Lovely as a tree

Lovely as a Tree is one of the stamp sets that has been in Stampin' Up!'s catalogue forever! I don't know what would happen if it retired!

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Sincere Salutations
Designer Series Paper: Mocha Morning
Card: Early Espresso, Naturals Ivory

The sentiment on this last card is from a retired set that was in a previous mini catalogue and that sadly never made it in to the main catalogue. Remember the current summer mini catalogue ends on 31 August 2012, so if there is something you have your eye on in their please don't wait too late to order. I would hate for anyone to be disappointed.

Birthday Card in a Box

Pam Morgan demonstrated this idea at convention 2010 and I am only now getting around to trying it out!

It's a little tealight in a box with a matching mini birthday card.

 

The paper is from the Nursery nest pack and the cardstock used is Pink Pirouette, Wisteria Wonder and Island Indigo. 

The box window was cut using a framelits die.

 And as I've been sharing a birthday card with you today then it seems only right to share this video.

As promised here are a couple of quick cards using the Beautiful Wings Embosslit die. These are so quick and easy to make - really handy for that last minute card you forgot about!

I used the script stamp set from the French Foliage set to stamp the background using Crumb Cake ink. I'd completely overlooked this set until I was at Tartan Stampers training last year and Sharon had made her shoebox swap and also her scrapbook class layout using this set. It is really versatile - great for adding texture and interest to the background of your card or scrapbook page. It's on page 59 of the current catalogue and definitely worth a second look.

 

The flower is stamped in Pool Party ink and is from the ever useful Just Believe set. The butterfly is cut from Pool Party card stock using the Beautiful Wings die and the base of the card is Confetti White card (pg 95 - 106557 £8.25 for 40 sheets). I added some pearls too to complete the butterfly, and finally stamped the sentiment using the Birthday Wishes stamp from the Sincere Salutations set.

And here is the card made up using Wisteria Wonder instead of Pool Party.

A quick word about Sincere Salutations - This is one of the sets that I got in my starter kit - way back in February 2008. It's been used over and over again. But as it's not in the new US catalogue I wouldn't be at all surprised if this one retires at the end of September. So please don't delay if you need this very versatile set of greetings stamps.

To place an order please email me at: thefineartofstampin@gmail.com.
Remember the Everyday Enchantment offer is still available until the end of July with free ribbon (two full rolls) and brads if you order is £45 or more.

The Tartan Stampers Mini Catalogue 2011 Blog Hop!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. Thanks for "hopping" by. (sorry!)

If you've hopped here from Sharon's blog, weren’t her projects gorgeous? And doesn't her blog look fab? All posh and everything!

If you’re one of my usual blog readers and have come straight here and are not sure what’s going on, I am taking part in a Blog Hop today to launch the new Stampin’ Up! Mini Catalogue 2011.
There will be a link at the end of this post to Fiona's blog, where she will also have fabulous projects, and a link to the next blog, and so on. There are 10 blogs in total in this hop, so pop the kettle on and settle back with a cuppa while you browse.

First of all I can't quite believe how amazing the new mini catalogue is. Stampin' Up! really have excelled themselves this time. If you'd like your own copy of the mini catalogue please get in touch - contact details in the side bar <<<<<<< over there :-)

First up is a set of three projects I made using the Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum and Rose Red colour combo that are all in the subtles collection.

Look I actually made a scrapbook page - I first got in to scrapbooking way back in 2004 but for some reason this is the first scrapbook page I have made in about two years. I'm really not sure why that is but I really enjoyed making this page so who knows maybe I'll try it again some time soon!

The photos were taken when my mum, Kirsten and I took our girlie trip to Paris last summer. I should mention that Kirsten's Esmerelda figure came along too - so she could "see" Notre Dame again!

The new products from the 2011 Mini catalogue used to make this page include the Flower Burst Embosslit Die (114515), Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die (114507) and the Extra Large Decorative Label Punch (120907).

