So I have been using up some of my retired products to make this cute picnic basket. I wanted to have a go at making something that’s a fair size to put goodies in. I found this pattern on The Scrap Chick website. I think I paid about $3 for it but it’s totally worth it.

I carried on the daisy theme on the tag and used one of the stamps from one of my favourite retiring sets (quick heads up, there will be a clearance rack on Tuesday of this week so keep checking my shop for more deals on retiring products)I also used an embossing folder to carry the wicker basket theme through.

I added a touch of yellow to the edges of the daisies and put another retired product in the middle. It was quite lucky as I had 8 inner bits left and 6 flowers fitted perfectly on each lid!

Both sides open like a typical picnic basket and I can fit a substantial amount of goodies inside, Summer makes excellent cupcakes so I may pop a couple of those in with some sandwiches and take them over to my mother in laws for afternoon tea next week.

I’m really pleased with how it turned out and it was super quick and easy to put together. I wanted to keep the decoration simple on the outside and I thought the daisies were quite springlike. Sometimes I feel I can over decorate things as there are so many lovely products to use it’s always tempting to use them all so today I was quite restrained!

What do you think? I would be happy to make a video showing how I put it together if there are enough requests.

I’ve had such a lovely weekend with Thalia being home. It’s been great to catch up and have a good old chinwag whilst walking the dogs. She goes back home tomorrow and has only 4 shifts left on this placement then she needs to write her dissertation and has one more placement to go and then she will be a qualified nurse!

Summer has been locked in her room all weekend doing her brush up course for her upcoming exams. She has been doing meteorology and keeps coming downstairs and explaining the cloud formats to us.

I’m now off to make fajitas as that’s the dinner request.

Until next time

After the very sad announcement from Buckingham Palace this lunchtime I thought I would make a card for Her Majesty. It’s not every day you make a card for the Queen so I wanted it to be something special. I wanted to incorporate a poppy in recognition of the Duke of Edinburghs service.

I added some black ink splatter to soften the brightness of the poppy. Having a husband in the Diplomatic Service I am a strong supporter of our Royal Family and the girls and I were lucky enough to meet Prince William when he came out to Beijing in 2014. He actually spoke to us and stood next to me for the Embassy photo. He was so lovely and down to earth.

It’s never easy making and sending sympathy cards but Stampin Up products are so well coordinated that it actually makes it quite easy.

I have also been making a picnic box and I am in the process of decorating it. I might have it ready tomorrow but I am enjoying spending time with Thalia before she goes back up to York on Sunday. It’s so lovely having her home and the dogs went crazy.

Until next time

Product List

Alongside my love of card making I have an equal love of scrapbooking. I have made scrapbooks in various shapes and sizes for over 20 years, telling the story of our lives together as a family. It was my eldest daughters 21st birthday last year and I gave her her scrapbooks and it was quite an emotional time looking back over her childhood and remembering things we had forgotten and bits she never really knew. Scrapbooking is an excellent medium for this and something that doesn’t need to take ages to complete.

The first page above is part of a two pag layout using Stampin Up products to tell a story. We lived in Beijing for 4 years and whilst we were there we were very lucky to go on some amazing holidays. Our final holiday before we moved back to the UK was in Sipadan in Malaysia. It is a small island that is only accessible with a permit to dive. We dived with sharks, turtles and massive shoals of fish with a rainbow of colours. On this page I have written the memories onto vellum so that you can still see the paper below.

The second page is really just photos added, I wrote on the top photo as every time we went on the dive boat we had a specific saying which is what scrapbooking is all about, those little snippets of time. Looking at these pages instantly transports me back to what was a wonderful holiday and an amazing experience.

I will be back in with some different kinds of scrapbooking soon, designed especially for people who struggle with a large 12×12 piece of plain cardstock. I will also be running some scrapbooking classes on line if anyone is interested.

Until next time

Product List

Hello my lovely people. Well, I’ve frozen, done my rowing workout in our home gym with the dogs joining me covered in snow then today it’s bright sunshine but very chilly. I was going to go flying with Summer this afternoon but the wind is not playing fair!

