Sale-A-Bration Time

Stampin' Up has been in the USA for 20 years now, but only came to the UK last year. Every year in America SU has a Sale-A-Bration and it has come to the UK for the first time ever.

So what's the SAB?

SAB is a time when all customers who spend at least £45 in the Stampin' Up catalogue can choose a free stamp set from the 4 specially selected SAB sets.

So what are the stamp sets?

There are 4 to choose from:

Botanical Blooms - perfect for watercolouring

Yummy - perfect for homemade goodies and presents

Congrats - a sentiment set perfect for so many different occasions

And my favourite one - Polka Dot Punches. I love the flowers and heart in this set all made up of little tiny dots.

So how do I get these free stamp sets?


For every £45 you spend in the Stampin' Up Catalogue, you'll receive a free stamp set. Which one you choose is up to you. Hostesses also receive a free SAB stamp set when they host a workshop with a sales total of £300 or more in addition to the usual hostess benefits - an even better excuse to host a workshop with me.


So how many can I have?


There's no limit to the number of free stamp sets you can have, but you do have to spend £45 in the catalogue for each one. So if you spend £45 you will receive one set free. If you spend £90, you'll receive 2 sets. If you spend £135, you'll receive 3 sets and so on....


So when does this promotion finish?


Sale-A-Bration started on January 1st and continues until February 28th, so there's still plenty of time to place your order and get your free stamps.

So is there anything else I need to know about SAB?

Yes!! If you sign up as a demonstrator during Sale-A-Bration, Stampin' Up is offering you an additional set free from the current catalogue up to the value of £38.95. In addition to this I am also offering another free set for becoming part of my team up to the same value. This means for signing up to become a demonstrator with me you'll receive 2 (yes 2!!) extra free stamp sets with a grand total of up to £77.90!!! Now is definately the time to sign up as a demonstrator!

For further details and information, to place an order or to become a demonstrator, please email me at saffivort@yahoo.com

Keep checking back to see my uploads of cards made with these 4 sets.

Another swap card

I joined another card swap (I love them - can't get enough of them!) on SCS for Papertrey Ink stamps. The only requirement was to use PTI stamps, but anything else was allowed. I only have 5 of their sets and one of those is a polka dot background making stamp set. I used 2 different stamp sets on this card.






I wanted to go for a pastely-girly card and I think I managed that one. I love PTI's stamps, cardstock and matching inks and ribbons, but the postage is so much more expensive than other American companies and I don't really understand why. I wish they would lower it somewhat so I could order more, but generally the postage is about the same if not more than my actual goods cost. I only order about $25-30 worth at a time to try and avoid the import/customs charges the UK whack on you! I don't know if it would be worth just placing a big order to save on shipping and getting lumbered with the import charges.

Recipe:

Stamps - Women of Life and Butterfly Kisses both from Papertrey Ink

Paper - Lavender Moon and Sweet Blush cardstock both from Papertrey Ink, Non SU white cardstock

Ink - Lavender Moon from PTI, Blush Blossom from SU (my Sweet Blush ink had all dried up, yet my Lavender Moon was still nice and juicy and they are both stored together in the same way! Hmmmm!)

Accessories - Lavender Moon grosgrain ribbon, Lavender Lace Liquid Pears, SU scallop edge punch, Crystal Stcikers gems, Elaine's Doodle Template from Kars (for the butterflies' trails), paper piercer

How long???

OMG I can't believe how long it's been since I last updated my blog!


This has definately got to be one of my new year resolutions, along with the usual lose weight, get fitter kind of ones.


This first card is one I did for a UK based card swap over on Splitcoast Stampers. We had to make a card using the Boo Bear die cuts supplied by the hostess.


I chose to make a girly non-occasion specific card and here he is:



Isn't he the cutest? I generally don't use die cuts anymore on my cards (I have a ton of the sizzix original dies from when I first started card making, especially all the original doll and clothes ones but I never use them anymore). I might have to succumb to buying this one though as he can be made to hold anything in his hand and can be used for such a range of occasions, themes and people.

