A Garden in Bloom Summer Scrapbook page from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Happy Weekly Deals Wednesday! All new special deals are live today for the next week. Great products included this week including In Color Blossom Accents and my favourite Scallop Tag Topper Punch.

Today's crafty share is another of my week of scrapbook pages. This uses the Garden in Bloom stamp set with a variety of colours including Blushing Bride & Melon Mambo, Old Olive & Mint Macaron, Hello Honey & So Saffron. I thought this garden inspired set would be a perfect partner for my photos from one of the Isle of Wight's fantastic summer shows. The girls and I had a fantastic time pretending to drive the tractors at the Chale Show.

I created the banners with the English Garden Designer Series Paper (and I punched the pennant end with my Triple Banner Punch- so handy for getting a perfect punched end every time).

I love how simple this stamp set is to stamp and line up. The set comes in photopolymer and matches up perfectly with the assistance of a little tab at the top of each stamp which helps you to match up each layer of the flowers each time you stamp. It is so easy to get this lovely watercoloured effect.

I finished the page with this stamped and cut out flower embellished with a Metal Rimmed Pearl. I stamped my title with my Alphabet Rotary Stamp.

Pop over to my online store to see this weeks fantastic new Weekly Deals. 

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-

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Inking Embellishment Techniques

Welcome to my Thursday embellishment feature.

 

This week was my monthly team get together. I love the variety in all our crafting styles and getting together to do a shoebox swap to try out new techniques and crafting styles. The two cards I made this week are perfect for sharing as an embellishment feature.

This first card was Sandy's design. We used one of the fabulous Paper Daisies and inked it with a dauber to match the Coredinations embossed background (embossed with the Fancy Fan folder). I use these Daisies a great deal in my crafting. They are perfect to stamp on or ink to match your card or scrapbooking page. I love simple matching solutions as not having perfectly matching embellishments is a crafting bugbear of mine.

 

 

 This second card was designed by Charlotte and uses her favourite messy crafting technique of inking and spraying. I have always been a bit hesitant to try spraying as it seems to imprecise. I am, by definition, a straight lines and precise crafter. However, seeing Charlotte's lovely results I am daring myself to push my boundaries a bit (see the spraying on Tuesdays post as an example!). Inking and spraying is a fab embellishment technique (which could even be used in conjunction with the paper daisies above) as again it creates a perfectly matching background or feature. To create these sprays Charlotte has mixed water with the various Stampin' Up! reinkers in a Stampin' Spritzer and you simply spray your cardstock. Once dried you can stamp your images over the top (for this card

we used Flowering Flourishes with Papillon Potpourri).

I love both of these cards and I love trying out new techniques. If you'd like to find out more about joining my team and getting started with Stampin' Up! please get in touch or read more here.

And don't forget there is less than a month left to place your Sale-A-Bration orders. I have a few dates left for your Sale-A-Bration workshops so get in touch to book a date (poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249).

 

-XXX-

 

Make it Thursday: Pop Up Posies

Good evening and apologies for the late post today. I returned to work this week and things have been a bit hectic. And to be honest the moment I get home all I have wanted to do is cuddle my beautiful daugher (it is proving a bit of an adjustment for both of us!) and so uploading todays project has been a bit delayed.

 

Today I am sharing the fantastic new Designer embellishment kit from the Spring Summer Catalogue, the Pop Up Posies. I absolutely love this kit and designed my Open House project (above) around its contents. The card uses the kit paired with Papillion Pot Pourri (the stamped butterfly) and the new Honeycomb embossing folder. I love the simplicity of these fab embellishments and how simple they are to construct (the flowers are simply layered up and secured with a brad and you are then free to scrunch and texture the layers to give added dimension).

The kit itself looks like this:

 

And it even comes with its own lovely matching stamp for stamping the tags. This is such a versatile kit and only costs £11.95 (131295) for 9 handmade tags/embellishments PLUS the 'Just For You' stamp too. And while it may look strange to see those mini cupcake wrappers in the kit- they make the most amazing little paper daisies (complete with yellow fabric covered brads for the centre).

 

I thoroughly recommend this kit as the Calypso Coral, Pool Party and Very Vanilla floral embellishments could be used to accessorize a scrapbook page or greeting card or simply used as the kit intends to make beautiful tags for gift wrap.

