All at once..........

Last week has gone in a blink!........ What with 'Creative Cafe', Matthews School Play ( I did end up watching all three shows!!) and helping Heather turn Foxglove into a 'Sport Relief' Red pony, on Friday (they raised just over £50!!)- my blog has been  neglected, sorry!

Thank you to all. who left comments, its been great to have some questions too, so before I go off onto something else, I will get those answered:

Allie my SU sister, left a lovely comment and also asked how I got the wreath shape- well I drew around my red sticky strip and cut out a 'scratch' paper mask, I then stuck it to the centre, with a little making tape folded round on its self, and stamped around the edge of the mask. It does take a little fiddling and I had, had the practise at Christmas, but if I can do it anyone can!

Kate. a fellow SU sister, also asked with her lovely comments, the finished size of card- it was 21 cm's or for those who are more traditional 8 inches, which can be made out of two sheets of A4 card stock.

Here is a picture. of one of my Christmas wreath cards. created in the same way- just with poinsettias, made with SU punches, and the lovely Christmas sentiment- from 'Delightful Dozen' stamped to the middle.

Now I couldn't just leave you with a lone Christmas picture, especially as the sun has been shinning like it thinks it's the middle of summer here!! So I will show you the boxes I decorated for Linda's 21st gifts, she is back home in the Isle of Man now, and she reported back a nice cam ferry crossing!!

My special gift was a 'Simply Adorned' necklace, which got a touch of 'Crochet Trim' & 'Seam Binding' and one of the gorgeous 'Trinket Keys'

I used the same supplies as the card, but with the sentiments from 'Your a Gem' &

'Tiny Tags' to create a custom tag for each box.

 Here shows the insert I made for the large-

'Simply Adorned Charm'.

Here are the boxes all lined up, ready to go in the gift bag. Linda was very excited, opening them all and placing them on the chain, it was great to give a special gift to a special person xx

If you would like to create a special gift like this,

then you can purchase all the goods through me, Sally-Jo! 

Contact me:

sally-johoughton@hotmail.co.uk

Don't forget....

SALE-A-BRATION ends on Saturday, and it would be a shame if you missed out on a fantastic FREE gift, with every £45 you spend! 

Baby love..........

Whilst in the stupor of my cold and colouring the 'Baby Tees' over last week, a little dust ball of a Layout idea, rolled into the fog of my head and has laid there fairly dormant till the free fall of fridays sugar rush!!

I have loads of pictures of my children, lots taken with haste and are hazy, out of focus shots with a thumb or finger peeping into shot, and loads of professional pictures that at the time seemed like a good idea and are now dated, but it doesn't mean they should be stuffed in a box, out of sight and mind, as they do bring back lovely memories...... well the ones that don't involve too much baby sick and sleepless nights!!

So here are my first attempts at bringing my babies, pictures, out of the dark......

This first layout is a picture of Heather that was taken at a Babystore, it's very different to the white backdrop photos that are so popular today, but popped on to a very white Layout and given a splash of colour with the 'Baby Tees' from the 'Stampin' Up!' Jumbo wheel, coloured with the SU markers in 'Regal Rose' and 'Pretty In Pink' and the blender pen.

My baby is 11 years old in March!!!

The journalling labels were stamped from 'Creative Elements',

In 'Crumb Cake'Ink.

I used the light, frond like swirl, from the same set,

to add interest to the bank 12x12 sheet and also....

Under the 'Doily Ribbon Lace' border and 'Baby Tees' images.

The second layout is of Matthew...... this shows him at about a couple of weeks old, and he was a big baby, he weighed in at 11lbs 4oz when he was born!! 

I had missed having his newbie baby shots at the hospital, as I had my baby and was home within 24hrs, and they only did them every other day, so these were taken at home, on our bed, with my old film camera. 

Again the layout has the same idea- a clean and simple background and a splash of colour with the 'Baby Tees', this time coloured in 'Marina Mist' and 'Bashful Blue'. 

I used the 'Doily Lace Ribbon' border punch again, I like how it makes a delicate addition.

And to add interest to the die cut wording, I ran it through the 'Big Shot' with the 'Perfect Polka Dots' Embossing folder. Mini tags were added with 'Tiny tags' and the co-ordinating 'Jewellery Tag' punch, and tied in place with the SU 'Linen Thread'.

I like how that even though the photos are so different, the layouts look similar, and they will make a nice double page spread in my album, but before then they will take pride of place, as samples of what you can create with the fantastic SU products, at the workshops I attend.

