Decorative ornaments meets challenges x 3 - for glitter, sparkle and silver.. !

 hi all

well I think I have certainly got into the 'C' groove with my cards now - and the stack is coming along quite nicely - my plan was to use all my associated 'C' word papers, stamps, cardstock and inks and set to.

but am guessing  like a lot of you - I would never get to use it all  up, 'never in a month of Sundays' as the saying goes.. 'but am doing my best to diminish the stash pile' as I keep telling himself.  Somehow though, the look on his face makes me think he is somewhat sceptical - but we will see...

and today's card really does pay homage to the fabulously detailed Decorative ornaments die-cuts and the lovely item that is Stampin' Up! Glimmer Paper.  Top notch Glitter effect without it going everywhere it shouldn't..! 

and as this week's quest over at The Glory of Christmas Challenge #71 charges us to use Glitter and/or shine (add glitter or rhinestones, etc) ,  Wednesday's Creative Challenge #334 asked for 'Sparkle' and Inkspirational Challenges #95  want Anything goes with silver ....

well I couldn't resist having a go and hopefully this maybe satisfies on all 3 counts as this is what I ended up with after all my endeavours.

Still on my Pool Party colourway theme (determined to make geat inwards into my pack of cardstock here!) so we have another one.

Pool party base with a Whisper white topper - glimmer card die-cut ornament (Delicate Ornaments) . As this is such a detailed die, I used Stampin' Up's new Fine Tip glue pen to add it to the card - its delivers such a fine bead of glue - so absolutely no worries  as to getting your glue other than where you put it ! It's a brilliant,  must have,  in my book .

The bow and stars are courtesy of a couple of the accessory pieces from the Mini-Treat bag Thinlets set. A strip of toning seam binding, and stamped sentiment from Cosy Christmas to finish.

And inside...

more Pool Party stampin' - the holly swag from the matching Embellished Ornaments stamp set  (currently one of the fabulous weekly special deals,  as I write)

though thinking about it it always a special offer to consider are Stampin' Up's money saving bundles - where you can buy both the stamp set and matching Thinlet dies as with this set I am using here.

and the little glimmer accents were just waste pieces created whilst punching away..

A really lovely effect card and so easily put together with Stampin' Up supplies that all co-ordnate and as they take the guesswork out of things  - you don't have to!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used

Just click on the items below to easily access them in my on line store 

Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Silver Glimmer Paper	Embellished Ornaments Clear-Mount Bundle
Fine-Tip Glue Pen	Cozy Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies

Or please just contact me if you have any questions or to place an order for you, if you would prefer.

Well,  off to pack the car with parents/in-laws shortly - as mentioned previously - going to watch my first ever G&S operetta, Iolanthe.

til next time - happy stamping all and as today is the day it is-  for everyone affected by conflict... then, now and to come

We will remember them...

Jan x

Stamped and cut window greeting meets House of Cards and Vintage Stamping challenges....

hello all and happy Friday.

Uhm  today found me puzzling over what to do for a 'nice and easy'  Christmas card. ..
and, as is often the way with these things,  what you start out wanting to do, ideas and all - usually morphs into something entirely different by the time you have finished - and such was the story here.

...so rather than the one layer card I thought I had in mind - which is still buried in there somewhere I think .. I not only ended up with a raised layer card - what would we do without Stampin' Up's Dimensionals!  - but it had punched/cut-out windows as well, inspired by the November challenge over at House of Cards.

There is a brilliant video tutorial from Mynn, one of the lovely Design team,  to get you started and some lovely samples to inspire us all.

I came across this via a visit to the lovely Em Louise Fairley - aka 'Creative-Em'! a  member of their Group 2 Design Team. For those of you who prefer written instructions, she has some on her blog.

So, they want us to use a cut-out window - so I opted to do 3! using them for my baubles as well! 'Stringing'  these from a little stamped swag of Holly - from the embellished Ornaments stamp set - which I stamped in Mossy meadow but then coloured the berries in Real Red, easily accomplished courtesy of one of my aqua painters.

I die-cut the circles in my card using one of the small size dies in the Circles Framelits set. My insets came from scraps of the lovely music script paper - one of the beautiful designs in the Home for Christmas DSP pack- there really are some absolutely fabulous vintage inspired designs in this set and it is truly is my 'go to pack' of papers -  at the moment. I just love it.!

and with its vintagey feel (is that a real word?) am entering it for their Challenge no. 38#  Traditional Christmas over at 'Vintage Stamping Challenge'. 

