Stampin Up Oragami Kusudama Ornament

With Christmas just around the corner, I have been making cards and other handcrafted items for the holiday season.  I just love the start of the excitement that Christmas brings and as the clocks go back tonight and the nights will be dark now for the next few months, getting into the craft room has never been more fun.

I am always in search of ideas and like many of us use pintrest and utube to find ideas that I can use and tailor to my own style.  Today's ornament is no different. Oragami is the art of paper folding and there are various different kusudama flowers that put together make great hanging ornaments ideal for the holiday season.

This one is using six pieces of 6"x6" dsp and it is a fairly simple pattern to follow. I used a die cut stamens embellishment from the botanicals to add a little sparkle to the centre of each flower. These could be made in any dsp and decorated in any way to make an ornament. As long as the paper is square could also make smaller ones too.

As a Stampin Up demonstrator you can order products by lclicking the catalogue link above and using me Jane Allmark as your demonstrator of choice.

Stampin Up how to straighten cutting plates without using oven

People are always asking how do you straighten the big shot cutting plates, especially the new ones which are thinner and with the base plate seem to bend like a banana in no time at

these photos show the process. Straight finished plate, bent starting plate, then process of ironing and the two bent plates I started with.

all. The older style were thicker and a lot of people would put them in the oven weighted down, but this does not seem to work with the new ones.

Well I have the answer for you which I have used with all the plates I've owned the old and new ones.

What you need is a hot iron, ironing board, cotton tea towel and pair of oven gloves. Put bent plate on ironing board and cover with tea towel. Iron backwards and forwards for several minutes and then using the oven gloves press firmly on top. Turn the plate every few minutes. This process will take 5/10 minutes per plate but straightens them perfectly.

Stampin Up using dsp for backgrounds

There is a fantastic offer on at the moment with Stampin Up. Buy 3 dsp (designer series paper) and get a fourth free. There are some absolutely gorgeous designs to choose from including Christmas papers and they really make a card have that professional edge.

Now there is a lot that you can do with papers but I have just chosen to use them as the focal background and then add a sentiment and an embellishment.

As always if you click on the link above it will take you to the Stampin Up website and when you order please use me Jane Allmark as your demonstrator of choice.

The first card I have used the dsp as the background and then added the rose garden framelits as a mask and used night of navy to sponge the background and then the chalk pen to out tiny dots on the rose. This makes the rose really look three dimensional and I love this effect.

The second card uses the fox punch with night of navy cardstock as a little embellishment in the corner and a sentiment.

The dsp papers I used for these cards are the floral boutique 141663 which are 12 double sided sheets of 12"x12" for £10

Until the end of October you can buy 3 packs of a whole host of different designs and get a 4th free. A great offer but limited till end of the month, so take advantage while you can.

Happy crafting and catch up again with another technique card soon.

Stampin Up jelly babies. Thinking outside the box with gingerbread man from Christmas cookie cutter bundle.

this is a fun card ideal for a kids card, birthday or to just to use the embellishment as a topper for a gift bag containing jelly babies.

So who doesn't like jelly babies and what is your favourite? Well mine has to be blackcurrant as they only ever seem to put one or two in a bag.

This card uses the gingerbread man from the cookie cutter Christmas bundle stamped in bright fruity colours to mimic favourite flavoured jelly babies. Combined with the little jelly gems from the Home Sweet Home set to make a lovely kid orientated card. Or for anyone who loves jelly sweets.

Getting the most from stamp sets is a must and this shows that a gingerbread man can become a jelly baby with a little colour.

These fab set are available through Stampin Up by clicking on the catalogue above and when you do order please use me Jane Allmark as your demonstrator of choice. Thanks

Stampin Up jingle bells and Christmas twine

I really love the Christmas products with Stampin Up check them out on the catalogue link above. Embellishments are a lovely way to make a card look really special without taking too much time and the little jingle bells in red and silver and the Christmas twine in red, green and gold compliment each other perfectly.

The first card I used the Jacob's coat technique and a retired stamp set and added the gold twine and 3 little silver bells.

The second card was a piece of the candy cane lane dsp with red twine and red bells and I die cut the merry with the coordinating stamp and die set which you can get in a bundle saving 10% and makes the lovely little houses. Again check out the link and if you order please use me Jane Allmark as your demonstrator of choice.

Stampin Up Home Sweet Home

Stampin Up have the most amazing bundle called Home Sweet Home. It is a stamp set and thinlets to create the most adorable houses. The ideas are limitless and you can create a whole village. Fill them with treats, or a battery tealight. Just gorgeous.

How cute are these. Click on the link at the top of the page to go to Stampin Up website to order these cuties and use me Jane Allmark as your demonstrator of choice.

Stampin Up masking template techniques

This is a fabulous technique by using a mask template. I cut his one using a sharp blade and a steel ruler with heavy cardstock and then took as many blue ink pads from pool party through to night of navy and then using a spong dauber worked my way round the card building the layers. I like the way it builds to form gorgeous points inside and out.

A fun technique and by taking a small circle mask and sponging in dapper denim or a darker colour it tidies up all the loose ends and makes it look neat and ready for a sentiment.

Stampin Up

Sad day as can no longer use my blog on ipad

Am having to use my android phone to post this. Unfortunately my ipad no longer supports blogger so please bare with me while I try to sort this problem out. Will hopefully post soon.