Come Stamp With Me: Colourful Cards Workshop in Portishead

It is with a lot of excitement and some trepidation that I'm sharing with you that I have booked my first workshop in the UK:

Sunday June 16th

Avon Way Hall in Portishead, North Somerset. Just south of Bristol.

It's a Papercrafting Workshop where we will be making 2 cards and 1 decorated notebook in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. Open to new and experienced crafters. We will be using a range of stamping and colouring techniques.

All materials for making the projects are included.

Coffee, tea and water will be provided.

We will start at 10.30 and finish at 12.45

Costs £12.50 incl. materials and drinks.

Plenty of parking space available and an access ramp.

Sign up by sending an email to sgortzak@yahoo.co.uk

Layering it up. Win and Tonic Challenge September 2017

Today I'd like to share with you a card I made for the new Win and Tonic challenge over at the blog. There are several choices to choose from and I choose the Technique Challenge which is all about adding dimension to your card. 

I used several techniques to add dimension to my card:

- Heat Embossing: I heat embossed the Tonic Studios Delicate Detail - Floral Flourish Stamp in white onto the card base. I also heat-embossed the "Happy" (Darkroom Doors - Whimsical Words) onto some vellum.
- Folding the Vellum over the card base was my second technique for adding dimension. Vellum can be tricky to adhere so I cut it a bit wider than my card and folded it behind the background panel to adhere.
- My third technique for adding dimension was to add some transparent Tonic Studios NUVO Jewel drops in Grey Mist (which dries clear, like water droplets). They really worked well with my water droplet background made with my new Tim Holz Distress Inks. 

So how do you like to add dimension to your projects? Let me know in the comments.

And be sure to head on over to the Win and Tonic Blog to see the other samples and why not add a card yourself and maybe you win some lovely Tonic Studios Goodies!

Happy Crafting!

Getting sidetracked by a scarecrow - Cookie Cutter Halloween Stamp set and Punch

So last week I decided to get cracking on Halloween Treats. I had checked with one of the neighbours and YES they do Halloween here. I then checked how many kids would come by... 50! So let's not leave this till the last minute and break out my new Cookie Cutter Halloween Stamp set and the matching Cookie Cutter Punch:

 This set has 4 cute gingerbread shaped "characters": A skeleton, a mummy, Dracula jr and....a scarecrow. And it is this scarecrown that got me totally side tracked. I just had to colour him in and then I just had to make some cards with him:-)

I used my Stampin' Write Markers to colour him in. These are dual tipped markers in the same colours as the Stampin' Up! dye inks and match the cardstock perfectly. I did a version on Whisper White (below) and one on Crumb Cake cardstock. I like both but I think the Crumb Cake background gives it just that little bit more of "scarecrow" feel if I imagine that they are made from old burlap bags:-)

And now I still have to make those Halloween treats:-) Wish me luck...and focus:-)

Anybody else doing handmade Halloween Treats? Let me know what you're doing. I'd love to hear.

xxx

Sonja

Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper Sale this entire October

So what a start to the Month! First we have the 5-day World Card Making Day Offers and then we also have this great Designer Series Paper Sale for the entire month of October:

So you can pick four of these eight packs of gorgeous Designer Series Paper for the price of three is a great bargain! And you can order 4 of the same and get enough patterned paper for all your Christmas cards. But maybe you'd rather get different ones. It's up to you. And....you can also double or triple up. There is no limit to how many you order.

And you may want to share your paper packs with a crafty friend so you can get an even better deal. It's all up to you.

And be sure to combine this offer with the World Card Making Day offers so you safe on P&P. Should your order with me reach £ 50/€ 60 then I will refund your shipping costs*. So you get an even better deal. Irrisistable really:-) So head on over to the webshop and get yourself some crafty deals. 

Much love,

Sonja

*I can sell to any European country where Stampin' Up! is active: United Kingdom, The Netherlands, France, Germany and Austria. If you are in the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia or New Zealand you can contact a local demonstrator and they will be happy to help you.

Serene Scenery Paper Stack - oh the possibilities!

If you've been following me on Instagram you may know that I am trying to use up the supplies I get in. It is so easy hoarding all your pretty paper and embellishments but that is not really why I bought them. I bought them to make pretty things with that put a smile on the face of the people I send them too. Cause really that is why I make and send cards: spread the love one card (or letter:-) at a time.

And so when I got the really cool Serene Scenery Paper Stack, with 48 papers in 12 different designs I was determined to use them up:

I particularly liked the photo-realistic ones and was lucky to find this video by the talented Patty Bennett to help me make my first dent into the stack. She made about 50 cards, now that is some serious using-it-up! I was inspired to make couple myself:

Not too bad but I think I love my latest pairing most: 

For the card on the left I fussy cut the stamped images of From Land to Sea and arranged them on top of the weather wood paper from the Serene Scenery paper stack and I love how it turned out. On top of that I used the Banner and sentiment from Badges and Banners. This card went to a fellow demonstrator. I decided to swap half of my paper stack with  her so I wrapped it up nicely with a shield from the Banners and Badges set.

What do yo think? What else could I make with this? I was thinking some Project Life cards for sure.