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Friday 31 May 2013

When two stamp sets collide - AND BARGAINS!!!

• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here but in the meantime, you can nab yourself a BARGAIN!!! Click here to find STAMPS and ACCESSORIES at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

That news is exciting enough but I can't leave you without a bit of crafting...! Don't you just love it when two stamps from different stamp sets look as if they were made for each other? Today's card happened because I had a light bulb moment when Fabulous Florets and Secret Garden were out on my desk. Come and have a look:


I noticed that the solid flower from Fabulous Florets looked rather like one of the outline flowers from Secret Garden so I thought I'd try combining them. I love the effect of the solid and outlined images together.


Here's a close up where you can see that I've used solid and outline foliage from both sets too. The background has been roughly sponged in using Island Indigo ink and I coloured just one of the outlined flowers and added a zing of Summer Starfruit to the centres of both.


The sentiment is a wonderful one from Hopeful Thoughts which I use often and for many different reasons.

Here's what you'll need for this project
Stamps: Fabulous Florets, Secret Garden, Hopeful Thoughts
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Crumb Cake, Gumball Green, Island Indigo, Stazon black
Card stock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Other: Summer Starfruit marker, aqua painter, stamp-a-majig, 
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.

For those of you that couldn't believe how unhandy I was with my husband's mobile phone yesterday, it isn't an isolated event, believe me! Not long ago I was meeting my daughter in town and messaged her using my own phone to let her know I'd been slightly delayed. "Just have to pop into one more shop," I texted and then attempted to add: "See you in a mo." The phone, which obviously sensed weakness and knew who was boss, refused to allow me to say 'mo' and kept changing it to 'month'. The thought of my daughter receiving a message telling her that I'd been delayed by a month had me whooping with laughter in the shopping centre.

Have a lovely weekend!

Thursday 30 May 2013

Oh Hello - and a bit of dottiness!

• Today is the last day for getting extra goodies in your starter kit when you join Stampin' Up! I think you'll agree that getting £155 worth of gorgeous Stampin' Up products for only £99 is a brilliant bargain! Find out all the details here or give me a call on 01280 820593 for a chat about whether joining would work for you.

And so, onto some card-making: I love the Patterns designer paper stacks! Tone-on-tone designs in all the Stampin' Up colours are so useful - particularly for adding pattern to quick cards. When I was designing today's card for my Three Minute Thursday spot, I intended to add a punched flower but then I got carried away with the flower in the Oh Hello stamp set...! If you need a quicker version, just swap the fussy cut flower for a punched flower!


Accurate cutting and wet glue are the keys to this card so thank goodness for my Stampin' Trimmer and the Tombow multipurpose glue which enables you to ease layers into exactly the right position. The designer paper is glued onto the card front and the sentiment panel is stamped and scored before adding to the right of the card.


The flower from Oh Hello is a lovely curved shape so it's great for linking the paper and the sentiment. People often ask me about fussy cutting as I do quite a lot of it. My top tips are: (a) get yourself a pair of decent paper snips (the Stampin' Up ones are long-bladed and very sharp); (b) move the paper rather than the scissors to get a good smooth line and (c) practise - the more fussy cutting you do, the better you'll get at it!


Here's what you'll need for this project
Stamps: Oh Hello
Ink: Pumpkin Pie/Tempting Turquoise
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Patterns designer paper stack in Brights, Simply Scored, markers, paper snips, stamp-a-majig, 
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.

• Get more for your money this month: Place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end today.

