A dinky christmas cracker for the tree or place setting

For my second take on the ILWS challenge of gift packaging, I've made a little christmas cracker that uses the tutorial that I published last year here. These are great filling with small treats for hanging on the tree or for table gifts, you could even decorate them with an image on one side and the person's name on the other to turn it into a place setting and gift in one.

Recipe

Stamp set: Sparkly and Bright

Cardstock: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Real Red

DSP: Jolly Holiday

Punches: Scallop Oval, Large Oval, 1/2" Circle

Other: Dazzling Diamonds

Following the tutorial I cut, scored and punched in Real Red cardstock. (I actually should have used Cherry Cobbler - I forgot that the Jolly Holiday includes Cherry Cobbler rather than Real Red but with small strips of DSP it's not too noticeable). Before assembling I added the DSP strips, adhering around each fold line to ensure there was enough extra give in the DSP. Santa was stamped in Real Red ink onto Whisper White card and punched with the Large Oval. He was adhered direct to an Old Olive Scallop Oval and popped up on dimensionals on one long edge of the twist box. With the decorations added I used sticky strip to stick the box together along the long edge and after filling, twisted open the ends of the box. Finally I added a little Dazzling Diamonds to the bobble of Santa's hat.

Have a great bonfire night and keep safe.

Sara xx

Faux tearing technique for a simple thank you

This is my second take on the faux tearing technique for the ILWS challenge.

Recipe

Stamp set: Fresh Cuts

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Soft Suede

Ink: Melon Mambo, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand

The card blank is a 4" square of Pink Pirouette, this was matted direct with a layer of Soft Suede. I next tore a piece out of a sticky note large enough to accommodate the sentiment, keeping both pieces of the torn sticky. Using the small sentiment piece of torn sticky as my mask I stamped the main Fresh Cuts image in Melon Mambo on a square of Pink Pirouette (using the stamp-a-ma-jig for placement). I removed the small mask and put the large mask in place over the just stamped image. Using my colour spritzer I spritzed with some Crumb Cake, Soft Suede and Sahara Sand and then added the sentiment over the top in Early Espresso. After removing the large mask, Early Espresso was sponged very lightly around all edges and the layer adhered direct to the card front.

Sara xx

Faux tearing technique for the ILWS challenge

Our technique challenge this month over at In Love With Stamping is:

faux tearing

and I've used it as a main element in this christmas card:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Sparkly and Bright, Sparkling

Cardstock: Marina Mist, Night of Navy, Whisper White

Ink: Marina Mist, Whisper White Craft, Garden Green, Real Red, Early Espresso, Versamark

Punch: Scallop Oval

Other: White EP, Fine Galaxy Glitter, Dazzling Diamonds

The card blank is Marina Mist A6 landscape and was matted direct with a layer of Night of Navy. I tore a couple of sticky notes and used them to mask the Whisper White layer before brayering with Marina Mist ink. Keeping the mask in place I then used the Sparkling wheel with Whisper White Craft ink to wheel across the brayered area. After removing the mask I used a glue pen to draw along the "snowline", create snowmounds and dot all the snowflakes, then added Dazzling Diamonds. This scene was adhered direct to the card front. The christmas tree, Santa and Rudolph were stamped out with Garden Green, Real Red and Early Espresso respectively onto Whisper White card and then were cut out. Glitter was added to the top of the tree, Santa's hat and Rudolph's nose and they were all popped up on dimensionals in the scene. The sentiment was stamped in Versamark onto Night of Navy card and heat embossed with White EP before punching out with the Scallop Oval and popping up on dimensionals on the card front.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

Christmas Bundle offer

Gift yourself an early christmas present courtesy of Stampin' Up!

Order one of our special Christmas bundles and get a reel of ribbon free!

Choose from these great bundles:

Description	Wood-Mount Item	Wood-Mount Price	Clear-Mount Item	Clear-Mount	Price
Gifted Bundle	Gifted Set and Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper	124051	£35.70	124052	£30.70
Welcome Christmas Bundle	Welcome Christmas Set and Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper	124063	£36.90	124064	£31.90
Season of Joy Bundle	Season of Joy Set and So Swirly Stampin’ Around Wheel	124055	£36.45	---	---
Delightful Decorations Bundle	Delightful Decorations Set and Ornament Punch	124058	£37.45	---	---

* Please note that the bundles and ribbons are available 1 Nov - 29 Dec or while supplies last.

