Pages

Wednesday 31 March 2010

One of a Kind in purple

It's fun finding new ways of using my stamp sets but they are actually beautifully designed to be used together. So today I've taken One of a Kind and used it in a coordinating way.


I almost used nothing but One of a Kind but just at the last moment I felt that a little tag on the ribbon would be a nice touch so I used the little sentiment from Happy Moments, one of this year's free Sale-a-bration sets. I made this one using the word window punch, but you could use the intricate little jewellery tag punch in the new mini catalogue (I'll post you a free copy if you email me your details).

Supplies: (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stamps: One of a Kind, Happy Moments
Ink: Pale Plum, Elegant Eggplant
Card stock: Whisper White, Pale Plum, Elegant Eggplant
Other: Scallop border punch, Elegant Eggplant 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Gold elastic cord, Word window punch, 1/8" handheld punch, gold brad

Can you believe it's the last day of March already? Surely it will become warm soon - I had to get an extra jumper out today!
See you tomorrow.

Tuesday 30 March 2010

Night owl from Fox and Friends

Have you seen the owl from the Fox and Friends stamp set in the new mini catalogue? He is so cute - I love him! It amuses me that he looks as if he's just seen something absolutely unbelievable! Here he is in a little night scene:


If you haven't seen this set you really have to check it out (if you live in the UK I can send you a free copy of the mini catalogue, just email me with your details.) This little owl has lots of equally cute pals - the fox, a monkey, lion, giraffe, whale and a tortoise. These images aren't just for tots; my teenage daughter and my sons aged 9 and 11 1/2 all loved this card. By the way, the 'branches' the owl is standing on are the tree trunks from Trendy Trees. I love it when you can use something in a different way.

Supplies: (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stamps: Fox and Friends, Trendy Trees, Vintage Labels, One of a Kind
Ink: Night of Navy, Real Red, Chocolate Chip
Card stock: Whisper White, Real Red
Other: 1" circle punch (for tag), 1 3/8" circle punch (to make a mask for the moon)

My computer, which has been playing up big time all weekend, was taken to be diagnosed today. And guess what? It behaved beautifully when it was there! How does that happen? The expression on my face must've been very similar to the owl in my card today!
See you next time.

Monday 29 March 2010

Lovely as a tree bag-a-lope

Do you remember my obsession with the bag-a-lope, the bag that starts life as an envelope? Well it's still on my mind! Here's a version with handles made from card stock and fastened on with brads.


I rather like the simplicity of this bag with its monochrome colour scheme.

Supplies: (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stamps: Lovely as a tree
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Card stock: Chocolate Chip
Other: Gold brads, C4 envelope (from stationers)

Hope you like it.
Have to go as my computer is playing up! Bad computer!
Back tomorrow.

Saturday 27 March 2010

Open House - prize winner!

We had lots of fun at my Open House yesterday. It was great to see so many lovely ladies enjoying the Stampin' Up products. There was a door prize at the event and the name drawn out of the jar at the end of the evening was - Susannah Cox - congratulations Susannah! You win this Good Neighbours stamp set which will be winging its way to you soon.


Well no stamping today, but here are some photos:

This is our Easter tree. Every year we snip some twigs from the poplar trees at the bottom of our road, bring them into the house, put them in water and then watch over the next week as the buds form and the leaves magically unfurl.


We made decorations for it.

These were made using the metal edge tags. Two flower images from Seeing Spots have been stamped with Pretty in Pink ink and punched out with a 1 1/4" circle punch. Then they're adhered to the front and back of the tag and hung on the branches with cotton.

This one was stamped with Certainly Celery ink.









This is the bird from Best Wishes and More. Two of them were stamped in Summer Sun ink, punched out using a 1 3/8" circle punch and stuck to the front and back of a Pretty in Pink scallop circle.




This is the Easter display from yesterday. You can just see the bunting we made using scraps of designer paper, punched out circles and letters stamped using the Schoolbook Serif Alphabet.

Thank you to everyone who came along yesterday and made it such a fun day.
Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
See you soon!

Thursday 25 March 2010

A touch of nature with a sponge!

