Fun Tee Shirt Designs If Your Happy and you Know It Keep it Up

I love fun and funky and like most of us have a great selection of tee shirts with all sorts of great images on. Stampin Up Sale a Bration is certainly a time to be happy because for every £45 spent you can chose a free product from the sale a Bration brochure. One of those free sets is Designer Tees which coordinates with the Custom Tee bundle 35 stamps and coordinating dies to create fun Tee shirt designs. Click on the link above and you will find these in the Spring/Summer catalogue.

So I used my favourite new tool the sponge brayers rs which are superb value for money only £7.25 for two handles and four sponge rollers and make the best backgrounds. 141714 is the code.

I used the in colour ink pads to sponge four different bands and then used the Designer Tee sentiment to randomly stamp in the same colour tones over the background. Our small circle punch or the big eye in the owl punch, punched out the little smileys and then I topped it off with two Tee shirts from the Custom Tee.  This look really made me think of summer and festivals and sitting out listening to great music wearing a funky tee shirts and the expression "when your happy and you know it keep it up" just works perfectly.

Hope you enjoyed this project. Catch you tomorrow for more fun and inspiration. 💜

Stampin Up Sale a Bration meets Tasty Trucks.

Todays project was so much fun to do. It uses Tasty Trucks which is a free stamp set in the Sale a Bration brochure where for every £45 spent throughout the Stampin Up range (see the catalogues above) you can chose a free item from the Sale a Bration brochure. This is a limited time offer and ends at the end of March, so click on the shop button above and take advantage of free product.

So one of the free Sale a Bration sets is Tasty Trucks. There are 16 stamps in this sets so lots to play with. I used the truck and masked out the inside to create a solid image which I watercoloured using our fab watercolour pencils and the aquapainter. So easy to use and the results are gorgeous.

Another fab products is 141714 sponge brayers  £7.25. You get 2 handles and 4 sponges which is great value for money. This brayer  is simple to use and gives gorgeous tonal backgrounds. The more you brayer  the darker the background. Very impressed with how easy it is to use and unlike other brayers  you don't get horrible streaks as the sponges are so soft they build the colour up slowly and evenly.

I wanted this truck to have a flower power look so I punched petite petals from the exhaust and added little flowers from the Custom Tee stamp set. With a sentiment from the That's the Tag stamp set and some ribbon and few pearls it makes a lovely card.

Hope you enjoyed the project and catch you tomorrow for more fun ideas using Stampin Up fabulous new ranges.💜

The cutest baby card with Stampin Up Moon Baby

I am a woman and a mother and a grandmother and there is nothing nicer than having a new baby in the family. That smell of baby powder, those cute little murmurs and chuckles and whenever we pick up a baby that gentle rocking motion we all do.

Well Stampin Up Moon Baby page 17 in the Spring/summer catalogue 143082 ten rubber stamps for on wood blocks £25 or for clear blocks £18 gives you that feeling. There are 5 sentiments and five images to create the most beautiful baby cards. Click the shop button above to order yours.

I took the baby sleeping on the moon for this card. I made a mask in paper to cover the stamped image so I could sponge the background in various shades of blue from marina mist to night of navy with some rich razzleberry round the edge for a slight purpley hue. The image was watercoloured using our watercolour pencils and an aquapainter and the lovely little butterfly and stars were from the Timeless Tags. I embossed some star images from the Moon Baby stamp set and the sentiment.

Remember until end of March for every £45 spent you can choose a free item from the Sale a Bration brochure. Who doesn't like free stuff?

Have a great day and catch you again tomorrow for more crafty ideas and inspirations💜

When is a Tag not a Tag?

Was really excited today as my Stampin Up order arrived yesterday and being the weekend I have dedicated some time to craft with some of the lovely products.

Page 23 in the Spring/Summer catalogue are two sets which can be bought separately or in a bundle.
142918 That's the Tag 20 photopolymer stamps £15
142755 Timeless Tags Thinlet Dies 7 dies for £22
Or buy the bundle and save 10%
144725 £33.25

Now it's always good to have tags for all types of projects and presents, but these are so beautiful that they stand alone perfectly on a card.

This card I used some of the in colour envelope paper as backgrounds, took the flower tag as a focal point and then cut the tiny butterflies in the corner for added interest.

