Moving Along with the Times - My Challenge

It's my turn to set the challenge at  Moving Along with the Times and I'm asking you to share your projects witIh the theme of Girls' Birthday any age up to 21.  It's my beautiful daughter's birthday this week and so it seemed like an appropriate theme.  She's 19 and so I needed it to be girly, but grown up too.  I've also made a matching tag.

I started by adding some texture lines by using my Stampin' Up! Simply Scored scoring tool to the base card of whisper white thick cut at 11" x 5.5" and scored on the landscape at 5.5".  I also die cut a square framing using the stitched shape framelits and layering squares both available from my Stampin' Up! online shop.  I cut the stitched shape first and then positioned a smaller layering square inside it to cut the aperture.  I've then fussy cut some of the beautiful pearlised flowers from a sheet of  Share What You Love specialty designer series paper and layered them onto the frame.  I used my Stamparatus to stamp the happy birthday which is from Happy Birthday Gorgeous stamp set.  I positioned the stamp in the frame, before removing the frame and using the Stamparatus to make sure it stamped exactly where I wanted it before repositioning the frame which I adhered with mini dimensionals.  As you know gentle reader I love bling so I've added some rhinestones including a few left over retired black stones.  I stamped a frame with Old Olive ink from the same stamp set and added the 'gorgeous'.  I used the classic label punch to cut the frame shape and then just snipped off one end to add it to the card.

Top Tip

The tag was made in the same way. It is a large tag so to make the tag shape I just cut a triangle off one corner then laid it onto the other corner to cut along the edge of the triangle to make the sides the same.  It means you can make a tag any size.  Punches are fabulous, but this is perfect for larger tags.

Don't forget to come join us at MAWTT for the challenge we'd love to see your makes.

Also just in case you haven't heard the new 2018 - 2019 Stampin' Up! annual catalogue has launched and you can browse it online on my website  if you click hover on shop and click the catalogues button, or you can contact me for a copy of the catalogue @ zoetant@live.co.uk

Thanks for popping by
Zoe x

Quick and Easy Teacher gifts for Thinking Outside the Box

Welcome everyone to our monthly Thinking Outside the Box blog hop. Hello if you've just arrived from Yoshiko and her super cute gift box.  You can see several different varieties of gift box tutorials under the theme of

This month's theme for Thinking Outside the Box Blog Hop

We've all created a different box and are sharing free tutorials that you are welcome to use.  I usually do a video too, but am still working on getting my Achilles tendon sorted so hopefully I'll have a video soon and will link back.  In the meantime I've got some simple instructions and a template for you to copy of my pretty teacher gift.  I've filled mine with fragrant tea lights, but you could fill with chocolates, pencils or something else. Once you know how to make the box you can adapt for different contents.  

Ok so here's what to do

1. start with a piece of card or thick DSP like the Share What You Love papers that I have used from Stampin' Up!.  It needs to be cut at 24 x 30.5 cm (9"  x 12")
2. In the landscape position score at 9cm, 18cm, 22cm, 24cm, 28cm and 30cm.  (31/2",7",81/2", 91/4", 103/4" and 111/2")
3. In portrait score at 2cm or 3/4" in from both sides.  
4. Cut an aperture of your choice in the panel shown as 'cut window' . Mine is 2cm x 16cm.  You can use your Stampin' trimmer to cut the aperture or a craft knife.   I've cut it 2cm away from the side score lines and left a 1cm border along the long sides of the window. 
5. cut away the shaded areas and cut the lines that are solid on the template ie those that will form the flaps on the box ends.  
6. adhere a piece of window sheet on the inside of the box to cover the aperture. Mine is 3cm x 18cm
7. Fold all the score lines which are marked with a dotted line.  
8. Add tear and tape to the very thin strip at the top of the template this will fold over to form the box when you bring that end so that the tape sits along the 18cm/7" score line.  
9. Add your contents and secure one end of the box with tear and tape, tombow or other adhesive.  
10. Use ribbon or twine to secure the other end and allow for easy opening by tying it around the length of the box a couple of times.  
11. Decorate your box and you'll see it has a card already attached.  I added a inside piece of coordinating patterned paper which you can do also or you can leave it as the reverse of the original piece. 

