AUGUST SPECIAL OFFER (Sticky Post - Newer posts below)

Promotion dates: 1-31 August 2012

Promotion Details: During August, you have the opportunity to purchase—or earn for FREE—an exclusive stamp set, available only through this special offer!

Get the Reason to Smile Set FREE when you spend £60 on any Stampin’ Up! products. Or purchase it at the regular retail price.

Ready to order? Contact me today!  Email me at craftingbecky@gmail.com

Frou Frou Flower

My ladies seem to really like this card - the flower in particular has proved popular. I have again utilised the beautiful Mixed Bunch Stamp Set and Blossom Punch from Stampin' Up! Let me know what you think...

The flower is super easy to make, and I will be doing a WOW!How? feature on them... look out for that soon!

Well that is all for today, short and sweet, so I will leave you to enjoy the last week of the summer holiday...

Have Fun!

Becky

A bit of stitchery...

Well I have to confess to being very behind on my crafting the last couple of weeks so for today I thought I would show you this darling vintage style scissor keep I made:

I love it so much! At the beginning of this year (Way back in March) I went to Olympia Stitch and Craft show with my Grandma, and boy did we have a good time! We spent the day in almost back to back classes and workshops and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The scissor keep is the result of one of the workshops by Angela Richardson, and you can check out her blog by clicking the link: theenglishromantic.blogspot.co.uk it is chock full of beautiful quirkiness that I just adore!

All the felt, thread and woven fabric (used for the leaves) have been dyed by Angela, to create these lovely soft colours, which complement each other beautifully.

I have used various stitches on this piece, including blanket stitch, fly stitch, french knots, bullion stitch and straight stitch. Now I can always find my scissors, even at the bottom of a bag of projects!

Happy Crafting, and maybe I will see some of you at the Alexandra Palace Knitting and Stitching Show in October? Leave me a message if you are going!

Becky

Mixed Bunch Butterfly

I LOVE the Stampin' Up! Mixed Bunch stamp set! It perfectly matches with the Stampin' Up! Blossom Punch and the set as a whole is so versatile. I have shown you how I made stunning dragonflies with the same stamp and punch set, click HERE if you missed it and want to see! Now it is the time to show you these gorgeous filigree butterflies you can create simply by cutting away two adjacent petals, leaving two stalks for the antenna.

The colours are so vivid they had to be paired with a monochrome background to make them pop even more! They are so bright they almost match the rather garish orange nasturtiums that I have growing in the garden (see the top photo to see one of the blooms).

I hope you like it, I think I may well end up making some more variations on this card... Oh and just to mention that the sentiment is from the stamp set Sense of Time, but could happily be exchanged for something else.

Happy Crafting!
Becky

Recipe:
Stamp Sets: Mixed Bunch, Sense of Time, Punch Potpourri
Inks: Calypso Coral, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black
Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Calypso Coral
Punches and Dies: Blossom, Boho Blossoms, Oval (non SU), Scallop Oval (non SU), Notched Corner (non SU)
Other: Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Basic Rhinestones, Sponge Daubers

Vintage Car Man's Card

I have to confess that the focal stamp on this card is not a Stampin' Up! one, but I like it anyway so I hope you will forgive me this once? It is a really quick and easy card to make, and being totally flat means you don't run the risk of falling foul of Royal Mail! Today's post is a really short and sweet one, but check back soon for a longer post and some new tutorials!

Recipe:
Stamps: Medallion, Car (non SU; crafty individuals)
Card Stock: Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Soft Suede
Inks: Not Quite Navy, Soft Suede, More Mustard
Punches: Lace, Notched Corner (non SU)
Other: Epoxy pebble stickers (non SU)

Happy Crafting...
Becky

Sail Away Card for my Husband

So it is my second wedding anniversary at the start of September and so I made this card for my lovely husband:

I love the technique I have used for the boat sails - stamp the boat twice in black ink, once onto crumb cake card and once onto white card. Cut out the parts of the boat from the white card that you want to pick out, in this case the sails, and mount onto the crumb cake. Simple but oh so effective!

I really hope that he likes it!

Happy Crafting...

Becky

Recipe:
Stamp Sets: So Swirly, Sail Away, For My Family
Card Stock: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Old Olive.
Inks: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Night of Navy.
Ribbon: Old Olive, Linen Thread
Punches: Modern Label
Other: Eyelets, Crop-a-dile, rhinestones (non SU)

Men's Clock Concertina Card

This particular design is inspired and CASE'd (Copy And Share Everything) with permission from a fantastic US Stampin' Up! demonstrator Sandi MacIver. Why not check out her blog for some great ideas by clicking the link: stampingwithsandi?