It's half term here and I am highly in demand! My youngest son wanted to see Epic at the cinema yesterday so my daughter, who has a provisional driving licence, offered to drive us there to get some experience under her belt. There was a dodgy moment when I discovered my mobile phone was out of charge but my husband said I could borrow his and packed us off. My daughter parked at the cinema and went off shopping while we found that the 2.50 showing of our film had sold out. We bought tickets for the showing an hour later and I sent a message to my daughter to let her know what was happening. This was when I discovered that I couldn't work my husband's phone so my daughter got this message which, she said, made her double up laughing:

We jad to go fpr the 3.50 because tje earlier fil m had sold out. see yoo at 5.30. flippon phome hpw dpes it blppn work! xx

See you tomorrow,

Wednesday 29 May 2013

Summer Silhouettes card and gift box combo

I've always thought the old saying about blue and green never being seen together without another colour between them is bonkers! I love Blues and greens together and for today's project chose to combine Midnight Muse, Pool Party and Old Olive...  come and see what you think:


The leaves from Stampin' Up's Summer Silhouettes stamp set were stamped first and I added some trendy banners, one plain and one in a gorgeous herringbone pattern from the Comfort Café designer paper range. The sentiment is from Made For You - I love that curved feature.


I topped the banners with the large flower from Summer Silhouettes, stamped, fussy cut and centred with a brad, then linked the banners and the sentiment by stamping three of the tiny flower from the set.

The coordinating gift box has a lid in the same herringbone design, and I added a die-cut label stamped with Summer Silhouettes and a couple of sentiments put together with my stamp-a-majig.


Mounting the label on dimensionals allowed the taffeta ribbon to slide underneath so that I could tie the box closed with a bow. Are you wondering what's inside?


Rich, dark Green & Black's chocolate... oh yum!

Here's what you'll need for this project
Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Made For You (+  Friendly Phrases, Sassy Salutations for the box)
Ink: Old Olive, Midnight Muse, Pool Party
Card stock: Whisper White, Midnight Muse
Punches:  Corner rounder, square punch
Other: Simply Scored, Big Shot, Labels framelits, Comfort Café designer paper, Whisper White taffeta ribbon, paper snips, stamp-a-majig, 
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.

• Get more for your money this month: Place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

I'm so sorry if you were wondering where my blog post was yesterday morning. I had scheduled it as I knew we'd be on our way back from Somerset where we'd been visiting relatives, but something went wrong (now I could blame blogger for this but, to be honest, it's much more likely that it was something I'd done!) We enjoyed our trip to the west country but I'm getting the impression winter is following us around; we arrived on Saturday in blazing sunshine but the next day turned wet and wild - it really could have been November!

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow so why not join me for a quick card? Hope to see you then,

Tuesday 28 May 2013

A little bit of This and That...

It's no surprise that the Epic Day This and That bundle is flying off the shelves! A smash book style journal is such fun! I've got photos of the cover of mine to show you today:


The cover is a gorgeous neutral buff colour with hexagonal shapes debossed into it. There are two papers in the coordinating designer papers that feature hexagons and I opted to use the smaller ones to decorate mine. I love the colours and the subtle text and map designs!


I stamped the chevrons from Stampin' Up's Oh Hello set directly onto the cover using my stamp-a-majig to ensure it went where I wanted it. Some of the title is computer-generated but I added a stamped, fussy cut word 'just' (from a retired hostess set) which livened it up a little. A square punch was used to make an arrow head, designed to lead the reader into the journal, and I added three rhinestones for a bit of sparkle.

Are you wondering about the title? Well, my journal is about all the mundane things in my family life - getting up, having breakfast, going to the supermarket, putting out the bins... that sort of thing! Sounds riveting doesn't it?! But I always think that scrapbooks tend to be so busy featuring the highs of life that everyday life gets left undocumented.

Here's what you'll need for this project
Stamps: Oh Hello
Card stock: Crumb Cake (for the title)
Ink: Basic Grey
Other: Epic Day This and That journal and designer paper (these products available in a special-value bundle until 31st May), Basic rhinestones, square punch, paper snips, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.

• Get more for your money this month: Place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

This past weekend was a bank holiday in the UK. On Saturday, my husband and I went for a walk to nearby woods to see the bluebells and my goodness, they were amazing - a blanket of the most glorious blue.



Here I am doing my best David Bellamy impression - but you can see those bluebells stretching off into the distance.

Thank you for popping in today - I do appreciate your visits. I'll be back tomorrow with a coordinated card and gift to show you. See you then,

Saturday 25 May 2013

Bank holiday weather - somewhere else!