Choose from these ribbons:

Picture	Description	Item	Retail Value
	Mistletoe Ribbon Originals	116792	£11.50
	Sleigh Bells Ribbon	116795	£8.50
	Riding Hood Red 1-1/4” Striped Grosgrain Ribbon	113099	£10.25
	Real Red 3/4” Polka-Dot Grosgrain Ribbon	115608	£10.25

Please email me to order.

An origami box trimmed up for Christmas

One of our challenges this month at ILWS is gift packaging. This can be boxes, bags, stamped wrapping paper, ribbon or paper bows to decorate packages with ... the possibility is endless.

I've created a reasonable size box

Recipe

Stamp set: Winter Post

Cardstock: Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla

Ink: Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Versamark

DSP: Elegant Soiree, Subtles Patterns Stack

Punches: Scallop Trim Corner, Scallop Trim Border, Designer Label, Scallop Circle, 1-3/8" Circle

Other: Heat and Stick Powder, Fine Cosmo Glitter, Dazzling Diamonds

The box base and lid are made with DSP using origami, the instructions are on Splitcoaststampers here. Strips of the waste DSP from the box base were adhered around the centre of the box lid. The skaters from the Winter Post stamp set were coloured direct to stamp with Baja Breeze and Soft Suede markers and stamped out onto Very Vanilla card. The image was sponged around the edges with Soft Suede, a very thin line of Tombow applied, then Dazzling Diamonds. The image was popped up on dimensionals on a mat of Baja Breeze and then one of Soft Suede (3-13/16" square) punched with the Scallop Trim Corner and Border. These were popped up on dimensionals on the box lid. The Do Not Open sentiment was

stamped twice in both Soft Suede and Baja Breeze on Very Vanilla card. The Baja layers were punched with the Designer Label. The Soft Suede layers were trimmed right up to the inner sentiment and popped up on dimensionals onto the full images. These were popped up on dimensionals on either side of the box lid. The snowflake was stamped twice with Versamark onto Baja Breeze card, heat embossed with Heat and Stick powder, Light Blue glitter added and then heated again lightly to set. They were punched with the 1-3/8" Circle and popped up on Scallop Circles punched from Soft Suede. These were added to the remaining sides of the box lid, also popped up on dimensionals.

The box lid was made with a sheet of the Subtles Patterns stack of DSP simply because I've already used up all the rest of the pack of Elegant Soiree (got another on the way courtesy of the man in brown, lol).

Here's the box lid in close up:

And the box sides:

Hope to see your work in the gallery soon.

Sara xx

ILWS colour challenge representing fireworks

A new month and so a new set of challenges. Our colour challenge over at In Love With Stamping this month represents fireworks:

Black, red, orange and yellow

Although I've used a couple of stamps for this card they only provide a very subtle effect and it could just as easily have been made with only punches.

Recipe

Stamp set: Delightful Decorations, Punch Potpourri (Level 1 hostess)

Cardstock: Basic Black, Real Red, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White

Ink: Real Red, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight

Punches: Scallop Trim Corner, Ornament, Boho Blossoms

The card blank is a 5" square of Basic Black. A mat of Daffodil Delight was adhered direct and then another layer of Basic Black was punched on all four corners with the Scallop Trim Corner and adhered direct. I stamped the spotted ornament from the Delightful Decorations set onto Whisper White card with Real Red ink, punched with the Ornament and then cut the point from the bottom of the bauble to make the vase. This was adhered direct. The flowers from the Punch Potpourri were stamped in the corresponding ink onto Real Red, Tangerine Tango and Daffodil Delight card and punched with the Boho Blossoms. Each of the flowers was popped up on a dimensional and arranged in a firework burst around the top of the vase.

So you see - Delightful Decorations and the Ornament punch aren't just for christmas!

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

A little black magic for Halloween

No, it's not really a Halloween card but I thought the black magic technique made quite a good tie in to the occasion, especially as I don't have any more Halloween items to show you at the moment. Must add making up the trick or treat bags to my ever expanding to do list today.

This is based on a card that I made for swaps when my upline and downline came round a few weeks ago. As I was dashing around at the last minute (no change there then lol) I made their cards but didn't get around to finishing mine until this morning. Mine's slightly different as I didn't think about the clear embossing until later.