 

Thank you for popping by today. I would love to help you with any of your Stampin' Up! needs or orders. Please get in touch with any queries or to place an order to be entered in to my 'Win A Big Shot' competition.

 

I'll be back bright and early on Saturday morning for my part in the Pinkie team's Spring Summer celebratory Blog Hop.

 

Happy Crafting ;0)

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)
-X-

Make it Thursday Layered Motifs

When I sat down to create a layout for today's Make it Thursday I was drawn to these beautiful papers in the current Autumn Winter Catalogue, the Orchard Harvest Designer Series Papers. These are only available to order until January 31st and I wanted to make the most of them while they are still current. I paired these papers with a set of Regals Designer Buttons to create the photo frame.

However, the focus is not on the page itself, but on the embellishments and how you can create your own page details without breaking the bank investing in ready made embellishments.

Today I am focusing on a triple detailed focal motif. Over recent months a great number of my pages have used this layered punch motif to create a perfectly matching series of embellishments (using your crafty punches means you can economically use up scraps of matching papers to always have a perfectly matching theme). For this page I layered a punched heart on to a circle and finished with a clear Bitty Heart Button to give a bit of added texture.

 Another recent page I created for a pre-Christmas scrapbooking class used this same triple embellishment motif with images punched with the Merry Minis punches.

 I also created a similar motif with miniature stamped Christmas images. I used this banner to embellish a section within a divided scrapbook page.

These are all simple examples of creating layered motifs for your pages. They are good for creating continuity throughout an album if you have a particular theme or colour within your album. They are also quick, simple and easy to match with the details of your page (by using complimentary papers you are guaranteed to have an instant matching embellishment). You can create this with any shape of punch and you can layer as many details as you like. I've had a sneak peak of the upcoming Spring Summer catalogue and there is a beautiful new butterfly punch which would work perfectly for this technique.

As you gain more confidence and practice more with scrapbooking you can experiment with your layers and textures. Covering chipboard with matching papers is another way of adding definition and texture to your page.

I hope this has given you a few embellishment ideas to try on your next scrapbook page. Thank you for stopping by today and I will be back over the weekend with some cards we made at our January card class.

Happy scrapping ;0)

=XXX=

Make It Thursday (a day late!)

Welcome to my first Make It Thursday (on a Friday!). I will be sharing techniques and ideas to make your own scrapbooking embellishments from Stampin' Up!'s fab products. Today's embellishment is a simple ribbon rose made from our crochet trim.

To start I used my Circles #2 Originals die (114526 £13.95) to cut a small circle from my double sided sticky sheet. For slightly larger embellishments Stampin' Up! have the perfect solution, ready cut Jumbo Sticky Rounds (127852- £4.50. These are pictured on the left and also perfect for making these exact embellishments). I also cut a length of the lovely Victoria Crochet Trim (118481- £6.25) which is perfect for making vintage style embellishments for vintage layouts or cards.

 I peeled back the top layer of sticky and created a point with my crochet trim which I stuck in the centre of the sticky circle.

 You can then begin creating your rose by twisting and sticking the ribbon around this central point. If you twist the ribbon as you go you get a nice textured and neat rose as you go.

 You continue to twist until you have the desired size ribbon rose (you can continue to the edge of your sticky circle, or trim the remaining sticky base once you have the size you want).

I continued right to the edge of my sticky circle and just snipped the remaining ribbon with my scissors and then tucked the end of the ribbon in to the side of the rose (ensure this is securely stuck to the sticky base or use a glue dot to make sure this doesn't come loose).

 To finish I used my Paper Piercing Tool (126189 - £3.50) to create a hole in the centre and pushed through an Antique Brad ( 117273 - £5.50)

 It is as simple as that and the beauty of using the Jumbo Sticky Rounds is that your embellishment can be peeled off and stuck straight to your desired project.

Here are two of these ribbon roses on a layout we completed in a recently scrapbooking class.

 And the finished page.

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If you'd like any further information on our products or to order any of the mentioned products used please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249. I place orders throughout the month or can place an order specifically for you for the postage cost of £4.95 (delivered direct to your door). Happy to help in any way I can.

If you would like to learn more about scrapbooking, I am holding my monthly class on Monday night (21st January) at 7pm. Get in touch for more info or to book your place.

Happy Scrappin'

-x-