Saffire's Stamping

I had a great time this weekend doing a ton of challenges! (So glad my BF doesn't mind too much :P I needed the stress relief after teaching 30 8 year olds all week including a fab trip to CadburyWorld on Thursday!!) Splitcoast Stampers had a mini Virtual Stamp Night and I love doing these challenges. You get 45 minutes to do each challenge, but I will admit I do sometimes go over the time limit by a few minutes here and there. (I'm going to be a hostess for one of the challenges in the main VSN on February 26th too!!) I always try to combine my challenges so lots of my cards are for several different ones, so bare with me through the long post. My first card is for VSN#1 - to use the colours of a partcipating country's flag on your project. I chose Estonia's colours for no other reason than I liked them. It's also for Sweet Stamping's Challenge #11 to use scallops and the Sketch Challenge #265 on SCS too. This is a Stampin' Up Only card as well (SUO).

Hello and welcome to another Sale-A-Bration blog hop. Sale-A-Bration comes but once a year from Stampin' Up during which time for every £45 you spend before P&P you can choose one of the 4 limited edition stamp sets for free. Click on the link on my side bar to view all 4 stamp sets. They are really gorgeous ones this year and so versatile for so many different occasions. If you have joined me from Helen's blog , welcome. If you are starting here, then follow the link at the bottom of my post to the next blog in the hop and you'll eventually come full circle. I hope you have fun looking at all the gorgeous creations on the blog hop and find some great inspiration too! My first card today uses the cute 2-step stamping set, Good Neighbors (and yes that is the American spelling not a typo :P) This card is also for Splitcoast Stampers sketch challenge #264 , the Caardvarks challenge to use red and hearts on a card and A Spoonful of Sugar's challenge #87 to use lo

Only because I'm saving some for tomorrow's Sale-A-Bration blog hop! So you'll have to come back tomorrow for a few more! Today's first is for Stamp With Us' sketch challenge and Splitcoast Stampers Color Challenge #254 . Recipe: Stamps: Best Wishes and More, Say It With Scallops Papers: Soft Suede, Ruby Red, Whisper White, Bashful Blue DSP Inks: Soft Suede, Ruby Red, Bashful Blue Accessories: Soft Suede polka dot ribbon, Scallop Square punch, Scallop Edge punch, Paper Piercer Number 2 is for Color Throwdown #76 , Charisma Cardz #3 to use fruity colours which I think these really are and Mojo #122 ! The So Saffron on the background panel looks more peachy than saffron in the photo but I can assure you it really is So Saffron! Recipe: Stamps: Kindred Spirits from Verve Papers: Old Olive, Melon Mambo, So Saffron, Whisper White Inks: Old Olive, Melon Mambo, So Saffron Accessories: So Saffron grosgrain ribbon, Oval Nestabilities And my fin

Our challenge this fortnight on Inspiring Inkin Challenges is a sketch challenge. I love doing sketch challenges as you might have gathered and this one was a great one to use. The side twist is to use one of the fabulous Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, available until February 28th only! Click on the link on my sidebar to view all 4 sets and email me today to place your order of £45 or more to receive one of these gorgeous sets for free. This is the sketch we used... And here's my take on it... I also made this card for the Crazy 4 Challenges #21 and Papertake Weekly Challenge , both of which was to use pink as the main colour on a card.  The DSP is actually the Bride Speciality paper, which I coloured using a brayer and Pretty in Pink ink. I then buffed it with a paper towel to remove any excess ink from the foiled parts and it left me with the absolutely gorgeous paper. This technique is going to be great when I want a particular colour DSP then I haven't got! Recipe:

Last Saturday I went to some SU training hosted by the lovely Monica, Bekka and Jules. The training was literally a 10 minute drive from my house, so how could I not go? It was a great day, made some gorgeous projects, received some fantastic swaps, met some lovely ladies and had a fab time. We all received a Stampin' Up bag when we signed in which contained half of the Sunny Days scrapping kit (I love this - it's so bright and the patterned paper is to die for), some other pieces of cardstock, some page protectors, a whole reel of Whisper White satin ribbon (this is so lush!), some jumbo eyelets and a whole pot of the new clips from Stampin' Up. It started at 10am and during the first hour we swapped our cards and watched 2 fab demos by Jo and Jo, one showing the emboss resist technique using a brayer and the other using mixed reinkers to create a multi-coloured ink pad. These are the fab swaps I received (excuse the awful photos but it's Friday night and I can'

I'm on a serious challenge kick at the minute and just can't stop doing them. I have to make a list of all the ones I want to do, then sort them out to see if I can combine any as I know I haven't got enough time in my very short weekend to do a card for each individual challenge. Most of today's cards have been doubled up to meet 2 challenges at a time. The first one is for the sketch challenege Mojo#121   and Stacey's Curtain Call #12  color challenge to use Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink and Very Vanilla. I had to add a bit of green though for the stems. Recipe: Stamps: Petals & Stems, Circular Sayings from Verve Papers: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red DP Inks: Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Mellow Moss Accessories: Chocolate Chip 1" stitched grosgrain ribbon, scalloped circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch I think My next card is for A Passion for Papertrey's Embossing challenge . I bought this stamp set a

This fortnight's challenge over on my SU team's Inspiring Inkin' Challenge blog is to use the chalkboard technique. This technique is so simple yet so effective . All you need to do is stamp an image onto black or dark cardstock using either white craft ink or Versamark and then using chalk pastels, colour it in. The colours really do stand out again the dark background.  Here's my card, made for another triple selection of challenges: This is for our challenge - using the chalkboard technique; the sketch challenge #262 on Splitcoast Stampers and the Just Us Girls challenge #15 - to use stitching on a card. Recipe: Stamps: Whimsical Wings (Level 2 hostess set) Papers: Pink Passion, Only Orange, Basic Black, Kaleidoscope DSP Inks: Whisper White craft ink, Stampin' Pastels Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Orange embroidery thread

Hello and Happy New Year to you all. I've been on a challenges kick today and thought I'd show you some of the cards I've made for the various challenges I like to do. I love doing different challenges as they always make me try things I would probably never try on my own. I've got 5 cards to show you so bare with the long posting today. The first challenge was from Our Creative Corner and was to create a 3D project. I made a very simple but necessary calendar for my desk, using one of the calendar thingys that were left over after making the kids calendars at school. These are ever so quick and easy to make - just cover 2 blank beer mats with DSP, punch 3 holes in the top with a Crop-a-dile, tie them together with some ribbon, stick the calendar on the front and voila all done! Recipe: Stamps: None Papers: DCWV The Sweet Matpack, SU Chocolate Chip cs Inks: None Accessories: Chocolate satin ribbon, calendar thingy (no idea what you call these

On the ILWS forum was a post the other day about a German Stampin' Up video showing a gorgeous wedding scrapbook page. This is the link - Pauline's Papier - don't worry you don't need to understand German to work out what they are doing as the video shows it all anyways. You can just scroll down to the picture of the layout if you don't want to watch the video as well. Today, first day back at work (AARRGGHH!!) after the Christmas holidays and I was asked at lunchtime, while eating my fish 'n' chips if I would make a birthday card for one of the TAs 60th birthday, which we are celebrating on Friday with a party after school. She's such a lovely TA and always organises presents for everyone else that she definately deserves a big party. As soon as I asked what size and was told as big as possible, I knew what I was going to do and here it is..... The base is 2 sheets of 12x12 Kraft cardstock. The top layer was scored 3/4" from the left hand s