When I first discovered crafting, one of my greatest pleasures was collecting ink colours. I found that it was easy to create little scenes using 'nature' stamps and applying inks to the paper using sponges. (Sometimes, if I was lucky, my youngest son would join in!) I haven't used that technique for a while but I thought I'd try it today. Here's my little scene:


I adore that little bird! I've cut him out and popped him up with a dimensional. The scene is made by masking areas off and sponging gently, then stamping over the top with foliage. If you like this kind of card you might like to check out the talented Michelle Zindorf's site here.

Supplies: (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stamps: Touch of Nature, Autumn Days
Ink: Old Olive, Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue, Bordering Blue
Card stock: Kraft, Whisper White
Other: Blender pen (for colouring bird), White gel pen (for highlights on the water)

This scene looks very peaceful.
(Unlike my house tonight!)
Hope to see you tomorrow at my Open House Day in Buckingham (email me for directions if you need them) but if you can't make it, I'll be back here very soon.

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Girlie thank you using Best Wishes and More

I was thinking about one of my lovely friends when I made this card. Pink is her thing and there's always a touch of sparkle about her. (I don't even need to mention names - she'll know I'm talking about her! And she deserves a great big thank you too for being supportive and positive and fun!)

Here's the card:


The flower was stamped in each colour twice and the centres of two of the images punched out with a 1/2" circle punch. I then punched out the whole of the other two flowers with a 1 3/8" circle punch which made cutting out the detail a breeze. The centres are popped onto the whole flowers with dimensionals and finished off with a rhinestone. I love these flowers!

Supplies: (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stamps: Best Wishes and More, Trendy Trees (sentiment)
Ink: Ruby Red, Pink Passion, Old Olive
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Designer paper (retired), corner rounder, rhinestones (from stash)

Thanks for looking!

Tuesday 23 March 2010

Two-step bird punch birthday card

One of my absolute favourite products in the new mini catalogue is the two-step bird punch. I adore birds and can't imagine being stumped for something lovely to do with this punch! I've made a very simple birthday card with it this time.


It's called a two-step punch because first step: you punch out three separate shapes - the bird, its wing and that beautiful branch (how useful will that be!) - and then, second step: you put the shapes together. This striped paper is from the new mini catalogue too; it comes in a 12x12" book of 12 gorgeous double-sided designs, all quite different - that's 48 different papers for £19.50! This paper is great quality and is only 40p a sheet!

Supplies: (All Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stamps: A Bit of Birthday Cheer, Frames With a Flourish
Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Card stock: Whisper White, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip
Other: Two-step Bird punch, designer Series Paper Stack, corner rounder, paper piercer (for bird's eye)

It's so exciting to be creating with these gorgeous new products.
This is a very good time to be hosting a Stampin' Up party!
Thanks for visiting.

Monday 22 March 2010

Vintage thank you


One of my favourite sets in the new mini catalogue is Vintage Vogue - it's the perfect set to create that nostalgic feel. It also has a coordinating jumbo wheel so naturally it gets my vote (I cannot believe that I lived for so long without a jumbo wheel!) Here's a thank you card I made using the stamp set and wheel:


What I love about this set is that you can go as vintage as you like - distressed, sponged edges, lace, vintage buttons and brads - or keep it fairly clean and modern with just a nod to the vintage trend as with this card. It's fabulous for scrapbooking too. I've got quite excited about scrapbooking lately and have made a few pages - more on that soon!

Supplies: (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Wonderful Words
Ink: Bordering Blue, Ballet Blue, Night of Navy
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, Very Vintage jumbo wheel, Half Pearls from Pretties kit

I had company when I was crafting today and it was lovely to talk and create and share.
I really appreciate your visits too - this card is for you.

Sunday 21 March 2010

The new mini catalogue is here!

I've been browsing through the new mini catalogue and admiring the gorgeous new products. There's a fabulous large bird punch with a branch that I'm really excited about, a beautiful vintage-feel jumbo wheel (yes - a new wheel! I have to have it!), some new-sized background stamps and...

Well, the list goes on. If you live in the UK and you'd like a copy of the mini catalogue, just email me and I'll post one to you free of charge. These exciting new products are available to order from 1st April.

