A sunny get well card made without any stamps

My Mum's got this awful flu bug that's going around and so I thought I'd try to cheer her up a little by making her a get well card. I also decided to challenge myself to make a card without any stamps - instead I've used some of my stash of embellishment goodies.

I started with Apricot Appeal cardstock cut and folded to a 5" square card. Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White narrow grosgrain ribbon are weaved along two sides to frame the focus. I took the largest flower from the Pretties Kit and dusted the edge of the petals with Apricot Appeal chalk to just soften the edges. The mat for the flower uses squares of Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery and Pumpkin Pie. Small Pumpkin rhinestone brads, from the Circle Fire set, anchor the corners. I created the centre of the flower using the largest of the Boho Blossoms (again in Apricot Appeal), together with the largest Pumpkin rhinestone brad. This is all raised on dimensionals.

I'm sure I'll be back with the stamps soon :-)

Sara xx

A patchwork birthday card - making use of paper scraps

Today's card is one that I made for Kristina Werner's Colour Challenge and also with an upcoming friend's birthday in mind.

These are the colours that Kristina set this week. Now we don't have Baja Breeze in the UK Stampin' Up! catalogue (at least not yet) and so I substituted Bordering Blue.

I've noticed so many machine stitched cards in the SU Idea Book and Catalogue and it finally inspired me to get my own sewing machine out. This is the first time it's been out since we moved into this house which is 8 or 9 years ago now (oops). And it was just like riding a bike ... well almost. I was on automatic pilot for threading the machine up and operating it but I think I may need to fine tune the tension on the zig-zag stitch :-).

I decided that making a patchwork quilt of Designer Series paper squares would be a good way to use up some of my scraps. You do know that I hoard everything don't you - even left over scraps. If they're big enough to punch Boho Blossoms out of then they're worth hanging onto *smiles*.

The base card is Bordering Blue textured cardstock cut and folded to 5" square. I used papers from Sweet Always and Old Olive Patterns and cut these to 4cm squares (a smudge over 1.5") and snail taped these to white cardstock to hold them in place while I stitched. The central square was plain Chocolate Chip cardstock to give focus to the sentiment. Using the Birthday Wishes stamp from the Circle of Friendship stamp set I stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on Bordering Blue cardstock (plain rather than textured this time), punched with the 1" circle punch and mounted using silver Hodgepodge. For those who are keen on friendship quilts, the Thinking of You - Friendship sentiment from the same stamp set would have worked really well with this (but I knew I needed a birthday card).

Having had a go at this I would love to do some more stitched cards but ...

... as I turned off the sewing machine lamp, the button went all the way in and stuck there. I'm now waiting for hubby to get home to see whether he can salvage my machine for me. Watch this space.

Thanks for dropping by.

Sara xx

Cleaning rubber stamps - how (and why) to use the Stampin' Scrub and Mist

Rubber stamps will last you years if you take a little care with them. Now I know that one of those "little care" things is keeping them clean but in the past I still used to leave them for months before having a big cleaning session in one go (after all one of the reasons I craft is to be able to ignore the cleaning, lol). I used to use lots of warm washing up water, a toothbrush and plenty of paper towels. Worked after a fashion but a bit risky. By the time I cleaned them the ink had been on ages and was more difficult to get off and if you get the stamps too wet you can loosen the glue or warp the wood.

Anyway when I joined Stampin' Up! two of the items in the starter kit were the Stampin' Scrub and Mist. These are little life savers and make me feel so virtuous (doesn't happen often :-) ).

When you open the Stampin' Scrub it has two black fibre scrubbing mats. One has a little rain droplet icon at the outside edge - this is the mat you use to spritz and scrub. 

The other has a little umbrella icon - this is the mat you use to dry the stamp. 

You just spritz the mat lightly with the Stampin' Scrub (this formula conditions as well as cleans your rubber stamps) and rub your stamp back and forth over it a few times. Then rub your stamp on the drying side and you're done. The Scrub is big enough to fit the largest Stampin' Up! stamps on it.

As well as helping prolong the life of your stamps and giving you that virtuous feeling, this is a quick and easy way to clean your stamps when you're swapping from one colour to another and don't want to contaminate your inkpads. The fibre mats are removable so that you can rinse them under tap water, air dry them and return them to the Scrub.

