Pinkies Blog Hop for the new Autumn/Winter Stampin' Up! catalogue 2015: I can't "resist" trying an old favourite technique with some (holly) jolly new products!

Thank you for joining us on another Pinkies Blog Hop! We're showcasing lots of gorgeous projects using products from the new Stampin' Up!® Autumn/Winter Seasonal Catalogue. 

Simply use the buttons at the end of each post to keep hopping!

Welcome, especially if you have hopped directly from Angélique's blog,
what fab ideas she has - I think my wishlist has just grown... again!! 

I am SO excited by this new Autumn/Winter Catalogue - I LOVE this time of year and the build up to Christmas and boy, does this catalogue deliver! There are SO many gorgeous products in it -  I had a really hard time deciding which items to buy first and then I remembered you don't actually have to buy it ALL at once...hard not to though!! I'm looking forward to my second order already! Us "demos" are lucky to be able to get our mitts on the new goodies early, via a demo pre-order and we get sneak peeks at it all before our customers. Let me know if you'd like to join my team and get that privilege before the next catalogue comes out! ;)

Anyway... I have chosen to show you a few items I have made using the fabulous new Holly Jolly Greetings stamp set and Christmas Greetings Thinlits Dies bundle:

I fell in love with this stamp set and the lovely word thinlits as soon as Ii saw it. (It reminds me of the Crazy About You set that is in the Annual Catalogue - one of my favourite "go to" sets!) I was inspired by one of the ideas that the A/W catalogue shows. Here is the card in a bit more detail:

I used the emboss resist technique for the snowflake background. To do this I swiped my embossing buddy all over a 9.5x13.8cm piece of Whisper White cardstock,  then stamped the lovely snowflake stamp several times in Versamark ink over the card. I then added Stampin' Up!'s clear embossing powder and heated it with my Heat Tool. Then I took a Stampin' Sponge and rubbed Pool Party ink just in the centres of the snowflakes, using a circular motion, making it darker nearer the centres and lighter towards the edges. A quick rub with a piece of kitchen towel and I was ready for the next stage - stamping the dots and stars stamp randomly over the card in Pool Party ink. I then rubbed the embossing buddy over the card again and applied small dots of the amazing brand new Fine Tip Glue Pen in precise, tiny dots, then spooned Dazzling Diamonds glitter over it and tapped the excess off! Oh my gosh, that Fine Tip Glue is AWESOME!! Swoon! You MUST get some! Trust me, it is fantastic!

The next step was to wrap a 4cm strip of Vellum Cardstock across the bottom third of the now sparkly snowflake background piece. I cut the vellum about 2cm wider than the piece of card and stuck the overlap excess on the back of the piece of card using Fast Fuse. Now for the greeting - the "Have a" and "Christmas" words were stamped with Pool Party ink on scraps of whisper white cardstock and trimmed to size, then stuck to the vellum with cut up pieces of Stampin' dimensionals to give them a bit of depth. The gorgeous "merry" is one of the Christmas Greetings Thinlits Dies (there is also a "jolly" and a "peace" in the set too). I cut it from a scrap of Bermuda Bay cardstock with my Bigshot and used teeny tiny dots of the Fine Tip Glue to stick it at a jaunty angle onto the vellum - it is so easy to be very precise with this special glue - the tip of the applicator really is tiny! The final stage was to glue this all onto an A6-sized, Bermuda Bay card base. I really hope that you can see just how glossy the snowflakes are and how sparkly and glittery the dots are?

I decorated the inside of the card  with a Pool Party stamped snowflake with added Fine Tip glued-on glitter and then, whilst I had the inks and stamp set still out on my desk, I decided to make some Christmas gift tags in the same vein:

On the tags I stamped the large snowflakes in Pool Party ink and the dots and stars in Smoky Slate ink. The Fine Tip ink is precise enough to add glittery detail to the small teardrop shapes and centres of the snowflakes. The words are from the Holly Jolly stamp set too, and are in Bermuda Bay ink. I decided to just have a play when I made these tags and tried out various ways of tying on the ribbons/twine. The tags on the above photograph are sitting on an A4 piece of cardstock, to give you an idea of their sizes. The white ribbon is the Whisper White seam-binding ribbon and the thick bakers' twine and sequin trim are Bermuda Bay. There is also a little bit of the fine silver metallic thread on one of them too - I think that the thicker Cording Trim from the new A/W catalogue would probably look much better though, so I shall be adding that to my next order! I think these would make great card-toppers too, don't you?