It's a bank holiday weekend in the UK so naturally I thought it would be the perfect time to make a Christmas card! The challenge at Less is More (where I was delighted to discover I'd been showcased!) is Humour this week and the ladies at the 52 {Christmas} card throwdown would like to see some Bakers Twine so I put them together to make this card:


I have now photographed this card three times and I cannot get the photos to look white and clean! Anyway, I hope you can see through the murk: The sentiment was computer-generated using a font called 'Give you Glory' - it says 'Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... somewhere else!' I stamped the branch from Stampin' Up's Take Care set and loaded it with 'snow', heat embossed with white embossing powder. The same technique was used to add snowflakes around it, then I sponged over it with Pool Party ink and wiped the image clean.


This little owl shivering away on the branch is from the Aviary set. I stamped him onto designer paper and defined his eyes with a marker and then snuggled him up in a bakers twine scarf and a little hood made with the Christmas ornament punch in my Merry Minis punch pack. Isn't he a cutie?! I just want to pinch his little cheeks!

I shall also be entering this card in Sandra's Rudolph Day challenge (kindly set up to encourage us to get at least some of our Christmas cards made throughout the year!)

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Take Care, Aviary, (computer-generated sentiment)
Ink: Soft Suede
Card stock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler
Other: Basic Black markers, scrap of Patterns designer paper, paper snips, stamp-a-majig, Cherry Cobbler bakers twine, versamark, white embossing powder, heat tool
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Get more for your money this month: Place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

People sometimes ask me where I get my inspiration from and I have no hesitation is saying that today's owl looks how I felt yesterday (except that my skin was blue!) It was like November here! The sun has come out today but I don't trust it... I'm certainly not about to go trotting outside with my swimming cozzy on!


Hope you enjoy your weekend - an extra long one if you're in the UK! I'll be back on Tuesday with the first photos of my This and That journal. Hope to see you then.

Friday 24 May 2013

We have all been so excited about the new online shopping facility but I'm so sorry to say that Stampin' Up have had to suspend it temporarily due to some unforeseen issues. Rest assured that the company is working hard to sort these out and I'm sure it will be up and running soon - of course I will keep you informed.

Meanwhile, I'm available as always to help you with your orders. Enjoy your weekend and I'll be back with another project very soon.

Hugs,

Kindness Matters with borders

After another hectic week, I've finally had time to make a card for two of my favourite challenges. There's another glorious colour palette at the ColourQ and the theme at One Layer Wednesday, hosted by Heather this week, is Borders. Come and see what I've been up to:


This card was great fun to make but a demon to photograph! I began by using my stamp-a-majig to position a row of these beautiful butterflies from Stampin' Up's Kindness Matters set (it's one stamp with a row of three butterflies to make life easier.) These were coloured using markers, then covered with versamark ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.


I masked off the bottom half of the butterflies and sponged Midnight Muse ink gently over the top of the card base - it's best to polish the butterflies with a tissue to wipe excess ink off. The Chamomile wheel added a little texture and I added the Mustard lines with a ruler and marker and some linen thread for added dimension.


I love the three useful sentiments in the Made for You set and this one made my day by fitting neatly into the recess between the larger butterflies!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Kindness Matters, Made For You, Chamomile Wheel
Ink: Basic Grey, Midnight Muse
Card stock: Naturals Ivory
Other: Markers, versamark inkpad, clear embossing powder, heat tool, linen thread, stamp-a-majig


You can order from my online shop any time, day or night, but if you have any queries, I'm always happy to help. You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

• Get more for your money this month: Place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

You may have noticed that my blog has had a smart (hopefully) new makeover - do let me know what you think! My new online shop made a little blog maintenance necessary and I suddenly realised that everything was looking a little tired and dated - a bit like me! Tired that is, not dated (well not unless I play my cards right with hubby later LOL!)

My children will finish school for half term today so there'll be hats thrown in the air and dancing in the streets of Buckingham later on. Enjoy your weekend!