Prices (current at date of blog post):

Stampin' Scrub - £11.75

Stampin' Mist (56.6g)  - £2.75

Stampin' Mist refill (226.8g) - £6.25

If you'd like to order any of these then please email me at sarastamper123@gmail.com.

Quick and happy cleanin' (now to tackle the housework! Ha ha)

Sara xx

Plain and simple sympathy card

This is one type of card that I don't enjoy making - I don't suppose that any of us do. If we need to send a sympathy card then it's a sad occasion. On the other hand I do want to show bereaved friends and family that we care and that we are thinking about them. One of my husband's friends just lost his father at the beginning of the week and I was quite touched when my husband asked me to make a sympathy card to give.

This did present a small problem as I don't actually have any sympathy stamps at the moment. Stampin' Up! have a several appropriate stamp sets including Always in My Thoughts and Close as a Memory, but they're still a little way down my stamp shopping list. So I had to improvise. I used the single flower from the Garden Whimsy set and coloured the stamp directly with my markers and then stamped onto Whisper White card. I inked just the Thinking of You text from Circle of Friendship (again using markers - the only way to ink something so small and detailed) and stamped that below, using my Stamp-a-ma-jig to position it correctly. I used Pale Plum for the base cardstock and matted the image onto Sage Shadow.

I just hope that I don't have need to make another one for quite a while and I hope that you don't too.

Thanks for dropping by.

Sara xx

Simple Valentine pyramid card - using free stamp set

Today I've done another simple valentine card using the Polka Dot Punches stamp set. In case you've missed it previously, this is one of four limited edition stamp sets that you can get for free, simply by spending £45 or more on any goodies from the Stampin' Up! catalogue. If you order from me within the next week or so then you will get your stamps in plenty of time to create your Valentine's card. Details of the offer are here, you can browse the catalogue to create your wish list by clicking here, then email your order to me at sarastamper123@gmail.com.

For today's card I've used Ruby Red cardstock (yet again - but I promise to use something different for the next valentine's card :-) ) and cut and scored the card used a pyramid card template. The little border on the bottom was created using the Scallop Edge punch on Whisper White card and the sentiment is from the Seasonal Wishes stamp set. By the way, there's a misprint for this set in the UK catalogue and instead of "Happy Thanksgiving" we get "Easter Wishes" - much better. 

A narrow strip of Ruby Red card also decorates the border which runs round all three sides of the card. The hearts are stamped in Ruby Red ink, cut out and mounted with dimensionals. There's plenty of space on the back/inside of the card for a personal message to your valentine.

Keep Stampin'

Sara xx

Quick Craft Tip - using punches tip no. 1 & 2

To keep your punches sharp and producing smooth punched out images, punch through kitchen foil a few times (take care not to cut yourself on the foil).

Thanks to Amanda and Hayley for this one:

If your punch jams then put it in the freezer for a while, the metal contracts and frees up the punch.

Valentine gift box to match simple valentine card

Today I've made a little gift box to match the simple valentine's card that I made earlier. Details of that card can be found by clicking here.

Ruby Red cardstock was used to create the box. I stamped directly onto the box front in Ruby Red ink with the From the Heart sentiment, one of the Seasonal Wishes stamp set. Using the heart from the Polka Dot Punches set I stamped twice onto Whisper White (also with Ruby Red ink), cut out the two hearts and layered them onto the box front with dimensionals. I decorated the top of the box with some Holiday Treasures designer series paper to echo the card. The fastening is Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon.

I love creating matching sets. Hope you like it too.

Sara xx

Card for a new baby girl using fun and fast notes stamp set

Hi all.

I didn't get time for any crafting yesterday. We had friends coming round for a meal and so I had to transform my craft room back into a dining room. Here's the "after" picture. I didn't think to take a "before" picture but I'm sure that it will be back in the usual state of crafting disarray (that's a semi-organised mess :-) ) before too long. I'm making the most of the dining room by having the in-laws round for dinner tomorrow. They thought they'd done something wrong it's been so long since had an invite, lol. 

For now I've set up a temporary craft station on the coffee table in the living room, handy for watching the tv at the same time but I can only have limited supplies out. Still, I managed to get this one crafted this afternoon.