The frame for the baubles was just a circle of Real red card stock cut with the 1 and 3/4" punch then I used the same die as I did for the baubles just to cut out the rest  to leave me the frame! I mounted this round the cut-outs then added a little hand drawn strings  and some toning ribbon for the bows,

My tiny poinsettias - are just fussy cut using the Petite petals punch and the  'pointsettia' paper - with  and little yellow and festive coloured candy dots and a bit of stamping/sponging to finish!

and the sentiment - another punched window for this as well - using the Decorative Label Punch - I hope you can see the slightly recessed impression this particular technique gives you a little better in this photo.?

well perhaps not quite so 'Nice and easy' as I originally intended - but then 'change does often happen' as am sure someone once said, somewhere!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used

Just click on the items below to easily access them in my on line store 

Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Embellished Ornaments Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad	Aqua Painters	Circles Collection Framelits Dies
Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper	1-3/4" Circle Punch	Real Red Stampin' Write Marker	Real Red A4 Cardstock	Petite Petals Punch
Home For Christmas Enamel Dots	Regals Candy Dots	Stamping Sponges	Decorative Label Punch	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad

Or please just contact me if you have any questions or to place an order for you, if you would prefer.

well, Saturday again tomorrow and where these weeks are flying to is quite a mystery! Scary stuff that the 'C' word is literally only 49 sleeps away!

but another first for me this Sunday and something to look forward to - am off to cheer on some work colleagues in a local 'am dram' performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe - a first for watching a G&S operetta, not cheering on my colleagues, you understand!

til next time - happy crafting and will leave you with this thought

''Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep"

Scott Adams - he of the famous 'Dilbert'  and his boardroom antics, incidentally!

Jan x

well I promised..! Santa all the way..!

hello all

well I did say I would try to photograph some of my samples for our craft day on Saturday - I just love  my card with the fussy-cut Santas - (Stampin' Up!'s super sharp snips make cutting out almost therapeutic I must say)  and the lovely vintage feel  'Home for Christmas' just has to be my favourite DSP collection.

what do you think?  It's brilliant the way you can cut them out, layer them up, off-set them and with the toning colours, papers, cardstock and embellishments that co-ordinate so perfectly - honest you really can't go wrong - stampin' or no stampin'!  though I did do a little,  I hasten to add.

As you can see there's a definite bias towards the fabulous Pool Party for all my cards at the moment! Not normally a colour you would have seen me using for Christmas ordinarily,  but it seems the absolute perfect choice here ..  and inside  - some sponging, a little bit of stamping and another little Santa pointing to the happy greeting.. Just love 'em!

and talk about a 'mix and match' - I took great delight in inking up 4 different stamps for my sentiments , stars and holly garlands.

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used

Just click on the items below to easily access them in my on line store 

Home For Christmas A4 Cardstock Pack	Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper	Ovals Collection Framelits Dies	Paper Snips	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad
Festival Of Trees Photopolymer Stamp Set	Something To Say Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Home For Christmas Enamel Dots	Rhinestone Basic Jewels	Embellished Ornaments Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Wonderous Wreath Photopolymer Bundle

Or please just contact me if you have any questions or to place an order for you, if you would prefer.

Well after the fabulous warm weather at the weekend - albeit the foggy starts that had to be negotiated first - I could be forgiven in thinking that today would be a repeat performance and the sun would get out later - alas no, it didn't - so shall cross fingers that there is a little more nice weather still to come!

Whatever you get up to - have a lovely week and happy stampin'! and shall be back soon with that couple of cards you see lurking in the background.

til next time
Jan x

Sassy salutations and a single layer challenge! - JUGS #317

Hello all

Happy Saturday - well what is left of it..   Hope you all managed to get up to something nice as it has certainly been a fabulous day weather wise - definitely non-seasonal temperatures for us here, for Halloween..

and Me?  Have spent a fabulous day crafting  with another local demonstrator - we were with a  lovely group of ladies all making Christmas cards of various designs - but concentrating on the, in my opinion  must have 'Home for Christmas' series with its beautiful vintage inspired Designer series paper,  toning card stock and related stamp sets, with a few accent pieces from a few others of the holiday season sets...

I had made quite a few samples for the class and ended up with a  couple of particular favourites and cannot say enough about  Stampin' Up!'s Glimmer paper - it is just the best -
but trying to photograph it to its best advantage is proving a challenge - so have passed that over to himself - so am hoping I will have something I can show you tomorrow!

In the meantime my post today is a mono-chrome card we made as an exercise in stamping and how to use the Stamp-a-majig for perfect positioning - works like magic, if its something you have never seen before, which was the case with my stampin' buddy today.

I ended up with a single layer card - well apart from the accent bow! so thought I would  enter it in the current ''Wild card choice" challenge JUGS #317 over at 'Just us Girls'!   where they want to see just that.. single layer designs.

I was very pleased with how it turned out, as was she.

We used Santa and his sleigh from 'Cozy Christmas', the bow, was die-cut from the Wonderful Wreath Framelits set ,  the holly border came from the Embellished ornaments set and the sentiment from Sassy Salutations.. all placed exactly were we wanted with the help of the Stamp-a-majig - a brilliant accessory in my book!

Must admit - it did look as if we needed something to finish it all off  so  decided on just adding a border line and the 3 rhinestones to set it all off.

and inside - 2 more repeats of the holly border again placed with the help of the stamp-a-majig..

what do you all think?

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used

Just click on the items below to easily access them in my on line store  

Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Embellished Ornaments Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Wonderous Wreath Photopolymer Bundle

Cozy Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Sassy Salutations Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Rhinestone Basic Jewels

Or please just contact me if you have any questions or to place an order for you, if you would prefer.


Well will hopefully be back sometime soon with a few of the samples for today's class if himself  has managed to come up with some reasonable photos.

Until next time and happy crafting.
Jan x