In Love With Stamping Design Team Challenges

I am lucky enough to be on the In Love With Stamping Forum Design Team for the next 6 months which means I will have to get my act into gear and make some cards each month. The following is from the August Challenge.

The first challenge was to use Basic Gray, So Saffron and Certainly Celery Cardstock as the colour scheme and the card below is what I came up with.

So Saffron and Nouveau Chic Patterned Paper, Whimsical Wings Level 2 Hostess Set and Oval All Stamp Sets. The rose I made myself using Basic Gray cardstock and some Dazzle Diamonds sprinkled on afterwards, the leaves are from the Bird Punch.

This card I also made for the same challenge, again using the Nouveau Chic Patterned Paper, Basic Grey Cardstock stamped with Papertrey Inks Tin Types Stamp set for a bit of pattern. The Praying for You sentiment is from Verve Stamps and the beautiful flower is from the In Bloom Stampin Up Stamp Set.

The next challenge was an inspiration piece, we were shown the picture below and had to make something using inspiration from this sketch.

I made a box using the Groom Speciality Patterned Paper and put little tags into each of the 4 sections using colours from the picture. I tied silver elastic thread so that they can be hung off of gifts. This would make a wonderful little gift for someone.


The next challenge was a sketch challenge using the sketch below.

I used the Sweet Pea Paper Stack to make the strips of paper, stuck them to a piece of Taken with Teal cardstock (that is retiring at the end of next month) and cut around leaving a small border.

I used Trendy Trees stamp set for the images, the scallop border punch for the edging along with a Martha Stewart punch and a Stampin Up button and ribbon to finish it off with.

The next challenge was to use Saran Wrap (or cling film), scrunch it up and dab ink or paint onto your project in some way.

I used the Stampin Up Silver Shimmer Paint and dabbed it onto Night of Navy Cardstock. I used the Season of Joy Stamp Set for the main image and cut out some snowflakes in silver cardstock to make a nice Christmassy card.

I also made a card for this challenge using ink. I dabbed the cling film onto an inkpad and decorated some pale plum card. I then stamped it with the En Francais background stamp. The image is from Vintage Vogue Stamp Set using the Oval All for the sentiment. This was finished off using Old Olive Satin Ribbon.

Have a great day everyone, hope you enjoyed what I have made, if you would like to join in with the challenges visit www.inlovewithstamping.com.

Update and a card at last....

Hi all, life has once again taken over... my grandson who is 5 weeks old today was admitted to hospital Wednesday evening, he has been projectile vomiting and is not gaining weight, he has in fact only put on 1.5lb since he was born. His grandad (on his dad's side) had the same problem as a baby and needed an operation to right it, it is hereditary so is possible this is what my grandson has.... so Wednesday night they had a Surgical Team and a bed on standby in London, but typically, after being put on a drip stopped being so sick, so was sent home yesterday evening with medicine and an ultrasound appointment for 2 weeks time. Unfortunately overnight he started being sick again and out of 5 feeds, he projectile vomited 3 times and in the end was continually crying as he was so hungry, my poor daughter has not slept in days. Today he went back to hospital and as I type he should be having his ultrasound scan, depending on what they find depends on what happens next, she is moving from hospital to hospital at the moment as the scan as it a different hospital to where he was admitted. My other grandson who is 17 months old thinks he lives here at the moment, and he is also not very well (those awful colds going around at the moment) and really needs mummy and daddy at a time like this, but he is enjoying playing with my 6 and 8 year old, and daughter is happy he is worn out when he goes home... so fingers crossed that if there is anything wrong they will see it on the scan, if not, that he will stop being sick and start gaining weight....

Finally got around to making a card today, but only a simple one as I left my 16 year old in charge of my grandson whilst I did it... Recipe:- Patterned Paper - Stampin' Up! To The Nines Speciality PP. Cardstock - Stampin' Up! Sage Shadow, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White. Stamp Set:- Season of Joy, Circle of Friendship, Trendy Trees. Punches:- Stampin' Up! Scallop Circle, 1 3/8" circle, 1" circle, Eyelet Border. Misc:- Stampin' Up! Dazzling Diamonds, Glue Pen.

And here is what it looks like opened....

Hope you have a great evening girls... xx

Bookcase Tuesday...

