A Christmas Surprise Gift

I made this for my husband's christmas gift.  I was giving him some vouchers for his favourite shop and didn't want to just hand over an envelope.  I'd also bought a few little knick knacks to go with it.  So here is what I came up with.  It sort of evolved into a book idea with ribbon tied at the side to keep it closed.

Inside I made a pocket to hold his vouchers and on the opposite side an open window box to hold some handy accessories.  The card stock, patterned papers and die cut stickers were all from the Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin' set.  Not just for scrapbooking your christmas photos!

Trio of Treats

The following are winter survival treat boxes that I made up for some friends.  Now that Christmas is past, I can tell you what was inside.  They contained hand cream in the bottom, lip balm in the middle and little chocolates in the top.  

I stamped the boxes and labels with Serene Snowflakes.  The first set I made are the trio in whisper white.  These had a separate lid and bottom.  I decided to play around to see if I could make a set that didn't use so much card stock.  The result was the bashful blue set.  The boxes are made pizza style.  Although this saved cardstock and time, the white boxes do look neater. 

Christmas table treat boxes

Here are some treat boxes that I made a few months ago for a craft fair.  I decided to go with the snowflake design for our table on christmas day.   It's the first time we have had something like this on the table and proved to be a bit of a distraction as everyone tried to guess what was in them!  Only chocolates I'm afraid but it did make me think about the possibilities - something specific to each family member, a lottery ticket.  Or After Eights as I did the second time we used them.  I've gathered them up again for New Years Day but what to put it in this time?!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you had a lovely day.  

I thought I would show you a few items I made for christmas over the next few days.  This is a santa money wallet which I made on Christmas Eve.   Granny wanted to finish off Ross' gift with some money.  Last minute or what!!  Thankfully I'd seen something similar on the net which gave me the basic idea and I took it from there using various stampin up punches.   The money (or a gift card/voucher) is tucked into a pocket at the back.

I think it also makes a nice tree ornament! 

O Christmas Tree!

I wanted to share my scrapbook page of our Christmas tree.  Each year I take some photos of our decorated tree but this year was extra special because this is the first time we have had a brand new tree!  As soon as we got it home we had to put it up and everyone helped decorate it.  I don't think my photos do it justice.


I used the Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin' kit.  There are loads of elements in the set to make several christmas pages, album or sets of cards.


The set is £17.75 and includes double sided patterned paper, card stock and self adhesive die cuts.

You can order this set or any other items from the catalogue by e mailing me on ails300@btinternet.com.  Any orders required for christmas should be placed before 14th December to allow for delivery.

Thanks for looking.

One for the boys

This is the altered notebooks with pen but this time male orientated.  I've matched up Pacific Point card stock with Celebrations Designer Series Paper.  This paper goes particularly well with the tag message Websites & Blogs.

My friend has ordered one of these for her son and the other is a teacher gift for my daughters male teacher.  Hope they like them!

Christmas Gift Ideas

December is almost upon us.  Have you started your christmas shopping?  Finished it?  If you are like me then it's a bit in between the two and it's now that I am thinking of those small extra gifts or stocking fillers.

So how about re looking at your catalogue (if you don't have one then click on the catalogue on the right) 

There's lots of fun items that can be included in your gifts, here are some ideas -

How about teaming up a single stamp with an ink pad

or buying a set of stamps along with a set of stampin' spots which could then be split up to create several gift sets.  Ideal for stocking fillers.

The punches are a versatile gift which can be used with patterened paper or plain card stock and the new flat style makes them much easier to wrap! 

Do you have a member of your family or a friend who likes to scrapbook then Simply Scrappin' is for them.  The sets are very reasonable and include everything to make those wonderful memory keeping pages.

Perhaps you would like to find something under the tree from the catalogue for yourself, give my e mail address to your partner with your wish list and I'll be happy to be your secret Santa. 

Don't forget the special Bundle Up for Christmas promotion which is still running till the 29th December.  I'm sure you could make great use of the free ribbon. 

I hope this gives you a few ideas and I haven't even mentioned the lovely ribbon reels, buttons, brads etc that we have.

Happy Shopping! 

A Contempo Easel Card

Love this colour combo of rich razzleberry and old olive.  The stamp set is Contempo Christmas with snowflake background from Serene Snowflakes.  I stamped the background using a versamark pad.

I've shown how the card looks closed and when propped up as an easel card.

Teachers Gift

I decided to try my hand at making a teacher gift so had a go at making one of these skinny notepads with matching pen.  I'm really pleased with it but wish I had thicker ribbon in this colour.

