It's Back - The Daisy Punch

Stampin' Up! Daisy Punch is back in stock YAY!!!

This punch and the Daisy Delight stamp set are just so popular.  I think because it is a timeless and pretty set that you can use for simply created cards like these or for more detailed cards depending upon your personal choice of style.

I love it because it is quick and easy to use for those short notice cards, dare I say the ones you forget or need on the spur of the moment.  A batch made like this with no sentiments can be kept in reserve and appropriate sentiments added as required.

The dotted border is stamped with a stamp from the set which you could overlook, but in fact you can see its potential here.

Bought together the stamp set and punch are classed as a bundle and so you can save 10% on the purchase price.  If you missed out on the first wave because the punch was withdrawn temporarily to avoid excessive backorders, you can now buy it again as it is back in stock.  Contact me to order or place an online order via my shop.

Have a Delightful Daisy Day

Zoe x

SHOP NOW

Totally Techniques Blog Hop - die cut masking technique

Hi and welcome to July's Totally Techniques blog hop.  We're sharing our take on the die cut masking technique this month. It's a technique that is easy to do and you can have a lot of fun with it.  There's a great tutorial here that will help to get you started or you can follow the simple instructions below.

1. Using removable note sheets or removable 'sticky' tabs cut out the die cut of your choice.  I used the Stampin' Up! Large Letter dies.

2. Position the die cut pieces on your card layer making sure that they are secure, but still removable.

3. Spritz, stamp, smudge, sponge or whatever ink over the masks to build your design.  I used sponges, stamps Timeless Textures and Touches of Texture.  Colours used were Pink Pirouette, Crumb Cake, Soft Sky and Rose Red.

4. You can add extras like glitter dots with a fine tip glue pen at this stage, but before removing the masks make sure everything is dry so as not to smudge any glue or ink.  

5. Remove the masks to reveal the clean letters in the original card stock colour.  

As the Meerkats would say 'Simples'!!

To finish my card I add flowers which were stamped using the Touches of Texture smallest flower and then punched with the Sprinkles punch, an addition to my sentiment from Lovely Inside and Out and some additional flowers.  The design is matted onto Crumb Cake card which has been smudged around the edges with the same colour ink and then a Soft Sky card base.  

You're here in the UK with Zoe Tant, but please do go on a mini globe tour to see the designs with Die Cut Masking from my lovely demonstrator friends.  

All products can be bought in my online store HERE 

1. Nadine Weiner Germany
2. Shelagh Freemantle  Canada
3. Shannean Moncrieff   Australia
4. Zoe Tant  UK
5. Barbara Meyer Austria


Thanks for checking in...
Zx

SHOP NOW

Thailand Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip Blog Hop

Welcome to July's Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip Achiever's Blog Hop. We're sharing all our experiences from the recent incentive trip to Thailand.  Hop through them all to see what everyone did.  

My daughter, Olivia, was my guest on the trip as a treat for finishing school, but when space is available Stampin' Up! allow you to also buy in extra spaces and so Charlie and Martin joined us too and what a wonderful time we had.  We made it our family holiday especially as Martin and I will celebrate our Silver wedding anniversary later this year.  

The main highlight for me was obviously sharing the trip with my wonderful family, who support me with my Stampin' Up! business, but also it is always good to catch up with friends from across the globe and make new friends.  For instance Charlie spent hours in the pool playing polo with other kids and some dads. Even when the rain crashed down they carried on playing and as a water polo player at home he was in his element and now hopefully will become pencils with a couple of the friends he made.  Stampin' Up! really is one big family. 

The hotel was beautiful and had the most amazing pools with a lazy river that linked one pool to another and so on.  Olivia loved joining me for the general session where we were treated to a copy of the upcoming winter catalogue and presentations using the products.  Of course another highlight of the incentive trips are the very generous pillow gifts we receive. One was the bag Olivia is modelling above and we also received a Thai ornament and elephant pendant.  Other gifts included product, but I can't share those just yet! 

I joined the card swap and made 26 which I handed in on the first day and on the last day I received all of these beautiful swaps from other demos.  Great for inspiration to share with my team and lovely customers and of course you my blog followers.