All products are available from my shop, just click the button to take you there and don't forget that until the end of March for every £45 spent you can choose a free product from the Sale a Bration brochure.

Have a good day and thank you for supporting my blog💜

Floating cup and saucer tutorial

A while ago I made a floating cup and saucer and decorated it using the Stampin Up botanical blooms Dies and various other Stampin Up punches. I have had lots of great comments on this as I have it as an ornament in my home and the most frequent comment is "how did you do that?" So I thought I would share with you how to make a floating cup and saucer. How you decorate it is up to you depending on the style of cup and saucer you use. I wanted an urban metallic look but if you used a bone China cup and saucer you could make it Victorian and floral.

List of materials.
Cup and saucer ( charity shops, thrift shops and bargain stores can get cheap ones)
A cheap fork that can bend easily.
Black gesso paint or spray paint if changing colour of cup and saucer
Glue gun,
Die cut or punched flowers and leaves in a variety of shapes and sizes
Gilding wax or watercolour pencils or inks for colouring the flowers and leaves

Begin by taking the fork and bending it in a 'z' shape. Bend the prongs so they wil fit flat on the saucer and bend the handle in the opposite direction so it will fit inside the cup about an inch and a half to two inches.. Take you glue gun and glue the prongs to the middle of the saucer and the handle inside the mouth of the cup. You will need to fiddle about a bit to get the balance right or the cup and saucer will fall over with the weight of the cup. If this does happen and the balance is wrong just weight the saucer down by either placing a pebble onto the saucer or gluing a weight underneath the saucer. ( look at my finished picture to see how the cup and saucer look)

Now time to decorate. What you want to achieve is to cover the inside of the cup and the fork and saucer so there is no sign of the fork being there. This is what make the cup appear to be suspended in the air. A glue gun is the best way to ensure everything is well stuck down.

I used black cardstock as I had painted my cup and saucer black as they were a pasty green colour. I used gilding wax in silver and two tones of gold to make the black cardstock look like metal. I hope you enjoy making this floating cup and saucer. It is certainly a wow and will keep people guessing how you suspended a cup in mid air 💜

Stampin Up Designer Tee

Looking for something cool and funky then this fabulous set is really worth taking a look at. There are so many possibilities for dresses, wedding, football and sport teams, hen night invitation and stag do's are just a few that come to mind.

Have a look at the video and if you want to order then click on the shop button.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful crafty day 💜

Stampin Up Beautiful You Valentine Card

I am not a great fan of Valentine's Day as being a single lady there really isn't much call for it. However as a Stampin Up demonstrator it is a lovely time to showcase cards for classes and parties and for those that are looking for ideas that cannot be found on the high street.

Beautiful You stamp set as you are probably aware from seeing some of my other posts is one of my absolute favourite stamp sets. I love the beautiful line drawings of the ladies and the sentiments are just perfect and very inspirational.

In this card all of the products are from the Stampin Up catalogues. Have a browse in the links above and when ready use the 'shop ' button to purchase.

I have used, Beautiful You stamp set, flirty flamingo cardstock, real red for highlights in the dress from the gorgeous watercolour pencils, organza ribbon, wink of stella for sparkle on the hearts, grey dotty background from free sale a bration dsp, and whisper white cardstock for card base and panel piece. Oh and the little hearts are punched for the owl punch, such a flexible punch.

Have a wonderful day and hope you enjoy this project.

Craft storage and organisation in small spaces

I thought I would share with you my craft storage and organisation solutions in a small space or where you don't have a dedicated room. Now I loosely say organisation as I am a messy crafter so start with good intentions and do have a place for everything, but as I constantly use the areas they always have that used look.

So firstly the main crafting area. I have a computer desk. The slide out area for the keyboard is ideal for keeping the Stampin Up scoreboard, scrub and acrylic blocks case carrier. I have a wall boxed shelving unit above for punches, inkpads, reinker, dies and embossing folders. To the left is a 6 drawer plastic container which fits our 12" x 12" dsp and cardstock. On the desk are several containers for scraps, embellishments, daubers and tools. When I am sitting at my desk everything is at hands' reach.

My son was throwing out a metal mechanics filing cabinet which holds our A4 cardstock perfectly and fits the big shot perfectly on top so always ready for use. My stamp sets are housed in an antique rotary bookcase which makes it part of the furniture in the room and is always a talking point for any visitors.

