Simple Thank You Cards

I love getting inspiration from Pinterest and other Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators. I find their cards so beautiful with so many lovely products used. Sometimes though I love to return to simple cards. I find that I can make multiples of the simple cards quickly and also I am less likely to make mistakes if I am tired.

My inspiration for these cards was the stamp set ‘Biggest Wishes.’ this is a gorgeous sentiment set with bold lettering statement stamps and smaller swirly italic stamps for the sentiments which are Happy, Birthday, Hello, Friend and Thanks. I wanted to create simple Thanks card, which also used up some of my embellishments (I discovered that I had two packs of the Artistry Blooms Sequins open and wanted to use them up.)

Simple Thanks cards, using Biggest Wish and Artistry Blooms Sequins from Stampin' Up!

My colour inspiration for the cards came from the Artistry Blooms Sequins, these are Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, Mango Melody and Rich Razzleberry. Coastal Cabana has been growing on me recently as I start to have the confidence to use brighter coloures. Rich Razzleberry has always been a favourite it was one of the colours which I fell in love with, when I learnt about the colour combinations and the first ink pad I owned. I have to confess I don’t use Calypso Coral or Mango Melody very often, they are colours which I should use more.

Simple Thanks cards using Biggest Wish and Artistry Blooms Sequins from Stampin' Up!

Measurements

Metric

Card Base - 10cm x 20cm (scored at 10cm)

Insert - 9.5cm x 9.5cm

Imperial

Card Base - 4 inches by 8 inches (scored at 4 inches)

Insert 3 3/4 inches by 3 3/4 inches

Tips and Tricks

• for the bases use a full sheet of A4 in Basic White

• score the paper at 4 inches (10cm) before cutting the card on the short side

• cut card at 4 inches move card around so uncut side is on measurements and cut again

• ensure to burnish completely

• to make the colours lighter use second or third generation stamping (stamp off on scrap paper once of twice depending on colour wanted)

• if you are unsure on lining up the swirly stamp either stick to the bold or practice lining the stamps up on a scrap piece of paper

• for perfect alignment use the Stamparatus or a stamp platform.

Simple Thanks cards, using the Biggest Wish stamp set, Rich Razzleberry and Artistry Blooms Sequins from Stampin' Up!

These cards can be created, with any stamps, inks, papers and embellishments. I love the Coastal Cabana version, which is your favourite?

Hope Box Paper Pumpkin

Stampin’ Up! are really spoiling us this year for Paper Pumpkins, there are currently three available, one of them is on clearance. The newest available Paper Pumpkin kit is The Hope Box.

The Hope Box Paper Pumpkin Kit was inspired by Stampin’ Up! cofounder, Shelli Gardner, whose vision was to add more hope into the world. It contains everything you need to create 9 gorgeous cards. The added bonus is that when the cards are completed you can decorate the gorgeous box and you will still have the stamp set to create other beautiful cards with!

The picture below shows the contents of the kit. Stampin’ Up! have also released a video to show the kit too.

Such a gorgeous Paper Pumpkin kit, which is your favourite?

Love Santa Kit

Oooooo Stampin’ Up! are spoiling us again. They have released another new kit which creates some stunningly gorgeous tags. The Love, Santa Tag Kit from Stampin’ Up!’s kit collection is another all inclusive kit. All inclusive kits have the embellishments, ink pads, ribbons and block you need to create the gorgeous gorgeous tags. My favourite part is that you can reuse the stamps after the kit has been used up to create more gorgeous items. I have a fabulous collection of kit stamps which make gorgeous cards, I store them all together in an stamp case.

It has been suggested that the tag toppers could be cut off and the tags added to a card. I am not sure about this yet, my kit is still in my box (I am attempting to finish off some cards before I get distracted with new gorgeous items). I will experiment with them when I have the chance, but I do think that the example tags, look amazing!

As with all kits, I recommend that you will need a bone folder, a pair of scissors and some liquid glue. Although liquid glue is not specifically recommended, I use it to ensure that I have a little wriggle room when sticking items together.

The video below shows the Stampin’ Up! CEO Sara Douglass showing how to put together the kit step-by-step.

There are also a collection of gorgeous bags, which would be perfect to wrap up presents or make items for Christmas Eve boxes. I love the car the most, which is your favourite?

New stamps and dies - What do I do now?

I often think that sometimes I have a number of hobbies, buying stamps, using my stamps and cleaning/organising my craft room. I am really good at buying stamps, not so good at utilising my stamp collection or organising my room.

I have to admit, that I lack confidence sometimes in what to create. Sometimes I can take up the limited time in my craft room pondering what to create. To overcome my block, I prepare my stamps and dies to show how they stamp and the look of the dies. I look at the combinations of the stamped messages and write out some of the options. For Words of Cheer, I considered just buying the dies, but the sentiments are gorgeous and can be used for inside and outside sentiments

I also look at the catalogue for ideas from the concept artist. As a demonstrator I can access the information which shows what items have been used to create each card and also the basic techniques, this helps as a starting point (you can use the pictures or contact me directly if you have any questions about catalogue samples.) I then tend to create a board on Pinterest to Pin the items that I find using the stamps and dies I am playing with. I am conscious that not all examples and images can be seen on Pinterest so I also tend to do a Google search and look at the images ( I must confess sometimes you get some random images so be careful what you put in the search box!) These images can be saved to Pinterest or can be saved for future reference, I tend to try and Pin them to Pinterest as that is where I tend to look for inspiration. Of course, there is also Facebook and Instagram as well, also its does not have to be the stamp and die set you are using which inspires you, it doesn’t even need to be Stampin’ Up! I tend to pin anything which inspires me .

Pining keeps me quiet when I someone has stolen all my spoons. I love searching for inspiration, I just have to ensure that I remember to craft too. What do you use to find inspiration and to start creating with your new stamps and dies?

Painted Christmas Suite

I haven’t made it in to the craft room this week or today. I am currently on Auntie Claire duty watching my nieces, although I have lots of ideas running through my head. So rather than one of my videos, I am sharing one of the Stampin’ Up! videos created to show some of the items in the July to December catalogue. It is a gorgeous suite of items, my favourite stamp set in the catalogue is in this suite. It is the Christmas to Remember cling stamp set. As it is cling it is easy to add multiple colours with Stampin’ Write markers or use with Versamark and Heat and Stick to add the Gold Gilded leafing.

It is another one of those suites where the items work well together, but also work well on there own if you don’t want to or can’t buy it all. I can’t wait to get back to the craft room and add some more Christmas cards to my collection. Have you started your Christmas cards yet?