Waterfront WOW

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Despite the ‘new’ Stampin’ Up! Catalogue having been live for three and half months and there now being a newer new one I still hadn’t gotten around to using the waterfront stamp set. To be perfectly honest I think I was a little scared of it. I’ve seen some absolutely jaw dropping designs using it and have just kept putting it off. So it’s sat on the shelf. That is until last week when I dusted off to create a card for my class.

This is cased from another UK demo Amanda Bates (apologies I put in wrong name initially!). I added two extra layers and changed the location and type of sentiment. It’s such a simply stunning card.

I used soft sky, which sadly is retiring soon :(. I also used wisteria wonder (also retiring) along with smoky slate. The birds are from the High Tide stamp set and are stamped in tuxedo black memento. The sentiment came from Bird Banter.

It’s such a beautiful stamp set and I’m so happy it’s staying for at least another twelve months or so and you can guarantee that you will be seeing more makes using it.

I’m the meantime, I’m off to make sure I’m stocked up on all my favourite retiring colours. If you have favourites now is time to buy them before they’re gone.

Have a blessed Saturday.

Gillian x

Exciting news

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So the last two weekends have been spent Stampin’ Up! Style…

on 6th April I headed to Telford with Carol, one of my lovely downline to on stage which is a twice yearly convention for Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators.

Friday night I attended centre stage which is special night for demonstrators who are silver Elite and above… as we are celebrating 30 years this year the vending was themed…. eighties style… and I went all permed blond wig and all!

This pic shows my upline team the Stampin’ stars… a bunch of total nutters, but what a night we had… fabulous company, fabulous fun and the best gift ever…. the ALL NEW 2018 STAMPIN’ UP! CATALOGUE.

So this year we are having a colour revamp… a total overhaul of all the colours… Some of my favourites re leaving and some old favourites are returning along with lots of new offerings.. and not only that the ink pads have been redesigned into a nice new compact case, and they are stackable, no more leaning tower of Pisa when you stack your colours!

The new colour range is below:

Have your favourites made the cut?

A big part of the day itself is the opportunity to swap card ideas with other crafters so I went armed with sixty five card fronts and came back with sixty five inspirational projects, cards, three dimensional items… all amazing!

This is my swap –

And as if that wasn’t exciting enough we had meeting of the Northern Belles on 14th, this is a group of demonstrators in Northern Ireland… again we did swaps another 28 great ideas from some very talented women. We had a great day of craic and crafting.

So that’s it from me today, have a great week!

Love Gillian x

What a month!

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I have had just a crazy month, thus my absence from here, so BIG apologies, hopefully you follow my Facebook page at Little Things by Gillian and have got some crafty inspiration from there.

I actually started this post – yep the first line, last week and I’m only back here now to try and finish it off!

Firstly my dad had an accident in work a few weeks ago now – we are thankful he still has all his fingers but he had emergency surgery and six weeks of no driving…. it’s time to payback all those lifts he gave me as a teenager!

Then we got a new addition to the family, just the craziest, most energetic and mad little Springer spaniel pup named Otis! He is now ten weeks old and in the three weeks we’ve had him I’ve aged by about five years! Seriously they need more attention than a baby, it’s definitely hard work!

This is him, going crazy in our garden… seriously there are springs concealed in those paws somewhere!

Anywhoo Sale a bration is over and what fun I had… there were some amazing products this year and I can’t quite pick my favourite one.

Although Amazing you is up there at the top… I’m sooooo glad that the thinlet dies are going to make a reappearance in the new annual catalogue. Speaking of the new catalogue this weekend I’m off to Telford to our UK On Stage event – think convention of Stampin’ crazies! One of the perks is I get to get my paws on the brand new catalogue.. I’m beyond excited and delighted to be sharing the experience with one of downline who is travelling over with me. And if that isn’t exciting enough this year I get to go to special event for Silver Elite demonstrators and above, having achieved this title in January – thanks to all my customers and downline I got a special invite last week… it’s 80’s themed to celebrate Stampin’ Up! Turning THIRTY this year so be sure to check back next week when I share some crazy pictures!

Below is another card I’ve made recently – it was for my Mum on Mother’s Day, cased from the talented Eimear Carvill. It again used the free dies from SAB paired with the large letter dies. My mum LOVES purple (even for her eyes) so I went with sweet sugar plum and rich razzleberry which I also happen to love together.

