Last...

... card featuring brayering.

Hi everyone, hope your Monday is going well and you had a great weekend. Mine was very eventful, I'm so tierd!

So this brings that last of our brayered cards :(

For this card I used a stamp set called Circle Circus which I really need to use more! I embossed with our clear embossing powder then brayered over the top making sure to rub off the excess ink on the embossed image.

I then applied some adhesive to the back of my White Satin ribbon and 'ruffled' it. I've seen this done lots recently and love the way it looks (and it doesn't have to be perfect which is always a bonus when I'm involved!)

I hope you agree that brayering is really worth the effort. Practice practice practice! I'm glad I've given it another go after my disastrous first attempt almost a year ago.


I'll be back on Wednesday with another swap from convention and another set of 3 cards.

Thanks for stopping by,
take care.
x

Brayering...

... continued!

Hello my lovely blog readers, hope your well.

How cold is it!?? I can barely move my fingers even with the heating on, think it's time for a hot bath !

So, as I mentioned in my last posts, I went to see New Moon (Seriously, I hear you say, will she ever shut up about it? lol) I've arranged to go see it again next week so I'm extremely happy.

And look what I came across - completely by accident of course... ;o)


Oh please, is someone trying to torture me on purpose?

Sorry, I am slightly obsessed. Onto the brayering!

My second card is similar to the first in that I masked out a moon, brayered colours for the sky thenstamped an image. This time I used the Pocket Silhouette stamp set. I stamped the foliage in Basic grey stamping off onto scrap first to leave a faint image, then stamped in Basic Black directly onto the card with a second stamp from the set.

I then used my Cutter Kit to distress the edges of the coloured card stock that complemented the colours I used for the sky. I love this little cutter kit, so easy to use! It distresses but in a controlled way if you know what I mean.

I have a confession to make, I originally stamped my sentiment straight onto the background but it was slightly out and annoyed me so I used the Word Window punch and popped it up on dimensionals! Everything is salvageable!! (Is that a real word?)

I hope you like it, the last card with this technique will be shown on Monday so don't forget to pop back (and I promise that's the last of all this Rob Pattinson talk... for now!!)

Thanks for stopping by,
take care.
x

Playing with...

... my brayer!

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Sorry! I scheduled this to post yesterday (Wednesday) as I knew I'd be in the pictures - I LOVED New Moon btw!! - but for some reason it didn't post hence why it a little late. But we got there in the end :)
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First of all, I want to say a huge thank you to my fab SU! Mum Bekka. She made me this little bow as a gift for convention. It was on a headband and slips off so I decided to put it on a clip today for a change! I love it, I've been wearing it almost every day since I got back! I just love this ribbon and now I can wear it. Sooooo cool :)

Anyways, onto crafting...

The next swap from convention is the most gorgeous bookmark I think I've ever seen!

It's made by Valerie Lo, thank you!

It's so gorgeous and inspired me to get my brayer out, I must admit it's been neglected a fair bit over the past year or so.

So for mine, I masked out a moon and used Rose Red and Elegant Eggplant ink to give a 'dark winter' feel to the card.

I then tore a piece of paper roughly and used that as my mask for the grassy landscape. I inked this with Old Olive and Handsome Hunter.



I then stamped the bare tree trunks from Trendy Trees in Chocolate Chip ink, some straight onto the card and others stamping off first for a lighter image.

I'll be honest with you, it took me a couple of goes to get the ink on without the lines but I got there in the end. The trick I learnt from convention was to take off the excess on the scrap paper under your piece of card first with a few rolls then roll onto the card so it's softer and easier to blend!

I'll be back on Friday with another brayered creation.

Thanks for stopping by,
take care.
x

Quick post...

... and vampire dreams!

Hi, hope your having a good week so far. I'm planning on going to see New Moon on Wednesday with a friend from work, and I'm really looking forward to it!!

So this is just a quick post with a card made to the recipe on the SWU challenge blog.

The recipe comprised of:

Two patterned papers
Three brads
One stamp.

I used my Sahara Sand papers from the Hostess level 1 Designer Series Paper Pack that I got free with my last order - they are gorgeous!

I also used my new tag punch which I also got free (Omg, how good is SU! Lol) with my previous order from the Holiday Extravaganza - and you can still get yours up to the 29th of December so contact me for details!