A special day arranged by Stampin' Up! to visit islands around Phuket, a floating village with floating football pitch and some interesting sights and smells as you can see from Olivia's face below.  It was also funny to watch our boys 'nod off' in the back of the bouncing speed boat. 

The Flying Hanuman - Our first taste of zip-lining through the tree canopy

So proud of these two amazing kids!

 Fun nights out with family and friends

 James Bond island with lunch on the beach

Our final night

Next stop Alaska for the 2018 incentive trip which I have earned now too! 

If you would like to join Stampin' Up! and my team of Tantalizing Stampers and earn your own incentive trip please do visit this page for more details or contact me to discuss the options.

Enjoy visiting the other achiever's blogs to see what adventures they participated in.  Currently you are with Zoe Tant in the UK.

Stampin' Technique with markers and clear blocks

This technique is fun, easy and gives original results every time.  All you need is a large clear block, a spritzer and marker pens.

This is what you do

• using the lightest to the darkest colours, colour the block in shades of your choice. I've used Soft Sky first and then Crumb Cake for the sand.  
• hold the block over things that will cope with a little water spritz and spray over the ink with water
• place the block, ink side down, on your card stock (whisper white here) and allow the ink pools to go onto the card you'll see through the block how the look changes and when the ink has transferred to the card
• allow to dry if damp
• stamp images, sentiments of your choice over the top.  I've use the fun deck chair from Colourful Season and a simple sentiment from the same set.  
• I've added two strips of Real Red card stock, looped linen thread and white accents to finish the look.  

The stamp set has some matching dies which can be used to add other accents or for a more feminine look a scallop border in Real Red rather than the stripes. 

Please share your makes using this technique I'd love to share on my blog. 

More soon Zx

Stampin' Up! Daisy Delight

Wow this is proving to be a popular stamp set.  Daisy Delight has taken the world by storm and in particular its matching punch.

I've used it here with the new Berry Burst and Tranquil Tide colours teamed up with Sahara Sand.  It creates really impacting cards in such a simple way.  I've used one of the smaller flowers to decorate the edges of the matting layers using tone on tone ink colours and then stamped a simple flower with a sentiment from the set Blooms & Wishes which is another favourite of many.

To get the different shades on the flower's centre just stamp off on a piece of scrap paper to reduce the ink on the stamp before you stamp it on your flower.  Then use the full ink when you stamp using the second detail stamp. As I said simple but effective.

Please note that the stamp set is available to order on its own, but the bundle including the stamps and punch are not available at the moment due to the popularity of the punch.  It will come back once stocks are replenished, but if you like a discount by buying the bundle add it to a lower point on your wish list for now and come back to it.  I'll be sure to share when it is available again.

More soon Zx

To shop click HERE

Coffee, Craft and Chat

I love sharing crafting with others and so Coffee, Craft and Chat at local cafes is great fun and very relaxing.  Recently we've used one of the new host reward stamp sets called Tranquil Tulips to make simple cards.  I love flowers and tulips are one of my favourites so this set leapt out at me when I saw the Stampin Up catalogue. 

It is a photopolymer stamp set with texture built in giving light and shade to the leaves and also the flowers are two step stamping so you get variation in the colour intensity or of course you could use two colours.  Easy set to use as you just look through your blocks to see where to place it.

It can be ordered free by party hostesses who have earned host pounds or euros to spend, or by customers when they place a qualifying order online or via me.

You can also see that the ladies made Father's Day/Male birthday cards on this particular week using the stamp set Guy Greetings.  The card was case'd from the Stampin' Up! UK Facebook page and adapted slightly and of course some of the ladies chose their own design.

If you'd like to attend coffee, card and chat I run my get togethers at the following venues.  Also if these don't suit or you live somewhere else I can put you in touch with one of my team based around Lincolnshire, the wider UK and also in the Netherlands.

Lincoln @ The Craftea Cafe, Melville Road on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 1030am

Horncastle @ The Schoolhouse Coffee Bar on Church Lane every Wednesday at 2pm

No booking required just come along and have a go.