Well, I hope that I have inspired you with my projects today, do click on the button below to click onto Lea's blog and continue looking at all the other hop stops along the way!

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today. If you have any questions about what I have made, then please leave me a comment below and I shall be very happy to help answer them if I can! I would love to know what is on the top of your wishlist. If you would like me to send you a paper copy of the catalogue before you decide, then please do contact me and I will happily send one out to you.

Until next time, happy crafting (and shopping) everyone!

Lucy x

A Tiny Treat Box and a whole Bundle of other super Stampin' Up! deals to be had!

Hello!

Today I have a quick to make, little gift box to show you. It uses the Stampin' Up! Tiny Treat Boxes which I think are just adorable! The boxes come in a pack of 25 for just £6.50/8,50€ so are great value at only 26p/€0,34 each. They are food safe and acid free. Once assembled they are 5.1x5.1x5.1cm in size (i.e. 2" x 2" x2"). They are perfect for small gifts such as jewellery, sweets or chocolates. 

I have decorated mine with one of  the gorgeous Go Wild patterned paper stack papers - I love that the little polka dots on this are actually little hexagons, not circles:

I wanted to reflect the hexagon 'dots' on the paper in my decoration/label on the top of the box - and so the Hexagon Punch and the Six-Sided Sampler stamp set were the obvious choice! I have found this stamp set and punch combo so useful and have used it on so many different projects. You can get the Stamp Set and Hexagon punch together in a bundle and save 15% too! Click here to see this and the other bundles that are available with the 15% saving.

I stamped the bar-pattern hexagon on a scrap of Whisper White cardstock with Tip Top Taupe ink, then using my Stampa-ma-jig,  I stamped the 'hello sweet friend' stamp in black Memento ink in the centre bar of it;  then punched it out with the Hexagon Punch. The black banner behind the hexagon is actually two separate pieces, punched using the Banner Punch! I do love that little punch!

The sides and lid of the box each have a 4.5x4.5cm  (1 3/4"x 1 3/4") square of the paper glued onto them with Tombow liquid multi-purpose glue. I punched a half-circle out of one of the squares using my 1.9cm/3/4" circle punch, so that it did not cover the thumb hole on the front of the box:

Here is a picture of how the hexagon label on the lid is constructed, the hexagon is on a dimensional and the two banner punched shapes are glued onto the lid's dsp square underneath the hexagon and lined-up to give the illusion of one, longer banner:

And here is how it looks like from the top:

I love how Stampin' Up! products coordinate so beautifully - in fact it was this coordination that drew me to Stampin' Up! in the first place! Not only are the colours available in ink, card, papers, accessories and ribbon etc, but a lot of their stamps have a matching punch that coordinates beautifully with them. I also love how Stampin' Up! make it even easier by providing us with bundles of products at a discount too!

Talking of discounts - this week's Weekly Deals are out today and there are some corkers in it this week... looks like I'll be putting another order in this week to get myself some of these items whilst they are available at the discounted price. Again this week's deals have a limited level of stock allocated for the discounted price in the deal - and once this allocation is all sold, then the price will revert to the regular catalogue price, so if you want to grab these bargains, don't delay, put an order in TODAY!!

Click here to see these items in more detail and to purchase them now! 

I must confess, I hadn't even noticed that there was a Smoky Slate Natural Chevron Ribbon  - how did I miss that?! It's gorgeous! I have been meaning to get some of the White Perfect Accents for a while now, as I've seen other people use them in their projects and they look amazing and my stock of ribbons is quite low at the moment, so I will definitely be adding the Calypso Coral Seam-binding ribbon to my next order too, as it will go beautifully with the Pretty Petals DSP stack papers which I recently bought. I also want to try out the metallic foil doilies too... 

Remember that if you place an order online with me before the end of July 2015 and you use the Hostess Code FQZ4JER4, then I shall send you a thank you gift in the post in August.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post today. I hope you like today's project? Do leave me a comment, as I love to hear from you. The comments are moderated by me before they are published to avoid spammers leaving links to their dodgy websites - you'd be amazed by their hilarious attempts and what they say! Hehe! So, do not worry if you don't see your comment appear straight away, I shall get to it eventually and I appreciate every one of your genuine comments, thank you!

