Happy Valentines Day from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Good morning and a very Happy St Valentines Day to you.

I have a little bonus crafty make for you this morning. Summer and I spent hours yesterday hand crafting lots of lovely heart shaped choccies for all the family. We used a silicone heart shaped mould and filled the bottoms with lots of lovely pink treats from mini marshmallows to Eton Mess cake topping to freeze dried raspberries. We then melted white and milk chocolate and poured in to each mould and left in the fridge to harden. We were inspired by this Pin.

I should have taken a picture before we packaged them as they were beautiful (and very clearly heart shaped). The pictures don't do them justice.

Anyways, what would lovely handmade chocs be without handmade Stampin' Up! packaging. I set Summer to work with a Real Red ink pad and some Whisper White card and she expertly stamped the little bird from the Hey, Valentine stamp set. I cut round each bird and we mounted on to a tag with a little punched heart. We then popped our choccies in to a little Cello bag and tied with Bakers Twine.

It was as simple as that! Perfect little Valentines gifts for all the family.

And here are my two hard at work making the choccies. Well Summer was making and as you can tell from Sylvie's face she was busy eating our makes ;0)

Thank you for popping by today. You can find out more about the new Spring Summer Catalogue and Sale-A-Bration promotion by clicking here or by using the navigation menu on the left. This really is the most exciting time of the year to shop. New products and fantastic freebie rewards too. 

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 click on the links above to find out more about specific products) or get in touch directly and I  can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. 

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Gorgeous Grunge Valentines

Good morning crafters.

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

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

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

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

Happy Crafting

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Crafting

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Stampin' Up! UK Happy Watercolor In Colour Crafting

Good morning crafters.

A very happy Friday to you. It is so nearly the weekend. I hope wherever you are you have lots of lovely crafty plans for the days ahead. We are celebrating my Mum's birthday this weekend so taking a trip to the 'big island' tomorrow for a Starbucks and a bit of crafty shopping. Might even sneak a quick trip to some baby shops to start preparing for my imminent arrival.

I have another sneak peak project card to share with you today. Only 4 days to wait till the launch of the new catalogue and Sale-A-Bration. I cannot wait! So many lovely new products to create with.

This project is a card we made in my class last weekend and uses the Happy Watercolour stamp set from the new Spring Summer catalogue. This is a super clever stamp set as it contains this background stamp set that is designed to give this graduated watercolour effect. I love the simplicity of this layered brushstroke effect and it creates such a striking background.

After creating the background watercolour effect using Pool Party, Strawberry Slush and Pistachio Pudding, we then stamped the two floral images using the Flower Shop stamps (and matching Pansy Punch) from the main 2013-2014 catalogue and the new Petite Petals stamps (and matching punch) from the Spring Summer catalogue. We layered these floral stamped images and finished with a large basic pearl.

And a quick reminder, you only have 3 days left to order any of the exclusive Valentines stamps and products in the 'Whole Lot of Love' promotion. Please see my 'Promotions' tab above or click on the picture below to be linked to my online store. I have stocked up on the gorgeous little Monster Hugs for crafting with Summer. I just adore their little chocolatey hugs (and cute little bottoms too. See this post for more info).

Thank you for stopping by this morning. Please pop back tomorrow to join me in a Pinkies team blog hop. It all starts at 8am so hop on over to see lots of lovely blog hop inspiration using upcoming Sale-A-Bration products.

If you have any Stampin' Up! questions or would like to find out more about hosting a party or placing an order please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249. Or you can visit my online store using the following address:

http://stampinsarah.stampinup.net

Happy Crafting

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Stampin' Up! UK Sweet Sayings & A Sneak Peak

Good afternoon lovely crafters. Hip hooray for Friday ;0)

I got a bit carried away last night while prepping for my card class tomorrow. I decided I wanted to create a card using the beautiful Sweet Sayings printed card bases currently part of the Whole Lot of Love promotion. But I also received my fab preorder goodies from the new Spring Summer catalogue this week and had fallen in love with the Spiral Flower Originalz Die and wanted to have a go at creating some fab flowers too. 

I thought I would share a set of three cards I made last night all using slightly different techniques to create these beautiful flowers. And with only 11 more days until the launch of the new catalogue I thought it would be a perfect time to give you a little sneak peak of this fab die (and a bargain at only £15.95!).

