Stampin’ Up! Garden Green – Week 18 AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop

Stampin’ Up! Garden Green – Week 18 AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop

Welcome to week 17 of our 2021-22 Colour Creations blog hop! Tonight we are showcasing Garden Green, a mid green from the Regals colour collection.

As SALE-a-bration ends tomorrow night I decided to bring together three of my favourite products from SALE-a-bration for my card tonight: the Be Dazzling DSP, the Beautifully Penned Designer Series Paper and the Summer Shadow Dies.

Although Garden Green is not a green I use very often, I really like pairing it with Basic Black and Soft Seafoam.

These Summer Shadow Dies are a great die set because they work so well on their own or you can use them to cut out the stamped images from the Shaded Summer Stamp Set. You can use them as single layer dies or layer them – I’ve done both single and double layers on my card.

The black and white Beautifully Penned Designer Series Paper goes with any colour and you can use it just as it is or you can colour it in.

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Theresa Gerrard – I can’t wait to see what she’s made this week!

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the the full list of participants below:

Kate Morgan 

Michele Taylor 

Sharon Davern

Ros Davidson 

Tina Gillespie ​​

Diane Furniss 

Catherine Proctor – you are here!

Theresa Gerrard

Caroline Manwaring  

Andrea Sargent

Rachel Palmieri

Christine Blain  

Rachel Woollard

Rosa Leyden 

If you live in Australia, you can find and purchase all these products in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store.  

Don’t forget to use my monthly Host Code (if your order is between $50 – $250) and I will send you a thank you gift the following month. If your order is over $250 don’t use the host code because you will qualify for your own stamping rewards. My September Host Code is WVX3UYCR and it is valid until midnight September 30.

I’ll be back with another Christmas card next Monday. In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx



Stampin’ Up! AWH Heart of Christmas Week 13

Stampin’ Up! AWH Heart of Christmas Week 13

Hello crafters! It’s the last week of SALE-a-bration so I decided to make a Christmas card that uses my favourite SALE-a-bration item. Yep, you guessed it, it’s the Be Dazzling DSP!

I’m also using a punch bundle that I initially overlooked in the July – December 2021 Mini Catalogue, the Stars are Shining bundle. At just $53 this a really affordable bundle with a versatile stamp set that includes 5 Christmas sentiments, 4 ornament stamps and a large cluster of stars on 1 star stamps you can punch out to create 6 separate stars.

This Be Dazzling DSP just had to be paired with the punched out stars and the “Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star” sentiment!

My Basic White card base measures 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 “; the Be Dazzling DSP layer measures 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 “; and the stamped Basic White top layer measures 4 1/2 x 4 1/2″.

After stamping in the star stamp in versamark and heat embossing it in gold embossing powder I punched the stars out with the Starlit Punch and also used punched stars out of the Be Dazzling DSP. With these 2 punches I had plenty of stars to cover my card.

A wonderful snowflake embellishment sits behind the largest Be Dazzling star, with the smallest stamped and gold embossed star sitting on top.

Gold metallic Simply Elegant Trim wrapped around the bottom of the card under the sentiment.

I’ve stockpiled a few packets of this Be Dazzling DSP to use on my Christmas cards this year. If you want to use the Be Dazzling DSP on your Christmas cards too it will be retired this Thursday, September 30, so don’t miss out!

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Kate Morgan. I can’t wait to see what Kate shares with us today!

If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s host of The Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all those participating.

You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight, here.

Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.

In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx

Stampin’ Up! AWH Heart of Christmas Week 12

Stampin’ Up! AWH Heart of Christmas Week 12

Hello crafters! I had planned to make just one card this week, but a simple mistake and a desire not to waste my craft materials actually led to three cards instead. I think I’ll claim that as a win instead of a loss!

Originally, I intended to make a shaker card using the Christmas Cloche bundle, the Cloche Shaker Domes, the Be Dazzling DSP and this soft, snowy tree patterned paper from the Harvest Meadow DSP. Isn’t this pattern just stunning?

After stamping the cloche outline and the bird image from the Classic Cloche stamp set and colouring it in with my light and dark Crumb Cake Stampin’ blends, I die cut the image out using my Cloche die.

