Brayering

Have you got hang of the Brayering technique?
I know that it is something that I would like to do more of & I am convinced that it is the type of technique that more is more & if you only dabble with it you don't get the best effects a little bit like vintage, the more ink you put down on paper & the messier your fingers get the better the results, where usually when you go to a class the demo will always say"less is more".
When I was researching Brayering I came across this blog & it is truly awesome, Michelle Zindorff has it off to a fine art. Check out her tutorials.

It's only August & I'm on my 3rd Christmas card...........!

It's hard to believe we are only in August, the weather here is absolutely foul, but I'm quite pleased that I've managed to finish my 3rd Christmas card & I think this is my favourite so far. The card uses the Dasher from the mini catalogue & lovely as a tree from the main catalogue.

Dasher is in the Mini catalogue which is only valid until 30th September

Did you know there is a way that you can heat emboss using the Stampin' Up ink pads? Well if you first coat your stamp in Versamark ink & then coat the stamp in the desired coloured ink & then quickly stamp your image & cover with embossing powder & heat in the usual way. The Vellum is torn in strips & using shimmer paint in frost white I painted the torn edge. Vellum is very hard to adhere & is virtually impossible to do this without the glue showing through, so what I usually do is cut the vellum larger than I need & wrap the excess around the back of the panel & stick using double sided tape. The card stock I've used is Bashful blue, Whisper white & Basic black. The ink is Ballet blue. The sentiment comes from the set sincere salutations.

Have you seen the two step promotion?

For the month of August Stampin' Up are running a 20% off promotion on selected two step stampin sets. One of the sets is loads of love that I have used on this my second Christmas card. The trees are from the set lovely as a tree, which I resisted buying for months as I couldn't see the potential but I have since seen such wonderful samples I am glad I have added the set to my stash.The tree in the back of the truck is also from Lovely as a tree. The snow is made from torn strips of Vellum layered unevenly the edges are covered with crystal accents & dazzling diamonds glitter. I stamped the happy couple in the truck from Loads of love accessories on acetate using Staz on ink & stuck them behind the truck using some dst.

If you would like to take advantage of the 20% off promotion then please contact me for further details

Wow flowers

A simple but very bold card made using the Wow flowers set from Stampin' up,

The colours in this card are Real red, Tempting turquoise, So saffron & Pumpkin pie, basic black & Whisper white are the additional card stock colours. The punches used on this card are the scallop border punch 1" circle & 1 1/4" circle. 

Wow flowers is a great little set of 4 stamps & for just £10.95 it is a real bargain, it's on page 97 of the current catalogue & is often overlooked as it appears amongst the papers & die cut sets.

The inspiration came for this card from a fellow demo;s site in America, Sarah's Inkspot, she has some gret projects so check her out.

My head is banging & creativity is in short supply

My head is absolutely banging again today, I wish the Dr's could find a reason why I have so many headaches as in the last 14 days I have had bad headaches / migraines on 11 of them & today is no exception. As much as i would love to pop upstairs & create something I cannot seem to concentrate at the moment so I have been surfing the net for some tutorials & inspiration. So I thought i would share the links that i've found & showcase some of my favourite blogs.
The first site is Crescent stampin & the talented Carol, here is the fabby Christmas box that she's recently made & a link to her tutorial.

http://crescentstampin.blogspot.com/2010/08/free-christmas-gift-box-tutorial.html

Onto Mary at Stampin' Pretty a fellow SU Demo from over the pond & the wonderful idea of designer series paper envelopes.

http://www.stampinpretty.com/2010/07/elegant-soiree-trio.html

Check out mary's other tutorials whilst visiting her blog as she has been doing a feature called envelope envy, which takes the boring envelope to a whole new level.

http://andreawalford.com/?page_id=646

The next tutorial laden blog comes with a very serious health warning," you will spend hours here" dont just make a cup of tea, make a whole flask & settle down for a good look around this blog. Andrea at Sunny Stampin' inc has the most amazing tutorials or every thing I have chosen to showase just 1 of her amazing tutorials & projects & her blog is so easy to navigate.
Andreas tutorial Archive

Scallop oval tutorial

Carlas Scraps Just to many to choose from here & some great colouring tutorials.


Stamp with Tammi Another very talented lady from over the pond, great videos tutorials

http://www.stampwithwendy.com.au/2010/07/create-a-card-friday-birthday-card-for-kids.html

Stamp with wendy many amazing ideas from a fellow SU demonstrator this time in Australia

http://clairedaly.typepad.com/sisterhood_of_the_travell/past-tutorials-to-downloa.html

Art with heart is a new blog for me, but WOW she has an amazing array of tutorials to share

http://sarahsinkspot.com/blog/2010/02/paper-gift-bows.html

Sarah has great tutorials for many very diverse Stampin' Up projects here is just one for this amazing paper bow. This link will take you to Sarah's Tutorial Library which not only has project tutorials but also technique tutorials.

One final listing for today the top 50 Stampin' Up blogs in Australia 
All of the images in this post are the intellectual property of the blog owners & are featured here for inspiration only please contact the owners for any further information. 
Hopefully the new tablets will start to kick in soon & I can resume my own creativity but I hope that you enjoy your tour round some of my fav fellow demo's blogs.

The wedding was lovely & the weather was kind

The wedding went off without a hitch, Gemma & Jono were lucky with the weather that managed to be kind & not rain on their special day.

Gemma & Jono ~ just married

Unusual to get most of us in the same room, just Dan is missing

Abi doing her signature pose

Photo shopped Abi with lovely lilac eyes.

