Ann's cards

Today was my monthly Saturday morning workshop.

Ann had expressed an interest in making the diamond cards that I made 

using my little template/stencil with the Triangle punch.

I showed her how to make the acetate stencil, and she set to and made lots of beautiful cards. 

Here are some of the cards she made this morning -

if you would like to see more, pop round to her blog and

see the other things she has made HERE

Aren't these fabulous - great work Ann!!

Crafting with Chris

Well it's been a full and busy but enjoyable day.

Up early for the hairdressers first thing, then off to Chris's to craft.

We each made a card, then went to Crystal Peaks to meet Janice 

(Chris and Barry's younger sister) for a spot of lunch.

A quick trip into Poundland for dishwasher tablets on the way out,

then back to Chris's and made another card.

After that came home, cooked dinner and sat relaxing for a while.

Just realized I haven't posted on my blog, so thought I'd better do it now!

Here's the first card that we made today.

Front view - open

 Colour combo is So Saffron, Black and White.

Card base made from 1/2 a sheet of 12" x 12" Subtles DSP Stack.

The pieces that were cut off diagonally at the top are reversed and stuck on the bottom

which you can see in more detail on the next photo

Fully open showing centre panel to write on

Card closed for posting

Part Open showing centre panel detail.

Stamp sets used : Papillon Potpourri, Everything Eleanor and the sentiment from Petite Pairs.

Really like this different fold, have enjoyed making this - thanks Chris!

WWWU#19

Usually I am a little earlier in the week in posting my card, but here's mine now for  WWWU#19.

This week the colour combo that Julie has chosen is 

Soft Sky, Rose Red and Pear Pizzaz.

Stamp sets used - Happy Day, for the sentiments Petite Pairs.

Punches used Label Bracket , Bird Builder, Boho Blossoms, 1" circle and 7/8 inch Scallop Circle.

Basic Pearl embellishments for flower centres.

Another version of this card

You may recall that on Sunday I posted Sheila's birthday card - it was red and white,

well today, here is a different version of that card,

this time with a colour combo of Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse and Pacific Point.

This is the card that one of my Tuesday ladies chose to make

following the pattern of Sheila's card.

Card open - Front view

Side view

Card closed - front view

This card was made by Janet from the Tuesday class

fabulous card!!  Love the colours and the papers.

Punch Art Postcard - 102 years old!!

I thought that you blog readers might enjoy and appreciate this little snippet.

My friend Barbara (from the Tuesday Crafters) brought this postcard along today.

Her husband Ken is a Philatelist (stamp collector) and had come across this postcard

when sorting through some items that had belonged to a friend of his.

When I said that it was a punch art postcard, I was only joking, but it is a hand crafted

postcard, made out of used postage stamps and the borders of sheets of stamps, 

hand cut and stuck on this ordinary postcard.  I love it for the fact that it's a golfer - not sure whether it is an ant or a grasshopper playing golf - what do you think?

The writing says

Dear Dorothy.  How do you like

my Postcard Manufacturing

I made this especially for you

Auntie B

At the bottom it says Golf at Harrogate.

The postmark is Harrogate and it was posted at 6:15 21st September 1912

Yes 1912!!  It is over a hundred years old!

And it only cost a halfpenny stamp to post.

Notice there was no need for a post code either, Dorothy received this safely - probably the next day!!

Hope that this has been of as much interest to you as it has to me.

A little gift box

At Telford I received a lovely little gift box with two chocolate sweets inside,

 as a swap from fellow Stampin' Up Demonstrator, Maria Mitchell.

Here's my version of this little box.

Front view - closed

Top view - closed

Side view - open

Rear view - open

The box measures 2 inches square by 1.1/4" deep and is a useful size for small items of jewellery.

The colour combo is mainly Coastal Cabana, Tangerine Tango and White.

Paper is from Retro Fresh Designer Series Paper.

Flowers stamped and punched using Flower Shop stamp set with Pansy Punch

and Petite Petals stamp set and matching Punch.

The lid sides are punched using the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch.

The fastener is a piece of  Pool Party Twine (SAB)

Flower centre is a Basic Rhinestone.

I really love this little box - thank you so much Maria

Sheila's Birthday

Today is the birthday of one of the ladies who comes to my monthly Saturday morning workshops-

Sheila - and here's the card I made for her.

Front view

Side view

Folded flat for posting.

The colour combo is a simple Real Red and White.

The papers are from the Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Stack.

Sentiment from Simply Sketched.

Circle Framelits used to make Semi Circle on Easel and Red Circle on top.

Thinlets Circle (for Pop Up card)   used for scalloped circle centre.

Flowers are punched from Whisper White card stock with the Petite Petals punch,

gems for centres of flowers from my stash.

Happy Birthday Sheila - hope you have had a lovely day with your family today,

and have a lovely holiday!

I Phone stepper card

Here's a card that I made, inspired by the lovely Amanda at The Craft Spa

At one of our Jems' training events, Amanda made us an I Phone for her card swap

(it was the all day training when we did all male themed items)

She gave us homework to do - we had to make the stepper card for

the I Phone to be "docked" onto.

