Christmas is Coming.....

I have been having a fabby time playing with the new SU! goodies, especially the Christmas Jingle kit. I made this pennant banner out of old cereal packets (in true Blue Peter style!). I also added some extra sparkle with the gorgeous new glitters we have and some ribbon and chipboard.

I also made some cards using the same kit. I made ten in all and I've still got loads of the kit left. It really is great value. 8 sheets of cardstock, 6 sheets of double sided patterned paper and 6 sheets of self adhesive die cuts, all for £15.50. Bargain! It's proving very popular, having sold out once already.

These cards I've made are a mixture of my own designs and some beautiful designs by Ilina over at her blog My Creations. I showed all these to the ladies at our crop on Saturday and they all asked me to take pictures, so here they are. Enjoy!

TFL!

Joanne x

Summer Design Challenge

As those of you who know me will already know, I absolutely adore "A Rose is a Rose", the stamp set by Stampin' Up!

When I first heard about the Summer Design Challenge, this is what I decided to use to make my design. Basically I did a one sheet wonder, this is where you stamp your images randomly all over a sheet of either A4 or 12x12 cardstock and then cut it up and use it on your cards. I used a 12x12 sheet and made a box with 10 cards. Here's the results:

Sorry, some of the photos are a bit rubbish, but I'm no David Bailey and I don't have a great camera.

The colours I used were Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Old Olive, So Saffron, Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue and Chocolate Chip in various mediums of ribbons, inks, cardstock and patterned paper. Other sets used were Occasional Greetings, Circle of Friendship, Basic Phrases, Frames with a Flourish and Sincere Salutations.

TFL! Joanne xx

TA-DAH! It's here!

The All New Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalogue 2009-2010 is now LIVE! Click on the little catalogue picture on the right hand side and that should take you straight through to the new catty! Enjoy browsing and fill your boots!!

Tart & Tangy Shrinky-Dinks!

Hi all! I did this card for It's A Creative World today, so thought I'd share it here too. I just got Tart & Tangy, a set from Stampin' Up! and thought I'd have a play.

I used to love Shrinky-Dinks as a child and so decided to dig my shrink plastic out and make some earrings out of them. I love the clean lines of this citrus slice stamp, I think it's fab!

Colours used were Yo Yo Yellow, Gable Green and Only Orange.

More posting soon - Last Chance List goes up tonight, so watch this space! :OD

TFL! xx

Stampotiques

I absolutely love the Daniel Torrente stamps produced by Stampotique. I feel I can relate to them by the fact that they look like I feel most of the time! Anyway, here's a couple of cards I've done with them over the weekend.

I'm not too keen on this one, but I do love my Japanese/Chinese postal stamps that I got ages ago from Ma Vinci's Reliquary. I fancy doing my hair that colour pink. Hmmm......

I like this one. I used my postal stamps again and the starry set is from Papertrey Ink. The name escapes me at the minute as to what it's called. Sorry about the rubbish photos. I'm never going to be a photoshop genius. :O)

TFL! Jo xxx

Finally.....

......a bit of me time! The past few weeks have been pretty hectic, what with the school holidays and family coming to stay. Today I had a bit of me time and of course, wanted to get creating. Unfortunately I've not had much in the way of enthusiasm or mojo recently, but I've been checking out the Stamp With Us site. My very talented downline Sara is on their design team. To help give my mojo a much needed boost I decided to have a go at their sketch challenge this week, and here is the result!

The stamp set I used is SU! Nursery Necessities (one of my current favourites) and Tea Party DSP. The cardstock used is Regal Rose and the inks are Pretty In Pink and Barely Banana.

I'm going to challenge myself to try and keep up with some challenges. It's a good way to get my mojo going!

TFL! Jo x

Teacher Gifts

Lookie here! I've been very good making lots of goodies for Harvey's teachers *polishes halo*. I used Teacher's Apple stamp set from Papertrey Ink, cardstock and patterned paper from Papertrey and lovely inks and ribbon from Stampin' Up!

Find out how to make this notebook, Post It note holder and sweetie packet on It's a Creative World tomorrow!

Joanne x

Birth Announcements

Sorry for another long hiatus, I'm back at last!

My DH's nephew and his wife are having their first baby soon and I'm so excited! I've made some birth announcements using Bundle of Joy. I love this set, not just for babies but for children's birthday cards too.

We don't know the sex yet, so I've gone for So Saffron and Certainly Celery as the colour scheme. I've done a few, but more can be made if need be!

TFL! I'll be back with more soon - promise!

How does your garden grow?