I am feeling hugely inspired by the In Colors at the moment and just love the combinations of Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding and Strawberry Slush (a combo you'll be seeing again in the next few days). I found in my stash a complete pack of In Color Coredinations cardstock which was perfect for creating these spiral flowers. This first card uses three of the spirals to create three tightly wound  flowers. I used the Coredinations card but didn't distress at all before winding my spirals. I used a length of Pistachio Pudding Ruffle Trim around the card as well as secured under the flowers to create a leaf effect. I finished the card with the sentiment stamped in Strawberry Slush using the greeting from the Simply Sketched hostess stamp set.

From the close up you can see I added sponged Strawberry Slush ink to the flowers once completed to give a tinted edge to my flowers.

For my second and third cards I was inspired by a vintage flower tutorial I had seen online by the fabulous Patty Bennett. 

 Patty's tutorial used two colours of Coredinations cardstock together to create a distressed layered floral feature for a card. I used Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana for the first and Strawberry Slush and Crisp Cantaloupe for the second. Before rolling the spirals I first distressed the edges of the Coredinations cardstock with my Stampin' Sanding Block and used my bone folder to break down the fibres in the card to make it easier to roll the flowers. Once spiralled you just need to loosen the spiral a bit to give this fuller flower which you can then flatten and shape to give this more distressed feeling. I finished my flowers with a Boutique Detail and a Large Basic Pearl.

I think I have found my new favourite product in the new catalogue. I had so much fun creating these flowers and the spiral die makes life so much easier as the spirals are already cut for you (i used to spend ages punching circles and hand cutting before). The Spiral Flower Originalz Die can be ordered from January 28th (and will qualify towards Sale-A-Bration orders and freebies too!) so please add it to your Wishlist and let me know if you'd like to order. I'd be more than happy to help you with your Stampin' Up! wishlist and help you get the most out of current promotions.

And if you love the Sweet Sayings notecards, just a quick reminder, these are only available until January 27th so you'll need to get your order in quick to catch these before they are no longer available. Pop by the Whole Lot of Love page of my online store to see all the other lovely Valentines exclusives only available until January 27th.

Thanks for stopping by today this fine Friday. I hope you have a lovely crafty weekend planned. I am looking forward to my first class of the New Year and seeing all my lovely card class ladies again (and of course my Mum's lovely homemade marmalade cake she has made for us too).

Please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249 to find out more about placing an order, to get a copy of our current catalogues to browse at your leisure or to find out about hosting your own fun crafty party at home.

Happy Crafting 

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Monster Hugs

Good morning all.

I've had a super busy crafty weekend prepping for next weekends card class and having a play with lots of lovely new preordered Spring Summer Catalogue goodies. While I was going through my order I came across these lovelies that I'd ordered from the A Whole Lot of Love Valentines Day promotion. If you click on the picture above it'll connect you through to the promotional items on my online store. 

I just love these little Monster Hugs (they come in packs of 18 hugs for £5.50. You can either buy the boy hugs or the girl hugs). We were shown them at Convention and I just fell in love with them. Such a simple little Valentines gift for a loved one or for children to take to school with them. I found the little gold Lindt bear in my Christmas leftovers and thought they'd be a perfect hug filler for a little Valentines gift for Summer. The Monster bases have a length of sticky strip that you attach the chocolate to. Making creating these little cuties even easier (their hands then slot together to form the hug).

Here are a couple more shots of the Monster Hugs. I love their cute little drawn on bottoms and the big googly eyes (supplied in the kits along with the adhesive pink or blue hearts).

These Monster Hugs, along with all the other lovely Valentines products, are only available to order through to January 27th. So get your order in quick before they are all gone. You can either place an order direct through my online store (click here) or get in touch directly and I will be happy to help (poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249).

Thanks for stopping by today and pop back on Thursday for more Spring Summer sneak peaks.

Happy Crafting

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Stampin' Up! UK A Whole Lot Of Love Promotion

Hello to a new festive week here at Stampin' Sarah HQ.

I thought I would pop online and share the latest promotion from Stampin' Up! with you. This one is all about Love, A Whole Lot Of Love in fact.

The Annual Catalogue is a little bit light on Valentines stamps this year. And that was a deliberate move from Stampin' Up! so they could launch this special range of stamps and accessories for a limited time only (products available until January 27th).

We were shown a lot of these exclusive products at Convention. My absolute favourite of all of them is the little Monster Hugs treat boxes. They come in both boys and girls and would make perfect little Valentines treats for school friends of youngsters. I am investing in both sets to tuck away for Summer when she is a bit older.

