Rocking and rolling again with my favourite set

I have a workshop in just a short while with a bunch of ladies who are new to Stampin' Up! Can't wait, as I just know they're going to love the quality and the colour matching and all the rest of it and they sound such a fun bunch before I even meet them. We're expecting a bit of a mix of crafting levels, from experienced to newbies, which always makes for a fun time sharing tips and helping each other out.

When I got together with my wonderful hostess to chat about what to include tonight, she fell in love with the Vintage Vogue set (ok so I may have influenced her a little - maybe the majority of my samples are made with this set, lol). She was also very taken with the rock and roll technique and so for our make and take tonight I designed the card below. I'm posting it now so that I can point everyone back to the blog after we're finished tonight, as a reminder of how we made it. And there'll be an option to leave off the text and stamp the flower in a single colour, as an easier version for those just starting out.

Recipe

Stamp set: Vintage Vogue, Very Vintage

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla

Ink: Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry

Punches: Scallop Trim, 1" Circle, 1-1/4" Circle

Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon: Rich Razzleberry

Other: Basic Rhinestones

The card blank is an A6 landscape of Crumb Cake. The Very Vintage wheel was stamped along the top front of the card with Crumb Cake ink. Using Rich Razzleberry ink, the sentiment was stamped direct to the lower right front of the card. A strip of Very Vanilla card was stamped randomly with the leafy frond in Pear Pizzazz ink and adhered direct to a strip of Rich Razzleberry punched with the Scallop Trim. Using the rock 'n' roll technique the small flower was stamped with Crumb Cake and Rich Razzleberry inks onto Very Vanilla card and punched with the 1" Circle. This was popped up on a dimensional onto a 1-1/4" Circle of Crumb Cake. Rich Razzleberry ribbon was looped behind the circles before popping them up on another dimensional on the card front. A rhinestone was added to the centre of the flower to finish.

Now, time for tea and then off out to play! ...err, I mean work, ... play ... whichever - they're both the same ;-)

If you'd like to get paid for having fun, then just check out how to join my team or email me and we'll arrange a time for me to phone you and we can have a chat.

Sara xx

Vintage scrapbooking in my favourite colours

I think I may have mentioned that DH and I aren't really too keen on having our pic taken. So fodder for scrapbooking could have been a little light. But ... we both love taking travel photos wherever we go and so I've started to scrap some of our travel pix from previous years. Plenty of material, (as both families will agree when we face them with hundreds of holiday photos whenever we get back), lol!

Today's page is one that I started to put together at my last crop and I CASEd it totally from one in the current main catalogue:

Well I finally printed off the photo and put it together last night:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Vintage Vogue, Very Vintage

Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, River Rock, Very Vanilla

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, River Rock

Satin Ribbon: Old Olive

Punch: Round Tab

Other: Brights Designer Buttons

The 6" x 6" page of Rich Razzleberry was stamped with the Very Vintage wheel in matching ink. A strip of River Rock was also wheeled with the same Very Vintage in River Rock ink. This strip was torn along both edges, sponged with more River rock and wrapped with Old Olive Satin Ribbon. The pic was matted onto Old Olive card. A Round Tab punched from River Rock card, was journalled and adhered behind the pic, before tucking the photo behind the ribbon. The flowers and leaves were stamped using the rock and roll technique with River Rock and Rich Razzleberry inks before being cut out and shaped. The button was threaded with a sliver of River Rock card then added to the centre of the larger flower on a glue dot.

The photo was taken at Versailles at the little farm (Hameau de la Reine) that was Marie Antoinette's rustic retreat.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

Technique class results for rolling with the punches and baby wipe technique

I'm sorry I've been such a bad blogger over the last few days. We've had serious health problems in the family (multiple) that have quite rightly got in the way of my crafting. Family comes first for me and I hope that you'll all understand.

Some of the health issues are resolved now though and I'm even hoping to have a play with my new stash of goodies from the Mini Catalogue today, ready to share them with you from 1 April. I should be able to get back to my usual blogging routine from now on.

For now, I thought I'd share a few pix from our crop and class yesterday. We welcomed Heather to our crop this month. Hi Heather *waves*.

Our class techniques this month were:

Rolling with the punches

Baby Wipe

I put it to the vote and this time we didn't make scrapbook pages as the current class members would rather make extra cards instead. We're going to switch and change the projects a bit so next month it will be a card and a 3d item. With our "inkpads" from the baby wipe technique we had plenty left to stamp out sheets full if images and create some great background pages.

