OnStage Make-n-Takes No. 1.

Hello, Crafters.

What a wonderful surprise I had yesterday! Stampin’ Up! announced the rest of the country and global achievers, which I haven’t been looking forward to! I took my foot off the pedal last (Stampin’ Up!) year and it affected my business quite a lot. The most obvious result was not earning the Incentive trip for the first time in four years!

I had convinced myself I’d drop off the achiever’s radar totally! Imagine my thrill when I found I was no. 22 overall in the UK! Quite a drop from last year’s number 7 but nowhere near as big as I thought it was going to be! I was also no. 9 overall for sales in the UK. I did drop off the radar for the top global 250 from 153 last year. So I am saying a massive THANK YOU to all my customers, without whom I would have dropped off the radar. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! ♥♥♥

Our new year started on 1st October 2019 and I’m back, firing on all cylinders, looking to earn the 2021 Incentive trip which is a Caribbean cruise on the worlds largest cruise ship! Whether you help me by being my customer, or by joining my team as a hobbyist or as a business-builder, you all play an equally important role in my success! I need to recruit, I need to build my team, I need sales. Any help or support you can give me to achieve my goals will be gratefully appreciated!

The first card you have been looking at is from the Friday Make-n-Takes we did at OnStage. The Peaceful Poppies Suite is one of my two favourites and consists of two stamp sets, two sets of dies, Designer Series Paper, ribbon, sequins and die-cut elements. We started by stamping the front of the Poppy Parade cardstock (CS) card base, with the poppy outline and leaves tone on tone.

The stamp set used is called Painted Poppies, and the sentiment is from the second stamp set which is called Peaceful Moments. Both the green stripe paper and the red poppy paper are from the Peaceful Poppies Designer Series Paper (DSP). I followed the instructions really well except I did use a splodge stamp from the first stamp set to add something to the sentiment. I felt there was too much white showing.

The ribbon is Whisper White 1/4″ Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon. We randomly stamped the ribbon with one of the splodge stamps and put it to one side to dry while we worked on the rest of the card. It creates a great effect and definitely a technique I’ll use again. The pot of 750 (approx) sequins contain round and flower shapes in black, clear, gold, Light and Dark Poppy Parade. I picked out four black flowers to adhere to the front of my card!

The second card uses products from my second favourite suite which is called Parisian Blossoms. Like the Poppies Suite, this also consists of two stamp sets, two sets of dies, Designer Series Paper, and ribbon, plus a 3D Embossing Folder and Champagne Rhinestones. We started by stamping the flower stamp from the Flower Blossoms Stamp Set one and a half times onto a piece of Parisian Blossoms Specialty DSP.

I wouldn’t have thought about stamping on a piece of DSP like this but it looks stunning. It was very easy to colour using Blends, and I added Wink of Stella to all the flowers leaves and stems. As usual, it doesn’t show up in the photographs, but it looks very sparkly in real life! The only change I made to this card was that I die-cut the sentiment when I arrived home; again I thought there was too much white space around the sample sentiment.

I added three of the gorgeous Champagne Rhinestones just under the sentiment rather than scattered on the flowers. Although neither of these cards has the layers I love my cards to have, I love both designs. I’d like to think that I could start making cards with fewer layers…………..but it’s so much easier said than done! LOL! I’m going to put them on the message board that’s on the wall in front of my desk, just as a reminder! Maybe, just maybe!

Today sees the start of the Stampin’ Up! Online Extravaganza where you can save up to 15% on certain consumables and bundles! Now is the time to stock up and save. Click here to view the complete list of products that will be reduced by 15%, but please remember it’s for THREE DAYS ONLY – 20th – 22nd November 2019!

That’s it from me today. Tomorrow I’ll share a third make-n-take card which I did go off plan with and another project where I went off on my own altogether! LOL! I look forward to being back with you tomorrow, and in the meantime, happy crafting.

JanB. xx