Have a look at the flyers below for more information on the lovely products available including stamps, treat bags & notecard sets

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)
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Spring Is Here!

 

Welcome to the Isle of Wight and my little section of the In Love With Stamping blog hop to celebrate the launch of the new Stampin'  Up Spring Summer Catalogue. You should have hopped here from Michelle's blog.

 

I have been giving little sneak peaks of the new products for a little while now and I am super excited to be able to share everything fully now. If you popped by here yesterday you will have seen my technique idea blog post about puffy hearts, well here is the finished Valentines project. I am 100% sure my other half won't be reading by blog anytime soon (nor rooting around in my craft room) so I don't mind sharing his card here. I am back to work after my 10 months of maternity leave this week so I have had to be a bit more organised with my makings. When I saw the beautiful More Amore DSP and Fabric I knew it would make a perfect Valentines card.

 

I layered my three puffy padded hearts onto lace and ribbon from the absolutely beautiful Artisan Embellishments kit (I am having to order another kit as I have used my first on all the projects I have been sharing this week- it is so versatile as I used it for a scrapbook page, a birthday card and now a Valentines card!). The greeting is stamped from the Wacky Wishes Hostess set from the main catalogue (and cut using the Apothecary Accents Framelits).

I finished my card with large pearls and an itty bitty heart button.

 

While we are hopping I thought I would also share with you a couple of projects I made for a Hostess thank you at a recent party. I do not know how I missed these fab Kraft Gift boxes in the main catalogue. But upon ordering them they are just about my new favourite gift box. I covered this one with Tea for Two Designer Series Paper and wrapped with the gorgeous new two tone ribbon (Pink Pirouette/Rose Red). This was then filled with a mini taster box of products from the new Spring Summer catalogue including buttons, brads and ribbons (and a few added extras too!). 

Here is the thank you card I made to match the gift box which again uses the Tea for Two DSP, the fab Honeycomb Embossing Folder and the gorgeous new Flower Trim (another thing to add to my next order as I have been endlessly using the first 1.8m I purchased!)

Thank you for hopping by today. I hope you enjoyed my projects. Please continue the hop by popping over to Clare's blog.

 

Just a few reminders for my regular readers. My new catalogue Open House is tomorrow between 10am-3pm. I will have a copy of the new catalogue for all attendees as well as a goody bag prize draw and my extra special Sale-A-Bration promotion announcement for anyone placing a qualifying order with me before March 22nd (more info tomorrow).

 

Happy Crafting ;0)
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Make It Thursday: Stampin' Up! Fabric

Good morning and welcome to this weeks Make it Thursday embellishment idea.

I am feeling so inspired by all the new loveliness in the Spring Summer Catalogue that I am trying all sorts of new crafty techniques. I recently participated in a product share with my fellow team mates (another great bonus of being a Demonstrator!) and received a sample of the new Stampin' Up! pag fabrics. I had seen on Page 13 of the new Spring Summer Catalogue some lovely puffed and stuffed fabric hearts made with the More Amore Designer Fabric. I thought these would be a perfect embellishment to create.

 

Here are the tools I used for my puffed hearts (I also used thread- I had some Primrose Petals thread leftover from my Sweet Threads Simply Sent samples which I used). I used the heart framelit from the new Hearts a Flutter set of dies to cut two heart shapes with lovely scalloped edges. I then sew roughly around the edges with a backstitch to sew the two shapes together leaving a small gap to insert the stuffing. Once stuffed I then closed the hole and finished my complete puffed heart.

Here is the finished product. A puffy heart embellishment perfect for a card or scrapbook layout. A lovely added bit of dimension for any crafty project. 

If you pop back tomorrow I will be sharing with you the finished card I made using three of these puffed hearts and the beautiful More Amore Designer Series Paper. I am taking part in a Blog Hop to celebrate the launch of the new catalogue tomorrow so pop back for plenty of inspiration ;0)

And don't forget to check out Sale-A-Bration and all the lovely freebies you can receive if you place a £45 order or host a Stampin' Up! party ;0) I am holding my Spring Summer Open House on Saturday between 10am and 3.30pm please pop by to find out more about Stampin' Up! and all the lovely new products (and pop back to hear about my BIG prize I am offering for all qualifying Stampin' Up! orders placed during Sale-A-Bration!).

 

Happy Crafting ;0)
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