Can you tell I have run out of titles for my blog posts... well anyway, today I bought a bookcase and my son came to visit and made it up for me, but looks like Argos have changed their bookcases as it is smaller than the one we currently have and Argos only do 2 now, a deep bookcase or a baby bookcase, so looks like they are just going to have to look odd. They are in our upstairs hall, so not very noticeable, so shouldn't matter too much as long as it does the job it was intended for. Just need to re-arrange all my books now.... (maybe DH will do it later, although he likes to put things in alphabetical order, and I like to sort them by size)....

Tomorrow I will be making a Mother's Day card, so will post that then, but for today, here is my card.

Rose Red, Whisper White and Bravo Burgundy Cardstock. Rose Red Patterned Paper, Whisper White Taffetta Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch and Season of Joy Stamp Set for the Swirl, which was stamped in versamark and embossed with Stampin Up White Embossing Powder, and Level 2 Hostess Set, Cause For Celebration. The sentiment was computer generated.

Off to take my son to cubs, have a great evening all xx

I actually got round to making some cards....

And they are all made from Stampin' Up! Unfortunately not the 20 I had planned but I have made 3, I was going to make 20 3 x 3 cards, but I decided against it and I have 24 card blanks ready and waiting to be made into cards and they are a variety of sizes, just to make things a little bit different. I guess they take me longer as I like to decorate the inside too... I have photographed the insides so will show you them too...



For these cards I used Old Olive, So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie Cardstock, I used the Stampin' Up! Cardstock Flowers on the front and the sentiment was from the Thank You Kindly Set, the inside Stamp Sets were Season Of Joy for the Green Swirl, I stamped the flower first using A Beautiful Thing Stamp Set in So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie, I then masked the flower and stamped the swirl over the top.... I think it looks quite attractive.. oh yes, the size is 4" x 4". I used the swirls cuttlebug folder and the spots cuttlebug folder to give it some dimension and the Patterned Paper is Haiku.
Next up is another 4" x 4" card...

I am using the same Patterned Paper and Cardstock throughout these cards, so again, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and So Saffron Cardstock and Haiku Patterned Paper. Pumpkin Pie ribbon on the front of the card and again I used the Cardstock Flowers. The brads are Old Olive and the sentiment is from the Stamp Set Circle of Friendship, you get 8 sentiments in this set and they punch out nicely using the Stampin' Up! punches. Inside I used the same colour cardstock but used the Scallop Edge Punch on the Patterned Paper. All supplies are Stampin' Up!.

This time the card is an A6 size, and again I used the same colour cardstock, Old Olive, So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie. The ribbon on the front of the card is Old Olive, and the Image comes from the Garden Whimsey Stamp Set, I coloured the stamp in with the Stampin' Markers and stamped it that way, so I could use 2 colours. The "Thank You" sentiment is from the Occasional Greetings Stamp Set. On the inside I used the Scallop Edge Punch on the edge of the So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie cardstock and I used the Cardstock Flowers... the Patterned Paper is Haiku. Hope to make some more cards in these colours tomorrow, bit of a challenge getting them all different but using the same colours, so should be fun.

And apart from making cards I have no other news to share... aaaah, but a letter was sent home via my son today to say this Academic Year he has already got 30 merits, so very proud of him as it is his first year at Secondary School.

Dont forget to take part in my Blog Candy Challenge, you have until Saturday to submit a card and you can find out more here.

Dinner is now ready, so off to have that.... have a great evening all xx

Day 8 - 12 Days of Christmas

Today can be a gift or I am going to make a few to decorate my table on Christmas Day, what are we talking about... a

Christmas Cracker

Its very easy to make, I started off with a 12 x 12 piece of patterned paper from the Holiday Treasures set (yep no I Wish today) and cut it down to 5 3/4" x 12".

Score the long side at 5 5/16". Then you will need to score the both short sides at 2" 2 3/4" and 3 1/2".

Fold both ends into the centre along the 2 3/4" lines.

Next you will need this template, make sure you cut it at 100% and it should be the right size. Cut it out and place it so that the spikes are level with one folded edge and paperclip in place.

And cut out the bits between the spikes.... do the same the other end making sure you line the edge up with the same side as you did before... at the end cut across the rest of the paper at a 45 degree angle.

Open out and put double sided tape all the way along the small fold which is along the long edge of the cracker like this...

I then decorated the middle before I stuck it together, I took a strip of Very Vanilla and stamped it with the snowflake stamp from the Season of Joy stamp set and then mounted it onto some Real Red Cardstock...

Stick it firmly in place along the centre of the cracker using double sided tape..

