Friday 28 August 2009

Thank Crunchie It's Friday

Thank you for your thoughts and feedback on tutorials – please do keep it coming.

Today’s post is going to be a quick one – I have an action packed fun weekend planned and it starts this evening when I am going to see a play. This card was another of the cards we made a last weekend’s card class. I was really pleased with the clean fresh look of this card.


The background card is Always Amethyst and the circles are stamped on Whisper White. The French Script Stamp was stamped in Almost Amethyst and then the circles were punched out. The branches are from Spring Solitude and the bird and butterfly are from Live Your Dreams. I love this set! Each was mounted on dimensional pads and each butterfly have been given an additional pair of wings. A quick line with a white gel pen and the card was done.

The next class I have is on 12 September when there is a Get Ready For Christmas Party. You can find the details here. I will be publishing details of the autumn class programme in the next week or so .

I had better dash – this action packed weekend starts tonight – I am going to see a play. It’s a long weekend here so we are going away and catching up with lots of friends. I can’t wait. The downside of all the fun I am going to be having is that I probably won’t be here to post, but feel free to check back as I may sneak a quick post in!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend too

Happy Crafting
Bekka
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Thursday 27 August 2009

We love to colour

Hello

I hope you enjoyed Tuesday’s tutorial. Would you like to see tutorials become a regular feature here? If so please do let me know.

Today I am going to share another of the cards we made at last Saturday’s class. Just like me a number of the ladies who come to class enjoy colouring so I decided to do a card with them which would showcase their wonderful colouring.

The base is Certain Celery, the edge was masked before the Canvas Background Stamp was stamped in Certain Celery over two thirds of the card. You will probably recognise the main image stamp as it is one I use quite a lot - it is from the wonderful Blooming with Beauty Stamp Set . The Image was coloured using an assortment of Watercolour wonder crayons and a blender pen. Dont forget if you order all the Watercolour Wonder Crayons from me this month I will give you some special free gifts. Its one of many Free Gift Offers I have for you to celebrate my birthday – you can find all the offers here.

The Ribbon on this card is also available to you free when you spend £45 of Stampin’ Up! products before the end of the month. The Certain Celery Twill as seen here, and the So Saffron Grosgrain are both delicious and are only available as this Free Gift – so hurry and place your order before its too late.

I have a party tonight which i am really looking forward to – I will show you the project we are going to make soon

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Crafting

Bekka
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Tuesday 25 August 2009

Tutorial for a Tuesday

Last week I promised you I would write a tutorial for the card pouch I made for the Stamp With Us Colour Challenge here. Here was the original project for you.

And here at last, is the tutorial!

To complete this project you will need a 25cmx25cm piece of double sided patterned paper and some scraps to decorate it with. For this tutorial I have used a sheet from the Rainbow Sherbet pack from Stampin’ Up!

Fold the paper in half diagonally.

Measure 14cm the fold along the open side of the triangle. Fold the front point down along a line between the two marks. Crease the line and then open this fold back out.

Next, along the first fold measure 12cm in from each end. Fold in the two bottom corners, your fold line should be between your mark along the bottom of the triangle and the end of your crease line.

With the corners still folded over, refold the top flap down and put it under the left hand side flap. You will notice that it sticks out. Trim it so it no longer shows. Also trim the tip from the front top flap.
Using strong tape stick the flaps down, right hand side first and then the left. Tuck the top flap inside the left hand side flap and use a couple of glue dots to keep the left side flap closed. Your pouch is now ready to decorate as you wish

I would love to see if you make one of these so please leave a link in the comments below.

Happy Crafting

Bekka

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Monday 24 August 2009

Fun Flowers

Morning everyone – its Monday again already – can you believe how quickly that has come round! Today I am going to start sharing with you some of the cards we made at last Saturday’s Card Class. Unfortunately I am not going to be able to share all of them with you as some of my samples did not make their way home to me!

Today’s card features a flower made with the scallop circle punch. I am loving these flowers at the moment and think they are great for so much more than cards.
This particular one was made with Regal Rose and Rose Red card and has a ribbon centre. I think the ladies who came on Saturday all enjoyed making these flowers too. The background is Natural Ivory card stamped with flowers from Happiness Always and Baroque Motives in Regal Rose and Lovely Lilac. This was then all mounted on a Rose Red base and some Regal Rose ribbon to finish it off.

