Crafter's Companion Floral Tea Cups Stamps — A Review

A few weeks ago, I saw some teacup stamps on Amazon that I immediately fell in love with and ordered, and since some of you enjoy paper crafting as much as I do, I thought I'd share my experience here since I was quite happy with the results!

These "Floral Tea Cups" stamps are from Crafter's Companion and also have a matching die, which is sold separately.

Helpfully, the stamps are numbered in the order in which you're supposed to use them. First, you stamp the main background color.

Next, you use the outline stamp. (Hard to see here, but this gold color has a metallic sheen, much like a real teacup would.)

Next, you stamp the outside of the roses.

Then, the inside of the roses. (I know my pink inks don't match at all, but hey, I was dying to try these out and used what I had on hand.)

And then the finished design with the roses and leaves. I was aiming for perfection, but apparently the stamp is supposed to leave a bit of white space in the design, which makes these stamps pretty forgiving to use. And in the interest of full disclosure, I wasn't paying attention and switched steps four and five, so the leaves actually were supposed to be step four and not step five. Oh well.

I've got to find a space in my office to place a table, but until then, I work in the floor, using my trusty Cricut Cuttlebug to cut out all the teacup stacks. I love to cut things out with a die!

I made two different styles of card, and even though I wasn't thrilled with the roses' ink colors (Hobby Lobby, here I come), I was actually pretty happy with the finished cards. I had a gift card and ordered my stamp set from Amazon here, and it's also available directly from Crafter's Companion here. And as luck would have it, a kind reader just *happened* to send me some gorgeous tea-themed paper crafting supplies last week, so look for more designs in the coming days!

September Giveaway: Package of handmade teapot cards

I've been making cards like crazy lately, and after I recently gave a package to a friend who said she loved them, I decided to give away a package as this month's giveaway. So if you're someone who sends a lot of notecards to tea friends, I hope you'll want to enter!

I've packaged up a set of four cards, all featuring a cute teapot design from Stampin' Up's Tea Together Cling Stamp Set.

The two blue cards open horizontally …

And the two pink ones open vertically. All of them have a pearl embellishment in the center.

I've learned that I love embossing plain old card stock by running it through my Cricut Cuttlebug die-cutting and embossing machine. I used the Country Floral 3D Embossing Folder (also from Stampin' Up), and I just love the pretty floral design, which makes a great background.

So if you'd like to win this set of notecards, just leave an "Enter Me" to this post between now and 7 a.m. EST on Friday, September 13, and you'll be entered to win. US only, please. Good luck!

The Cricut Cuttlebug & teatime paper crafting

So here's what I made this weekend!

My birthday was last month, and I used the Amazon gift card my husband gave me to get this Cricut Cuttlebug machine for die cutting and embossing.

And then a gift from my oldest niece funded the purchase of the prettiest tea-themed dies I have ever seen, this Vintage Tea Party line by Sara Davies of Crafters Companion, founded in the UK but with an office in the US as well.  I ordered my goodies on eBay from a seller in the UK when I found that I couldn't get all the ones I wanted on Amazon, but I have seen some of the line there and some in the Paper Wishes catalog, in case you happen to like them as well!

It's taking me a while to learn the tips and techniques of this brave new world of what I consider "fancy" paper crafting, but I'm up to the challenge since I am so enamored of all the pretty tea-themed dies I have discovered. This lacy one from the Vintage Tea Party line has so much detail! I'm having lots of fun with my new toys, and I plan to share some of the notecards and other crafts I make in the days ahead. If you happen to be a Cuttlebug user,  or perhaps you've long advanced to one of the larger electronic  Cricut machines, please share any tips and links you think might be of interest. I do know that my friend Joy got a Cuttlebug about the same time I did, so I'm quite happy I know at least one other tea lover who is exploring this form of paper crafting!