Floral Wings note card set - Stampin' Up artisan blog hop

Hello and welcome to the official Stampin' Up artisan design team blog hop! Every week the team pulls out all the stops to inspire you and, this week, we're looking at Hostess sets - exclusive, specially-priced stamp sets to spend your Stampin' Rewards on!

HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTEST
All the sets are just gorgeous (you can see them on pages 179-181 of the new annual catalogue) but I chose just one, the fabulous photopolymer Floral Wings, to make my set of note cards. Come and see:

When making a set of cards, I tend to stick to the 'same design, different colours' rule or, as I've done here, 'same colours, different design'. I love Watermelon Wonder and Cucumber Crush together and thought I'd team them with black for a bit of 'edge' - it's a bit like wearing a leather jacket over a feminine frock!

This vine image is beautiful and versatile. I've repeat-stamped it here to make deep borders and added the single rose along it randomly.

The gorgeous stylised roses in this set reminds me a little of the sort of folk art you get on barges. I wanted to keep my cards very clean and simple but embellishment junkies could certainly add a sprinkle of gems or a touch of glitter!

Stampin' Up photopolymer stamps are top quality and I found the polka dot butterfly stamps like a dream with no blotching :) The wings have gaps in them so that you can stamp the rose cluster in them - isn't that fun?! I pierced a hole above and below the butterfly and threaded a single piece of black bakers twine through, securing it on the back with tape.

I used one of the two sentiments that comes with the set on all these cards and tied them up with coordinating ribbon, the divine Dotted Lace Trim which comes in all this year's new in-colours. And talking of coordination, the new Bold Butterfly framelits dies were designed to go with Floral Wings too, making it an even more attractive option!

• Remember, Hostess sets are available to buy with Stampin' Rewards when you place an order of £150 or more. This can be an individual order or a group order, so why not show your catalogue to friends and family?

I bet you're dying to see what the rest of the team have come up with this week! Just click the button below to follow the blog hop, with the amazing Allison Okamitsu up next!

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

Floral Wings Photopolymer Stamp Set £9.00	Basic Black A4 Card Stock £6.50	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad £5.50	Basic Black Baker's Twine £2.75	Watermelon Wonder 1" Dotted Lace Trim £5.50	Cucumber Crush 1" Dotted Lace Trim £5.50

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.

We had a laugh the other morning: My youngest son has been doing a drama workshop at school and was asked to wear a black t shirt and joggers. "You look nice," I said as he left in the morning. "Thanks," he said. "Do you think I look like a gym lad?" Thoughts of 'ooh arr Jim lad' ran through my confused brain. "What? Like a pirate?" I said.

Enough of this nonsense! I'll be back tomorrow with the fabulous weekly deals, so do join me then.

Say hello with You've Got This by Stampin' Up

When life goes a little crazy, it's lovely to be able to rustle up a card in a few minutes. Today's note card is quick and simple but (hopefully!) effective. Come and see:

The recipe for this card is:

• Ink up the flower head with red and green markers and stamp onto a panel (repeat 3 times.)
• Colour the stamens if you like.
• Add a sentiment.
• Attach to a card base.

Yes, that's all folks!

The sentiment is one of my hot favourites at the moment - a ticker tape-style greeting from the gorgeous hostess set Silhouettes and Script. And here's a tip for people that hate the pressure of drawing a frame: Run the edge of a black marker gently along the edges of a panel instead for a similar look :)

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

You've Got This Wood-Mount Stamp Set £35.00	Brights Stampin' Write Markers £27.50
Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker £3.25	Silhouettes & Script Wood-Mount Stamp £13.00

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.

The peonies in my little garden have somehow managed to escape the ravages of The Beige Beast but haven't yet come into flower. They're late aren't they - but perhaps they're terrified to draw attention to themselves!

Do come back and visit tomorrow won't you as it'll be Artisan Design Team blog hop day and there'll be hostess trolley-loads of inspiration! See you then,

Break out the Bohemian Borders!

It makes me smile to think of crafters all over the world happily making wish lists from the new Stampin' Up catalogue! What products have caught your eye this time? The Gift Bag punch board perhaps? Or the amazing Tree Builder punch? For me, it's always the stamp sets that get my heart beating faster - like the gorgeous Bohemian Borders I've used today. Come and see:

Bohemian Borders is a photopolymer set so it's easy to stamp patterns with it as you can see just where you're stamping. And it doesn't matter if your positioning isn't perfect (as you may have noticed!) I think it just adds to the 'woven' look ;)

I used lovely, intense jewel colours for this card - Delightful Dijon, Watermelon Wonder, Tempting Turquoise and Night of Navy as my 'neutral'. For an extra bit of texture I scored a frame in the centre of the card front using my Simply Scored tool.

A BIT OF INSPIRATION
I haven't played along with any card challenges lately because life has been challenging enough! I did happen to spot this week's CASe this Card sketch though and came over all inspired!

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

Bohemian Borders Photopolymer Stamp Set £15.00	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00
Delightful Dijon Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Simply Scored £25.95

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.

My family are growing up fast - but not too fast it seems! Yesterday I spotted my youngest son hovering about by the hall mirror. "Yes! I did it!" he cried suddenly. "Did what?" I asked. "I made my mouth look like a ducks' beak!" he said with great pride!