Thursday 23 May 2013

Three Minute sponged Stippled Blossoms

Good morning and welcome to Three Minute Thursday, my day for producing a super-fast Stampin' Up card. If you're a regular reader of my blog you'll know that I have been in the grip of Stippled Blossoms fever for the past week - I just can't get enough of this fabulous set! But is it any good for quick cards? Of course it is! Come and see:


Using a torn piece of paper as a mask, I sponged a bit of Lucky Limeade ink over the bottom of some lovely speckled Naturals White card stock. The solid, small flower was stamped using Pacific Point ink and a little more of the ink was used to sponge around the sky area. I used a marker to ink up and stamp a leaf, draw a stem and doodle a centre for the flower.


The sentiment was added using my stamp-a-majig to position it accurately - and there we are: a card in around three minutes! Of course I then decided it needed some Island Indigo bakers twine and it took another three hours to tie the bow for some reason!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Petite Pairs
Ink: Lucky Limeade, Pacific Point
Card stock: Whisper White, Naturals White
Other: Lucky Limeade marker, Island Indigo bakers twine, stamp-a-majig
Click here to order Stampin' Up supplies any time of day or night from my online shop. If you have questions or would like advice, send me an email - I'm always happy to help!

• You can get more for your money this month: Place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

Have you noticed the new shopping button in my side bar? I've been chatting to friends about 24 hour shopping and it's amazing how many of us do our shopping in the middle of the night! I remember when our local supermarket announced that it would be open 24 hours. I was in the middle of having my babies at the time and would sometimes turn up there at 3am in the morning feeling that I was having a real expedition!

See you tomorrow!

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Stippled Blossoms chalkboard-style

• I'm delighted to announce that it will be even easier to go shopping with me now that I have an online shop with links to all the gorgeous Stampin' Up products! Once you've made an account with me, you can shop at any time, day or night (without waking me up!) - and my blog feeds into the shop too so you can check which products you need for your projects if you need to. Do pop over and bookmark it now - and don't forget to let me know what you think!

Meanwhile, Stippled Blossoms is still the set that I can't get enough of and today I'm showing you how it looks stamped chalkboard style (if you've been on my facebook page, you'll know where the inspiration came from!) Come and have a look:

Chalkboard technique using Stippled Blossoms from Stampin' Up

It's easy to create these trendy chalkboard images: you just stamp in Whisper White craft ink, dry it off and stamp or colour over the top with markers. It gives a wonderfully chalky look!

Close up of chalkboard technique using Stippled Blossoms from Stampin' Up

I find it's best to use bright colours because the craft ink really fades them out to authentically chalky shades. I added the centres of the small flowers with my white gel pen.

Sentiment from Oh Hello by Stampin' Up

This bold sentiment has been stamped in versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I scored a frame round the front panel and sponged the edges with more of that Whisper White craft ink to add to the chalkboard feel. This sentiment never fails to make me giggle as it reminds me of Kenneth Williams! I shall be keeping it for when my daughter leaves home and I need to send her a note card as I know it will make her giggle too!

Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Oh Hello
Ink: Whisper White Craft ink, Melon Mambo classic ink and markers
Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White (for lining)
Other: Simply Scored, White gel pen, versamark, white embossing powder, heat tool, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO PLACE YOUR ORDER INSTANTLY, GO TO MY ONLINE SHOP OR, IF YOU HAVE QUERIES, SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Get more for your money this month: Place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

I asked my youngest son if he remembered blackboards. "Oh yes," he said. "When I was in year 3 we had a Victorian day and they put a blackboard up instead of the whiteboard and gave us all slates to write on!" I began to feel ancient at this point and hobbled through to the kitchen to make a revivifying cup of tea!

It's Three Minute Thursday tomorrow and I wonder if you can guess what set I'll be using...?! See you tomorrow,

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Another way with Stippled Blossoms

You may just get a bit fed up with hearing me go on about how gorgeous Stampin' Up's Stippled Blossoms is... I keep thinking of new things to do with it and loving it even more! If you're after a showy bloom, that large flower is a must but the smaller flower is quite capable of carrying a card too. Come and see:


My usual thing is stamping a panel and mounting it onto a plain card base but I decided to turn that idea on its head for this card!  I stamped a floral design over the card base with the solid flower and small leaves, then placed a plain panel over the top featuring just the sentiment, a fussy cut flower, a scored frame and plenty of white space.