Until next time folks, happy crafting!

Lucy x

Stamping, sparkly stars and strawberries - a perfect recipe for a card class!

Hello, today I want to share with you some photographs taken at my class on Thursday. It was such a lovely morning, we all had such fun - shame that a couple of my lovely regulars couldn't make this one - you were missed, ladies! 

I had already planned for us to make a Christmas card using some of the English Garden papers, however, when I saw the Weekly Deals announced on Wednesday morning, I decided to challenge myself to make a Christmas card using several of the items that are on offer this week and was so pleased with what I came up with that I went with the new card design. The English Garden Christmas card will wait until the next class!

Normally, I bake cakes for my card class, but I had a double epic fail on Wednesday evening - firstly I was so busy doing other things that I only realised at about 10.30pm that I had forgotten to bake the cakes, "no problem", I thought, "I'll just bake the cupcakes now; won't take long..." Hmm... went to the cupboard to get out the ingredients and realised to my horror that I had run out of flour! Nooo! I use gluten-free flour, but I thought, "no problem, I'll just go and buy some normal flour from the corner shop and just not eat any myself..." Nope! Too late - the corner shop shuts at 10.30pm... So, what's a girl to do? Raid the fridge and take some beautiful English strawberries instead! Yum! Can't beat British strawberries at this time of year!

They were SO good - and as they had been out of the 'fridge for a while before we ate them, mid-class, they seemed extra delicious and packed with flavour! Yum! Just what we needed, with our cuppas after making the first card!

Here are the cards that my ladies made. I have wanted to do this type of fold for a while now and decided to use the Stars Framelits to cut the window out instead of the more traditional square or circle. I love how each person's card is different - the one on the bottom right is going to be a birthday card for a male, so it shows how versatile the card can be!

This next two photographs show what the card looks like from above, so you can see how it stands up and how the mechanism works! 

I love how the stars all look so different. That Everyday Chic Designer Washi Tape is just gorgeous - and, like the Stars Framelits, it is in this week's Weekly deals too! As are the gorgeous Metal-rimmed Pearls that can be seen in the centre most of the stars above.

Here is another shot of those yummy strawberries, along with the card I made!

The black stars and the sentiment are from the Festival Of Trees stamp set and the silver sparkle is courtesy of the Silver Glimmer Paper. Love that stuff!

Anyway that is it for today - I am running a bit late today, so, sorry that this is a bit rushed and shorter than my normal posts.

You can look at the Weekly Deals here. Don't forget if you place an order online with me before the end of July 2015 and you use the hostess code of FQZ4JER4 (and don't choose the "no contact" option!) then I will send you a little thank you gift in the post in August!

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and read through my post today.

Until next time, happy crafting everyone!

Lucy x

Some Pretty Petals projects CASED from the Stampin' Up! Catalogue and some pretty good deals to be had too!

Today I have another couple of versions of the Six-sided Sampler card that is on page 105 of the Stampin' Up! 2015-16 Annual Catalogue, similar to my recent CASE that I based my team training swaps on.

Here is the original card that is in the Catalogue. I think it is so pretty:

And here are the CASED versions I showed you recently, that I made for my Inspiration Station based on the Go Wild Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack. (The second of these photographs shows my 3x3" swaps.):

I so love the layout of the Stampin' Up! card and I really wanted to try it in other colourways. I recently bought a stack of the 6x6" (15.2x15.2cm) Pretty Petals DSP, which, like the Go Wild stack has a matching cardstock pack to go with it. The DSP Stack has 48 sheets of gorgeously patterned papers (4 sheets each of 12 double-sided designs) for a bargain £7.25/9,75€. The Pretty Petals A4 Cardstock Pack has 8 sheets each of Calypso Coral, Old Olive and Mint Macaron (so 24 A4 sheets in total, for £6.50/8,50€) - perfect for making multiples of your projects and for getting the most out of your paper stacks too!

I have been itching to use the Pretty Petals papers ever since I got it, but haven't had a chance until now - here is what I made yesterday:

Aren't those patterns just gorgeous - and I've only used a few of them in these two cards. I decided to just use three punched hexagons of the paper on the Mint Macaron card - mainly because I couldn't decide which of the remaining gorgeous patterns to use for the two extra hexagons - there are so many fabulous combinations and they all look good!

