Less is More with Monsters

Hello there,

I was really in the mood to make yesterday and so I purposely made one thing I could share with you today, so no new products on this one ;-) I actually made/finished about five cards yesterday, get me!

 Anyway, I was inspired to use this weeks sketch from my lovely Mandi's challenge blog Less is More, I have not been too great at making C&S cards, I have however always LOVED the look of them! I am really enjoying making these more and more especially since this challenge blog started up (link in side bar) so thanks ladies for the inspiration x
But enough waffle, let me show you this one now and you can see if you think it is O.K.?

Pacific Point card base with Celebrations DSP

Background was stamped with the little spots from Make a Monster, sentiment I have only just realised is retired! doh!

and a last little pic of inside.
I hope you like today's card and please come back tomorrow to see the NEW Mini Catalogue!! I am soo excited to share this with you, I think it is SU's best ever and I am totally sure you will be thrilled when you see it and on that note if you would like a hard copy of the mini then drop me an email.
Thanks for stopping by today and have a great day whatever you are up to, 

Stampin' Hugs,

Stampers 6 anyone?

ANOTHER STICKY POST, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR NEW PROJECTS!
Hello all,

I am looking for 6 lovely people to join a new Stampers 6 club starting in April, just in time for the launch of the NEW MINI CATALOGUE!!

So do you want to know what you need to do??

Of course you do!

To begin with you will need to commit to spending a minimum of £25 per month (plus post to you) for 6 months (well, that bit's easy ;-))

And the rewards for committing?? Yes they are fabby!

You will get your wonderful choice of Stampin' Up! goodies delivered direct to your door every month PLUS you will be the "hostess" for one of the 6 months, and No you won't have to host a party! but you will receive the benefits of being the hostess, so that will be at least a level 1 hostess stamp set or paper pack (see pages 9-11 for level 1 and up to page 15 for the other levels) plus a minimum of £15 to spend on your hostess month too!

I will also send you a special (surprise) treat with your order each of the months, in addition to your very own copy of the current Idea Book and Catalogue (value £5.95) plus a hard copy of the NEW mini catty too!

So, does that sound fantastic to you?? If it does then please email me for details or with any questions.

 I will start this club in April or sooner if we get the 6 members we need :-)

I look forward to hearing from you soon,
Stampin' Hugs,

I'm still here!!

Hello lovely blog readers!

I apologise about my lack of posts (again) but this time it is not because I haven't been creating! It's just that what I have been busy making I can't share with you yet! I am LOVING the new products from the Mini Catalogue, there is just sooo much in there to get the old creative juices flowing! I have been using a mix of old and new products but everythingI have made has something on it I can't share! I thank-you again for your never ending patience and understanding :-)

If you would like your very own copy of the mini catalogue then please drop me a line at sarah-janerae@sky.com and I will be sure to pop one in the post to you asap. If you are on my email list then I will be sending out the monthly newsletter tomorrow too, message me at the same addy to go onto my newsletter list, a monthly reminder of what SU! have going on and also the odd special offer from me too :-)

Don't forget too I am starting a Stampers 6 club in April, more details on the post above.

Not long to wait now....

Stampin' Hugs,

Happy Birthday to our Zoe!

Good morning,

Today is our (not so) little Zoe's 10th Birthday, I know everyone says this but I can hardly beleive it's been 10 years! and she is just growing up so fast at the minute too, becoming a real young lady :-D

Anyway, after yesterdays Tutorial  I promised I would share with you the card, and it is all decorated for Zoe's birthday,

 Broadsheet Alphabet used to write Zoe, Just Perfect Alpha for "today" and the hearts were punched using the heart to heart punch, 

XL Fancy Flower punch out,

and finally sentiment is from Curly Cute, I inked the "Happy" first with markers, then "Birthday" and stamped it underneath, and I got it in the right place first time without a samaj, get me! ha ha! I punched it out with the XL oval punch and edged with scalloped oval punch outs to finish,

Well, I hope you like Zoe's birthday card from us, must dash as I have to get ready for this evenings tea party but I will be back soon with some more loveliness to share with you all,

Stampin' Hugs,

Side Step Card Tutorial

Hello,
I love it when you make projects using my tutorials but please be sure to link back here and give credit when you make and post to your blog.
Thank-you for your understanding and I hope you enjoy this tutorial xx 

I know, long time no see! but I promise you once the 1st of April comes you will see what I have been playing with for the last few weeks, {another great benefit to being a demo ;-)} but before that I have a new tutorial for you.
I made this side-step card for my daughters birthday and I know loads of people have been making these for a little while but I had a lot of trouble getting the one I tried to make to stand well and fold flat, so I adapted it and played around with it to make this, my version, of a side step card. I, in no way claim to be the inventor of this card, just the adaptor of measurements. Oh yes, and they are in cm's too :-D

So, to start with you need a whole sheet of A4 card, this will give you a finished card in A5.
I lined up my card stock at 8cm in along the short edge, long length going down the cutter (you can adapt this width to suit) and cut from 4cm in along to 22.5cm as shown,

Now flip the card so you are now working on the long side. Change the cutting blade for a scoring blade (or use a bone folder) and score the at 14.8cm or A5 (half A4).

 **Now, the key point here is not to flip your card stock in the trimmer to make it easier to see (I wonder how I know this?? ;-))**
Keeping the card in the same direction (ie: working on the long side) on the narrower (bottom) section score at 4cm, 8cm, 11.8cm, 15cm and 22.5cm.

And this is what it should look like... Apologies, it's not the easiest thing to photograph.

 Now, I folded mine into position just gently at first, rather than doing each fold crisply. Then when I was happy it would fold flat I creased it properly with my bone folder, if that makes sense?  

And this is what it should end up like! {{please excuse the mess behind}}

I hope this was of a help to someone today and you can go HERE to see the fully decorated card :-)

Thanks for dropping by today,

Stampin' Hugs,

Where to Start.....

Hello there,

I have so much to share with you today!

O.K. I will start with the invites I made for Zoe's birthday party, she wants a sleepover party with FOUR girls this Friday night! Wish me luck with that won't you! lol! Anyways, I have done the easy bit which is make the invites...

I used retired card stock as I am on a mission to use up some of the non-current stuff for little things like this ;-) I stamped over the computer generated wording using Flight of the Butterfly (current) in subtles tones, I topped the invite using the Tab Punch (current) and some retired buttons tied with Linen Thread, 

Well, so far I have three out of four coming! More on that as the weekend comes along...

Now, the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed a new banner in my side bar?? Yes, I am on a Design Team for a BRAND NEW challenge blog, whoop whoop!!

Simply Stampin' Challenge is a SU! based challenge blog. To enter the challenges you will have to use one Stampin' Up! image or Sentiment (easy bit) to participate and make any sort of project or card that fits in with the weekly criteria. I would LOVE it if you would come by and join in our challenges. They will be set weekly on a Saturday morning, with lots of inspiration from a brilliant DT ;-) So, get your Stampin' Up! thinking cap on and lets see what you are creating with the brilliant SU! products!

and finally for today I would like to say a massive Thank-You to my lovely downline Anna who came to visit and participate in a class this weekend, we had a lovely time chatting all Stampin' Up! and then yesterday I received this gorgeous bouquet of flowers!

They are even more beautiful in real life! so again, Thank-you Anna, it was an absolute pleasure and I hope to meet up again soon. If you are interested in signing up as a demo either as a hobby demo or to run a successful business then please drop me a line for a chat about joining my friendly and fun team,

Thanks for sticking with me today, I hope you are still awake after all my ramblings!

Stampin' Hugs for now, enjoy the sun!!

Rich's Birthday

Hello there!

I have been very busy with classes the last two days and what a fun time we have had making candles and matching cards for Mother's Day! Thanks to all the ladies who came this month, and if you want to join us next month the dates are in my side panel, I would love to see you here :-)

Anyways, Saturday was our friend Richard's birthday and this is the card I made for him..

I used the Greenhouse Gala papers which are in the March Frenzy offer this month with 20% off! just £7.00, email me if you "need" some of these ;-) or any other SU! products.

This sentiment is from Perfect Punches and is designed to fit the XL oval punch with a little border, as you can see I chose to cut the first layer out {as there are lines to follow} and then layer the punched oval underneath.

R, C, and H were stamped onto SU! Vellum Card stock using Schoolbook Serif Alpha in Choc Chip. The beer mug is from Cheers to You and the froth was drenched in Dazzling Diamonds with the actual mug being coloured with blender pens (which are also in the March Frenzy promotion)

I also decorated the inside with a strip of off-cut DSP and two lines drawn with the Marker Pens, as you can see from the tiny photo I forgot to photograph the inside before I wrote in the card! doh! but you get the idea, right?