Recipe

Stamp set: Ornate Flowers

Cardstock: Basic Black, Rose Red, Regal Rose

Ink: Whisper White Craft, Versamark, Watercolour Pencils

Punches: Scallop Trim Corner, Scallop Trim Border

Other: Clear EP

The A6 portrait card blank of Basic Black was stamped with thistle stamp in Versamark and then heat embossed with Clear EP.The frondy flower was stamped in Whisper White Craft ink on Basic Black card and left to dry (or you can use your heat tool to dry if you can't wait). This provides a base which you can then colour on with the Watercolour Pencils - and have them show up. If you colour direct to the Basic Black card, you'll hardly see it. I used two different shades of the two colours to provide a more 3d effect. You simply colour over the white image with your pencils (this is the black magic technique). This image was matted direct to Regal Rose card and then popped up on dimensionals on another mat of Rose Red card (3-13/16" x 2-7/8") that had been punched with the Scallop Trim Corner and Border punches. The whole was popped up on dimensionals on the card front.

Enjoy your weekend and have a Happy Halloween tomorrow.

Sara xx

Sparkly gems for my sparkly gems

Today's card is one that we made for a make and take at a recent workshop. Make and takes aren't always this involved, but this is a group that have had a lot of workshops with me and I wanted to do them something a little special for a christmas project. To make it even more special, we used the gorgeous gems that are now available in packs with 50 small, 50 medium, 50 large and 3 strips - either rhinestones or pearls.

Recipe

Stamp set: Delightful Decorations

Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Pacific Point

Ink: Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Pacific Point

Punches: Scallop Edge, Ornament, Modern Label, 3/4" Circle

Other: Basic Rhinestones

The card blank is A6 landscape in Bashful Blue. A panel of Whisper White was background stamped with two small stamps from the set in Bashful Blue and Marina Mist inks. This was matted onto a narrow strip of Pacific Point card at the top and another narrow strip of Pacific Point card, punched with the Scallop Edge, at the bottom. This was adhered direct to the card front. The Joy ornament was stamped twice in Marina Mist onto Whisper White card and punched with the Ornament. These were adhered direct to the stamped panel at either end. The snowflake ornament was stamped three times in Pacific Point ink onto Whisper White card and punched again with the Ornament. These were each folded down the centre and adhered half, to half, to half to create a 3d bauble and popped up on dimensionals in the centre of the panel. The small sentiment from the set was stamped in Pacific Point ink onto Whisper White card, punched with the 3/4" Circle and popped up on Pacific Point card punched with the Modern Label. These layers were popped up on dimensionals on the card front, centre bottom. Finally medium rhinestones were added to the Joy ornaments and a small rhinestone to the sentiment.

All the ladies managed their own beautiful copies of this quite easily - you truly are my sparkly gems girls!

Sara xx

Last minute spot in my Stampers 6 Club

Hi all

I just wanted to let you know that there's an opportunity to grab a last minute spot in my Stampers 6 Club. A lady who was interested, can't go ahead with her place after all and we're just about to run our first virtual workshop. The details for the Club are here.

The main points are that the Club runs for 6 months and members agree to place a minimum order of £25 per month plus p&p. In return you'll get a minimum level 1 stamp set, £15 worth of free spend in the catalogue and other benefits besides.

If you're interested please email as soon as possible as I'll need your order this weekend.

Sara xx

Shabby tres chic with love

Another "shabby" card for you today. I would never have dreamed of tearing my card and distressing it like this a year ago and yet I really enjoy these techniques and love the different look you get. I guess it's good to step outside your comfort zone now and again. What do you think?

Recipe

Stamp set: Artistic Etchings

Cardstock: Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla

Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Old Olive

DSP: Tangerine Tango

Striped Grosgrain Ribbon: Old Olive

Other: Early Espresso Brads, Cutter Kit, Colour Spritzer Tool

I started with an A6 portrait card blank of Cajun Craze and matted it with layers of Tangerine Tango DSP (sponged lightly around the edges with Cajun Craze ink) and Early Espresso cardstock. The medallion stamp was inked with Baja Breeze, stamped off once onto scrap and then stamped onto Very Vanilla card for a more faded look. Using Early Espresso ink the Eiffel Tower was stamped to one side of the medallion and then the sentiment stamped over in Old Olive. This front layer was torn across the bottom, distressed around the edges with the Cutter Kit and Early Espresso ink then spritzed with Early Espresso and Crumb Cake markers. I'm loving this new colour spritzer tool (and can't wait for my distressing essentials kit to arrive later this week, heehee)! The whole layer was adhered to a layer of Baha Breeze that was also torn across the bottom and distressed around the edges. Early Espresso brads were added bottom left and a fold of striped ribbon behind the layers bottom right before popping up on dimensionals on the card front.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx