Everyday Hero

I am going to regularly share a product or two that I currently really love. I don't know about you, but I can have a new favourite every day, at least!

When I first saw the "Everyday Hero" stamp set, I knew there were going to be several members of my family that would appreciate projects created with these super stamps. They are fans of the Marvel films and love a bit of superhero action.

It was an obvious go to stamp set when my son-in-law celebrated his 30th birthday last weekend. I have made a variety of these styles of pop-up box cards over the years and it seemed the perfect style to create the illusion of city skyscape with a "Super Stuie" emerging from between the buildings. 

I stamped the buildings several times and snipped pieces off to build up the city. I coloured the super hero with stampin' markers, using a watercolour pencil to give me a soft skin tone. The stars on the background were created with the confetti stars border punch. The happy birthday came from the "Birthday Banners" stamp set using the coordinating "Bunch of Banner" framelits. For the "Super Stuie" sentiment I used the incredibly versatile "Labeller Alphabet" and the numbers were cut using the "Large Number" framelits.

If you are interested in any of these products, you can shop on-line, or contact me directly.

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

I was really pleased with the result. A wow card for a super guy on his special birthday.

And I have to give a huge shout out to some other very creative people; the folks who created this fabulous KFC bucket cake. Everything except the board and cocktail sticks were edible. It was amazing. You can find Amanda and Carol's Facebook page here. Do check them out.

Now, it is time to think about Christmas. I have had a few ladies express their desire to try and make a couple of cards a week over the coming month, so that by the time Christmas comes round they are all prepared with lots of home crafted cards for all their friends and family. To assist them in their quest, I have set up a special Facebook book called "Christmas Quackers", where we can share inspiration and motivate each other, If you would like to join in, click here and ask to join.

Hope to catch up with you again soon

Helen

xx

Embossed Delicate Details

So Sale-a-Bration and the new Spring/Summer catalogue are well under way and we have been playing with some of the new offerings in my classes and gatherings over the last week.

There are some really useful stamp sets in the free Sale-a-Bration offering this year and the "Delicate Details" is no exception. It consists of a selection of 5 long border stamps with lace details. Perfect for so many borders and edges on cards and scrapbook pages. 

For my card, however, I wanted to use it as the main feature. I layered all the stamps up on a large acrylic block and stamped them, with Versamark, at the top of my piece of whisper white card and then stamped it going the other way on the bottom of my piece of card. I then selected a couple of the strips and stamped them in the centre to give a continuous lacy pattern down the card.

I then sprinkled clear embossing over the images and heated the powder with my trusty Stampin' Up heat tool.

I let the powder cool for a minute and then got out my selection of blue inks and matching sponges. You could of course use any colours, or combinations of colours. I used Dapper denim, Marina Mist and Pool party. I sponged Dapper Denim on the top and bottom, then blended in the Marina Mist and finishing with Pool party in the centre. I burnished it with a piece of kitchen roll to remove any excess ink from the embossed areas.

I cut some sections from the new lace doilies (these are vanilla on one side and white on the other). Using the white side, I placed one on the card as as it was and sponged the other with dapper denim ink before sticking it on. I wrapped some dapper denim ruched ribbon around the card and added a small bow on top, fixing it with glue dots.

I stamped the sentiment from the new "Suite sentiments" set onto a piece of pool party card and punched it out with the decorative label punch. I then punched a second decorative label from marina mist card and cut it in half and trimmed it slightly and layered it underneath the pool party piece. I mounted these onto the card front with dimensionals and added a self adhesive metal rimmed pearl as a finishing touch.

I then mounted the whole card front onto a card base I had created from half a piece of A4 Dapper Denim cardstock.

If you think you may need this stamp set in your collection, remember you can only get it as a free gift when you place a £45 for any other items from the current catalogues. Do take the time to browse the catalogues to check out all the fabulous stamps, dies, punches, papers, inks and so much more.

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

I look forward to being back with you soon. Meanwhile, happy crafting.

Helen
xxx

Celebrate Sale-a-Bration

The New Spring/Summer Catalogue has launched and there are some fabulous products in it. Don't take my word for it - take a look for yourself. You can check out the catalogues from the links on the right hand side of this page, or go to my online shop here

The "up, up and away bundle" is just one of the beautiful new offerings from the Spring/Summer catalogue, with the 12"x12" pack of co-ordinating designer series paper that is one of the choices from the Sale-a-Bration brochure. Order the bundle and the cardstock and get the paper for free.

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

Of course, this catalogue isn't the only thing launching today. We also see the start of Sale-a-Bration, Stampin' Up's largest annual promotion. There are three ways of benefiting from Sale-a-Bration.

shop!

Here’s the deal: for every 60 €/£45 you spend (before shipping and handling), you get a FREE Sale-A-Bration product. That means it’s the perfect time to purchase those products you’ve had your eye on while earning more products for free. If you spend £90 you get 2 and so on.

host!