Anyway, forgive me for my absence and I’ll try and keep things more regular as Otis settles in and hopefully let’s me craft in peace!

Hope you all had a blessed Easter, God Bless!

Gillian

Lovely as a tree

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Lovely as a tree is just that… lovely. It’s one of, if not the longest standing stamp set from Stampin’ Up! Generally I use it at Christmas with glitter, and lots of it but recently one of the ladies at my class asked for to appear at class to help her come up with other ways to use it.

I love crisp clean images and I also love sponging, I don’t do it too often but always enjoy it when I do. For this card I used low tack masking tape above and below where I wanted the ink. Using a piece of stampin’ sponge I sponged the area with so saffron, before adding a punched circle mask, made from a post it note. Next I sponged using daffodil delight, calypso coral, tangerine tango and then a touch of Cajun craze, I then blended it all with a little more daffodils delight.

My tip to get nice smooth sponging is to start off the page on scrap paper and work in gentle circular movements. Once the sponging was complete I gently peeled off the masking tape. I stamped the image in memento black ink and coloured using the Stampin’ markers in garden green and chocolate chip.

I then cut two thin strip of chocolate chip card and adhered them below the image and finished with a sentiment in chocolate chip, a gold button.

The result is a simply stunning card, ideal for all sorts of occasions not just birthdays. I actually think this would make a perfect sympathy card as well. I’m hoping to find some time to recreate this in alternate colours, what combos do you think would look good… and I should I go outside the box….

So on another note entirely have you been hit but the beast from the east? We’ve had a bit of snow here in Portaferry today, being a coastal town this is unusual especially when other areas haven’t had any…. yet! It’s a weird snow, dry and powdery most unlike our usual wet slush. Beautiful to look at. Especially when you’re inside in front of the fire or sitting in your nicely warmed craft room. By all accounts we are in for a chilly weekend!

If you need any other details on how to complete this project please just drop me a comment below, even if you don’t I’d still love to hear from you.Until next time, stay safe and warm and if you have to go out take care, the roads are treacherous!

God bless.

Gillian x

Product List
Lovely As A Tree Clear-Mount Stamp Set

£20.00

Lovely As A Tree Wood-Mount Stamp Set

£25.00

Stamping Sponges

£3.25

So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad

£6.00

Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad

£6.00

Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad

£6.00

Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad

£6.00

Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad

£6.00

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

£5.50

Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers

£22.00

Bird Banter Photopolymer Stamp Set

£15.00

Clear Block C

£6.25

Clear Block D

£7.75

Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock

£6.50

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

£8.25

Chocolate Chip A4 Card Stock

£7.25

Stampin' Trimmer

£27.00

True Gentleman Buttons

£6.25

1-1/4

£14.50

Regals Stampin' Write Markers

£27.50

Petal Palette

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I got together with my Tuesday girls last night, put them together with paper, inks and stamps and it’s sure to be a fun night.

For this weeks class I decided to create three projects using the Petal Palette Bundle on page 23 of the Spring / Summer 2018 Occasions Catalogue. This is such a pretty set and I specifically chose it as one of the ladies wasn’t sure about it or what type of cards she could make using it.

The first card I came up with is a beautiful square Thank you card. I created the card base by cutting down the length of a piece of A4 Thick whisper white card stock at 5 7/8″, I then scored it 5 7/8″ to make a square card blank. I used calypso coral as my colour for this card but you could use your favourite. The Calypso coral card stock is 4″ x 4″ and layered on top is a piece Whisper white 3 3/4″ x 3 3/4″.

I stamped the image and sentiment on scrap whisper white using Basic grey archival ink. I used the coordinating Framelit dies to cut out the roses and the trellis from a scrap of calypso coral card, then I used the Stitched shape Framelits to cut the circle round the sentiment.

I gave the flowers a wash of colour using my Aqua painter (because I’m colouring on whisper white, I remove the water well and use as little water as possible) and wild wasabi, so saffron and calypso coral. I use my ink pads as a palette for this process giving them a firm squeeze whilst shut, thereby transferring some ink into the lid (be sure to wipe clean after if you’ve excess water there).

To finish off, and because I like a bit of bling, I added a scattering of rhinestones.