A wonderful day that we were very lucky to be able to share with you, Thank you both.

All of a flutter

I am always on the hunt for new ideas to extend the use of my current stamp sets & I found a beautiful picture online using the same format but with rows of coloured hearts. So I adapted it using the All of a flutter butterfly stamp. 

The images are stamped using the Basic Grey ink pad, Coloured using the Stamp n write pens & blender pens, the image has a lovely shimmer that was achieved by using the frost white shimmer paint, the backing card is Chocolate chip, I just dip the blender pen in the lid of the paint & hi-light areas on the stamped image. I keep all of my pringle tin lids as they make great disposable palettes

For the Bride & Groom

I recently came across this fabulous card on a fellow demo's blog Julies.
As our niece gets married today.
  I decided to use the pictures as a staring point for our card for Gemma & Jono who get married today at 2pm.

Its amazing as this stamp set  was never anywhere near the top of my wish list but I can see from playing with it is going to become one of my favourites, as I have since seen loads of samples using this set & in some fabulous colour ways. The stamp set is Mr & Mrs stamped on cream pearlescent card with basic black ink.

Close up of the front of the card

The card inside the stamped vellum wrap in the box

The box stamped with clear rhinestone gems in the flower centres

Our congratulations go out to Gemma & Jono on the first day of the rest of their lives

xxx

The stamp set used is Mr & Mrs

This is from Stampin' Up & is available to purchase from me as an Independent creative coach for Stampin' Up.

Better late than never

That's how the saying goes "better late than never"

I have just been sorting through my craft studio & found one of the cards from the last Stampin' Up experience day that I had forgotten to upload. It was the card I had designed using Bird on a branch and the lovely Night & day paper set from the current Mini catalogue.

The card is made using Summer sun & tempting Turquoise cardstock & Inks.

The papers and acetate are from the night & day collection that is in the mini catalogue and may only be available until 30th September as they are not guaranteed to carry over to the new idea book & catalogue out on 1st October, so if you fancy these papers you need to be ordering them soon. 

Quick & simple

We all have the need every now & then for a quick card, no matter how organised we aspire to be. This card fits the bill perfectly coupled with the sincere salutations stamp set that has a greeting for every occasion this card is so quick & easy.

 It could be adapted for any occasion by just changing the colour way & designer series papers. Imagine a quick solution for those hard to make Male cards !

What Stamps fit in each punch?

Ever been tempted with a stamp set & want the corresponding Stampin' Up punch? and not sure which one it is, this can be used before you buy the stamp set over the image in the catalogue, did you know the images in the catalogue are actual size?

Ever been in the middle of a project & need to quickly find the correct circle punch to punch out a greeting?

Well I came up with an easy solution & they also make a really col bookmark in your idea book & catalogue.

Ribbon Pick 'n' Mix

I have been asked by a number of customers if I will do another ribbon share.

What I've done this time is a pick 'n' mix. 

Each share is for 1 metre of each colour within a type of ribbon.

1 Share of Taffeta ribbon
8 colours 1 metre of each £4.80











1 Share ~ 1" Double stitched Grosgrain ribbon
3 colours 1 metre of each colour £2.25










1 share ~ 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain ribbon
4 colours 1 metre of each £4.00







1 share of 5/8" Satin ribbon
4 colours ( including the 3 colours from the mini catalogue )
1 metre of each £1.60




1 share of 3/16" Gingham ribbon 
6 colours 1 metre of each £2.40










1 Share 5/8" Grosgrain ribbon
8 colours 1 metre of each £4.00












1 share 1/" Striped Grosgrain ribbon
6 colours 1 metre of each £4.50






















1 share 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon
11 colours 1 metre of each £3.30

As the name suggests this is a pick 'n' mix so there is no minimum order and you can choose as many shares as you like.

I will post the ribbon shares out free of charge. pay pal preferred.

A few ribbons are not yet in hand so I will let you know estimated delivery dates for ribbons I have to order.

This pick 'n'  mix ribbon sampler is offered by myself as an independant Stampin' Up demonstrator.

Something simple

Time & time again when doing demonstrations I get such positive feedback, but something that always comes out of the feedback is that people want cards & projects that are achievable at home & without guidance. They love the complex projects that take 3 hours+ to complete but would never dream of trying it on their own at home. So I have been looking at ways to simplify some projects & this one is a direct case from the mini catalogue.

The stamps used in this project are All of a flutter, Framed with love & Basic phrases

Samples for my new Demonstrator

When a new demonstrator joins my team I try to help them as much as i can to get started on their Stampin' Up journey so I like to make them a pack of samples to start their sample boards off for their first event. So today I have been making samples to give to Lydia my newest recruit who has her first event next week, sadly I will be away at a family wedding but I wish her the very best of luck & I will be on my mobile if she has any last minute enquiries.

So here are some of the samples I have made for Lydia

Bag-a-lope made from an envelope using Garden Whimsy stamp set

Using Garden Whimsy & Pocket Silhouettes stamp sets

Made using Circle of friendship & Simply said sets

Made using Winter post set

Made using Winter post, Occasional Greetings & Season of Joy stamp sets

Made using Trendy trees & Funky forest wheel.
Mini pizza box & two cards

The pizza box & mini cards use Vintage vogue set, Tiny tags set & very vintage wheel & Bella Toila large background stamp.

This card uses some Rich Razzleberry, melon mambo & Soft Suede.
The stamp set is On a Pedestal

I love this This card uses Tiny tags,Solid stripes & Dasher, both from the mini catalogue