Monthly Archives: May 2017

Stampin’ Up! News and a little stamping

Well as you are probably reading in Stampin’ Up! News everywhere – today is the absolutely LAST day to shop from the 2016-2017 catalog. Some of the products will end up on the clearance rack at massive savings but I’ve never seen the stamp sets do that. And not everything else makes it there so if you were waiting for extra savings, today is as good as it gets – unless you’re a betting person! The cut off is 11:50 MT tonight. Other things that are changing at this cut off are some of the bundles – under Retiring Products in the store there’s a section for Retiring Bundles. Some of the products are retiring and in some cases, it’s just the bundle pricing – so if you want to save 10%, today is the day to do that. This is also the last day to snatch up the Eastern Palace bundles along with the freebies.

Please be aware that there’s up to 12 hours whilst the ordering system is set up to remove the old and bring in the new. So you can order at noon (at the latest) tomorrow. I may possibly take a look a little earlier, just in case…

The other thing that you need to know is that during June, if your party (or order) hits $350, you get an EXTRA $35 in Stampin’ Rewards. This is huge. Normally at $350, you’d get $42 in Stampin’ Rewards, during June you get 42+35 which is $77. That’s a LOT of product! In fact, you could order ALL SIX of the host sets in the catalog and still have enough leftover for a pot of multipurpose glue! I’m definitely hitting that mark myself tomorrow!

Over the weekend, Julia and I had a project. She’s hosting a graduation party at her house for 4 of her nieces and nephews and she wanted to make little curvy boxes filled with m&ms and she found some graduation paper and other pieces for the project. The paper was fairly thin – not like Stampin’ Up! paper which is one reason why I personally NEVER buy anything but Stampin’ Up! – but she really wanted graduation hats. So Julia, her son James and I got together on Saturday and started crafting. I started cutting out boxes, James started portioning up m&ms and Julia started stamping labels using Bunch of Blossoms and the little heart from Bookcase Builder. Amazingly in a couple of hours we had them all constructed and just needed to wait for delivery of the 2017 charms.

Graduation curvy box

They arrived on Sunday and so Julia and I spent a couple of hours threading them on. The charms had VERY small holes –  we used a piece of gold metallic thread to help. We put one end of the thread through the tassel loop then threaded the charm onto both ends of the gold metallic thread (not easy!) and then just slid the charm onto the end of the tassel. James and I thought that they actually looked like cows – friesians in particular – if you saw a lot of them together (this is just a quarter of them!). What do you think?

IMG_0130

Please use the Stampin’ Rewards code to get five FREE handmade cards; the current Stampin’ Rewards code is 7UYN7HEJ (if your order is over $150, don’t use the code, you get the rewards, but you still get the free cards). In addition, to celebrate the new catalog, if you spend $50 this month, I’ll send you either the clear or gold faceted gems FREE (let me know which you’d like). Click here to go to my online shop or here to join my team. To sign up for Paper Pumpkin, click here. For more details on my Customer Loyalty Programme, click here.

See you tomorrow,

Liz

 

Eastern Medallions

Today is my third anniversary of being a demonstrator with Stampin’ Up! and I’m happy that I took an extra day off work to spend crafting. It’s definitely a good way to celebrate. When I reflect back over the last three years, I’m struck by how my style has evolved. To start with, I was scared of colour. I remember struggling to use more than one or two on a card – not that I don’t still enjoy using minimal colours, but I have now embraced loud DSP whereas previously, I avoided it. I was also convinced that not everybody could make cards and that I was one of them – now I make cards almost every day and I believe that everyone can – and should! – make cards. I find that the very act of creating something is extremely satisfying and necessary. I used to cook new recipes as my creative outlet which was causing an unexpected problem – we were amassing such an enormous list of dishes that it was hard to fit the favourites in regularly enough! Now, with my creativity being fulfilled with papercrafting, my biggest problem is too many cards and not enough people to send them to, but I’m working on that too. Let me know if you’d like a birthday card sent to you! Having said that I have embraced colour, I am of course sharing a single colored card today – my final in my series of the 5 new in-colors and the Eastern Medallions thinlits dies.

Liz Bailey Stampin' Up! Demonstrator - Eastern Medallions - Beautiful You

And here are the four previous cards:

Liz Bailey Stampin' Up! Demonstrator - Eastern Medallions - Eastern Beauty Liz Bailey Stampin' Up! Demonstrator - Lemon Lime Twist - Eastern Medallions Thinlits Dies - Crafting Forever Liz Bailey Stampin' Up! Demonstrator - Oh My Stars TIEF - Eastern Medallions Thinlits Dies - Bunch of Blossoms Liz Bailey Stampin' Up! Demonstrator - Eastern Medallions Thinlits Dies - Bunch of Blossoms - Layering Circles framelits dies

I like the simplicity of the scored lines but the DSP is so pretty. I really can’t decide on a favourite!

Here the inner layer is the new Fresh Florals DSP stack – a marvellous collection of 40 sheets of paper; 4 each of 2 double sided patterns in each of the new in colors. I placed the piece of DSP where I wanted it in the middle of a Fresh Fig layer and ran it through the big shot using the Eastern Medallions thinlits dies. Then I snipped off the DSP around the flower, discarded the flower itself and then glued the DSP around the fresh fig flower. I then embossed in white the sentiment from Beautiful You.

