Trick or Treat

I've been lucky enough to be asked to be Guest Designer on this month's Memory Keeping with Project Life by Stampin' Up! So with Halloween just around the corner, I decided to look back on last year's photos and create a page using the new Seasonal Snapshot kit. 

I used professional photos taken from a Halloween disco we went to with fellow Project Lifer, Kate Denyer, and her son.  The photos were fab, but I didn't know where in the house to put them.  I thought what better way to display them than in my Project Life album using the Halloween theme cards from the kit, which also includes Back to School, Autumnal & Winter themed cards.

As the photos were larger than the pockets in the pages I had to trim them using the guillotine.  I was a bit nervous about doing this, as I had no copies of these photos.  However, I was really pleased with them, I love the overall effect.

I used Back to Basics letter stamps to stamp "Halloween Disco" and "Mini Movers" and the small round number stamps from Moments Like These stamp set, all in Basic Black.

I love how the rustic and black cards compliment the photos, but I felt the pages needed a splash of colour. 

I think the bright Tangelo Twist orange looks fab alongside my sons 'strawberry blonde' locks, and also the glittery spider web on my witches hat. 

I had a lot of fun finishing these pages with the wood shape and stickers from the accessory pack, making full use of  the bats,  letters and numbers. I love the vintage label lettering and couldn't resist creating an Instagram style tagline #toocutetospook.  These, and the peel off black and white letters and numbers  are great for creating titles if you have no stamps, or have little time to create pages.

Big thank you to Julie Kettlewell,the Yoda of Stampin' Up!, for kindly asking me to feature this month. You can check out more examples of the Seasonal Snapshot kit in action at the following blogspots:

Julie Kettlewell, UK - http://www.juliesjapes.blogspot.com

Delys Cram, New Zealand - http://delysc.wordpress.com/
Tina Gillespie, Australia - http://www.scissorspapercard.blogspot.com.au/

Constanze Wirtz, Germany - http://conibaer.blogspot.com

Janet Morrow Wakeland, USA - http://remarkablycreated.com/

Elizabeth Richards Peterson, USA - http://www.lenfantcheri.com/blog/

Kate Denyer, UK - http://katemakescards.blogspot.co.uk

Linda Higgins, Australia - http://lhiggins.blogspot.com

Paper Stars

This week I've been making paper stars. They're super easy to make, and quite addictive. I think they will look fab hung up as Christmas decorations. Here's how to make them:

You will need 2 x paper squares measuring 6x6", scissors, glue, pen, ruler & very small glue dots.

1. Fold your paper in half, both ways. 

So you have 2 creases and 4 squares, like this... 

2. Fold your paper diagonally, both ways... 

 You should be left with a lot of creased triangles. 

3. Take your ruler and measure 1 1/4 inch, or 3.2cm, from the outside of the horizontal/vertical creases. Draw a line like this on all 4 creases... 

Cut along all 4 lines with scissors. 

4. Next, fold the edges in towards the crease, like so.. 

Repeat on all sides, until you are left with a star shape.

5. Get your glue, and apply a smidgento one triangle. Fold over and stick over the other triangle. (Tip: glue the flap you are going to fold over, otherwise if you put glue on the other side you will have excess) 

Once you have done all 4, you should be left with a star shape like this... 

Repeat steps 1-5 on your other piece of paper, then when you have 2 stars apply glue dots to one of them like so...

Then stick the other star onto it, using a bit of pressure...

You should be left with a star like in the photo at the beginning of this blog. Add string to a point with a needle and hang from your window, or Christmas tree!! 

Project Life Seasonal Snapshot

Yesterday I had a self indulgent afternoon of Project Life using the new Seasonal Snapshot (SS) card kit & co ordinating accessory pack. I'm a little obsessed with this new kit as it has a rustic kinda vibe about it thanks to the Kraft cards & stickers. 

I used the white letter stickers for the date, (top tip: stick them onto the plastic pocket over the card to see if you like the lauout first, that way you can peel them off and move them if not!). 

It looked a little sparse, so I grabbed my Moments Like These (MLT)  stamps and stamped Friday in black on a one of the stickers from the SS accessory pack.

I trimmed this photo along the top so it fit neatly underneath the spots. I then used the black peel off letters for #NCT and again grabbed a MLT stamp for Moments. It fits perfectly in the SS sticker don't you think? 

I absolutely love this photo. Ellie's face is hilarious, with the boys in the background who look like her bodyguards. Had to think of something to capture that look, think "s'up" nails it!

I used my Project Life Day to Day number stamps (but you could use the SS number stickers that come in the accessory pack) and the 'today is' stamp from MLT stamp set (again you could use stickers).

I wanted a camera image, but as I don't have one I simply googled Stampin Up Camera Stamp and printed it off, cut out and stuck on. 

I finished the page with some journalling typed out on Word and cut out to fit the 6x4 card. You can print direct onto the cards, but I didn't want to attempt it with this tricky shape.  You can use the PL journalling pens to hand write it, but I like playing with different fonts too much!! 