I also stamped the beautiful image on the inside of the card and coloured in the same way. I’ve highlighted products I used throughout this post and by clicking on them you will be whisked away to my Stampin’ Up! Online shop, where you can shop until your hearts content! All orders this month will get a free gift from me as a small token of my appreciation. I’ve also included a comprehensive list of all products used for this card at the end of today’s post.

The second card was cased from Stesha Bloodhart, another talented demo, I just love it! If you would like a recipe for this card please just ask in the comments below… the artwork on this card is coloured using the Stampin’ Blends, go easy on me I’m new to alcohol markers! When I recreated this card with my class I stamped on very vanilla to tie in with the trim, and surprisingly the blends take on a slightly different tone… I’ll try and remember to list them side by side another day.

The third and final card is a beautifully feminine birthday card, it’s always good to have a good stock of birthday cards to hand, it’s seldom a week goes by without me needing at least one birthday card! Again just comment for the recipe!

I’d love to know which is your favourite, I’m unfortunately a bit like the late, and very much loved Bruce Forsythe…. they are all my favourites… just like my classmates, I love them all!

For now I’m off to hunt out my lightest clothing… not colour wise but weight, as I prepare for my weekly weigh in at the local slimming world group…. after I face the terror of the scales Wednesday evening improves tenfold with a big packet of my favourite crisps… either by way or celebrating or commiseration…

Enjoy the rest of your day, whatever it brings

Much love

Gillian x

Product List

•Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490]

•Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549]

•Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock [124392]

•Petal Palette Clear-Mount Bundle [145974]

•Rhinestone Basic Jewels [144220]

•Aqua Painters [103954]

•Stampin’ Trimmer [129722]

•Big Shot Magnetic Platform [130658]

•Big Shot [143263]

•Basic Gray Archival Stampin’ Pad [140932]

•So Saffron Classic Stampin’ Pad [126957]

•Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin’ Pad [126959]

•Calypso Coral Classic Stampin’ Pad [126983]

•Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies [145372]

All images (c) 2018 Stampin’ Up!

Myths and magic

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Every little boy wants to be a knight battling dragons and every little girl who settles for a pony most likely wants a unicorn… after all all princesses need a unicorn to get from A to B.

Unicorns and dragons are the things of fairytales, I for one love both! I remember a great wee family movie growing up called Pete’s Dragon, such a lovely movie. When the myths and magic was revealed at the stampin’ Up! Convention last November I immediately fell in love, I knew above all else I had to have this set! I was so disappointed not to get it early during prize patrol.

I’ve played with set and shared a card or two previously but this is my WOW card… it was my nephews 4th birthday a couple of weeks ago and I knew I had to get crafty with this set for him….

Isn’t this just the cutest ever?!? I am BIG into making pop up boxes, I have another best selling design with a Knight and dragon but this one is even better, it took a while to create but worth every minute.

The knights and dragons i fussy cut from the wonderfully sparkly designer series paper. The smoky slate base was embossed using the brick embossing folder and the pretty little princess is made from the mermaid stamp and a partial punch so her hair flows beautifully.

The hardest part of making this card was actually handing it over… to a four year old… a very enthusiastic four year old, thankfully a supervised opening and it stayed in one piece!

I’m in the process of preparing a step by step photographic tutorial for this card, if you would like a copy it’s free with all orders over £50 this month or available to buy as a PDF for £4, this will include a full list of supplies and templates for the castle, the only thing you won’t be able to buy sadly are the little letters and numbers dies…

Anyway must dash, heading for a late valentine dinner with my very own knight in shining armour… not sure he’s taking me on a unicorn so I suppose four wheels will have to do… this time anyway!

Happy crafting

Gillian

Polished to perfection

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So today I had my first team training for my team, normally we buddy up and go to another demo’s but today I hosted.

We had a great afternoon, one of my downline Carol who has a successful dog training business did a talk on marketing and valuing ourselves, this was a brilliant talk,  very relevant! On a side note if you are interested in training your dog… or rather training yourself how to train your dog Carol is worth checking out. Her business is Down Dog, based in Kircubbin, Northern Ireland and she is Ireland’s premier dog trainer!

for this months training I selected a technique known as polished stone with the idea that’s we create technique cards for our technique folders and then do a make and take using the same method. This is such a fun technique, I could literally spend hours trying our different colour combinations and different ways of laying the ink down.  Sadly we didn’t get around to the crafting because the training talk with Carol was so good and went on a little longer than expected, the snow started as she was finishing so we bid our farewells.

