Sneak Peeks and top tips

Hello and welcome back! 

 I wanted to share a top tip with you this week, and it's to do with the fabulous dies we have.  I absolutely love the Happy Birthday Die as it's a great size and makes a fabulous stand alone feature on a quick and simple card, but the thing a lot of us forget is that these types of dies can be cut down.  Now those of you who know me well will know that I absolutely hate wasting the gorgeous card stock and papers we have, and I will hoard the scraps, (I don't think I'm quite up to the stage where it's a problem!...others may disagree!! but here is a way to combat them calling in the clearance team!!)  The beauty of this die is that you can use up all those odd shaped scraps that aren't big enough to cut the whole die on and it still looks fabulous and makes it possible to place the sentiments in different places on your cards.

My other tip for this week concerns our wonderful 2 or 3 step stamping images like the bear in this card. If you haven't already invested in a Stamparatus then  now is the time, not only are they fabulous for multiple stamping, but it makes lining up those different step stamps a breeze. I love this bear image, but to be honest haven't given it as much love as I could because it was a bit of a challenge lining up the 3 steps of stamping. Not anymore, I'm back in love with the multiple stamping thing thanks to that piece of kit!

We've also had a team meeting this past weekend, thank you to the lovely Becki over at Sunshine stamping,  and I thought I would share my swaps from that with you.

How cute are those snowmen!? I think you'll be seeing A LOT of those snowmen!!
I used versamark ink and heat embossed them in silver to make the tags on these cute little gift bags. The tops pull off to save having to undo those fiddly bows and they hold a decent sized chocolate bar inside. The new sprig punch is just the perfect size for a little bit of festive trim too.
They are really quite simple to make with the help of the Gift Bag Punch Board and the Simply Scored board. If you'd like instructions or to have a go at making them drop me a line. I think that they would make the perfect table gift for a Christmas (or any other )celebration. Oh and for the 'snow' I had great fun with our shimmer paint and a paint brush!!!!  I'm still washing it off various things in my craft room.... must wear an apron next time and use a box!!!  I may have been a bit toooo enthusiastic with my flicking!!!!!

And finally! here is that sneak peek I promised you in the title..... The stamp I've used to do that gorgeous copper embossing with is from a new and exclusive set that you'll all be able to get your hands on from the 1st of November, and also the die cut snowflake in our fabulous glimmer paper which co-ordinates with the new stamps.  I'll be creating some more projects using the new stamps in the next few days, so check back next week for more sneak peeks!

As usual if you'd like details on the products I've used in my cards, please drop me a line, or if you'd like to order any of the products used drop me a message and I'll be happy to place an order for you.

Happy stamping!

Julia
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