Unfortunately, I then glued the stamped and die cut image to the DSP layer that I had ALREADY ADHERED to my card front. I totally forgot that with a shaker card you use the DSP as the TOP layer to hide the self adhesive edges of the Cloche Shaker Domes!

So my shaker card became a 2D “postal version” of a shaker card instead, embellished with a Pierced Blooms Dies bow cut from the free SALE-a-bration Be Dazzled DSP.

I love these sentiments from the Classic Cloche stamp set. I’ve stamped them in Crumb Cake for each of my three cards, using a different sentiment for each card.

Take two and this time I remembered to use the cloche die to cut my DSP and adhere the DSP over the top of the card front AFTER I had adhered the Cloche Shaker Dome to the Crumb Cake card stock layer.

The shakers inside the Cloche Dome are the metallic gold and silver sequins from the Sequins For Everything embellishments. 

So, why did I make a third card?

After I had die cut the opening for the Cloche Shaker Dome card I realised that the negative die piece looked just like a bell, so I die cut another “cloche bell” from the Be Dazzling DSP to match and made a quick musical card to not waste my scraps.

The Merry Melody 3D Embossing Folder was the perfect choice to emboss the Crumb Cake cardstock layer. In case you are wondering, the musical score is Joy to the World.

Die cut circles of the Be Dazzling DSP to create bell clappers make the bells more realistic.

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Tina Gillespie. I can’t wait to see what Tina shares with us today!

If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s host of The Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all those participating.

You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight, here.

Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.

In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx

Stampin’ Up! Early Espresso – Week 16 AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop

Stampin’ Up! Early Espresso – Week 16 AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop

Welcome to week 16 of our 2021-22 Colour Creations blog hop! Tonight we are showcasing Early Espresso, a rich, dark brown from the Neutrals colour collection.

Our talented Art With Heart team leader, Claire Daly, recently shared some cards she made using a 6×6 One Sheet Wonder template and the stunning Painted Christmas DSP. Her cards were so beautiful, easy to make several at once and simply perfect for showcasing DSP patterns … I just had to have a try at making my own 6×6 One sheet wonder cards too.

I’ve used this pretty pinecone pattern for my One Sheet Wonder cards – it’s my favourite design from the Painted Christmas DSP and it combines Early Espresso with Crumb Cake, Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen and Basic White.

My 6×6 One Sheet Wonder is quite different to Claire’s design – in fact, mine is so simple I’m not sure it actually qualifies as a One Sheet Wonder! You simply trim 0.5cm off one side of the 6×6 inch square, turn the paper once and cut into three 2 inch strips.

You will now have three strips of DSP that measure 5.5 x 2 inches and an extra strip that measures 0.5 x 6 inches. I discarded the long skinny strip and created 3 different card layouts using the 5.5 x 2 inch strips.

For card one I laid the strip of DSP across the top of the card and placed the sentiment in the middle of the card. The sentiments are all from the Christmas To Remember stamp set, stamped in Early Espresso and die cut out with the Seasonal Label dies.

Card two is also a horizontal card with the strip of DSP on the top, however it uses a different sentiment, placed on the right side of the card instead of the centre.

Card three has the DSP across the middle of the card, with a longer more narrow “Merry Christmas” sentiment attached in the middle of the DSP.

For all three cards I die cut the same label in Early Espresso, cut it in half and used it to layer under the sentiments.

The pinecones are stamped with stamps from the Christmas Season Stamp set, stamped in colours to coordinate with the DSP. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I also added some Be Dazzling DSP to my cards. This FREE SALE-a-bration paper is only available until the end of September, so don’t miss out!

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, my friend Kate Morgan – I can’t wait to see what she’s made this week!

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the the full list of participants below:

Catherine Proctor – you are here!

Kate Morgan  

Ros Davidson

Diane Furniss

Rachel Woollard

Andrea Sargent  

Rachel Palmieri

Michele Taylor  

Christine Blain

Tina Gillespie

Caroline Manwaring

Theresa Gerrard

Sharon Davern

Thanks for visiting my site. You can purchase any of the items I’ve used on my blog here.

I’ll be back with another Christmas card next Monday. In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx



Stampin’ Up! Crumb Cake – Week 13 AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop

Stampin’ Up! Crumb Cake – Week 13 AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop

Welcome to week 13 of our 2021-22 Colour Creations blog hop! Tonight we are showcasing Crumb Cake, a very useful colour from the Neutrals colour collection.