You really do have to get some of these little dahlias - quite a bit of the time it took to make this card was spent squealing over them! They come in all the latest in-colours and are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! The fussy cut flower is given more importance than the background ones by having the detailed line image stamped over the top in a darker colour. (I used Primrose Petals and Raspberry Ripple which make a perfect pair) and by giving it a dimensional centre.


This happy birthday from Curly Cute makes a good strong focus to the card. There are rumours that this wonderful set of sentiments might retire quite soon so I would advise you to get it soon if you're a fan!

I thought I might link this card up as a second entry to Addicted to CAS where the challenge is Birthday and the fabulous new (to me) CAS on Sunday where the team is looking for Pastel Pretties.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Curly Cute, Summer Silhouettes (background flower centres)
Ink: Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Garden Green, Summer Starfruit
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Simply Scored tool, paper snips, In colour dahlias, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Get more for your money - place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

It still appears to be winter in Buckingham this week but what I don't understand is that the garden has decided to ignore this and press on regardless. "The garden needs an assault," said my husband yesterday. "Salt?" I said, mis-hearing him and thinking of triffids. "Isn't that a little drastic?!" 

I'll have more floral loveliness to show you tomorrow I think. See you then,

Monday 20 May 2013

Stippled Blossoms with many wishes

When it comes to Stippled Blossoms, I've really got the bit between my teeth! I used it today to make a card using the gorgeous sketch at CASe this sketch - come and see:


Using one of my favourite colour combinations, I started by stamping the large flower and added the smaller flowers and leaves afterwards. Stippled Blossoms is a two-step stamping set so you stamp the solid image first and then stamp over them with the line image to get a lot of definition. You can use a stamp-a-majig to do this but sometimes I think it's nice if it's not too accurate (or perhaps I'm just saying that because mine isn't too accurate LOL!)


Markers are brilliant for giving the flowers coordinating detail and I used the same colour card stock to mat the panel. 


I expect you noticed that the sentiment has gone slightly wrong... It was going to say 'sending happy birthday wishes' and then I got carried away and used 'wishing you' instead so I'll have to send this to someone who has the sense of humour to appreciate the many, many wishes involved!

This is the sketch I was working with today:

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Hopeful Wishes and Petite Pairs (sentiment)
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Summer Starfruit, Lucky Limeade, Old Olive, Basic Grey
Card stock: Whisper White, Tangerine Tango
Other: Markers, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Get more for your money - place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

I asked my youngest son whether when he was little he'd believed the wishes he'd made when blowing out his birthday candles. "Yes," he said. "Because they always came true!" He paused. "Of course they were things that were quite likely to come true," he added. "Like wishing we could have take away curry for tea and that I could go to bed late!" What a sweetie he is - always delighted with the simple things in life!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Stippled Blossoms creation. See you then!

Saturday 18 May 2013

Feline peckish with Storybook Friends

It was such a busy week last week that I had to have a lie-in this morning to get my strength back and, when I did finally surface, I ignored the hoovering and the washing up (hoping someone else might do it!) and checked out some challenges - aren't I the rebel today?! Less is More would like to see Cats and Dogs; stamping on designer paper is the order of the day at CASual Fridays; and there's a birthday card challenge at Addicted to CAS. Come and see how I combined them:

Card made with Storybook Friends from Stampin' Up

Stampin' Up's Patterns designer paper stacks are subtle enough to behave as 'white' space. I stamped the cute little cat from Storybook Friends onto this striped design and then again on a white banner so that I could make the tail appear to drape over it. Let's zoom in a bit so you can see:

