Sale-A-Bration sets!

I am loving the 2010 Sale-A-Bration stamp sets. Thanks to all this snow bringing everything to a halt I had time to play with a couple of the sets yesterday along with some new stamp sets I haven't yet had chance to try out, and so made a few cards to add to my 'anytime' card box.

I used some 4x4" cream textured card blanks, and chose a colour pallet of So Saffron, Old Olive and Really Rust. I began with Trendy Trees - one of the NEW sets from the 2009/10 catalogue. I stamped onto Very Vanilla cardstock and cut out the trees rather than stamping direct to the front of the card - I wanted crisp clean images, and when you stamp onto textured card you get a grungy look - which is nice and I like, but not for my trees! Also, cutting them out meant I could mount them with dimensionals to give even more texture (click the picture to see it bigger).


Stamps: Trendy Trees
Ink: Old Olive, Really Rust, Basic Black
Cardstock: Very vanilla.
Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Paper Snips and Dimensionals.

Next I used the SAB Good Neighbours set. I love this set as it is so simple to use, has lots of options to mix and match the images, it's a 2 step stamping set which I always love, it co-ordinates with Trendy Trees stamp set and Funky Forest and Neighbourhood wheels and the images are very sweet! Again I stamped the images onto the smooth Very Vanilla cardstock and cut them out. I had a tree left from my previous card that I had already cut out and decided not to use, so I added that in. This time I stuck most of the images direct to the card front except for one of the houses and one of the clouds which I mounted with dimensionals. To give a focus to the raised house I stamped the sentiment directly to the card front underneath it.


Stamps: Good Neighbours SAB set, Trendy Trees. Sentiment from Vintage labels SAB set.
Inks: Really Rust, So Saffron, Old Olive, Bordering Blue, Basic Black.
Cardstock: Very Vanilla.
Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Paper snips and Dimensionals.

For the next card I wanted to use the NEW for 2009/10 Medallion background stamp - because this is such a big image I stamped it direct to the front of the textured card blank to get that grungy look. It is obviously way to big to fit on the front of a 4x4 card, so I stamped it off centre but making sure the inner circle of the image was fully on the card. In Vintage Labels SAB set there is a stamp that is almost a small version of the medallion and co-ordinates with it really well. There are 2 further label images and 3 sentiments that fit inside them. Again this is a 2-step stamping set with a lot of uses. I stamped the round small medallion image onto smooth Very Vanilla card and cut it out. The image is actually designed to fit perfectly in the scallop circle punch if you prefer to punch the shape rather than cut it out! Using the Stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped one of the Vintage label sentiments in the middle of the image. I mounted the smaller image onto the centre of big image stamped direct to the card front using dimensionals.


Stamps: Medallion, Vintage labels SAB set.
Inks: So Saffron, Old Olive, Basic Black.
Cardstock: Very Vanilla.
Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Paper snips, Dimensionals.

Next I took NEW for 2009/10 Circle Circus stamp set and created a random background of stamped images across the card front. Again these images have a softer grungy feel as they are on textured card. I stamped another of the Vintage labels stamps onto Very vanilla, and added a sentiment in the middle, then cut it out and mounted it to the front of the card with dimensionals.


Stamps: Vintage Labels SAB set, Circle Circus.
Inks: So Saffron, Really Rust, Old Olive, Basic Black.
Cardstock: Very Vanilla
Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Paper snips, Dimensionals.

You can see images of all 4 of the limited edition SAB stamp sets in my blog post HERE along with details on how you can earn these fabby sets for FREE! Please email me if you want to place an order or have any questions about Sale-A-Bration. I hope everyone is keeping warm and safe during the Arctic conditions - if you are stuck indoors you could get stamping to chase away the winter blues!

Sale-a-Bration is BACK!

It's Sale-A-Bration time again at Stampin' Up!, and friends, fresh ideas, and free product is what it's all about!

Every year Stampin' Up! gives customers, hostesses, and new demonstrators the opportunity to earn fantastic, FREE, limited-edition products they'll enjoy for years to come.

Here's how Sale-A-Bration works:

Spend
When you spend £45 on Stampin' Up! merchandise, you'll receive a free Sale-A-Bration reward. There's no limit--for every £45 you spend, you can select another FREE Sale-A-Bration reward!

Host
When you host a workshop of at least £300 (before tax and shipping), you'll receive a free Sale-A-Bration reward in addition to all of the regular hostess benefits!

