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
  

A handy notepad and pen-holder wallet using Stampin' Up!'s Envelope Paper and Watercolor Wings butterflies!

Hello, today I have a project for you that I think would make a lovely gift - whether as a teacher thank you, for a friend's birthday, or even a "just because" kind of a present for someone who is in your thoughts... 

It is a notepad and pen holder wallet, with a pair of coordinating butterfly paperclip bookmarks tucked into the pocket inside:

The front cover is decorated with the lovely woodgrain patterned Envelope Paper in Tip Top Taupe, with a small taupe and Mint Macaron,  Watercolour Wings butterfly popped up on dimensionals. The wallet has a closure made using half inch circle punched pieces of cardstock placed on dimensionals. Whisper White Bakers' Twine is attached under the righthand side circle and it wraps, in a figure of eight, around both of the circles to keep the wallet closed:

Inside there is a small notepad (decorated at the top with the same patterned envelope paper as the front cover) plus a loop to hold a small pen. There is also a handy inside pocket, decorated with the same paper. Tucked into this are two large paperclips, that I decorated with butterflies stamped in the same colour inks as the one on the front cover:

Here are the butterfly paperclips, aren't they cute?

I love how versatile the Watercolor Wings butterfly stamps are - especially in combination with the Butterflies Thinlits and Bold Butterflies Framelits. I have used the same two colours (Mint Macaron and Tip Top Taupe) for all the butterflies, and have stamped off some of the ink to give more tones of the same colour to add interest.

I do like practical, useful things, especially when they are pretty too and I think that this notepad and pen-holder wallet fits the bill perfectly, don't you? I think that anyone who likes to be organised would appreciate this as a little gift. It is very quick and easy to make these wallets and they don't cost much either, which is handy if you have several people you want to give them to! You could also make several for yourself and keep one in your handbag, one by your bed for those things you think of when you should be falling asleep at night and maybe one on your desk for jotting notes on during the day too?

We made these wallets in my card class last week and everyone really enjoyed making them!  I gave the ladies a choice of colourways, using the different 2015-2017 In Color Envelope Paper colours as a starting point, so they were all a bit different and their butterflies were beautiful.

Unfortunately I was enjoying the class so much that I totally forgot to take any photographs of their finished wallets - oops! I blame my forgetfulness on  the unusually hot weather we had that day and the distraction of the yummy berry and coconut icecream that I had made especially for the class as a cooling treat! (I normally bake cakes for my classes, but it was far too hot to have the oven on in my kitchen, the day before the class - hence my decision to make the icecream instead! Yum!) 

Well, that's it for today, so, until next time, happy crafting everyone! Hope the sun is shining on you, wherever you are!

Come back soon to see some of projects I made for a team-training event, using the fabulous "Go Wild" Designer Series Paper Stack as my inspiration...

Happy crafting to you all.

Lucy x

Winging it with hand-dyed ribbons for a pretty little gift!

Today I would like to share with you a little gift set I have made using Stampin' Up!'s Watercolor Wings stamp set. The folded pouch holds four 3x3" cards and envelopes and is made with the new Envelope Paper in Mint Macaron. I think it would make an ideal teacher thank you gift or even a nice little birthday present and it is very quick to make:

I used Mint Macaron and Perfect Plum. I love this colour combination. I used the same two colours in my covered notebooks that I showed you in my recent Pinkies Blog Hop post.

As Stampin' Up! do not have any Perfect Plum ribbons, I decided to dye some of the Whisper White Organza Ribbon and Whisper White Bakers' Twine with a few drops of Perfect Plum Ink Refill ink and a tiny bit of water. I placed about a dozen drops of the ink into a small plastic pot, added about a tablespoon of tap water and then coiled the ribbon and twine into the liquid, making sure that it was all submerged by using a bamboo barbecue skewer to dunk it under the surface! (You could use a cocktail stick, but I hadn't got any left!) I left it for a few minutes to let the ink to soak in, then removed it and pegged it to my washing line to dry in the sunshine. 

The ribbon came out a bit paler than I wanted for this particular project, so I decided to use my Perfect Plum Ink Pad to add a bit more ink to it. I placed one end of the ribbon on the ink pad and held a small acrylic block over it with one hand, whilst gently and slowly pulling the ribbon with my other hand, until the ink covered all the ribbon. Be warned - you will get inky fingers doing this, however careful you are (my fingers looked like I had been picking blackberries afterwards!) and you will need to allow plenty of drying time before you use the ribbon on your project, too. I do love how you can make bespoke ribbons and twines this way though. It is worth the wait, do give it a go!

