Welcome to the Mini Blog Hop!

Hello Everybody! Let's go to the hop......!
 

Many thanks for stopping by and joining in our Stampin' Up! Blog Hop to launch the new Mini Catalogue!  There are 16 of us in this blog hop loop. So once you've seen a blog twice, you've done the full tour!

The catalogue goes live on 1 April and will run concurrently with the main catalogue until 30 September. 

Thank you to my lovely predecessor, Melanie for her gorgeous designs. If you've just started the blog hop at my blog, then welcome and thank you for joining in! Grab yourself a cup of tea and sit back and enjoy! Now, on with the crafty stuff!

I chose to showcase the beautiful Day and Night Designer Series Papers.  The papers are only going to be available until the end of September, so if you like them, grab them while you can! In the pack there are 10 sheets of double sided paper and two sheets of polka dot acetate to play with.

For the above layout I teamed them with Pale Plum cardstock, twine and the beautiful new Old Olive satin ribbon.  Which is beautiful and sumptious and a dream to work with! I finished off my layout by making the title using Happy Everything stamp set.

Next up we have this set that I made of an easel card, small peek-a-boo treat box and box in a bag.  I wanted to show how, as well as being quite classical and gothic in style, the papers can also be give a modern and ditzy look, by using the polka dots included in the papers.  The cardstock and ink used is Real Red, the stamp set is Simply Said and the punches used are the Large Heart, Large Oval and Scalloped Oval.  The various ribbons used are red and black gingham checks and Whisper White tafetta.

This next item is my favourite piece I have created.  I based my design on a lovely little set of drawers by Qbee which she calls Darling Drawers.  They're a lovely little size for holding bits and pieces.  As you can see from mine, I have used them to hold my gorgeous new Real Red satin ribbon and my crocheted white flowers. 

The main body of the drawers is made from a 12x12 sheet of Whisper White cardstock which I stamped using the new Very Vintage Jumbo wheel in Basic Black.  The drawers are made using the Day & Night papers and the little handles are made using Filigree brads coupled with rhinestone brads for a bit of bling.

I may do a class on these gorgeous little drawers in the near future. We'll see what sort of reaction they get!

Well, I hope you enjoyed stopping by to see my Mini Catalogue offerings.  Please feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions about anything here or you would like to purchase any of the items I've showcased.

I will now hand you over to the supremely talented and lovely to boot Dawn Silver.  You're sure to be in for a treat on her blog!

Many thanks for visiting.  Please pop by again soon! :O)

Joanne x

Get Ready!

Tomorrow is the Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue Blog Hop! The catalogue will go live on 1 April, and tomorrow from 10am there will be three loops running.  Myself and lots of extremely talented SU! demonstrators will be showcasing the gorgeou snew products we have to offer you, so check back tomorrow and join in the fun!

Jo x

Just a quickie

I've recently become obsessed with Stampin' Up! Confetti cardstock.  It's a beautiful white cardstock with lots of little petal and grass inclusions, like handmade paper, but it's very smooth at the same time. It's great for making more rustic cards.

This one was made quickly yesterday for my dear friend Marja, just for being lovely and a wonderful customer! I used the Confetti cardstock, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive Cardstock. The tree and bunny are both from the Forest Friends set, stamped in Old Olive and Chocolate Chip. The sentiment, again in Chocolate Chip is from the Fresh Cuts set and it's all finished off with Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon.

Anyway, that's it for now.  I'm off to get ready for our crop!

TFL! Joanne x

Easter Bunnies!

I had a wonderful day last Thursday at the Stampin' Up! Training day here in Sheffield.  It was lovely to get together with everyone again. These are the swaps that I did for the day.  With Easter edging ever closer I thought I'd give everyone a little Easter gift.

As you can see it's a little pouch that can hold a delivious bar of chocolate!  The best fit for this pouch was the new Galaxy Bubbles bar, or one of the Kit Kat Easter bars fits well too.  Whatever you choose will be equally delicious if it's chocolate!

Here's a quick run down on how to make it.

Basically, you just need to cut a 2 1/4" strip from a sheet of A4 cardstock, along the length of it, so you have a nice long strip. I used Bashful Blue and Old Olive.

This needs to be scored at 2", 2 1/2", 7" and 7 1/2".

Using the SU! Large Oval punch, punch out an oval in the 2" section.  Add some Sticky Strip as shown.

Fold it over and press down hard so it won't come undone.

When you fold the flap over, you will notice that there is a gap.  Cut a 1 1/2" wide piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, cut it with the Lacy Edge border punch and stick it to the bottom.  Cover the edge with Caramel gingham ribbon and your sentiment.

Inside, stick a little piece of Velcro where you want the flap to close, just underneath the oval.

Now onto making the bunny!  All the punches used are Stampin, Up! The cardstock used is Creamy Caramel, Regal Rose and Basic Black.

Ink all your pieces in their corresponding ink colours to give them some depth.The picture above is quite self explanatory, but for clarity you stick the two petals from the 5 petal punch onto the ovals for his ears, then stick them behind the 1 3/8" punch which is his head. You can leave his ears as they are but I think it looks cute to fold one over and stick it down with a glue dot!

 The 3/4" punches go on his face as his cheeks and the little heart from the Heart to Heart punch goes on top.  Cut a small rectangle of Whisper White cardstock to slip underneath his cheeks for his teeth. Stick the two little 1/4" black circles on for his eyes and add a little glint with white pen.

I'm really pleased with these bunnies. I think they would make lovely card fronts too, whether for Easter or a new baby!

TFL and Happy Easter! Joanne xx

Cracked Glass Technique

I've started trying out various techniques and this is the latest one I've been doing with my class.  I love thisone, it's so effective. Here's what to do:

Stamp your image (this one is from Pocket Sillhouettes and uses Perfect Plum and Old Olive inks).  Then ink the whole piece with Versamark.

Cover the entire piece with clear UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel).  If you use UTEE, you only have to heat it once and you're done.  If you use normal clear embossing powder, you will have to repeat the embossing process another four times to get a good thickness.

Then it's just a case of bending your image to create the cracks in the UTEE/embossing powder.  Don't be shy - it does take some oomph! At first I was gingerly bending it, but you really do need to almost fold the cardstock to get it to crack.

You can then leave the image as it is, or if you would like your cracks more prominent, sponge on some Close to Cocoa ink and then wipe off the excess with a paper towel. 

And here's the finished card! The cardstock used is Perfect Plum, Old Olive and Very Vanilla. 

The stamp sets used are Circle of Friendship, Pocket Sillhouetts and En Francais background stamp.

It was finished off with a bucklet from the Hodge Podge Hardware and Chocolate Chip tafetta ribbon.

The lace edging is done with the Eyelet Border Punch.

TFL! Joanne x

10 for £10!

Yes, I know I can't count! There are 9 cards in the photograph, but, trust me, there will be 10 cards on the day!

This is my latest class I am doing - 10 cards for £10.  Everyone will create 10 gorgeous Stampin' Up! cards for the princely sum of £10! It should be great fun!

The new mini catalogue comes out soon, too.  Can't wait.  I've just spent a small fortune on preorder. I just couldn't resist! Hopefully should be able to share a few sneaky peeks really soon!

In the meantime, here are the photos of the cards in my class close up.  I will find the 10th one, it's around here somewhere!

TFL! Joanne xx