Need another excuse to get together with friends? Just host a qualifying party with at least 275 €/£200 in sales during Sale-A-Bration and you’ll earn 27 €/£20 more in Stampin’ Rewards! You can even apply your Stampin’ Rewards towards a Starter Kit and become a demonstrator yourself!

join!

It’s the best time of year to join Stampin’ Up! During Sale-A-Bration, you can become a demonstrator for just 129 €/£99 and choose TWO additional stamp sets for your Starter Kit—any stamp set, any price! (Excludes Sale-A-Bration sets and bundles.) Plus, the kit ships for free!

So many good reasons to get involved. Get in touch if I can help you with any of this. If you would like a paper copy of either the Spring/Summer catalogue, or the Sale-a-Bration brochure then do get in touch.

Helen

xx

Trendy succulents.

The second stamp set that I received to create my display pieces for Telford was called "Oh so succulent". If you look around you will see succulents all over the place. They are very on trend. I saw some fabulous glittered ones in the run up to Christmas. 

I searched pinterest for succulents to get ideas for colour palettes to use and so in this 3D project I used shades of green and pink and yellow.

I now know that there is a set of dies to coordinate with this set, but mine were all cut by hand.

The box was created by stamping the hardwood background stamp onto crumb cake card. The metallic bands and screws were created from copper foil. The sentiment was embossed with copper embossing powder. The little hand trowel comes from the "gift from the garden" stamp set.

This little gift bag was made from the gold foil acetate and then one of the succulents was stamped and embossed in gold on a strip of wild wasabi card and a wild wasabi tag that was die cut using the "tags and labels" framelits

A variety of succulents were stamped on the centre panel of this card in tip top taupe and cucumber crush. The side panels were attached with dimensionals to give them some height, Some pearls were added to the centre panel and some linen thread swirled behind the sentiment banner.

I used sweet sugarplum for the succulents I stamped in this jar with a "Happy Mothers Day" greeting that comes in this set. The jars from the annual catalogue are so versatile and you can fill them with all sorts of things. A few sequins were scattered over the background of the card and some of the sweet sugarplum ribbon from the succulent ribbon duo set wrapped around it. Some dsp and old olive card were added to make up the mats. 

My final project using this set was a 8"x 6" project life page featuring pictures of Mike and I on our wedding day ( we celebrated our 30th Anniversary last May) and on our daughter's wedding day in 2014. I used the lovely sentiment from the succulent set- "The best love story is the one you make together". I also used some of the stamps to decorate the background of the pocket I created. The wooden embellishments are featured in the new Spring/Summer catalogue and they are gorgeous.

I think this stamp set is going to be very popular,particularly when it is teamed up with the dies and I look forward to creating lots of other projects with it.

Here are a few of the products I used from the annual catalogue:

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

Tomorrow sees the lauch of the Spring/Summer Catalogue and the start of Sale-a-bration, One of the most exciting times in the Stampin' Up Year. If you live locally to me, you are invited to join me formy New Year sale-a-bration party tomorrow.

 If not watch the blog and facebook for more projects, products and promotions.

Look forward to sharing the excitement with you

Helen
xx

Welcome back

Today I would like to share some projects I made with the welcome greeting from the "Vertical Garden" stamp set

In 2016 we were blessed with our first Grandchild, my beautiful Granddaughter Thea. We are now eagerly awaiting the arrival of our Grandson in 2017. It was therefore very apt that I should create a welcome to the world card. I used the welcome greeting stamp and the stamp that creates the shadow effect. I used the"Brushwork Alphabet" set to form the "to the world".The ducks came from the "Something for Baby" set, as did the small stamped hearts. The "wave"s were created using a piece of fabulous foil acetate.

Another good occasion to welcome someone, is when they join your team of Stampin' Up demonstrators. This time I stamped the greeting onto whisper white and cut it into squares. I used stayzon ink to stamp the flourishes from the set onto some ribbon. The "to my team" sentiment was created using the "labeler alphabet". As we head into the sale-a-bration promotions, there has been no better time to join my team. If it is something that interests you, do get in touch.

If you have someone new in he office, or in your street, how about a little welcome gift in a bag. The bag was created with the gift bag punch board and paper from the "blooms and bliss" pack. I again used the shadow with the welcome greeting as well as the twirly flourish from the set to create the tag. The succulents ribbon pack contains both white and this sugarplum ribbon. It feels lovely. The embellishment as made with some die cut swirls from the swirly scribbles thinlets set; flourishes stamped on a card circle and some tiny flowers/and pearls.

The last project I created was a 12" x 12"project life page using pictures of baby Thea. Again, hello and welcome are so apt when creating a page celebrating the arrival of a baby into a family. I teamed them up with elements from the "Hello baby girl" project life collection.

Here are some items I used from the annual catalogue. The new items will be available to view and purchase from 4th January.

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

More sneaky peeks tomorrow, when we look at some on trend succulents.

Helen

xx