So in a relatively small space with an eclectic mix of storage solutions crafting can always be ready and available to use. Hope you've found this useful and happy crafting everyone.

Sunrise inspiration

Where do you get inspiration from for crafting? How many of us sit with a blank piece of paper in front of us waiting for some inspiration, or look at a stamp set or a piece of dsp or cardstock and think what do I do with this?  Now I know a lot of us use sources like pintrest, other crafters, or the current catalogues and CASE ( copy and share everything) while thinking how do I find my own style or create something unique. So here is what I do.

Everywhere I go whether shops, stores, people and especially countryside I get inspiration. I live in a beautiful part of the south east of England in Surrey backing onto Farnham Park a 3000 acre deer park. It is high up and the views are spectacular. I walk my dog every day in this wonderful space and at this time of year the sunrises are spectacular. So I take pictures on the phone. Quick, simple snap shots, but they give me inspiration. So here is a photo I took of a sunrise this week and the card I framed and turned into some wall art. The Stampin Up watercolour pencils are lovely to overlay colour on a sponged background to give extra depth.

Stampin Up where to get inspiration for crafting

I am ever so lucky to live in a beautiful part of the world where I can walk out of my front door  and be in the middle of the countryside. I have an adorable spaniel cross dog who I spend many hours walking in this beautiful space. So when it comes to inspiration and ideas I take a lot from what is around me.

The colours of the sunrises at the moment are simply stunning and flirty flamingo, peekaboo peach,sweet sugarplum,perfect plum, rose red, rich razzleberry, tangerine tango, calypso coral, wisteria wonder, so saffron, soft sky, in fact the list is limited only to your imagination.  So when I am thinking of backgrounds, putting colour combinations together I always look to nature.

Here are some recent pictures of the lovely sunrises we have been having tonwhtnyour appetite.

Stampin Up Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies

How exciting the stitched framelits are now back in stock after a complete sell out only a few weeks ago. These framelits are 12 dies four squares, circles and ovals all with a fabulous stitched border and they are only £27 for all 12 dies. The order number is 145372  as they are not going to appear in any catalogue until the next annual catalogue. If they sell out as quickly as they did before they won't be around very long so if you want them shop now.

So why all the excitement, well stitched edges gives a card that added wow and you don't have to always matt and layer to get a crisp finished edge to a sentiment.

I was lucky enough to grab my dies right at the beginning and I have been using them lots. I love the way you can mix and match different shapes on one card and they don't look out of place. This example is using Best Birds stamp set and die bundle and the stitched framelits as backdrops to add shape and interest. I was really pleased how a square oval and circle could be used in three different colours on one card and all blend in seamlessly.
The "shop" button at the top of my blog will take you directly to my Stampin Up where you can buy this fabulous set (be quick it sold out in days before)
Have a wonderful weekend wherever you are💜

Stampin Up Sale a Bration Avant Garden

Sale a Bration is a wonderful time where by you can choose a free products from the Saleabration catalogue for every £45 spent from the annual or spring/summer catalogue. One of the lovely free stamp sets is Avant Garden a flower and leaves set with sentiments which can make a multitude of different cards for many different occasions.

These two cards use the new in colours, sweetsugarpkum and peekaboo peach. The top card has a simply cut and layered banner style sentiment and the second sentiment is cut using the new stitched framelits which have squares, circles and ovals dies for a lovely stitched edge to any sentiment or matching and layering.

Use the buttons above to browse our catalogue range and remember for every £45 spend choose a free product. If you spend £90 choose 2 free items and so on.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by 💜

Stampin Up DSP designer series paper

Morning everyone! another chilly one with a hard frost again but the sunrises are spectacular. I walk my dog every morning at dawn so when it is cold and frosty the sunrises tend to be at their most vibrant. I will try and post some pictures later on as they are on the mobile phone and need downloading.

So today is a  card that can be created with only a few items and ideal for the beginner or someone who has a small crafty stash.  The items you will need are :-
Blooms and Bliss designer series paper 141630    £10
Bitty Butterfly punch 129406.   £14.50
Pearl Basic Jewels 119247.  £4.50
 Island Indigo ink pad  126986.   £6.00
Whisper White Cardstock 106549.  £7.25
Island Indigo cardstock 124390 £7.25

These items total £49.50 and would therefore qualify for a free item from the Sale a bration brochure so you could choose a stamp set with sentiments to add to your card. The dsp and cardstock will allow you to make at least 48 cards.

