Need some quick Christmas gift tags?

Well I spent most of the weekend shopping - along with everyone else in Sheffield I think, lol. Grocery shopping, xmas shopping, all had to be done. The weather had delayed me and now it was urgent.

And so was the gift wrapping. Because everyone is gearing up ready for the next onslaught of snow, I had some gifts that had a very quick turnaround time - in and out of the house in minutes.

If ... I'd been sensible I'd have taken crafting with me on my recent trips to get gift tags prepared ready.

If ...

but I'm not, lol, so it was quick crafting time for some gift tags:

Recipe

Stamp set: Winter Post

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White

Ink: Not Quite Navy

Punches: Ornament, Tag, Small Tag, Designer Label, 1-3/4" Circle

Other: Crop-a-dile, Silver Elastic Cord

Very quick and easy. The images were stamped in Not Quite Navy ink onto Baja Breeze card and punched out. The sentiment was stamped in Not Quite Navy ink onto Whisper White card and punched out. They were adhered together back to back (with a sandwich of Not Quite Navy card for the Tag punch shape), hole-punched with the crop-a-dile and strung with Silver Elastic Cord.

Hope that your christmas preparations are less frantic than mine :-)

Sara xx

A List for Santa or Christmas Gift Vouchers

Want to avoid getting christmas presents you'd like to return but daren't for fear of offending the giver? Want to make sure that they're the ones you'd buy for yourself given half a chance?

Then just use my Christmas Present Service. Email me for your very own List for Santa, fill it in and send it back to me, then when your nearest and dearest (or even those who aren't, but still want to give you a present) ask you for hints for what you'd like, simply give them my telephone number or email (all explained on the List for Santa). I'll let guide them through your list based on the amount they wish to spend and even gift wrap the item(s) for them. And if they're very generous or want to get together with siblings or friends and spend a lot on you (over £150) then you'll even get the hostess benefits too.

Too rushed at the moment? Don't have time to decide what you want now? Then point your friends and family towards my gift vouchers instead. These are available for any amount from £10 upwards but please note that these are my gift vouchers, not general Stampin' Up! ones and you will need to redeem them through me.

So, what could be easier for them or a better guarantee of a Happy Christmas for you. Just email me now for your List to Santa and details of my Gift Voucher services.

Scrapbooking Mini Blog Hop

Hi, welcome to our Convention Mini Blog Hop and a big welcome to any of you who may have hopped here from FrenchieJo. This is a very mini hop I promise you. No matter how busy you may be on this Sunday on the run up to Christmas, I think you'll have time to go round the blogs involved lol, it's only three - Joanne's (my SU upline), Jan's (my SU downline) and mine (they go round in a circle so it doesn't matter where you start and finish).

We had such a fabulous time at Convention that while we were there and having our piccie taken (a rare occurrence certainly for me and Jan), we agreed to create a scrapbook page each. There was no conferring, no planning of colours, just that we'd all use a similar pic of the three of us on the Convention main stage and see how differently they turned out.

Here's my take:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Love What you Do (limited edition), I {Heart} Hearts, Monogram Sweet Alphabet

Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Old Olive, Real Red, SU Markers

DSP: Subtles Patterns Stack

Punches: Scallop Trim Corner, Scallop Trim Border, Full Heart, Small Heart

Other: Clear Mount Block

Who says a scrapbook page has to be square? That's what I love about scrapbooking - anything goes, and I decided to use an A4 page here. I matted the photo on some Old Olive and Perfect Plum card and adhered it direct to the upper right corner of an A4 sheet of Certainly Celery card. I then stamped the word "Convention" around it using a technique that we learned while we were there - rolling a clear mount block (no stamp, just the block) in Old Olive ink and "stamping" it out. The letters were then stamped in the middle of each square, also with Old Olive and the year was journalled in with a Marker. Another frame was added using the text DSP in Perfect Plum, matted onto a Scallop Trim border of more Perfect Plum card. While at Convention we had a chance to buy an exclusive stamp called Love What You Do, which mirrors the sentiment in the background of the photo. I used SU Markers direct to stamp for stamping it onto Whisper White card before matting it onto Perfect Plum card and adding it to the frame. The Friends and Love sentiments were stamped in Real Red ink onto Whisper White card before punching out with the respective Heart punches and popping up on dimensionals.

A sweet little reminder of our fun time at Convention together.

I'll pass you on now to Jan, who'll share her page which includes a lovely pocket full of Convention goodies.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Sara xx

No layers technique challenge - take 2

You may remember that our technique challenge this month over at In Love With Stamping is to create a no layers card and I had a second go at this challenge.