The cat from Storybook Friends by Stampin' Up

A circle of piercing and a line of Island Indigo under the sentiment add detail and I gave that naughty cat a butterfly to bat at - but rest assured no butterflies were harmed in the making of this card! My own cat, Tuppence, is a fiend for eating small flying creatures and actually ate a wasp the other day. I panicked all afternoon but she didn't appear to suffer any adverse reaction!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Storybook Friends, Itty Bitty Banners
Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Island Indigo in marker form
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Calypso Coral
Other: Patterns designer paper stack in Subtles, Essentials paper-piercing pack and tool, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Get more for your money - place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

When my children were small they all enjoyed the Beatrix Potter books and definitely identified with her naughty mice, cheeky squirrels, bold cats and foolhardy rabbits! One of our favourites was the Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher and they would always squeal with delighted horror when the frog says: "I will eat a butterfly sandwich and wait till the shower is over". I still say that now if it's raining and I want to go out, although naturally I've never actually eaten one!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend,
PS. No-one did the washing up and hoovering of course - better do it now!

Friday 17 May 2013

Stippled Blossoms in a jar

Stampin' Up's Stippled Blossoms set arrived at my house last week and yesterday I finally had some time to see what it could do. The flowers in this set are truly stunning and, since the cue word at CASology this week is 'Bloom', what better set to use?! Come and see:


You may have thought I'd got over putting everything in the Perfectly Preserved jar but all it takes is a new stamp set and I'm off again! Stippled Blossoms is a two-step stamping set - you stamp a solid image and then a detailed line image over the top to create an image that really pops.


Once I'd stamped my flowers and leaves, I fussy cut them (yes, it was a sunny day again!) and arranged them 'in' my jar. I adore these blooms in Calypso Coral!


It was easy to doodle some stems, complete with thorns, using the thick and thin ends of a marker and I finished the card with a sentiment from the Perfectly Preserved set and a simple line to 'ground' the jar.

Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Perfectly Preserved
Ink: Calypso Coral, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Garden Green, Basic Grey
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Markers, corner rounder, paper snips, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Get more for your money - place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

These beautiful flowers remind me of the roses at the David Austin garden at Albrighton. We went there a couple of years ago on my birthday and I was in heaven wandering around inhaling the scent of the roses... at least I was until I realised that all the children were doing impressions of me sniffing the roses, complete with vulgar pig noises!

What are the chances of 'crafting weather' this weekend? Quite high I think... Have fun, whatever you're up to, and I'll see you back here very soon.

Thursday 16 May 2013

Three Minute masculine washi tape card

Things have been so manic around here lately that I haven't had time to get going on my This and That journal (although I have heaps of ideas!) but I've not been able to resist the lure of the washi tape that came in the bundle - I'm LOVING it!!! It's perfect for making quick cards too - like this masculine card I made for my Three Minute Thursday spot today. Come and see:


Washi tape is a bit like masking tape (only a bit shinier and heaps more decorative!) and you can tear it easily. The This and That washi tapes  - you can see them in the photo above - are lovely and edgy and coordinate beautifully.


To make this card, I stamped my panel with the splodge image from French Foliage, using Crumb Cake and Basic Grey inks, then added strips of washi tape quite randomly over the top. Can you see how the inking shows nicely through the translucent tape? Those coral asterisks at the top were stamped with the This and That rotary stamp - another thing I'm really excited about!


The card was finished with this blocky happy birthday sentiment from Stampin' Up's Essentials stamp set which I find really useful for male cards.
• Don't forget the This and That range is available in a super-value bundle until 30th May 2013. See this post for details.

Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: French Foliage, Essentials, This and That rotary stamp
Ink: Crumb Cake, Basic Grey
Card stock: Whisper White, Sahara Sand
Other: This and That washi tape, Calypso Coral marker, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Get more for your money - place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

The other day, when my youngest son came in from school, I asked him how his day had been. "Average," he replied gloomily. "Well that's a bonus then!" I said encouragingly. "Isn't Wednesday the day with your least favourite lessons? So you went expecting it to be a bad day and in fact it turned out to be average - that's great!" He looked at me. "It's Tuesday today," he said.

I think it's Friday tomorrow (although I could be wrong!) and I'll be back with another project. See you then!