Gifts for your party hosts - Stampin' Up Artisan design blog hop

Are you looking for more inspiration to help you get ready for Christmas? You're in luck then because the fab Stampin' Up Artisan design team are here for another blog hop to help you get into the festive mood! Grab your mittens and hat and let's woooosh around the world!

ARE YOU READY TO PARTY?!
It's definitely party season and while I like to think my natural wit and charm make me an acceptable guest *wink* I do like to bring a few gifts for the hosts, just to make sure! Come and see:

A bottle is always welcome, and a little All is Calm designer paper, a ribbon flourish and a stylish label transforms it into something special.

The label has been embossed with the Filagree Frame embossing folder, decorated with stamps from the stunning Letterpress Winter photopolymer stamp set and sprinkled with gems for a touch of festive sparkle.

Letterpress Winter contains loads of beautiful images - like this 'for you' tag. I stamped it cut it out with a circle punch and glued it to the top of the bottle for a neat finish.

Nothing says thank you like a  bouquet of pretty flowers. I wrapped mine in a sheet of that beautiful All is Calm designer paper, securing it with Fast Fuse.

This time I stamped the label and trimmed around it with my sharp paper snips (and if you're looking for a decent pair of scissors, I can never recommend these brilliant snips highly enough!) A gorgeous bow of Lost Lagoon satin ribbon and some gems finishes the bouquet.

No gift would be complete without a card and this simple thank you card was made with more of the gorgeous images in the Letterpress stamp set. With a different sentiment, it would also make a great batch card for those last minute extra Christmas cards we always seem to need!

I'll be linking this card up with Less is More, where the challenge is to make a CAS card based on these fabulous icy colours!

Now, if you want to feel properly Christmassy, head on over to see the lovely Allison Okamitsu in Canada where there's SNOW as well fabulous crafting projects!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE MY PROJECT NOW!
(Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!) 

Filigree Frame Textured Impressions Embossing Folders £7.50	Letterpress Winter Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	All Is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper £11.50	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Lost Lagoon 3/8" Silky Taffeta Ribbon £5.50	Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments £4.50	Pool Party A4 Card Stock £6.25

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

We'll be partying here tomorrow as my lovely daughter comes home from uni for the holidays! It'll be fun to see her get acquainted with my other little girl - I tell her that the pup might be my golden girl but my daughter is my Titian Treasure!

See you tomorrow,

Stampin' Up's Many Merry Stars for your stars!

Things are really hotting up on the run up to Christmas now and here's another impressive bit of gift wrapping, courtesy of Stampin' Up of course!

Now, who wouldn't want to open a pile of stars on Christmas day?! I used the Many Merry Stars kit to make these - and this kit actually contains all the ingredients to make and embellish 26 of these beautiful star boxes in assorted sizes!

I used some to package up some chocolates for my lovely Stampers 6 club ladies last month and the rest will be used as Christmas decorations - I think they're beautiful!

• If you have a long wish list, you might want to join my Stampers 6 club - I'm currently taking names for a January start. You'll be able to spread your purchases over six months and there are lots of other benefits including at least £25 worth of free goodies, handmade gifts and cards from me, free catalogues, reduced postage. I very much appreciate my club ladies and each parcel is put together with great care.
Find out more about my Stampers 6 club by clicking here.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS PROJECT NOW!
(Click on the photo to be transported to my online shop!) 

Many Merry Stars Simply Created Kit £23.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

Never mind the stars, did anyone see the moon last night? I was driving my son to a Christmas party and we just couldn't take our eyes off it - it seemed huge and yellow and we thought it looked magical. I had to look it up when we got home. Apparently (stay with me here!) the moon seems larger when it's nearer the horizon but it's just an optical illusion; the reason it was yellow is because it was shining through Earth's polluted atmosphere. Honestly, science - am I right?

See you tomorrow when I'll be going Christmas crackers! (That is if I'm not too Christmas crackered!)

Quick Wondrous Wreath makes - Stampin' Up artisan blog hop

Hello! And a great big welcome to another thrilling Thursday when the Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team members reveal what we've been making in our weekly round-the-world blog hop! Are you ready to be inspired?!

MORE TIME TO PARTY!
The Wondrous Wreath stamp set in the Stampin' Up autumn/winter catalogue is already a firm favourite with many stampers. It has a coordinating set of framelits so that you can cut out the elements and layer them up, which looks fantastic but this set also looks great when it's simply stamped in layers. And an added benefit of using it this way is that it's so fast it'll give you time to fit in a few more Christmas parties!

My wreath was stamped onto an off cut of designer paper from the Motley Monsters pack. I seem to be using every single snippet of this paper pack and the good news is that it's also available as a digital download! The only thing I cut out here was the bow, which I used as an embellishment to finish this simple card.

Of course this isn't the only way to stamp with this gorgeous wreath. Stamping off the edge of the card stock creates a great garland effect as you can see in this gift card holder. The front was trimmed with more of that woodgrain paper and another die-cut bow, and...

... the inside has a woodgrain pocket to hold the gift card or money.