Recipe

Stamp sets: Tree Trimmings, Music Notes

Cardstock: Crumb Cake

Ink: Crumb Cake, Versamark

Other: Gold EP

The card blank is A6 portrait in Crumb Cake. I stamped the baubles from the Tree Trimmings set with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Gold EP, masking the two outer ones before stamping the inner. (The adhesive from the sticky note mask tarnished the Gold embossing a little but reheating shines it up again). The edges of the card front were then masked off and the Music Notes wheel was rolled across using Crumb Cake ink.

Recipe

Stamp sets: Tree Trimmings, Music Notes

Cardstock: Very Vanilla

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Versamark

Other: Gold EP

For this version I masked the card edges first and wheeled the Music Notes across the Very Vanilla card blank with Cherry Cobbler ink. The baubles were then stamped and heat embossed over the top of the wheeled stamping.

You get a slightly different look with each version, not just because of the colours but due to the intensity of the stamping, depending on which image is laid down first.

I think I prefer the Crumb Cake version even though it doesn't seem to show up so well in the photo.

What do you think?

Sara xx

Silver snowflakes for Sketch Saturday

Brrr! It's cold out there isn't it? So lovely to be tucked up warm and cosy in front of the fire. Better still, I had a bit of time for crafting yesterday and had everything to hand, so I had a go at this sketch challenge from over at Sketch Saturday:

I went with one of my favourite colour combos and used a new wheel that I hadn't had chance to play with yet because of all my travels. Just had to wait then for today to have enough light to photograph it :-)

Recipe

Stamp sets: Lovely as a Tree, Season of Joy, Music Notes

Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black, Versamark

Punches: Scallop Oval, Large Oval, Boho Blossoms

Other: Silver EP, Basic Rhinestones

Non-SU: Silver Cardstock, Die cuts

The card base is a 5" square of Real Red, matted with Basic Black and more Real Red. I wheeled the Music Notes across Whisper White card using Basic Black ink, three times and trimmed to strips to fit the card front. The tree, snowflakes and sentiment were stamped in Versamark onto Basic Black card and heat embossed with Silver EP. The tree was die cut and matted onto silver card, also die cut, then popped up on dimensionals on the left of the card front. After punching the sentiment out with the Large Oval it was matted direct to a Scallop Oval of silver card and popped up on dimensionals in the top right corner. The snowflakes (the centre of the snowflake in a circle stamp from Season of Joy) were punched out with the middle flower of the Boho Blossoms punch, popped up on dimensionals and finished with a tiny Rhinestone in the centre of each.

Keep warm.

Sara xx

An easel card for the colour challenge at ILWS

Our colour challenge this month over at In Love With Stamping is to use:

Tempting Turquoise, Real Red and Old Olive

I opted to keep my Tempting Turquoise as an accent for this card:

Recipe

Stamp set: Season of Joy

Cardstock: Real Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla

Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Versamarker

Simply Scrappin' Kit: Christmas Jingle

Punch: 1-1/4" Circle, Boho Blossoms

Other: Heat and Stick Powder, Fine Cosmo Glitter, Silver Elastic Cord

The card blank is an A6 portrait easel card (so a normal portrait card with a fold line scored halfway down the card front). A layer of DSP from the Simply Scrappin' Kit was adhered to a layer of Old Olive and a 1-1/4" Circle punched from the upper right hand corner. The snowflake from the Season of Joy stamp set was coloured direct to stamp with the Versamarker, stamped onto Very Vanilla card, covered with Heat and Stick powder and heat embossed. Turquoise glitter from the Fine Cosmo set was added to the sticky image and heated gently to set. This was punched out with the largest flower from the Boho Blossoms. A second flower was punched from Very Vanilla card and a thread of Silver Elastic Cord was sandwiched between the two with a dimensional. An Old Olive Scallop Circle sticker from the Kit had a 1-1/4" Circle punched from the centre and was then adhered over the aperture to secure the snowflake in place. The whole front panel was adhered direct to the bottom half of the card front. The tree was stamped in Old Olive ink onto Very Vanilla card and cut out. The flourishes were traced with the fine nozzle of the Tombow glue and Turquoise glitter added. The tree was popped up on the card front with dimensionals. A Very Vanilla insert was added to the inside and the sentiment stamped in Real Red ink in the bottom right corner. A stopper bar for the easel card was made by adding a strip of card ribbon from the Kit, popped up on dimensionals.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Sara xx

Santa Claus tree ornament

One of our challenges this month over at In Love With Stamping is to create an Ornament. This little triangle ornament uses just 1/4 of a sheet of A4 card plus a few punched scraps. It will only hold a few small sweets but then it's light enough to hang on the tree.

I got the idea from Brenda over at Qbee's Quest and adapted it for the punches that we have in the UK catalogue and to fit the dinky triangle box.

