Does it feel like summer??

Today is the first day of summer, but as I look out the window, all I can see is puddles of rain!!

A couple of weeks ago, Heather and Matthew's school, had a float in the village festival, it was all themed around the circus big top and was really bright and cheery, Matthew dressed as a strong man and Heather as the ring Master, I had took a few snaps, but it was so bright it was hard to get a shot, LOL....we are never happy with the weather!!!

Anyway here is the page i created! To make the background,I used the star punch to make a mask, and then inked through it,to create a random star pattern 3/4 of the way down the page.The pictures were stuck, on a 1/4 of the way down, at 'Jaunty' angles and the over hang trimmed off. Next job was to make some kind of title....now when I had first signed up to demo a few weeks ago, Julie- my SU mum and up line mentioned that one of her jem's had used the four labels stamp set and the co-ordinating punch, to make bunting. Now I haven't seen that bunting, but with that idea in mind I went on to create my bunting, using the same ink colours that I had used for the stars-Pacific Point, Real Red, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo & the in colour 'Pear Pizazz. I made a score line about 3/4 of a centimetre, down from the short edge and used some wet glue to fix the flags to a piece of string.
The black title letters were die cut, using my 'Big Shot' & the 'Timeless type' alphabet dies, a little journalling was added to the bottom and a quick doodle around the photo's and my page was finished.

I hope you like it as much as my children do!

Tonight it is 'Creative Cafe' at

'Delicahix's'

Lane Ends, Ashton, Preston.

Bring your own craft project &

craft alongside fellow grown-ups,

Refreshments provided.

Email me to secure your place: sally-johoughton@hotmail.co.uk

Can't sleep because........

Sorry I haven't been posting over the weekend........I had so much planned, and had got lots of jobs done on the Saturday, then I could have some weekend craft time, but by bed on Saturday night, I was grabbing the tissues....yep I have a dreaded summer cold!!

Sunday was spent either dozing or reading 'The life of bees' book that my good friend, Deborah, bought my for my birthday, I have finished it, but can't say much as she hasn't finished reading her copy and I have also picked it, as my book club read, but anyway, on a caffeine and cold mixture high, I have just spent a few minutes crafting, errr yes, at this late hour!! making a little gift holder to send a little treat to a friends Grandson, when I post her SU goodies tomorrow.

I die-cut a top-folded card, using the lovely 'Top note' SU exclusive big shot die, I then added a couple of score lines to create the base, a couple of holes were punched at the top open edge, so the gift could be tied in place.

The fantastic, trendy spotty frame from the 'Four Frames' stamp set was stamped in real red ink and punched out using the co-ordinating punch, to add a quick and easy place to write the lovely 'little mans' name. And a little of the 'Designer series papers'-Brights, punched with the 'star punch', added a little quick and easy decoration!

This picture is at, a bit of a funny angle, but you can just make out the fairly flat base and also the back that were made with just a few cranks of the 'Big Shot' handle, also you can see my love of also using the fantastic 'designer series papers' as my card shoot backdrops!!

I can't wait to see a picture of the charming Alex with his gift xx

Using the die to cut along the top

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More Monsters!!!

Well- I waited and I waited and I got fed up waiting for my next call to stardom, so I have had a Little craft fix, that's a little star related instead!!

I had a few of the Little 'Make a Monster's' ready for colouring, and when I spied these ace star goodie bags in Tesco, I just had to grab a pack! Yes, if came to a push I could have made a treat bag, but sometimes we just need to do 'quick and easy'! The bags coordinate perfectly with the ultra versatile, 'Stampin' Up!' star punch, which was a quick and easy way to add a name area.

Just a little simple stamping of the 'Make a Monster' stamp set and colouring in, and a sticking a dimensional on the back, and 'Hey Presto!' you have created a gift with your own fair hands! Perfect for the little monsters birthday parties or even for our men on Father's day,

Projects like this prove that you don't have to be 'arty' to enjoy craft, and I would be happy to share my love of craft with you too, email for more details: sally-johoughton@hotmail.co.uk

Star Jars!!!

Still having a laundry basket of jam jars in the kitchen, that I can't bear to part with......well you never know when you will need a basket of them!! I have snook a couple for a bit of crafty-ness!!

Following on from the Butterfly jars, this is relatively the same principles, but as promised more manly....though as you can see, I did make one in pacific point, but also one each in melon mambo and richrazzle berry, as we were off to a double twenty first last night, and I wanted a novel way to give the girls a bit of birthday cash....yes I did iron and fold the money up then it sat nicely in the jars!!

The stars were made using the stampin' Up! star punch and then over stamped with matching ink, using the fantastic mega back ground stamp- 'French Filigree'....it's quite easy to forget that just because a stamp is big, it doesn't mean you can't use it on a small item!! A little bit of sparkle was added with the Stampin' Glitter, as all stars sparkle! The jars were easily labelled using the small and large tag punches, with co-ordinating card stock, and the little ditty was hand written, with the stamp and write pen in black.

Punches are often overlooked by many as being boring and just darn right un-trendy, but with the fantastic quality & range from Stampin' Up!, you can't go wrong!

Give them a whirl and with a little imagination, you to could create something as unique!

If you would like to purchase any of the punches, card stock, or the stamp that was used for this project please do contact me,sally-johoughton@hotmail.co.uk

You can also email me, just for a crafty chat too!!