Did I mention the adorable tiny tag punch that has a coordinating stamp set? Oh and the stitched felt embellishments...

If you're coming to my Open House Day on Friday 26th March, (drop in any time between 9am and 8pm, email me for directions) you'll be able to have a good old look then!

Hope you've had a fabulous weekend.
See you very soon!

Saturday 20 March 2010

Fall-to Layout Challenge 83

There's another great sketch on the Clean and Simple site this weekend! I haven't strayed from the original sketch at all except by making the central panel much smaller.

My biggest problem with the card was finding a brad for my flowers - I wanted Old Olive or Bashful Blue and didn't have them; tried gold but then the flowers looked like poinsettias (note to self: don't forget to remember this at Christmas...) which was NOT the look I was after! Eventually I used these green ones from my stash but they're not Always Artichoke and they don't match and it's going to bother me all weekend...


...In fact it doesn't really show on this photo but in Actual Real Life (as my lovely daughter would amusingly say) it is glaringly obvious.

I am pleased with the flowers though. When they were just punched from card stock they seemed too stiff for this card, so I crumpled them up and split them carefully so that I ended up with two papery flowers from a single card stock one. Then I layered two sizes of papery blooms together and separated the petals with sharp scissors.

( Yuk! You really can see it's the wrong green in close-up! Old Olive would've been so good, or perhaps bashful blue...)

I got the idea for splitting the flowers from Heather Pulvirenti who made this gorgeous flower with the scallop circle punch. Thanks Heather!

Supplies: (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stamps: Sincere Salutations
Ink: Old Olive
Card stock: Whisper White, Always Artichoke, Bashful Blue
Other: Scallop border punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Le Jardin designer paper, green brads (from stash)

This would have been an incredibly quick card if it hadn't been for my hunt for a matching brad. I am so looking forward to my delivery of Stampin' Up brads - I'll never have a problem matching colours again!
Better warn the postman he may need help carrying that delivery...
Hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

Friday 19 March 2010

Boys' birthday cards and another bag-a-lope

Is it just me or do other people find it tricky to make boys' birthday cards that strike the right note? When boys reach the age when those cute characters aren't considered cool, what can we use instead?

My son's friend turned eight this week and I was stumped for an idea for a card for him. My instant thought was to use a jumbo wheel (ANY excuse to bring my jumbo wheel out!) but I'm a new demo and I only have the It's Beautiful wheel which isn't remotely appropriate for an eight year old boy! (I could've made something fabulous with the Something Fishy wheel - I will not rest until I have ALL the wheels!)

Eventually I went for stars and stripes (but not in a US way!) and also found some On Board chipboard shapes and coloured them with markers. Look:


The first card uses brightly striped designer paper and a punched star popped up onto two sizes of punched circles. The smaller star is from the Christmas set Hung Up on the Holidays - I'm always so pleased when I can find ways of using my Christmas sets throughout the year!


The second card starts the same way with striped paper and punched circles but this time I embellished with a chipboard number eight (from a sadly retired On board) and a circle frame (there are several in On Board Batch of Blooms). I love the way the chipboard looks after being coloured with Summer Sun and Pumpkin Pie markers. The tag is punched with the word window punch and cut in half. I took the word 'today' from the sentiment in Birthday Best. I used a bit of embroidery floss to tie the tag to the frame.

I was pleased with the way these turned out particularly when my youngest son gave his seal of approval. He also told me that he likes having a mum that makes cards - it doesn't get better than this: doing what I love AND getting appreciation for it!

I was just about to collect my son from school to take him to his friend's party when I realised that the present was still unwrapped - eek! But hey! No need to panic when you can always make a quick bag-a-lope! The fishy wheel would've been brilliantly speedy for this but it didn't take long to cover a C4 envelope with a few of the circle designs from Seeing Spots.


I strengthened the top of the bag inside with a couple of strips of card stock so that  I could add handles. I think it looks pretty smart!