Join
During Sale-A-Bration, anyone who joins as a demonstrator can choose any stamp set--a value of up to £38.95--from our current Idea Book and Catalogue.

The Sale-A-Bration promotion starts on 30 December 2009 and runs through 28 February 2010, so don't miss your chance to earn free limited edition products! Email me to book your workshop or learn more about this promotion. You can view the Sale-A-Bration brochure online here.

Christmas card and Thank you cards.

Although I have not made many Christmas cards this year - I did make a few simple stamped ones with the Tree trimmings set for a swap. I used 12x12 Kraft cardstock cut into 3 pieces of 4x12 and folded in half to make the cards 4x6.


Stamps: Tree Trimmings, Best yet (retired)
Ink: Handsome Hunter, Taken with teal, Night of Navy, Basic Black.
Cardstock: Kraft 12x12
Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Corner Rounder punch.

And for those all important Thank you's after Christmas I again stayed with simple. Using 4x4 card blanks in cream, I made two kinds of punched toppers to go over a ribbon and pattern paper band.


Pattern paper: Bella Bleu
Ribbon: Taffeta Kraft
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Kraft
Ink: Not Quite Navy
Stamps: Greetings Eight
Tools: Scallop Circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Large and Small tag punches, Dimensionals

Christmas Extravaganza!

Make Stampin’ Up! your one-stop Christmas shop for all the special people in your life!

The Gift-Giving Guide has ideas for kids, teens, neighbours, scrapbookers, and more! Plus, from 1 November-29 December 2009, receive a FREE Tag or Small Tag punch (a £12.50 value!) when you spend £45 on products from this guide.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the guide. Contact me here to place an order.

I am hosting a Christmas Extravaganza event on Saturday 7th November and Wednesday 11th November - if you would like more details, please email me!

And they're off....

The girls have been furiously crafting away all evening ready to bring you lots of gorgeous eye candy made with the new products and will be posting their makes on their blogs right now! As well as eye candy they have 2 sets of blog candy EACH to give away from their blogs - go visit, leave a comment and see the loveliness and possibly win some fab Stampin' Up! products to boot!

Lousette Ashton - And then I craft

Suzanne Torr - A bowl of Cherries

Jenny Cocks - Don't get mad get crafty!

Well thats it....

....out with the old and in with the new! Stampin' Up! is officially in changeover as of 11pm this evening - Last Chance to buy is now no chance - the old catalogue is consigned to the recycle bin and the new one is ready to go.

Just 30 mins till we see what Lousette, Suzanne and Jenny have come up with on their blogs and get a sneaky peek at some more of the new products - but don't forget to go on a cruise round some Demos blogs too (see my sidebar for a few links) - everyone is celebrating launch day in different ways and with lots of yummy stuff to upload there will be loads to see - grab yourself a cuppa and take a wander!

The new catalogue will be online after 11am tomorrow morning to browse through if you haven't already got a paper copy on its way then please go take a look! The current catalogue is on this page here - you should find the NEW one linked there tomorrow morning. Some of my personal fave new items:

White craft ink!!
New punches galore.
Trendy trees and Medallion stamps especially but oh so many fab new stamp sets.
Wheel storage - oh how I have longed for this!
Kraft cardstock in single colour 12x12 packs
Paper pricking template/mat pack!

and so so so much more - but I'm not going to spoil the fun of reading through and discovering the new bits for yourself - go look!

So its almost time......

.....how excited am I? the new catalogue is full of fab new products Im sure everyone is going to just love. To celebrate the launch, 3 very talented designers are participating in a blog hop after midnight tonight - Lousette Ashton, Suzanne Torr and Jenny Cocks - all well known names from the crafting world, all 3 girls regularly have work featured in various UK magazines and I'm sure you will be familiar with their fabulous work as it definitely stands out. I'm fortunate to have worked with all 3 at various different mags over the past few years and am very lucky to count both Lou and Suzanne as personal friends. I ADORE their work, all of these girls will rock the new products!

Just before 12 midnight I shall post links to each of their blogs - go take the tour and see what they have done with some of the new products! There will also be 2 lots of blog candy to give away from each of the girls blogs - don't miss out on a chance to win!

T-minus 19 days and counting....

