For 2024, I have decided to focus on a stamp set each month. And for January, I have been using the BEE MY VALENTINE suite for my coffee and Card group. The exception is the third Monday of each month, when we make Christmas cards.
Here is what is included in the suite;
The stamp set and punch are also available as a bundle at 10% off full price when purchased together.You can view all the products by following this link.
Here is the cards we have made at Coffee and Card, one specific for Valentine’s, the others for Birthdays;
And here are some others I have made using the suite of products.
Simple StampingIts all about the heart!Sweet as Honey?Pretty z fold card
They are all very simple and I hope they inspire you to make something!
Coffee and Card
I run a weekly Coffee and Card group at The Mallard, Westwood Lakes, Frampton. It runs from 11am til about 1pm every Monday. The cards are all suitable for all abilities.
I charge £7 which includes all you need to make 2 cards and a hot or cold drink of your choice.
If you would like to know more, please feel free to email me [email protected] or call me on 07979500779
This month (May, already), sees the return of a male themed project for the Tech4Stampers bloghop.
Its great that it is the start of the brand new Annual Catalogue, but that is also a bit of a dilemma. I have only purchased a small amount of the new stamps and dies, although I have refreshed all my coloured inks and cards. If you would like a copy of the catalogue, then send me a message (UK ONLY)
With this in mind, I decided to use lots of blues for my card, including several new or returning ones…..Misty Moonlight, Boho Blue, Azure Afternoon, alongside all my existing blue tones.
Whenever I cut a card layer, I am always left with thin strips of card and decided to use some of these up.
Firstly, I measured 7.2cm from the corners on the left hand side (both along the top, bottom and left hand edge and marked these places with a tiny pencil mark.
By faintly joining these marks, again in pencil, I had a guide to help line up the card strips evenly.
I then carefully cover the whole sheet with a sheet of adhesive (I actually still have the old Sizzix sheets that SU used to sell, so I’m using them up, but SU’s own are available on page 138 of the catalogue).
I removed the backing and then carefully started laying my strips along the inside edge of the lines that I had made, making a chevron effect. (Note; once the backing is removed you can easily see through the adhesive)
Once the chevrons were complete, I used my trimmer to cut off all the overhanging strips. I then cut larger triangles to cover the remaining card stock and trimmed from the back to fit my card.
I then ran it through my die cutting machine using the embossing plates and the Painted Texture embossing folder, which gave it some relief from the ‘flatness’!
The balloon is from the brand new Beautiful Balloons stamp set as is the greeting. This was then cut with the coordinating dies.
I used some of last years metallic woven ribbon (now retired) for a ‘tail’ on the balloon.
To finish off I used some Glossy Accents (not a Stampin’ Up! product) to give the balloon a lovely shine, and mounted the whole thing onto a basic white card base.
The finished card;
This is a great way to showcase all the different shades of colour available from Stampin’ Up! and also a great way to use all those strips of card that non of us want to throw away!
Thanks for looking and I hope you will hop over (by clicking the links below) and see more inspiration for a For the Men project.
I used a sentiment from Framed Florets on the inside, also embossed in gold.
I love the finished item and hope you do too. Please leave me a comment below if you would like!
It would be great if you could hop over to my other friends who are taking part by clicking on the link below…who knows what ‘Something Square’ ideas you may find!
This card was designed for my Coffee and Card group using the FREE Sale-a-bration designer series paper ‘Dainty Flowers’ to make a Dainty Flowers Birthday card.
They coordinate with a bundle from the January to June mini catalogue called Dainty Delight. I don’t have the bundle, but honestly…I didn’t need it! The papers do all the work for you.They really are so pretty!
I made this sample card to show the group what we were making and used papers from the Tea Boutique collection as my background paper. However, if I’d looked more carefully there was a coordinating paper I could have used from the Dainty Flowers paper selection.
I used the retired triple punch to shape the corners of the oval flower paper and also the white inner.
The sentiment was from Framed Florets stamp set and this was die cut using a die from the retired Seasonal labels dies.