Supplies (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stars and stripes card:
Stamps: Happy Moments sentiment
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun
Card stock: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Bashful Blue
Other: Designer paper Cutie Pie (retired), star punch, 1 3/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches

Eight today card:
Stamps: Vintage Labels sentiment, Birthday Best for the word 'today'
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun
Card stock: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Real Red, Bashful Blue
Other: Designer paper Cutie Pie (retired), 1 3/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, word window punch, white gel pen, embroidery floss (from my sewing kit)

Bag-a-lope
Stamps: Seeing Spots
Ink: Night of Navy, Brilliant Blue, Tempting Turquoise
Card stock: Bashful Blue (used inside to strengthen handles)
Other: 5/8" grosgrain ribbon in Brocade Blue, C4 envelope (from stationer)

My goodness this has been a bit of a marathon post. If you are still with me I just want you to know that I think you're wonderful! (And extremely patient...)
I promise I won't ramble on for hours tomorrow so do come back and visit me.
Bye for now

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Another card using Birthday Best

In my quest to illustrate what very different cards you can make with a stamp set, I've used the Birthday Best set again and today I'm having a girlie paper moment!

But before I show you my card there's just time for this:

I'm holding an
Open House Day
Friday, 26th March
9am - 8pm


There'll be displays and samples to give you inspiration,
a make-and-take, a prize draw,
a sneak peek at April's new mini-catalogue and refreshments.
It's all free - so why not come along if you're in the Buckingham area?
(Just email me for directions.)
Have a coffee and cake, have a chat, have fun - I'd love to see you!


In the meantime come and see my girlie card.


I stamped the cake image onto designer paper and cut them out discarding the candle on the top. The cherries are from Tart and Tangy, cut out and popped up on dimensionals. Do you like my faux stitching? It's made by piercing two rows of holes and joining them up with the fine nib of a Ruby Red marker - so easy!  (The piercing tool is an absolute bargain at £2.95!)

Supplies (Stampin' Up unless otherwise specified):
Stamps: Birthday Best, Tart and Tangy, Happy Moments
Ink: Ruby Red
Card stock: Whisper White, Real Red
Other: Designer paper Petals and Paisleys (retired), Red gingham ribbon, Ruby Red stampin write, scallop punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, word window punch and cropadile (to make tag), scallop border punch, piercing tool

All these cakes are making me feel peckish.
I'm off to rifle through the kitchen cupboards...
Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday 16 March 2010

FTL82 challenge with Birthday Best

Oh dear - late again! I've struggled to make it for the Clean and Simple FTL sketch challenge this week but I'm so happy to be here at last! Here is this week's sketch and here is my version:


I have combined the challenge with the one I set myself yesterday - that is to show you how versatile the stamp set Birthday Best can be. Have a look at yesterday's card here on the left...

...and now look at today's card above. It's hard to imagine these images are part of the same set! The balloons have a children's 50s retro feel whereas the flowers are much more grown-up and feminine.

I love Pretty in Pink with Always Artichoke and do you like the flower stems? They're just thin strips of Certainly Celery card stock. The dimensionals that are popping the flower heads up are also holding the stems in place. The flower heads were made by colouring only the flower head on the stamp with markers, stamping the image and then colouring the petals with my New Best Friend the blender pen. I was inspired by the taffeta ribbon which is darker on its edges - the taffeta ribbon is probably my favourite ribbon (although the striped grosgrain is gorgeous too and I adore the gingham ribbon...)

Supplies on the flower card (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stamps: Birthday Best (flowers), Happy Moments (sentiment)
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Old Olive
Card stock: Whisper White, Certainly Celery
Other: Le Jardin designer paper (retired), Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon, Cameo Coral stampin write, blender pen

The sun has been out in Buckingham today and, for the first time this year (roll of drums please...), I went outside without my gloves on without feeling cold!!! YAY!!!
I enjoy reading the blogs of crafters all over the world and it seems that everyone has been waiting for the spring to arrive. I just want to say - there's hope ladies!
See you soon

Monday 15 March 2010

Birthday Best party favours and thank you cards

I could have used the stamp set One of a Kind for my son's birthday because he very definitely is! He adores school and I like to ask how his day was just for the pleasure of hearing him say: "It was BRILLIANT! We did maths!" And I remember getting some very strange looks when calling him in for his tea once; I said: "You'd better come in straight away young man or you'll get no cabbage for your tea!" and he scuttled in at once, not wanting to risk missing out on that treat.