Recipe:
 Stamps - Best Yet Hostess Set from Stampin' Up (to find out how to receive this stamp set free email me at saffivort@yahoo.com)



Paper - Square card blank from Papermania, Basic Gray cardstock from Stampin' Up, Non SU white and pink cs, white mulberry paper, DP from Rob and Bob Studio


Ink - Basic Gray from Stampin' Up


Accessories - flowers from Craftime, white ribbon bows from Paper Cellar, square and rectangle nestabilities, Boo Bear die cut

Elzybells Challenge #5

Elzybells Chllenge #5 was to use black, white and another colour. I love this kind of challenge as black and pink tend to be my colours of choice for cards (and clothes), but I wanted to do a Christmas card using my new uninked Elzybells stamps. I came up with this cute little mouse fast asleep waiting for Santa to bring lots of micey goodies. I'm not sure mice are black (other than Mickey and Minnie of course), but he looks so cute against the red and white that I left him.


It's hard to see in the photo but the top half of the card is glitter card embossed with the cuttlebug snowflakes folder. I also layered the top part of the hat on dimensionals so as to give it a bit more of a 3D look and added some white flock for a furry feel to the hat's edge and bobble.

Recipe:

Stamps - Sleeping Mouse and sentiment from Elzybells

Paper - White card blank from Craft Central, Real Red cs from Stampin' Up, non SU black and white cs, white glitter card, DP from Dovecrafts Christmas pack (I think it's Ho Ho Ho)

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Ciao Markers in 100 Black, R27 Cadmium Red and W-1 Warm Grey No 1

Accessories - Long rectangle nestabilities, black grosgrain ribbon, red circle gems and doodlebug white flock

Elzybells Challenge #4

Elzybells Challenge #4 here was to use inchies on a card. I really wanted to make a card with this cute little girl on the moon and the star swirls were ideal for the inchie part. I used a ton of glitter glue to add extra sparkle to it.



Recipe:

Stamps - Stardust and Moonbeams set from Elzybells

Paper - White card blank from Craft Central, Rose Red cs and DP from Stampin' Up, Non SU white cs

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Ciao Markers in W-1 Warm Grey, Y08 Acid Yellow, E00 Skin White, R85 Rose Red, RV34 Dark Pink and E35 Chamois

Accessories - Clear Embossing Powder, star brad from ?, white organza ribbon, yellow and silver glitter glues, Scalloped and straight edge circle nestabilities

High Hopes challenge #3

High Hopes Stamps set challenges on their blog every Sunday and I try to do them when I get the chance. The only rules other than those set by the actual challenge is to use High Hopes Stamps, which gives me a great excuse to buy some more every month or so. Being in the UK limits how much we can import before we get charged with highly expensive customs charges, so I tend to order about $30 worth of stamps at a time. If you haven't seen them before you MUST check out their website http://www.highhopesstamps.com/ - they have the cutest little stamps!!


Anyway challenge #3 was to use stitching on your card. Now I can't sew at all and don't own a sewing machine, so I had to use faux stitching on this little notecard.



Recipe:


Stamps - Dunno Duck and sentiment both from High Hopes Stamps, faux stitching stamp from Hot Off The Press


Paper - SU love notes in Whisper White, Groovy Guava DP from SU, Barely Banana and non-SU white cardstock


Inks - Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Ciao Markers in E35 Chamois, E33 Sand, E31 Brick Beige, Y15 Cadmium Yellow, YR02 Light Orange and YR04 Chrome Orange


Accessories - Clear Embossing Powder

Look what I got today!!!

The nice man from DHL dropped off my Stampin' Up demonstrator starter kit with all my lovely new goodies, with which to play. I got loads of stuff for my £139. I made a few changes to the kit, especially the stamp sets, to ones I didn't already have or ones I really wanted.

The same nice DHL man also dropped this lot off today as well:

This was my first order which I placed on Monday evening and it arrived all the way from Germany today! I wanted a few of the retired sets and papers so ordered those first before they ran out. I also got some of the new Christmas stamps sets (Season of Joy and Snow Flurries) and the gorgeous new 1" double stitched ribbon in Chocolate Chip and Rose Red. I'm definately going to order the Bashful Blue one next time.

