More Betsy's Blossoms - One Sheet Wonder

Another post about the lovely Betsy's Blossoms stamp set, and I just wanted to show you my first ever attempt at a one-sheet wonder project!  If you don't know what I mean by one-sheet wonder, it's basically a technique of stamping a sheet of paper to get a lovely pattern, cutting it up and using the pieces to create several co-ordinating cards.  You can do the same thing with a sheet of Designer Series paper.

I took a 12x12 sheet of Whisper White card stock and stamped all over with the Betsy's Blossoms leaves and flowers. 

I used a template from the Internet to use as a cutting pattern and then chopped it up according to the measurments given.

I made a total of 8 cards with the pieces, adding in ribbon, sentiments and other embellishments to vary the designs of each card.  For some reason I only have photos of 6 of the cards I made!

It's a really fun technique to try and a great way of using all the different stamps in a set. 

Betsy's Blossoms

Last autumn I created lots of projects for our quarterly team training day to display on my Inspiration Station.  I was asked to showcase the Floral District designer series papers and the Betsy's Blossoms stamp set.

This remains one of my all-time favourite stamp sets as it can be used in lots of ways to make very different styles of card for any occasion!

Scroll down to see pictures of some of the cards I made....

Kylie x

Floral District Inspiration Station

Last October I was asked by Julie Kettlewell to create an Inspiration Station to display at our quarterly training day.  She asked me to showcase the Floral District Designer papers and fabrics and Betsy's Blossoms stamp set.  I spent a couple of weeks making lots of projects as I really wanted to make the most of these products, try new techniques and really push myself to make a really inspirational display.  I had lots of help from my friend and upline Alex Spence who made the gorgrous 3D cards and kept me company over several intensive crafting sessions!

Here is the full display - thanks to Alex for the use of her wine boxes which I have borrowed many times since!

The fabric bags I made using a pattern from the internet - even with my basic sewing machine skills I managed to knock up these two in about an hour by follwing a YouTube video!

A tealight holder box, one of Alex's 3D cards and my handstamped candles

These owls were made using a pattern I found online and look great with the Floral District fabric and some scraps of trouser fabric I found.

This butterfly canvas is so quick and easy to make with the Elegant Butterfly punch. 

I cut leaves out of the Floral District papers using the Autumn accents die and hot-glued them onto brances to make a lovely paper tree!

I take this rosette wreath with me to all my events and it always attracts lots of comments!

Cupcake post-it note holders

Good afternoon!  I'm back with a quick post today to show you some of my post-it note holders that I made for a recent craft fair. I got the design idea from Victoria Rogers at Blue Jelly Stampin and I used the Sunshine and Sprinkles designer series papers which are just so colourful and jolly!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Create a Cupcake

Card stock: Marina Mist, Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Daffodil Delight

Ink: Marina Mist, Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Daffodil Delight

Punches: Cupcake Builder, Circle, Scallop Circle, Itty Bitty

Equipment: Simply Scored

I'll post some more of my craft fair projects soon!

Kylie x

Papillion birthday

It's still all about the butterflies! Here's another card which uses the lovely Papillon Pot Pourri stamp set. This one also uses two of the soon to be discontinued colours - Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy (see Saturday's post for details). Baja Breeze will be especially missed but I'm looking forward to using some new ones!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Papillon Pot Pourri, Petite Pairs

Inks: Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy

Card: Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Note Quite Navy

Papers: First Edition

Equipment: Circle punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Elegant Butterfly Punch

Embellishments: Pearls

Secret Garden

Although I haven't posted a lot over the last few weeks, I haven't stopped crafting!  So I will have lots to share over the coming weeks!

This card was one we made at our March team training.  It's the Secret Garden stamps and matching framelits which are so pretty - I had overlooked them in the Spring/Summer catalogue because the pictures aren't very inspiring.  But this card is just so bright and cheerful - it reminds me of how Spring should be!

We also made a coordinating petite purse bag using the die.

I really enjoyed making these and I am inspired to use this colour combination (Melon Mambo and Lucky Limeade) more often.