Crumb Cake is my favourite Stampin’ Up! colour because it is so incredibly versatile and it just works so well with every other colour. I like to think of it as the “goldilocks” of neutrals – not too dark, not too light … it always looks just right!

Because Crumb Cake looks so good with other colours, I rarely make cards using Crumb Cake on it’s own, however I wanted to challenge myself this week to find a way to really showcase this perfect all rounder colour on its own.

So my colour combination tonight is simply Crumb Cake and Basic White (not even Basic Black!), with the added sparkle of the FREE Be Dazzling DSP, because I just can’t stop using this DSP and it perfectly complements Crumb Cake.

I have to confess I ran out of time this week and only made my card this morning before I began work. In a way, it was fortuitous that I left it to the last minute because my FREE SALE-a-bration Delicate Dahlias stamp set arrived yesterday and it was the perfect stamp set to make a quick and easy card.

The Delicate Dahlias stamp set has four sentiments and both outline and solid stamps for the flowers and the leaves. You can stamp the outline and solid stamps together to create coloured in flowers, or use them separately in a variety of ways.

The outline stamp can be coloured in with your favourite colouring tool and method or you can use both the outline and the solid stamps separately but together on the one card, as I have done with this card.

This card is basically simple stamping with some fussy cutting and it’s a design you could recreate in any colour you want.

The background layer is Crumb Cake ink stamped onto Crumb Cake card stock using a mixture of the solid stamps.

My top layer flowers and leaves were stamped in Crumb Cake ink onto Basic White cardstock using the outline stamps and then fussy cut out using my paper snips.

I stamped the largest flower twice and fussy cut a second smaller flower layer to add dimension to the flower.

A 10mm strip of the Be Dazzling DSP lies across the middle of the card and die cut and punched circles of Be Dazzling DSP form the centre of the flowers.

The sentiment was white heat embossed and die cut out with the banner die from the Tasteful Labels dies.

Some more simple stamping decorated the inside of the card and the envelope too.

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the very talented Theresa Gerrard. I can’t wait to see what she’s made this week!

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the the full list of participants below:

Kate Morgan

Ros Davidson 

Rachel Palmieri 

Tina Gillespie 

Michele Taylor

Andrea Sargent

Sharon Davern

Catherine Proctor – you are here!

Theresa Gerrard

Christine Blain

Rachel Woollard 

Rosa Leyden 

Di Furniss 

Vicki Boucher

Caroline Manwaring  

You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight here.

Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another Christmas card on Monday.

In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx



Stampin’ Up! Coastal Cabana – Week 12 AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop

Stampin’ Up! Coastal Cabana – Week 12 AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop

Welcome to week 12 of our 2021-22 Colour Creations blog hop! Tonight we are showcasing Coastal Cabana, a colour from the Brights family.

Did I hear you say “step away from the Be Dazzling DSP, Catherine”? Well, sorry, not sorry, I just can’t seem to stop using this SALE-a-bration specialty DSP!

Tonight’s Coastal Cabana card pairs something old (the All Things Fabulous stamp set and the Fabulous Floral dies) with something new (the FREE Be Dazzling DSP). The colour combination I’ve used is one I’m always drawn to for summer dresses, scarves and earrings: Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Gray Granite, Basic White and of course, the gorgeous champagne gold sparkle of the Be Dazzling DSP.

The largest flowers on my card are stamped using 3-step stamps that gradually layer up the colour of the flower – each level of stamp is numbered inside the stamp case. There are so many different colour combinations you can create with this type of stamp. Here’s how I inked up my flowers for this card.

  • Stamp the largest flower stamps (1A, 2A and 3A) in Coastal Cabana, stamped off once
  • Stamp the middle stamps (1B, 2B and 3B) in full strength Coastal Cabana
  • Stamp the smallest, top stamp (1C, 2C and 3C) in full strength Bermuda Bay

The leaves were stamped in Gray Granite, both at full strength and stamped off. I also die cut a few leaves from the Be Dazzling DSP and added 5mm strips of the Be Dazzling DSP at the top and bottom of my card, sitting beside the largest, intricate lacy die (from the Fabulous Floral dies) that has been cut in half and placed either side of the main front panel.

