Wednesday 31 March 2010

One

I felt like something different today!

Well some felt and something different anyway. Another stunning new product in the Mini Catalogue which launches tomorrow, is stitched felt. The wonderful Sweet Pea Stitched Felt comes in packs of 52 pieces and is so pretty and tactile that I know you are going to love them and maybe will even be able to bring yourself to use them!

I have used some of mine to make some little Easter Gifts. One of my nieces can’t each chocolate so I wanted to send them something that she could enjoy too.
I have attached the felt flowers to some cheap hair clips from the supermarket using Crystal Effects. Quick simple and so lovely that I had to make some for myself too! In fact when I have finished this post I am off to find some large paperclips to decorate in the same way – it will make me smile to see one of these little beauties poking out of the top of my diary!

Both my nieces love to read as well so I have also made them ribbon bookmarks decorated with more of the lovely flowers and leaves.

I hope you will fall in love with these beautiful stitched felt pieces as much as I have – they will look stunning on cards and scrapbook pages too!

Please be sure to stop by tomorrow for the big reveal party with some very special offers and prizes ...

Happy Stampin’

Bekka Pin It

Tuesday 30 March 2010

Two

Not long now – just two more sleeps until the new Mini Catalogue from Stampin’ Up!

Today I am going to share with you some more sneak peaks of the yummy stuff you will find inside. Yesterday we looked at the delicious Night and Day Papers and today’s post was inspired by another new set of papers, Autumn Moments. Now hang on a moment you may be thinking, could we do Spring and Summer before we get to Autumn? As I sit here listening to the rain on the conservatory roof I would agree, bring on the spring! These papers are however delicious and I was very drawn to them so had a little play.

For the recent Stampin’ Up! Regional Training Days I made a little gift for myself and each of the Stampin’ Superstars who attended. I knew the day was going to be packed with things they would want to remember so I made a little notebook for each. These are the lovely Stampin’ Up! journals covered with the Autumn Moments Papers. They are delicious and detailed and did not require much decoration. However I thought a little bird might be in order (and since I am in love with that punch too!) so I added one, nesting on a large heart made with the punch which is only available this month (so if you want it, order it now!).

The colours from this paper also inspired my swaps for the sessions, when demo’s get together they like to make cards for each other. This is the card I made, using the colours from the Autumn Moments Papers and the Vintage Vogue Stamp Set.

Here the base card is Natural Ivory which gives a lovely soft aged look to the card. The background was stamped with the French Script Background Stamp in More Mustard. The flourishes were stamped in the corners around this in Close to Cocoa and the border was stamped with Taken with Teal. Have you spotted the scrummy ribbon along the card? It is the delicious satin ribbon in Chocolate Chip. When the catalogue launches we will have three colours of wonderful double sided satin – it is so lovely to work with and I am addicted to all the colours we are getting so I am sure you can guess what they may be! I used the scrummy Platinum Shimmer Paint to create the focal image. You already know I love this stuff but did you realise how little of it you need? It goes a seriously long way and I love how it looks on the Taken with Teal Background. I know you are going to have a lot of fun playing with it too.

I will be back with the final stage of this countdown tomorrow and then on Thursday for the big reveal and with some very special offers so please be sure to check back.

Happy Stampin’

Bekka Pin It

Monday 29 March 2010

Three ...

We are now on the final countdown to the new Stampin’ Up! Mini Catalogue – there are just three days to go and I am very excited about it. I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s sneak peaks and I am back with more today.

Today’s card features the wonderful two step bird punch. The bird, its wings and the cute branch all punch out in one go. Cute, easy and adorable. I have punched the birds out from some stunning new papers, the delicious Night and Day Speciality Papers. The other new thing you may be able to spot on this card is more of the new shimmer paints, did I mention I love them! This time I have used the delicious Platinum, it gives a lovely shiny silver effect, ideal for this silver wedding anniversary card.

The final touch is the heart behind the birds – if you want that you are going to have to hurry, its only available until the end of the month so contact me urgently to place your order.

If you want to see more from the Mini Catalogue keep checking back for more sneak peaks and the big reveal on Thursday. There will also be a very special offer here on Thursday ...

Happy Stampin’

Bekka Pin It

Sunday 28 March 2010

Exciting News on a Stamp With Us Sunday

Its Sunday so it must be time for another Stamp with Us Challenge.  But that is not the only thing this Sunday is.  It is also the day I am sharing with you the first sneak peak from the New Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue.  yes you read that right, we are just day away from some wonderful new products. 