What is your favourite colour combo at the moment?

Kylie x

Colour Refresh!!

Stampin' Up are refreshing their colour families starting on 1st July when the new annual catalogue launches.  They are replacing some of the least used and out of date colours with more trendy popular ones!

10 colours are retiring....

But in their place we will be getting 4 brand new colours and 6 of your favourite in-colours will be brought back!

The four colour families (Subtles, Brights, Regals and Neutrals) will look like this...

The retiring colours have already started to sell out and won't ever be back in stock - so if you need inks, card-stock or ribbons in these colours let me know and I'll get an order in for you.

Kylie x

Hello baby

I seem to be making at least one baby card a week at the moment!  There's a lot of Spring babies this year!!     Here are three cards I have recently made.  I need to make a pile of these to have on hand for future requests!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Four Frames, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Fox and Friends (Retired)

Inks: Pretty in Pink, Baja Breeze

Card Stock: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight

Papers: Subtles Designer Paper Stack

Punches: Itty Bitty, Decorative Label, Circle, Scallop Circle

Equipment: Perfect Dots Embossing Folder

Embellishments: Taffeta Ribon, Bakers Twine, Itty Bitty Buttons, Pearls

Swallowtail showcase

Hello again!  I was recently asked by Julie Kettlewell (my Stampin' Up! grandma!) to create some projects based around products in the Spring/Summer catalogue to showcase in her monthly newsletter.  I chose the gorgeous Swallowtail stamp as I had yet to use it and it was one of the first things I bought when the catalogue came out!

I had been a little bit intimidated by its size, but once I got stamping I found it really fun to use.  I also wanted to try out lots of new embossing techniques that I had seen online - so most of the cards I made I have cased from other talented demonstrators.

The first card was copied from the one in the catalogue.  It is heat embossed with  Pool Party embossing powder on the Summer Starfruit cardstock.  It's a colour combination that works really well!

You might just be able to see the champagne shimmer paint which I painted over the wings.

For the second card I stamped the Swallowtail butterfly with white ink onto Crumb Cake card stock...

On the next card the butterfly was stamped with versamark and then heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I sponged pink ink over the embossed image to make it appear! It's very subtle but quite pretty.

The fourth card was stamped with versamark and heat embossed with black embossing powder onto designer series paper, and then the image was cut out.

This next one turned out to be my favourite!  Again I used black embossing powder but I added colour using the sponge daubers with More Mustard and Marina Mist ink.  The colours blend together really well.

The next card is similar to the last one, but it was coloured in using my aqua painter and Melon Mambo, Perfect Plum and Cherry Cobbler inks.  I added a 'shadow' around the butterfly outline using the Sahara Sand marker - this simple step seems to lift the butterfly from the paper.

I could have gone on forever with the cards - there are so many combinations of embossing, colouring and backgrounds you can try. But onto a couple of non-card ideas I tried out for this versatile stamp.

Firstly I made a brooch using shrink plastic...

I stamped onto some white shrink plastic with black Stazon ink. Then I cut out the image and coloured it with sponge daubers and ink. I placed the butterfly on a baking tray and put it in the oven. After about a minute the butterfly had curled up, shrunk and unfurled again. You can see the difference in size between the shrunk plastic and the original stamp! I attached a brooch pin with a blob of hot glue.

I realised that I needed to 'fix' the colour somehow as it wasn't permanent and would rub off! My solution was to cover the brooch with a thin layer of Crystal Effects. It also gave it a nice glossy finish.

My final project is also a bit of an experiment. I found a box of natural stone tiles in the loft that the previous owners left behind. I wanted to try stamping on them and I thought Swallowtail would look great.

I stamped the image with black Stazon and then put the tiles in a low oven for about 20 minutes, then switched the oven off and let them cool in there. This was to 'fix' the stamped image onto the tile. I turned the tiles into coasters, adding felt circles to the back.

I thought these would make nice gifts so I am going to try them out at my next craft fair.

I hope you like some of these projects, and that it's given you some ideas for using the beautiful Swallowtail stamp.

Kylie x