If you would like to host a Workshop and maybe earn some FREE goods, or you just want to find out more about 'Stampin' Up!' and the fanatsic craft products they offer, then contact me: 

sally-johoughton@hotmail.co.uk

or call 07891605129

xXXx

I took some Islands with me!!

Well I am back, in blighty.....I survived flying, what was the most daunting aspect of air travel was the checking in and the weighing of luggage, and it was only me, out of our group that set off the airport alarms...any surprises there though!!

On to the more important stuff..... Spending the day site seeing, in Paris, on the Thursday prior to convention, was fantastic, although I do have to say that the 'Tour De Eiffel' was not at all as romantic, as we expected it to be.....until the light faded and night was upon us....then Paris really came alive, and so did my French....words I had never used since my GCSE days sprang from my lips.....During the day I managed to ask for directions, gel shoe inserts and a cork screw....get me and my metropolitan lifestyle!!

Anyway all to soon we were catching the last train back to the Hotel, and getting ready for 2 action packed days of 'Stampin' Up!' Convention (And wow-sers....they were action packed, full of info on new product lines and top tips...there is so much to cover over the next couple of months!!)As I was attending as part of the 'Julies Jems' team, we all made each other little team swaps, I am still pouring over all the lovely makes I received, but here is my make for the team swap.

And yes, it is a play on words, but I took 19 of these little boxes, made from our delightful 'Island Indigo' card stock with me...get it?? Islands with me!!

The boxes are based, on a cheese wedge style I was taught years ago, but I loved bringing an old idea to life again with modern products. The fab sentiment came from the lovely 'Petite Pairs' Stamp set and was then punched with the modern label punch, with the little flourish from 'Tiny Tags' added for some decoration, and to finish the tag, a bit of SU bling!!

The boxes were given a simple bit of stamping, with the swirl from 'Everything Eleanor'.....and a light misting of the champagne.....well we were in Paris.....shimmer paint, that I had watered down.To hold the box closed and fasten the tag in place, I used a 12cm length of the new crochet trim, and as knotting it, slipped in a short piece of the 'Basic Black- Striped Grosgrain'........I have used 3 rolls of this for my convention makes......Its a good job I get a demo discount!! But I couldn't just give my teamies, an empty box, well the make inside, was something to wear......

A beautiful ring!

I am extremely grateful, that my good friend Deborah, is an avid 'Kirsty Allsop' fan, she saw a gorgeous make similar to this on her craft TV show, well the next day whilst I was out and about Deborah phoned me, to ask had I seen it, well I hadn't, but all she said was...' She just stuck the paper roses, you have been making on to ring backs and Voila....she had made a ring'. It was sort of a serendipity moment, as she rung, I happen to be stood outside a Haberdashery shop, which stocked the ring backs!!

And as soon as I got home, I used all my little scraps of 'Timeless Portrait' Designer Papers to create the roses.....to make them more sturdy, I gave them a couple of coats of 'Crystal Effects' and just before the centre set, popped in a large, sparkly bling......well I couldn't afford real diamonds....sorry girls!!

I hope the girls loved my make, as much as I have loved theirs, swapping was such a special part of convention, only 'Stampin' Up! demonstrators, can attend the convention, so if you don't want to miss out on all the HOT SU news, learn new some new craft skills, and even make new friends, then join my team.......OOOoo and the location for convention next year.......

Mainz, Germany

on November 2 and 3, 2012!

Make plans now to attend this wonderful event!

I can't wait for you- to become a

'Stampin' Up! ' Demonstrator with me!!! XXX

Roomies!!!

This time last week, I was discovering the sights and sounds of Paris, with my two convention roomies- Yvonne Hunt & Jeanette Eames. They were fantastic girls to go to Paris with and we laughed and had so much fun!!

Here are some pictures of the roomie gift I made for them, I also made one for my SU mum- Julie Kettlewell.......oo and no prizes for guessing what stamps sets I used!!!

The books were out of my stash, and were calling out for an SU make over!!

The lovely journal tag was created with the label from 'Everything Eleanor' and the gorgeous 'Antique Brads. Grosgrain ribbon & 'Crochet Trim' made lovely embellishments.'

The Heart over the girl, is a technique I have pinched off the ACE Australian demo- Teneale Williams, the Friend sentiment, is from 'Tiny Tags'.

The 'Parlour Prints' background stamp & some 'Baja Breeze' card created a most lovely, antique style backing too!

