April Customer Thank You Gifts

Hello, Crafters.

I'm really sorry I'm late with today's post but it's taken me longer than expected to get back into my normal routine after my super week's holiday last  week!

My top priority now is to get my April customer thank you gifts packaged and posted out.

After we returned from visiting our friend in Aylesbury yesterday, I started working on the packaging.

I normally make boxes to put my gifts in but this time I decided to use some of the Stampin' Up! bags I've bought but never used!

Does that sound familiar? LOL!

The first gift I did was for my gentleman 
customer and chose to use the By The Tide Stamp Set, which is on the retiring list.

I chose the only Kraft Tag a Bag Gift Bag I had as it doesn't haven't any design on it - I'm pleased to say that this product is being carried forward to the new catalogue.

I stamped the bag, back and front, using Crumb Cake Ink and the seaweed stamp.

Then I used Bermuda Bay Ink and the seahorse stamp to do the same.

For the tag, I took a piece of Very Vanilla Card Stock and stamped with the seaweed stamp again.

I used the Scallop Tag Topper to punch the design on the top of this tag - another product that's being carried forward.

Then I stamped the seahorse and the sentiment onto some Very Vanilla Card Stock using Bermuda Bay Ink.

The sentiment is from the retiring Petite Pairs Stamp Set.

I punched them out using the Large Oval Punch (which is retiring) and, using the Scalloped Oval Punch (which is also retiring) I punched an oval from some Kraft Card Stock and layered the two together.  

For the "string", I used two strands of Linen Thread and one strand of the Bermuda Bay 1/8 Stitched Ribbon - both products are being carried forward.

For my lady customers I chose the Polka Dot Tag a Bag Gift Bags, which retired on 30th May 2015 - yes, last year, I'm a hoarder!

I only had enough of the Blushing Bride stripe design from the Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper (DSP) to decorate one bag.

For the remaining bags I used a design from the long-since retired Twitterpated DSP.

I used the sentiment from the A Little Something Stamp Set - which will be retiring at the end of this month - and stamped it onto Whisper White Card Stock using Blushing Bride Ink.

I used the 1 3/8" Circle punch for the sentiment and layered it onto a 1 7/8" Scalloped Circle of Blushing Bride Card Stock.

I punched some small flowers from Blushing Bride Card Stock using the small flower punch from the Itty Bitty Accent Punch Pack - unfortunately, this is also retiring.

I used the 1/4" Handheld Circle Punch and Kraft Card Stock for the centres of the flowers.

As I don't have any Blushing Bride Ribbon, I used some retired Rose Red Ribbon but I didn't like it so decided  to make banners rather than tags i.e. I didn't punch the hole at the top that needed string or ribbon.

For the last gift, I had to use one of the Sketched Dots Tag a Bag Gift Bags because I'd used all my Kraft Bags.

Although these bags are retiring at the end of this month, we will be able to buy NEW Glassine Gift bags, which are very similar but without the design.


The problem I found with this bag is that it's see-through and I didn't want to spoil the surprise.

To get around this I "lined" the bag with two pieces of Blushing Bride Card Stock and put the gift in between the two.

Going forward, when the new bags are available, and I want to hide what's inside, I'll do this again but I'll stamp a design on them so it's visible through the glassine! 
 
To cut the fish tail on the banners I used the Triple Banner Punch which is being carried forward to the new catalogue.

I used my Paper Piercing Tool to pierce the holes in the  Blushing Bride scalloped circles that I used to layer the sentiment.

I stapled all my bags closed using the Handheld Stapler, which is another product that's being carried forward.

The staples are smaller than the standard sized and we sell these too.

That's about it for today.

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Barcelona

Hello, Crafters.

By the time you read this, we'll be back from our week's holiday in Barcelona. We have walked miles and miles and miles! Hubby did his homework before we flew out so we knew the sights we wanted to see including Poble Espanyol, Park Guell, Montjuic, Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site, Casa Batilo and the Sagrada Familia.

The weather was superb for sightseeing although we did wake up to rain yesterday morning. Fortunately, it was drying up nicely by the time we went out and the sun came out just after lunch time.

We didn't find any craft shops...........yes, of course I looked! LOL! We found a home décor shop that had quite an extensive selection of card making goodies along the back wall of the shop but I didn't buy anything. 

Yesterday morning we found a scrapbooking shop within very easy walking distance of our hotel. We went in to have a browse around. The owner spoke enough English which, combined with our hand signals, allowed us to understand each other. Hubby asked if card making was popular in Spain. The gentleman said not really because of the hot weather, tapas and siestas. He also said scrapbooking was relatively new in Spain as well.

If you watched my Baby Wipe Technique video, you will already have seen this card. I made this card as a demonstration to show you can get images that are more or less identical in colour, if necessary. I stamped the three fish by inking my stamp in exactly the same position on my baby wipe ink pad.

To create this card I started with a card base of Whisper White Card Stock, with a layer of Bermuda Bay and a top layer of Whisper White.

I used Sahara Sand Ink and stamped the skeletal seaweed stamp from the By The Tide Stamp Set five times on the top layer to give the fish some background.

Then I used the snow flake stamp from the White Christmas Stamp Set with Soft Sky Ink and stamped randomly over seaweed to give the impression of air bubbles.

Then I used the three sentiments - World's Greatest, Uncle and Happy Birthday - from the Guy Greetings Stamp Set and stamped them using Bermuda Bay Ink.

After I'd stamped the fish I fussy cut them and adhered them in position using Dimensionals.

