Just Thanking

A couple of weeks ago I did a party for a nice lady in Bracknell. To thank her and her guests for having me I made them these cute little cards. They were quick and easy to make and were about 4x4" square of Whisper White base.

A 1" strip of Baja Breeze DSP was added along the bottom and the leaves from Just Believe were stamped in Pear Pizzazz. I simply inked the stamp once but pressed it on the card 3 times to give a shadow effect. A little Baja Breeze flower punched with a flower from the mini punch pack finished off the design. I managed to make 7 of these in about 15 minutes as they are so simple but I think they look really effective.

Enchanting Congratulations

Another bright card! This was CASE'd from the Demonstrator monthly Magazine, Impressions July 2012. I changed the colours and papers though. I'm loving the paper flowers and coloured them both using markers: Pool Party and Peach Parfait. A mini silver brad was used to secure the flowers together.

The sentiment is from Curly Cute and stamped in Lucky Limeade. There are co-ordinating scraps of card, ribbon and Everyday Enchantment designer series Paper.

DON'T FORGET: The July offers end tomorrow! That's the Everyday Enchantment papers and the brads and ribbon freebie packs with every £45+ order! I'll be placing another order before the end of the month so let me know if you'd like anything by 5pm on the 31st July 2012!

Pip's design

At the training last week I was lucky enough to receive this GORGEOUS swap from Queen Pip. She has used the set Mixed Bunch from the Summer Mini catalogue. The super thing about this set is that it co-ordinates with a flower punch. Sections of the flower were cut out after being stamped in Tempting Turquoise ink and coated in Dazzling Diamonds to create the Dragonfly wings.

The background was really clever. Pip stamped all over the Whisper White base with Versamark (I think!) and then smudged ink over the whole base using a sponge dauber. What an effective background!!

Wedding party invites

You may remember me mentioning back in February that my SIL was getting married. Well, they've done that, had the honeymoon and are now arranging the Wedding Party! I've been given the privilidge of designing the invitations for their special event and I've come up with two main ideas so far:

This first one sticks to Pool Party and Whisper White only. The sentiment comes from the gorgeous set Wedding Sweet and the rabble of butterflies is made with the embosslit Beautiful Wings. There are three tiny pearls down the centre of the largest butterfly but mainly the card is left quite clean and elegant.

This is my second design:

The base is Brushed Gold cardstock with layers of Pool Party and Whisper White. The swirl from Wedding Sweet was stamped in Crumb Cake, along with the word stamp from an old stamp set I found. To decorate I went a bit wild with Rhinestones and a couple of golden Embosslit butterflies.

Not sure which one she will like. Perhaps a combination of the two?

Deje Vous

You might recognise this layout as I have posted a very similar one before: Peekaboo, I See You!

However I was asked to do a more masculine layout for a party I demonstrated at for a group of experienced scrapbookers. I thought this layout would be good as it uses the products that are on offer this month.

This layout is 8x8" in size and has a Pool Party base.  I stamped the base with the same colour ink using the swirl in Creative Elements. It's such a beautiful stamp set that at the party many other stamped the background using the other images in the set: flowers, butterflies etc. A small strip of Everyday Enchantment DSP added a seasonal touch!

I paired this with Lucky Limeade (to tie in with the ribbon we used), Soft Suede and Peach Parfait.

The insides are made with the 1 1/4" square punch.

If you'd like to take advantage of July's offer before it's too late, click the image below to find out more:

Nat's swap

Last Saturday I was fortunate enough to attend my wonderful Upline, Natalie's training. Her training days are always great laughs and a fab excuse to play with new tools, pick up tips and learn from everyone who attends.

It's customary to bring swaps for everyone to training days. I have to confess I found it tough to make swaps and ended up attending empty handed for the first time ever. It was very embarrasing but fortunately everyone there is just lovely and I still received a massive pile of swaps regardless! So thank you ladies!!

This is the fantastic card that Natalie Zoe created (via Nat!) and I love all of the colours: Calypso Coral, So Saffron and Lucky Limeade. YUMMY!

If you think you might like to join my team and get £130 of Stampin' Up! goodies for just £99 with NO COMMITMENT then contact me for a zero-pressure chat: blue angel crafts at gmail dot com

Fox & Friends

I saw a card just like this on Pinterest and thought what a fun card it would be for a young boy. They can be quite tough to make cards for but I think you could get away with giving this to a 9 or 10 year old.

