Owls part one

I asked one of my regular customers what product she would like me to theme a class around and she picked the owl punch. I thoroughly enjoyed looking through pinterest for inspiration for the projects we'd make.

We made a pizza style box with matching note cards,

a giraffe card,

 a card with a pair of owls in love,

 a new baby card

 and decorated a pillow box with a rose.

We enjoyed the owl punch themed class so much that we decided to do round 2 with Christmas themed owls which I will show you in my next blog post.

25% off 25 stamp sets to celebrate 25 years

Wow what an amazing offer!

To see the discounted sets click here

This offer is only available until Monday 28th. I will be placing an order on Monday so let me know if you want me to add anything for you. Free postage if you collect from me.

Seasonal Catalogue blog hop

Hi there, if you have arrived here on the blog hop you will have come from the lovely  Irene. If you are a first time visitor to my blog then let me start by welcoming you.

I have a couple of lovely projects to share with you today using new products from the seasonal catalogue which has just launched.

Firstly a card which I made for training swaps recently showcasing the lovely colour me christmas stamp set.

I love this little fellow and knew that I wanted to make a card using him straight away when I received my stamp set. I stamped him onto watercolour paper and then used an aqua painter to colour him in picking up ink from the lid of my ink pad after giving it a squeeze. I used baked brown sugar for his fur, garden green for his jersey to co-ordinate with the card base and then used crushed curry and cherry cobbler for the details. I cut him out using the ovals collection framelits and made a matt with cherry cobbler card stock using those too. The sentiment is from greetings of the season (which has carried over from last years seasonal catalogue so is still available to purchase). To finish off the design I used some designer series paper in cherry cobbler from the regals colour collection stack and some cherry cobbler bakers twine.

I also want to share with you a card featuring the new fun with christmas stamp set.

I think the little fox is so cute and that he along with the little sloth make a really unusual Christmas design. I must admit that I usually go for more traditional designs at Christmas so this project pushed me out of comfort zone a little but I'm really pleased with the result. You may just be able to make out that the matts are shiny this is using the new silver foil sheet which is just gorgeous. The DSP this time comes from the Winter Frost specialty  which has 2 sheets which are foiled. I haven't used those sheets for this card as I have something really special in mind for those and will share that with you another day. I have used  the 1" and 1 1/4" circle punches along with the word window and modern label punch to create the focal points and matts for this card.

I hope you have enjoyed my makes and that you pop back again soon to see more. As for the hop it's onward to the lovely  and talented vicky to see what wonderful creations she has come up with

Bye for now

Beth

When is a cupcake not a cupcake?

I recently did a cake themed class. I wanted to show my ladies different uses for the cupcake builder punch rather than just making cupcakes. So asked the question when is a cupcake not a cupcake?

When it's a handbag

The handbags are made using the cake or case part of the punch, upside down punched from our lovely Designer Series Paper (DSP) the handle and flap is using the large oval punch and the clasp is a mini brad as you can't beat a bit of bling. Depending on your chosen paper this may look better with one of the little pearls.

When it's an ice cream

We used the topping part of the punch to create the scoops of ice cream and popped them on top of a pennant punch, I ran this through the square lattice embossing folder to give the waffle cone effect. The flake uses the candle from the cupcake builder punch too. I love the Neapolitan ice cream effect of this card using very vanilla, choc chip and pretty in pink card stock.

When it's a hot air balloon basket and clouds

The sky was made using the topping from the punch stuck to the card stock with 2way glue pen left to dry before sticking so it is just tacky like a post it note and sponging over with the blue ink. Once the toppings are removed you get this lovely cloudy sky effect. The balloon is a circle punched from DSP and the basket is the case from the punch. To add to the effect we ran these through the square lattice embossing folder.

Embossing Powder Swallowtail

In the last week I've done a bit of embossing with powders and my trusty heat gun and the lovely big swallowtail stamp. I thought I'd share my projects with you.

I was initially a little sceptical given the size of this stamp so it didn't make it onto my wish list despite my love for all things butterfly. Having played with it thanks to my uplines Vicky and Monica not only has it made it onto the wish list but I NEED it yesterday!

This first project is inspired by one of my Stampin' Mum Vicky's cards that didn't make it into her butterfly themed class that I attended but she had made as a  sample to show us and I just had to make one too.

This is using island indigo card stock and ink, versamark ink and white embossing powder.