Whilst prepping for the cards I had a happy accident… when I stamped using a polymer stamp it lifted the ink I’d placed… so for the Dragonfly one I simply applied pressure to the stamp and carefully peeled off the card and it revealed a negative image, it sort of looks like a fossil don’t you think? I discovered that the best ink to use for stamping on top of the technique is memento or just our standard classic ink lads. The archival was also sticky and lifted colour off in some areas.

These technique cards are 4″ x 3″ and fit into the small pockets for the 8″ x 6″ memories and more album, it’s a great way to keep all your techniques together for easy reference. There is a ‘recipe’ on the back so you’re not going to forget how you achieved the look on the card.

The make and take was also centred around this technique. I used sweet sugarplum, Rich razzleberry and powder pink. The image was stamped in tranquil tide. I love how this turned out!

I also covered team recognitions… two of my team members promoted to Silver this month, which is a fabulous achievement and they did it within in just a day or two over their first year which is brilliant. I made them some Uber glittery silver cards and they also got silver keyrings with the inscriptions ‘she believed she could so she did’. For the cards I embossed the congratulations in silver, then reheated it and tipped my silver glitter over it…. be wary don’t have your heat gun still going or you will turn into something akin to tinkerbell… trust me that was me on Friday afternoon! The cards are gorgeous though so sparkly… sunglasses required!

I also had a promotion myself this month, I set myself a goal to achieve silver Elite during the first quarter of the year so was delighted when I got their at the end of January. This is not a level you can achieve by yourself, it was thanks to my lovely team for their support. Stampin’ Up! Are so good to us in general but we get extra rewards and benefits each time we move up a level, I now have centre stage to look forward to in April. This includes an evening meal, recognition and a goodie bag, or so I’m told… needless to say I can NOT wait!

If you would like to join my team and live in the Uk or within our other European markets I would absolutely LOVE to have you join team stampelicious. There is a fabulous joining offer on at the minute for £99 you get to select £130 of products, get a free business kit, free postage and you also get to pick ANY two stamp sets… that’s upto approx £200 of products for £99…. would nearly be rude not too! If you’d like more information about joining my growing team please leave me a message and I’ll send you some further information.

Thanks for popping by!

Gillian x

Created to create

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I am 100% unashamedly addicted to Stampin’ Up!, just in case you didn’t know. I believe this is a gift from God, I was created to create! Stampin’ Up is the perfect company we are like a global extended family, the ethos is about loving what we do and sharing what we love and they make this so easy for us with the fabulous products don’t you think?

My classes reflect this, it’s more than just customers coming to craft, it’s a gathering of friends, we have laughed together and on occasion cried together, all the while crafting together. Crafting has got me through some difficult times in life, it is such a good therapy. Often people come to class and admit they nearly cancelled for one reason or another and inevitably it lifts them and they leave uplifted… I believe it’s the crafting… although maybe it’s the cakes….

The card below is another we made at the painted with Love project class on Sunday, this one is for my husband…

The background is soft sky stamped using the marbled background stamp. The little hearts are second generation stamped in dapper denim (ink, stamp off on scrap and then stamp on project), the large striped ones are dapper denim and the accents in real red. I embellished with silver sequin trim. I’m loving all the products in this suite, I’ve been mixing and matching the stamp sets but if you only had one you could still create something similar.

The finals cards were inspired by Jan Clothier a demo from New Zealand. She made a gorgeous card using the soft sky blank fr. The tutti frutti Card blanks. I used the calypso coral one initially and then the lemon lime twist..

I coloured the enamel dots using the Stampin blends alcohol markers. Which do you prefer? I think I lean towards the calypso coral and night of navy…

Anyway, I’m off to put my feet up and chillax for the rest of the evening, enjoy whatever you’re doing.

Keep crafting!

Gillian x

Painted with Love

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Playing with the painted with love suite from Stampin’ Up! is a great way to spend a Sunday… sharing with friends is even better!

Today I had some of the lovely ladies from my craft class round for a project class, they aren’t ‘just’ ladies from my craft class, I consider them all to be friends. We have such fun creating together and generally having great old craic as we Northern Irish girls like to say!