Our dsp is double sided so the butterflies were punched using the reverse side of this dsp and lightly sponged to give definition. The sentiment and butterflies were mounted on dimensionals to give height and interest.

Stampin Up Dragonfly Dreams

Morning everyone! My goodness is it a frosty one today. Am always Up bright and early walking my dog and it was certainly very crunchy underfoot.

I really love the dragonfly Dreams stamp set as dragonflies are probably one of my favourite insects. In the Spring and summer I get quite a few around my pond in the garden. However this stamp set also has some gorgeous bumble bees which I have used in this card.

The stitched framelits are new and really make a difference to a project and can be layered with our ovals, circles and squares framelits, which is an added bonus.

This card is quite clean and simple but has lovely depth by putting each layer on dimensionals.

All products used are Stampin Up. Use the links to browse our current catalogues and shop.

Thanks for stopping by and have a good day whatever you are doing 💜

Jane Allmark Independent Stampin Up Demonstrator

One of the things that I really love about being a Stampin Up demonstrator is the sense of family and community. I am very lucky to have an incredibly supportive Up line who is always there for questions and queries and has helped me to revamp my blogger with easy to use buttons to take you to all of our lovely catalogues and to be able to shop through me to purchase any of the amazing products Stampin Up does.

Please feel free to have a look around and browse through the catalogues or go straight to my shop.

As many of you know I have had my blog here for a few years now and I love sharing projects and ideas that I have using Stampin Up products. They are so easy to use and quite simply always make my creative juices flow. Have a browse back at some of my blogs to see for yourself.

So how did I become a Stampin Up demonstrator? Well I went to a class held by my wonderful Up line. I was convinced that I couldn't do it and thought it would be old fashioned and fuddy duddy.  On the first point I openly admit I struggled. I had never stamped before let alone made my own cards. However after a few classes and a lot of encouragement the spark started and quickly the flame grew until it became a roaring fire. The products were modern and always bang on trend. Everything matched and coordinated from cardstock, dsp, inkpads and embellishments, so even the simplest ideas looked crisp and professional.

So it wasn't long before I decided to become a demonstrator myself to take advantage of the discounts and to start to grow my own little business.  My overwhelming drive will always be my absolute passion in losing myself in creating and making unique cards and projects for friends, family and customers. There is something overwhelmingly satisfying in sharing this wonderful art and Stampin Up has helped me achieve this.

So my question to you, yes you, is what are you waiting for? Until the end of March there are some amazing incentives to take the plunge and dip your toe in the water.

SHOP - Sale a bration - for every £45 spend choose a free products from the Saleabration brochure.
JOIN -  Become a Stampin Up demonstrator and get your choice of £130 worth of product for only £99 and get 2 free stamp sets (with an added value of up to £93) as well.
HOST -  Get some friends and family together and host a party (I will cover a 10 mile radius of Farnham GU9). Host a qualifying party during sale a Bration and earn £20 more in Stampin Up rewards. So for example if your party sales are £200 you get 10% discount £20 plus £20 extra so £40 to spend on products.

So if I have whet you appetite or have questions or queries (as I must admit it can sound all a bit confusing) then please get in touch.

If you want to just go ahead and shop then please free.

I hope I have given you a little insight to why Stampin Up has and is so much fun and such a big part of my life.

Look forward to seeing you all tomorrow when I will be sharing more creative projects.
Have a wonderful day and thank you for having got this far in reading this 💜

Stampin Up Beautiful You For the love of my Mum

I thought I would give you all a little back story of why I love Stampin Up Beautiful stamp set so much. My beloved mother who passed away 8 years ago was an amazing artist. In the 1940's she went to St Martins art college in London to follow her passion for art and her forte was wonderful line drawings of fashion and costume. She went on to work for Simplicity patterns and her drawing of life drawings was beautiful. I remember as a child her sitting in front of me and my brother sketching us and that was my Mum.