I love the effect of the shadowing by using the same coloured ink on card stock.

This card was one from training delivered by my Stampin' Grandma Monica's.

To achieve the split negative effect you use white embossing powder on black card and black powder on very vanilla.

a spot of baking

A friend posted a picture of the technique for this spotty cake and I just had to give it a go.

To achieve the effect you bake the spots first using a cake pop mould and then  sit them into the cake mix, add some more on top and then bake.

Yum yum!

Training swaps

I thought I'd share with you my makes for a training event that I attended recently.

I fancied using the filter paper from the spring summer catalogue and thought I'd get messy with my re-inkers. At just £2.75 for 4 rectangular and 8 circular pieces I'm loving the filter paper at the moment.

As you can see I really did get messy :-)

I was really impressed with the final results.

I have my lovely hubby to thank for the inspiration for my other swaps. I am the queen of last minute and got delayed at work so didn't have any drying time or indeed any mojo to come up with another make.

supplies used:

Card - midnight muse, whisper white, rich razzleberry & old olive

Ink - marina mist, pacific point, island indigo & black stazon

Stamp sets - summer silhouettes & itty bitty banners 

DSP - polka dot parade

Framelits - bitty banners

Punches - elegant butterfly & 1-3/8"circle

As usual I came back from training full of inspiration  so come back soon for more makes :-) 

Friday nights are for Chillin' and Craftin'

After a hard day at the office I thought I'd treat myself to finishing off some of my training projects.

I thought I would share with you one designed by the lovely Bekka. We used the the Dress up framelits from the spring summer catalogue to make some gift tags.

 



 I made a couple of alterations such as adding the bakers twine belts to the dresses and the corsage.

We used the Pop 'n Cuts die to make the folder for the gift tags and decorated this using the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder and the hung up cute clips.

I think this is a fab way of keeping some tags tidy and together. I haven't added the ribbon yet as I can't decide whether to swap that for some bakers twine to tie in (excuse the pun) with the bakers twine belts.

 

 

Card Stock = Marina Mist

Designer Series Paper = Sunshine and Sprinkles

Punch = Boho Blossoms

Accessories = Rhinestone Basic Jewels and Mini Brads.

 

 

 

 

 

And while I was a busy bee look who was chillin' out.

A dual purpose make.

As I said yesterday I was asked to do an inspiration station at our recent demonstrator team training event. I decided to make the theme of my display unusual fold cards. This is something that I try to bring into each of my classes. Some of my ladies are more experienced crafters and I wanted to make sure that they would learn something from my classes in the hope that it would keep them interested. I actually think it is the smutty conversation that usually transpires that keeps them coming rather than my 'teaching' abilities but hey ho.

This card was made as a sample for my class featuring the lovely Secret Garden Stamp set.

 



The beauty of this card is in the opening. look what happens when the top section is pulled up.

Card stock used = Island Indigo, Old Olive and Very Vanilla
Stamp sets = Secret Garden, Curly cute and Itty Bitty Banners
Framelits = Bitty Banners and Secret Garden
Inks = Island Indigo, Wisteria Wonder and Primrose Petals
Punch = 1 3/8" circle

Long time no see. Sorry!

I knew it had been a while since I had posted but I had not realised quite how long. Must try harder!!

I wanted to share with you a card that I made for swaps at a recent training event. Swapping is my favourite part of training as I get to meet so many talented demonstrators and take away with me a piece of their wonderful work by sharing something I have done.

The theme this time was masculine. The lovely lion is from the zoo review stamp set (main catalogue) which I think is a really versatile set for any gender or age. From just £21.95 for 5 stamps that makes this lion less than a fiver which is a bargain considering the versatility. I stamped him in Bravo Burgundy ink on Very Vanilla card stock. You can't really see it in the picture but the edges of the cards stock are inked too. The card base is Cherry Cobbler and you may be able to make out the embossed detail using the Borders Scoring plate from the spring/summer seasonal catalogue. I love how easy this is to use as unlike other scoring tolls that I have used it comes with a guide that sits above your work that helps you to know where the twists and turns are.

At the training I was asked to do an inspiration station. I was thrilled to be asked to do this, especially as I have not been demonstrating for a full year yet, although I must admit I was also a little daunted as the other displays I have seen have been amazing. Come back to my blog tomorrow and I'll share with you one of my makes from my display.