I used the Silver Metallic Thread, Silver Glimmer Paper and Silver Glitter Adhesive on these ones, instead of the gold, as per the black and white cards above. I also used Very Vanilla as the mat layer on the card, as the Pretty Petals DSP is vanilla-based instead of white-based. I love how muted and vintage these look with the use of the Very Vanilla and I wonder why I don't seem to use Very Vanilla more often in my projects? Silly really, as it gives such a nice, soft look, don't you think?

I am going to use these as one of my next class projects. I will make an Old Olive version when I demonstrate to my class attendees how to make them, so that they can choose which of the three base colours they prefer. I might even offer them the option of making the Go Wild black/white/taupe version too!  I love how just one example shown in the catalogue, has inspired so many versions of effectively the same card, but with such different outcomes. Just goes to show how versatile Stampin' Up! Products are and how beautifully they coordinate with each other!

Which one is your favourite? I'm not sure I can decide!

Here are a couple of close-up shots to show you the butterflies in more detail - I have used the Bold Butterfly Framelits SO much since I got them, they are so pretty and so useful:

I love how the Silver Glimmer Paper, Glitter Adhesive and Metallic Thread shine so prettily in these photographs. They really are that shiny in real life - sometimes it can be hard to capture just how shiny they are in photographs. It was such a dull and gloomy day yesterday; I had to resort to using my daylight lamp when taking these pictures, rather than my usual preference of diffused, natural daylight. A happy "accident" perhaps? - They do say that things happen for a reason! Hehe!

Talking of happy things - today we have a new set of Weekly Deals out! Again, there is only a limited stock of each item, so once that item's allocation has sold out, the deal price will no longer be available and the item will revert to its normal, full catalogue price.  So hurry up and place that order if you don't want to miss out on the discounted prices! I think that there are some fantastic products this week. Come and take a look:

I have the Stars Framelits and have used them so much - and not just for Christmas projects. Having seen what is in this week's deals, I have had an idea for a card that uses the Stars Framelits and the Every Day Chic Designer Washi Tape, plus the Metal Rimmed Pearls... so come back soon and see what I come up with!

To buy any of these Weekly Deals items click here and you will go to my online shop. Remember to add the host code of FQZ4JER4 (for this and any other online purchases from me before 31 July 2015) and I will send you a thank you gift in the post in August. To get your gift, you will have to make sure that you un-check the "no contact" option, otherwise I will not be given your contact details and will not know to whom or to where to send your gift! If you have any questions, please do contact me to ask and I shall be happy to help!

Thank you for taking the time to visit and read my blog post today. I do hope you have been inspired to go and do some crafting yourself. Do leave me a comment, as I would love to hear what you think of today's projects.

So, until next time, happy stamping everybody!

Lucy x

Onto a winner with Stampin' Up!'s Garden In Bloom stamps!

I have decided to take a break from the Tip Top Taupe, Black and Whisper White colour scheme from my recent team training inspiration station projects and inject a bit of colour today!

At our team training events, one of the most popular things of the day is always the raffle, which is usually jam-packed with all sorts of fantastic Stampin' Up! goodies... (Thanks, Michelle!)

Normally, I rarely win anything in raffles, but I still optimistically buy some tickets in any raffle I'm asked to take part in... In the past if I have won anything, it's been notable for it's uselessness - think winning a turkey in a Christmas raffle when you don't eat meat and the rest of your close family is living overseas, or, winning a "romantic dinner for two" at a local gastro pub - two weeks after splitting up with a boyfriend... Yes folks, in the past I have been THAT lucky! I kid you not! So, imagine my total and utter delight at winning not one prize in the team raffle, not two, but THREE prizes! Yes THREE PRIZES... of Stampin' Up! goodies too! Whoopieeee!! I couldn't quite believe it, and felt a bit greedy for winning three... but, still took them - hey, I deserved a bit of raffle luck for a change, people, don't judge!! ;) 

One of the three prizes I received, was the fabulous Garden In Bloom stamp set - a photopolymer stamp set that has several flowers, leaves, a stem, a couple of butterflies and a very cute bee as well as some lovely sentiments amongst its 20 stamps:

Garden In Bloom Photopolymer stamp set 139433 £23.00/30,00€

I was so excited to win this as it was one of the next items on my "wish list" of new Stampin' Up! goodies to buy for myself and my classes! I love the two-step stamping and multitude of possibilities the many different stamps give you for your cards and other paper-crafting projects. Each of the flower and leaf stamps has a little built-in tab arrow, that doesn't get ink on it, but shows you which direction your stamp needs to go in. For example if you use the largest flower outline stamp with the arrow facing straight up (in a 12 o'clock position), then you know that when it comes to the next layer of the stamp, you just face that stamp's tab at the 12 o'clock position too and then stamp within the flower outline so that your petals will all match up beautifully. Some of the stamps you can instantly see which is the correct way up, but with others the little tab arrows save you no-end of bother! 

