Tag you're... feeling better!

Hello crafting pals!

It's that time of year when the sniffles start and everyone starts stocking up on tissues. Time for a Get Well card I think! Let's face it, we know it's going to come in handy at some stage! Come and see:

This cheerful card features a striped tag from a Stampin' Up Tags and More Accessory Kit. I stamped a sentiment from a retired hostess set (Express Yourself) onto a banner left over from another kit and attached it to the tag with dimensionals.

A spray of flowers from Concorde and 9th's Enjoy it All were inked up with markers, stamped and fussy cut, and I slipped a couple of die-cut leaves and some gold thread behind it.

The tag was attached to a snippet of textured Daffodil Delight card stock with some staples I'd coloured black for another project. I added a few black enamel dots too.

This card came about because I had a peek at the As You See It challenge this week and saw that LeAnne has come up with a card recipe I couldn't resist playing along with!

I'm also linking up with Pixie's Snippets Playground as I used lots of left over bits and pieces to make this card :) Eva and I will be popping round with a get well bone for Dudley and the pups can go zoom-tastic round the playground!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
No sooner have I said goodbye to one of my sons than I get the other one back! My eldest son has come to stay as he is working nearer to home at the moment. It's so lovely to have him here and there's someone else that is delighted too...

Eva adores her family and clearly misses them all. When they come home for visits, she runs to them making little delighted sobbing noises (we call them hen noises) and doing little bunny hops because she wants to jump up but knows she isn't allowed to do that.

Thanks for coming to visit me today. I'm sending hugs to anyone who's feeling a bit under the weather and hope you feel better soon. I'll be back tomorrow with another crafty project - hope to see you then!

All wrapped up - Stampin' Up Artisan blog hop

Hello and welcome to another Thursday blog hop brought to you by the official Stampin' Up Artisan design team! We've all got packaging on our minds this week so if you're looking for ideas, make sure you visit all of the designers around the world by clicking the button at the end of each post :)

BAGS OF FUN!

I always keep a stock of the Stampin' Up gift bags as they're so useful, especially when teamed with the Tag-a-Bag accessory kits. This year there are some new dotty glassine bags which are food safe and a bit like greaseproof paper but much prettier! Come and see some of my ideas for using them:

COOKIE MONSTER

My youngest son came home with his school report last week, justifiably proud of himself, and that made me think of making this little cookie treat:

I had a bit of a lightbulb moment when I realised the glassine bags fit perfectly inside the kraft bags and those kraft ones are a good, heavy quality too so they keep everything nice and firm. I used a circle framelit to cut windows in the outside bag so you can see the cookie in the glassine one.

There are sticky strips in the Tag-a-Bag kit and by using the one on the edge with one of the Coral strips, I got a nice striped edge! This was decorated with a tag and paper clip from the kit as well as some punched stars. 

PARTY WHIRL

Those glassine bags are just as useful on their own! 

This little treat bag could safely house homemade fudge, toffee or coconut ice, or you could fill it with small favours and hand it out to party guests.

My bag is closed with some of the sticky strip from the Tag-a-Bag kit and decorated with a pinwheel made with designer paper and attached to a wooden skewer. The label was stamped with the word 'Goodies' from the Stamp a Bag stamp set.

AND RELAX!

The bags are just as useful for wrapping non-food items with a high fat content, like candles or this gorgeous, fragrant, handmade soap. 

I opened out my bag first and cut it to size before using it to wrap the soap tightly. The circles cut from the Cookie Monster kraft bag above were used to create a shaped 'sleeve' - don't you just love it when nothing gets wasted!

To decorate the package, I wrapped the soap in the linen thread which comes with the Tag-a-Bag kit and added one of the heart-shaped labels. The delicate little stamped flower on the label comes from the Stamp a Bag stamp set.

These glassine bags have SO many uses and I've just scratched the surface here. Click the button below to check out the rest of the Artisan blog hop for more fab ideas from the rest of the team - starting with the amazing Allison Okamitsu :)

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

Sketched Dots Tag A Bag Gift Bags £3.75	Kraft Tag A Bag Gift Bags £3.25	Tag A Bag Accessory Pack £7.25	Stamp A Bag Photopolymer Stamp Set £15.00
Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack £15.50	Brights Designer Series Paper Stack £20.00	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Subtles Stampin' Write Markers £27.50

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.

Thanks for visiting today. Do come and join me tomorrow when I'll be rounding up the latest Stampin' Up special offers :)

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,

No sewing pouch and Project Life mini album - Stampin' Up Artisan blog hop

Thursday has rolled around again and all the members of the Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team have been beavering away on more inspiring projects to show you! Are you ready for another fabulous blog hop?

THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES
I'd been looking through my photos from the Stampin' Up convention in Brussels. It was so much fun, not only to meet up with my Stampin' Up friends but also to have my lovely daughter along for the ride. She's returned to university now but I'll be sending her today's project as a little memento of our adventures together. Come and see:

The Simply Created Banner Refill pack is great for making your own banners to help set the scene at a celebration but, if you have any of the canvas pennants left over, how about making a little no-sewing-required pouch with two of them?

I've used mine to hold photos but you could put any small gift inside.

Before assembling the pouch, I stamped it with one of the houses from the Holiday Home stamp set using Stazon ink. The shape of this house really reminded me of the beautiful architecture in Brussels.

The large eyelets on the banners form the perfect place to thread a handle through. I made mine by plaiting some of the natural coloured twine from a Tag-a-Bag accessory set but ribbon would work well too.

Project Life makes it so quick and easy to record important events - you simply slide your photos and journalling cards into pockets. But I used my journalling cards to back my photos so I could pop them in the pouch like a pack of cards! Some of the cards had space for journalling so I could add a sentence or two to add to our memories too.

I've used the Love Story Project Life Card Collection from the annual catalogue - it was among the fabulous gifts we were lucky enough to receive at Convention! The small cards in the pack are 4" x 3" and guess what? Photo machines in the supermarkets print this size from a memory stick or directly from your mobile phone very cheaply and while you wait!

Once the photos were mounted, I rounded the corners and made the cover by stamping a card with the same house stamp as I used on the pouch. I added the dates of the trip with my Remember rotary stamp and a tiny heart. If you don't want to make the pouch, you could simply clip these together with a metal binder ring.

Edited to add: Do you want to know how to make the canvas pouch in today's project? Well here's a video to help you!



This is a great way to treasure your photos of Brussels and if you don't have any, what are you thinking? You need to book your trip to Brussels at once! Of course if that's not possible you can always hop over to Canada instead where the lovely Allison Okamitsu is waiting to inspire you with her Artisan project! Click the button below:

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

Build A Banner Refill Kit ...	Holiday Home Photopolymer Stamp Set £13.95	Love Story Project Life Card Collection £13.50
Jet Black StazOn Pad £5.95	Tag A Bag Accessory Kit £7.25	Project Life Corner Punch £7.25

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've put some funny photos in the pouch and this is one of my favourites:

My daughter and I spotted these fabulous boots in a shop in Brussels and, if they hadn't cost 265€, I would've bought them like a shot! For my birthday this year, my husband gave me a pair of yellow sandals that I had admired very loudly and at great length (gentle hints don't work with my husband!) My wicked children teased me about them. "Look! She's wearing The Yellow Shoes!" they would say whenever I wore them. "Nothing bad could EVER happen while you're wearing The Yellow Shoes!"

See you tomorrow when I'm planning to have a video tutorial for you!

Choose Happiness

We're having a warm, mellow September here in the heart of England and it's inspired me to pair up Stampin' Up's gorgeous Coastal Cabana and Island Indigo and throw in a zing of sunshine yellow! Come and see:

The Choose Happiness stamp set was just made for casual layering like this and I honestly think you could arrange the elements in the set any old how and it would work beautifully!

You might be wondering where these embellishments are coming from? Well the strip of Coastal Cabana and that cute little mini bulldog clip are from the Tag-a-Bag Accessories kit and the pearls were coloured with one of my Daffodil blendabilities pens. I'm loving colouring everything with my blendies!

I based this card on the fabulous sketch over at CASE this Sketch, so I'll be linking up there.

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

Choose Happiness Wood-Mount Stamp Set £21.95	And Many More Wood-Mount Stamp Set £32.95	Tag A Bag Accessory Kit £7.25	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment £10.95
Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Old Olive Assortment £10.95	Basic Pearls Jewel Accents £4.50	Bermuda Bay Baker's Twine £2.50	Paper Snips £8.95	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig £10.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products 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.

Yesterday my youngest son came home from school and told me that he's really enjoying Physics. I said I was pleased for him and that perhaps he finds it so easy to understand because of his experience on the lighting crew. He looked at me. "You know, I think you might have got the wrong idea about lighting the play," he said. "Basically I'm just shining a light on some people talking!"

See you tomorrow - ooh and don't miss it because it'll be the Artisan Design Team blog hop and there will be amazing things to see!