I also wanted to remind you that if you want to come to my Get Ready for Christmas Party on September 12 you need to let me know by the end of this week. There are still some places available and you can find out all about it here and see pictures of the first one here.

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Crafting

Bekka
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Sunday 23 August 2009

Stamp With Us Sunday

We actually have a wonderful sunny Sunday here – a refreshing change!

One thing that is not different however is that there is a new Stamp With Us Challenge today. This week it is a recipe challenge. This weeks recipe is an interesting one – like a lot of good recipes its not got too many ingredients. The challenge is to use one patterned paper, one coloured card, three brads and a flower.

So here is the card I came up with.

The card colour I chose was Kraft – it is so versatile. I teamed this with Real Red Designer Paper from the Level 1 hostess set. The stamp sets are True Friend and Fresh Cuts. The flower is from the felt fusions kit. I have used stamps to make additional patterned papers. For the stripy one I masked each area and stamped with Old Olive and White Stazon. I think it makes for a fun look.

Don’t forget to check out the cards the rest of the DT made – there are some lovely cards

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Crafting

Bekka
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Saturday 22 August 2009

I'm so Lucky

If you want to see some of the cards I received for my birthday check out these links ...

Monica - an amazing owl which makes my heart smile
Carole - a truly beautiful card using one of my absolute favourite stamp sets

How wonderful are they! I am so lucky

I’m just off to today’s card class so see you tomorrow for this weeks’ Stamp with Us Challenge

Happy Crafting

Bekka
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Friday 21 August 2009

That Friday Feeling

I hope you are all enjoying your Friday and are looking forward to the weekend.

Today I am going to share a gift card I recently made. A friend asked for a gift card for his sister who loves the Stampin’ Up! products. She is also a friend of mine and a wonderful and generous lady so it was a pleasure to create something beautiful for her.
The stamp sets are Blooming with Beauty, Fresh Cuts and Live Your Dreams. The colours are Certain Celery, Pale Plum and Perfect Plum.

I have to dash – I need to cut the card for tomorrows card class. I am looking forward to it and think the ladies will love the cards we are going to make. I will share them with you next week.

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Crafting

Bekka
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Thursday 20 August 2009

Friends ...

Today is my Birthday and I am having a lovely day. I have had some lovely pressies including a beautiful necklace from my OH. When he asked me what I wanted, I jokingly said Diamonds and if you look closely you will see there are two little sparklers in here! I need to joke like that more often ...
It has been raining here today and I felt a bit sorry for our lovely post lady who delivered a huge haul of card and gifts – thank you everyone. It is always so lovely receiving cards and the handmade ones that came today are amazing. I may share some of them with you over the next couple of days. We are having quite a lazy day today and then on Saturday we are going to my absolute favourite restaurant with friends for a meal – I am really looking forward to it. I have a friend whose birthday was earlier this week so it’s going to be a joint celebration.

Here is the card I made him for his birthday
The stamp sets are Pocket Silhouettes and Birthday Best which have been stamped in So Saffron, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie and Ruby Red. The Card base is Sahara Sand, and the main image is matted onto Ruby Red. The patterned papers are from the Level 1 Hostess set in Kraft and Not Quite Navy. There is also some of the delicious So Saffron Ribbon in there.

Today I also decided that this blog needed a bit of a makeover and an injection of some colour. I hope you like it.

Thank you for stopping by

Happy Crafting

Bekka
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Wednesday 19 August 2009

More Cake?

Yesterday I shared a card made using the lovely Crazy for Cupcake Stamp, stamped onto Vellum. Today I am going to do the same!

For today’s card I stamped the main image onto Vellum and embossed it with White Embossing Powder. It was coloured with marker pens on the opposite side to the embossing. I was very pleased with how this looked. The main image was then mounted inside the card. Yes the inside of the card.
After decorating the outside of the card I cut a window in it with the scalloped square punch.

The DSP is from the Tea Party Range and the greeting stamp is from WOW flowers. The ribbon is Regal Rose and there is a rhinestone brad in there too.
Thank you for stopping by

Happy Crafting

Bekka
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Tuesday 18 August 2009

Anyone for Cake?