Next you need to roll the cracker, it is easier to stick the middle section first, but it is a bit stiff because of the extra card you have added, I did this by just peeling the middle section of double sided tape first and sticking the middle into a round, you then need to get your fingers up inside to push the tape together so it seals really well. Next do the same with one end and then the other....

Pinch one end closed and tie with a piece of red ribbon, then add whatever you want to the inside of the cracker and then tie the other end with a piece of matching ribbon.

You can make these to match the colour of your table decorations and can put a personal gift in each and maybe hang a tag off with the persons name on it.... although it has lots of stages, this was very quick to make...

Will be back tomorrow with Day 9 of the 12 Gifts of Christmas...

Have a good evening all, take care xx

Day 7 - 12 Days of Christmas

I love Hershey's from US, but as not everyone is able to get hold of them, I thought I would adapt the box for Terry's Twilight Mints, I find that if you put 2 together they are only slightly bigger than 1 Hershey's nugget... so today I am making a....

Twilight Mint Box

To start with I cut a piece of textured Chocolate Chip Cardstock from the I Wish Simply Scrappin' kit to measure 4 3/4" x 6".


Score around all edges at 3/4" and then again at 1 1/2". Cut along the lines highlighted with white...

and then stick double sided tape onto the cardstock in the same place as shown in the photo...

Next snip down the edge top and bottom, left and right as shown in this photo...

peel off the double sided tape and fold together to make a box, all the sides fold down twice so that it looks neat inside... the mints will then fit in it nicely...

Next we need to make the mints look pretty, we can fit 6 of these mints in each box by putting 2 together. Cut 3 pieces of Patterned Paper (again I used the Paper from the I Wish Kit) so that they fit nicely around two of the twilight mints.

Then placing one mint on top of another, wrap the Patterned Paper around using double sided tape to seal it...

I then decorated the top of the mints using a Small Flower Stamp from the Season Of Joy Stamp Set, and the 3/4" punch and the smaller punch like this....

I the placed them in the box, but we now need to make a lid for it which is much simpler than the box. Take a piece of Patterned Paper (again the piece I used was from the I Wish Kit (are you noticing something here)) and cut it to 5 1/4" x 3". Score it at 1", 1 3/4", 3 1/2" and 4 1/4". I then cut out a scallop rectangle shape (using my nestabilities) from the middle section of the lid so that you could see the chocolates inside...

I then cut a piece of acetate slightly larger than the opening and glued it to the back of the Patterned Paper, a shown below...

I stuck a piece of double sided tape to a short end and wrapped it around my box with my mints in so that it ended up looking like this...

As you will see I didn't quite get the rectangle in the centre, but it didn't show as much once I had decorated the box. For this I used Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, the scallop punch, the 1 3/8" punch and the 1 1/4" punch which cut out the Snowflake Image from the Season of Joy Stamp Set, and the finished item ends up looking like this.

A really nice stocking filler, or little gift for friends, office workers or even teachers.... and the twilight mints are much easier to find than the Hershey Nuggets (I bought mine in Tesco when they were BOGOF).

Hopefully the weather will be a bit brighter tomorrow and I will be able to photograph the items I used my Rub-Ons on... dont forget they have 20% off until 30th November if you would like to buy some...

I will be back tomorrow with Day 8 of my 12 Gifts of Christmas.... dont forget to check back...

Take care all xx

Christmas Folder..... + Exciting News For My Club Members

I made one of these for each of my Stampin' Up! customers which I included with their orders last week..... they said they liked them very much, so thought I would post some pictures....

This is what I started off with, last years Christmas Designer Paper, (still available to buy) and Old Olive and Real Red Ink Pads, also Real Red and Always Artichoke in the Grosgrain Ribbon and Real Red 12x12 textured cardstock.

I used the Stamp Set Season of Joy to embellish it with...

More Designer Paper to decorate the back, then I ran 2 long length of ribbon along the outside so I could tie it shut....

And here is the finished article, with cards to note your Christmas Card List, your Shopping List, Menu etc.... why not make one for yourself and be super organised this Christmas.

I have very exciting news for my Club Members (that Stampers 10 and Spots and Markers Club).... if you click on the Member Forum button above the post it will take you to a Member Only Forum where you can chat and show off your cards with your fellow members. There is also a place where I will be posting exclusive projects and a place to ask any questions you might have.... hopefully it will be a chatty and inspirational place for us all.... All you have to do is register and I will accept your registration if you are one of my team members... couldn't be easier, so pop on their today and lets get chatting...