This is a photo of all my new SU goodies

I ended up with 12 new stamp sets, 1 punch, 14 ink pads (if you include the Versamark), 3 stampin spots (in the Three For You punch set), 5 ribbons, 5 packs of Designer Paper, 2 sets of buttons, 1 set of Ice brads, 4 sets of cardstock, linen thread, scissors, dimensionals, stampin scrub and mist, snail adhesive, sticky strip, pastels, blender pens and all the demo stuff!! I now I have to find space to store it all!!


I also got 15 new Copic Ciao markers but left them out of the photo! My bank balance is getting a bit poorly now!


If you want to place an order like this (or maybe a bit smaller!!) then feel free to email me.

Wow I hadn't realised how long it's been since I last blogged! I got 3 new things to upload today!


Ok the first is my card for the Elzybells Sketch Challenge #3, which looks like this:



And my card looks like this:

I got my new Elzybell Christmas stamps a couple of weeks ago but have resisted making any Christmas cards until today. I still think it's too early for Christmas especially as Hallowe'en hasn't been yet.

The photo is a little on the dark side but that's so you can see the embossing on the glitter card which doesn't show up otherwise. I used Liquid Applique for the snow, heating it up and then patting it down so it wasn't so bumpy. I didn't want to do the snowman with it as well as I thought it would be just a bit too much.


Recipe:
Stamps - cold nose, warm heart set from Elzybells

Paper - White card blank from Craft Central, white and blue cs from LSS, DP from Dovecraft's Tis The Season collection, white glitter card

Inks - Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Ciao Markers in G99 Olive, E00 Skin White, YR07 Cadmium Orange, E37 Sepia, 100 Black, B23 Phthalo Blue, B93 Light Crockery Blue, B00 Frost Blue and C-1 Cool Gray No.1

Accessories - Circle Nestabilities, ribbon from Papermania, Liquid Applique for the snow


The second card
Ok strictly speaking this is not a card but a card front that I did for a Bella card front swap on Splitcoast Stampers.

I wanted to do this with a black, white and pink theme and I just love it. I had to make 11 of them (10 for the swap and one for me). I hope the sentiment is acceptable as it's a Stampin Up one not a Bella one but my only birthday Bella sentiment was way too big for this card front.

Recipe:
Stamps - Partygirlabella from Stamping Bella, Sentiment from Short and Sweet by Stampin Up

Inks - Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Ciao Markers in 100 Black, E00 Skin White, R85 Rose Red, RV21 Light Pink, RV10 Pale Pink, R20 Blush, RV23 Pure Pink, R11 Pale Cherry Pink and RV13 Tender Pink

Paper - Black and white cs, Pixie Pink cs from SU, Dotty paper from Papermania

Accessories - Clear EP, Word Window Punch, Spotty satin ribbon from Craftyribbons.com, pink glitter brad from Doodlebug


The third card
This is another card front for an Elzybells swap hosted by the same lady on SCS.

 
This was a 4 1/4" square front. I tried to give the idea that inside the house/window was all lovely and warm and cold outside. Red and green are not my normal choices of Christmas colours, but I do like how they look on this front.

Recipe:

Stamps - Christmas Window and sentiment from cold nose, warm heart both by Elzybells

Papers - Real Red cs from SU, non SU white and green cs, DP from DCWV Christmas Wishes stack

Inks - Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Ciao Markers in RV29 Crimson, R27 Cadmium Red, Y15 Cadmium Yellow, E37 Sepia, E35 Chamois, G05 Emerald Green, YG06 Yellowish Green, B23 Phthalo Blue, G02 Spectrum Green, E31 Brick Beige, E02 Fruit Pink, B93 Light Crockery Blue, E21 Baby Skin Pink, B02 Robin's Egg Blue, RV13 Tender Pink and YG23 New Leaf (wow that's a lot of copics!!)

Accessories - Clear EP, white Liquid Applique, fine clear glitter, red and green grosgrain ribbons from Dovecrafts

That's all for now folks!!

Elzybells Sketches 1 and 2

Elizabeth has just started to do sketch challenges every fortnight on the Elzybells blog. Sketch challenge #1 looks like this:



and my card looks like this:



I just got this set the other day so had to break it out of the package and ink it straight up for this challenge. Now I know stars are not normally pink but I found this cute paper in my freebies stash (gotta get it down somehow!!) and went with that colour scheme.
I used a mixture of Copic Ciaos and Twinkling H20s to colour her in, just to add a bit of sparkle. The sentiment is in the Stardust and Moonbeams set - I just bent it round so it would stamp in the circle. I love how you can do this with clear stamps!


