Christmas 2016 Catalogue Is Live!

Hello, Crafters.

I'm so pleased the Christmas catalogue is now live, today has been a long time coming! I hope you're just as impressed with it as I am!

The card I'm sharing with you today is something a little bit different.

Hubby asked if I could make a Congratulations card for one of his work colleagues who's been with the company for 30 years. 

The reason this card is a bit different is that I've used some non-Stampin' Up! dies for the word Years. 

Nowadays, I only use non-SU products when we don't have a comparable product and, at the moment, that applies to small alphabet letters. 

I bought the Sizzix alphabet dies that I used for this card as part of a job lot that another of hubby's colleagues' wife was selling.

Apparently they'd been in their garage for years - they certainly did smell musty for a while!

The job lot also included one of the original red, pull down handle "Big Shot" machines.

My goodness, how the Big Shot has developed since then!

I started my card with a white base, then a layer of Old Olive cardstock, and a top layer of white.

I did a video a little while ago showing how to make a card like this, which I called Random Border - see below if you missed it. 

The stamps sets I used for the border are Kinda Eclectic, Awesomely Artistic, and No Bones About It. 

The inks I used are Old Olive, Wild Wasabi and Mint Macaroon. 

The sentiment, Congratulations, is from Guy Greetings and has been stamped using Old Olive Ink. Such a superb font! 

I stamped the 30 using Old Olive Ink and the Number of Years Stamp Set. 

Then I die cut them using the Large Numbers Framelits Dies.

Using Soft Sude Ink I stamped two right-facing and one left-facing birds from the Thoughtful Branches Stamp Set and die cut them using the Beautiful Branches Thinlits Dies.

I had to add the birds to cover up some ink where the left-facing bird is sitting. 

I also added the two thin strips of Old Olive at the top of the card to cover up a line of Old Olive Ink that came from the edge of a fairly large block I had mounted the Congratulations stamp on! 

Then I added two strips at the bottom to balance everything out.

I'm really pleased with the finished card because it shows that the Random Border design can be successfully used for a masculine card!

Don't forget to check out the weekly special offers before you place your next order - they're valid weekly for the next three weeks, so don't forget to check back each Thursday!

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Random Border Design Video

Hello, Crafters.

This morning I posted my Random Border Design video.


I was inspired partly by a card that was part of the Show & Tell display at the last training I went to and also a video I saw by Shelly Godby of Stampin Smiles.


When I have an idea for a video, I make the card or project first.

If it all works out and I'm happy with the result, I make it again but changing something, normally the colour scheme.


While I'm making the second one, I make a not of all the measurements and the products I've used.


Then I prep all the pieces I need during the video and I'm ready to go ahead making the video.


This means I normally have at least two cards, or projects, to show with every video with some kind of variances.

For today's video I made three cards before I finally decided which method I liked best - random or more uniform!

The first card I made was the one in the last photograph.

Although I'm happy with the card, I used Cucumber Crush as the accent colour for the layer, the sentiment and the butterfly.

With hindsight I think it would have looked much better if I'd used Mint Macaroon as the accent.

The second card I made was the Tip Top Taupe - see photograph 3 - and I decided to see what the stamping would look like if I kept to a uniform "pattern".

I think it gives a great effect and I like it but it just doesn't look quite so relaxed as the random stamping.

Then I made the Lost Lagoon card and I was totally happy.

So I prepared the cardstock I needed for the video except I used Blushing Bride as the accent colour.

I think this looks as good as the Lost Lagoon card so now it's just down to colour preference.

Moving on, I'm really pleased to let you know I made great strides with my swaps yesterday - I made a total of 36!

I decided it isn't any good keep telling you I have all these swaps to do unless I actually get on and do something about it!

So I set myself a target of making at least twenty a day which would mean I'd get them all done in time.

So that was an excellent result!

It was our Grand National horse race over here yesterday and hubby went and placed my bet for me - I do this twice a year, the other race is the Derby.

Anyway, my horse came in third ! YAY!

Later in the day, I had an appointment with Sharon for my fortnightly manicure. She very kindly keeps a box of my handmade cards in her salon so her clients can have a browse.

I received a text from her in the morning to say that she'd had a big run on my cards and the box needed topping up!

All in all, a very successful day for me yesterday. 

That's about all my news for now. I wish you a very happy Sunday.

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.