I hope you enjoyed today’s project. Please use the Stampin’ Rewards code to get five FREE handmade cards – which I’ll increase to TEN cards if you order today on my anniversary; the current Stampin’ Rewards code is 7UYN7HEJ (if your order is over $150, don’t use the code, you get the rewards, but you still get the free cards). In addition, to celebrate the new catalog, if you spend $50 this month, I’ll send you either the clear or gold faceted gems FREE (let me know which you’d like). Click here to go to my online shop or here to join my team. To sign up for Paper Pumpkin, click here. For more details on my Customer Loyalty Programme, click here.

See you tomorrow,

Liz

Picture Perfect leaving

Picture Perfect is leaving us in just THREE days – if it lasts that long. It’s currently been marked as being “low inventory” so you’ll need to move swiftly to grab it. It’s a really fun set with multiple layers of stamping and a diverse selection of images – starfish, hummingbird and flowers! For some reason, I didn’t manage to create a card with the starfish and the hummingbird together.

Here are a selection of the cards that I’ve made with it – just click on the pictures to go to the original post.

Stampin' Up! Picture Perfect

This card is rather unusual – all the elements (apart from the sentiment) were fussy cut. I wasn’t sure of the placement to start with and I started fussy cutting a few pieces and ended up with them all!

Stampin' Up! Picture Perfect

This card also uses Gorgeous Grunge (also retiring and in short supply) which everyone seemed to love. I, however, didn’t believe I’d used it much at all. It’s interesting that it’s on two of the five cards here.

Stampin' Up! Picture Perfect and Gorgeous Grunge and Welcome Words

This is one of my favourites. Simple and the hummingbird just takes centre stage. As it should.

Stampin' Up! Picture Perfect and Watercolor Wishes

I love how realistic the images are in this set.

Stampin' Up! Gorgeous Grunge and Picture Perfect and All About Everything

If you’ve been inspired, don’t forget that both Picture Perfect and Gorgeous Grunge are as supplies last until Wednesday. After that, they aren’t available.

I hope you enjoyed today’s projects. Please use the Stampin’ Rewards code to get five FREE handmade cards; the current Stampin’ Rewards code is 7UYN7HEJ (if your order is over $150, don’t use the code, you get the rewards, but you still get the free cards). In addition, to celebrate the new catalog, if you spend $50 this month, I’ll send you either the clear or gold faceted gems FREE (let me know which you’d like). Click here to go to my online shop or here to join my team. To sign up for Paper Pumpkin, click here. For more details on my Customer Loyalty Programme, click here.

See you tomorrow,

Liz

Pineapple – in short supply

Here’s another fun stamp set that’s now on the low inventory list – Pineapple. It’s a really fun, huge stamp which can be great for welcoming people or showing gratitude. Here are some of the cards that I’ve made with it. Click on the photos to go to the original posts.

Here was a first look at last year’s in colors

Stampin' Up! Pineapple and Watercolor Wishes

and a last look at out going ones

Stampin' Up! Pineapple and Welcome Words

Here I discovered that always artichoke was a good substitute for the retired mossy meadow

Stampin' Up! Pineapple - Paisleys & Posies

When doing the pineapple in 2 colours, it was definitely a lot easier to plan something over the join – a banner or ribbon. With the curve between the fruit and the stalks (seen easily in the first card) you can see that it’s hard to get a perfect color change. Covering it up makes it a lot easier!

I hope you enjoyed today’s projects. Please use the Stampin’ Rewards code to get five FREE handmade cards; the current Stampin’ Rewards code is 7UYN7HEJ (if your order is over $150, don’t use the code, you get the rewards, but you still get the free cards). In addition, to celebrate the new catalog, if you spend $50 this month, I’ll send you either the clear or gold faceted gems FREE (let me know which you’d like). Click here to go to my online shop or here to join my team. To sign up for Paper Pumpkin, click here. For more details on my Customer Loyalty Programme, click here.

See you tomorrow,

Liz

 

Eastern Medallions Thinlits Dies

Here’s the fourth card in my series featuring each of the in colors and the Eastern Medallions Thinlits Dies as well as being based on the same layout. This one shows off Powder Pink accented by copper.

Liz Bailey Stampin' Up! Demonstrator - Eastern Medallions Thinlits Dies - Bunch of Blossoms - Layering Circles framelits dies

Here I cut down my top layer to be 3 1/4 by 4 1/2 inches – leaving a half an inch border all the way around as with all the previous cards although some had just a scored line to mark the border – and used the die to cut out the flower. Once I’d determined that the copper foil was perfect for the peek through, I used a piece large enough to add a border of copper foil. The sentiment is from the carrying over set, Bunch of Blossoms and I embossed it in copper and then used the layering circles framelits dies to cut it out. For an extra pop, I also used the layering dies to cut out a scalloped piece of copper foil.

Don’t forget that there are only FIVE more days to get products out of the 2016-2017 catalog, many of them at a reduced price. The Eastern Palace special bundles with their free gifts are only available through the end of the month too.

I hope you enjoyed today’s project. Please use the Stampin’ Rewards code to get five FREE handmade cards; the current Stampin’ Rewards code is 7UYN7HEJ (if your order is over $150, don’t use the code, you get the rewards, but you still get the free cards). In addition, to celebrate the new catalog, if you spend $50 this month, I’ll send you either the clear or gold faceted gems FREE (let me know which you’d like). Click here to go to my online shop or here to join my team. To sign up for Paper Pumpkin, click here. For more details on my Customer Loyalty Programme, click here.

See you tomorrow,

Liz