To keep busy I’ve been back out in the craft room and I wanted to use some more of the the flowers I cut out the other day. I decided to create an acetate window in my card and the surround it with some flowers and butterflies. This card is very easy to make but looks like you spent a lot of time on it.

It gives the appearance that the butterfly is hovering in mid air along with the sentiment. I stamped some flowers as a background onto the card base and then went to town. Sometimes it’s hard knowing when enough is enough, I must have spent 20 minutes deciding which flowers and where to put them.

All in all I am quite happy with the placement and I will be making some more cards using acetate over the coming days as I had forgotten how effective it is. I also try and use the acetate from packaging on my cards so I like to think I’m helping the environment just a bit.

RIght, I have to go and change the sheets in Thalias bedroom as she is returning home for a few days. It will be the first time I have seen her since Christmas as she was working on a Covid ward. I am so very proud of her so I fear she may be a bit spoilt over the days she is home.

Why not have a go at making an acetate card? Just find some old plastic packaging and glue away to your hearts content.

Until next time

Product List

So unfortunately today is not as warm as yesterday but that means I can spend time in the craft room instead of sunbathing! I have three doggie helpers today. Our other dog is outside scaring the birds off my newly sown grass seed (hopefully).

Anyway, back to the cards. I have the butterfly brilliance stamp and die set, I also have the patterned paper but that proved to be very successful and is now sold out. I love butterflies and over the years Stampin up have produced lots of different butterfly sets but this is my favourite! You can stamp the details of the butterfly and then you can cut out the outline and the detail. I’ve created three cards today using this set but they are all very different. The top one used the die from the simply succulents bundle as I had a spare one from the other day. I used two of the butterflies and then cut out the detailed part in vellum. I also sprayed the vellum with some frost white shimmer paint. This paint is now being retired so if you want some you need to grab it quick.

On the card above I used a piece of the patterned paper and punched two of the corners with the detailed trio punch – I love this punch as it’s really useful. I then cut out the butterfly and the detailed part with vellum and added some wink of stellar to the vellum this time. A very quick card to make but still lovely.

For my final card I stamped the butterflies onto vellum and embossed them with bronze embossing powder. I then stick this on top of the patterned paper and added a birthday sentiment.

So, as you can see, three very different cards using the same set and I’ve only really touched the surface. I am sure I will enjoy playing with this set until all my preordered goodies arrive from the new catalogue. I will try and remember to do an unboxing video so you can see what beautiful delights will be available in the new catalogue.

I now need to go and rescue my youngest from her ATPL (airline transport pilots licence) studying. She has her next lot of exams at the end of the month and she’s now entering the panic phase of her studies. I like to take her a nice lunch and have a chat to check she’s ok. She took me flying in a PA28 the other day and we did a low approach over Birmingham airport

• 

• 

• 

She’s only 19 and loves flying. It was quite surreal flying over the airport and seeing all the planes on the ground. We then flew over our house and waved at Mark and the dogs.

I hope you’re having a great day and until next time

Product List

I love everything about Stampin Up, I love being part of a team and helping people to create beautiful things. I have people who like to make cards, gift wrapping and boxes and I also have people who love to scrapbook and create amazing memories. When I first became a demonstrator I just wanted to save money on my stamps and supplies. I wasn’t confident enough to host parties or “demonstrate” to people. Over time I shared the things I had made with friends and family and they asked me to show them how I had made them, this led to them buying supplies from me and then led on to some of them becoming demonstrators in my team.

I never pressurise anyone to sell anything, the Stampin Up products really sell themselves. They are designed to coordinate across the range and they are competitively priced. Everything is delivered straight to your door.

I have been a demonstrator for over 10 years and I still enjoy sharing my projects and making cards for friends and family and for total strangers. I joined when a new catalogue came out and as we are about to welcome out new annual catalogue I thought it would be a good time to recruit some more team members.

As your Stampin Up mum I will be supporting you through your journey, as a team we have team challenges, coffee and card meets on zoom and in person when we can, we share design ideas and our love of the products.

If you would like to earn an income from crafting then Stampin Up is definitely the way to go. You can choose £130 worth of product for just £99 and as there is a new catalogue coming out you can choose your products from there. We also offer free delivery!

