Cork Pendant General Swaps for Convention '13 with Top Tips!

Hi there,

Today I have some different General Swaps I created with the Cork pendants as the feature, these were easy to make with a few Top Tips which I will share as I go!!

So, to make the pendants I simply purchased new corks online and a small vice to hold them, then I took a sharp(ish) kitchen knife and sliced them into circles. This takes a bit of practice to get them all the same width (mine weren't) and staraight (mine were not that either, but I did try ;-))

 So, First TIP: Sand the cork circles after cutting and before colouring and stamping to get the best coverage and neaten the whole charm.

TOP TIP 2: I inked the whole cork round by pressing it into an ink pad, I tried using pens but didn't like the effect. Also you need to choose pale colour as the cork darkens the colours, the darker colours are nice but I found it was too hard to see the stamped decoration on these. 

So, I coloured mine with Soft Sky, Pool Party, Pink Pirouette, So Saffron and I did make just one with Pear Pizazz  too ;-)

So, this was the basic layout for all the cards. I did also add small eyes to the top of the cork pendants so they can be removed and made into necklaces, pendants for bracelets or even earrings if you'd like.

Top Tip 3: Ink the whole charm using SU! classic ink pads but only stamp with Staz On for the images, I tried stamping the images with the classic pads but the colour bled overnight, so I had to re-sand and re-stamp!  

The pink version used the cute little butterflies from Make a Cake

 The Pool Party version used a Papillon Potpourri butterfly

 So Saffron colour used En Fracaise and Summer Silhouettes, 

 and the Soft Sky pendant (teamed with Island Indigo card) used Betsy's Blossoms, I think this was my favourite, I liked how the flowers looked stamped on the charm :-)

 finally, the Pear Pizazz with old Olive version, I made this but thought it might be too dark but as I had finished it I made it up into a card anyway ;-)

TOP TIP 4: Add your rhinestones then coat in Crystal Effects, the stones won't adhere well on their own and also the ink will rub off  too, Crystal effects will seal both the ink and gem!

And finally here they all are together...

 Well, that's me for today, I have a boat load of things to do for tomorrow's class so I'll see you back here soon :-)

Stampin' Hugs for today,

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Special Team Swaps, Lavender Bags made from 1" Ribbon

Hello!

Well, I'm back from the most amazing time at Stampin' Up! convention in Manchester. It was so great to meet up with old friends, make new friends and of course be totally inspired by wonderful projects and products ;-) I would 100%  recommend this experience to anyone and everyone who loves to create!!

So, as I was going I decided to join in a Jem's team swap (32 of us decided to go one better and make special swaps) and I decided to make lavender sachets with the Cherry Cobbler Stitched edge Grosgrain ribbon (this is actually on offer with boxes this month too! see HERE)

I cut pieces of the ribbon to 18cm lengths and sewed up each side, stuffed them full of yummy smelling lavender (with the help of Zoe) and added a hand made/stamped cork charm to each bag (more on these charms tomorrow).

Each lavender bag was then added to a co-ordinating (to the charm) card base, the background on this first one was embossed with the Honeycomb Folder and stamped using Versamark using Make a Cake stamp set

This design uses the Betsy's Blossoms set and the Chevron Folder, the card behind is actually Island Indigo, not that it looks like it here!

This one uses Papillon Potpourri

Erm, not sure what happened to my colours on this photo either but the base card was actually Old Olive!! Anyway, the stamp set used for this was Summer Silhouettes with some En Francais too :-)

OK, that's all for today but I will be back tomorrow with more details on the rest of my general swaps including how to make your own Cork Charms too!!

Thanks for looking and I hope you'll be back tomorrow for more ;-)

Stampin' Hugs for today,

 

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Stampin' Up! Make a Cake

Hello there,

I hope you are all OK today? It is quite grey and cold here and I have boring paperwork to do too, but before I start I wanted to share a little joy with you in the form of a pretty birthday card :-)

So, I started with the lovely set Make a Cake and this is a great set which you can layer up as much or as little as you like, so by changing the colour or toppers you could easily make a card for a man with it too. Hmmm, might have to give that one a go, watch this space...

 I went with pretty butterflies to match the paper from the Patio Party DSP pack (still available in this LAST SHARE) all using the gorgeous new In Colours of Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit and Raspberry Ripple, a lovely combo

I LOVE Summer Starfruit, it is so on trend right now and this ribbon is just to die for, I love adding a touch with a mini stapler economical and pretty too, always a winner!

Well, that's all from me for today, 

Don't forget to pop by my Stampers club post while you are here and see how you can earn yourself lots of freebies ;-)

I look forward to seeing you again here soon, thanks for stopping by

Stampin' Hugs,