The stamp set is called 'A tree for all seasons' and it's so cute.

I finished off with Real Red ribbon, the technique for this is in the tutorials section on the side of my blog ------------>

So, I hope you like it and give the challenge a go if you get a chance.

The convention inspiration mini series continues on Wednesday!


Right, I'm off to dream of Rob/Edward!!

Thanks for stopping by,
take care.
x

3rd medallion...

... and dare I say it? I think it's my favourite!

I love it! I hope you do too. And yes, it is the medallion stamp!

I think it looks like a Christmas wreath, but that could just be me...

I added some brads to the 3rd spots in there (you know, I'd never noticed them before... it's funny the more you use an image, the more you notice about it!)

It's relatively simple and quick, just the cutting out takes a little longer to do. Think this is going to be one of my Christmas designs - and if you don't have brads, you could use glitter (Did you know Stampin' Up! did glitter in the colour families? Yes! How easy will it be to co-ordinate your sparkle now!)

And the sentiment is the same as last time, from Punches Three I just coloured in the words with my Real Red marker.

So that completes the cards from the Medallion stamp, make sure to come back Wednesday to see what is next!

Thanks for stopping by,
Take care.
x

Another medallion...

... and I tried some stitching!

The 2nd card using the medallion background stamp lacked something, so I tried my hand at a rosette! They are surprisingly easy to do!


I also tried my hand at a handwritten sentiment, as I couldn't quite find one that would fit on there... I'm not too impressed with it to be honest. My handwriting never been the best but I think I can cope with it on here, it's not too much apart of the card!!

I can't wait to show you the 3rd one! Make sure you come back Monday!

Thanks for stopping by,
Take care.
x

Second swap inspiration...

... the medallion stamp!

When I first saw this stamp in our catalogue, I'll be honest, I loved it but didn't think you could do a lot with it... How wrong was I!!

I've fallen head over heels for this fabulously shaped rubber mounted onto wood.

So, the next swap from convention that has inspired me is from Louise Gilmour. Now, there's a lot of things that inspire me about this, its gorgeous! From the colouring, to the colour combo but what really struck me was the background!

For mine, I cracked open my brand new pack of Kraft paper, it's so versatile and I just love it!!

For the sentiment, I used a hostess stamp set called Punches Three. I stamped twice, once on Chocolate Chip using the same ink, then again on Whisper White. I cut out the main part (with the sentiment on) and matted that onto a Real Red 1" circle. I cut out the scallops too (this fits perfectly in our scallop square punch btw!) added dimensionals to the sentiment and snail to the scallops. Finally I added some brads to emphasise the red.

I cut a strip of Chocolate Chip card stock and scored it at 1" then 1 1/2" and continued all the way down, then folded to create a pleated border. I love it, its so simple but looks very effective.

Come back on Friday for the 2d card using the Medallion background stamp.

Thanks for stopping by,
take care.
x

How I love...

...Trendy Trees!!

It was one of the first sets I bought from the new catalogue and I *Heart* it soooo much!
Now I've got the wheel too, I'm in my element!

Ok, so It's Monday and that means its the last easel card *sniff*. I think I'll make some of my crimble cards like this, so easy to do in batches.

I went for a slightly bigger size for this one and used ribbon to keep the 'easel' part up.

I hope you've enjoyed the start of the mini series as much as I have making them!

Here are the cards all lined up (Please excuse the creased backdrop in my light tent!)

The next set will start on Wednesday, make sure to pop over!

Thanks for stopping by,
take care.
x

2nd easel card...

... means that my Mini blog series is officially under way!

I hope you enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed my new little challenge - don't forget to bookmark and come back on Monday for the final easel card.

So, the second easel card I made is for my friend Michelle, who's birthday is coming up. Happy Birthday sweetie x

I love this stamp set sooo much, you can do a lot with cupcakes {a not just eat them!!}

I decided to use a strip of regal rose with the eyelet border punch instead of a full mat and layer, I like! Think it adds just a little bit more interest. What do you think?

I'm up for trying out new ideas as I tend to stick to the 'norm'.

Now, don't forget about the Christmas extravaganza offer Stampin' Up! are offering at the moment up to the 29th of December. Spend £45 or more on the supplies in the leaflet and receive a free tag punch! Now that's my favourite price !