Here is what I made with my first try:

I made a series of square cards, all with Old Olive bases and Whisper White mat layers. I kept my colour palette to Rose Red, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight and the Tuxedo Black Memento ink. The cards are approximately 10cm (4") square. The outlines of the flowers and leaves were stamped directly from their ink pads, but the "solid" insides were stamped off on my grid paper first, before being stamped onto the card. The yellow flower centres are stamped with the same little stamp that the yellow bumble bee body was stamped with. I'm not sure if it was designed to be for both, but it definitely fits both!

On these two cards (above) I kept the layout pretty much the same but used differently-sized leaves on each. I think I much prefer the card without the sentiment on the front and decided to stamp on the inside of that instead:

The sentiment inside these ones comes from Endless Thanks. I just love the mix of the hand-written-look font with the smaller, typed-style font. I think I shall get a lot of use out of the Endless Thanks set as it has lots of different sentiments as well as a lovely scrolled banner and several flowers, leaves and a tiny heart in it too:

Endless Thanks Photopolymer Stam Set 138796 £14.00/19,00€

Isn't that cute? For the next card, I stamped a single large flower and bent the stem stamp into a gentle curve on my acrylic block, before stamping it. (So easy to do with photopolymer stamps!) I really like the sentiment on this card. I thought it would make a lovely thank you card too, as you can see from the inside layer, shown below:

I love the little cute, almost blotchy, butterfly, don't you? It is so dinky!

I stepped up the next card a little, using the same curved stem and large flower, but this time adding the larger leaves, a bumble bee and an extra flower. Shh... don't tell anyone, but the small flower is hiding an inky green finger print, which I partially disguised in one of the little leaves, but then needed something else to balance it all (remember: "it is not a mistake, it is an opportunity for embellishment!"). I stamped the little, three-step flower on a scrap piece of Whisper White and fussy cut it out with my paper snips and stuck it onto the card with a glue dot. The arrow tabs are especially useful when stamping this little flower...

More leaves and this lovely sentiment taken from Butterfly Basics stamp set, made the final touches to the inside of the card. Job done!

I hope you have liked today's cards? I think that you could make several  of these and put them together in a little hand made box, for a very pretty birthday or thank you gift - and of course there are endless possibilities for using different colours to get quite different looks.

These will be my July thank you cards, so if you order from me this month, whether online, at a class, by email, or, in person, you will receive one of these thank you cards from me. (If you order more than once, I shall make sure that I make your cards in different colourways, so you don't end up with several the same!0

Remember if you place an online order with me via my shop during July 2015 and you  use the hostess code FQZ4JER4 when you place your order, I shall send you a little gift in the post as a thank you in August.

Well, that's it for today. Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and reading this post. I hope you have liked today's projects? I'd love it if you left me a comment to let me know what you think and which card design you prefer the most!

Until next time, happy stamping everyone!

Lucy x

Let yourself 'Go Wild' with Stampin' Up!'s Gift Box Punch Board!

Hello again! Today I want to show you a couple of gift boxes that I made using the Gift Box Punch Board and the fabulous Go Wild Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack from Stampin' Up! as promised in my last blog post!

The Gift Box Punch Board is such a fantastic tool. With it you can create a variety of sizes of gift boxes, up to 4" (approx.10cm) on each side. It is really easy to use and all you have to do to create gift boxes  is to punch and score your piece of cardstock/DSP - you don't even need to glue it together if you don't want to, as it has a clever, integral punch that cuts a little curved notch out of the box flaps to allow you to close them securely. It comes with clear instructions and measurements are printed onto it too.