Blog List

1. Shannean Moncrieff
2. Tanja Kolar
3. Yoshiko Endo
4. Zoe Tant - You are here 
5. Annette Elias
6. Dena Rekow
7. Beate Wacker
8. Aude Barbara

Share What You Love - Love what you do

Stampin' Up! 2018 Incentive Trip to Alaska Blog Hop

Share What You Love Stampin' Up! Stamp Set is so pretty

Welcome to this monthly blog hop where we are sharing inspiration for the early release Stampin' Up! Share What You Love Suite.  It's a suite of products that are just gorgeous and so feminine.  You'll want to use them on lots of projects.

My cards today feature the Love What You Do stamp set and the new in colour Grapefruit Grove and the returning colour Mint Macaron.  Although this stamp set includes a stamp that could act as a water  colour wash image I've used an aqua painter on shimmery white card to create my own wash picking up ink from inside the lid of the ink pad.  Our new ink pads are not so easy to 'squeeze' to get onto the lid inside, but I've found that if place the closed pad face down on a firm surface and firmly push it to the table it works better than just squeezing in your hands.

I've also used the little floral shower stamp to add some tone on tone background stamping.  I've added gold thread wrapped around the stamped layer along with lace and some random mini gold sequins.  I very narrow matt layer of Grapefruit Grove sets the art work off, on the very vanilla card base which is approx 4.5inches square.

I used a staple to ensure the lace stayed in place as it's not easy to glue without making a mess or having sticky coming through but I wanted to cover the staples on each card so having fussy cut my gold embossed flowers I stuck them on with Stampin' dimensionals and added some baker's twine.  This started life as white but using a coffee stick I pulled the thread across the ink pad allowing the pressure of the stick on it to push the white twine into the ink and colour it.  You need to make sure you let it dry then before tying bows.

Using the same techniques I created the cards below, but brought in some Mint Macaron card for a slightly different look.  I also added sequin trim to these.

All these products are available this month as bundles put together by Stampin' Up! and each bundle has a bonus free gift included.  You can learn a little more about the products in the Stampin' Up! video below. 

Click this image to visit my Stampin' Up! Online Shop  

Enjoy the hop and thanks for stopping by here with me Stampin' Up! UK Independent Demonstrator Zoe Tant.

Hugs  Zoe x

Milk Carton Tutorial for Thinking Outside the Box Demo Blog Hop

It is time for the Thinking Outside of the Box blog hop team to share another tutorial with you. If you've not come across us before we are a group of global Stampin' Up! demonstrators who organise a monthly blog hop to share a personal version of a gift box or bag tutorial with you to give you lots of ideas and also in various languages so hopefully you'll find one that is good for you.  

If you're already on the hop you will have arrived from Yoshiko's fabulous example. Hasn't she done a great project.  If you've landed here first you'll be able to click through the next and previous buttons to continue with the hop. Thanks for joining us we hope our hop inspires you to create.  

Our theme this month is to share how to make our version of a milk carton holder including the cartons inside. I've made my really simply by adding 2, 4, 6, 8 boxes.  When I started crafting everyone talked about these boxes and I didn't understand what they meant and thought they must be something amazing and eventually i discovered that it's just a set of measurements for a very very simple box, so I hope you'll like this tutorial as one thing it is, is simple.

I've used some new sneak peek Stampin Up papers from the new Share What You Love Suite that will be released early next month to customers.  They are stunning with a shimmer that subtly catches the light on many designs in the pack. They are in the new annual catalogue, but the suite is being released early next month as a treat for us all.  The eagle eyed will also see the returning Stampin Up in colour Mint Macaron which was a favourite for lots of us and also Mossy Meadow another returner to the new Stampin Up colour offering out in June.  I'm putting a list together of all my customers who have shopped with me in the last 6 months ready to send out a copy of the new catalogue. Please contact me if you'd like one too.