I recently got the gorgeous Scene in a Garden stamp set from Stampin' Up! and wanted to do something special with it. Inspired by Andrea Walford's Punch Pals Class, I decided to make a little garden shed for a set of 4x4 greetings cards. Here's how it turned out:

All the cardstock and colouring uses SU! Earth Elements family, so it all co-ordinates nicely. The creeping vine on my shed is made using the stem from the Fresh Cuts set. Here's the cards I made:




I'm really pleased with how everything turned out. The background stamp is SU! En Francais. The sentiment stamps are a combination of Oval All and Best Yet.

TFL and I'll hopefully be back soon with more!

Joanne x

Don't forget the Mini!

Hello everyone! Just a quick post today to remind you that the new mini catalogue is now open for business! This catalogue runs concurrently with the main catalogue until 30 September, so you've plenty of time to get orders in.

Here's a couple of cards I made using stamp sets from the new mini.

Sorry, it's a bit dark but this one uses Playful Petals and Oval All stamp sets and the new Tea Party papers. Colours used are all Soft Subtles - Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana and Pretty in Pink.

This one uses the Fresh Cuts stamp set and Best Yet Hostess set. The image was inked and embossed in Basic Black and then I pounced over it with chalks in So Saffron, Regal Rose and Always Artichoke. The cardstock and DSP are both So Saffron.

I'll try and put a linky on the side bar to the new mini catty. It may take some time though!

TFL! Joanne xxx

Spring is coming!

Hooray! It's nice and sunny today and I feel as if Spring is on it's way at last!

Made a few cards to share with you, first being one for a swap:

I've used A Rose is a Rose stamp set, Bashful Blue cardstock and Designer Series Paper, Bashful Blue ribbon and for the rose I used Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue and Old Olive inks.

Last week I went to Stampin' Up! Field Training and had a lovely time meeting other demos and we got to do a couple of make and takes. The new mini catalogue will go live on 1st April when you can finally get your hands on all the gorgeous new stamp sets that will be available. At Field Trainign we used the new Forest Friends set. It is so stinkin' cute it's unbelievable! Take a look at these:

This clever reflection was made using the Stampamajig. I'll have to do a tutorial on how to do it. Very clever!

Tee hee! So cute! Products used on all three cards were Whisper White, Old Olive, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip and Bashful Blue cardstock, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive inks and Mellow Moss ribbon. The striped So Saffron ribbon and the Forest Friends set are both in the new mini catalogue.

I'm busy making more samples - be back soon!

TFL! Joanne xxx

Step card

I saw this type of card made on Splitcoast stampers and thought it was so good I'd have a go at my own version. This is made with Neighbourhood wheel and Loads of Love set, all coloured with Watercolour Wonder Crayons.

The cards are very easy to make. Cut your cardstock to 10.5" x 5". Next score your cardstock along the length at 1.25", 2.5", 4.25", 6" and 8.25". Then just fold it up into a concertina effect, making sure the first, smallest fold (the 1.25" one) is folded down, as this is the very front. Here's another piccie so you can see what I mean:

Then you can decorate it any way you like. I thought it was perfect for making this 3D type scene.

Enjoy!

TFL! Jo x

Watercolour Wonder Tutorial

Hello Everybody!

I've had a lot of interest in the Watercolour Wonder Crayons recently. These are superb. They are similar to watercolour pencils but better and more versatile. Here's a quick tutorial of a technique that is really effective.

First of all use your WW Crayons to colour your stamp on the back, as shown. I've used the large flower stamp from Live Your Dream and used Barely Banana, Bashful Blue and Old Olive crayons.

Next spritz the back of your stamp with a mister. Bit like Sir Tim does! ;O) Don't soak it, just a light mist over the whole thing.

Stamp as normal. It's best to use watercolour paper for this, it gives a better impression. There you go - a nice "watercolour" effect image!

The card I've made uses Old Olive and Bashful Blue cardstock, Bashful Blue Designer Series paper, Bashful Blue tafetta ribbon and the tab is made using Totally Tabs stamp set, Yummy stamp set (this is a Sale-a-Bration set) all embossed in white on Old Olive and cut out using the tab punch.

Hope you like this. TFL! :O)

Jo x

Inspiration.....

I was at the Sheffield Crop this weekend and getting a lot of stick for not updating my blog enough, so I will try harder, I promise!

I am a huge fan of Kristina Werner and always pop by her blog for Stampin' Up! inspiration. She does a weekly Colour Inspiration where she picks a picture or item, translates the colours into SU! colours and makes a card using those colours. Taking inspiration from her inspiration, I decided to have a scout around and see what I could find.

So, here's the inspiration:

This gorgeous bag is a Noni pattern called Noni in the Sculpture Garden and is availavle from Get Knitted. The colours I chose from SU! were Whisper White, Basic Black, Mellow Moss, Pretty in Pink and Rose Red.

And this is the card I made using them:

The stamp sets used are A Rose is a Rose (one of my all time favourite SU! sets) and Fundamental Phrases for the sentiment.

Hope you like it and I'll be back soon - promise!

TFL! Jo x