Stampin' Up! Gift Box Punch Board 135863 £18.00 now £13.50 for a limited time 

What is even better about the Gift Box Punch Board is that it is normally only £18, better still is that there are a limited number of them in the WEEKLY DEALS this week (until Tuesday 14th July 2015) at a bargain price of only £13.50 - wow! That is a good deal! There is only a limited stock of these at this price though, so if you want to grab yourself a bargain, you will have to be quick!

Here is one of the boxes I made recently for my Go Wild Inspiration Station at our team training day. It is the largest, 4x4" (10x10cm) sized square box, made from Basic Black cardstock (12x12"). And I have decorated it with the Go Wild DSP stack (the stripey Tip Top Taupe and Whisper White Pattern) and a Tip Top Taupe Bow made using the Gift Bow Bigz Die (129977) and the Amazing Birthday Stamp Set: 

As I wanted the bow to go on the top of the box, I decided to make the opening slightly different from how I would normally do it. The front side of the box is actually what would conventionally be the top opening of the box, but, I glued down three of the triangular "lid" flaps (as you would when making an envelope) and covered them with a strip of the Go Wild DSP:

I then cut a semi-circular  thumb-grip hole with my 1" Circle Punch and glued another similar strip of the DSP to the triangular flap of what is now the lid of the box:

The above photographs show how the strip of DSP is cut and glued onto the front side and the lid's triangular flap to enable a "hidden"opening. The half-circle thumb hole shows how you open the box and allows you to easily open it too. The box is self-closing, there is no need for additional glue to keep the lid closed.

This final image shows the box fully open. You will see the concertina folds which attach the lid to the rest of the box. You could cut these triangles away, but, I think it makes a stronger box if you don't. On the other sides of the box, the equivalent concertina triangles have been glued shut and then glued onto the corresponding inside side of the box. It really is quite sturdy and would easily hold a fairly heavy gift inside it. 

It is more complicated and takes longer to explain how to make a box with the Gift Box Punch Board than it actually takes to make one! It really is a simple process though!

Stampin' Up! have made a fantastic video showing how to use the Gift Box Punch Board - click here to see it!

Here are another couple of boxes that I made using the punch board and the Go Wild DSP. I have left the lid openings in their "normal" position for these two boxes and used the integral clasp-making punch to create the curved notches which allow the box lids to stay closed:

This one is 2x2" (approx. 5x5cm) square and made with the lovely black and white animal print DSP from the Go Wild Paper Stack. The "Surprise" stamp comes from the Amazing Birthday Stamp Set and is punched out using the 1 1/4" (3.2cm) Circle Punch; the gold circle is a 1 3/8" (3.5cm) circle punched out of the Gold Foil Sheets.

As you can see above, I made a matching 3x3" card and decorated the envelope with an extra piece of the lovely graphic chevron design of Go Wild DSP to go with this last box.

Well, that is it for today. I hope that I have inspired you to go try out the Gift Box Punch Board AND the Go Wild DSP Stack. Click here to go and order them from me today, whilst the board is still on special offer! Remember to use the hostess code of FQZ4JER4 for every online purchase you make with me between now and the end of July to receive a thank you gift in the post  from me during August. (You will need to un-check the "no Contact" option for me to do this!)

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read my post. Until next time, happy crafting everyone!

Lucy x

Go Wild with some Tip Top Stampin' inspiration from me!

Hello,

Today I have some photographs of our team training day to show to you. I love being part of such a friendly, welcoming and inspiring group of talented and creative people! It was such a fun day and it was so nice to see some dear friends again and meet some new ones, all whilst having the opportunity to craft and be inspired together for a whole day.

One of the best things about being an Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is being part of such a lovely family of like-minded people, who don't look at you oddly if you "oooooh" over a piece of patterned paper or pretty ribbon... or "ahhhhhh" over lovely buttons... or if you relate everyday items to Stampin' Up! colour names: "I saw a lovely Bermuda Bay handbag the other day", or, "Her skirt was a lovely flowery pattern in Mint Macaron and Night of Navy"!