Today I am going to share a card made with the delicious Crazy for Cupcakes Stamp Set, This has to be one of my favourite stamps at the moment and I love how many different look you can get with it.
Here I have stamped the image onto Vellum and embossed it with silver embossing powder. I then coloured the back of the image with my Stampin’ Up! markers. It gives a lovely soft look almost like stained glass. For this card I have mounted it onto a panel of Natural Ivory, and then Perfect Plum. The patterned paper was made using stamps from the Fresh Cuts and One of a Kind Sets, Stamped in Certain Celery, Perfect Plum and Pale Plum.

Don’t forget that I have some very special offers on different Stampin’ Up! colouring mediums this month – you can find the details here.

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Crafting

Bekka

PS I have been asked by a few people for instructions / a tutorial on the holder for Sunday’s Notelets. I will try and get that done for you this week so watch this space but don’t hold your breath!
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Monday 17 August 2009

Happy Monday

I hope you had a good weekend and are looking forward to the new week as much as I am – I have lots to do this week and I just hope I can fit it all in! We had a lovely time at the TV studios yesterday and it was really interesting seeing how the show was filmed.

Last night there was another live challenge for those taking the Stamp With Us Summer Classes. The classes have been lovely and I am looking forward to making some of them soon and sharing them with you all, so far I have only managed some of the live challenges!

Last night’s challenge was to use Almost Amethyst, Green Galore and something recycled as an embellishment. Now you all know I love Almost Amethyst so that but was not a problem. The recycled item was a bit more tricky – Our bins had gone out just before we started so in short time we had available I had to eat a yogurt just so I could use its lid! It’s a hard life, but sometimes such sacrifices are necessary for a card! For those who are interested it was a sheep’s milk yogurt and was totally scrummy.

So anyway here is my entry.

I love how the Almost Amethyst and the Green Galore look together – lovely and fresh and clean. The stamps are from Live Your Dreams. The patterned paper is from the Rainbow Sherbet Designed Series Pack. The yogurt pot lid was punched with the Five Petal Flower Punch from Stampin’ Up! I am consistently impressed with how well the SU punches punch through tough materials.

Here is a close up of the embellishment – and yes you can see that the lid was not quite big enough for two flowers but I liked the way it looked anyway! The centre is a Rhinestone Brad for a little extra bling.

Thank you for stopping by

Happy Crafting
Bekka
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Sunday 16 August 2009

Stamp With Us Sunday

This week’s Stamp With Us Challenge is a colour challenge. And what a scrummy picture we were given as inspiration – I could sit and look at it for hours! How delich are these Gerberas. Well it had to be a flowery card for my so I stamped the pot of flowers from the scrummy Blooming with Beauty Stamp (well its been a while since it saw ink!). I coloured it using the Watercolour Wonder crayons and a blender pen in Ruby Red, Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose and Certain Celery. I enjoyed it so much that I did it all again another 5 times and decided to make some notelets. The images were cut out and mounted on some Pumpkin Pie Designed Series Papers along with some Certain Celery and Regal Rose ribbons. These were then mounted on 4x4inch Ruby Red card based.
These little beauties needed a way of being presented and kept together. So I made them this little bag from more Pumpkin Pie Designed Series Paper decorated with some of the Certain Celery Twill that Stampin’ Up! are giving away as part of a ribbon bundle if you order £45 worth of goods this month – you can find the details here. Here is the bag with the cards and their envelopes in.
And a close up so you can see just how beautifully the twill ties.
I also wanted to show you a little more detail on the button at the top. I think buttons look at their best when they are sewn on, the look somehow more finished then. This is not however always practical, so what I have done here is threaded a tiny sliver of card through the holes so it looks like thread and fined it on the back of the button with a glue dot. The same glue dot then fixes the button onto a circle of card which adds even more definition to the button. I love these flower buttons from the Buttons Latte Collection – they are so pretty!
Thank you for stopping by to look at this week’s card – you can check out the rest of the design team’s cards on the Stamp With Us Blog – they are always such an inspiration

Happy Crafting
Bekka
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Saturday 15 August 2009

Super Saturday

What a lovely day I have had today!

Today was my first Get Ready for Christmas Party and despite it turning into a lovely sunny day, with the help of some festive music and snowball cakes the ladies and I managed to focus on Christmas.