Here I've made a card to welcome a new baby girl. I like to have various occasion cards made ready so that I can pick out what I need when I need it.

For this I used Regal Rose cardstock for the base. It's an A5 card with the front folded back on itself. I used the Happy New Baby stamp from the Fun and Fast Notes stamp set, stamped onto Whisper White card and coloured and shaded with markers. This was matted onto Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink card. The front card fold was covered with a strip of paper from the Sweet Always designer series set of papers.

I attached a charm to the top right corner using Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon. To provide a bit of balance, layout wise, I stamped the bottom left in Versamark with Sweet Little One from the Seasonal Wishes stamp set. I used two very narrow strips of Pretty in Pink card to frame the sentiment.

Thanks for dropping by.

Sara xx

Spread the cost of a full set of Stampin' Write markers and get a free stamp set

!!Please note that this offer has now expired. Email me to find out the latest offers available.!!

Want the full set (all 48) of Stampin' Write markers in a storage case but can't afford £99.95 all at once? Me too :-(

So I figured I'd offer a January Markers Club that also lets us take advantage of the marvellous Sale-a-bration and get a free stamp set at the same time - woohoo!

The Stampin' Write markers co-ordinate completely with all the Stampin' Up! range of inks and cardstock so you'll always have just the right colour to match your project.

They're double tipped; one end has a 0.5 mm fine tip and the other has a flexible brush tip, so they're ideal for journaling and colouring. The markers are acid free, xylene free and non-toxic, so safe for scrapbooking. The storage case will keep all your markers in one place and the carry handle makes it easy to take them with you to your crops and classes. It also keeps the markers horizontal so that both ends remain equally inked and ready to go. Want them? Need them?

Then here's how the club will work. Each month for the next 4 months (Jan-Apr) you will pay:

£25 plus £2 (a reduced p & p cost)

You will get:

One colour family set of markers (soft subtles set pictured above) - a different set of twelve colours each month until you have them all

... plus ...

 

January - a copy of the Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue (value £4.95)

February - a Sale-a-bration stamp set (you choose which one when you sign up)

March  - a set of techniques sheets for getting the most from your markers

April - the storage box for your marker set

To join my Marker Club email sarastamper123@googlemail.com

You won't have to pay anything other than the £25 each month for four months but if you've still got Santa's stash to spend and want to order more, then for every additional £45 you spend on goods from the catalogue in either January or February you'll qualify for another Sale-a-bration set (or hostess benefits if you spend over £150 anytime). 

You could of course just buy a different set of markers each month yourself (and I'm happy to help if you need to finish off your collection) but then you wouldn't get the storage case or the other benefits I'm offering. This is the best time to get these as I'll not be able to run the same offer after January. I need 3 more people to start this Marker Club but if we have enough interest before the end of January then I'll run additional clubs.

Not so small print - this offer is exclusive to Marker Club orders placed with me in January 2009 and is only available to UK residents.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

A Very Happy New Year

I wish you all a very healthy, wealthy and happy 2009.

In case you haven't come across it, Kristina Werner has a great blog in which she sets a weekly colour challenge. You can get to it here. I like it because it uses Stampin' Up! colours (but if you don't have them then you can just go with your nearest match). Her colours this week are these:

I don't often get time to play along fully because her posting window is quite short but I'm going to make more of an effort this year.

Here's my take on this colour challenge.

I  went with the One of a Kind stamp set to make this card. With Old Olive cardstock as my base I covered it with a couple of different designer series papers also in Old Olive. Pretty in Pink ink was used to stamp the two smallest flowers of the trio and I punched these with the Boho Blossoms punch (so much easier than cutting every individual flower). They are arranged along the join of the two papers (can be useful hiding any problems you have with the join) with the alternate flowers raised on dimensionals. I stamped the large flower with Rose Red onto Whisper White card and cut and layered that onto Pretty in Pink and then Rose Red cardstock. The central flower was secured with a Fire Circle Rhinestone brad and is also raised on dimensionals. The sentiment was stamped with Old Olive and framed with Hodge Podge (but I swapped in a couple of Old Olive brads instead of the silver ones supplied).

Wow - bling brad and Hodge Podge. I'm on a roll. Told you I'd start using my stash.

Now to link this post to the challenge ...

Keep Stampin!

Sara xx