Recipe

Cardstock: Real Red, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Basic Black

Ink: White Signo Gel Pen

Punches: Scallop Circle, Ornament, Word Window, 1/2" Circle, 1/4" Circle (or Crop-a-dile), Boho Blossoms

Other: Gold Elastic Cord

The triangle box base is made with a piece of Real Red cardstock approx 7.5cm x 21cm. Score and fold it in half along the long edge, then mark the centre of each short edge and score from that point to the outer edge of the original scoreline as shown in the following diagram.

Fold in half along the centre line and then fold A to cover C and B to cover D. Punch a small hole in the centre overlap of A and C, repeat in the centre overlap of B and D and thread with Gold Elastic Cord. Fill with sweets and tie as shown here.

Santa's face is punched from Pink Pirouette card with the Ornament and the top snipped off. His beard is a Scallop Circle of Whisper White card folded in half and his nose is a 1/2" Circle of Pink Pirouette cut in half. His eyes are 1/2" Circles of Whisper White with 1/4" Circles of Basic Black on top. A White Signo gel pen has been used to give a highlight to the pupil. His hat brim is the Word Window punched from Whisper White card. The pompom on his hat is the smallest of the Boho Blossoms punched from Whisper White card.

The folded beard allows space to add the intended recipients name.

Hope you like it.

Sara xx

Some little rays of christmas cheer

Yay! I've made it home. Set off from Plymouth this morning and it was cold but clear, then it's got whiter and whiter and then the snow deeper and deeper, the nearer I got to home. DH picked me up at Meadowhall and now I'm warm and cosy again and really don't care too much if I get stuck now. At least I'd be stuck in the right place - with DH and Bess.

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments on yesterday's video. I feel encouraged to make more of them in the future so watch this space.

For today, I have another card. Our sketch challenge this month over at In Love With Stamping is this:

I squared the design off a little to create this:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Medallion, Perfect Punches, Tiny Tags

Cardstock: Basic Black, Real Red

Ink: Versamark

Punches: 1-3/4" Circle, 1-3/8" Circle, Jewelry Tag

Satin Ribbon: Real Red

3mm Taffeta Ribbon: Basic Black

Other: Silver EP, Black EP, Silver Brad

The card blank is a 5" square of Basic Black. The Medallion was stamped with Versamark on Basic Black card and then heat embossed with Silver EP. It's easier to stamp onto a bigger square of Black and then trim it to position the Medallion exactly where you want it. This square was cut diagonally into three sections and adhered direct to a square of Real Red card. Sticky Strip was laid across the top left corner and Real Red Satin Ribbon ruffled across the Sticky Strip. The Merry sentiment from the Tiny Tags stamp set was stamped in Versamark onto Real Red card, heat embossed with Black EP then punched out with the Jewelry Tag. This was secured to some 3mm Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon with a Silver Brad and then wrapped over the ruffled ribbon. These layers were adhered direct to the card blank. The Joy at Christmas sentiment from the Perfect Punches stamp set was stamped in Versamark on Real Red card and heat embossed with Black EP. The centre of the sentiment was punched out with the 1-3/8" Circle. This was popped up on dimensionals on Basic Black card punched with the 1-3/4" Circle and then popped on more dimensionals in the centre of the Medallion.

This is for a female friend whose favourite colour combo is black, red and silver but I think it would work equally well as a man's christmas card.

Look forward to seeing your take on these challenges in the ILWS gallery.

Have a safe and warm weekend.

Sara xx

An origami ornament for the tree

My upline Joanne showed me how to make this cute little origami wreath. It was one of her swaps at our recent Stampin' Up Convention and I've used it for this month's In Love With Stamping challenge to create an ornament.

Here's a video showing how I made it:

And a slightly different colour combo:

Recipe

DSP: Paper Pack - In Color (hostess level 1)

Narrow Taffeta Ribbon: Rich Razzleberry

Other: Gold Brad, Gold Elastic Cord

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

A no layers card for the ILWS technique challenge

Our technique challenge this month over at In Love With Stamping is to create a no layers card. I did find this one quite a toughie because I always have layers and the more time I have for crafting a card the more layers there are likely to be. It's always good to push outside your comfort zone though and I decided that as I couldn't have layers I'd try adding a bit of texture instead:

Recipe

Stamp set: Season of Joy

Cardstock: Crumb Cake

Ink: Craft White

Other: Basic Rhinestones

The tree and sentiment were stamped onto the Crumb Cake A6 landscape card blank in Craft White ink (I tend to get a more intense white with the Craft than the Stazon). The edges of the card were also brushed with the Craft White inkpad and the card left overnight to dry (or you could use a heat tool to set). I then used my Paper Cutter and bone folder to add the score lines (marking in pencil on the reverse where they needed to start and finish and then erasing afterwards). A Basic Rhinestone was added to the tree just because I like a bit of bling.

I also did a version using Old Olive ink (everything else was the same) but I prefer the white.

Which version do you prefer?

Sara xx