Zx

Swaps for Thailand Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip

Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip Swaps with Marbled Background

Life is so exciting sometimes not least when you get to share swaps with other demonstrators from across the Stampin' Up! globe. Today I've handed in my swaps which are somewhat arty farty.  I used several products in shades of grey, but lifted it all with touches of copper foil, rhinestones, white enamel accents and the textured new copper trim; on the roll it looks like ribbon, but tease the threads apart and you can have a sleeve to slip sweet treats inside or use it like this to add texture and more.

My base card is Smokey Slate stamped tone on tone with the Marbled background.  A layer of Basic Grey which I hand cut into a pennant and then Olivia (she had to do some work for her free trip to Thailand!!!), de-bossed them all with the Seaside embossing folder.  Using the layered circles dies I cut a 'hole' in each pennant and filled it again with a hand made topper again stamped with the Marbled background and took sentiments from Tabs for Everything, along with swirls using Swirly Scribbles Thinlet dies.  Add some bling, which regular readers know i love.

Today we are at the general session and are getting sneak peeks of the Christmas/Winter catalogue. I'd love to share, but I'm sworn for now to secrecy.  Keep checking back over the weeks to come and you might see some peeks when I'm allowed to share.  Meanwhile in this heat it is too early for Christmas and the beach is calling.

Have a great day!

Zx
Challenges
Craft Stamper Magazine - Anything goes

I love my job as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator in the UK

It's tough when you get a holiday in Thailand for free.  Yes FREE!!!

I'm here in Thailand with my daughter, Olivia having earned the Stampin' Up! incentive trip.  I've also just earned the next one which is a cruise in Alaska.  Martin, hubby, isn't letting Olivia usurp him from that one.

If you think you'd like free holidays or indeed would just like some top quality products at cheaper prices because of the discount you receive as a demonstrator please consider it seriously this month.

In my opinion, and of course I'm bias as I love my job, there is never a bad time to invest in our starter kit, but in July 2017 are giving new starter kit buyers a bonus of 2x clear stamp blocks, one snail adhesive, one pair of paper snips, one bone folder, one pack of grid paper and an fabulous new stamp set called Carols for Christmas. You'll be able to create beautiful cards like this 

The bonus bundle is worth £65 making the starter kit worth £195 with free shipping and you pay just £99.  

If you'd like some more information please go HERE or email me at zoetant@live.co.uk with any questions.  

Now back to the sunshine.

Zx

Excited does not come close!!

Packing today for the Stampin' Up! incentive trip to Thailand.  Hubby got pushed out for this one so I'm going with my daughter, Olivia who is very excited.  I am too of course and am particularly looking forward to our zip lining amongst the tree canopy excursion.

Of course I'm also a little excited in fact that is an understatement I'm so excited I could rip a tissue to see products from the winter catalogue and hopefully I'll get to bring some home too!

You'll be able to start some early Christmas preps too with a new stamp set called Carols for Christmas being offered to new team members who buy their starter kits in June.  Look HERE for more detail.

Shoppers can also benefit this month with this great offer.

Now back to packing, but please do check back soon as I'll be sharing my swap and photos from the trip.  

Zx

Getting Ready for Thailand

Have had fun this week with my Olivia. She finally finished her A levels on Tuesday and so we went shopping in preparation for our trip to Thailand for the Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip.  Olivia thought it very funny to try on the rubber ring we bought to slowly float around the lazy river which goes around the hotel where we will be staying. A bemused Charlie looked on...... Hopefully when he finishes his exams I'll earn another trip and will be able to take him as the guest.

You too could join me on a future trip.  You just need to be a member of my team and you can do this by joining Stampin Up UK. You might not want to run a small business to earn points to earn the trip, but you can also join as what we call a hobby demo and enjoy the benefits of being in a club that offers you discount on your crafting, fun get togethers and something that can fit around your family and other commitments in your life.  If you'd like to know more about joining my team or this month's bonus offer for joining please contact me via email at zoetant@live.co.uk or call 07717855179 with any questions you have or for more information. You can also learn a little more about it by looking here.

Zx