Sentiment from Framed Florets stamp setInner of card
Thanks a Bunch
As we make 2 cards each week at the Coffee and Card group, I thought I’d also show you the other card we made;
Thanks a bunch Thank you card
I had seen a similar card to the one pictured above by EMKcreations on pinterest and decided that I just had to case the idea .
The background papers are from my (far too big) retired collection of papers that I am trying to use up.
The upside down carrots make fabulous trees. These were stamped in Evening Evergreen (first and second generation stamping) and Garden Green (first and second generation stamping). I used the ‘A dark’ skin tone for the trunks of the trees, and the grass is Pear Pizzazz.
If you live local to me in Boston, Lincolnshire, you would be very welcome to join our very relaxed Coffee and Card group, which meets most Monday at 11am at The Mallard, Westwood Lakes, PE21 7JA. Check out my calendar here
If you wish to order via my online shop, then please use the Monthly host code shown below.
June’s HOST CODE IS
MMGNP3RG
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. I would really appreciate you leaving a comment.
Want to know more about Stampin’ Up!….email or call me (07979500779)
February and March, are busy times for me with many family and friends birthdays and not forgetting Mothers’ day too (for us in the UK). All those occasions gave me the perfect excuse to get out this brand new suite of products called Irresistible Blooms and have a play!
Originally, I was making this set of cards to coincide with a blog hop, but due to a technical issue, I was unable to set it up and participate. However, I did still want to share my makes from this set with you!
The products that I used were from the Irresistible Blooms stamp and die set (not available until 1st March 2023) and the coordinating Hello, Irresistible designer series papers. The colours that I used are Petal Pink, Flirty Flamingo and Daffodil Delight. There are other colours that also coordinate with this DSP, a couple of which are colours that are returning retired colours, so watch out in May to see what they are!
Did you know that every pack of Designer Series Papers made by Stampin’ Up! tell you on the reverse label which colour card stock coordinates? Isn’t that a fabulous idea?
Emboss Resist
Have you tried the emboss resist technique? I did for this card. I stamped my images in versamark ink, added white embossing powder, heat set and then used my blending brushes,dabbed onto ink pads, to colour the stamped images. A final ‘polish’ with a soft cloth or tissue removes the ink from the embossed areas to give a crisper outline. I think it gives a much softer feel to the card. In general, I’m not a flowery person, but must say I love this set!
The card above is my first card using this suite, and then I just couldn’t stop. Below are more cards I made using the same Irresistible Blooms stamps and dies and also the Hello Irresistible papers.
I do hope you enjoyed looking at my creation and it would be great if you could leave a comment – I love to read them!
Find Out More
Love the products that you’ve seen me use? You can order from me here ( but not until March). I will be running a workshop in March using products from the online exclusive offer. To find out more check out my classes and events page.
Buy from me
If you would like to purchase from my online shop, then please use the host code for the month
Host code for February is;
X2NDQ6RK
If you wish to order via my online shop, then please use the Monthly host code shown below.
Each month a lovely group of talented Stampin’Up! take part in a themed bloghop….its a great way to share our creativity with lots of people and hope you will follow the ‘hop’ by clicking on the links below. Some months I join in, but not always…..depending on other committments.
The theme for this months Bloghop is Love
I used the sentiment from Best Butterflies stamps and dies from the Give it a Whirl set for my card, and the colour palette of Sweet Sorbet and Parakeet Party. There is a full list of products that I used at the bottom of this post.
My card is inspired by my lovely friend, who is always bright and colourful and loves her ‘bling’.
The central panel is die cut using one of the Basic Border dies on a 5 1/2cm panel of designer series paper (DSP), from the Butterfly Kisses paper selection.
The back layer is using DSP from The Tea Boutique and the gorgeous Sweet Sorbet colour which I also used for the stamping on the front, inside and on the back panel.
I also added a panel of DSP to the inside of the card, but before adhering in place, I die cut 2 hearts from the edge of the panel, and then die cut a large heart in Sweet Sorbet and a smaller heart in Fresh Freesia and once the panel was stuck in place, I inlaid these hearts into the pre-cut ‘gaps’.