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Sleigh Ride in August

This week I've been playing with the new Sleigh Ride edgelit dies from the Stampin' Up! Autumn/Winter catalogue (available 1st September).

These are so simple to use, and look so effective, they're a must have for any crafter this Christmas. 

I wanted to create real hand crafted, classic Christmas cards. The edgelits create such beautiful intricate designs I felt they didn't need much stamping or embellishing. 

I cut the edgelits in calm, Christmas colours; Whisper White, Soft Sky, Mint Macaron, Sahara Sand and complimented using gold/white shimmer paper and vellum.

 I created soft, snowy backdrops using one of the 36 beautiful  designs from the Winter Wonderland Vellum Stack.

I then had an idea of creating a tri fold card using the edgelits. I wanted an all white effect to showcase just how beautiful and effective the intricate hand cut designs can look.

 I used Real Red for the Merry Christmas stamp (a hostess gift earned last year, my first stamp set in fact) and backed the card onto Sahara Sand for a finishing touch. I love how it looks opened out fully too, a very simple Christmas card that is easy to make, but sure to impress.

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How does your garden grow?

This week I'm going all floral with the Garden in Bloom stamp set (on loan from my partner in crime, Kate Denyer). 

As my lovely friend is away on holiday this week she has kindly let me play with these bloomin' marvellous stamps. There's two types of stamps in this set, the main parts of the flowers & leaves, and then the outlines, which is great as it means you can create so many different colour combos!! 

I decided to use the very juicy Watermelon Wonder for the main colour, as it is bright and summery. The outlines are stamped in Memento black ink, and the leaves in Mint Macaron, which comes as part of the In Color 2015-2017 ink pad collection.  I used a tiny bit of Daffodil Delight for the bumble bee, complete with his little trail dotted behind him using a Project Life journaling pen! 

I cut a 3"x 4" piece of Watermelon Wonder card, curved the edges with the Project Life corner rounder punch (one of my favourite punches!) and stamped the cute little phrase " Friends are kind to each other's hopes & cherish each other's dreams". I finished it using the butterfly outline in black, and attached it to the card using dimensionals.  I thought the recipient could always take the little card off as a friendship card keep sake, pop it in their purse or even better, their Project Life album! 

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Who says dinosaurs are extinct?

This week I've been on a crafting rampage using the 'Rawrsome' No Bones About It stamp set.  I've really enjoyed playing with this set, and even my boyfriend was coming up with suggestions for possible cards to make with it. 

The card I'm showcasing today is a special 3D Jurassic Shadow Box Frame, inspired by the tutorial on The Craft Spa blog. 

                         

This card has taken me all week to create, but it was definitely worthwhile.  I started by creating the front Jurassic scene using Cucumber Crush and Soft Suede as the background.  I then layered leaves around the top corners using a mixture of Pear Pizzazz and Cucumber Crush, and did a bit of fussy cutting around the edge of the leaves. 

The inner part is a small square of Whisper White with 'RAWR! means you're awesome in dinosaur' stamped in Delightful Dijon. 

The dinosaurs are stamped using neutral inks, then painstakingly cut out by hand (!!), this way I could play around with them on the card to find the best spot for them.

                                                

Inside I kept it simple with a T-Rex party goer and some subtle Dino footprints. I used the happy birthday stamp from Boys will be Boys stamp, but you could use one of the three phases from the No Bones About It set.

  

I made a Box to pop the card in (as per Amanda's tutorial) using trio of squares in Sahara Sand, Basic Black and Delightful Dijon.  The last finishing touch was the T-Rex bones stamp and Beware of Dinosaurs using my trusty Rotary Stamp.

I'm really happy with the finished result, not bad for an artistically challenged new crafter.  Just goes to show how easy Stampin' Up! make it for anyone to create bespoke, handmade cards for special occasions.

Everybody walk the dinosaur

This week I'm playing with Stampin' Up! No Bones 
About it photopolymer stamp set.

I've been very excited to get my hands on this set, as my little boy loves dinosaurs (which little boy doesn't?), so I thought I would use them to make him something. 

My friend showed me a Dinosaur Bingo game that a fellow Stamper Upper had made. I took the concept and changed it to Dino Snap, as my boy is too young for Bingo. 

Here's one I made earlier..

I took a 12" x 12" piece of Whisper White card, chopped it into 3" x 3" squares.
Then I simply stamped a dinosaur onto each square. 

     

I chose Dino colours, and added a bit of texture using the spot stamps.  This was fun for me as I tend to stick to one colour, I used the spot stamps to layer on darker colours to add detail.  Just goes to show how the easy the stamp sets make it to add depth to your creations.    I decided to back the cards & round the edges to make them more toddler friendly. 

RAWR! Means you're awesome in dinosaur

I finished the cards with the RAWR stamp on the reverse side using white emboss powder on black card, just for fancy! 

It certainly got the thumbs up from my son who has been playing with it already. Saying "dinosaur" and "T Rex" when pointing to the cards. Now just to laminate them, so he can't destroy this fab creation. 

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