The patterned paper is the Greenhouse Gala series and it is matched with pear pizzazz cardstock.  I printed the message on my computer.

There might be a few people receiving one of these as part of  their gift!

Carol Singer

I found a You Tube video on how to make an elf using the ornament punch by Andrea Walford.  You can see her video here.  I decided to have a go and changed it from an elf to a carol singer using the curly label punch for his book and the 1/2" circle for his mouth.  The body was the left over part from the hat. I stamped the small snowflakes using versamark on perfect plum card stock.  The greeting was stamped with concord crush ink.  I masked the stamp Peace Love Joy from Occasional Greetings so that only Joy was stamped.

I'm really pleased how he turned out and love finding alternative ways to use punches.  I'll definately be making more of him! 

Blue Christmas

 Brrrr! The weather is definitely turning colder.  Where are those hats and gloves?

This weeks card class had a blue day.  Both cards used Night of Navy ink and cardstock and the Serene Snowflakes stamp set.  There were a lot of techniques to show.  Sponging, using heat and stick, masking, gutting to name a few.

Our second card used tempting turquoise as a base with the snowflakes stamped onto night of navy then mounted onto a whisper white frame that was gutted in the middle.  Our tag was then stamped onto our spare piece of card and punched out.  The small snowflakes are stamped using whisper white craft ink.  I think the satin ribbon adds a little class to the card.

I've taken a photo of the inside of the card to show how we decorated it.  The border was masked off with some scrap paper to give a straight line then a strip of night of navy card helps define the border.

As always I'm really pleased to see the cards that everyone finishes and how they can all look a little different as people put their own mark on the designs.

Thats the end of the 3 week block of card classes.  I can't believe it's passed so quickly.  I've really enjoyed taking the class.

Last weeks Card Class

These are the two cards that we made at last weeks class.  Everyone did really well and the cards all looked lovely.  It was great to see everyone putting their own style on the cards.

Looking forward to tomorrows class!

Christmas Easel Card

I've made this christmas easel card using Baroque Motifs and Contempo Christmas.  I enjoyed putting these two sets together and creating a card that will look lovely on the mantle piece.  The card stock used is real red and old olive, one of my favourite combinations.

Bundle up for Christmas Promotion

This Christmas season get an exclusive package of ribbon for FREE when you purchase a Christmas gift-giving bundle!

Choose from these bundles:

Description	Wood-Mount Item	Wood-Mount Price	Clear-Mount Item	Clear-Mount	Price
Gifted Bundle	Gifted Set and Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper	124051	£35.70	124052	£30.70
Welcome Christmas Bundle	Welcome Christmas Set and Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper	124063	£36.90	124064	£31.90
Season of Joy Bundle	Season of Joy Set and So Swirly Stampin’ Around Wheel	124055	£36.45	---	---
Delightful Decorations Bundle	Delightful Decorations Set and Ornament Punch	124058	£37.45	---	---

*Bundles and ribbons available while supplies last

Choose from these ribbons:

Picture	Description	Item	Retail Value
	Mistletoe Ribbon Originals	116792	£11.50
	Sleigh Bells Ribbon	116795	£8.50
	Riding Hood Red 1-1/4” Striped Grosgrain Ribbon	113099	£10.25
	Real Red 3/4” Polka-Dot Grosgrain Ribbon	115608	£10.25

If you wish to take advantage of this fantastic offer, and let's face it who doesn't like receiving something for free especially if it's ribbon!, then please e mail me on ails300@btinternet.com or phone me on mobile number 07827923123.

A touch of elegance

Today was my first card class at the local community centre.  A lovely bunch of ladies who were very patient, thank you all for making my first class loads of fun. 

  

Our first card was the rather elegant Dasher.  He is stamped using Craft Whisper White ink and with heat and stick, glittered using dazzling diamonds.  The black card stock is then mounted onto bride speciality paper (Unfortunately no longer available).  Merry Christmas is stamped in white and the card is finished off with whisper white satin ribbon.  

Our second card was made using kraft card stock with not quite navy card stock as a background.  A strip of whisper white with a scalloped edge gives a perfect snowy background for the trees from the seasons of joy set. The trees are stamped using old olive and merry christmas has been stamped in not quite navy.

Both cards were decorated on the inside too. 

My ladies were wonderful at carrying out my rather confusing instructions when at one point I think we were making two cards at once.  At least we shared a laugh! I promise it will be calmer next week!  