Last night Carol and I had a go at making our own based on the instructions that Amanda gave us

 - you can find them by following the link above.

The phone

Front view of  phone "docked" with speakers

Side view of completed stepper card.

We really enjoyed making these - thanks Amanda!!

Love and Sympathy

Needed a sympathy card to send to a friend whose uncle died this week, and due to pressures of time

(and golf) it had to be a quick card. At last nights craft class, I showed the ladies how to make the diamond stencil using the Triangle Punch and then how to arrange the diamonds in a pleasing order.

The card that I produced was ideal to make a sympathy card with.

Here it is.

Colour combo is Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder.

The stamp set for the sentiments is Love and Sympathy.

I am really pleased with this - hope that she takes comfort from it.

70th Birthday card

I needed a card in a hurry for a 70th birthday today,

I went to my box of cards for occasions (that I leave blank ready to add a greeting later)

and chose this one as I love the colours on it and knew that Rita would love it too.

I just added the scalloped circle , stamped with an Everything Eleanor stamp,

punched out the middle and die cut a 70 in Crisp Cantaloupe to pick out the colour 

from the (retired Sale-a-bration) DSP.

I added the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes and voila 

- a card finished off literally in minutes - managed to get it sent yesterday afternoon,

so Rita will have received it today for her special celebration.

Happy 70th Birthday!!

Brother's Birthday.

Tomorrow is my brother Chris's birthday and here's the card I have made for him.

This is another card that I made at Chris's (sis-in-law) last week!

(Cased from Jenni Moors blog)

Another card using the Rev up the Fun stamp set - it's been really useful for men's cards.

Colour combo is Real Red, Pacific Point, Smoky Slate, Black and White.

Embossed the Smoky Slate card with the Chevron Textured Impressions Embossing folder.

Maggie and I are taking him out to lunch tomorrow, so it should be nice to have a little get together!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Template for stencilling diamonds

First of all I must apologise for not posting these instructions yesterday, as I said I would.

I do hope that you will forgive me, and still have a go at making the template and having a go at designing your own card using it.

Here we go then!

You need a piece of Window Sheet or a piece of a sheet of acetate- I used an A6 piece for mine

(approximately) and a Stampin' Up! Triangular punch (Item number133375 £14.25)

For these photos I have used White card on a black background so that you can see what's been done.

First of all, punch your triangle from the bottom of the narrow side of your acetate

 Check the measurement of how far up the acetate it punches - I measured it at 1.1/8 inches

Double this measurement i.e. 1.1/8 x 2 = 2.1/4" then cut the acetate at this depth

(Keep the spare piece of acetate to one side - you will use this to make your template a workable size.)

You will end up with a piece like this

Rotate this piece through 180 degrees (your triangle will now be upside down)

and measure the distance between the LH corner of the triangle and the side - mark a line at this distance.

This will be your visual guide as to where to place the triangle punch the second time.

If you have got it spot on (it took me about three goes to get it right!!)

you should then have your diamond shape punched out of the acetate.

Now retrieve your other piece of acetate and cut it in half.  

Place one piece above  and one piece below your punched diamond piece.

Sellotape them together as shown below.

Your finished stencil should look like this (I know its not very clear, but see next picture.)

Here I have sponged round the edge of the acetate and onto the cut out diamond

to make it show up a bit clearer.

I wrote "this side up" because I had stuck the sellotape on the reverse side of the acetate-

that way you can clean your stencil without damaging it.

And there you have it - a ready to go diamond shape stencil.

I would like someone to test out these instructions for me and let me know if they are clear enough,

or whether I have missed something out.

If you test this, could you email me and let me know?

katemartin@sky.com

Enjoy!!

Telford Swaps

I have scheduled this post for you to view whilst I am having a fabulous time (no doubt)

at the Stampin' Up! Regional event at the International Centre Telford.

One of the things that takes place at these events is that the Demonstrators swap cards.

Here are the ones that I will be swapping.

(I have made 50 in total - a few of each design)

The colour combo of them all is

Baked brown Sugar. Coastal Cabana. Pistachio Pudding and Black.

Stamp sets : Summer Silhouettes, So Very Grateful and Petite Pairs

Stamp sets : Summer Silhouettes, Four You and Petite Pairs

Stamp sets : Summer Silhouettes, Simply Sketched and Petite Pairs

Stamp sets: Four You, The Open Sea and Clockworks.

Stamp sets : Summer Silhouettes, So Very Grateful and Petite Pairs

Stamp sets : Summer Silhouettes and Petite Pairs

Tomorrow I will post instructions on how I made the stencil for the Diamond shape,

 using the Triangle Punch - maybe you'd like to have a go yourself.

Lexie's altered notebook.

Lexie (my grand-daughter aged 7)  was at our house this afternoon after choir practice,
along with Lucas.  After she had had her tea she wanted to do some crafting,
but didn't have much time as she had to have her shower before going home.

We quickly got her showered and dried and she made this little altered notebook in record time!!.

Here's Lexie's little notebook - colour combo is Pool Party and Crisp Cantaloupe.