Striped Grosgrain, more crochet trim and also 'Baja Breeze- Seam Binding' were tied to the spirals, to finish the journal.

I even gave a pencil, an SU make over too, then they had a pretty object to write with too!

I had some brown paper gift bags, in my stash too, and these were perfect for holding my gifts, for my roomies, and of course they got an SU makeover, this time with the lovely friends wheel, and ribbons too!

Right got to dash, off up into the 'Trough Of Bowland' to demonstrate at a workshop, and I have the car to pack yet!! xxx

It's not a card.....

Well as I prepare to sit at my desk and start stamping my swaps for convention.......all 150 of them......and yes convention is only next week!! I remembered this little make I made last week, its not a card, but another piece of jewellery, that whilst browsing the racks by the cash desk, caught my eye. It had a dreadful enamel style image to the middle, That I have now given an SU make over!!

 With a small oval of 'Whisper White' card stock to fit the recess, and a bit of stamping and inking around the edges, I have made a piece of Handmade wearable art.

To stick it in place and give it a lovely glossy enamelled style finish, I used the fantastic SU 'Crystal Effects'. I hope you like my make, I am just wishing that, I had bought a couple more of the necklaces, as they would make lovely gifts for stampin' friends xx

In a bit of a 'Mist'!

Yesterday I had fun playing with a canvas kit a facebook friend had given me, to complete it, I had to add spray inks, when I received my starter kit there was a re-fill of the 'Marina Mist' SU ink, so I added a few drops to a mister and had a fantastic spray ink to match the 'Stampin' Up!' Ink pads......note to self, I need more ink refills to make more colour mists!

The canvas kit called for me to colour a doily with the spray ink, but my scrap paper was left with a delicate silhouette, and it inspired me to make this card.

The card base is made from 'Crumb Cake' SU card stock, cut to fit a DL envelope. The doily is one from my stash....hmmm she hoards doilies....well the local village 'Flower, Produce & Handicraft show' have a Children's doily colouring class, and my two love to enter this, so when I see nice doilies I pick them up.....believe me not all doilies are pretty!! Anyway here is a close up of the 'Marina Mist' sprayed over the doily.
I then created a collage of items to create a focal point, across the lower third of the card base. The band of corrugated card was salvaged from some packaging, and a strip was ripped to fit across the card.

I gathered a short piece of 'Old Olive' ribbon and stuck it to the right, of the band.

I stamped the rose frame from the 'Stampin' Up! Four Frames' stamp set, with chocolate chip ink, on to a scrap of 'Crumb Cake' card and punched it out using the coordinating punch, I then splattered it with 'Old olive' ink and stuck it, so it was peeping out from under the top left edge of the band.
I stamped 'Friend' and 'Love' from the 'Tiny Tags' SU stamp set, in 'Old Olive' ink, on to 'Crumb Cake' Card stock, they were then punched out using the 'Jewellery Tag' Punch. the 'Heart from the same stamp set was stamped with 'Chocolate Chip' Ink and punched out using the smallest heart from the 'Heart to Heart' punch. This was mounted with a small foam pad on to another jewellery tag. I knotted these on to a piece of linen thread that had been wrapped around the band.

Just peeking out from under the bottom right edge of the band, is the bird frame, stamped as the rose one, and on top of this is a flower made with the 'Flower Accent'. It was stamped in 'Old Olive' ink, on to 'Crumb Cake' card stock, this was trimmed out and stuck on top of the bird label with a foam pad, the large glass pebble is from my stash, I picked a whole bag of them up for a couple of pounds, they are the ones used for putting in the bottom of bowls of flowers!

Before sticking the collage band to the card base I added some splatters of the 'Old Olive' Ink.
As my SU mum Julie would say...'here is an arty farty angle' of the completed card!

Right! I am off to re-work this in to a

Lay out for a scrapbook page.....

while the urge to mist is upon me! xxx

Is it really???!!

OK is it really the first official day of the summer hols.....yep! Is it really the millionth time my darling angels have had a noisy disagreement....yep! Is it really my craft desk under a mountain of rubbish, junk and bits of paper....yep! And it is really another Christmas project I am showing you,....yep....In July!!

Apologies for my absence over the last couple of days, yesterday was spent taking Heather riding at the beach, Saturday was lost to taking Heather to choir, and Friday well it was the last day of summer term!

