School Jubilee Picnic

Charlie had a school jubilee picnic yesterday and was asked to bring a red, white and blue themed cake/snack for dessert and so I went the whole hog and made a cake for each child in his class and a few more! No there are more than 7 in his class they just wouldn't all fit in my photo cube!! LOL

They did take some carrying to school though with these festive picks included.  You can make your own cake decorations using Stampin' Up! products to any theme you choose.  My crown is from one of my favourite stamp sets Artistic Etchings.  It's a favourite for two reasons;  I love all the stamps in the set they are so fun and with the Eiffel Tower included you can make male and female cards with this set. The second reason is I won it in prize patrol at convention in Paris last year which you can attend as a demonstrator. 

Stamped in night of navy on whisper white cardstock and matted onto a real red scallop circle you can't help, but be a patriotic winner!  Of course it also lets me add my bling as rhinetones work perfectly for the DIAMOND jubilee as well as being a girls best friend!

Have a wonderful Jubilee weekend.

Hugs Zx

Challenges

one stop crafting -  crowns, diamonds or red white and blue

I'm liking this leggy theme!!

When I first came across this weeks challenge at Less is More I was not sure where to start.  However as times gone on I've really got into the swing of it and have also tried out a technique which I read about in our demonstrator newsletter that we receive from Stampin' Up!.  Now you might think that stencilling isn't new and you'd be right of course, but it was suggested that we use the curly label punch to create a stencil which I've done below and used the dimensions suggested in the newsletter.  I also decided to experiment with my new decorative label punch and came up with the stencil I've used in the card above for my second entry into Less is More one layer challenge themed with legs!  Of course the Eiffel Tower (from Artistic Etchings as well as Paris, France) has legs and fits in perfectly with my stencilled background which I achieved with a brayer and sponge daubers.  I stamped the tower in black initially and added some colour to the bushes at the bottom then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the tower again on top of itself inorder to emboss it in clear, thus safeguarding my greenery and making sure the image itself remained crisp.  I've used some basic black striped grosgrain ribbon which narrowed by cutting the width I wanted and sealed the raw edge with a lit candle.  You need to move it quickly through the flame to avoid overmelt!!!!! That's then fixed with a couple of staples and the sentiment is from Occasional Greetings.

Now for the East Coast Stampers Get Together, (a fun meet and greet session for all demos in Lincolnshire and surrounding counties) I made the Christmas card below to show how easy this homemade stencil technique is and it became my swap for the afternoon with this being an upgraded version to show what else could be done with the basic card on crumb cake. I can't believe I've even mentioned the 'C' word or made a card but I guess I need to do better than I did last year so it's a start.

Have a fun day.
Hugs Zx

Less is more challenge

Wow am I weary today.  Last night DH and I attended the Lincolnshire Ball at the historic Petwood Hotel in Woodhall Spa. Here there is a bar, which became known as the Dambusters Bar as it was frequented by those famous flight crews.  We were also lucky enough to have a Spitfire Flypast early on in the proceedings as we enjoyed   pre-dinner drinks on the Terrace.  It was a fabulous night as you can see from our grinning faces below.  Although raining,  we braved the short walk to the carousel to have a surreal ride on the horses. 

Today I'm not really with it especially as we had to get up early to see Olivia and DH off on a trip to London as Olivia won tickets for Wimbledon.  Meanwhile I took Charlie to the usual trumpet lesson and tomorrow he and I will do our bit for the Beavers when Charlie takes part in the Inter Beaver Colony Connect 4 Championships.  Life is never dull in this household!!!

Luckily today's Less is More Challenge is a sketch and thankfully not a difficult one.  I find these easier to do when you've partied hard the night before. 

Have a great weekend.

Hugs Zx

Supplies

Stamp Sets - Artistic Etchings, Occasional Greetings

Ink Cherry cobbler, crumb cake, basic black

Cardstock - Cherry cobbler, very vanilla

DSP - Love Letter

Accessories - 13/4"circle punch, pearls, sponge daubers, colour spritzer

Something a bit different and new

stampin up demonstrator Zoe Tant

Click on either image for a larger view

Oh it's cold again today so I've tucked myself in my craft room with a little electric radiator and come up with this little card, the style of which I've been wanting to try since I received a printed version from a friend at Christmas.  It's a bit different from the popular open and close.  It does fold flat, well it would without all my extras, in order for you to fit it in an envelope and then the lucky recipient can open it up and put it together in all its glory.  You can of course use this layout for any theme and it would be great for kids cards to create more of a picture for them. 