It's always nice to give an additional, more personal something when giving a gift card or a present of money and a little box of handmade chocolates or home-baked treats is always well-received. I made my box with the must-have Gift Box punch board and tied it up with the wonderfully festive Satin Woven ribbon.

To make the tag, I stamped another snippet of that woodgrain paper, cut it out using the Note Tag punch and attached it to a second tag punched out of plain card stock.

I'm loving using my Stampin' Up stash to wrap presents for my loved ones and I hope you've been inspired by this project. There's plenty more crafting happening over in Canada where my fab teamie Allison Okamitsu is waiting to welcome you! Click the button below:

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE MY PROJECT NOW!
(Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!) 

Wondrous Wreath Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Gift Box Punch Board £17.95	Motley Monsters Designer Series Paper - Digital Download £3.50	Real Red 3/8" Satin Woven Ribbon £6.25

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

I'm finding it hard to maintain my dignity now that I have a puppy. When you speak sternly to your son about tidying his room and then step on a squeaky toy, it does ruin the effect!

See you tomorrow,

Christmas gift card/money envelopes - Stampin Up Artisan blog hop

It's Thursday and it's time for another round of inspiration from the Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team. Every week I look forward to seeing what my friends from around the world have been up to - and they always amaze me with their talent. Are you ready to hop with me?

DRESSING UP MONEY OR A GIFT CARD
My own project this week came to me as I was stroking the Trim The Tree designer paper stack! It's so handy to have a quick way to dress up those last minute gift cards but, if you don't yet have the fabulous Stampin' Up Gift Card framelits die, what is a girl to do?! Well, how about these cute little envelopes:

You can rustle up a few of these fun little envelopes quite quickly and it takes seconds to dress them up with decorative twine, pegs and tags from the Under The Tree Tag a Bag accessory kit.

Each envelope is made from a sheet of the Trim the Tree designer paper stack from the autumn/winter catalogue. There are some stunning papers to choose from!

This one has a Boots gift card in it but wouldn't it be great to open one of these and find a voucher for a Stampin' Up shopping spree with me?! (Start dropping hints now ladies!)

Fancy making some of these little envelopes yourself? Here's a video to show you how:



I hope you've enjoyed my project today. Now the rest of the Artisan Design Team are waiting to inspire you and next up, it's the fabulous Allison Okamitsu! Click the button below to visit her:

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE MY GIFT CARD HOLDERS NOW!
(Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!) 

Trim The Tree Designer Series Paper Stack £6.25	Fuse Fast Adhesive £8.95
Under The Tree Tag A Bag Accessory Kit £7.25	Paper Snips £8.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

The dust is still settling here from the arrival of our gorgeous new Golden Retriever puppy Eva. For those of you that are curious to know how our lovely puss Tuppence is dealing with the new arrival, I think this just about sums it up:

She is just speechless but please don't be worried for her - we are giving her lots of extra cuddles and treats!

See  you tomorrow,

Tea light gifts using Holiday Home from Stampin' Up

One of the pleasures of the chillier, darker days is to toast your toes by a real fire, with a book on your knee (the Stampin' Up catalogue perhaps!) and a steaming cup of hot chocolate at your elbow. I've tried to capture that comforting firelight in the little gift I'm going to show you today. Come and see:

This little decoration holds an electric tea light which flickers just like firelight. It's made of vellum and stamped with one of the beautiful little houses from the Holiday Home stamp set.

This is what it looks like in the daylight when the tea light is turned off. It's very easy to make! I cut a strip of vellum 17cm (6 5/8") x 7 cm (3") and scored at 4 cm (1 5/8"), 8 cm (31/8"), 12 cm (4 6/8") and 16cm (6 2/8") The house was stamped in each scored 'frame' using Stazon ink.

Once the vellum was scored and stamped, I coloured the reverse side with Blendabilities markers, trimmed the top, and assembled it into a square shape. TIP: Stazon ink is perfect for stamping onto shiny surfaces like vellum but because it's an alcohol-based ink, like the Blendabilities, it would result in 'dirty' colouring if you tried to colour on the same side.

These pretty decorations would make great presents but are you wondering how you'd gift wrap them? Well that's easy! The Stampin' Up Gift Box Punch Board makes a box the perfect size - 4.9 x 4.9 x 8.3 cm (1.75 x 1.75 x 3.25")

I used rich Cherry Cobbler card stock for mine and I think they look gorgeous tied up with lush Real Red satin woven ribbon with some pretty tags. How would you decorate yours?

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS PROJECT NOW!
(Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!) 

White Vellum A4 Card Stock £5.95	Jet Black StazOn Pad £5.95	Holiday Home Photopolymer Stamp Set £13.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment £10.95
Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Cherry Cobbler Assortment £10.95	Gift Box Punch Board £17.95	Real Red 3/8" Satin Woven Ribbon £6.25	Fuse Fast Adhesive £8.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

Back in the 70s Donny Osmond sang about Puppy Love and now I understand exactly what he meant! We have all fallen in love with our new bundle of golden fluffiness and she seems to be settling in pretty well.

Here she is enjoying a romp in the garden!

Don't think in all the excitement that I've forgotten about my Artisan Design Team duties! I'll be back tomorrow with my team pals when we bring you another fabulous blog hop. See you then!