SAB Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the Inspiring Inkin' Sale-a-bration blog hop! Each of us along this little hop have made some things using the new, exclusive stamp sets available for FREE when you spend over £45 from the Stampin Up catalogue. If you're interested in placing an order and getting your hands on a free stamp set (or more!) just get in touch!





Each blog will have the birdcage logo and at the end of the post you'll see a link to the next blog on the hop - eventually you'll come back full circle to the blog you started with. I hope you enjoy the journey! It would be lovely to hear what you think of our creations so if you can, please leave a comment when you visit.





For those of you who have joined me from Hayley, welcome!





I made two samples for this hop - although I could have kept going cos there are SO many possibilities with this Good Neighbors set. There are three little house stamps along with three different roofs that you can mix and match to make endless little houses! There are also three cute trees as well.





For this card I followed the colour challenge at SCS this week: Barely Banana, Really Rust and Basic Grey. The background paper is from the GORGEOUS Nouveau Chic paper pack. I stamped the larger house in Basic Grey and coloured it in with a Barely Banana marker. I added a roof with Really Rust ink then outlined it with a black marker. The other house was stamped with Really Rust then the roof added in Basic Grey (you simply HAVE to have a Stamp-a-ma-jig to use this set properly!!). I stamped some clouds in Basic Grey and added piercing around the edge of the Whisper White piece. The houses were cut out and popped up with dimensionals.





The greeting is from Love You Much and I punched it out using the Word Window punch and layered on a Basic Grey oval. I added silver brads either side of the greeting. I stamped the trees along the bottom of the Really Rust strip and added some Really Rust buttons. I added 'thread' through the middle of the buttons using a thin strip of Barely Banana cardstock. The Barely Banana strip was punched with the eyelet border punch.





Here's the recipe:


Stamps: Good Neighbors, Love You Much


Ink: Basic Grey, Really Rust


Paper: Nouveau Chic DSP, Really Rust, Basic Grey, Barely Banana, Whisper White


Accessories: Eyelet border punch, word window punch, oval punch, markers, silver brads, Really Rust buttons, mat pack and piercing tool





Here's my second sample using the same set:

I actually made 36 of these over Christmas Day and Boxing Day while I was at my husband's parents' house! Let's just say I spent some quality time with my Stamp-a-ma-jig!!! Thanks so much to Jane who lent me her New Year's Celebration stamp so I could make these!

Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Good Neighbors, New Year's Celebration, Pocket Silhouettes

Ink: Cameo Coral, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue, So Saffron

Paper: Merry Moments DSP, Cameo Coral, Kraft, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Whisper White

Accessories: Chocolate Chip 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, tag punches, silver brads, corner rounder punch.

And now you can continue your journey by hopping over to Rosie's blog HERE!

Thanks so much for stopping by...!

x Amy x

A Funky Hello to You..!

Hello all!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends! I caught a dreadful bug a few days before Christmas so was feeling pretty rotten leading up to the big day and am still suffering with cold-like symptoms - hopefully they'll be gone soon!

I spent Christmas day and Boxing day at my in-laws, making lots of Sale-a-Bration cards (tune in on the 30th of Dec for a Sale-a-Bration blog hop where you'll see lots of great samples with the new FREE stamp sets that will be available from the 30th of Dec through to the end of Feb!). Today is the first day I've been able to sit down and make something purely for the joy of creating something and not 'cos I have to'. I played along with the Featured Stamper challenge on SCS today and this is the card I came up with.

The flower is from Playful Petals and I stamped the larger flower from the set on Whisper White using Chocolate Chip first. I then overstamped on top of it with the Sanded background stamp, which kinda 'dirtied' it up a bit - I really like the effect! I then stamped the smaller detailed flower on Real Red twice (I inked the stamp first with Versamark then with Chocolate Chip and embossed the image with clear embossing powder) and onto Tempting Turqouise once. I cut out the layers and built up the flower using dimensionals. I added a button from the Playground collection in the centre, with some linen thread tied through the middle.

The Tempting Turqouise background was stamped with En Francais using Tempting Turquoise ink. I stamped the swirl from Season of Joy twice using Versamark and embossed with Silver embossing powder. I added piercing using the mat pack and piercing tool and added some faux stitching using a white gel pen. I also used some silver brads and white satin ribbon to finish this off.

Here's the recipe:
Stamps: Playful Petals, Hello Again, Season of Joy, Sanded, En Francais
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Paper: Real Red, Tempting Turqouise, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White
Accessories: Playground buttons, silver brads, white satin ribbon, linen thread, white signo gel pen, eyelet border punch, mat pack and piercing tool, clear EP

Thanks for stopping by!

x Amy x

Nouveau Bird Inspiration

Hello!

