Accordion Christmas Tree

Long time no blog, sorry I have had a particularly nasty bug but hopefully I'm back.  I thought I would show you a case of the accordion Christmas Tree on page 181 of the annual catalogue. My friend had been trying to make it and got into a bit of a muddle so I said I'd have a try. I had a few goes then the next day found this tutorial which made it really easy. Here it is.

 I used Polar Party as I haven't got No Peeking which is the one used in the catalogue. I used Greetings of the Season for the sentiment.

 The front is Plain and just has a belly band to keep it shut as the main action is inside! 

Polar Party, Aqua Painters and a Challenge!

I have just got some Stampin' Up Aqua Painters, these are fantastic. They are so easy to use, just unscrew the top, fill up with water and away you go!

Stamp your image in Stazon or a waterproof ink such as Stampin Up Basic Black or Grey. There are different ways you can use your aqua brushes, e.g. with re-inkers, water colour crayons/pencils etc. I used mine with Stampin' Up ink pads, just squeeze the ink pad before you open it, this deposits some ink on the lid. Dip your aqua painter in the ink and start painting. I used water colour paper, you can use whisper white but you do need to be careful not to have your aqua painter too wet or the card will buckle, so have some kitchen roll ready. 

I thought I wonder enter the Simply Stampin' Challenge as I haven't entered for ages. This weeks challenge is the Sketch below:

I used the Polar Party stamp set, (get those Christmas Cards started!) which of course I coloured in using my aqua painters. The colour way is baja breeze and riding hood red, I also used daffodil delight and lucky limeade ink pads to colour in. 

Polar Party Christmas Cards

Don't get too close, I'm full of cold!  Here's some christmas cards I made using polar party stamp set and my faithful stamp-a-ma-jig to line everything up.

I used pool party dsp and card stock and island indigo card.  I made the lacy border with the lace ribbon punch cut in half. Aren't those penguins cute?

The little flower decoration is also cut from the lace ribbon punch with a circle of island indigo card behind and topped with a gem.

Training Swaps

I was lucky enough to attend Julie's Jems team training yesterday even though I'm not a Jem, so thank you Julie I had a great day.  When ever Stampin' Up demonstrators get together we always do a swap, swapping card fronts and 3-d items.  So we come away with some great ideas and lovely samples of  stamp sets and papers that we may not have yet so we can show our customers.
These are the swaps I made using the Polar Party stamp set and designer frames textured embossing folders, these are in our new catalogue and I love them.
I made it in two different colour ways, night of navy/pool party with white embossing powder and olive gree/real red with gold embossing powder.

I cut three sides of the embossing folder to make a little door, open it up and there's a little surprise, (isn't that ruffled ribbon gorgeous)!

Here's the other colour combo, I cut the frame a different way so we could have some penguins.