See you tomorrow,

Get ready for the new Stampin' Up catalogue 2015-16!

Are you ready to see all this year's fabulous new Stampin' Up products? Today the brand new annual catalogue 2015-16 goes live and you can browse all the fabulous new stamps, punches and tools, papers and accessories by clicking on the catalogue below!

• New catalogue products are are NOW AVAILABLE from my online shop by clicking on the image below.

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.

TUESDAY 2ND JUNE IS OVERLAP DAY - BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!

• You'll be able to order from the spring summer catalogue and the retiring list as well as from the new catalogue.

• Selected items from the 2014-15 catalogue and the spring summer catalogue will carry over to the new 2015-16 catalogue. On 2nd June you will be able to buy these at the 2014-15 prices.

• You'll be able to select hostess items from the spring summer catalogue and the retiring list as well as from the new catalogue.

• You'll benefit from the existing, extra-generous hostess credit programme on 2nd June. The new hostess credit programme will start from 3rd June.

Here's a card I made with A Whole Lot of Lovely, one of the new hostess sets in the new catalogue. I think it describes my customers rather well!

I'll be busy with my family over the next few days as they seem keen to celebrate me getting older ;) See you on Thursday when I'll be back with the rest of the Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team to inspire you with some of the fabulous new punches from the new catalogue! Don't miss that!

Moving house with Life's Adventure by Stampin' Up

Yesterday I was very excited to share the Stampin' Up retirement lists with you and explained that this year's hostess stamp sets are about to retire too. I showed you a card made with I Like You and today it's the turn of Life's Adventure. Come and see:

The images in this set are fabulously 'sketchy'. For my new home card I used the house, giving it a wash of colour with an aquapainter and ink and cutting it out with my sharp paper snips.

The house was mounted on a hill embossed with the Spring Flowers embossing folder on p.19 of the spring/summer catalogue. I punched circles out of a piece of Soft Sky card stock so that when it was mounted onto the card base it revealed the white card below and formed clouds. Isn't that fun?!

• The exclusive hostess sets are designed to reward customers who place an order of £150 or more. Any time this happens, you'll earn 'credits' which can be 'spent' on these specially-priced hostess sets or anything else you fancy from any current catalogue. The best news is that the order can be your own or a group order, so it's well worth showing a catalogue to your friends and family.

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

Card Stock A4 Pear Pizzazz £6.25	Spring Flowers Textured Impressions Embossing Folder £7.50	Life's Adventure Wood-Mount Stamp Set FREE as part of hostess rewards	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky £6.25	1" Circle Punch £11.50	3/4" Circle Punch £11.50

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.

I really enjoyed making the little scene today but I think that cute house would be a bit exposed in real life! There is a happy medium though and I have to say the triffids in our garden are getting out of hand again, climbing the walls of our house trying to get in. A long string of clematis made me jump out of my skin the other day as it slapped against the window in a sudden gust of wind! It needs sorting out but I imagine that gardening with Eva could turn into high comedy...

 I'm so excited about tomorrow's Artisan Design Team blog hop and if you're always looking for ideas for using designer paper, you'll definitely want to join us! See you tomorrow,

Buy retiring Stampin' Up products at up to 50% discount!

Today is such an exciting day for Stampin' Up fans! Why? Because it's the day the company publishes its retiring list for 2015!

Lots of stamp sets and accessories in the Stampin' Up annual catalogue and spring/summer catalogue will not be available to buy after 2nd June. It's these that will appear on the retiring list and you'll find some of them at bargain prices of up to 50% discount too! Items on the list are only available while stocks last - and they do sell out pretty quickly, so don't miss out!

Just one more thing: Stampin' Up's digital suite is sadly being discontinued but that does mean some digi bargains, with everything at 30% off!

I'll stop waffling now because I know you just want to see the lists!

Stampin' Up products, retiring 2015

Stampin' Up digital (MDS), retiring 2015

The current hostess sets will also be retiring of course and today's card features a real favourite of mine called I Like You. Come and see:

This stamp set is a dream to colour in and works brilliantly as the focal point of a project (as in this gift set, or this card and treat box, or this canvas bag) but today, I've used the set to create a background, stamping it in Marina Mist ink and colouring it with a Soft Sky marker.

The beautiful branch from Indescribable Gift makes a wonderful contrast. I watercoloured it with Hello Honey and Strawberry Slush inks before cutting it out with my sharp paper snips.

• The exclusive hostess sets are designed to reward customers who place an order of £150 or more. Any time this happens, you'll earn 'credits' which can be 'spent' on these specially-priced hostess sets or anything else you fancy from any current catalogue. The best news is that the order can be your own or a group order, so it's well worth showing a catalogue to your friends and family.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!

Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

Indescribable Gift Wood Stamp Set £18.95	Marina Mist Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	I Like You Wood-Mount Stamp Set £13.00	Subtles Stampin' Write Markers £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.

I really do have the loveliest children in the universe! I was feeling sad at the weekend and look what my youngest son made me to cheer me up.

Bless his cotton socklets! Nothing bad could possibly happen, he told me, when there are truffles!

See you tomorrow,