Personalised teen birthday - Stampin' Up Artisan blog hop

It's Thursday so that means it's time to whizz around the world to see what Stampin' Up's fabulous Artisan Design Team have been up to! Are you ready to be inspired?!

CELEBRATE A SPECIAL DATE
I've been thinking about teen birthdays just lately and have come up with something that can easily be adapted to suit teenagers of either gender with virtually any interest. Come and see:

A little bit of no-fuss personalisation! Personalising the date is a great way to make a teen feel special. I used the Day to Day stamp set for mine and I can highly recommend this useful stamp set for cards as well as scrapbook projects.

The rest of the greeting is from a great little set called Words of Truth. I stamped these on a lined paper from the Schoolhouse designer paper pack for a bit of extra interest.

Once you have your teen's special date stamped you can add an image which reflects their interests (I've added a bicycle here but the possibilities are endless!)

I punched my bike out of another of the great papers in the Schoolhouse pack using the extra large oval punch. To create a badge-style embellishment, I punched three more ovals out of Pool Party card stock and glued them in a stack with the bike on top.

Have you noticed the stars? These were cut out with one click of the Confetti Stars border punch and are such a quick way to embellish your projects!

I hope this idea comes in handy for those tricky teen cards. And now it's time to carry on with the blog hop!  Click on the button below to visit the rest of the team, starting with Allison Okamitsu :)

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

Schoolhouse Designer Series Paper £10.00	Words Of Truth Wood-Mount Stamp Set £21.00	Project Life Day To Day Photopolymer Stamp Set £23.00	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock £6.50
Pool Party A4 Card Stock £6.50	Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Extra-Large Oval Punch £16.00	Confetti Stars Punch £20.00

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.

Today's card was a prototype for my eldest son who celebrates his birthday on the last day of July - the same date as Harry Potter no less! Once he'd read that, he felt a special affinity with HP and once was so convincing about blurred vision that I whisked him off for an emergency eye test. When I saw him lurking wistfully around the Harry Potter glasses display in the waiting room, I became quite thoughtful and was remarkably calm when the optician told me anxiously that she had tested and tested again and could find nothing wrong with my son's 20/20 vision!

I'll be back tomorrow with more crafting fun. Do come and join me :)

What's new at Stampin' Up for 2015?

Hello! I'm just checking in on New Years Eve to wish you a happy 2015! (And if I've been playing around with some new Stampin' Up products, well who can blame me? There were a couple of VERY tempting boxes of lurking about on my desk!)

This card was made with new stamps from the upcoming new Stampin' Up spring/summer catalogue. I couldn't wait to get my paws on these! There are more cute characters in the set and they're all holding up placards that you can fill with a variety of sentiments, making it perfect for any occasion you could possibly think of! I stamped the year in mine using the Project Life Day to Day stamp set...

...then stamped the inside of my card with the Happy New Year sentiment from Making Spirits Bright. (LOVE this fun set with it's fab drinks images and greetings covering all occasions - but hurry as it's only available until the end of today!)

NEW STAMPIN' UP SPRING/SUMMER CATALOGUE 2015
I know what you're thinking - when can you get your hands on the new catalogue?! It will be available to view online on 6th January and I'll be posting them out to my customers in the meantime (so if you haven't received yours in the next few days, do let me know.) Can't wait for yours? Well, the Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team will be show-casing some of the new products in tomorrow's blog hop, so do come back here tomorrow and join in with that!

FREE STAMPIN' UP PRODUCTS!
Just when you thought 2015 was getting off to a great start, your happy new year just got even happier! How?

Well, the amazing Stampin' Up Sale-a-bration promotion will be starting on the 6th January too and that means you'll be able to get some wonderful goodies for free when you do your Stampin' Up shopping! There are free stamp sets, papers and accessories plus, new this year, blendabilities and project life items! YAY!

GRAB A BARGAIN IN THE SALE!
Before you get carried away with all the gorgeous new goodies on offer, don't forget that the Stampin' Up year end sale continues until 5th January! Canny shoppers can bag themselves some amazing bargains with prices slashed by up to 80%! Why not click on my shop below and have a browse?

Click above to place an order any time, day or night,

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

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

I hope you had a great Christmas. I was expecting chaos in our house with a young puppy but in fact she behaved beautifully and obviously enjoyed having the whole family together. There were some memorable moments:

My husband handing me a present that had been wrapped in small pieces of four different Christmas papers. "It's a bit eccentrically wrapped I'm afraid," he said!

My eldest son, sampling the boxing day buffet, saying "Mmmm! This is nice. What flavour is it meant to be?!"

The puppy opening her very own present very efficiently...

... and being inseparable from Pig Friend for the rest of the day!

