New Website launches today

Today my website launches

www.inspiringinkin.com

Do change your bookmark and register with the email reader on the site if you wish.

Please leave a comment on the new site I'd love to know what you think, there will be giveaways too!

I will no longer update this blog.

Happy Stampin'

Amanda

I'm seeing spots!

Another sneak peek, but this is the last one........this is part of the 7th March Pampered Stamper class made with a Simply Scrappin' kit called Love Stories.

There is only 1 place left on this class see here for details

Now the adhesive diecuts come in a variety of shapes and the spots below are designed for the centres of flowers, but I've used them in all sorts of ways and I love this card !!!!!!!!!

It is so different from the type of card I usually make, I'm not really an abstract type of girl, please do let me know what you think.

Happy Stampin'

Amanda

Make It! Show Feb 2009

Friday morning, All day Saturday and Sunday you will find me demonstrating at the Make it! show in Farnborough. I'll be on the Making Cards Magazine stand, do come along and say hello.

You can find details of the event here.

Happy Stampin'

Amanda

I'm a little sad.........

                                                    and very excited too!

February 18th 2009 is the launch of my brand new website, on this website you will find all of your favourite projects from my blog along with lots more, it is much easier to navigate, has the facility for me to post videos.......... and has a password section for my team and so much more.

Pop back on Wednesday for the link!

Happy Stampin'

Amanda

Bookmark card a design process

I wanted to share the design process with you of how a card starts out and where it ends up! Steph one of my lovely downline and I attended a workshop together a couple of weeks ago as it was her first one and she asked me to design a bookmark card as one of the make and takes.

The picture below is my first one, I was just playing around with design ideas, working with bits of card I had on my table. I knew I wanted to have Close to Cocoa in the design and the Mr & Mrs stamp set because of the matching Forever Flowers wheel. 

Steph suggested Pretty in Pink and I wanted to add more dimension to the card as it seemed quite flat, the picture below is of the final card. I liked it so much I made 30 of them for the High Wycombe swap, although it was a labour of love to cut out 30 tiny Flowers and paper pierce around the edges of both the mat layer and the scallop circle.

In the picture below you can see the inside of the card, if you click on it you will see a larger version and you will be able to make out the perforated line, this is made using the cutter kit and a metal ruler.  That is where you detach the bookmark from the card.

Supplies

Close to Cocoa Card stock
Pretty in Pink Card stock
Very Vanilla Card stock
Chocolate Chip ink
Stampin’ Pastels
Pretty in Pink Taffeta ribbon
Dazzling Diamonds
Tombow multi purpose glue
Stampin’ Dimensionals
Snail

Equipment

Forever Flowers wheel
Mr & Mrs Stamp set
Cutter kit
Scallop circle punch
1 ¼” circle punch
Cropodile
Crafters tool kit
Paper snips

Happy Stampin'

Amanda

Happy Valentines Day

This is a card I'm sending to my hubby, who needs to forgive me for scheduling a class on Valentines day............I'll be spending the day with 14 wonderful ladies who will be making 14 cards each in one of my all day classes. We will be having lots of fun and laughter, making new friends and stamping all day!  If that sounds like the sort of class you would like to attend check out my class list here for details of my March and April classes.

I'm sure Brian will forgive me, I'll cook him something special for dinner!

Happy Stampin'

Amanda

Sneak peek Love Stories

Below are 3 cards that will form part of my classes held on 7th March, Pampered Stamper.  I have included them in my week of Love themed cards because they are made from one of Stampin' Up!s Simply Scrappin' kits called Love Stories.  The Simply Scrappin' kits are such great fun to work with the colours blend beautifully and the adhesive diecuts are made from cardstock which makes them wonderful for both card making and Scrapbooking.

If you would like more details of my classes you can find them here.

Happy Stampin'

Amanda

Love........Cupcakes?

I might be taking the love theme a little too far but who wouldn't love 13 cupcakes?...........

The stamp set is called Crazy for Cupcakes and it is a wonderful set. I have stamped the original image 3 times, once for the main card and then again so I could colour them and cut out lots more individual cupcakes.  The original image only has 6 cupcakes on it and I like lots more on my plate so in total I cut out 7 additional cupcakes, 3 I have layered on top of the original image and 1 for the front, the last 3 are on the inside of the card.

I have coloured the cupcakes using my blender pens and Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Close to Cocoa and Bashful Blue for the stand.  I have purposely not coloured all of the image, If you enlarge it my clicking on the photo you will see white space, that's not bits I've missed it's so that it gives the look of watercolouring.

This is the inside of the card, I have started adding an extra layer inside some of my cards if I am putting a sentiment inside.  I love the little layer of cupcakes at the bottom.

Happy Stampin'

Amanda

In the mood for love?

Well we are racing towards Valentines day, So I thought I'd share a few love themed cards this week.  This first one looks more complicated than it is.  It's one of the stamps from the Level 1 hostess set A little bit of Happiness.  It's a wonderful stamp set and exclusive to our hostesses.