Below is pictured her original design, and underneath that are my interpretations of the design.

As you can see I have swapped out the sentiment (bottom right corner) for some more images of cogs and gears, changed the colour scheme from blue to reds and greens, and blinged it up a little by adding glitter!

When closed the inside panel for writing on is completely concealed by the clock face on the front of the card. The clock face itself has been covered in clear embossing powder and then make to look like cracked glass - How do I do that? Easy! Simply put the heat embossed finished item into the freezer for about 10 minutes, remove and bend/scrunch/fold the card - cracking the clear embossing in the process! The cold makes the melted powder go brittle - SO much fun to do...

Well I hope you like my design, if you want to make cards like this why not come along to one of my classes? Check out the testimonials to see what others have to say about my all-inclusive workshops!

Happy Crafting

Becky

Recipe:

Stamp Sets: Sense of Time

Inks: Crumb Cake, More Mustard, Versamark, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, StazOn

Card Stock: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla

Other: Clear Embossing Powder, patterned paper (non SU), Circular dies (non SU)

Simple Butterfly Card

This is a card made using the Stampin' Up! Bliss stamp set, but could easily be made using something with similar componants, perhaps the butterfly and flourish from the Creative Elements stamp set. Keeping the colours limited really ties the design together and the finishing details such as the Scallop Trim Border, rhinestone, and ribbon finish it off.

A close up of the butterfly shows you how I have used the rock and roll technique to create depth and interest - using Early espresso on it's own would be too dark, but pink pirouette on its own would be washed out against the background.

This is such a great design and one I use for workshops - why not book a workshop for you and some friends in the coming weeks and take advantage of some great special offers? 

Email me at craftingbecky@gmail.com to book your home workshop today!

Happy Crafting

Becky

Recipe:

Stamp Sets Bliss

Inks: Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette

Card stock: Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso, Whisper White

Ribbon: Early Espresso

Punches: Scallop Trim Border, Modern Label, Word Window

Other: Basic Rhinestones

A Flight of Butterflies

Today's offering makes use of two of the stamp sets from Sale-A-Bration, Elementary Elegance and Fresh Vintage:

Here is a close up of the bottom right corner as the above photo doesn't show how fantastically shimmery the mica powders are that I have used stamped in the floral design from Fresh Vintage:

I really like that this card is so suitable for different occasions, just by switching out the sentiment, so it could be for birthdays, thanks you cards or could even be sent for condolences if you changed the colours around a little. The recipe is listed below, so why not try making a card similar to this one yourself? I was inspired by a card on Pinterest, but cannot find it again, so if it seems influenced by one of your cards please let me know and I will give appropriate credit!

Recipe:
Stamp Sets: Elementary Elegance, Fresh Vintage
Inks: Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Versamark
Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Rich Razzleberry
Other: First Edition Speciality DSP, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Sponge Daubers, Oyster Mica Powder (non SU)

Finally I am entering this card into what for me is a massive 5 challenges!

http://www.comeandgetitchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Adult Birthday Cards - Fabulous challenge with really diverse design team makes to inspire.

http://greatimpressionsstamps.blogspot.co.uk/ - Animal Projects - A challenge theme totally after my own heart!

http://thatcraftplaceblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Things with wings - A perfect challenge in which to enter my card... I hope they like it!

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Take Flight - I think I single handedly keep Sir Stampalot in business with the amount I end up spending there... So it really is high time I entered one of their challenges!

http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.co.uk/ - Whiskers or Wings - I love the allsorts challenge, you never know what they will spring on you next!

Medallion Magic

Just a quick post for you today to show you this Stampin' Up! Medallion card, using the Joseph's Coat technique. I love it! It is a design I have done before, but using different colours:  

These colours just speak to me of hot bright summers, cocktails, exotic flowers and tropical coral reefs... Bliss! If you want to see it in a different set of colours check out my Moroccan Medallion post by clicking HERE.

I hope you like it, and Happy Crafting!

Becky 

Recipe: 

Stamp Sets: Medallion, For My Family
Inks: Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Versamark
Card Stock: Calypso Coral, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White
Punches: Modern Label, Word Window
Other: Clear Embossing Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers, Baby Wipe (non SU)