I die cut more hearts to embellish the front of the envelope, and then stamped on the back of the card with one of Stampin’ Up!s copyright stamped images. ‘Made with Love’ was very apt!!¬
I do love this years In colors and in particular, the lovely vivid Parakeet Party green and Sweet Sorbet. I used some of the Parakeet Party Metallic woven ribbon to embellish with a bow. I also added some Incolor Matte dots,
I do hope you enjoyed looking at my creation and it would be great if you could leave a comment – I love to read them! Don’t forget to support other demo’s by hopping over to their blogs using the links below;
Love the products that you’ve seen me use? You can order from me here or alternatively by clicking on any of the products that I’ve used that are listed below.
October already, and I’ve been rather lax at blogging lately, but alas, I’m back!
The theme for this months bloghop is ‘For the Men’ and I decided on an almost monochromatic style for this card.
The ‘He’s All That’ stamp set and the co coordinating ‘All That dies’, all part of the ‘He’s The Man suite’ in the 2022/23 annual catalogue, seemed perfect for my idea. My original idea was to not stamp on the card front, but as the card evolved, I decided to add some stamping too.
I had a basic black layer and die cut shapes from the ‘All That’ dies in basic gray, Smoky Slate and Gray Granite card stock. I played around with the shapes, layering some on top of each other until I was happy with the layout. But then I thought it all a little ‘flat’, so I embossed the Black layer with the ‘Brick and Mortar’ embossing folder and one of the circles with the retired ‘Painted textures’ embossing folder. This added some depth to the card but felt it still needed more.
I stamped the ‘no1’ stamp from the ‘He’s All That’ stamp set onto one the hexagons and the ‘compass’ shape onto a fresh piece of paper. I then die cut the compass with a circle from the ‘All That’ dies.
As I was putting fairly dark card onto a black background, I used the black dimensionals (check them out here if you haven’t seen them), as I really don’t like seeing white dimensionals on a dark background!
I layered it all onto a Gray Granite card base, added the ‘hooray’ from the co coordinating paper pack (already die cut and ready to use) and then popped a few Matt Black Dots
When it came to inside the card, I used a layer of Smoky Slate and masked off some of the words on one of the ‘He’s All That’ stamps and then added on ‘Happy Birthday from the ‘Go to Greetings’ stamps. I layered this onto a piece of Basic Black before adhering it into the card.
Its fun to play with just the dies….why don’t you give it a try and then add a few extra embellishments as need to finish off?
Want to see more ‘For The Men’ cards…don’t forget to click on the links below to see other fabulous ideas!
If you’d like to make a card like this one, below you will also find the ingredients needed, which you can order from my shop by clicking on the products listed. Don’t forget to use the ‘host code’ for this month…you can find that below or in the side bar!
For the very first time, I’ve decided to join in the Tech 4 Stampers Academy bloghop. The theme this month is Pretty in Pink and there are so many pretty pinks to choose from from Stampin’ Up! The Sweet Ice Cream stamps and punch I thought were perfect for this, especially with the better weather approaching.
After much deliberation and playing with lots of shades from my collection, I plumped for using the soon to be retired Magenta Madness ink and card stock. Unfortunately, since I made my card, the Magenta Madness ink has sold out, but this technique would work with any bright shade of pink…..Polished Pink, Melon Mambo etc.
I wanted to make a birthday card for an Ice Cream loving friend, so opted for the Sweet Ice Cream stamps and punch.
I began by tearing a sheet of copier paper carefully in a zigzag motion to give a ragged edge to the paper. Starting at the top of a piece of basic white cardstock, I placed the jagged edge on the card and using a blending brush covered the visible card with Magenta Madness ink. I kept moving the card down and in different angles and used the other piece torn from the paper and turned them over to give different waves until all of the card was covered.
I stamped the cone for the Ice Cream in Crumb Cake ink and punched it out with the co ordinating punch. The Ice creams again are in Magenta Madness, but you may notice that the colour looks a little different. This is because I used Wink of Stella on them after I had punched them out and this softens the colour but gives a lovely glimmer to the Ice Cream.
I added an Early Espresso flake to my Ice Cream – you can’t have an Ice Cream without!!