If you are joining us from Peg's blog - a very warm welcome to you.  Please take some time to hop around the other blogs there are some very talented ladies out there who will be showing you some amazing creations featuring products we have not seen here before.

Its colour challenge week on Stamp with Us and if you have joined me from there you are very welcome too!

Here is the inspiration picture

and here is my card.  I have deliberately kept things simple this week so the beautiful products can speak for themselves.  The Stamp Set is called Vinatge Vogue and I know you are going to see a LOT more of this one as I am totally in love with it.  Here I have combined it with the French Script background stamp and used many of the delicious stamps in the set.  The colours are So Saffron, Sage Shadow and Regal Rose.

Now if you look carefully at the card behind the bloom you will see a shimmer - I am so excited as we have three shimmer paints in the new Mini Catalogue and they are such fun to play with and you can get so many scrummy looks with them.  This is the Frost White Shimmer Paint.  

If you are in the UK and would like a copy of the new Mini Catalogue posted to you please email me bekka@feeling-crafty.co.uk with your postal address and I will send one to you.  Please check back over the next few days for some more sneak peaks.

You can see the rest of the Stamp With Us Design Team's cards here

To continue with the Blog Hop and discover more about the products in the new Mini Catalogue hop on over to the very talented Val's Blog here.

Happy Stampin

Bekka  Pin It

Wednesday 24 March 2010

So Much Stampin' So Little Blogging!

Wow what a busy week it has been – full of fun and full of Stampin! As well as a day on a Stampin’ Up! Stand at the Olympia Stitch and Craft Show, I have been to both Coventry and Reading for Stampin’ Up! Regional Training. If we met at one of those events a huge hello to you.

What a great time I had at all those events! Now you may know that when ever demos get together we like to swap cards, so most of last week was spent making over 100 cards! I will show you those in a few days.

I was very honoured to be asked to deliver some of the training sessions in Coventry, honoured and beforehand somewhat nervous! I enjoy helping my team with their businesses but this was on a much bigger scale. Once I had started I really enjoyed it and hope that everyone else found it helpful.

Now talking of my team, the Stampin’ Superstars, they have been doing brilliantly well recently and three of them have recently celebrated promotions. I am so proud of all my team and it’s fantastic to see their hard work paying off. Here are the cards I sent them to mark the occasion.

What stars they are. Mind you all my team are superstars and I have sent a little gift to each of them, something that I hope will stay with them during their Stampin’ Up! journey and I cant wait to add to it with each of them. Once I know they have all arrived I will tell you what they are ...


These cards feature the lovely In the Stars Stamp Set and the matching Star Punch which are on special offer this month - you can find out about it here.  If you want to take advantage of this offer please let me know as soon as possible - you only have a few days left to save money on this deal!

I will share the cards I made for the Regional Training Events with you soon, along with some very exciting news about something happening next month ...

Oh I am such a tease!

Happy Stampin

Bekka Pin It

Sunday 14 March 2010

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day! I hope all the mothers reading are having a wonderful day and are being thoroughly spoilt.

As well as being mother’s day here is the UK it’s a Stamp With Us Sunday, so rather than posting a Mother’s Day card I have something entirely different for you – this week’s theme is Men’s Cards. I know a lot of people find these really hard so I hope this week’s challenge will give you lots of inspiration, be sure to check out what the rest of the Design Team have created too.

I really enjoyed this challenge and this is what I came up with ...

A Faux Leather Wallet holding two cards.

The wallet is made from black card which I covered with Versamark and Clear Embossing Powder. I then pulled my paper folder lightly through the powder before heating it to get the patters. Once I had embossed the outside I stuck the two flaps down along their outside edge with sticky tape and punched a series of little holes around the outside edges. I then joined the dots on the outside and inside with my White Gel Pen to give the effect of stitching.

The inside of the Wallet holds two cards. A greetings card and a gift card holder (please forgive the girly pink gift card – it was the only one I had to hand!).

The cards were made from Taken With Teal card and the patterned papers were made by stamping various stamps from the Circle Circus Stamp Set, its such a wonderful and versatile stamp set! I used a combination of Taken With Teal, tempting Turquoise, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa and Basic Black Inks. On the greetings card I added the Happy Birthday star from the Starring You Stamp Set layered onto some Basic Black.

