Badgering Report: Interim

I've been a bit busy!

I'll be quite happy to never see a piece of flatpack furniture again, but things are really coming on with The Sett!  Although it was delivered just before Christmas, I was let down by the first builder, so the build was delayed (aw, sad Badger 😔).  But the second builder has been marvellous, and the whole thing was slabbed and built in just four days!

Then we had a mad-dash to paint the outside, because the builders finished at lunchtime on what was due to be the last dry day for a bit!  But I'm happy with the resuts.

We've got a bit of a way to go, still, and I'm hanging on to interior shots until I can show you the whole thing, but I'm definitely on track to start my new year of classes on 10th Feb as planned.  Happy Badger 😊

...and In with the New!

It's the first Jems blog hop of the New Year! We've had Christmas, the kids are back at school, and now we have loads of time... wait, what?!  No, of course we don't, but it does seem like there's just a tiny bit of breathing space.

If you've come from Julie's blog, welcome!  I know you'll be feeling very inspired already, so I'll try not to disappoint and I'll crack on!

Our brief this month is to showcase some of the fab new products from the Stampin' Up! Spring/Summer Occasions Catalogue.  I know everyone says it every time, but I really think this might be my favourite ever catalogue.  It has rainbows, it has dragons, it has a nice Easter set, it has rainbows... did I mention that?  Oh, maybe I did...

I love stamps, but this time I've fallen in love with so many of the papers, and I'm sure I'll showcase more of these over the coming months.  Top of my list were the Myths & Magic Speciality DSP, Painted With Love (the gold accents are just heavenly), and the Petal Passions DSP.  I might have passed the latter by, but having attended OnStage in November and had a chance to play with it I can honestly say that it - and the coordinating Memories & More Cards - are probably the most versatile papers Stampin' Up! is carrying at the moment.

Yes, they're black and white.  They are beautifully simple and classic, with a good spread of predominantly white papers and predominately black papers.  But the amazing versatility comes from that white space, because - of course - it can become any colour you wish!

So, here is my project.  I wanted to introduce a bit of colour while keeping the overall monochrome style, and I made one of my favourite projects-of-the-moment.  Oh, and please ignore the random background soundscape of "five-year-old with a cold and a big mouth".

These look complicated but are actually pretty easy as long as you're accurate with measuring and cutting (which isn't difficult with a trimmer).  I'm going to be doing a class based on these soon, so keep an eye on this page if you're interested. I used a heart from Heart Happiness for the front, two greetings from Picture Perfect Birthday for the inner two layers and left a blank square on the final layer for writing a personal greeting.  The colours are Melon Mambo and Emerald Envy, which is a combination I love and have been trying to get into a project for ages!

Hop along now and visit Lynn's blog for some more new goodies to add to your wishlist!  Happy Hopping!

Out With the Old...

It's that time of year when I say a fond farewell to my favourite catalogue - the Autumn/Winter one.  Well, actually, I kind of like the new one too... that's the great thing about Stampin' Up! - there's always a new favourite to replace the old one!

I thought I'd start the year with a transitional post.  As someone who likes to send traditional Christmas cards I love the Bethlehem Edgelits, and they are definitely keepers!  I try to be quite disciplined over keeping retired items, though, and aim to keep only those I can use in new and interesting ways, and for a number of different occasions (this "rule" is a loose one, and of course I also have far too many sets kept for sentimental reasons, but hey, it's a start!).  I'd been playing around with this idea in my head, and thought I'd give it a go so I could share it while the catalogue is still - technically! - current.

I need to get a narrower mount, because this one cuts off a lot of the picture, so forgive the rough edges but I wanted to show you the whole thing as well...

I thought this would be a quick make, but it actually took me around six hours.  Rather than using full strips straight out of the die I sectioned them to make the outlines a bit more higgledy-piggledy and interesting, and of course, the outlining and adding of details - all hand-drawn - took time as well.

I'm quite pleased with the result, although I'd like to try it in a few different permutations.  In the meantime, though, I hope it shows that Christmas items can be used in different ways, especially looking forward to more blue skies in the summer months.

Happy New Year!