We made lots of projects… two boxes and five cards, one being a WOW card. One of the ladies had specifically asked if I could create a special wedding card to be incorporated today and I knew I wanted to do a shutter card, I’d never done one before so off I set to watch some you tube videos, Frenchie’s video was great. The measurements however were based on American card stock and I couldn’t quite get them adjusted to work as well, and after hearing from another UK demo who had the same issues I decided to stick with the US measurements…. did you know their A4 card stock was a different size to ours?

Anyway I made a few wee tweaks because it worked better for me that way. This was the end result…

[wpvideo lH2BI1mK ]

I hope the video works for you because it really is the best way to showcase this gorgeous card. I used powder pink card stock and the subtlest sheet from the painted with love designer series paper pack – I thought it was more suited for a wedding, unless of course you know the colours and melon mambo is one of them! Isn’t it gorgeous?

I even broke open my packet of the gorgeous new vinyl stickers… I simply adore these; and I’m not a peel and stick kinda girl but these just add that subtle extra to the finished card. One of the changes I made was I overlapped the shutters so when you open it’s more like a camera lens, I just love how this looked in motion!

We also made two very different boxes with the ‘sure do love you’ framelit Dies… interestingly enough both for chocolate… I’m on slimming world at the minute can you tell where my mind wanders too….

The first one above I’m reliably informed is the perfect fit for a Terry’s chocolate orange… I couldn’t test that theory as if I had bought one I would also have eaten one! The second box below fits a small bar of chocolate, I got my little bars in Lidl. We also made a mini notecard which also fits nicely in the box. Of course you could just fill the box with notecards, that would be a perfect gift!

For my weekend project classes we used to get sandwiches in… until the girls discovered my husband egg and cheese mayo ones… now he makes us sandwiches, someone else brings, drinks, someone crisps and today Marie made a gorgeous fresh fruit salad, just because she knew I’ve been trying my best to be good! My husband really is a star they all love him, and he regularly nips up to the craft studio to see if anyone wants fresh tea or coffee… he’s definitely a keeper!

I hope you like these projects, I’ll be back later in the week with some more cards from this class.

Now though it’s time for a nice hot bubble bath and then bed for this crazy crafte, tomorrow is a busy day for me, it’s the day I catch up on my Etsy orders after the weekend.

Please leave me a note I’d love to hear from you.

The PDf containing tutorials for these and the other projects today is FREE this month with a £50 order or available to purchase for £5, just comment below or drop me an email to littlethingsbyg@gmail.com.

Thanks for dropping by,

Gillian

All images are (c) Stampin’ Up1 2018

Happy Hump Day

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Hope you are all having a great week! For me a great week always includes me time, me time being craft time!

I have a project class on Friday using the truly tailored suite so I’ve been playing with it and OH MY GOODNESS I am so in love with these products! They are so much fun and make making men’s card a piece of cake.

The main colours in the Papers are very vanilla, night of navy, tranquil tide and crumb cake with accents of chocolate chip and crushed curry. They go so well together. For this first card I used the punch, and punched randomly… well actually if you know me you’ll know that’s a fib, there was nothing random, I pondered the pieces for ages! SLIGHTLY OCD! The tiny slithers I was cutting for me were worthwhile. I finished the card with a length of the cord ribbon trim and two of the faux wood buttons.

If you like this bundle and would like a full step by step PDF tutorial I am doing a kit in the mail for five cards and a box, it includes the stampset, punch, half a pack of DSP, 14 sheets of card stock, five envelopes, 4.5m of ribbon, 12 buttons, a surprise gift, your choice of sale a bration item and a few little extras all for £60 including postage. The Pdf will include photographs and instructions, of course I’m always online if you need extra help. If you simply would like the PDF tutorials these are available for £12… that’s £2 per project and there may be some bonus features in there too!

This is a second of the projects, a gift card wallet with a slider that pulls the card up when you open it and reveals a secret sentiment. I used the envelope punch board crate this lovely card although you could make it without. I finished it with a belly band embellished with a button and some twine.

Well I don’t want to post all the projects and ruin the surprise for my lovely attendees but I’ll be sure to share more later.

Don’t forget when you order £45 or more you get to a pick a free sale a bration item… and exciting news from 16th February there will be even more choice as we launch new exclusive SAB items!

Anyway I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s cards, I certainly enjoyed making them!

Gillian