I've made a tag using the Stitched Shape framelits and also the Layered Circle framelits.  I gently added Mint Macaron to a white stitched circle and then stamped images from the Love What You Do Stampin Up stamp set.  You'll see in the video and my pictures that I did the mini cartons in two colour ways and I'd love to know which you think suits the project best ie Mossy Meadow ink or Black ink with either white ribbon on the library clips or faceted gems (jelly tots as I call them).

Here's a closer look at the cartons. They are very simple and of course you can change the size for other projects and decorate in different ways.
Here are the templates I created to link with the video.

Milk Carton Base Template 

Milk Carton Handle Template

Milk Carton Support Bar Template

Now you're off to see Annette's tutorial and she is a whizz with colour and mixed media.

The hop list is also below to make it easy to follow.  

Thanks for visiting me today.  Let me know how you get on with the tutorial and share any extra tips you have for it for other crafters.  

More soon. 

Zoe x

1. Shannean Moncrieff (Australia) 2. Tanja Kolar (Germany) 3. Yoshiko Endo (Japan) 4. Zoe Tant ( United Kingdom) 5. Annette Elias (Netherland) 6. Sharlene Meyer (New Zealand) 7. Beate Wacker (Austria) 8. Aude Barbara (France) 9. Barb Stewart (Canada)

Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip Achiever's Demonstrator Blog Hop - Sneak Peek

It's Stampin' Up! Incentive Achiever Blog Hop time again so join on a journey of all things wonderful as a demo and attending our recent regional Stampin' Up! events.  As a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator you are able to attend Stampin' Up! events where you are one of the first to see new catalogues and products and share a fun time with other demonstrators from your country and sometimes from other countries too when there is an event called Onstage Live in your market. Of course you can choose to attend any event worldwide so could make it your ambition to travel the Stampin' Up! globe and see lots of countries, cities and of course fellow demonstrators.

Recently I went to the UK local event held at Telford.  It was a fab weekend as hubby and son came along too and they were able to attend The Telford Museums courtesy of Tesco vouchers.  It kept them entertained whilst I went to centre stage, an event for senior managers and then the following day to the main event where we were given a copy of the new 2018 - 2019 Annual catalogue. Oh boy are you in for a treat..... that's all I'll say for now. However I can share that this fabulous stamp set is staying in the new catalogue.  I used it to make some of my swaps that I traded for ideas with other demos.

I love that it all fits around family life too and that we got to stay in a beautiful place, eat good food and also my boys were entertained at The Ironbridge Museum.

Not Ironbridge but a mini version near the pub!

At Onstage we also get to play with new products in the form of Make and Takes. I'm always too busy talking and catching up with friends so I gathered together the pieces needed and decided to make my own versions at home. This is what I've done with the leafy laser cut piece I received. I've teamed it with some current and you might spy a sneak peek of a new stamp set being launched very soon.

The laser cut piece is delicate and so I decided to attach it to my card by overlaying a piece of vellum onto it before machine stitching both to the base card. The laser cut piece is held in place by the vellum.  It's so so pretty.  Our colour collections are changing too which is why you may have noticed many on the retiring list.  However it's time for some returning favourites like Mossy Meadow which you can just spy as a scallop circle matt layer and some awesome new colours for Stampin' Up! 

 

So you can see why I love my life as a demonstrator being able to share what I love about it with you.   It's always fun meeting up with other demonstrators to share swaps and tips and get an early sight and possession of the new Stampin Up catalogues.  One of the best things about these events is connecting with my team as we don't all live down the road from each other.

This is Telford with some of the team and some were in Utrecht in The Netherlands. 

Enjoy the hop lovely visitors and remember to check out the retiring list of products that will no longer be available at the end of May or sooner if they sell out.  Your wish list needs checking.....

SHOP NOW

Thanks for stopping by and see you again soon.

Zoe x