First Craft Fair

I was at my first craft fair tonight.  A charity event organised by Kingswells Toddlers.  It was great to sell some cards and hear everyone's lovely comments on them.  Also a perfect opportunity to tell people about Stampin' Up! and show some of the stamp sets from the catalogue.  I had a lovely assistant with me - Claire - thank you so much for coming along and helping out.  Couldn't have done it without you!

My little halloween treat bags were very popular (you can see them on an older post) and here's a photo of one of the cards that also sold well.

Dasher has been stamped then glittered using heat and stick and stampin' up!s glitter.  The background has been stamped using Serene Snowflakes.  Hope you like it too.

Trucking in the snow

Winter is approaching fast.  We had our first snow fall this week.  Let's hope it's the last.  But snowy pictures do make good cards.  I've made my little truck trudge through the snow to collect his tree this time.

Simply Merry Christmas

A very simple Christmas Card using Seasons of joy stamp set.  The main flower has been cut out and I've added 3 little red pieces of bling to sparkle up the flower from my stash. 

Kingswells Toddlers Charity Event

Seasons of Joy

I'm very busy this week preparing for the Kingswells Toddlers Charity Event at the Community Centre on Saturday 23rd.  I'll be selling my cards and taking orders for Stampin' Up! supplies.  Any orders received on the night will have free postage! 

Tickets are available from the Community Centre and include a refreshment.  Hope to see you there. 

I've used the Seasons of Joy stamp set for both these cards with the so swirly roller as a background for the real red card.  The old olive card has a little bit of bling on the tree to add some sparkle.  

for you

Here's two cards that I made with the new Ornate Flowers stamp set.  This set matches the greenhouse gala papers perfectly.

Both cards were inked using the stampin' write markers in the new In Colours.  I like the way that everything co-ordinates so easily.

Happy Anniversary!

We celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on 11th October by visiting Edinburgh Zoo!

Our two monkeys enjoyed their day visiting their monkeys, the sun bears, lions, zebras etc.  The big hit was the capuchin monkeys catching and eating bugs!

And of course no visit to the Zoo could be without seeing the penguin parade.

The smaller penguins (forget their names) fairly flew round (pardon the pun!).

But the King penguins came round at a much more leisurely pace, investigating as they went.  Great for taking photos.


We were very lucky with the weather and had a sunny autumn day for our visit.  Not unlike the day of our wedding 13 years before.  Guests were a bit different though!





I couldn't finish off the post without showing you the card I made for Shaun.  A very simple card but it conveys the message without any words required.  I've used the 2 step bird extra large punch to make the birds and branches and the eyelet border punch for the frill.

New 2010 - 2011 Stampin' Up! Catalogue

Have a look at our new catalogue by clicking on the picture on the right.  It's bigger and better than last years.  More designer double sided papers for all you scrapbookers out there as well as card makers, more punches, revision of the colour palette and new stamp sets to choose from.

If you wish to order anything from the catalogue then please e mail me.  Or perhaps you would like to show off the catalogue to friends and family at a workshop and you could earn a fabulous hostess gift!

Boo

I've never sent a Halloween card but wouldn't it be so much fun to.  Think how creative you could be!

Here I have made a set of little treat bags.  Something a little different to hand out to trick or treaters at the door.

The pumpkins, ghosts and bat have all been made by using Stampin' Up! punches.  I think I will use  some of these elements on my Halloween scrapbook pages this year.

Kingswells Christmas Cards

I was lucky enough that the Kingswells Community Centre asked me to make 50 Christmas Cards saying Greetings from Kingswells.  Here are some of them, others are still in production and the centre has half of them ready to sell.

The stamp set used is Silent Night, unfortunately this set is retiring at the end of the month.  

Although all the cards have the same image, the church is stamped in different colours to give variety.  I like that you can use one stamp and get a different feel to cards.  I've glittered the roof, trees and foreground with dazzling diamonds to give the impression of snow. 

I've really enjoyed making them and hope the community in Kingswells enjoys them too.  

Easel Card

Here is my easel card.  

It's the first one I've tried but can see the potential for lots of variations.  

Loads of Love

Isn't this truck so cute? 

 Here he is collecting his family christmas tree.  Making this a cute fun card to make and send.

I decided to make it a pull card so the truck can move through the forest.  Surprisingly easy to do.  This is one of the cards we will be doing at the card club at Kingswells Community Centre on 26th October.  The class is filling up fast so if you fancy coming along and making six cards over 3 weeks, it's only £5 and all your materials are 

provided, contact the Community Centre to put your name down and book your place. 