 The base is Island Indigo. I LOVE this colour and it looks fantastic with Crumb Cake layered on. Each animal was stamped onto Whisper White and then punched out with the 1 1/4" circle punch. A contrasting circle was then cut out to mat them on using the 1 3/8" circle punch.

To give the card a bit more interest I also stamped the heads of the animals again and cut them out to layer on top, attaching them with a dimesionals foam pad.. The lion had his mane cut from a scrap of Daffodil Delight DSP.

Fluttery mobile

Here is a mobile I made using the July Paper and freebies offer! I saw a different version and simply CASE'd this from the picture on Pinterest.

 It features the Everyday Enchantment papers that I have been enthusing about throughout this month. You can still purchase them until the end of July for only £9.95 for 12 sheets of 12"x12"  double-sided paper. A bargain!

To make the butterflies I used the Beautiful butterflies die on my Big Shot and cut out various butterflies using the Everyday Enchantment papers and also Newsprint Specialist DSP. The centre of the butterflies was made from the special brads that co-ordinate with the papers and are FREE this month, along with two reels of ribbon (you can see the Lucky Limeade ribbon on this mobile), with each £45+ order.

To make the top of the mobile I used the Petal Cone die and cut them out of strong scrap card and layered patterned paper on top. The Baja Breeze pleated Satin ribbon gave it a more 'finished' look.

To see more about this special offer than only runs for a futher 7 days click on the image below:

I'd be happy to place an order for you, just drop me a line! blue angel crafts at gmail dot com

Wizard!

Our next door neighbour approached me to make 30 cupcake toppers that were wizard hats. To make matters worse he needed them durable enough to make it to the other end of the country and still look presentable.

I ended up using Concord Crush cardstock and embossing gold stars on them using the star from Pennant Parade. To be honest, that took AGES! The star image is not big and so I had to stamp it again and again and again using Versamark. However, the custom-made DSP was fab and really made the cupcarkes look good, I think!

To transport them I repurposed an old tennis ball tube as they are pretty strong and allowed the hats to be stacked up easily.

Teacher Thank You

Last week was the end of term for a lot of children around here and I wanted to share a project my dear friend Rachel created. She is the parent representative for her child's class and had to organise a class thank you present for the teacher.

We came up with this idea. Rachel wanted to have a space for everyone to write their name. We worked our way through my scraps box and punched and die cut images galore. It was then possible to allow each child to choose a shape to write their name on. We could add a main message and voila! A sweet little (actually, rather LARGE) thank you!

Now for the Munchkin fans! I've had a number of complaints that I've been neglecting showing off my little darling. If you weren't one of those then look away now! Here are a couple of photos I received while I was at training yesterday of Munchkin at her favourite place, Bird World!

Shimmery loveliness

This card is very much CASE'd but I am ashamed to say I cannot remember the original source. I did make a few changes however so I hope I can still call it mine. The base is Sahara Sand which I love as an alternative to Crumb Cake as it's less brown and more a soft grey shade.

The layer on top is Pool Party card that has been run through the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. To add some shimmer I used Champagne shimmer paint dabbed on using a sponge dauber to the raised sections of the embossing. The picture below was supposed to help you see the shimmer paint effect but it's a rather blurry picture!

I ran some strips of Pool Party and Whisper White through the Big Shot using Adorning Accents edgelits scallop die. To conceal the straight line I added some lovely 5/8" Whisper White Organza ribbon.

The main accent was made using the Labels Collection Framelits and Apothacary Art stamp set. The main image was stamped on Whisper White card using Pool Party ink. The central circle was stamped again and punched out using the 1" circle punch to layer on top. The sparkly frame was made by cutting out Sahara Sand card and covering it with a Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive sheet glue and then coating it with Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

I was really pleased with the result of this card and can image that Pink Pirouette and So Saffron would also be great focal colours in place of the Pool Party to make a stack of coordinating cards.

Wisteria Wonderful

Hello! It's a Wisteria Wonder fest today!! The card features the Jelly Bean Brads found on pg20 of the Summer 2012 Mini catalogue. They have lots of the In Colors 2011-13 and cute little hearts. LOVE them!

Can you believe I even used a ruler and pencil for this?! Most unlike me but I think it worked to make sure the 3/4" circles were evenly spread out. Behind the holes are shimmery white cardstock so really set the brads off.

The sentiment is stamped from the set Curly Cute. Gosh I've ignored this set so long it's great to get it out and used again. It was embossed in white to make it 'pop'.

Have you got any tools/techniques you've been ignoring but wish you hadn't?