I wanted to make a little gift for each guest and here is a picture of them before I put them out at each guest place.
During the day each guest made a Christmas Organiser, 35 cards and most completed a dozed gift tags too. Each also left with a goodie bag and lots of bits left to make more tags and cards with. Hello ladies! Here is a shot of some of them hard at work.
And in this one as you look closely you can see some of the finished cards and some still in progress.
I am really looking forward to doing this all again next month! There are still some places available and you can find all the details here. If you want to book a place please let me know as soon as possible as deposits have to be paid by 29th August.

It’s a busy weekend for me as tomorrow we are off to watch a TV show that my OH is in being filmed which should be interesting. Anyway I will schedule a post with my Stamp with Us Design Team Card on so you don’t have to wait all day!

Happy Crafting

Bekka
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Thursday 13 August 2009

This week is not all about Christmas!

Today I am going to see the newest member of my Stampin’ Up! Team, the lovely and very creative Kim. I am very excited to have her join us as I know she will be great and have a lot of fun along the way. To thank her for joining me and to wish her luck in her new adventure I have made a card using a stamp set I know she loves (Soft Summer) and some of the delicious ribbon that is currently on offer from Stampin’ Up! If becoming a Stmapin’ Up! Demonstrator is something you are considering please do get in touch for a no obligation chat. Being a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator is fantastic and a lot of fun. Its very flexible and you can do as much or as little with it as you like. I have put some more information here for you too. By joining now you will also benefit from seeing the new Idea Book and Catalogue a month before it is available to the public and from being able to get some of the new products before they are available for general sale.

Anyway I had better dash or I will be late getting to Kim’s!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting

Bekka
ps: Card is So Saffron and Natural Ivory. Designer Paper is from the Tea Party Range. The image was coloured with the water colour wonder crayons including Almost Amethyst, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red and So Saffron
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Wednesday 12 August 2009

A Wondrous Time Of Year

Today I am going to continue with the Christmas theme. I know it is still August but I am not sure anyone told the weather yet!

With the aid of some very badly taken photos I am going to show you four different cards made with one stamp set, two colours of card and one set of ink spots. At a recent workshop, a lady who is quite new to stamping decided she wanted to make her won Christmas Cards this year, but did not really know where to start. She chose her favourite stamp set and then asked for some help.

After choosing her favourite Stampin’ Up! Colour Family and her favourite green from that range, she purchased the stamps, a pack of coloured card, a pack of neutral card and a set of Stampin’ Spots (small ink pads) and asked me if I would mount the stamps and make a couple of different cards with them so she could see what she could make. I love this kind of challenge and am thrilled when people at workshops ask me for help with things like this. Coaching people’s creativity is one of the great things about being a Stampin’ Up! Demo (alongside great friendships and getting the wonderful products cheap!) If you would like to find out more about becoming a demonstrator please do get in touch for a no obligation chat.

Here are the cards made with her chosen stamp set – Wondrous Gift, her two colours of card – Handsome Hunter and Natural Ivory and inks from the Rich Regal colour family. I am sorry about the shockingly bad photos. I have kept the cards relatively easy to make, not only as the customer is a newish card maker but also since they are Christmas Cards they need to be easy to mass produce!

I hope you like them despite the bad photos and I hope my customer enjoys using them as a start point for her own Christmas Cards – I hope I am on her Christmas Card list as I cant wait to see what she comes up with!

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Crafting

Bekka
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Monday 10 August 2009

Continuing with Christmas!

Happy Monday everyone! Here is to the start of a new week.

Yesterday’s theme challenge from Stamp With Us was Christmas and I shared with you my Snowman Shaker Box Stage. I also promised to show you a simpler card made with the same supplies. So here it is.

The stamp set is Flaky Friends which is only available until the end of September so if you want it don’t forget to place your order for it soon. Check here to see how you could get a free ink pad of your choice if you order a bundle of products including this stamp set from me. The paper used is from the Ski Slope pack – and I think this is my favourite sheet from the pack but I do keep changing my mind on that! The card is Real Red and the snowmen are coloured with Real Red, Old Olive and Not Quite Navy.

I will be sharing more Christmas projects with you this week – and some sneak peaks of the cards we will be making at the Get Ready For Christmas Party this weekend. It feels a bit odd to be thinking about Christmas before my birthday but it makes it the perfect time for gifts so please check back for more offers and ways to get gifts in this my Birthday Gift Giving Month

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Crafting

Bekka
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Sunday 9 August 2009

All the world's a Stage

And all the snowmen merely players!