It's another 'NEW' project for me and I've really enjoyed making it.  It will need hand delivery with all the trimmings, but that will just add to the fun of giving it to someone special.  I may just save it for my Mum for Mother's Day as thankfully she doesn't compute let alone blog!

It's also another great way to showcase the fabulous Sale-a-bration stamp set Bliss, which by now you have realised that I'm really liking it.  I've also used En Francais background stamp and Artistic Etchings, but that isn't so easy to spot!  Can you find it?  Answers on a comment please!  The in-colour concorde crush just goes perfectly with very vanilla and sahara sand.  Basic pearls are just so easy to use to show off your projects and a little bit of silver hodgepodge hardware is always nice for a special card.  I've also got over stroking the new flower brads and used one in the middle of my large flower along with a pearl and I knew that I would just love the Newsprint DSP which is great for vintage style projects like this.

Enjoy as I certainly have enjoyed making it.

I'm off to craft club tonight and to celebrate Roz's birthday.  I think she mentioned cakes so best not be late.

More soon.

Hugs Zx

Love is in the air!

 stampin up demonstrator zoe tant

Valentine's Day looms on the horizon and so I've had a play today and made this vintage style valentine card.  Artistic Etchings mingles with En Francais and the Sale-a-bration set Bliss, along with a handful of love hearts. I've used a chipboard A and coloured and glossed it with crystal effects and the Eiffel Tower is stamped on rose red card and then embossed three times to give it an enamel type effect.  There's the inevitable 'smudging' and some hand torn edges to add to the vintage look.  I'm not really sure about this one, but the home vote is it's a keeper so I'll leave it with you to comment.

It's been a bit of a crazy day with one of my technique clubs, kids here and there and in particular Olivia is in her first night of panto - Little Miss Muffet - tonight so I've become a make up artist and hairdresser for the last half hour and then taxi for both her and Charlie; nothing new there then! 

Now it's time to hit the road for a parish council meeting  and the sofa beckons on my return.  Hope your evening promises to be more exciting. 

Come back soon.

Hugs Zx

Easy gifts with Stampin Up Journals

 stampin up demonstrator zoe tant

As promised here is the journal that I decorated for Olivia's friend Tia.  I used greenhouse gala dsp along with chipboard letters which I coloured with a marker pen and then covered them with crystal effects and sprinkled some gold fine galaxy glitter onto them prior to it drying.  The Eiffel Tower is from current set Artistic Etchings and the chic girl is from a retired US set in my stash.  Sweet little butterflies in the side border are a stamp from Sweet Summer one of the fab SAB sets available for free from Stampin' Up! with a qualifying order.  I'm really loving the basic pearls which don't appear to be basic at all, but in fact are very pretty and so easy to use and excellent value at just £4.50 a pack.  Mixed ribbon down the sprial add fun to this gift.  I'm delighted to report that Tia loves it!

More soon.

Hugs Zx

Artistic Etchings meets emboss resist

independent stampin up demonstrator zoe tant

Warm wishes to you all and here is a change from the Christmas Theme which I shared with one of my techniques clubs yesterday.  We looked at emboss resist but stamped images prior to embossing the Medallion stamp over the top in clear emboss powder and then brayered colour over the whole image to mostly blot out the background and just leave it showing through the embossed image.  We also looked at using the Fancy Flower punch which I tempted them with prior to its reinstatement hopefully soon.  We punched two flowers and scrunched them with a brushover with the aqua painter to help soften the fibres.  To make the centre of the flower punch a circle, here a 3/4" and cover it with sticky strip.  Then starting from the outside slowly wind the ribbon round the circle moving inwards and pushing it firmly onto the sticky strip.  You may need to use a mini glue dot to tuck and stick the end down in the centre. 

The new Broadsheet Alphabet set is great for highlighting individual letters like the 'T' in thanks and the remainder of the Thanks is from Thank You Kindly stamp set.  I used the spiral punch on a piece of scrap textured cherry cobbler to make it easy to thread the ribbon through it like stitching.  The remainder of the stamps are all from the fabulous Artistic Etchings set which I won at convention in prize patrol.  This would also make a great Valentine's card with an alternative sentiment of loved one's initial. 

Off to get ready for the tennis club Christmas meal so back soon.  Keep safe and warm.

Hugs Zx