See you tomorrow,

No frills anniversary card for a man using Stampin' Up washi tape

Every year I give my husband handmade anniversary cards and he accepts them with a smile but doesn't look closely because he's not really a handmade card kind of a guy! This year's card got rave reviews from him though and that made me smile as it literally took a few minutes to make! Come and see:

I used some of Stampin' Up's gorgeous washi tape and a snippet of left over designer paper to create a strong horizontal theme and embellished with a punched heart and some staples. The date of our marriage was stamped with my Day to Day Project Life photopolymer stamp set - what a useful set that has turned out to be!

My husband told me he loved the colours - and who wouldn't?! Blackberry Bliss, Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze are a wonderful rich combination perfect for this time of year.

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

Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock £6.25	Color Me Autumn Designer Washi Tape £4.50	Color Me Autumn Designer Series Paper £9.95	Project Life Day To Day Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95
Memorable Moments Wood-Mount Stamp Set ...	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack £15.50	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95

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.

Our anniversary celebrations were a little low-key this year because our youngest son wasn't well and we didn't want to leave him to go off jollying. Instead we got to spend an evening breathing in the glorious scent of these beauties...

... and if you were passing our house that evening you may have heard the pop of a champagne cork and the sound of clinking glasses. Twenty years of marriage definitely merits a glass of bubbles don't you think?!

See you tomorrow,

Make a card for a male using designer paper from Stampin' Up

CALLING ALL BARGAIN HUNTERS!
Before I show you today's card,  I must just remind those of you that love a bargain that Stampin' Up's Stamp Stock and Save promotion is ending later this evening! If you'd like to take advantage of discounted prices on basics like card stock, envelopes and ink pads or selected stamp sets, click here to browse the Stamp Stock and Save section of my shop or contact me if you'd like me to help you.

A GET WELL KISS FOR A MALE
Men are notorious for being terrible patients (although, apparently they're NEVER ill!) I don't know quite how that works so I've made a masculine get well card just in case! Come and see:

I rather enjoyed cutting things out of designer paper while making my box of thank you cards here so I thought I'd do it again! This cute chap turns up on the border of a fabulous design in the Motley Monsters designer paper stack:

I love this paper pack - and don't be fooled into thinking it's only good for halloween! I made these birthday cards with these papers for example and every single paper in this pack is perfect for other occasions.

• By the way, if you love designer paper, now is the perfect time for you to join Stampin' Up! New demonstrators that join before 24th October will get to choose a pack of paper EVERY month for SIX months after signing up - and that's on top of all the other benefits!

Here's a close up of my poorly little monster. I'm just about to take his temperature - say 'ahhh' little monster! Oh no, I think he's in pain! What he needs is a big kiss...

... to make it better! I love the way you can stamp the first half of this double sentiment on your card front and the other half inside the card! It's from Petite Pairs, the set with lots of double sentiments - AND it's one of the stamp sets that's been reduced by 20%! It's now available at £21.63 wood mount or £17.46 cling mount - but hurry, the offer ends TODAY!

I used the fabulous sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches to make this card so I'll be linking up over there.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my online shop) 

Motlley Monsters Designer Series Paper £9.95	Color Me Autumn Designer Washi Tape £4.50	Petite Pairs - Clear-Mount Stamp £20.95
Project Life Day To Day Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	Whisper White A4 Card Stock £7.50	1-1/4" Scallop Circle Punch £14.25

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.

When my children were little I used to call them poorly puddings when they were ill to cheer them up. I remember once finding my two-year-old eldest son sitting on his bed looking very woebegone, with his big blue eyes filled with tears. "Mummy," he said. "Will you wipe away my ears?"

There'll be more crafting fun here tomorrow - see you then!

Yet another great way to use Stampin' Up's Curvy Keepsake Box die!

It's always handy to have a box die - especially when it's as versatile as Stampin' Up's Curvy Keepsake Box thinlits die! As well as making gorgeous, unusual boxes for edible treats or small gifts (like this one or this one), you can make cards using part of the die (like this) or using the die as a mask (like this.) Now I've come up with another idea for using it - come and see:

Isn't this fun? I made this card to send to my daughter at uni (just in case she forgets how much I love her!) but you could easily make it say 'thanks a ton' or use it as a valentine or anniversary card instead.  I find the Day to Day Project Life stamp set (which features days of the week, months, numbers etc) is brilliant for random words like the 1 TON here.

I cut off part of the die to make the weight. Using Naturals white card stock and sponging with Smoky Slate ink really adds to the rough, heavy metal look! I love the contrast between that and the shiny sequins in those pretty colours. I am a huge fan of these in-colour sequins - I've used them again and again and still they go on like the magic porridge pot!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my online shop) 

Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlits Dies £29.95	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock £7.50	2013-2015 In Color Sequin Assortment £4.50	Good Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set Free with qualifying order
Project Life Day To Day Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	Naturals White A4 Card Stock £6.75	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95

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.

I am so excited today because my lovely girl is coming home today! I'm meeting her from the station and we plan to spend the day catching up together - and there may or may not be unrestrained shopping and lunching involved!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I'll be back on Monday with lots more crafting ideas - hope to see you then!