And what's great is, if you spend £90, the reward is not capped! You can then pick another - there are two sizes to go for! And we don't just offer free products at special times of the year, we offer them all year round, contact me for details.

Any questions drop me an e-mail, I don't bite!

Thanks for stopping by,
take care.
x

Convention swaps...

... Give me so many new ideas!

So, as I was saying in my last post we got so many fabulous swaps from the other Stampin' Up! demo's at convention that I just have to share them with you!

What I've decided to do is have a look through all my swaps and design a card (or two) using either the stamp set, technique or colour scheme from that swap.

So my first one is an easel card, I've been meaning to give this a try for a couple of weeks now so this was the first one I picked! It's easy to do but looks so effective.

Now, unfortunately this swap didn't have any contact details from the designer, so if this is yours, please comment and I will add your name to the post. It's so gorgeous, you really do need credit for it.

The set used here is 'Good Friend' - I love this set so much and need to use it more!


My take on this is using the 'Sparkly and bright' set, I've used it to death, but love it more each time ! I wanted to go for non-traditional Christmas colours and this is what I came up with.


The 'easel' part is kept up using brads, I've seen it done with ribbon, fabric flowers and even sentiments on punched circles etc. There are so many different ways to do this.


I hope you like it, Saturday I will post another easel card so make sure you stop by.

Take care
x

100 swaps...

... and traumatic heat embossing!

Ok, so in preparation for Stampin' Up!'s first ever UK convention I made 100 swaps. After sketching my ideas, and making 10 of them in batches of 5 I decided it was a bit too much. So I picked a simple layout, and duplicated it 50 times (what was I thinking, picking one that involved heat embossing?!!)

Anyway, it turned out great in the end but can you imagine having to heat emboss 50 card fronts? Seriously, I was covered head to toe in clear embossing powder!

Thought I'd share them with you, they got so many compliments from the other demo's that it was worth the perseverance.

I used Chocolate chip card stock, the Jolly Stampin' Around wheel was inked with Versamark, covered in clear embossing powder and heated.
(I'm loving Chocolate Chip on Christmas cards at the moment!)

Next I assembled the Very Vanilla, Real Red and Close to Cocoa card pieces. The sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip with the help of my trusty friend - the Stamp-a-ma-jig.

I stamped 50 of the cute little reindeer's from Sparkly and Bright, coloured in his nose with a Real Red marker and applied Crystal Effects for some dimension.

I punched out using the 1 3/8" circle punch which fits lovely inside the scallop circle punch.
I finished off the scallop circle by piercing each scallop.


All that I needed to do then was assemble. They looked great all together like that, there's something about a big pile of card that gets me excited (It was the same with pads in the stationary shop when I was younger!)


Finally, I tied 50 little knots out of Kraft ribbon!


I hope you like the finished result.



Make sure you check back on Thursday, where I'll be announcing the start of a mini series of blog posts!

Thanks for stopping by,
Take care.
x

Back from convention...

... and I'm soooo excited!!

Hello my lovelies,

WOW! What a convention that was! I've met so many fabulously lovely, talented and generous people from the Stampin' Up! family. I've truly had the most amazing time.

It was somewhat tiring (Especially when your up at 7am and don't want to go to bed early in case you miss anything, so end up going to bed at 2-(ish)am eeekkk!!) I thought as much and packed some pro-plus to keep me going haha!!

It was wonderful to meet up with other demo's from the UK, France and Germany. I've received so many gorgeous swaps that have really inspired me so will take pics and share soon.

I have to say, that without the lovely Bekka, Monica, Julie (My fab roomie), Sarah-Jane and Jeanette I think I would have been lost. So thank you ladies, I look forward to seeing you next year!

Also, a huge congratulations to my fabulously talented SU! Mummy - Bekka, my SU! Auntie - Julie and my SU! Granny - Monica who have been so dedicated and really do deserve all the awards and recognition that they have received. I feel so honoured and lucky to be apart of such a hugely talented team. I can only hope that one day, I will see some of their success (Best get working on that!)

I'm so tired now and really must go to bed, but I shall leave you with a picture of Me and Shelli.

She is so fabulous at what she does, and so incredibly down to earth.

Thanks for stopping by,
take care.
x