As the years went by she did a city in guilds in embroidery and "drew" with embroidery silks amazing 3D picture some of which now hang in my home.  When she passed away and I was sorting through her belongings I cam across her portfolio from St Martins filled with wonderful drawings and a few I have framed for my home and others given to friends and family as a memory of this amazing woman.

So when the Beautiful You stamp set came out I was inspired by my Mum to recreate some different images like she used to draw. Now I cannot draw very well which is why I am so taken by Stampin Up products because they give you the image to start with and with time and practise I have been able to create wonderful art in the form of cards and pictures which I can now share with other people. So my love for Stampin Up has grown.

So I wanted to share with you all why Beautiful You has become such memory inducing stamp set and has inspired some of my creations over the last few days. Pop over to the "ordering" tab on this blog to see how you can share and buy for yourself Stampin Up products and I leave you with one of my mothers' beautiful pieces of art which hangs pride of place in my home.

Stampin Up Beautiful You Art Deco

There is something really rather addictive to this Beautiful You set of stamps as the line drawing images can be played around with and tweaked to create lots of different styles and eras of ladies. Take a look back on my last couple of posts to see some of the images I have created. Our brand new watercolour pencils are just perfect for colouring in these images using either the aquapainter or the blender pen. My personal favourite is the aquapainter and as long as you are careful and use an early dry brush you can use any of our cardstock without pilling occurring.

All of the fantastic products are available from Stampin Up. Just follow the link above to browse their complete ranges in the Spring/Summer catalogue or the annual catalogue and for every £45 spend you can choose a free product from the Sale a Bration brochure, so there has never been a better time to stock up or discover a love for Stampin Up as I have. Stampin Up is not available on the high street and is exclusively available through a Stampin Up demonstrator like myself, so get a pen and write my name Jane Allmark down and shop via me on the Stampin Up website.

So to today's card. I wanted to create and Art Deco lady so by using our black marker I drew a long strappy dress, long gloves and a rather fetching parasol which I think painted black with out watercolour pencils and aquablender. I wanted the dress to be beaded so used some liquid pearls and then some of our pearl basic jewels to decorate the hat and flourishes. The effect is quite stunning and  gives the Art Deco style I was hoping for.

Thanks for following my blog. Happy Sunday and whatever you are doing have fun.

Stampin Up Beautiful You

I'm just loving the Beautiful You stamp set with the gorgeous line drawing images of three different ladies and a fantastic variety of sentiments. The great thing with this set is that you can add a few extra details to change the look of the image completely.  The original image is quite Parisian and I wanted an extravagant  elegant look with feathered headgear and a couple of accessories.

So I used the mirror technique to create two ladies using an acrylic block to stamp and create the mirror ( see yesterdays post for original technique). I then made the free longer and coloured everything using our lovely watercolour pencils and then hand drew a parasol and handbag on each image.

I sponged round the edge of the card in same tonal colours, rich razzleberry and then dapper denim on the outside to give depth.  The finished card was blinded up with a bit of sparkle using our dazzling details, which being waterbased too just blended some of the highlights and added some sparkle.  I love how this card turned out.

To buy this wonderful stamp set and the watercolour pencils click on the link above and use me Jane Allmark as your demonstrator of choice. Thanks for watching and there will be another image soon with an Art Deco feel using the same image.

Stampin Up Beautiful You Reflection Technique

For the last few days I have been stuck in bed with the horrible flu virus which has been going around. Like many of us I thought I'd missed it and then it came on with avengeance. So today is the first day I've ventured from my bed and I thought a quiet few hours in the craft room were in order.

I was watching a fabulous video ( by Jane Rappleyea a fellow demonstrator) on the reflection technique using an old rubber blank stamp to create the mirror image. However as I didn't have any of this I thought I would try stamping directly onto our fabulous smooth acrylic blocks and yippee skippee it worked really well. I used our black marker to go over the lines to crisp them up and then coloured them using the yellow and orange from our new watercolour pencils, which are high pigmented and super creamy.

Fancy buying some Stampin Up products or having a good old browse of our fabulous catalogue then click on the link above, grab yourself a pen and write my name down JANE ALLMARK  and use me as your demonstrator of choice.

Have a fab day, stay warm and safe and above all well. See you all soon x

Stampin Up Avant Garden

Good morning everyone. Hope you all had a good weekend and whatever you are doing this Monday may it be joyful and fun.