I used some left over stamped and die cut sprigs and leaves to decorate the inside of my card.

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the very talented Caroline Manwaring. I can’t wait to see what she’s made this week!

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the the full list of participants below:

Sharon Davern 

Theresa Gerrard 

Christine Blain  

Catherine Proctor – you are here!

Caroline Manwaring

Andrea Sargent

Kate Morgan

Ros Davidson

Rachel Palmieri 

Tina Gillespie 

Michele Taylor 

Rachel Woollard 



Stampin’ Up! AWH Heart of Christmas Week 7

Stampin’ Up! AWH Heart of Christmas Week 7

Do you use your Stampin’ Up! catalogues for inspiration? I find them such a wonderful source of ideas and this week I’ve taken my inspiration from the 2019 Stampin’ Up! Holiday catalogue.

The 2019 Stampin’ Up! Holiday catalogue had very clever instructions on how to use your paper trimmer and the small Gleaming Ornaments Punch to make quick and easy Christmas crackers. As these ornament punches are currently available to purchase in the clearance rack (on sale for $35.40) I thought I would adapt this design and make a set of Christmas Crackers using the FREE SALE-a-bration Peaceful Prints DSP.

I’ve used 6 of the patterns from the Peaceful Prints DSP to make 6 crackers – I will make another 6 crackers using the reverse sides of this DSP before Christmas.

Here’s my template to make the crackers using the small ornament punch.

  • Trim a sheet of DSP to 9 x 8 inches
  • Score along the 8 inch side at 1 inch (this creates the flap for adhering the sides of the cracker together) and score again at 3, 5 and 7 inches
  • Fold along all these score lines
  • Fully insert small ornament punch to the edge of the DSP, ensuring the score line is in the centre of the ornament
  • Punch every score line at both ends of the DSP
  • Also punch at the 9 inch edge, lining up the centre of the punch with the edge of the DSP

Now score in the opposite direction, along the width of the cracker at the top, bottom and the centre of the punched out areas (see photo above) and then fold these score lines as per the photo below.

To assemble the cracker, fold up the 1 inch fold flap so that the DSP side that will be on the outside of the cracker is facing up.

Place Multipurpose Liquid Glue on this flap and fold over the cracker at the 5 inch fold, lining up the punched out areas. Press together to adhere.

Cut ribbon of choice into 14 inch (36 cm) lengths and tie into a bow at each end.

You can decorate the crackers any way you want. I used the Peaceful Deer bundle, the FREE SALE-a-bration Be Dazzling DSP and the Tailored Made Tags Dies to create coordinating deer tags for my crackers. I used some Sahara Sand twine to attach them to one end of the cracker, but you could also simply adhere them to the top of the cracker.

These crackers are empty right now because I am going to fill them with yummy treats closer to Christmas, such a Ferrero Rocher chocolate, Lindt Balls and little jokes. To fill them at a later time, simply untie the bow at one end, pop the treats inside and retie the bow.

You can make these Christmas crackers out of any DSP to match your Christmas table decoration.

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the incredible talented Michele Taylor. I wait to see what Michele shares with us today!

If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s Host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, as she has the full list of links for everyone who is participating.

You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight here.

Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.

In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx

Stampin’ Up! AWH Heart of Christmas Week 5

Stampin’ Up! AWH Heart of Christmas Week 5

The new July-December 2021 Mini Catalogue and SALE-a-bration catalogues go live tomorrow so I’m sharing another card that uses some of these beautiful Christmas products.

I’m not really a sparkly girly girl at all but I just can’t stop using this FREE Be Dazzling specialty designer paper from the SALE-a-bration catalogue. I’ve taken a zillion photos of my card to show you just how gorgeous this Be Dazzling specialty designer paper is!

I’ve also used one of my favourite bundles from the July-December 2021 Mini Catalogue – the Happy Holly-Days Bundle. Last week I shared this card with you that featured the adorable bird coloured in – this week I’ve used the holly stamp and the Holly Border Punch from the Happy Holly-Days Bundle.

What’s that stunning striped Designer Series Paper I hear you cry? It’s my favourite DSP from the new July-December 2021 Mini Catalogue, called Whimsy & Wonder Designer Series Paper.