Hair grip solution

Today's post came about to solve a practical problem faced by many ladies. As I've grown my hair longer I've taken to using Bobby pins/hair grips a lot more. The trouble is they often fall out or get bent out of shape so I need a constant supply of them on the go. Finally I have found a solution on how to carry them in my handbag!

I used a tiny mint tin and covered it with Twitterpated paper and added a strip of Riding Hood Red pleated satin ribbon as a finishing touch. A rather more stylish way to transport the pins about without them swimming around the bottom on my bag getting bits of fluff all caught up in them getting lost!

Penguin birthday wishes

One of the best things about crafting is the social side. There is nothing more fun than crafting with a pal! Last week I managed to squeeze in a micro crafting session with my crafty hippy friend Lauren.

The is one of the cards I made while hanging out with her. It's a fun fold card with some Everyday Enchantment papers (naturally!). I also used one of my new tools: Adorning Accents Edgelits dies. There are two dies in the pack and they co-ordinate brilliantly with the Bordering on Romance stamp set in the Summer 2012 mini catalogue. I used the scallop edge which is like a double scallop as each large scallop has mini scallops along the edge! (you can zoom in on the picture to see what I mean). The rhinestones added a bit of sparkle to each scallop.

The main image was made using the Owl Punch. Such a fantastically versatile punch. To make the sparkly oval and edging for the sentiment I punched out the shapes and rubbed them onto the Big Shot multipurpose adhesive sheets to make them all sticky. Oddly I used these sticky sheets all the time but rarely with the Big Shot! Anyway, once they were all sticky it was simply a case of dipping the shapes into Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

Good Luck card from Amy

Last week I left my teaching job that I've had for the last 4 years so I can concentrate on new things. My lovely friend Amy made me this cute card. Such a funky colour combination: Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight and Rich Razzleberry.

The letters were stamped using the Broadsheet Alphabet stamp set and then punched out using a circle punch and layered with a same sized circle in a contrasting colour. By using a consistent colour palette Amy has made this card look really chic. The rhinestones add the perfect finishing touch.

So thanks Amy for the lovely card!!

Sweetie dispenser

Today's project is a variation on yesterday's teabag dispenser. Having looked at the dispenser I thought maybe it would be possible to alter it so it could be a table sweetie/candy dispenser. Here is what I came up with:

Yes I used those lovely Everyday Enchantment papers! The base is Peach Parfait. The dimensions etc. are exactly the same but instead of cutting out the teabag dispenser hole I used it to make a sloped opening. I filled the dispenser with chocolate raisins - as these are HEALTHY sweets! hahah.

To decorate the top I used my Fun Flowers Bigz die and some more of the papers along with one of the FREE brads I got this month. It has a cute butterfly printed on it which is tricky to see but believe me it's super-cute.

Have you adapted any 3D items to make it your own? I am keen not to spend time reinventing the wheel but also come up with something unique so adaptations are always fun.

Time for tea

Hello Stampers! Here is a project I copied from Heidi Baks. It's the perfect project to use the Tea Shoppe set!

There is a tea bag dispenser and a matching 3x3" card. In the project Heidi used the Everyday Enchantment DSP but I chose to use Twitterpated papers instead. I can't get enough of the cute flower designs!

The tea bag dispenser is a box with removeable lid (to allow it to be easily refilled) with a gap at the bottom to allow the individually packaged teabags to be removed.

 I had fun with the decorating of the dispenser and even made a rosette for the top of it finished with one of my FREE brads from this month's promotion.

The card was teeny tiny. I stamped the teacup using Island Indigo ink and cut it out so it could be mounted on a foam pad. I stamped the flowers using Pear Pizzazz ink and used Riding Hood Red to watercolour them. Easy peasy!

Check back tomorrow an adaption I made to this original idea to make something totally different!

ANOTHER boat card!

I can't seem to do anything but mask, sponge and layer this boat stamp over the top. Any other ideas???

Still, it looks quite sleek with the golden 75 cut out on the Big Shot so I hope the recipient likes it.

Happiest Birthday wishes

This time last week was my amazing friend Lauren's birthday! Above is the card I made for her.

The base is Soft Suede with a Top Note cut from Mocha Morning DSP. I loved the small flower image on the Beau Chateau paper so I cut that out and then set about making a large flower to put with it. I used the Fun Flowers Bigz die and cut out flowers in Pirouette Pink and vellum. I crunched up the vellum (I hate doing that as it seems wrong but the flowers looked all wrong when the vellum was flat!). They were layered and held together with an Antique brad.

