Weekly Deals....are leaving

There are just two weeks left of weekly deals so take advantage and grab one of these bumper deals today, these deal will run until Wednesday 13th April 2016 when they will be replaced with another set of deals.

It's no joke....I've signed back up!

So after a four year break I've decided to join back up as a demonstrator. The lure of the Sale-A-Bration offer was finally just too much to resist. So welcome back to my blog and I hope you'll pop back again as I rediscover all the wonderful products Stampin' Up! has to offer. My new demonstrator kit it on its way to me, yay! So next week I'll share with you what was in my first order and my first projects.

Jo x

Mini Catalogue has Arrived!!!

This card was made using some of the new products in the Mini Catalogue for this year, can you spot them? The first is the stamp set called Strength & Hope, this stamp set is beautiful, I love the butterfly. This is a special set as for every set purchased Stampin' Up! will donate £1 to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, so join this campaign and order yours today! Have you spotted the other lovely new products? The decorative label punch in the corner is one of six new punches available. The ribbon is the new Seam Binding line in the lovely Crumb Cake, this is gorgeous to touch, so silky, it is also available in Baja Breeze, Rose Red and Pear Pizzazz. The final new product this card shows is the Glass Glitter, this is lovely and chunky and will tarnish with age to give a lovely vintage feel.

These are some of the new products which are my favourites, however for many of you the launch of the Big Shot machine and exclusive Big Shot products will be the highlight of this mini as its arrival has been long awaited. I have some samples using some of these lovely products so check back later in the week to have a look.

Cottage Garden Colour Throwdown

Today's card was inspired by this weeks Colour Throwdown challenge to use So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Tangerine Tango and Chocolate Chip. I chose to use Cottage Garden as I've been having a good play with it this week. I created the background by stamping the flower head in So Saffron. The outline was done in Tangerine Tango, I didn't use the Stamp-a-ma-jig to line the outline up as I wasn't to bothered if they didn't line up.....so of course most of then did as I was using a clear mount set. The background was finished off by using the flower trio in Pretty in Pink. The vine at the side was created using Certainly Celery and flowers made from Pretty in Pink and Tangerine Tango. The greeting on the tag comes from the Cheer and Wishes set and it was embellished with a brass jumbo eyelet and some Pretty in Pink taffeta and Certainly Celery grosgrain.

Red, White and Blue....Butterflies

Today's card came together fairly easily, I knew I wanted to used Real Red as I have lots of scraps to use up. The combination of Real Red, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake and Whisper White seems to be a popular one at the moment so I gave it ago. The base layer is Marina Mist with a layer of Crumb Cake dsp. The grid was created next using Real Red 1/4" grosgrain and sticky strip. The butterflies were then stamped and punched with Real Red, Marina Mist and Whisper White (craft) ink. I knew I wanted some dimension on the card so I chose to only glue down the centres of the butterflies to stick them down. The card was finished with a sentiment panel made from the So Happy For You Sale-A-Bration stamp set. Remember there are only three days left to place a £45.00 order and gain your free stamp set, so get yours placed soon.

Bright and Ornate

Today's card was made for Stacey's Curtain Call Challenge, which was to use the colours Tempting Turquoise, Tangerine Tango, Pear Pizazz and Whisper White. If you read my blog often you will notice I hardly ever use orange, so this was a difficult challenge for me. The inspiration came from the Greenhouse Gala paper that has been used here, if you have this sheet turn it over and you will see similar flowers to those I stamped from the Ornate Flowers set. The base was made with Tempting Turquoise with a Tangerine Tango matt layer. The Greenhouse Gala paper contains the Pear Pizazz. The flowers were stamped using a mixture of Tango and Pear. I used the Tango ink pad as I don't have the new markers yet. As this left some Tango on the leaves I used a cotton bud to wipe it off before using the Pear marker. The card was finished off with a greeting from Trendy Trees.

Vintage Etchings

I've finally managed to make a Vintage style card which I am happy with, thanks to Stampin' Up! Tea Stain distress ink, I love it! I used the Artistic Etchings stamp set which images which are not my usual style. The base image was created by using the distressing set from Stampin' Up!, this contains the lovely distress ink and a little square of rubber, which you think is a bit pointless till you use it. I used this little square with the tea stain ink to create the background, just rub the ink over the card and it blends in. I then stamped the circle design with the tea stain ink. The Eiffel tower was stamped with Early Espresso ink along with the corners. The button and espresso ribbon were added for interest and texture. The Red Riding Hood cardstock was also distressed using tea stain ink to tone the colour down a little. I just love how this turned out.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Today's card is focusing on the love theme with the use of the heart punch. This card is being entered into the Curtain Call colour challenge 69, this week to use Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla and Whisper white. I always find White and Vanilla hard to mix together, so I decided to look through all my designer paper for inspiration. I then decided to use punched out hearts which contained a mixture of colours to bring the card together. The greeting came from the retired set Seasonal Wishes and the card was finished off with some Real Red grosgrain ribbon.

Bundle of Love inspired by Mojo sketch 177

Today's card was inspired by this weeks Mojo Monday sketch, which you can find details of here.

The background was created by stamping a variety of baby images from the Bundle of Love set, in Chocolate Chip. The baby tees were created by using the Baby Tee wheel in Chocolate Chip ink, straight from the ink pad. Three of the images were then cut out and coloured with markers. The brown accent is made from two stickers in the Nursery Suite quick accents, I love these and hope we get some more in the next catalogue.