I hope our cards inspire you all to play along with this challenge and I look forward to seeing what you have all come up with

Happy Stampin

Bekka Pin It

Friday 12 March 2010

A Gift ...

Goodness – has it really been a week since I blogged – what a bad blogger I am – sorry!

I have however been busy with lots of stamping – but nothing I can show you yet. I know it’s very frustrating, and if it’s any consolation it’s frustrating for me too!

This morning I went to some training run by the lovely Clare Wildman – check out her blog here. I decided to make the other delegates a table gift and this is what I came up with.

The mini bags are made from the adorable Bridesmaid Papers, and they were matched with an image from the wonderful In the Stars Stamp Set. It is one of the ones with a coordinating punch in this months promotion (all the details are here). I picked the star with Dream Big in it as it seemed appropriate for today’s course.

Inside each bag was a little packet of Tic Tac Mints and a business card, the front decorated with an image from Say It With Scallops, this has been rocked and rolled in Almost Amethyst and Elegant Eggplant and then punched out with the Scalloped Square Punch (also in this month’s promotion). The papers are from the Tea Party Designer Papers and the ribbon is the scrummy Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon.

I hope my fellow participants enjoyed the session as much as I did and that they liked their gifts.

I promise to be back soon

Happy Stampin

Bekka Pin It

Friday 5 March 2010

Inspired by a shirt!

One question I get asked quite a lot is where do I get my ideas for cards from. Its a tough question to answer but one I have given some thought to. Sometimes the ideas come from looking at a particular Stamp Set or a particular combination of colours. Sometimes they come from challenges – you know I love a challenge right? Sometimes they come they come from cards I have seen, there are some talented card makers out there and sometimes the shops have great cards too. Or maybe from pictures I have noticed, I keep a file of pictures that interest or inspire me for days I don’t know what to make. Sometimes the ideas come from things I see around me. Today’s card is one of those cards!

Today’s card was inspired by a friend’s shirt. I love the combination of colours and the organic flow of the pattern. It probably helped that she looked stunning in it too! I had been meaning to do something with this idea for a while and it finally materialised in a card we made at a recent class.
The colours used are Bordering Blue, Certain Celery, Close to Cocoa and a little bit of Blush Blossom. The stamp set is Simply Said. Don’t forget if you order the Simply Said Stamp Set this month you can order the limited availability large heart punch for just £10. I would encourage you to hurry thought they are already proving very popular!

I hope you like today’s card, and I would love to know where you get your ideas from.

Happy Stampin’

Bekka

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Monday 1 March 2010

Welcome to March

Happy St David’s Day to all my Welsh readers. So far I am liking March’s weather much better, we have beautiful sunshine here and I hope you have the same. When I look back over last month’s photos (I am doing Project 365 on my iphone) about three quarters of them feature snow!

March also see a new promotion from Stampin’ Up! This promotion features one of the many things I love about Stampin’ Up!, having punches that coordinate with the stamp sets. When my team the Stampin’ Superstars met a couple of weeks ago we made a page to show how the stamps and the punches in this offer work together.

Now the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that there is one that is not punched out ... Yes we also have a brand new heart punch! This is available from today and only while stocks last – so if you want one you had better hurry and let me know. Once stock runs out we will have to wait until October to be able to get it again and let’s face it not many of us want to wait that long!

So here are the details of the offer

During March you get 20% off selected punches when you buy the coordinating stamp set. So lets get this straight:

When you purchase the Flight of the Butterfly Stamp Set (page 43 of the Idea Book and Catalogue) £23.95) you can buy the Butterfly Punch for just £10

When you purchase the In the Stars Stamp Set (page 55 of the IB&C £24.95) the Star Punch can be yours for just £10

When you purchase the Say it with Scallops Stamp Set (page 58 of the IB&C £14.94) the Scallop Square Punch is just £10

When you purchase the Oval All stamp set (page 58 of the IB&C £14.94) the Scallop Oval Punch is yours for just £10

And

When you purchase the Simply Said Stamp Set (page 59 of the IB&C £22.95) you can purchase the new Heart Punch for just £10, it will normally be £12.50 and don’t forget it is only available this month while stocks last and then not again until October.

Email me as soon as possible if you want to take advantage of this fantastic offer.

Check back soon for more cards.

Happy Stampin'

Bekka Pin It