I have repeatedly stamped in Black Stazon ink onto Whisper White cardstock moving the stamp along to form a patchwork effect.  I then cut the cardstock down to mat onto a standard size card blank in Pink Passion.  I have been using my blender pens much more lately and I have coloured in the hearts with 3 different pink inks, Pink Passion, Pretty in Pink and Pixie Pink.  To use the blender pens, just squeeze the ink pad lid onto the pad and this will give you a pool of colour in the lid.  Pick up that colour with the tip of the blender pen and start colouring.  A sentiment finishes the card from Seasonal Wishes.

Happy Stampin'

Amanda

Stampin' Up! Conference

We are getting a Stampin' Up! conference for Europe to be held in Frankfurt, Germany on the 6th and 7th November 2009.  This is going to be a wonderful event for demonstrators and I am hoping that my whole team will be able to attend, we are all saving up!

There has never been a better time to join my team of demonstrators, still running is the Sale-a-bration promotion till the end of February which means you get over £240 of products for £139 and you also can choose a free stamp set of any value from the catalogue ! I would love you to join me and my team of Inspiring Inkees for the friendship, support, inspiration and fun we share and of course the discount on your products and the ability to earn extra income.

You will find a question and answer section of what being a demonstrator means here.

I will of course match special sign up offers given by other Stampin' Up! demonstrators for stamp sets or free products so why not email me or call me 07890 426945 to talk about how you can start your Stampin' Up! journey with me and my team.

Happy Stampin'

Amanda 

Happy Birthday Connor

Today is my son's 14th birthday.......How did he get so old?

I made a card for him, not your average teenage card, but the image I used was the stamp he said he liked the best in the catalogue!

Details later as I must dash, presents to open and a chocolate toffee cake to finish!

Happy Stampin'

Amanda

Inspirational Meeting

On Friday I went to High Wycombe for a Stampin' Up! meeting. It is for demonstrators who are Bronze 3 and above, that means they have a downline team. It's wonderful that 8 of my team qualified for this event, although sadly not all of them were able to attend.

As always at a Stampin' Up! meeting there was lots of swapping of cards and 3D items, below are pictures of the lovely cards and 3D items I received.

I can't show you a picture of my swap because I have 2 workshops this week and we will be making the cards as part of the workshop, I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I will put it on the blog over the weekend.

Happy Stampin'

Amanda

Emergency cards......

How often do we need a card in a hurry? Whether to say Hi!, Thank you, Miss you! or even Happy Birthday!

This is a little box and set of cards that you can give as a gift to someone you know who might need a card in just such an emergency!

They are made from the wonderful Petal Party Simply Scrappin' kit. Yes, Simply Scrappin' kits are not just for Scrapbooking! At £15.50 it's a fantastic price and you can get 24 cards (2 each of 12 designs) and 4 boxes from one kit.......Brilliant if you are looking to make gifts this year.

I have full instructions and will send them out to anyone who buys a Petal Party Simply Scrappin' kit from me.

Happy Stampin'

Amanda

Are you in the Hampshire area?

Steph one of my lovely downline and I are attending a local cardmaking group next week to do a demonstration and to make a card and bag with the group.

It's a new group set up by Christine, so plenty of space for new members, if you would like to attend please email Christine by clicking here or visit her club website here.

All of the details are below.

Happy Stampin'

Amanda


Calling all card makers

Do you live in the Portsmouth / Waterlooville / Havant / Fareham area?

Are you into card making or would like to start it up as a new hobby, and would you like to meet up on a regular basis to meet up with other crafters for a natter & workshops

Wednesday 28th January
Time - 7.30pm - 9.30pm
Venue - St. Philips Church Hall, Cosham

Cost of each meeting will be £3 which will include the cost of hiring the hall and materials (drinks will also be provided)

All cards you make on the night you can take home with you

http://www.portsmouthcraftyclub.co.uk/

Owl Bookmark

A quick post about an Owl..........

This is a bookmark we made at my Mum and Me class last September for some reason I never posted the tutorial so here it is better late than never!

Embellishments and Tools

3” Paperclip
Hot glue gun or other strong glue
Old Olive Ribbon
Black marker pen and White gel pen
1 3/8 ” Punch
½ ” punch
Boho Blossoms punch
Scallop circle punch
Round Tab punch

1. First punch and cut out all your pieces 1 3/8” punch 4 x Chocolate Chip, 1 x Close to Cocoa, ½ ” Circle punch 2 x Old Olive, Round tab punch 1 x Chocolate Chip, Boho Blossoms punch 2 x Creamy Caramel. Cut a small triangle for a beak from Creamy Caramel.
2. Stick 1 of the Chocolate Chip circles to each side of the top of the paperclip.
3. Draw black and white eyes onto the Old Olive circles and attach them with the beak onto the Chocolate Chip round tab punch.
4. Make wings by punching part of the Chocolate Chip circles through the scallop circle punch, about 4 scallops is the right size.
5. Stick 2 of the small flowers underneath the Close to Cocoa 1 3/8” circle to make feet and attach the wings to the top section., Then add the head.
6. Put glue onto one of the Chocolate Chip circles attached to the Paperclip and stick the owl to it.
7. Tie the ribbon to decorate the bookmark.