MDS highly enough. It makes scrapbooking quick and easy with the potential to print and add 3D embellishments to. It also makes projects such as photocards and postcards with the personal touch so easy to create and print at home.

I have so many festive projects to share with you over the upcoming weeks. They are all ready and waiting to be photographed so I can upload them here. I have been having a fab time playing with the festive packaging bundles (click here for more info) and creating gifts for my upcoming party hostesses and door prizes for attendees.

I have a new Hostess Code for you for orders placed before November 16th. If you place an order online add the code below to your order and I will add your name to the draw to win the hostess benefits for the order (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-

Scrapbooking Made Easy with My Digital Studio

Here is another quick and easy scrapbook page I created with the fantastic new software from Stampin' Up!, My Digital Studio.

For this I used a template within the programme and simply dragged and dropped my photos in to the template. It is as simple as that. The software is so easy to use and creates beautiful pages, cards, mini books, albums, tags... you name it, you can create it within My Digital Studio. Using all Stampin' Up! colours, papers, stamps, shapes, punches and embellishments.

The software is available through my store and costs ONLY £13.95 for the download (directly downloaded to your computer) or you can take advantage of the 30 day FREE trial. Again this is available through my online store.

And it doesn't end there, there are lots of additional affordable downloads available through my store to add to your MDS collection (the downloadable version comes with lots of usable kits, layouts, papers, stamps and punches). So if there is a must have stamp you need for a digital creation you can purchase it online and download it straight to your computer.

If you'd like to find out any more about MDS or Stampin' Up!, please get in touch directly on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or visit my online store to see more of the products available.

Happy Crafting

-X-