A New Addition to my Favourite Blog Roll ........ and Organic Grace

I have added a gorgeous new blog to the sidebar - A Passion for Craft - it's put together by Fleur, a very talented scrapbooker and cardmaker - if you have the time today please take a look and leave a comment to let her know you've passed by and put her on your own Favourite Blog list.

When I send out any Stampin' Up! items I always like to enclose a little card, this is my way of showing my appreciation for all the support I have received but it's also a nice way of introducing a stamp set to everyone - today's stamp set is Organic Grace - a Level One Hostess set.

The cards I make for these occasions are generally smaller, this one is just under 4" x 4" and the perfect size for a Thank You card.

The palette of colours used - Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke and Close to Cocoa - with Very Vanilla and Close to Cocoa cardstock together with a little Kraft taffeta ribbon.

The very versatile sentiment comes from another Level One Hostess set - Best Yet.

To find out more details click on the front cover of the main Idea Book and Catalogue in the righhand sidebar and have a look at pages 8 - 13 - it details the benefits of having a Hostess Party for yourself and your friends.

I'm busy working on projects for our first Saturday Workshop on August 8 but will have something to show you tomorrow - a two-step stamping item using A Rose is a Rose on p44 of the catalogue.

Bridgette

PS Don't forget Fleur's blog ........ and Louise's, oh, and Chris' and not to forget Debbie's, and of course, Sally's and my good friend Anne's - well, actually, every single one of them - they are all gorgeous and will inspire you - see you tomorrow.

Joyce's Demo Card

I found this layout in the current Idea Book and Catalogue from the US - or it may have been the retiring catalogue - but Stampin' Up anyway - so I just tweaked it a little, changing the sentiment and image to suit myself and what I had available and adding a little Almost Amethyst cardstock - it just helped to lift the card for my eye lol.

The base card is Elegant Eggplant with Almost Amethyst, Close to Cocoa and Very Vanilla for the layers.

I used the Sanded background stamp on the Close to Cocoa and my main image comes from the stamp set Soft Summer to be found on the first page of the mini catalogue - you can see it by clicking on the mini catalogue front page in my side bar, to the right - pretty, isn't it?

The inks used were those that match the cardstock perfectly - Elegant Eggplant and Almost Amethyst - it's what's so lovely about Stampin' Up products: the fact it all matches.

My trusty Stamp-a-ma-jig helped me to align the images to give a shadowed effect and again to position the little sentiment - there are two in the set and I used the other on the envelope, just in the corner.

A little bit of Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon just gives a bit of zing and an additional dash of colour.

As I said in my previous post - not my usual colours but definitely my style - which tends to be quite simple, certainly not difficult to achieve but pretty all the same.

I have a little Thank You card ready to show you tomorrow, it highlights Organic Grace, one of the Hostess sets that really comes to life when stamped - it's magical.

Bridgette

Make and Take

The main photo is the Make and Take I prepared for Joyce's Hostess Party recently - it's a quick and simple little card using rollers and punches on Bashful Blue cardstock. It requires a simple matt of Mellow Moss on Whisper White which has been rolled with the It's Beautiful roller to be found on p46 - this perfectly matches the A Beautiful Thing stamp set which was used recently to make Fleur's Hostess Party Make and Take in June - see photo below.

The corners of the two matting pieces where then clipped using the 1/2" Circle punch.

A piece of Bashful Blue taffeta ribbon was then secured across the Whisper White piece, this was then layered onto the Mellow Moss. A simple knot was then tied using a piece of Bashful Blue and Mellow Moss ribbon.

The flower was created using the 5-Petal punch, together with one of the blossoms from the Boho Blossoms punch and the 1/2" Circle punch, all layered together and secured in position.

The final touch would be an appropriate sentiment for the occasion - in this case, Kind Thanks from the Thank You Kindly set to be found on p60. By using the Stamp-a-ma-jig this could easily and accurately be placed wherever you thought looked the nicest - it is such a useful little gadget.

I'll photograph the card I demonstrated after the Make and Take and show you that tomorrow - it uses an unusual colour combination for me, namely, Elegant Eggplant, Almost Amethyst, Close to Cocoa and Very Vanilla with a touch of Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon - do you see what I mean? - pop back tomorrow, if you have time, and have a look and see what you think to the colour combination.

Bridgette

Now I'm playing catch-up ........

Whoosh ........ that was my last week flying by - so here I go with a few photos to help you see what I've been doing.

Lou's Hostess Party saw us creating those cute little owl notelet cards you all see us holding in the previous post - it was a fun party and the door prize - a Sale-a-bration Yummy Stamp Set was won by Avril - I've yet to photograph the Punch Out Board which gives a pictorial representation of the little guy - wow, that was a bit wordy wasn't it? - sorry.

The 14th was our Tuesday Craft Club - with the theme of Crazy for Cupcakes - the projects went down well - I was pleased with them - we just lost two of our number - Nicola very kindly stood in for someone at work and Tina became a grandmother when her daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby boy - many congratulation to all - he's a cutie, I had the privilege of seeing him on Saturday when I popped round with SU goodies for Tina.

The 16th saw myself and Lou at the High School in Spalding helping 20 Year 8 girls and 4 teachers produce a cute little handbag and four little notelet cards to go inside - the handbag was inspired by those produced by Becky Roberts - her blog Inking Idaho can be found in my side bar - I have purchased classes from her in the past - she is just amazing - if you have the time do take a look - you'll not be disappointed.

Wow, that's bought you quickly up to date - August is shaping up to be a good month with our first Saturday Workshop and a super class for our Tuesday Craft Group for both Mum/Gran/Nanny and children - and I am happy to report that the Tuesday group is once again full - thank you everyone for your support - it sounds mushy but I just love sharing Stampin' Up with everyone and I am so enjoying what I'm doing.

Please don't forget the change of venue from August onwards - check the sidebar.

Bridgette

We had a 'hoot' ...... at Lou's lol

.......sorry, I couldn't resist that - just a quick photo to let you see what we get up to when we all get together and share the fun of a Stampin' Up! party.

We made these cute little sticky note holders - with a gorgeous little owl on the front - he provided lots of giggles as 'eyebrows' and long ears were added to customise his appearance - he may even find his way onto a teacher's desk or two, or at least a version of him - he is perfect as a quick handcrafted gift and twice as nice if a matching card is added.

I will be giving more details tomorrow about the little holder but just thought you might enjoy seeing the photo first.

Bridgette

Make & Take inspired by Peterboro' Training .....

Hello again - just two little items to show you - as you know I attended a training session in Peterboro' on the 23rd June and we had a great time - the Make and Take inspired me to change its colour scheme and use it for the Make & Take at Fleur's Hostess Party on 26th June.

I simply used summery colours of So Saffron and Regal Rose with a touch of Confetti White on the pull-out tab card - I also added a sentiment in the bottom right-hand corner - all other aspects are from the original design from Stampin' Up!

The order is now here and ready to be delivered but I have made a little card to accompany their purchases and for those that don't already have one a little Cherry Hill Crafts Loyalty Card has been made and stamped with their purchases to date.