Stampin' Up! Christmas Punch Art

We're off out shortly to celebrate Chris' birthday with our lovely friends at The Swan Hotel in Thame.

If you haven't been there since it re-opened and had it's wonderful make-over you have to give it a try! The steaks are simply devine!

This card is one I essentially copied from a commercially bought card. Which goes to show how professional you can make things with Stampin' Up! products. I asked a few people to compare the two and they couldn't decide if they were both my creations!

I used all three colours of the gorgeous Glimmer Paper - two of the Circle punches for the moon, the Star and Trees are from Merry Minis - the doors are from the Word Window, the houses and rooves were punched from the same square punch and the sentiment is from Greetings of the Season.

Great fun isn't it. I really enjoyed this one!

I'm also finalising my last order of the year and will be placing it on Friday morning so let me know by 9am Friday if you need anything added.

Pxx

December arrives...

Well here we are, nearly another year over and only 24 days until Christmas. I have had a very busy week revising for my practitioners certificate in Data Protection. I have an exam next Friday and am really nervous.

The depressing thing is, I am so focused on passing my exam, and all the revision that goes with it that I just haven't even thought about crafting. I felt even more depressed when I went to Next today and couldn't fit in a size 12 any more! M&S here I come... hopefully their sizing is more generous!

I thought I would share a card I made a couple of weeks ago... before Data Protection took over my life!

Here I have used the Snow Swirled Stamp Set. Heat embossed the tree with Wild Wasabi embossing powder then punched a star out of Silver Glimmer Paper with the Merry Mini Star Punch.

The sentiment was punched out of Whisper White using the Decorative Label Punch, I then punched the same shape out of Red Glimmer Paper and 'framed' the sentiment. You can see it more clearly below.

 There will be a few more Christmassy offerings in the coming weeks. But please order early for Christmas. Orders will be being taken up to and including the 16th December!

Hope you are enjoying the cold crispy weather!

Paula xx

Stampin' Up! Poinsettia

I am so proud of myself! I always question my own abilities as a crafter as I really struggle to be creative without borrowing inspiration from others.

Today I created something unique! All by myself and I am so proud!

My very own Poinsettia! So I have done a step by step tutorial for you! All you need are a hot Glue Gun, Stampin Up Silicone Craft Sheet, Merry Minis Ornament Punch, the embossing isn't absolutely necessary but I used the Square Lattice folder, some of the tiny Stampin' Up! Pearls and a black marker pen.

Firstly I embossed some scraps of red and green card.



Then I punched out 2 green and 15 red ornament shapes.



Next I put a blob of hot glue on my Silicone Craft Sheet. Then arranged 2 of the green and 5 of the red ornaments on the hot glue.



Then I added a little more glue and arranged another 5 ornaments.

A little more glue and I added the last 5 ornaments.

Finally I coloured 3 of the tiny SU pearls with a black marker and added them to the centre to finish my flower.

I hope you enjoy experimenting with these lovely Christmas flowers! These small ones make great card candy or embellishments for gifts.

If you check out the Ornament framelits dies there is one the exact same shape so you could also use the larger pearls and add them to napkin rings or larger parcels, or even just as decorations. The possibilities are endless!

I hope you enjoyed my moment of inspiration and I look forward to seeing your versions!

Paula xxx









Pinkies Training

The great thing about joining Stampin' Up! as a Demonstrator is the social aspect.

22 Pinkies have just returned from the Annual European Stampin' Up! Convention in Mainz in Germany. 850 demonstrators from France, Germany and the UK got together to craft and share business ideas as well as some of the highest achievers being recognised during the awards ceremony.

Next year I will be attending too as it will be held in Manchester! Hopefully all the new Dutch and Austrian Demo's will come along too!

Well a few of us Pinkies also got together for our monthly training with the lovely Michelle Last and I thought I would share the creations we made.

The first is a really simple card that was demoed in Germany...

This is a great way of using up little scraps of Designer Series Paper and uses the Pennant Punch, Tiny Tag Punch, Small Oval and the star from the Merry Minis set in the Autumn Winter Catalogue.

Isn't it effective?

 

 



 The second project was this lovely little box - Ideal for small christmas gifts like Jewellery - And it took 10 minutes to make!

 



  Perhaps you would like to make something? If you haven't crafted before then Stampin' Up! products make it easy to co-ordinate. I can come to your house and do a demo for you and your friends and you will all get to make the project to keep.

Paula xxx

Snow Swirled.

I thought I ought to show some more Christmassy projects. I know there are still eleven weeks until Christmas but the time passes so quickly, there just won't be time for me to make enough cards for all my friends and family so I started early.

Though presents are another matter entirely! My family all seem to have everything!

I indulged my new passion for embossing with this card.

 



The card stock is Night of Navy.

The stamp set is the New Snow Swirled set, I stamped with my Versamark ink and added Silver Stampin' Emboss® powder and melted it with my Heat Gun. I added the sentiment from Greetings of The Season, Then gave the card a spray with the Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz®.

I punched a star using my Merry Minis Star Punch from Silver Glimmer Card and added it using a Dimensional.

Hope you like it - I thought it was very effective.

Paula xxx

Stampin' Up!® with Merry Minis

Well folks, I placed my order from the new 2012-2013 Annual Catalogue at silly o'clock on Monday morning and it is in transit!

I am so excited about all the new products I have ordered and can't wait to show you. But I couldn't leave you all without a post to look at in the mean time.

Hopefully I will have had a chance to create with my new stash in time to put something up on Friday.

Here is a card I made using the Merry Mini Stamp Set and corresponding Merry Mini Punch Set. I used Primrose Petals, Gumball Green and Summer Starfruit Inks and Card Stock. The Small Scallop Circles are punched with the 1 1/4" Punch and the plain Circles with the 1" Punch.

I had to cut my dimensionals into quarters so I could raise up the punched shapes.

 

In the second image you can see how the coloured Punched Circles have been matted on to the Whisper White Card stock. The entire mat is run through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder - unless you look really closely you can't tell that the coloured spots aren't printed on the card... amazing!

 



 

 

So - what are you planning next?

 

I am going to try colouring some stamped images... I tried once before and was absolutely useless, so if anyone can give me any tips - please leave a comment for me!

 

 

I shall post some of my attempts - if they aren't too humiliating!