That's about it for today. I hope you have a great weekend. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.  

Bring Sunshine - Second Card

Hello, Crafters.

WAHOO! Yesterday, one of my cards was featured in the DotComGiftShop blog - check out the 18th card! dotcomgiftshop.com/blog/birthday-card-designs


Last Saturday I shared a single Z fold card I'd made which had a large sentiment from the Feel Goods Stamp Set on the front - see last photograph.

My first attempt at making that circular sentiment didn't work out as I hoped it would, so I put it on one side while I made my second and successful attempt.

The reason I didn't like my first attempt was because it was too busy for the design on the Wildflower Fields Designer Series Paper (DSP) I had used to layer on my card base.

When I was ready to try and use my first sentiment onto today's card I made two big changes.


First of all, I decided to make a 6" x 6" card and second, I chose a relatively plain DSP, a spotty design from the 2014 - 2016 In-Colour Designer Series Paper Stack.

I layered the sentiment onto a larger Blackberry Bliss circle and then onto an even larger Whisper White circle.

Before I go on about the rest of the design of my card, just a little bit about the sentiment.

When I stamped it, I didn't get a particularly good image which was more noticeable with the larger writing.

I went over the words using a blender pen which didn't do what I wanted it to but loved what it did anyway!

The flowers around the edge are from the Bloomin' Love Stamp Set.

I used my Blender Pen to colour the white centre of the flowers and they went the same sort of pink as the writing - it all blended in beautifully!

Then I added medium sized pearls in to the centres of these flowers to finish them off.

Then I started to put my card together and adhered the spotty DSP to the Whisper White layer using Tombow.

I tied some Whisper White ribbon around the card before adhering these layers to the Blackberry Bliss card using Tombow.


Using Dimensionals, I adhered the sentiment to the card front. 

Now the situation was reversed.....the sentiment looked lonely! LOL!

I decided on some flowers and used one large and six small flowers (I put one inside the large flower) and arranged them as I thought looked pleasing but it still needed something!

I decided on a die cut butterfly from the Bold Butterfly Framelits Dies but I didn't want to use just plain white because I would have been heading in the direction of stark again.

Instead, I used the seaweed stamp from the By The Tide Stamp Set using Blackberry Bliss on Whisper White Cardstock and then I die cut over the stamping.

To get the antennae, I put the negative of the butterfly back onto my Big Shot cutting mat and put the butterfly die just above the edge of the negative cut of the wings and ran it through the Big Sot.

To adhere the antennae to the card, I put some glue on the centre piece and fixed it in position, making sure I moved the antennae into a sensible upright position. 

I held them in place for a few seconds to allow Tombow to grab a hold and then I added pearls to the butterfly's body.

When I showed my best critic - hubby - his reaction was "Crikey, that's really in your face"!

Do you think it's too bold? As always your opinions will be appreciated, good or bad!

That's about it for today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Telford Swaps Video

Hello, Crafters.
The journey up to
Telford took longer
than anticipated
because of road
works!

But we arrived safe
and sound, so we
thank God for keeping
us safe.

Yesterday evening we
met up with lots of
other demonstrators
before we all went off
and did our own thing.

This morning I'm off to
the conference centre
ready for check in
which starts at 8.30a.m.
fully prepared with my
basket of swaps.

I have just published
my video to show how
I made my swaps.

It's another great
technique - bleaching!

This is the link:
Bleaching Technique

For my swaps, I only did
the oval lobster part, not
the whole card front.

I am showing you the
photographs here of my
completed cards.

Until tomorrow, happy
crafting.

JanB.

 

Shell Thank You Cards

Hello, Crafters.

Unfortunately, I had
reason to make a
Sympathy Card today.

It was for an elderly
neighbour who passed
away in his sleep.

Unintentionally, I
used a technique that
I haven't used for quite
a while so I decided
to make a video
demonstrating it. 

This was besides
two other videos
I made which are
also demonstrating
different techniques.

The video I shall
be publishing on
Wednesday is a fun
card which is ideal
for a child's birthday.

Today, I finally made
the Thank You cards
to go with the
sea-themed Envelope
Punch Board Thank
You Card Box that
I showed you recently.

They are single layer
and I've kept the
design simple and
masculine.

Until tomorrow,
happy crafting.

JanB.

Very successful day...............

Hello, Crafters.

It's the weekend, my
favourite time of the
week.

The big news from
Stampin' Up! is that
the Retirement List is
going to be released
on Tuesday 21.04.15.
Do watch out for this
release as these are
products that once
they've gone, they've
gone! Some products
will be discounted up
to 50%, yes half price!
Do make a note in
your diary so you don't
miss this! The next big
date after this, will be
when the new
catalogue comes out
on 2nd. June 2015.  

As I said yesterday, I
had a very busy day
planned for myself
today. If you were
following my blog
last December, you'll
remember I was still
making my Christmas
cards on 23rd December
2014............yes, that's
two days before Christmas!

To say that I was feeling stressed was putting it mildly! But I made up my mind that my Christmas cards this year would be made by July and I've made a good start - I've made 41 so far and just 29 more to go!

I also spent some time today sorting out all my card making things that were escaping out of my studio and into the hallway! I've really made a good impression on both rooms!

The photographs I'm showing you today is the same EPB box as the Pink Pirouette one I showed you at the beginning of the week. This one is a more masculine design but I still need to design the Thank You cards to go inside. The stamp set I've used is By The Tide. There are still plenty of jobs on my To Do List to keep me busy all weekend!

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.