I am always available to chat about Stampin Up and if you would have any questions then please message me. You don’t have to do anything you are not comfortable with and if you like crafting and want to save money on your supplies then give me a call.

Below is an example of a typical starter kit to give you and idea of what you could get for your money but the choice is yours 🙂

Until next time

As soon as I saw this set in the mini catalogue I thought they would make a good floating frame card. There are 25 dies in the set and 21 stamps and if you buy them now you can still get them as a bundle with 10% off.

This is the piece I cut out of the middle of the top piece so with this technique you get two cards for the price of one! I spent a happy hour cutting out the dies in a range of colours so I have loads spare to make more cards with which I will show on my blog over the coming days.

What do you think?

Now the rules in England have changed and we can have 6 people in the garden I will be meeting up for a coffee with my friend Debbie to discuss the beautiful new catalogue. I will be able to preorder some of the goodies to show you before the official launch in May. If you would like a copy of the new catalogue sending through the post, please send me an email with your address and as soon as we are allowed to send one out to you I will.

Until next time

Product List

I got to see the new catalogue yesterday and I spent 3 hours going through it and seeing all the beautiful new “stash” that will become available in May (or earlier if you join my team)

Thankfully the stamp sets I have used in todays cards are both staying in the catalogue. This beautiful background die is from the Simply Succulents bundle and it just makes a really quick card that looks like it took ages to make. I added some of the flowers I had left over from the cards I made the other day and then gold embossed the sentiment to tie in with the gold die cut.

For this card I kept some of the die cut pieces in once I had run it through my cut and emboss machine. I used the ombré card from the mini catalogue and that was it – super quick but I think it looks really nice.

And of course I had to create another shaker card using this die cut. I left some of the pieces in again and then used the pieces I had saved from the die cuts to use as as the shaker element.

Lots of gold today, something which I don’t use very often but I think it’s always good to try new things. If you haven’t seen my previous post go and check it out, the retiring products from the catalogues are now on sale on a first come first served basis so click on my shop now button and grab yourself some bargains.

Until next time

The new catalogue has been shown to demonstrators today and oh my goodness we are all in for a treat! Unfortunately non demonstrators have to wait until the 4th of May to see it. Because the new catalogue is on its way there is a sale on all retiring products. If you click on my Shop Now button to the right of the screen it will take you directly to the sale. Best be quick though as it’s a last chance sale and when they’re gone, they’re gone. Of course, if you are considering becoming.a demonstrator and would like to join my team, you can start your Stampin Up journey with lots of the amazing new products, just click on the Join My Team button on the right.

Over the past couple of days I have been playing with the All Things Fabulous bundle. It’s a three step stamp set that allows you to create beautiful depth in your flowers by stamping 3 separate stamps individually. The stamparatus makes this an absolute doddle but it’s easily done by using stamping blocks as the images are photopolymer and therefore clear to see through.

This first card has a strip of the gold gilding flakes that I put onto double sided tape and then I layered a piece of the Designer Series Paper from the Hydrangea Hill suite. I stamped the flowers and then cut the sentiment from the So Sentimental Bundle. I splattered some of the Champagne Mist shimmer paint onto the white background to soften it.

I added a few gold gems and voila! Card number one was done.

I lived in China for 4 years recently and had a Japanese friend over there what taught me two things; how to make the best sushi and origami. She was far superior to me and most of the birds that I created looked like they were very poorly :). She showed me how to make this bag and I found the instructions the other day so I gave it a go.

I love how it looks kind of “tucked in” and it’s made with one sheet of 12×12 paper and it’s actually very easy. I added the same die cut to the top as a fastener and then added some gems to give it a bit of bling.

This final card is my favourite. I cut some white strips and stuck them to the card base and then used the same elements as before to create the card. I love the sentiments in this stamp set and the dies are really useful as they come with rectangles as well as shaped dies.

I have used some of the gold elements from the Forever Gold Laser Cut Speciality Paper as accents on this card but I used clear embossing powder on the blank inked sentiment to give it a more raised look.

Anyway, let me know what you think. It’s just started drizzling here so I am going to stay in my craft room and see what I come up with.

Until next time

Product List