Blog Hop - New Catalogue Launch!

Hi hi! Welcome to my stop on the Stampin' Stars new catalogue launch blog hop! I'm guessing you've come from looking at Tracie's lovely project with the new catty goodies, and are feeling inspired! (The link for the next blog, Teej's, will be at the end of this post.)

If you've come from Teej's delightful offerings, then you'll need to click on the "previous" image at the end of this post to go to Tracie's blog.

Now, back to business. I used a couple of new products (and a few existing ones) from the new Stampin' Up catalogue to make a scrapbook layout for my darling daughter's bedroom wall, and a rather lovely tag too. I also used a bit of shrinking plastic (Shrinkidinks, remember those?) and a bit of spare ribbon, but in the main, it's Stampin' Up City!

The background paper on this LO is from the NEW Modern Medley Design Series Paper (DSP), and I love it! There's some really cute papers in this collection, all monochrome, and I'm looking forward to cutting into them! The "Sweet, sweet moments" sentiment is from the NEW Happy Day stamp set, stamped onto paper from the NEW Epic Day This and That DSP.

 

I used the woodgrain embossing folder to emboss some Whisper White, and die-cut a doilie with the same paper. I used the Bitty Butterfly and the Elegant Butterfly to cut out butterflies from the Shrink plastic, and shrunk them with the heat tool to make the seriously cute mini butterflies seen here! The clear ones I just coloured up with some Summer Starfruit ink.

I then used some more scraps of paper from the NEW Epic Day This and That DSP and the NEW Mosaic Madness stamps and NEW Mosaic punch to add a couple of embellishments just to finish it off. My daughter loved it, thank goodness!

I then used the last little bit of the woodgrain embossed card to whip up this little tag. I used the "Smile" stamp and the doily-like image from the Happy Day stamp set, some more paper from the Modern Medley and Epic Day This and That collection, and a diecut from Apothecary Accents.
The doily is layered up, and finished with a teensy black pearl, and all pieces of card are inked lightly around the edges, just to help them stand out.

Well, thanks for visiting, I hope you've found a little inspiration! If you see anything you fancy, or want a new catalogue posted to you for £3 including postage, please contact me at sarahkbond@hotmail.co.uk!

Next stop on the Blog Hop is Teej - follow the "Next" link below! Or, if you're going to Tracie's blog, then click on the "Previous" link. Enjoy all the inspiration the lovely ladies have laid out for you today :)

List of demo's taking part in the Blog Hop and their blogs

Fiona                http://oakfieldcrafts.blogspot.co.uk/

Sarah P            http://stampingobsession.com/

Tracie               http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/thestampinelf/blog

Sarah  (You're here) http://stampinsupplies.blogspot.co.uk/

Teej                   http://favour-itthings.blogspot.co.uk/

Joanne             http://toocraftyjo.blogspot.co.uk/

Louise              http://stampindelight.co.uk/

Lesley               http://lellyjellys.blogspot.co.uk/    

Kate  S              www.makincraft.blogspot.com         

Emma              http://coastalcrafter.com/

Pip                   http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/queenpip/blog 

Julie                  http://the-crafty-bug.blogspot.co.uk/

Lauren              http://www.craftyhippy.co.uk/

Nicky                http://nickyjohncock.blogspot.co.uk/

Cary                 http://2biggirlscrafting.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Natasha           http://heartsyoucrafts.blogspot.co.uk/

Natalie              http://www.natalieoshea.co.uk/blog.html 

Victoria            http://bluejellystampin.blogspot.co.uk/

Kim                   http://kimfeecrafter.blogspot.co.uk/

Nic                    http://www.thestickyelf.co.uk/

Kate  C             http://crafting-happy.blogspot.co.uk/

Katy-Suzanne  http://katyskraft.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Fathers' Day card in 5 minutes!

Here's an extraordinarily quick but effective card for Fathers' Day in the UK this Sunday.

It uses the new This and That Epic Day papers from Stampin' Up, paper piercing templates, and a few alpha stickers. I kid you not, it took me less than 5 minutes to throw it together. Quick, clean and simple, just how I like it!

July card class - more details!

I've uploaded the flyer for July's card class - if you're in the Dronfield area, and you find yourself at a loss for something to do, then contact me and I'll save a spot for you!

New card class - July 4th

Evening all!

Tonight, I'm going to show you a sneaky peek of the cards that I'm going to be workshopping in my new card class coming up on July 4th, at 7.30 - 9pm in Dronfield Woodhouse.

During the class, you'll get the chance to play with quality Stampin' Up merchandise - stamps and ink, watercolour markers, a couple or three punches, some label dies and my trusty Cuttlebug.

Together, we will create three beautiful cards for you to take home - these can be customised to your preference of occasion/recipient. You'll also get to chat with like-minded people, sip tea or coffee and munch on biscuits! All for the sum of £7.50.

If you live in the local area (S18) and want to reserve a place (they are limited, so it's first come, first served), message me at sarahkbond@hotmail.co.uk.

I look forward to hearing from you!

A little poem

Hi there! I hope this June morning finds you well.

On my SU demonstrator group in Facebook, the lovely ladies call the UPS driver "Mr Brown". I just wanted to share this little poem that came to me as I sat waiting for UPS to deliver my next Stampin' Up order. It has a couple of sneak peek items from the new catalogue, out on 1st Jul, but I am even more excited about the fact that I have a copy of the new catalogue in the box too!

An Ode To The New Catalogue

(or The Eternal Dilemma of the SU Demo)

Mr Brown

is in my town,

I’m lurking by the door.

But when I look

at t’new book,

I know that I’ll want more.

Sarah K. Bond 06/06/2013

My little sticky marking strips are ready to be stuck to the pages, and I'm hoping that my little one will nap properly this afternoon so that I can have a good peruse!

I'll have the new catalogues ready to send out in July, so if you'd like a copy for £3 including postage, email me at sarahkbond@hotmail.co.uk and I'll sort it out!

Blog hop for Stampin' Up retiring products - morning cup

Good morning! Welcome to my little kitchen table of craftiness!

Today, I'm showing some recent cards made with some retiring stamps from Stampin' Up. It's nearly time for the new 2013-2014 catalogue, and some old favourites are being retired to make way. If you'd like to have a looksee to pick up some bargains or that stamp set you keep thinking about treating yourself to, the links are here: retiring stamps and retiring accessories. If you see something you fancy, just let me know - my offers still stand on all retiring goods.

If you've joined me from Tracie's blog, then howdy! After you've read my contribution to the blog hop, then you need to go to Nicky's blog, but I'll put the links again at the end of my post.

So, back to the creative stuff. I've chosen "Morning Cup" as my stamp set to showcase today, but I'm sticking to my quick, clean and simple methods.

The first card is a simple A6 white folded card. I used the coffee pot, the mug and one of the sentiments all stamped with Stazon Black, and coloured the heart in with a Raspberry Ripple marker. I then cut co-ordinating Subtles Rose Red card and Pretty in Pink cardstock with some Sizzlits edgelits. There's a row of stitching along the middle of the card just to finish it all off.

The second and third examples are single A6 pieces of card with the sentiment and image stamped on,  coloured with Gumball Green and Raspberry Ripple markers. They remind me a little of these postcards you used to get in the 1990's, which I cannot find the name of, but if someone knows what I mean, then please tell!

Then my most favourite. This teetering tower of teacups which I teamed with more coloured cardstock, but this time coloured with the watercolour brush and the 2012-2014 In Color markers. The marker colours in the sets go really well together, and I love that I don't have to mess about selecting shades that flatter each other.

Two cards and two postcards in ten minutes. You can't get much quicker than that!

I've got a whole mini-book planned about my love of tea, which is the main reason I bought this set, so it's definitely going to get more use. I can also envisage a use on the children's tea party/picnic/afternoon tea scrapbook layouts I've got lined up.If you fancy bagging yourself a set before they all go, they're £15.95 for the clear mount set, £19.95 for the wood mount set (see the right-hand column for my contact details).