Other supplies include patterned paper from the Subtles Designer Series Paper Patterns Stack (117152) - as an aside this is seriously good value for money at £15.50 for 40 (yes that's forty!) sheets of double sided papers. I made the third flower using the scallop circle punch. The flower centres are some wee subtles designer buttons (119745) and there's a bit of Rhinestones (119246) bling on there as well.

The stamp sets used were Artistic Etchings (W 118517/C 120573) and Schoolbook Serif Alphabet (113510) - perfect for scrapbook pages as well as for personalised cards.

And because I'm basically quite lazy and everything was lying about on my work table already I used lots of the same products to make my next card.

What's new here though is the Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder (114517) - how gorgeous is that? I really, really love that Stampin' Up! now have embossing folders so we can add lots of lovely texture to our cards.

Other supplies used include the Curly Label Punch (119851) and the Tiny Tags (W 118091/ C 118592) stamp set.

The last of these three is all sparkly and pretty! I used the waste piece from cutting out the Beautiful Butterflies die on my Big Shot (113439) - oooh that's right we have the Big Shot now. Did I forget to mention that? :-) - as a stencil. I used a sponge dauber and ink from the ink pads to stencil three butterflies on some Whisper White cardstock. I then went over the butterfly images with a 2-Way Glue Pen and added some Fine Cosmo Stampin' Glitter (108796).

I then used the Scallop Trim Border Punch (118402) to make a fancy edge and the sentiment is from the Level 3 hostess set Occasional Quotes. One of the perks of being a demo is that we get to purchase a Level 2 and Level 3 hostess set before the launch of each main catalogue.

As well as this blog hop the Tartan Stampers Team have also organised a card swap to celebrate the launch of the mini. Here are the cards I made all packed up and ready to go.

And here are the second set I made. One of my downline had only recently signed up and didn't have enough supplies from the new Mini catalogue (yet!) to make up cards for the swap so I kindly volunteered to make some for her - yaay me! ;) - so she would have some more cards to show her new customers.And here are these two cards close up:


I used the Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder on vellum paper (108631), Four Frames (W 123440 /C 123442) stamp set that co-ordinates with the XL Decorative Label Punch and some Pear Pizzaz Seam Binding Ribbon (122330). This is gorgeous stuff, its very light and so easy to work with and it comes in three other fabulous colours Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake and Rose Red.

For the card below I used the fabulous Top Note Bigz die (113463) ( I have been coveting this ever since I saw it in the US Stampin' Up! catalogue what seems like eons ago!), the Little Leaves Sizzlets Die (114511) which is so, so useful. I can see myself using this lots. The flower is made from four of the smallest flower on the Fun Flowers Bigz L die (121812), crumpling them up and then fastening them together with a brad.

The designer series paper is the wonderful Springtime Vintage (121782). I've only used the teeniest of pieces on this card but hope to share some more projects with more of this gorgeous paper very, very soon ;).
The sentiment is from that old favourite, a classic, but a goodie Sincere Salutations (105156)

I really hope you've enjoyed looking at my projects made with some of the new products. Look out for some more blog posts showcasing even more in the next few days. If you'd like to place an order or host a workshop (where you can earn FREE stamp sets and product) then do please get in touch. I'd love to hear from you.

And now its time to say goodbye and for you to hop on over to the Fabulous Fiona's blog for some more amazing projects.

Bye for now and thanks for visiting.

Sketch challenge

This was my card for the sketch challenge over on In Love With Stamping. I used my 3/4" circle punch to cut out lots of circles and then stuck them to the larger circle to make a scalloped edge.

Supplies:
Designer Series Paper: Fall Flowers
Card: Kraft, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Stamp Sets: Garden Silhouettes (level 2 hostess gift); Sincere Salutations;
Ink: Old Olive
Accessories: Kraft Taffeta Ribbon, 3/4" circle punch