The loads of love stamp set covers a variety of occasions and the accessories set allows you even more choice.  Both are currently 50% off in the catalogue.  What a bargain! Sadly they are not available in the new catalogue coming out in October.  If you would like to see the full set click on the picture of the main catalogue on the right. 

My first workshop

I had my first workshop last friday.  It went very well and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.  We made a christmas card with trees on it.  It was interesting to see everyone's take on it as they could place the trees as they wished.  We ended up with quite a variety.  I should have taken my camera with me and with the ladies consent could have posted a photo.  However here's the original design that they followed.  It's a card I've posted before -

Ladies you did very well cutting out the tree so many times.  I thought all your cards looked fab! Thanks go to Suz for agreeing to host the party for me.  She did very well with a level 2 hostess gift and lots of pennies to spend in the catalogue.

Here are another couple of designs using the same stamp set.  Seasons of Joy.  Very versatile I think.

If you are interested in hosting a party and inviting along friends and family for a fun evening of crafting then e mail me on ails300@btinternet.com. 

Further discounts

Stampin' Up! have released a new last chance list with even more discounts than before!  This is your chance to stock up on card stock, ribbon, ink pads, stamp sets, punches and many more while you can.  If you would like to see the full retiral list showing the discounts then please see the link below.  Happy shopping!!!

http://204.228.150.61/docs/lastchance/en-GB/Lastchance_en-GB.pdf

New Blog Design

Long story short, check out my new blog design.  I loved my owls on the old design but after a bit of a blip I've gone with this new one.  Can't believe I managed to do it myself however I wont tell you how many attempts I made!

Stamp-a-ma-jig

I've had great fun playing with my stamp-a-ma-jig!  This is a super tool from stampin' Up! which helps you line up your image before you stamp it.  I'd tried using the "On a Pedestal" set freehand before.  What a disaster, it ended up looking like the tower of Pisa - every which way - with the cake ready to fall off!  However I'm very happy how this turned out and even tried out a little masking to get the two colours on the cake.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! 

Card Stock - Pale Plum, Rich Razzleberry

Designer Paper - Cottage Wall 

Ribbon - Rich Razzleberry

Stamp Set - On a Pedestal

Ink - Elegant Eggplant, Rich Razzleberry, Pretty in Pink 

LAST CHANCE LIST

Oh my goodness, Stampin' Up! have released their last chance list and it is huge!!  Once these items are gone they are gone.

Lots of stamp sets reduced by 25% or even 50% including Loads of Love set and its accessories.

Ribbons, ink pads, card stock, and many more items are reduced or retiring.

If you'd like to see a full list and take up these fantastic offers

e mail me on ails300@btinternet.com

Now I've started.........

Now I've started on the christmas cards, it's hard to go on to something else.

The stamp set used for both cards is Season of Joy.  I think I'll be using this set a lot.

Both the front flower and the front tree use dimensionals to pop them off the card.  

The Invisible Frog

Spot the frog!

My husband was taking photos outside the China Pavilion at Epcot.  A lady stopped to see what was so interesting.  "Ah a frog," she says.  My hubby looked surprised, he hadn't noticed the frog he had taken a photo off, he was so busy concentrating on the lily pads!  Hence my title The Invisible Frog!

I've used all Stampin' Up! products in this layout  and really enjoyed stamping the flowers at the bottom.

I don't know if you can see from the photo but I have handwritten the journaling.  I don't mind using my own handwriting.  I know some people don't like to but I think it makes it more personal.

Techno Phobe

Technology and me are not a great mix.  I've been trying to network my blog to facebook and it's just not happening the way I'd like it to.  So back to things I can do...

This card is using Fox and Friends stamp set from the mini catalogue and the background was using the Whimsy jumbo wheel.  I stamped the sentiment from the On a Pedestal set.  So a little bit of everything! 

Christmas in August

If you make your own Christmas cards, this wont seem so strange.  This is the time to start thinking about those special seasonal designs.

However I couldn't quite bring myself to use traditional colours.  My husband doesn't think it looks very christmassy.  What do you think? 

Exciting News

A new card making class is starting at Kingswells Community Centre, Aberdeen starting Tuesday, 26th October from 1.30pm till 3pm.  The classes will run for 3 weeks and will be christmas themed.

So if you are a member of the Community Centre why not register your name and make some cards in time for christmas.  Contact 01224 741806 to sign up.

Starting Stamping

Since starting with Stampin' Up! all I've wanted to do is play with my stamp sets.  Here are a few of the cards I've created so far using the Queue Up stamp set and the Simply Said stamp set.  Let me know your thoughts....