This was the most impossible card to photograph! You would not believe the struggles i had last night. And even then the photos aren't great.

Anyways, here is a new baby card I made for my gorgeous friend Hannah. I used All In The Family, the nursery letters wheel (retiring) & Fox & Friends. The main colours are Tempting Turquoise, Brilliant Blue & Green Galore. I also faintly inked the babygrow from the Level 2 Hostess Set in Turquoise as a background on the main card.

Funky Friday #70- 'Anything But A Square'

My work colleague had her baby early this past weekend so I didnt have as much time as I had originally anticipated to make her a card. But I decided to give it a go last night with the Funky Friday challenge in mind as I did so. This week's challenge was 'Anything But A Square' and you know what, as soon as I started, every idea i came up with had some sort of square in. But here is what I came up with. I designed this card to match the gift box/wrapping I already made for her when she left work on maternity leave.

For this card I used:

Stamps: Fox & Friends, Tiny Tags, Just Perfect Alphabet, All In The Family
Punches: Scallop Circle, 1-1/4" Circle, Heart To Heart, Word Window.
Ribbon: Certainly Celery 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon
Colours: Gable Green, Ballet Blue, Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip (Baby Outline)

If you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or would like to find out more about ordering any of the products above, please feel free to get in touch: poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 07830 343830.

Maternity Leave Gift

A colleague of mine is off on maternity leave tomorrow. I wanted to give her a little something to wish her well over her last few weeks of pregnancy so I bought a couple of Mum to Be products. Originally I wanted to make a gift bag or box for both products. But try as I might I couldnt find a piece of card stock big or strong enough. So I decided to personalise each product with a baby/good luck theme.

I wanted to buy something for her and a little something for baby Max too. Thats why I chose the Mum to Be cream and the baby bath soak. She is having a little boy so I coloured the wrappings to suit a boy colour scheme. For this I created a wrap for around the bottle. Using Versamark I stamped a star from one of the Christmas sets all over the wrap. I the punched the heart window using the Heart Punch and lined it up with the product logo. I punched the two stars on co-ordinating Designer Series Paper and hung them from the bottle with linen thread. I then finished the decoration off with Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon.

This was my favourite piece of detailing on the little mini pizza box style gift box I made. I used the Certainly Celery Grosgrain ribbon to tie up the box. I then used the mini tag punch to make these coordinating tags. I used a needle and the linen thread to set the tags into the bow and finished off with a button from the Latte set. The box was stamped with the 'Baby' stamp in the Tiny Tags set and various animals from Fox and Friends (stamped in Green Galore on co-ordinating textured cardstock).

If you'd like any further info on Stampin Up and their products, please do not hesitate to get in touch: poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 07830 343830.

A few crafty updates....

Spent yesterday in Bicester with my Mum. We went for a crafty day out at the Pink Ladies Quarterly Training hosted by my upline Michelle. Mum and I had spent the previous Friday designing and recreating 16 swaps to share with other demos at the training session. We decided on an Isle of Wight postcard theme using retiring colours; 'My fond farewell' swap as I called it ;0) I was really pleased with the result. I forgot to take a photo of the reverse which I had designed as a postcard complete with a Stampin' Up! stamp and address details for the Centre we were training at.

It was lovely to have a day out with Mum as well as meet other demos in the team. I was so pleased to win the second prize in the raffle. I've been umming and aahing over the 'Thank You Kindly' set for a while as I make a fair few Thank You cards so I was made up to be able to pick this as my prize. We worked on a mini scrapbook/flip album for the make and take. I chose to work with the Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin' which felt a bit weird as its only July. But I love those papers. Picture will be posted once I've done a bit more decorating and embellishing. The album is fairly bare at this minute.

For my swap (below) I used the 'Life's A Breeze' stamp set with Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion & Barely Banana Card Stock. I used my Bold Brights Stampin Writes and various punches to create this seaside postcard design ;0)

I will take some photos tonight of the lovely demo swaps I received in return ;0)


I have a jam packed crafting week this week with a workshop tomorrow and a card class on Saturday. I still have some prep to do for both so I'm going to be busy busy busy this week. Wanted to just give a little preview of some of the class and workshop projects i have been working on.

At the request of my lovely hostess Chris I will be demo-ing a variation on the A4 gift bag we made in last months card class. This is not the final version but one of my works in progress. I've used Orchid Opulence card with the Cottage Wall Papers. I have teamed this with the Flight of the Butterfly & Tiny Tags Stamp Sets, Rich Razzleberry Ink & Ribbon and the scallop punch. I'll post a clearer photo tomorrow once I've finalised the design tonight.

I've also put together designs for two of this months cards for my Saturday class. For my first card I was attempting a card for a man. I tend to fall to pieces a bit when crafting for the men in my life. So, using the Fox & Friends set (with embellishments from Tiny Tags) I set about creating a more masculine colour scheme. I used the Hostess Designer Series Paper in Mellow Moss with Brocade Blue and Chocolate Chip. I used the Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon (Choc Chip), the word punch and a sentiment inked from the 'Fun and Fast Notes' stamp set. I finished the card off with two brads taken from the Earth Elements colour set.
The second of my cards is one of my favourite creations to date. Mainly because it is my favourite SU colour- Pumpkin Pie (with a bit of Dazzling Diamonds thrown in for good measure). I used the Simply Said stamp set to stamp the background with Versamark. I then used Heat and Stick powder with my heat tool for the bold flowers to stick the glitter to the card. I embossed the outlined flowers with Versamark & White Embossing Power. I punched the heart with the large heart punch and used paper from the Pumpkin Pie designer series for the backing. I actually dont think the photo can do this card justice because of the glittered effects and the tone on tone use of Pumpkin Pie/White. I'm so pleased with this effort I may even be brave and post it to the gallery of InLoveWithStamping ;0)

Right, so I've given you a bit of a sneak peak into my crafty week creations. I'll post again with clearer photos of some of the other projects I have on the go......

Happy Crafting ;0)

-XXX-

Re-jigged Fox & Friends Card

It is my partner Sam's nephews birthday today. I am terrible at boys/mens cards. I tend to lean towards the girlier/glittery stamp sets and accessories. So a birthday card for a boy always proves a bit of challenge. For this card i decided to slightly rejig a card i have previously made using the Fox and Friends monkey stamp. I added 'Liam' using the Just Perfect Alphabet and circle punch. I was quite pleased with the result. I also went off on a bit of an envelope decorating tangent with the 'Life's a Breeze' stampset, purely because it was open on the table in front of me!! ;0)

I have been super busy craft wise. I am putting together some wedding invite samples for a couple of friends that are getting married. I have been having a lot of fun coming up with new ideas and trying new techniques. I am also keen to post my card class cards as I've been glittering & embossing like crazy at home. Would like to get a bit of feedback. But that will have to wait till next week now.....

New Baby Card

Have a few lovely friends expecting at the moment which got me to thinking about 'New Baby' cards. Decided to have a little play last night with my new 'Fox and Friends' stamp set. I created this card (one of my favourite cards I've made in a while actually).

To make this card I used:

• Fox & Friends Stamp Set (mini catalogue)
• Card stock: (main) Almost Amethyst & Whisper White. Animals (with matching ink): Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Blush Blossom & Apricot Appeal
• Greeting: Fun & Fast Notes Stamps (Lavender Lace Ink)
• Tea Party Designer Series Paper (Spotty- used for Greeting background)
• Whimsy Jumbo Wheel for main card background inked with Versamark
• Finished with Whisper White Satin Ribbon