A fun time was had by all (even through a bad headache - hope that's gone by now Barbara) and I think we even rather enjoyed the mess and getting a bit inky (hope it's starting to wash off by now though ladies, lol). Included in their class fee this month, everyone got 3 reinkers in in-colours to take home with them, so that they can repeat the technique at home.

And everyone got stunning results. I did remember to grab a few pix on my phone this time to show you what fabulous crafters I get to play ... I mean work with, lol.

Aren't they gorgeous?

We'd love to have you join us next month for the crop, the class or both. Our venue has double booked on our regular day (a mix up because the caretaker was away) and so we're for one month only we're holding the next crop and class on the first Saturday, 2 April, usual time 11am-4pm, usual place St Saviours.

And as a special for the Mini Catalogue launch, I'm paying for the venue costs so that you can come along to the crop for free (though I would very much welcome any donations for the Cavendish Cancer Care charity) and get to see and play with the new goodies. There'll be demonstrations, make and takes and a few prizes too, so please make a date in your diary to join us.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Sara xx

August colour challenge at ILWS - take 2

Yesterday I shared my first sample for the colour challenge this month over at ILWS which uses:

• Basic Gray
• So Saffron
• Certainly Celery
• Whisper White

Today I have a different card using the same colour combo ... and I just couldn't resist using my Vintage Vogue set, I knew it would look great in these colours:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Vintage Vogue, Very Vintage, Tiny Tags

Textured Cardstock: Basic Gray

Plain Cardstock: So Saffron, Whisper White

Ink: So Saffron, Basic Gray, Certainly Celery

Punches: Eyelet Border, Medium Jewelry Tag, 1/4" Circle

Brads: Certainly Celery (Soft Subtles), So Saffron (Rich Regals)

Throughout, I stamped the Basic Gray ink off once each time to get a softer shade of grey. First I used the Very Vintage wheel to stamp the background in Basic Gray onto So Saffron card. I stamped the butterfly area of the image again onto a scrap of So Saffron and cut it out to use later. The edges of the background were punched with the Eyelet Border and then this layer was adhered direct to a layer of Textured Basic Gray card. The Tiny Tags were stamped, punched and added to the corners with Certainly Celery Brads. For the flowers I used the rock and roll technique. I inked the stamp up first with So Saffron and the rolled the edges of the stamp in Basic Gray and stamped onto Whisper White card. The leaves were simply stamped with Certainly Celery ink. Each flower was cut out with a narrow margin, shaped and in the centre a 1/4" Circle of punched Textured Basic Gray card added with a So Saffron brad. These were popped up on dimensionals. The leaves were also cut out with a narrow margin, shaped a little at the end and added on glue dots. Finally a rolled up glue dot was added to the spine of the butterfly and lined up over the one on the background.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

Platinum and pink Vogue card

Apologies if you've had trouble finding this post. I accidentally published it before I'd finished writing it and then had to pull it back into a saved draft. Anyway enough of the techno-babble and on with the crafting.

Today's card is a non-distressed Vintage card that makes more of a feature of the Very Vintage Wheel:

I just love the little butterfly hidden in the design - you can see it up above the flower in this card:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Vintage Vogue, Very Vintage, Sincere Salutations (sentiment)

Cardstock: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink

Ink: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Platinum Shimmer Paint

Punches: Eyelet Border, 1-3/4" Circle

Other: Pink Rhinestone Brad (Circle Fire)

I inked up the wheel using a sponge dauber and platinum shimmer paint and rolled across the card front. (I advise cleaning the shimmer paint off while it's still damp - it's much easier than when it's dried on). The sentiment was stamped in Rose Red onto a strip of Regal Rose and then framed with the Vintage Vogue frond stamped in Regal Rose. This was matted and layered onto a wider strip of Pretty in Pink card punched with the Eyelet Border. The small and large flowers were made by inking them first with Regal Rose, then daubing with Platinum shimmer paint around the edges. Once dry, cut them out, shape and layer them with a rhinestone brad through the centre. Finally pop the flowers up on a dimensional in the centre of a punched circle of Rose Red.

