More Stamp-a-stack cards

Hello, a late post from me today as I have had a very full day!  Whilst Thomas was at school I spent the day with my Niece and Nephew and their Mum (my little sister) we had lots of fun at a soft play centre - I even found myself climbing inside a pretend pirate ship!  Home for a yummy lunch (my sister makes the best sandwhiches!) then the younger two had a sleep and whilst I tidied up my Niece had fun with Play Doh and paint.  What with the end of the day school run, then selling our second car, dropping hubby off for a night out with his colleagues, feeding the children, bathtime and bedtime it was nearly 9pm before I had a chance to stop!  I have to say I wouldn't really have things any other way though.  

Right, sorry for waffling, onto today's crafty lovelies... these two cards are loosely based on some of the Make and takes for the last Stampin' Up! convention.  I have changed things up a bit for my Stamp-a-stack event last weekend  by using the paper that you can get for FREE with a £45 order during sale-a-bration.  I simply used my Stampin' Write markers to selectively colour the stamps in and then huff on them before stamping the image.

This card is I think my favourite from the session and I have to say a huge THANK YOU! to my downline Beth for lending me her brand new, unused Hardwood background stamp.  I love the freshness of this card plus it is easily a 'less than 5 minutes' job - it's always handy to have cards that you can knock up quickly.

More training makes and a fringe card

Hello, I hope you are all well!  Today I wanted to share a really cute little box that we made at our training session a couple of weeks ago.  It holds a lovely little set of gift tags featuring the lovely new stamp set Happy Watercolour.  I have to say though that my favourite bit is the filter paper pom pom flower made using the new fringe scissors.  This was such fun to make!

This next picture shows the gift tags too, I absolutely love the ‘swash’ of water colour effect that you get from this stamp, so clever how it gives the graduated effect.  The tags and the silver piece for the front of the box are shaped using the new Scalloped Tag Topper punch - you are going to love what this can do!

Finally for today I wanted to share a card I made using the fringe scissors.  I may need to take another picture though as this one is a little fuzzy.  I have used three different shades of pink to create a graduated fringe effect – this card feels so nice!

Table built using Product Table Builder by The Crafty Owl - Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

Sale-A-Bration Mini Book and a Brand New Product

Hello!  Before I share today’s project I want to tell you some more exciting Stampin’ Up! news….

On top of SAB and the Spring / Summer catalogue they have launched a new product.  It’s the new Texture Boutique embossing machine.

 

This is a fabulous little machine and is much more portable than my lovely BigShot, so I am really looking forward to getting mine.  It would also make a great first embossing machine if you don’t already own a BigShot, best of all it’s only £26.95 so it’s a real bargain too!

Here’s a quick video telling you more

Today I wanted to share the gorgeous little mini bool that we made at our team training a couple of weeks ago.  I made a few small changes to Monica’s design just to add my little twist.

The papers are from the sale-a-bration dsp Sweet Sorbet and the stamped images from Petal Parade, which is also a SAB freebie.  You get to choose one freebie for every £45 spent.

The book is amazing, the cover is made out of the backing card from the Simply Sent Simply Fabulous Kit, some of the actual kits elements have been used to create the book.  You can see the Smoky Slate bow on the front as well as the lattice piece which on the front cover I have spritzed with pool party ink mixed with isopropyl alcohol to match the tassel.

Here you can see how the pages are made out of the envelopes in the simply sent kit.  I have to have a play with this… I am thinking of making a class out of this :) it would make a great little gift or even a personal journal, please let me know if you’d be interested.

Tips on a Tuesday - How to make bows using the Envelope Punch Board

With the launch of Sale-a-bration and the new Spring/Summer catalogue I just had to post twice today!  I’ve come back to share a tutorial with you, I love my envelope punch board and I am still amazed by how many different uses it actually has!  This is going to be a photo heavy post so please bear with me…

The technique for making the bows is the same whatever the size so I will share sizes (in inches and cm) at the end.

To create the bow you need three pieces of paper or card, two that are the same width but different lengths and a small skinny strip.

Start with the longest strip, position it into the punch board so that the left hand end is at half the length.  In this case the strip was 15 cm so I have it at 7.5 cm.  Punch the strip in the centre on both edges as shown in the picture.

  

Next we need to shape the ends, start by sliding the paper along to the left so that the end lines up with the edge of the punch as shown in the first picture.  Then do the other side as shown you will 

do this on each ‘corner’

 

This is what your piece should now look like

Now you need to shape the shorter piece, this will create the ‘tails’.  The first step is exactly the same, punch in the middle so that you end up with a piece that looks like this

Now rotate this piece a quarter turn, centre it into the punch and punch.  Do this on both ends to create the fish tail ends.

You will now have three pieces that look like this

Take the longest piece and curl it as shown

Stick the ends down into the centre

Wrap the skinny piece around the centre and adhere the ‘tail’ into place, you can either 

have a straight tail like this

or you can create a pleat in the tail and have them pointing down like this

 

You can make bows in all sorts of different sizes, and even double bows too!

Finally here are the dimensions, from top to bottom and then the double bow.  I hope you have lots of fun playing, please comment and let me know if you create any different sizes!

Tiny Bow

1 piece 15cm x 2.5cm / 6” x 1”

1 piece 9cm x 2.5cm / 3 1/2 ” x 1”

1 piece 0.5cm x 2.5cm / 1/4” x 1”

Small Bow

1 piece 20cm x 2.75cm / 8” x 1 1/8”

1 piece 12.5cm x 2.75cm / 5” x 1 1/8”

1 piece 0.7cm x 2.75cm/ 1/4 x 1 1/8”

Medium Bow

1 piece 25cm x 3cm / 10” x 1 1/4”

1 piece 15cm x 3cm / 6” x 1 1/4

1 piece 0.8cm x 3cm / 5/16” x 1 1/4”

Large Bow

1 piece 30.5cm x 4cm / 12” x 1 1/2”

1 piece 17cm x 4cm / 6 1/2” x 1 1/2”

1 piece 1cm x 4cm / 3/8” x 1 1/2”

Small Double Bow

Bottom Bow - 1 piece 20cm x 2.75cm0 / 8” x 1 1/8”

Top bow - 1 piece 16cm x 2.75cm / 6 1/4” x 1 1/8”

Tails – 1 piece 12.5cm x 2.75cm / 5” x 1 1/8”

Table built using Stampin' Up! Product Table Builder from The Crafty Owl.