On his birthday this year he got to go to school and he asked to have a few friends home for tea. Not a party at all but we thought we'd give them some tiny party favours anyway.


Here's a close-up of the labels.


I rustled up some thank you cards along the same lines.



I coloured the balloons using ink pads and my blender pen. I don't know if I've told you how much I absolutely ADORE my jumbo wheel (okay, I may have mentioned it in passing...) well my blender pens are up there with the jumbo wheel. I am not the world's greatest colourer but I am loving the effects I get using the blender pen. In fact, I may as well come clean: I didn't colour the balloons at all - my blender pen did it all!

Supplies (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stamps: Birthday Best (balloons), Trendy Trees (sentiment)
Ink: Summer Sun, Brilliant Blue, Real Red
Cardstock: Whisper White
Other: 1 3/4" circle punch, corner rounder, designer paper (retired), cellophane bags

I love how Stampin' Up stamp sets are so versatile. This gorgeous little set Birthday Best can be used for all sorts of occasions and I shall be showing some more projects made with it this week.
Until then - thank YOU so much for coming.

Sunday 14 March 2010

Free pirate box template download

I've just got back from a weekend in York (fabulous place with loads of Roman, Viking and Norman history - do visit!) and am so pleased to find that you've been leaving lots of lovely messages for me.


Thank you so much for your interest in my pirate box from a couple of posts ago.

I've been working hard to produce a template for you to use - just CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD IT. (Below is a preview but it's won't be good enough quality to right click.)


Enjoy!

Thursday 11 March 2010

It's Beautiful jumbo wheel bag-a-lope.

When I came across Lori Craig's bag-a-lope, I looked at it with great interest and noted it for future reference. Sure enough, it came in very handy yesterday when I wanted to package some lovely gingery biscuits I'd made for my friend's birthday.

The bag-a-lope is a gift bag made out of a humble envelope. Click on the link above for Lori's brilliant tutorial. She uses a C4 envelope but I thought that would be too big so I adapted the recipe and used a C5 envelope, cut it off just below the gummed flap and scored 1" in from all the edges. I also decorated the bag with my wonderful jumbo wheel (sigh - totally besotted!) which covered all the bag in seconds. Look:


I made a little tag using the scallop circle punch, layering some left over decorated paper with some plain Old Olive cardstock. The gold elastic thread is great for attaching tags. I liked the way the tag echoed the scalloped top of the bag. Here's a close-up:


The bag is finished by threading ribbon through some holes punched in the top of the bag with a cropadile. This turned out to be a quick and easy way to make a pretty gift bag and it's easy to adapt it to make different sizes. I think it could become a big favourite of mine.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up unless specified):
C5 envelope (from stationer)
Jumbo Wheel: It's Beautiful
Ink: Old Olive jumbo wheel cartridge
Cardstock: Old Olive
Other: Cropadile, Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Gold elastic thread, Scallop circle punch, Scallop border punch

Did I mention how much I adore the jumbo wheel? There are many designs and I want them all to be mine! There's one with little houses on it, one with snowflakes, leaves, swirls... I need them!!!

Happy birthday to all the lovely people who are having birthdays this week!

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Pirate Chest box

Oh oh oh! (jumping up and down) I can't tell you how excited I am about my post tonight!

It's my youngest son's birthday tomorrow and, because he's been busy saving up his pennies for a very expensive item, we are giving him money. The trouble with money is that it doesn't necessarily look very thrilling so I've been racking my brains to think of a good way to present it. This is the result of my deliberations:


It's a Chocolate Chip pirate chest! Here it is from the back...


...and a close-up of the fastening.


Here it is open.


I love my little pirate chest! Do you like the way it looks as if it's seen some action? (It's okay - I'll calm down in a minute...)

Supplies (Stampin' Up unless specified)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Other: Piercing tool, corner rounder, vintage brads (from stash)

Do you think it would be going too far to wear an eye patch and a parrot on my shoulder tomorrow?
Actually, all joking aside, I'd better get to bed as I'm sure to be woken up at the crack of dawn by a very excited boy!
See you tomorrow.