Welcome to this Sunday’s Stamp With Us Challenge. The theme of this week’s challenge is Christmas. Two of my favourite Stampin’ Up! Christmas products are the lovely snowmen from the Flaky Friends Stamp Set and the delicious Ski Slope Papers so I got these two things out in an attempt to bring a little Christmas to my craft table.

Then I started to play...

And this is what I came up with – Presenting on their own stage, complete with snow – My Flaky Friends!
The snowmen were stamped and coloured with my Stampin’ Write Markers and then sealed into shaker box – so you can shake it up and make it snow. The box was made with paper from the Ski Slope pack and covered with a Cello bag after a good dollop of Dazzling Diamonds had been added – be careful when you do this if you don’t want glitter all over your craft space! The snowmen are fixed in the middle of the box so the snow can go either side of them.
This was then mounted onto a folded piece of Real Red Card, which has been scored to allow the Shaker box to stand up along the front. Ribbon tied underneath keeps the back upright. This was decorated with more papers, the rows of hanging mittens and some real Red Ribbon. Now hopefully this project has made you smile but I have some sad news. This Stamp Set is only available until the end of September and the Ski Slope Papers may also retire then too so be sure to place your orders for them soon.
To get you smiling again I do have some good news too - if you were to order Flaky Friends , the Ski Slope Papers , two packs of coordinating coloured card stock (Real Red, Old Olive, Night of Navy or Chocolate Chip) and a pack of Whisper White Card you would qualify for this month’s Ribbon Bundle Offer. Details here. As an added gift from me if you order this bundle from me I will give you a free full sized ink pad of your choice. After post and packing this bundle which would give you enough to make at least 75 Christmas Cards would cost you £48.90

I had a lot of fun making this project . Now those of you who are hoping that you are on my Christmas card list – don’t panic – I don’t plan on sending glitter bombs like this through the post! Tomorrow I will share with you another more post friendly Christmas card, using the same supplies.

Happy Crafting

Bekka

PS Don’t forget to check out the rest of the design teams projects – I love seeing how differently we all respond to the same prompt and know you will see some lovely things.
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Saturday 8 August 2009

Little Bits of Fun

Today I am going to show you something a little different – well a little different for me anyway!

Those of you who are taking the current round of Stamp With Us classes may have seen a picture of a new addition to my craft space – a cute three tiered cake stand where each layer is a handy sized basket. I love it, but what they will also have seen is a very very very full scrap basket behind it. Today I decided to do something about it and rather than just tidying it all into my general card and paper stock I decided to make a project that only uses these scraps. I also challenged myself only to use the stamp sets that I currently had out.

I decided to make some Artists Trading Cards or ATC’s – these cute little cards are 2.5 x 3.5 inches and I can now confidently say a lot of fun to make. The stamp sets I had out were Live your Dreams and Happiness Always. The colours I have used include Real Red, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Almost Amethyst, Sage Shadow and Elegant Eggplant. I am going to Stamparama in Stevenage tomorrow so will take these with me to see if there are any swaps going on or if anyone would like one, so if you are there make sure you say hello. I am quite excited to show you my project for Stamp With Us tomorrow so I will schedule it to post while I am out so you don’t have to wait too late! As soon as I have done that I am off to play with more scraps and make some more ATC’s and I may even allow myself some different stamps!

Happy Crafting

Bekka
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Friday 7 August 2009

Free Ribbon!

Yesterday some rather lovely ribbon arrived, not only is it gorgeous but it is all the more special as it was free! There were two fantastic reels just like those in the picture below. Click here to find out how you can get some for free too.

I am not quite sure where today went but I did manage to get time to make two quick cards. Well one card in two colour ways but both using the Do Saffron Ribbon – I just adore it. I also wanted to show you how different the same card looks with two different coloured backgrounds.
The colours used for both cards are So Saffron, Always Artichoke, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink and Natural Ivory. This first one has So Saffron as its base. The stamp sets are Live your Dreams and One of a Kind.

Next the same card but on an Always Artichoke base.
Which one do you prefer?

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Crafting
Bekka
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