I volunteered to do an "Inspiration Station" for our team training on Sunday and chose to showcase the Go Wild Designer Series Paper Stack papers. Everything I made for my display used the Go Wild DSP and its gorgeous colour palette of Tip Top Taupe, Whisper White and Basic (or Memento Tuxedo) Black - with a little bit of gold here and there, for a touch of bling where necessary! Here is a photograph of my display table:

I wanted to show that you can make all sorts of things with a limited colour palette and that Tip Top Taupe, black and white can be both masculine or girly, depending on how you use them! I LOVE the Go Wild DSP. It is a great mix of animal print patterns and quite graphic designs that are reminiscent of African batiks etc. There are 48 sheets in a pack - 4 each of 12, double-sided designs that are 6x6" (15.2x15.2cm) square. I found that a little bit of paper can go a long way and I made all of the above (and more) and still have several full sheets and usable off-cut scraps left over for future projects. A bargain for £7.25 I reckon! There is also a Go Wild Cardstock Pack of 24 A4 sheets of cardstock in Basic Black, Tip Top Taupe and Whisper White (8 sheets of each of the three colours) for £6.50 to go with it too.

The picture below is of a collection of cards that were inspired by and CASED from a card design in the Stampin' Up! 2015-16 Annual Catalogue (on page 105), but using my black, white and taupe colour palette; plus a box made using the Gift Box Punch Board (which, incidentally, is discounted this week in the Weekly Deals for 8th to 14th July 2015!)

I really loved the card on page 105 of the catalogue and have wanted to CASE it ever since I first saw it. (CASE meaning to "Copy And Share Everything"). The original uses a softer colourway with what looks to me like Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede with Silver Glimmer Paper.  The larger card in my photograph above is a copy of that card layout, using some of the Go Wild DSP punched out with the Hexagon Punch;  Gorgeous Grunge and Six-Sided Sampler stamp sets stamped in Tip Top Taupe ink;  the Bold Butterfly Framelits and Gold Glimmer Paper, Gold Glitter Glue and the fantastic new Gold Metallic Thread for a bit of glamorous sparkle.

I decided to theme my swaps to my table display and chose to make a 3x3" card front, similar to those in the photograph above.  I totally forgot to take any photographs whilst I was making them all though and only remembered to photograph them on Sunday after I had already given some away - oops! Here is a photograph of what were remaining when I finally remembered to take pictures of them:

And here is a close up of three of them:

I used a selection of the DSP designs to use for the hexagons, but kept everything else the same for each card. The first step was to stamp the splattered dots from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set with Tip Top Taupe ink onto a square of the new Thick Whisper White cardstock. A DSP hexagon was then glued on top, using Tombow Multipurpose glue. The Metallic Gold Thread was then looped and stuck onto a dimensional on top of the DSP hexagon. Then, the little strip of Gold Glimmer Paper was stuck onto the same dimensional (and pressed down well!). The Basic Black filigree butterfly was then glued on top of that, using a glue dot. The final touch was to squeeze some Gold Glitter glue onto the butterfly for it's body and leave it to dry. A simple but effective card I think - and it didn't take too long to make them either! I shall definitely be making some more of these - I really like them. I might even try them with different DSP and other colours... hmm...

Well that's it for today, apart from showing you what is in this week's Weekly Deals. There are more items than usual in this week's deals and there are only limited numbers of the items at these discounted prices. Once that stock has been sold, the items will still be available, but at the normal, full catalogue price - so hurry up and grab them quick if you want them at a discount!

It is a bizarre coincidence that the Gold Glimmer Paper that I used in the projects above, is in this week's deals... a great opportunity to re-stock I think, don't you? I love it and a little goes a long way with this gorgeously sparkly, glittery paper! I couldn't be without my Magnetic Plate for the Bigshot to cut out my butterflies either (so useful for all the framelits and thinlits - an absolute must-have in my craft room!) - as is the Gift Box Punch Board - what a bargain that is this week! Get one now if you've not got one - it is SO versatile, I love it!

Stampin' Up! are really spoiling us this week!

If you place an online order with me between now and the end of July and you use the hostess code FQZ4JER4 when you place the order and do NOT tick the "no contact" option when you order, I will send you a little gift in the post as a thank you. Please remember to not use the "no contact" option though, if you want to receive the thank you gift from me.  If you do use the "no contact" option, you will miss out, as I won't have access to your details and I will be unable to send you your thank you gift! 

To start shopping with me, click here

Well, that is it for today, do come back later in the week as I have LOTS more photographs of my Inspiration Station projects to show you - including a Project Life layout I made especially for the day and a very cute gift box too!

Until next time, happy crafting and don't forget, you don't always have to "go wild" with lots of bright colours to make some interesting and beautiful cards, gifts or packaging! ;)

Lucy x