Here are a few more photographs of the gift set and the cards inside it:

I do love the versatility of the Watercolor Wings stamp set - the butterflies are so beautiful. I really like how the four butterflies above look so different, despite only two ink pads being used. I stamped off the ink first on my grid paper, before stamping some of the layers and then used direct stamping on other layers. This gives a fantastic range of tones of the same colour - thus showing that you can still get a variety of effects even if you don't yet have many ink pad colours in your craft stash! It doesn't look like only two colours have been used, does it?

I like how you can see the lovely wood grain pattern on the inside of the gift pouch in the last photograph too. If you haven't yet bought the Envelope Paper, I can highly recommend it. I have used it a lot - and I must confess I've not even made an actual envelope with it yet! Ooer! It is hugely versatile and a bargain at only £5.50 (7,50€) for twenty 12x12" (30.5x30.5cm) sheets. It is strong-enough to be scored and folded, but is a slightly lighter-weight than our regular Designer Series Paper.

Well, that is it for today, do leave me a comment. I am wondering if you would like to see a step-by-step tutorial for making the above folded gift pouch? If I get enough response I will do one for you all to see.

Until next time, happy crafting everyone!

Lucy x

ONLY FOUR DAYS LEFT to get yourself TWO FREE STAMP SETS with your starter kit - so hurry or you will miss out! Click here or on the photograph below, to find out how: Offer ends this Tuesday, 30th June 2015.

Gingham Garden Washi Tape and butterfly peg magnets

Hello!

First of all I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to go around the Pinkie's Autumn/Winter Seasonal Catalogue blog hop last week - weren't all the projects fantastic? Wow! I must admit I've found it hard to think of a new blog post to follow all that!!

 

I would also like to thank everyone who has kindly left a message on my blog posts - it is so lovely to hear your comments and I feel humbled by all the praise last week, thank you...

 

And now, onto today's post: Washi Tape decorated clothes peg magnets...

 

For a long time I've been wanting to make some of these and I really enjoyed making them! They are super quick and easy and I think that a set of them would make a fabulous gift for anyone for any occasion - not just for Christmas...

 

Come and have a look:

 



I used the three lovely and bright designs in the Gingham Garden Designer Washi Tape set from Stampin' Up! I think they are really cheery, don't you? It was easy to stick the washi tape onto the front of the pegs (or clothes pins, as I believe our friends in the United States know them as?). I trimmed any excess washi tape off using my trusty Paper Snips -what would I do without those little, sharp-tipped beauties, they are an essential piece of kit!

 

I used the 1" Circle Punch and the 1 1/4" Scallop Circle Punch for the 'flowers' and picked Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Gumball Green and Midnight Muse card stock.  I stamped the Papillon Potpourri butterflies and punched them out with the Bitty Butterfly punch. I bent the butterflies' wings and attached them onto the 1" circles with a glue dot. The circles and scallop circles are attached with Dimensionals and I used my hot glue gun to stick a small flat disc magnet to the back of each peg (just behind where the embellishments are). They were so quick to make - it honestly takes far longer to write about how they were made, than to actually make them! I'm not sure I can be parted from these three though- I will have to make some more for Christmas presents I think - and these three will live on my magnetic notice board in my craft room...or maybe my 'fridge... Hmm... think I'm going to need to make several more at this rate!! Good job you get a lot of Washi Tape on each roll!


Don't forget that the Papillon Potpourri stamp set and the Bitty Butterfly Punch are available as a bundle with 15% off until the end of this month (30th September 2013):

 

There is another punch that matches the larger butterflies in the Papillon Potpourri stamp set (shown above), called the Elegant Butterfly Punch and I think that it is one of my most-used punches...I have them both and use them time and time again - they are SO useful - afterall, who doesn't like a pretty butterfly or two on a card or gift?


Today I have been making some swaps for next Wednesday's Creative Tour organised by Stampin' Up! which will be in Woking, near Reading here in the UK... I am so excited about going, as the Stampin' Up! demonstrator events are always fantastic to attend... with lots of freebies, a make and take project or two, lots of beautiful handmade things to inspire you and usually some very exciting announcements too.... so, watch this space, as I shall report back next week and tell you all about it! If you join my team, then you too could come to a future event like this - the European Convention is in Manchester in November - join now and you could come with me!

For now, I shall leave you with a little teaser showing you some of the lovely goodies that I have used to make my swaps today... I can't show you the end results though, as they are top secret until Wednesday, when I shall take them to the Creative Tour and hand them out to other demos in exchange for the swaps (card fronts or 3-D items) they have made....

Exciting stuff, swapping Stampin' Up! swaps! I can't wait to see what fantastic projects other people will have made... I am so excited!

 

 

 

 

Bet you can't guess what my swaps will look like! - All I can say is that they will add a little bit of Wintery sparkle to Christmas...  ;O)

 

Until next time, Stampers!

 

Lucy x