I made this card for today's inspiration challenge over at SCS. I chose this inspiration piece and used a combination of DSP prints to create a patchwork background. I added faux stitching using a Basic Black marker. The main image is from A Touch of Nature and was stamped on Saraha Sand twice. I punched one out with the 1 3/4" circle punch and then cut the other image out with my SU paper snips (seriously the BEST scissors for fine cutting!!!). I layered the circle on Whisper White and then layered the cut-out image on top with dimensionals.

The sentiment is from SU's Wow Flowers set and punched out with a 1" circle punch then layered onto Sage Shadow and Basic Black circles. I fixed a filigree flower with a black brad through the centre. I added a ribbon bow with the GORGEOUS black striped ribbon and added a Basic Black button and linen thread.

Here's the recipe:
Stamps: A Touch of Nature, Wow Flowers
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Nouveau Chic DSP, Tea Party DSP, Sahara Sand, Basic Black, Whisper White, Sage Shadow
Accessories: Black brads, linen thread, black button, black striped ribbon, filigree brads, circle punches, basic black marker

Thanks for stopping by!

x Amy x

Final Designer of the Month card....

Hello!

This is my card for the last of the November sketches over at Jen's blog. Check them out - they really stretch your creativity to another level - I love them!

For this card I've used a poinsettia image (has to be one of my fave flowers!) from Gina K designs and I paper-toled (or decoupaged) it. I stamped it three times on watercolour paper and coloured with my SU markers and an aqua brush then cut out three different layers and stacked them on top of each other using Pinflair glue gel. The papers are some I've had in my stash from last year. I used Bravo Burgundy buttons and Certainly Celery ribbon to embellish.

Here's a close up shot of some of the dimension:

Can I just say once again how grateful I am to Jen for asking me to be the November Designer of the Month?! It's been great fun!

Thanks for stopping by...

x Amy x

Wild Sketch...

Hello!

Today's card is for Jen's Sketch for You to Try - check it out here! I used a selection of animals from an old retired SU set. I stamped them in Chocolate chip and cut them out and layered them with glue gel to add dimension. The ribbon is Twill Tape from SU and the button is Creamy Caramel, tied with linen thread. The greeting panel was brayered and then stamped with a greeting from Verve using Choc Chip.

I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with a gift project for you!

Thanks for stopping by...

x Amy x

Floral Sketch Nouveau

Hello!

I made this card for Jen's Sketch For You To Try this week. Check it out - it's a fab one! And if you play along this week you get the chance to win a gift certificate from Your Next Stamp.

I finally managed to dig out my GORGEOUS Nouveau Chic DSP to make this card. As soon as I saw it in the new catty I knew I had to have it! But of course, other projects got in the way and I hadn't managed to use it! The coordinating colours are Apricot Appeal, Sage Shadow and Basic Grey. The main image is from Bloomin' with Beauty (a fave of mine!) and stamped with Basic Grey on Whisper White. I coloured the image with SU markers then added another image that I had cut out over the top for dimension. I added some crystal effects over the whole image to make it shiny.

The sentiment is from the Wow Flowers set and was stamped with Sage Shadow and punched out with a 1" circle punch. A filigree flower and brad was fixed through the centre of the greeting circle. I added layers behind using the larger circle punches and coordinating cardstock. On the scallop circle I added some white dots using a signo gel pen. Some pearls from the Pretties Kit and some faux stitching finished things off!

Here's the recipe:
Stamps: Bloomin' with Beauty, Wow Flowers
Ink: Sage Shadow, Basic Grey, Apricot Appeal
Paper: Nouveau Chic DSP, Apricot Appeal, Basic Grey, Sage Shadow, Whisper White
Accessories: circle punches, Pretties kit, filigree brads, markers, crystal effects, paper piercing tool & template, white signo gel pen

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to play along this week for a chance to win some free stuff...

x Amy x

Chocolate Roses...

I made this card for our Stampin Up team's challenge blog as well as the Mojo Monday sketch challenge.

The roses were stamped first with Close to Cocoa ink then with Chocolate Chip. I added glitter to the areas that remained white. The leaves were stamped with Old Olive and Close to Cocoa. The butterfly was stamped with Old Olive and then coated with Crystal Effects so it is shiny. The papers are from the Spiced Cider DSP.

Here's the recipe:
Stamps: A Rose is a Rose, One of a Kind, A Touch of Nature
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Spiced Cider DSP
Accessories: Crystal Effects, Glitter, Vintage Brads, paper piercing template & tool

Thanks for stopping by!

x Amy x