Curtain Call Challenge 68 using Sweet Summer

Hello everyone, sorry its been so long since I last posted but everything else seems to have got in the way, anyway thank you for coming back! Today's card uses the Sale-A-Bration set Sweet Summer, this set is available free when you place an order over £45.00 or more. I based this card on this weeks Curtain Call Challenge to use Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette and Whisper White, you can find details here.

I started by making the base by layering the three main colours up. The three stamped panels were made by first stamping the leaf flourish with Wild Wasabi, then a small flower from So Happy For You ( another SAB set) was stamped in the gaps using Pink Pirouette. This was then over stamped with one of the flower heads using Melon Mambo. The card was finished off with a greeting from Sincere Salutations and some white 1/4" grosgrain ribbon.

Mojo Monday Sketch using Welcome Christmas

This card was made for this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge, number 156, you can find details here. The set used is Welcome Christmas from the new catalogue, this stamp set is also included in the Bundle up for Christmas promotion, click on the link above for more details. I decided to follow the sihoutte theme of the stamp used and go for a monochromatic colour scheme. I chose Real Red so I could use the Christmas Cocoa dsp and Mistletoe Ribbon from the promotion. The greeting is stamped using a Real Red marker and comes from the Gifted stamp set. The ribbon bow was made using a ribbon strip folded over and stdown with Snail adhesive, the central point was made by wrappping a crystal brad around the centre of the ribbon.

Retirement Tea Party

This card features the stamp set Playful Petals and matching dsp Tea Party, both of which are on the Last Chance List. The Tea Party paper has loves shades of Almost Amethyst, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron and Certainly Celery and has been lovely to craft with. So glad we have gorgeous papers to replace it in the new catalogue. I made this card for this week's Mojo Monday Challenge 155, you can find details here. The little tag sentiments come from the Tiny Tags set which you can find in the current Mini Catalogue. The striped ribbon used on this card is alos retiring, the colour Pretty in Pink is definatley staying though.

Live Your Dream Last Chance

Live Your Dream is my favourite Stampin' Up! set, so I'm gutted this set is on the Last Chance List, the large flower stamp is just lovely. This card was made for this week's Sketch Saturday Challenge, details can be found here. I've teamed the stamp set up with it's matching dsp Tea and Crumpets, which is also on the Last Chance List. The flowers have all been glittered in the centre with Dazzling Diamonds, but it's hard to see the sparkle in the photo.

Bye Bye Little Truck

I'm really sad that Loads of Love and its Accessories set are on the retired list, after my starter kit, these two sets were in my first order two years ago. This is a set I won't part with so you may still see it on here, if you don't own then don't miss this last chance, its such a versatile set. For this card the little truck was stamped with Stazon and coloured with Watercolour Wonder Crayons using the aquapainter. The patterned paper is from the Cottage Wall set, which is also retiring at the end of the month. Email at stampinwithjo@hotmail.com to place your order today.

Last Chance List

The last chance list is now available to view and is huge!!! Take a look here, Last Chance List. Make sure you don't let those must have items slip away, order the now before they're gone. Email your order to me at stampinwithjo@hotmail.co.uk

Plum and Olive VintageFlowers

This quick card was made using the Vintage Vogue set. The flowers were made by stamping the large flowers in Perfect Plum, the small flowers in Pale Plum and the leaves in Old Olive, these were all then cut out and glued together with tombow glue. The centres of the flowers were finished with small white pearls from the Pretties Kit. the purple border was made using Perfect Plum cardstock and the Eyelet border punch. The card was finished off with a greeting stamped in Old Olive from the Wonderful Words set.

Razzleberry Simply Said

I've been lacking a bit of inspiration lately for new card designs, so I to do this week's Sketch Saturday challenge, you can find details here. I have used Cattage Wall dsp, I know this has been used on nearly every card I've made recently but I love it! The stamped images are a mixture of flowers and sentiments from Simplay Said in Rich Razzleberry and butterflies in Orchid Opulence from Live Your Dream. The card has been finished off with some Old Olive buttons from the Playground designer buttons pack. Hope You like it

Cottage Wall Butterflies

This card was made using the Flight of The Butterfly Stamp set. Firstly I cut a strip of Rich Razzleberry and used the Eyelet border punch along both edges. I then place a strip of Cottage Wall dsp and some Old Olive satin ribbon. After sticking all this down I stamped two butterflies on Orchid Opulence card in Rich Razzleberry and punch out with the butterfly punch. I then stamped Happy Birthday from the SAB stamp set Vintage Labels and punched out with the 1 3/8" circle, along with two more white circles. I then punched three scallop circle in Rich Razzleberry and fixed the white circle to the centres. The butterflies I punched out earlier were stuck down the centres with a little tombow glue, as they as not completely stuck down the card has some depth.

Trendy Trees in Pink

I decided to make a girly thank you card with the Trendy Trees set. The trees were stamped in Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Taken with Teal. The greeting was stamped in Taken with Teal. The paper comes from the Sweet Pea dsp. The card is finished off with some Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon and a silver flower brad.

Vintage Vogue Flowers

This is the first card I made with the new Vintage Vogue set from the mini. The background was created by repeatedly stamping the the floral flourish stamp in Certainly Celery, this would not have been possible without the Stamp -a-ma-jig. The flowers were stamped in Ballet Blue and cut out, the edges have been curled to give some dimension. The centres of the flowers are Certainly Celery brads. The leaves have been punched from the 2-Step bird punch and the greeting on from Sincere Salutations.