I cannot begin to tell you how stunning this DSP is. The colour combination is: Polished Pink, Blushing Bride, Mossy Meadow, Mint Macaron, Misty Moonlight and Iridescent. It is foiled on one side, with gorgeous background patterns (like the stripes I’ve used today) on the other side.

This card layout would work with any Designer Series Paper – just pick up the colours in the DSP for when you colour in the holly. I used light and dark Polished Pink, Mossy Meadow and Mint Macaron blends to colour the holly and then I fussy cut it out. If you don’t enjoy fussy cutting just use the holly punch to punch out cardstock in colours that co-ordinate with your DSP.

An added bonus of this punch is the little dots it punches out – don’t waste them! Just like I did with the Deer Builder punch on this card, I’ve used these dots as tiny embellishments.

These tiny dots can be tricky to adhere as they are so small. I find the easiest way to do this is to place a small amount of multipurpose glue onto the silicon mat and then insert the sharp tip of your “Take your Pick” tool into the glue. Use this tip with the glue to pick up the back of the embellishment, place it on your card and gently press down as you slide the “Take your Pick” tool out from under the embellishment.

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the incredible talented Theresa Gerrard. I wait to see what Theresa shares with us today!

If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s Host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Rachel Woollard, and she will have the list of all who are participating.

Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday. If you’d like a copy of the forthcoming July-December mini catalogue and the Sale-a-bration catalogue please get in touch.

Stampin’ Up! AWH Heart of Christmas Week 2

Stampin’ Up! AWH Heart of Christmas Week 2

With our Art with Heart Team Christmas blog hop providing Christmas card inspiration for you every Monday night I should have all my Christmas cards made by December – I just need to remember to send them in time!

My pre-order of Christmas products from the July-December mini catalogue and the Sale-a-bration catalogue arrived this week. That’s right, Stampin’ Up! is holding TWO Sale-a-bration periods this year – this second Sale-a-bration period starts on August 3, the same day as the July-December mini catalogue.

I’m so excited to share a card I made using one of these FREE Sale-a-bration products, the Be Dazzling 6″ X 6″ Specialty Paper.

Isn’t this Be Dazzling 6″ X 6″ Specialty Paper so stunning! It will definitely make any card feel extra special. The colour is hard to describe – it’s sort of a pale champagne colour that will coordinate with either silver or gold, as well as many of the neutrals, including Sahara Sand and Crumb Cake.

The other new products on this card are from the Peaceful Deer Bundle, which includes the Peaceful Deer Stamp Set and the Deer Builder Punch, both available from August 3.

At just $62 for the bundle, this is such an affordable and a versatile set. The Peaceful Deer Stamp Set has great sentiments and a good variety of images, including a deer that coordinates with the punch – perfect for crafters who don’t own a die cutting machine.

The beautiful Designer Series Paper I’ve used as my background is not a Christmas paper from the forthcoming July-December mini catalogue, however, I think it works really well on this card.

This Bloom Where You’re Planted Designer Series Paper is available now and on sale for $17.00 – I’ve used the sheet shown on the bottom left.

Stampin' Up! Bloom Where You're Planted Designer Series Paper

I wanted to add a few embellishments to my DSP as it is such a dark background. Looking at the scraps on paper on my craft desk I realised there is a very small circle shape in the Deer Builder Punch. I think it is meant to be the deer’s eye but I used it to punch out my own embellishments.

I love the effect of these embellishments – it’s a great way to use up the scraps! This photo – taken outside in a brief moment of sun on this rainy day – shows my embellishments close up, as well as how sparkly this paper is.

I stamped the inside of the card to match, using another sentiment and one of the tree stamps from the Peaceful Deer Stamp Set as well as adding a narrow strip of the Be Dazzling paper top and bottom.

To get the three shades of green for the trees on the back of the envelope flap, I stamped the tree stamp once at full strength in Evening Evergreen and then a second time and a third time without re-inking the stamp.

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the very talented, Sharon Davern. I wonder if she will share another fabulous fancy fold card with us?

If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s Host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Tina Gillespie, and she will have the list of all who are participating.

Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday. If you’d like a copy of the forthcoming July-December mini catalogue and the Sale-a-bration catalogue please get in touch.

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