I'm not sure about the darker blue panel though. I didn't have a blue that matched the paper (should have checked that before I used it huh?!). I had every other shade possible but this one! Even Stampin Up colours were a little too pale or bright or just not right!


Recipe


Stamps - Stardust and Moonbeams set from Elzybells


Paper - White square card blank from Craftonic, DP from card magazine (I think Crafts Beautiful), white, blue and pink cs from lss


Inks - Versafine Onyx Black, Copis Ciao Markers in E31 Brick Beige and E00 Skin White, Twinkling H2os in Buttercup and Bashful Blue and Cosmic Shimmer Crimson Sparkle


Accessories - Circle Nestabilities, Clear EP, pink ribbon from lss


And in preparation for Sketch Challenge #2:





here's my card:

This little kitty is so cute hiding amongst the flowers. To keep the centre panel a square I added a strip of ribbon to the top and gave it that much needed extra oomph!

Recipe

Stamps - Kitty Flowers and Happy Birthday from Elzybells

Papers - White square card blank from Craftonic, yellow, pink and white cs from lss, DP from card magazine

Inks - Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Ciao Markers in E33 Sand, E35 Chamois, YG06 Yellowish Green, G05 Emerald Green, YG23 New Leaf, BG15 Aqua, Y15 Cadmium Yellow, YR68 Orange, BV00 Mauve Shadow, BV04 Blue Berry, R85 Rose Red, R27 Cadmium Red and 0 Colorless Blender!!

Accessories - Clear EP, pink ribbon from lss, yellow primas, pink self-adhesive gems from Hero Arts, Circle nestabilities

Mojos 50 and 51

I completely forgot to post my Mojo card for Julee's Mojo Monday challenge last week and only just got around to doing this week's. Work's been manic the first week back and today was the only chance I've had all week to do anything fun!!


Anyways... this was the sketch challenge for Mojo 50:

and this is my card:

I got this cute little angel from Butterfly Kisses at the Simply Yours Craft Show at the end of August. It's actually a back and front stamp set in which you get the front and the back of the main character. This is so you can make suspension type cards with them. I got a snowman set for my Christmas cards too, but that's staying in the box for a while yet. I still think it's too early for me to start making my Christmas cards. Their website is not yet up and running but I keep checking just in case. I love these sets and have to have more!!


I stamped my little angel twice and cut her wings from the second layer before mounting her on foam pads. I moved the sentiment to the middle of the centre panel as it looked odd being so big on one side. The centre panel is also a stamp from the set - I just twisted and turned it each time to get a different swirly bit.


Recipe


Stamps - Star Angel Around-2-it set from Butterfly Kisses


Paper - White card blank from Craft Central, Lilac pearlescent paper, yellow and white cs from lss


Inks - Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Ciao Markers in Y02 Canary Yellow, R20 Blush, E51 Milky White, BV02 Prune and Y15 Cadmium Yellow


Accessories - Clear EP, Sticky Ribbon from Anita's, Circle and Oval Nestabilities, D'vine Swirls Cuttlebug EF




And this is the sketch for Mojo51:





and this is my card:





I could not decide on what to put in the centre square, especially as it was at an angle, so I chose to have Tilda sitting on the edge instead. This is some more DP from my card magazine freebies pile. I would not normally matt and layer using white - I tend to use a contrasting colour, but I thought this card had enough contrast. My collection of Copic Ciaos is slowly growing but I just did not have a green to match the DP. However Tilda's dress does not look as minty as this irl. It's a softer green than the photo...oh well.


Recipe


Stamps - Swing Tilda (without her swing)


Paper - White card blank from Craft Central, white cs from lss, DP from card magazine freebie


Inks - Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Ciao Markers in G00 Jade Green, G000 Pale Green, RV13 Tender Pink, R11 Pale Cherry Pink, E33 Sand, E31 Brick Beige, E00 Skin White


Accessories - Clear EP, Threading Water punch from Fiskars, Irridescent glitter glue, Pink ribbon from a box of Thorntons chocolates!! (It was too gorgeous a colour to throw away!)