Monday 29 February 2016

Mix It Up Monday: Flowering Fields



It’s Mix It Up Monday and time for another colour combination from my In Color charts.  

I’m still not feeling the love for Cucumber Crush, but you can’t knock me for trying. Here it’s teamed with the bright and cheerful Melon Mambo and the much more subtle Pink Pirouette. I added a splash of black, too, which wasn’t in the rules, but I just love this new Baker’s Twin so couldn’t resist!




And do check out Timeless Textures; I really love this new stamp set and predict it will become as popular as Gorgeous Grunge.



Saturday 27 February 2016

Caturday: Rosie


Beautiful little Rosie is not so little at the moment... because she’s due to give birth at any moment. She came into Woodland Nook Cat Shelter about a week ago so we don’t really know her due date and are watching her anxiously. I would LOVE to be there when the kittens are born, but the chances are pretty slim. I’ll keep you posted though!

Friday 26 February 2016

Hip Hip Hooray gift box with Wildflower Fields FREE paper



I love this Wildflower Fields Designer Series Paper, which is FREE during Sale-a-Bration with a £45 order – and it seems my customers love it, too, as I unpacked several packs of it this week!

Top tip: The Farmers Market cardstock assortment is the perfect accompaniment to this DSP.

Here I’ve used one of the prettiest sheets of paper with the Gift Box Punch Board to make a box, which I topped with a bow created with the Envelope Punch Board and a tag made with the fun new Party Pop-Up Thinlits.  

What I realised when making the tag was that there’s not a lot of space to write on the back because it’s full of holes, so I took some Hello Honey cardstock, drew around the die and cut it freehand, then offset it to give it a brightly coloured background, joining with Dimensionals to give it some, er... dimension. The Old Olive pieces are simply retrieved from a previous project and fitted into the gaps. The easiest way to do this is to put some double-sided tape on the back of the Blackberry Bliss and simply press them in to secure. 


Hope you like it! And I hope I can bear to give this away!


Tuesday 23 February 2016

Tandem Tuesday with Pedal Pusher FREE Sale-a-Bration stamp set



Once again I have failed to produce a Mix It Up Monday project. But that’s ok because I still have plenty of weeks left to complete my self-imposed colour challenge, and it’s my blog anyway so nobody is going to tell me off!


Instead, we have a Tandem Tuesday, with another Pedal Pusher project. In fact, this very simple card uses not one, not two, but THREE Sale-a-Bration freebies. I’m sure you can spot them: they are the Pedal Pusher stamp set, the Wildflower Fields Designer Series Paper and the exciting new Metallics Glitter Tape. 

102845s
[102845]
£9.00

Saturday 20 February 2016

Caturday: Maggie May



Meet beautiful Maggie May: pretty, affectionate, loving and very active... despite having something missing. Have you spotted? Yep, Maggie is missing a front leg, which can present problems for a cat, but it doesn't seem to bother her too much. Happily, gorgeous Maggie has been adopted from Woodland Nook now and is settling well into her new home.

Thursday 18 February 2016

New Sale-a-Bration item: Pedal Pusher



My new Sale-a-Bration items arrived this week and, with the house to myself yesterday, I managed to have a play. I really love this tandem image from the new set, Pedal Pusher; it has so many possibilities, with the option to add the basket on the front. Here I’ve used the wine, grapes and bread, the perfect French picnic lunch for a summer’s day. 

It’s really easy to colour, too – just a swipe of the blender pen, AquaPainter or marker, and you’re done. I’ve gone for a Mint Macaron frame (Bianchi colour? - Although I don’t think they make tandems) with retro leather seats in Delightful Dijon

I’ve also teamed it with Timeless Textures, which is a gorgeous stamp set and so very versatile. I used it here to add the effect of paint spatters, as well as some grunging around the edges, to help the white cardstock stand out on the white background. As for the DSP, that’s from the Wildflower Meadow Sale-a-Bration pack. The dots come plain, so you can colour them to match your project. Multi-coloured would be great, but I went for a simple Delightful Dijon effect because I’m lazy. 

Want this great set? It’s free to you with a £45 order placed before the end of March. 



104199s
[104199]
£4.25
102845s
[102845]
£9.00

Tuesday 16 February 2016

Three new Sale-a-Bration products!

Great news! There are three brand new Sale-a-Bration products available now and I just know you’re going to love them! They are:



Metallics Glitter Tape
This is SUCH a fun product, I have mine arriving today! (Demonstrators are able to pre-order.) It’s a bit like washi tape in that you can tear it and use it in almost the same way but... it’s glittery! It comes in a pack of three rolls: gold, silver and white. Best of all? You can colour the white tape with sponge daubers or Aquapainters, to create glittery tape in any of our fabulous colours!



Party Pants
Now stop it, “pants” means “trousers” in this case, but if you have special party pants, too, that’s entirely up to you! This is a fun words set, with the fun addition of a balloon stamp, which co-ordinates with the new balloon punch. What’s not to like? Available in wood or clear-mount.



Pedal Pusher
Another great stamp set, this time featuring a really cute tandem... and lots of accessories you can stamp on top... oh and it’s photopolymer so it’s really easy to line things up, too. I’m very excited about this set and looking forward to taking delivery today!

How do YOU get hold of these great products? That’s easy: all you have to do is place a £45 order between now and the end of March, and choose one as your free gift. Get in touch to find out more!

Monday 15 February 2016

Mix It Up Monday: Botanicals for You



It’s Mix It Up Monday and time for another colour combination from my In Color charts

I’ve just made this project, totally CASEd from the Sale-a-Bration brochure, but with all-new colours to fit in with today’s combo. And because I make mistakes so that you don’t have to, my top tip for today is: use a totally different Stampin’ Scrub to clean your Blackberry Bliss-inked stamps, so that it doesn’t contaminate your delicate Soft Sky stamping. That’ll be why there’s a die-cut flower at the top right!



Before I go, a reminder: today is the last day to earn the following Sale-a-Bration items: 

  • Sky is the Limit stamp set
  • Perfectly Artistic Designer Series Paper
  • Hello stamp set

If you wish to earn any of the above FREE with a £45 order, please place your order TODAY by clicking here. Tomorrow we have three exciting new products to earn!



The small print

This is my personal blog and my sole responsibility as an Independent Stampin' Up!® demonstrator. All images are © Stampin' Up!® All content including photographs, projects and text are © Helen Read, unless otherwise stated. Please feel free to copy my ideas for your personal use and inspiration - if you are a SU demonstrator you may use these ideas for your events but please give credit where it is due. Please do not use my ideas for monetary gain, competitions or publication. The images on this blog - including blog buttons - should not be copied and used elsewhere on the internet or on CDs.