The sentiment came from Apothacary Art and I embossed it on Very Vanilla card in gold to match with the tones on the Mocha Morning paper. A touch of crochet lace and a couple of pearls and it was complete!

She held a fab party which was great fun, althought the Cherry Brandy and Cointreau punch was pretty leathal so my cycle ride home in the rain was rather precarious. Anyhow I hope she had a great time!

40 sucks!

Hello and welcome to the second post of the gifts I made for my lovely pal Jo. She is a very young 40 so I thought I would make her a gift that reflects that:

The first thing I started with was a plant pot I thought she'd like; that was the real gift that she can keep. I then added some Elegant Eggplant spotted ribbon and filled it to the brim with Oasis foam.

 The fun part was sticking all the lollies into the foam and trying to maintain the count at 40 lollies as Munchkin was desperately trying to steal one!

My Big Shot came into use again to cut the label, again in Elegant Eggplant and Whisper White. The numbers were cut in Lucky Limeade and the word in Daffodil Delight. I enjoyed sticking gems all over it too!! The final touch was to tie a piece of striped Bakers Twine in Island Indigo to the wooden skewer. I was really pleased with how this came out and the lollies went down a treat with the children at the party.

Box of thanks

 It was my dear friend Jo's birthday party at the weekend and I offered to make her a box of thank you cards as a gift so she could send them out to her guests for gifts she'd received. I saw the design on Shelli Gardner's blog (founder of SU) and adapted it using my own stash of ribbons and adorable Everyday Enchantment papers that are back for this month only!

I made a box to put them in so she can keep special cards she receives as gifts:

 It took no time to put together using my Simply Scored tool! It was fun to spend some time adding more matching paper to decorate it along with some pleated satin ribbon in Pear Pizzazz.

 The cards were straight forward. Each one had a Whisper White base with a panel of Crumb Cake. I used all my different thank you sentiment stamps and stapled a piece of patterned paper and ribbon to the front.

To get perfect angles on my pennants I measure the diagonal distance on my square punch and then made the strips of paper the same length. It was then easy to punch pennants that were all equal and straight!

The box top had an Apothacary Art stamped top from the Summer Mini catalogue. To colour it with my inks I picked out the colours that were in the patterned papers: Poppy Parade, Baja Breeze, Peach Parfait and Lucky Limeade. The Big Shot helped me cut it out and make a mat to match.

So that was one gift I made for my friend. Check back tomorrow to see the other one!

If you'd like to order some of these yummy Everyday Enchantment papers while they are still available, or anything else from the Stampin' Up! catalogues, I'd be happy to put an order through for you. Contact me: blueangelcrafts at gmail dot com

Earbud pouch

As my cofidence with sewing has grown I thought I'd try something a bit more tricky. On my third attempt I have finally made a pouch I am pretty happy with using the Twitterpated fabrics:

I used a tutorial by Erin Erickson which you can read here. As the project is so small it comes together in less than half an hour. At least my third one did.

Here are my other attempts:

Attempt 1:This was a failure because the wadding I used was much too thick. The fabric here is Candy Cane.

 Attempt 2: I am not happy with this as it's not really circular. It just looks peculiar!! The fabric here is Delicate Doilies.

Still, I can definately see my skills improving so that 's a good thing.

Fluttery mobile

As you may have heard there is a special offer from Stampin' Up! this month. It's concerning the Everyday Enchantment papers that were so popular during Saleabration this year. If you didn't manage to get any you can buy the papers during this month only for £9.95.

Why are SU doing this? Because with every customer order during this month of £45 (not including p&p) you get a FREE set of designer brads and two reels of ribbon to match the papers!

I made this mobile with the papers, brads and ribbon to show you how fabulous the colours look together. Please don't judge my camera skills - it was tough taking the photo by myself!

 Here is a close-up of the top of the mobile. I made it by cutting out 4 Petal Cone dies from scrap card. I stuck them together but cut off one half of one die so that there were only 7 sides in all. Then I used the die again to cut out the papers to decorate it. Once that was done it was easy to get creative with Beautiful Butterflies die on the Big Shot.

I used some of my FREE organza 1/8" ribbon to hang the butterflies and attached these to the roof of the mobile with silver brads. These were concealed with the Baja Breeze pleated satin ribbon.

I'd be happy to place an order for you! If you'd like to contact me I can arrange it all for you no matter where in the UK you live!! blueangelcrafts at gmail dot com.