...till the NEW Stampin' Up! catalogue is out! And I can promise - no one is going to be disappointed. It's stuffed FULL with some fabulous new products, new stamp sets and new papers. I know I'm a tease dropping all these hints when it's still 19 days to go till the launch - so how about I share of couple of new things right now?? Want to see a new set of Christmas stamps that are PERFECT for this years cards, tags and gift wrap? Want to see a great new product for making boxes, shaker cards, overlays and much more? You do? Well read on McDuff!

Lets start with Window sheets! 12x12 sheets of acetate in 2 weights, medium and thick. Even the medium weight sheets are sturdy enough to make into boxes, and the thick are really sturdy, great for acetate cards, pages and heavier boxes. Use them whole in your scrapbook albums or chop them up and use them how you want! The possibilities are endless. Once of the first things I have done with mine - used them to make swatch books as hostess gifts. This is the 'Soft Subtles' family:


Using the large punch tag, I created clear divider sheets for each colour family. The medium sheets go through a punch really easily. Once I had them punched out, I stamped the design on them in black Stazon.


I wanted to create a uniform look for the swatches which meant the images all had to be stamped in the same place on each tag. I did this using the Stamp-a-ma-jig and SU! grid paper. I put a little bit of repo adhesive onto the grid paper to hold the tags in place as they are too small to use with the Stamp-a-ma-jig alone. I carefully placed the tag over the adhesive and made sure it lined up with the grid lines along one edge to make positioning each new tag to be stamped nice and easy. I then stamped the first of the images - the flower and swirls design from Simply said stamp set - on to the stamp-a-ma-jig sheet and positioned it over the tag. I slid in the stamp-a-ma-jig handle and removed the sheet - and drew lines along the side of the stamp-a-ma-jig handle to mark its position. I now had a quick way to stamp lots of tags with the flower image in the same place over and over by simply adhering the tag in place, lining up the Stamp-a-ma-jig handle with the guide lines drawn on the sheet and stamping away! I repeated the same process for each stamp I wanted to use all on the same sheet of grid paper. Each section of the swatch books has an acetate divider stamped in black with the first letter of the family name - B for Bold Brights, E for earth Elements,R for Rich Regals and S for Soft Subtles using Big Deal alphabet stamps. This is repeated on each of the cardstock tags in the corresponding ink shade. The colour of the card/ink is written on the back of the tag.


This is a new stamp set called 'Tree Trimmings'. Its a set of 4 stamps, 3 baubles and a tied string to 'hang' them. I've used them on a simple card made with perfect Plum card and Perfect Plum ink, and little bit of Whisper White.



....and because I'm feeling generous - here's another new product....... GLITTER! The glitter comes in 2 colourways for 5 pots, I've used the Gold from the Galaxy colourway, medium window sheets and tree trimmings stamps on this card, along with a frame from the 'Frames with a Flourish' set.



So.... has that whet your appetite for the new catalogue a little? I hope it has!!

Last Chance to buy!

The new catalogue is almost with us - and so its now time to announce the retiring products from the 2008/9catalogue! This year for the first time Stampin' Up! have released a 'Last Chance' list of products you can purchase from today, through till 30th September 2009 - many products at 25% and 50% reductions! To bag yourself a bargain today, check out the list here, then email me for info on how to order - but hurry - last chance items are selling fast!

Loads of Love!

I do love this stamp set - its got heaps of potential and when you add the accessories set in with it then you have a set for virtually any occassion. For this card I stamped the truck twice, and cut out one and layered it over the top of the first image to give depth to the wheels and, the load on the back and the driver. I used watercolour wonder crayons and an aqua brush to colour the body of the truck to give a cloudy effect, and the crayons with blender pens for the other areas. I also used a little of the ribbon from this months promotion. The Stamp-a-ma-jig is an essential tool to use with this 2 step stamping set to line up your chosen 'load' in the back of the truck, as well as the driver in the cab!

• Stamps: Loads of Love, Loads of Love accessories
• Ink: Classic ink - Basic Black and Basic Grey
• Watercolour wonder crayons: Neutrals set, Soft Subtles set
• Cardstock: Basic Grey, So Saffron, Whisper White
• Paper: Washington Apple
• Ribbon: So Saffrom 5/8 grosgrain (free ribbon bundle from August2009 Promotion)
• Punch: Scallop edge
• Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Paper snips, Aqua painter, Blender pens
  

Tip: when using dimensionals to layer up tiny parts of your image (like the thin edge of the truck rook here) - use your paper snips to cut into smaller pieces while still attached to the backing sheet and use a paper piercer or fine tweezers to lift the small pieces and place on the image.