So sale a Bration is upon us which is for every £45 spend with Stampin Up you can choose a free product from the sale a bration brochure. Stamp set, dsp, embellishments and more. So how do you spend with Stampin Up? Well you have to but through their website link above, and choose a demonstrator to make your purchase with. So grab a pen and write this down Jane Allmark, that me. When you click on the link to Stampin Up you will be taken to their generic page and need to look up a demonstrator to shop. I would love to have your custom. I work hard at creating a blog full of different and sometimes unique ideas which I hope you all enjoy and will encourage you to try the wonderful Stampin Up products.

If you live near the Farnham GU9 area then I run regular classes so you can see and try out Stampin Up for yourself. Just drop me an email for more details allmark.j@sky.com and I'll be happy to add you to the next class and get a copy of the sale a bration and Spring/Summer catalogue to you.

So today's card is using Avant Garden a free stamp set in the sale a bration brochure and I have made a vintage card using crumb cake and Sahara sand ink pads and the sponge daubers to create the background. Using crumb cake for the flower image on a tone on tone and the sentiment from the same set gives a lovely subtle vintage look.

Fun Idea for Upcycling retired Stampin Up catalogues

I have seen lots of people asking what they do with old and retired Stampin Up catalogues. They are full of brightly coloured pages and it seems such a waste to throw them away. If like me you end up with several of the same catalogue and have kept one for posterity but don't know what to do with the others then this idea is for you.

I made a lovely bin with a lid. This is used in my bathroom and holds two toilet rolls. Now you could make any size you want depending how much patience and time you have. So how do you make it?  Well you need one annual catalogue or a couple of occasions catalogues, some pva glue, scissors and a knitting needle, wooden skewer or any other long round stick. Take one sheet of catalogue paper and roll it diagonally from one point to the other round the skewer. Glue the last couple of inches so that it forms a tube that won't unravel.

Once you have a few rolled poke one end into the end of another and glue together firmly. What you are making is a long string of tubed paper, large a large ball of wool. Once you have done about 30/40 pages like this you can begin making your bin. For the base roll your tubes tightly round each other gluing as you go until you have made a flat circular base the size you want for the base of your bin. Glue over the top to ensure it stays together and then leave overnight to dry hard. While you wait you can be making some more tubes for the side and lid.

For the sides start at the edge of your base and start to glue and build the sides. Again glue the whole thing when finished and allow to dry overnight. For the lid do same as base and make a smaller circle for a knob to lift your lid off.

When finished you can give it a wash with some reinker watered down, add it to your pva glue if you need more stability to your bin and choose colour to tone in with whatever room your bin will go. I used whisper white as gave a nice distressed look.

This is a fun project but does take time so don't rush.

Stampin Up Sale a Bration Free Free Free

Its such a lovely time of year in the Stampin Up community as there are so many fabulous things going on. Firstly sale a bration a brochure packed full of stamp sets, dsp and embellishments which you can choose for free for every £45 spent. This is unlimitless so for £90 you get to choose two items and so it goes on. Now who doesn't like free, I certainly do. Secondly we have launched the Spring/Summer catalogue which has some really stunning bundles which as all of Stampin Up products are bang on trend and just waiting for you to snap them up.

So how do you do this? Well if you would like a catalogue, sale a bration, Spring/Summer or the annual catalogue just let me know and I will send you them. You can also view them online, just click on the link above. Now I'm afraid I'm a bit old school and not very tech savvy so when you get to the Stampin Up website you need to order through a demonstrator me! me! please. So old fashioned paper and pencil, write my name down Jane Allmark and then you can use me as your demonstrator of choice. Thank you in advance.

So now onto sale a bration Hello Chick is a wooden mounted set of three crazy chickens and some sentiments. It's a bit like marmite you either love them or hate them but they have been the most popular set so far and are on limited stock so if you want them get in quickly. Paper piecing is becoming quite on trend at the moment, this is where you stamp the image on dsp, fussy cut it out and then cover your image. So with this in mind my two examples are using this technique and guess what the dsp (designer series paper) is also a free one in the sale a bration brochure.

So have fun trying these and catch you again soon. A big thank you again for all my blog readers and customers. I truly appreciate each and every one of you.