Here's a close up of the flower:

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

Birthday theme challenge at Stamp With Us

Our challenge today over at Stamp With Us is to create something to meet a:

birthday theme

I decided to go with some bright and bold colours to show that you don't have to stick with vintage colours or the distressed look when using the Vintage Vogue set.

Recipe

Stamp Sets: Vintage Vogue, Oval All, Very Vintage

Cardstock: Summer Sun, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White

Ink: Summer Sun, Taken With Teal, Stampin' Pastels

Punches: Scallop Oval, Large Oval

Other: Circle Fire Rhinestone Brads

I rolled the Very Vintage wheel at a diagonal using my Wheel Guide to roll again and complete the top corner. The flowers were made using the rock and roll technique ie. inking the stamp with one colour and then rolling the edges of the stamp on another (contrasting or complementary) inkpad. The Tempting Turquoise turns green when mixed with the Summer Sun and I kept these flowers for the bottom petals so that they'd be more leaf-like. To have more of the Turquoise colour come through, I first inked with Summer Sun, rolled off some of the ink onto scrap paper then rolled onto Tempting Turquoise before finally stamping. The small flowers were just stamped with Tempting Turquoise ink. All were cut out and I shaped the petals before layering and securing with a Rhinestone Brad. The sentiment was stamped in Turqouise, coloured with a Summer Sun marker and then chalked around the edges with Summer Sun.

Please go take a look at the other wonderful creations made by the Design Team.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Sara xx

News of Snooker Legends at the Crucible and here's the April chalks challenge at In Love With Stamping - take 2

Last night I went with my Mum to the Sheffield Crucible (home of the World Snooker Championship) to see "Snooker Legends". John Virgo hosted and playing we had:

• Alex (Hurricane) Higgins;
• Jimmy (Whirlwind) White;
• John (The Entertainer) Parrot; and
• Cliff (The Grinder) Thorburn

As someone who grew up watching Pot Black (showing my age) every Friday night with my Gran and Grandad it brought back a lot of happy memories and reminded me how much I enjoy watching the game. The snooker was spellbinding. Fast and furious frames between White and Parrot, slower with some tricky snookers between Higgins and Thorburn. It was rather sad to see Higgins looking so poorly. I understand that he's had pneumonia and from the looks of last night and his coughing, I don't think he's over it yet.

Some of the audience got a chance to try trick shots with John Virgo, a la Big Break. Another member of the audience was drawn from a paid raffle to play a game of doubles with the losers of the first match. The raffle winner didn't get much of a chance to play as his partner White cleaned up the table but Jimmy did kindly let him sink the last black.

The show is going on tour soon and if you're a fan of snooker then I can definitely recommend this.

On now to the crafting and here's my second card for the Chalks challenge over at In Love With Stamping:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Vintage Vogue, Oval All, Very Vintage

Cardstock: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Very Vanilla

Ink: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Versamark, Stampin' Pastels chalks

Punches: Eyelet Border, Scallop Oval, Large Oval

Other: Pretties Kit

The card base is Perfect Plum cut to a standard A6 landscape card. Using the Very Vintage wheel and Perfect Plum ink, the background was rolled top and bottom of the card. A strip of Pale Plum was punched along both long edges with the Scallop Edge punch. This was stamped randomly with the vine from the Vintage Vogue set in Pale Plum ink and the edges were chalked by rubbing Pale Plum chalk on a sponge dauber in a circular motion.

The large flowers and leaves from the Vintage Vogue set were stamped with Versamark on Very Vanilla card and then chalks pounced (tapped) on with sponge daubers (flowers in Pale Plum and Perfect Plum, leaves in Garden Green). The chalk "sticks" to the Versamark - be careful not to rub or you may smudge the image. Excess chalk was blown off and then the image brushed very lightly with a dry paintbrush. Flowers and leaves were cut out, shaped and stuck flat to the card except for the centre flower which was raised on two dimensionals stuck together for extra height. Medium cream halfback pearls were added to the centre of the flowers with glue dots.

For the sentiment the Best Wishes was stamped in Perfect Plum ink on Very Vanilla card and then punched with the Large Oval punch. The edges were chalked with Pale Plum. This was stuck flat to a punched Scallop Oval from Perfect Plum card and raised on dimensionals on the Pale Plum decorated strip. A small cream halfback pearl was added using a glue dot to finish.

All chalked images can be sprayed with a sealant (hairspray works) before adding to the card if needed.

Back again soon.

Sara xx