Dress Up Swaps - Stampin' Up! Telford Training Event

Wow! What a fantastic day I had yesterday. Stampin' Up! hold regular training events for their Demonstrators and yesterday the UK training event was in Telford, Shropshire.  I travelled there with two of my team, my downline Hannah and her downline Nikki. It was their first Stampin' Up! event so I was super excited for them.  There were over 300 demonstrators attending which made for a fantastic atmosphere - what can be better than spending the day with people who also love Stampin' Up!?

Swapping is a popular activity at Stampin' Up! events - you make say 30 cards of the same design and exchange them with other demos so you end up with 30 different cards. It is a fabulous way of getting samples showing a range of styles, stamps and techniques. It is also a great way to meet people!

I used the Dress Up Framelits to make my swaps. The little dresses are so cute.

I made card fronts in a range of colours using the Subtles Collection Designer Series Paper Stack - which is your favourite colour?

I received some lovely swaps in exchange which I will share with you this week - thank you to everyone who swapped with me.

We had such an amazing day. The day was jam-packed with presentations by Demonstrators and Stampin' Up! staff, sneak peaks from the the NEW 2013/2014 Annual Catalogue (released on 1 July 2013) - you are going to LOVE it, exciting announcements (and no I can't tell you yet!) and of course some crafting! And, as if that wasn't enough, we were all given a gorgeous free stamp set too.

I love being part of the Stampin' Up! family and in particular the Pinkies Team.   I got to catch up with old friends and make new ones. I cannot wait until the next event which is the Stampin' Up! European Convention. This is being held in Manchester in November - two whole days of Stampin' Up! fun and crafting.  If you are interesting in coming along too, why not email me for information about becoming a Demonstrator yourself or check the details here.  Joining Stampin' Up! really is one of the best things I have ever done!

Here is a list of the Stampin' Up! Products used to make today's card:

Stamp Sets: Tea Shoppe, Confetti

Inks: Crumb Cake, Assorted Subtles Collection Colours

Cardstock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Assorted Subtles Collection Colours

DSP: Subtles Collection Designer Series Paper Stack

Punches: Corner, Scallop Edge Border, Word Window, Modern Label

Big Shot: Dress Up Framelits

Other: Assorted 3/8" Taffeta Ribbons

Don't forget that the discontinued colours (card, ink and accessories) are only available while stocks last so don't leave it too late if you NEED to stock up on your favourites!

If you would like to order any of these products please either email me or give me a call on07530 368466 and I will be happy to help.

Partial Die Cut with Stampin' Up! Framelits

I posted this card using the Tea Shoppe Stamp Set and promised you a tutorial to show how to do a partial cut using the Stampin' Up! Framelits.

I used the Ovals Collection Framelits available in the Spring / Summer Catalogue. I add a piece of magnetic sheet to the pack which helps hold the dies in place.

Stamp the image to one side of a piece of card stock.  You need to use an image which is relatively easy to cut round (unless you like fiddly cutting!)

Select the size of Framelit you wish to use and place it over the image.

Using a pencil, draw round the inside of the Framelit up to the image.

Carefully cut round the image inside the pencil line using Paper Snips. You will need to cut along the image past the pencil line so that when you slip the die UNDER the cut out image you can line up the die with the pencil line.

Run this through the Big Shot using the normal sandwich for Framelits (you can use a sticky note to keep the die in place).

Remove the framelit and you are left with a partial cut out. 

Here is another card I made using the same technique and a different stamp set - Henry Says.  The elephant's truck is perfect for cutting round.  I hope you will agree he is rather cute!

Hopefully this tutorial makes sense - if you have any questions please leave me a comment.

Tea Shoppe Swap using Partial Cutting Technique

I have finally got round to taking some photos and have some cards to share with you! I made this card for my swap at the Pinkies Team Weekend in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago.  I used the Tea Shoppe Stamp Set which is one of my favourites. I also used the Ovals Collection Framelits and a technique called partial cutting which I love!

The cup image was stamped onto Naturals Ivory card using Not Quite Navy Ink (sadly retiring). A partial oval was then cut out using the Big Shot and one of the framelits. I have done a tutorial to show you how to do this - so make sure you pop back this weekend.

The flower image was then stamped over the card using River Rock ink (another retiring colour) to create the background and the edges sponged in the same colour ink. A piece of River Rock card was run through the Big Shot using the Honeycomb Embossing Folder. The card base is Not Quite Navy.  The sentiment was cut out using the Bitty Banners Framelits and embellished using a flower from the fabulous Flower Trim - I love this product! A Not Quite Navy 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon bow and some Pearl Basic Jewels finished off the card.

We had a blast in Birmingham! I love my Pinkie friends and we didn't stop laughing or crafting all weekend. We also got to meet some of the lovely Dutch ladies - thank you Caroline for the photo above! Take a peek at Caro's blog - she is a hugely talented crafter.

Here is a list of the Stampin' Up! Products used to make today's card:

Stamp Sets: Tea Shoppe

Inks: Not Quite Navy, River Rock

Cardstock: Naturals Ivory, Not Quite Navy, River Rock

Punches: Corner

Big Shot: Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Bitty Banners Framelits, Oval Collection Framelits

Other: Not Quite Navy 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Flower Trim, Pearl Basic Jewels

Don't forget that the discontinued colours (card, ink and accessories) are only available while stocks last so don't leave it too late if you NEED to stock up on your favourites!

If you would like to order any of these products please either email me or give me a call on07530 368466 and I will be happy to help.