So, thanks for stopping by! Your next port of call is Nicky, or, if you're going the other way round it's Tracie. Feel free to pop back later on in the week, when I'll be sharing some more colouring efforts, and my top tips for beginners (like me).

Bye for now!

Stampin Star Blog Hop

Fiona Whitten  
Tracie Gledhill  
Sarah Bond  
Nicky Johncock
Pip Todman
Cary Buckham
Kim Gibbons Fee  
Joanne Penney

Rotary stamps are us!

(Well hello there!

I did mention the other day that I was rather keen on a certain new rotary stamp from Stampin' Up (SU) (see here if you have no idea what I am talking about). I also mentioned that I'd let you see the masked card I was working on. Well..... *drum roll*.... tada!

Here we have a very simple but effective save the day card. I used a 4x6 piece of kraft card, one Crumb Cake ink pad, a corner rounder punch and three SU stamp sets (Up, Up and Away for the birds, Serene Silhouettes for the flowers and the This and That rotary stamp for the date). They literally took me 5 minutes to make 24, once I'd decided on the design, and have saved me a few more pennies to put towards the day itself.

Yes, that's right - it's my save the date card! I'll print the actual details on the reverse of the card, pop them in their envelopes and send them off sometime this week.

I'll soon be sharing my first two pages in my new This and That journal, which has been earmarked for organising and recording all the bumf I expect I'll collect over the next five months!

So, for anyone who's done this (getting married) before, here's the time to pass on your handy hints and tips, tricks and things to avoid!  Go on, you know you  want to!

Masking part 1

Morning! Hope this wet Thursday finds you well, and with better weather than here in Derbyshire!

Today, I'm introducing a couple of new products from Stampin' Up. They are due to be released in the 2013-2014 catalogue which is coming soon!

Firstly, there is this little collection of Epic Day washi tapes. A Calypso Coral with faint hexagons on,  Basic Gray and light grey diagonal striped, and a Crumb Cake one with a faint ledger-image.

There are many things you can use washi tape for, in addition to holding pretty things down to pretty paper in pretty ways! I used it just the other day to hold down my stamping mask in a secure yet easily-removable-without-ripping-the-card manner.

If you haven't seen masks before, they're a way of keeping a clear area on your stamp design, say, for a sentiment like the above one will be. You can also use them to protect areas that have been previously stamped if you want to build up more stamped images.

The above image also shows a Serene Silhouettes stamp (part of a set), and a Crumb Cake large ink pad. 

The other new product, which is also part of the This and That line, is this rather lovely rotary stamp:

This is going to get used so much - I have a regular date stamp from Staples, but this has phrases as an added extra. I reckon you could easily use the phrases alone, so am going to have a little experiment! Check back tomorrow for the finished project with this stamp.

What's your favourite Stampin' Up product, current or retired? Do tell!

See you tomorrow, but if not, have a fantastic weekend!

Fresh and pretty layout

Today I'm sharing my latest scrapbook layout.

It's a couple of photos from this time last year, which show my youngest daughter enjoying painting. We love getting messy in our house, and we're often found in our PJs on the weekend making stuff at the dining room table.

I've made a strip of pennants/bunting using the Stampin' Up (SU) Hearts a Flutter Framelits dies, and embossed a couple of the plain pieces of Subtles cardstock with the SU Fancy Fan embossing folder . I've been really stingy with the patterned paper - the scraps behind the pictures are actually the remnants of the paper I cut the bunting out of! The Designer Series paper I've used is Twitterpated, and I have to say it is the best of the current ranges. I'm saving every scrap!

It's a lovely fresh colour combo, taken from my favourite patterned paper at the moment, the floral one shown here. No journaling though, I'm just showcasing the photos. The butterfly embellishments are made by glueing paper onto bog-standard cardboard, and punching out the shapes with the Bitty Butterfly punch. Really easy and effective!

And the title? It's one of those that popped into my head - I often use song lyrics in my titles, even if they are a little... altered!

How do you choose your scrapbook layout titles? Do tell ;)