Anyway as I was having a five minute clear of my desk, I came across these Christmas cards. I made last week. And yes we do have glorious sunshine outside, I just thought I would show them now before they are lost in the craft room tidy up, I have planned this week!

The main focus of both cards is the lovely A la Carte 'Dasher' stamp from SU and a very bold colour scheme of 'Real Red', 'Basic Black' & 'Whisper White'.Both cards fit a C5 envelope, so are easy to send via the post.

For decoration On the vertical card, I used the 'Big Shot' and the lovely 'Vintage Wallpaper' SU embossing folder, matting and layering the main 'Dasher' image. I added the merry from the 'Stampin' Up!' 'Tiny Tags' set,punched with the 'jewellery Tag' punch.

The horizontal card has the 'Dasher' image stamped straight on to the card blank, with decoration added in with a strip of 'Basic Black' card that has been punched along the edge, with the 'Scallop Trim Punch'.

Again ribbon was added and the merry tag secured with a pin.

If you want to get ahead with your Christmas cards, I am more than happy to order your SU goodies and have them delivered to your door, so you too can get festive over the summer season!

Hopefully I will have created enough space to 'play', whilst tidying and will be back tomorrow with a none Christmas make!

Three Deers!

No I am not referring to my friends and I, out shopping...... as according to my daughter Heather- I am 'Middle Aged'! But today's blog offering....And Sorry, but while the inspiration is there, you have to go with the flow.........so yes this is another Christmas in July post!

While all hyped up with Christmas craft I made a selection of gift bags/ boxes, the lovely snowflake card for all three came from just one sheet of the A4 whisper white card that had been given the 'all over' stamp treatment with the delightful 'Serene snowflakes Stampin' Up!' stamp set.

The chosen ink colours were- 'Night of navy', 'Pink pirouette', 'Bashful Blue' & 'Perfect Plum', and it was just a case of totally covering the white A4 sheet with the stamped images, when stamping any image to totally cover an area, it always looks best if you stamp the image going off the edge of the piece.

Once I had made up the bags/ boxes, I used the lovely 'Al la carte' stamp 'Dasher' as the main decoration, the little 'merry' sentiment came from the 'Tiny Tags' SU stamp set and the decorative label 'do not open..' & 'Santa post' both came from the 'Winter Post' SU stamp set. Some of the 'Dasher' images were cropped down using a punch and for the larger bag, it was mounted onto some 'Night of Navy' card and the 'Scallop' edge punch was used as decoration along the bottom.

If you would like further details of how these bags/ boxes were folded or would like to purchase any of the supplies used then please do contact me: sally-johoughton@hotmail.co.uk

Also was it one of those strange days were we all forget the most important things yesterday?? last night at 'creative cafe' I had forgotten my Acrylic block & 'Stamp-a-ma-jig', Anyway we got by and had fun crafting together too! I will be back tomorrow with a none Christmas related offering..........I promise xx

Colour Coached!!

Do you ever find you get stuck in a colour rut......you know.....the same ink pad colours always in use, or maybe you are afraid to mix things up a little??? Well the fantastic SU colour coach may be the thing for you, I never thought that I would use it, but I constantly have it on my desk and yes it's on hand, so that I have all the gorgeous 'Stampin' Up!' colours, without having sheets of card or ink pads all over, while I am going through my 'Will I- Won't I' stage of making!!

So I was making cards for some fellow Julies Jem's earlier this week, Happy birthday- Terri & also Catherine xx, and was once again drawn toward my 'Concord Crush' ink pad and I thought, what other colour could I pair with it for more of a monochromatic colour scheme......well yes the colour coach, even has a suggestion for this! It called a 'Dynamic Duo' and for 'Concord crush', It was paired with 'Perfect Plum' from the subtles collection, and 'My-o-my!' i do like this combo!

No prizes for guessing the stamp set, but it was on the desk, and well, I think the finished result looks pretty.....

yep! you guessed it 'Just believe' for the fronds

and this part was stamped in the 'perfect Plum'.

The text stamp in the background is the large friendly stamp.... it's big but don't be put off you can make it small too!!
The ink used for this was 'Concord Crush'.

Linen thread and a sentiment from 'Tiny tags' punched with the co-ordinating 'Jewellery tag' punch, created my own embellishment.

The inside was given the stamp treatment too, this time with just the 'perfect plum' ink.

And again on the envelope.
I do admit that I made the same card for both girls, but i really liked the first one and thought I would go with the flow!

I hope you like it too xx