As an inveterate crafter, I have always been on the look out for versatile stamps and beautiful cards and papers. I did a lot of card making a few years ago, using embellishments because I always found the available stamps so uninspiring. I have a large box of stamps which I bought at the time but hardly used, and I had a look at them recently. There was only one which I still like, the rest will be consigned to lurk at the back of a cupboard, possibly never again to see the light of day.

What I like about Stampin Up is that everything is colour co-ordinated. Select your card and ink in a certain colour, choose your stamp, possibly some pretty paper and then finish with ribbon, brads or buttons in that colour. For those who are a little challenged, or possibly scared of colour co-ordination, this is the perfect. The only thing you need to supply is inspiration and a little time.

One thing you need is a large, and I do mean large, box in which to pop all your scraps of card and paper. You will be surprised how often you dip into the box to find a small piece of card to stamp on. This bookmark has been made just with scraps – Very Vanilla cardstock stamped with one of the Summer Silhouettes stamps (yes I am a little obsessed with this set at the moment) in Old Olive ink, layered on to Old Olive card which has been stamped with the same image front and back. I think it works well.