Well, that's today's card for you, I will be back tomorrow with Zoe's invites I have made for her sleepover this weekend, 4 girly girls on a sleepover, that's gonna be such fun, and they want to make a card at some point too ;-)  I will let you know how it goes!

Thanks for visiting today,

Stampin' Hugs

Lees is More for Kieron

Hello,

I needed a birthday card today for Josh as he is going on a sleepover for his friends birthday this evening, what with one thing and another it has been left 'till the last minute (again ;-)) So, I thought I would combine this card with the Less is More challenge for Masculine Cards,

I love this stamp set, Engraved Greetings, for both boys and girls cards, it is so versatile but easily overlooked as it tucked right up the back of the catty amongst the papers (page 86, if you want a look)

I started off going to use a combo (from the Colour Coach) of Pear Pizzazz, Not Quite Navy and Peach Parfait, as you can see I changed it up to Crumb Cake to make it more masculine,

the circles are from another way under-used set, Circle Circus, and as you can see here I stamped a few inside, along with a strip of card and some thin taffeta ribbon,

Well, I hope you like, not sure if it is minimal enough to enter but hey ho, it's C&S for me ;-)

Thanks for stopping by today, back soon with another mans card,

Stampin' Hugs,

Boho Wreath

Good Morning to you!

 I have so much stuff half made here I really need to get cracking with finishing some of it! although I can't share some on here 'till April ;-) trust me though, it's worth the wait!

So I have a project to share today rather than a card. So, you remember this ribbon wreath I made for Julie as her convention roomie gift?

Well, it was made around a polystyrene wreath that was sold in packs of two, so I wanted to do something with the other one, but not the same thing! And here's what I came up with...

I love this colour combo of Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz and Blushing Bride,

I used simply the Boho Blossoms Punch (lots), tombowing the first layer directly to the ring and then scrunching, layering and pinning the flowers on to finish,

I have it hanging on my Craft room window.

 I hope you like my little decor to make my crafty space a touch prettier?

Must dash, still got an arm length list for the rest of today!

Stampin' Hugs,

1st Birthday

Hello,

I am soo excited to show you the lovely box of Mini Catalogue goodies delivered yesterday! Unfortunately I was in the middle of cleaning the oven :-( but I am definitely going to have a long play with all the yumminess today, I cannot wait to show you what is in the new catalogue, but more on that soon, I promise..

Back to today's card, I was asked by a friend to make this 1st birthday card and the request was "Very Pink, please" I think I managed that O.K. ;-)

This card is 8"x8" with a base of pretty in pink and rose red DSP (retired)

I used the Party This Way banner with the Just Perfect Alphabet, I punched a tiny hole for the Silver Cord to go through and attached it to the card using Subtles buttons and glue dots,

the number one is from Schoolbook Serif numbers and the today is from Basic Phrases,

the pretty crown is from Every Little Bit blinged with glitter and a white satin bow to break up a little of the pink *wink*

and finally a picture of inside with the XL Fancy  Flower Punch, sentiment is from Afterthoughts the level one hostess set,

Thanks for visiting today,

I hope you like today's card, I am off to play with my new goodies :-D

Stampin' Hugs, 

Survival Kit!

Hello,

A little late today I'm afraid but I was so shattered last night after walking, chatting and shopping all day that I just didn't have the energy to upload and sort these piccies out!

I had such a lovely day out though, smooching around and looking at all the lovely home ideas, so inspiring it makes me want to get home and finish all those little jobs and make my home look as pretty as those at the show, and  to top it all I got to see/listen to my home hero, George Clarke. Swoon, he is just lovely!

  I was very good though, I didn't buy an awful lot, a gorgeous picture and a just few other little bits is all ;-)

In the end there were only 3 of us that went as a couple of the girls were poorly yesterday :-( wishing them well and here's hoping they are good to go next year!

So, back to the paper! I made a little survival kit for the two girls who did go, I used this photo from a magazine as inspiration...

here they are,

I decorated a pack of tissues, a Rice Crispie Square

and a roll of chewy sweets each, got to keep the energy levels up for all the shopping!

Paper is from Play Date DSP pack and images are from the cute "Funky Four" stamp set

And I popped them into a cello bag tied with Old Olive grosgrain ribbon to finish,

We had such a lovely day out that I am already planning next years trip ;-) 

I hope you liked my Survival Packs, back tomorrow with a card for a first birthday.

Quickly before I go have you "liked" my FB page for this blog?? I will be hosting some fun challenges and more on there very soon! See side bar <<<<<<<<

Stampin' Hugs,