The sentiment too is in Magenta Madness, and then the card was layered onto some basic white and black card, and finally adhered to the Magenta Madness card base.
On the inside I added a basic white insert and stamped a little greeting and some ‘sprinkles’, all from the same stamp set.
This Photopolymer stamp set is currently in the sale, and also features Ice Lolly stamps. Want to find out more, then click here.
I hope my friend loves it…..I might take her an Ice Cream around with her birthday card…that would be fun!
Today, I was due to hold a workshop demonstrating the different ways to use the new Butterflies and Flowers layering masks (from the January to June mini catalogue)., but unfortunately this had to be postponed due to storm Eunice! I wanted to show several different mask techniques.
All the sets of masks available from Stampin’ Up! are shown below and all of the techniques I was going to demonstrate (and will when I reschedule the event) can be used with any of the masks.
These were my first play with the masks. Its very much trial and error, working out colour combinations and which tools to use, but lots of fun!!
Blending brushes…
Simple blended backgroundsDaisy mask and Daisy punchesTwo step butterfly mask
Simply using one, two or three coloured inks to make some stunning backgrounds, and then embellish as needed.
Die cutting machine…..
Embossed through die cutting machine…the image on the right was spritzed with alcohol and gives a deeper impression. Check your machine for which plate combination you need….and remember, if its very tight, then don’t force it…you have the wrong combination!!
Heat embossing……..
Gold heat embossing on black background, Black embossed sentiment on gold background
Embossing paste and re inkers……
Layering two masks at the same time and applying embossing paste that is coloured with a reinker. Don’t forget to mask off around the image you are using. You can see from my photo that I didn’t on my first attempt! I used an acetate card box for the design on the right.
Rubbing alcohol, shimmer paste and a spritzer…..
Spritzed background through maskClose up to show the shimmer
I pulled out my old retired Shimmer Paint for this. After fastening the mask down I sprayed a mix of alcohol and shimmer paint onto Night of Navy card. Love the effect I got!
Then after lots of playing, this is my favourite!
Blending brushes, Embossed and sponge daubersClose up
The ‘leaves’ mask was put through the embossing folder and leaving the mask in place I used a sponge dauber to carefully put ink onto the raised leaves. TIP; hold the mask carefully and dab the sponge dauber onto the leaves going along each tendril one at a time – they bend quite easily.
The masks are cleverly designed so that the leaves that are on a separate mask fit perfectly around the flowers. I used Soft Succulent and Evening Evergreen for my leaves giving a subtle difference.
It was a beautiful day in July and Stampin’ Up UK’s business development Manager, Helen Slimm, had organized a crafting day for demonstrators in Lincoln. It was limited to 65 demonstrators and tickets for the event sold out in a day! I was lucky enough to be one of the 65!
The event took place in a bowls club in Lincoln (great social venue after a game), had plenty of parking and was ideal. Just not sure they were expecting 65 very excited, noisy women…..especially as some people were bowling during the day!
During the day, there was an opportunity to exchange ‘Swaps’ among other demonstrators. You decide whether to make any swaps, a few swaps or like me enough swaps for everybody there, including the lady from the kitchen who was cleaning up after us!
These are the swaps I made;
Make and Takes
During the day, 4 demonstrators had worked hard at making instructions for us all to make 4 different projects. the stamp set Spotlight on Nature was used on all 4 projects, and strangely I had used the same set for the majority of my swaps. We also used this years In color card and ink for the projects.
These are what we made on the day;
Swaps I Received;
Here are a selection of the swaps I received.
Lunch was a great time to talk to lots of people, share thoughts and ideas and generally put the world to rights!
During the afternoon, we had a couple of presentations, one about new products and workshop ideas and the other more about business building.
Over all, it was a fabulous day. I met lots of new people, got lots of inspiration and made several new friends. Here’s hoping they do more of these events!
Its now the second and final month of Sale-a-bration, and as is usual with Stampin’ Up, more products have been added to the offering.
Take a look below at the new products that are from either the annual catalogue or the January to June mini catalogue that you can now get FREE with a £45(or £90) spend!
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