She picked her own colours, ribbon and "bumpy thing" that's Lexie speak for an embossing folder
and decided to put her initial on this rather than having a sentiment.

Here's the little notebook that inspired Lexie to have a go herself -

I received this as a swap at a Training event earlier this year, but it hasn't got any details on it

so I can't give credit to the designer.

If you recognise this - please let me know and I will  put a mention on here.

Well done Lexie - you have done a lovely job!

Telford Event

Well I am getting rather excited now.

On Saturday it is our Stampin' Up! Regional Event at The International Centre, Telford.

A few hundred Stampin' Up! Demonstrators will be there to have a fabulous day together.

We will be shown some sneak peeks of the upcoming catalogue which launches 1st July!

We will be doing make and takes, updated on what's happening - and of course we will be  swapping!!

We all have to make a name badge - as well as making swaps.

My swaps are almost complete, but I won't show you them until Saturday,

meantime- here's my name badge

Colour combo is Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana, Pistachio pudding

on White card using Black Ink.

The diamonds are sponged through my home-made diamond stencil,

which, you may recall, was cut using the triangle punch.

The stamp set used was Summer Silhouettes,

Basic Rhinestones form the flower centres and I have put a dusting of 

Dazzling diamond glitter on the other flowers,

but I am not sure that it shows up on this picture.

and my name was computer generated.

Carol, Amanda and I will be travelling down to Telford together, (Carol has volunteered to drive 

so it will be nice and relaxing for me), setting off in the afternoon,

so that we are all refreshed and raring to go Saturday morning bright and early!

Can't wait - Yippeee!!

Ethan's birthday

I have made three birthday cards for people celebrating their birthday tomorrow.

I can't show two of the cards I have done as they are in the post and the recipients won't get them 

until the morning.  This one however I can show you, as it's for my Great Nephew, Ethan, who is in Lanzarote this week, so he won't get his card until he gets home next week.

I made this at Chris's and it's cased from Jenny Moors blog)

Colour combo is Smoky Slate, Basic Grey, Pacific Point, Real Red.and White.

The stamp set is Rev Up the Fun- which I thing is a super set for boys and men.

The little pennant is stamped using Banner Blast and punched with the matching punch.

Think that he will like this (but will appreciate the money inside it even more!!)

Tall Skinny CAS Birthday

This is what I describe as a tall skinny card -

it's A5 folded lengthways - hence it's tall and skinny.

I am really into CAS at the moment and you can't get much more Clean and simple than this!!

It's simply three panels of Night of Navy DSP cut from the Regals DSP Stack.

These are layered onto a mat of White card stock,

These three panels are raised on dimensionals

and the greeting (from Teeny Tiny Wishes) is stamped between the panel (using a Stamp-a-ma-jig).

The Little Leaves Sizzlit die was used to cut the leaf sprigs.

There you have it - CAS Tall Skinny birthday card!!

WWWU#17

It's that time of the week again - Wades Weekly Warm Up#17

I can't believe that we have done this Challenge for 17 weeks!!

Here's my offering for this week.

A very CAS card, but so pretty I think!
(Cased with permission from Liz Bartaby)

The colour combo this week is :

Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive.

I have used DSP from the In Colour DSP Stack (Crisp Cantaloupe)

with Crisp Cantaloupe Riffle Stretch Trim,

Little Leaves Sizzlit used to cut leaves in Old Olive CS.

2 Coral Calypso flowers, cut using Petiite Petals punch and layered on top 

of each other after shaping.

Flower centre is a 1/4" circle punched in Chocolate Chip CS then shaped.

The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Love this colour combo Julie!!

Frugal Friday #2 Challenge

I am really enjoying these Frugal Friday Challenges, and if you would like to know more,

or even join in, you will find Lizy's challenge HERE.

Basically, you take a pile of scraps from your desk and make something with them.

Here's what I made today with some of yesterdays scraps.

The colour combo was Real Red and White with a hint of Silver Glimmer.

Here's the pile of scraps that I used.

The piece of Fresh Prints DSP that was a left over, wasn't big enough to use as the central mat,

on this card, so I pieced it together with a scrap of White which I embossed with

the Textured Impressions Delicate Designs embossing folder

 (it looks like a patchwork quilt on the back of this layer!).

I punched an Extra Large Oval out of this piece of DSP before I layered it onto a piece of Whisper White card stock from my scrap box (it had a dirty mark in the middle) which I had gutted and used the

reverse side of the middle piece for the Oval Designer frame which was embossed and then fussy cut out.

The extra large oval piece of DSP was then glued into the oval frame.

I shaped the punched Petite Petal flowers and punched and shaped 1/4" circles for the flower centres,

and cut leaves out (with the Bird Builder Punch) from the scraps of Silver Glimmer Paper.

The sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes was stamped then punched with the Word Window punch. 

This was then stuck onto a piece of Real Red (which was punched from the piece of

card stock used for the first layer) using the Modern Label punch.

This was a really Frugal Friday card!!

I did use a completely new white base card - otherwise the other bits were all left overs.

I would like to enter this into

Frugal Friday Challenge #2
and
 Our Creative Corner Challenge- Love those leftovers