Sending wishes with Butterfly Basics from Stampin' Up

My heart definitely beat faster when I inked up some stamps from Stampin' Up's Butterfly Basics for today's card! Oh my, this set is a beauty! Come and see what I've been up to:

I used the two tall botanicals in the set to create a strong vertical, cutting a mask for the flower so that the fern would appear to be behind it. I know what you're thinking - and you're right! It was a little fiddly, but worth it because I can now keep it in the stamp case and use it again and again.

I adore the greetings in this set and love the bold capitals with that gorgeous ribbon font. This one was stamped in black, cut out with the Extra Large Oval punch and mounted on a stack of glued-together Mossy Meadow ovals for a medallion effect.

I loved colouring the plants! They were stamped in Mossy Meadow ink and coloured with Daffodil Delight and Wild Wasabi blendabilities markers. I have no idea what the flower is - but it's bound to be something that would never turn up in yellow! Perhaps some kind soul could put me straight?!

I made this card when I saw the gorgeously CAS sketch at Less is More. I flipped it upside down for my card.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
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Don't forget you'll get a free Sale-a-bration item for every £45 you spend

Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp Set £21.95	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Extra-Large Oval Punch £15.50
Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock £6.25	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment £10.95	Wild Wasabi Assortment Stampin' Blendabilities Markers £10.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

Puppies and crafting do not mix well. That's all I'm saying today!

See you tomorrow,

Stampin' Up - It's a Happy Thing!

Isn't it wonderful to get all those lovely free Sale-a-bration goodies when shopping for your Stampin' Up products?! You get to choose an item for EVERY £45 you spend and there are other ways to earn freebies during this promotion too! (Click here for more info.)

One of my favourite free stamp sets is A Happy Thing. Come and see what I made with it today:

I'm a terror for bird stamps and squealed when I saw this beautiful warbler! I coloured him with blendabilities markers, punched him out with the 2 1/2" circle punch and mounted him onto a snippet of stamped card stock rescued from the bin!

Do you like the greeting? It's from a new set in the Stampin' Up spring/summer catalogue called Crazy About You and is designed to combine with some beautiful thinlits dies - more on those another time. I love the variety of sayings in this bold upper case font and think they work perfectly alone and are excellent for masculine cards.

I think this little chap really brightens up these dull winter days don't you?

Since this card was made with left over bits and rescued pieces, I'll be linking it up with Pixie's Snippets Playground (where there are some strange snorting noises coming from the bushes!)

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!
Don't forget you'll get a free Sale-a-bration item for every £45 you spend

A Happy Thing Wood Stamp Set £0.00	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Pumpkin Pie Assortment £10.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Coastal Cabana Assortment £10.95
Painted Petals Photopolymer Stamp Set £21.95	Crazy About You Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	2-1/2" Circle Punch £15.50

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

I have another Happy Thing to share today - my daughter's coming home on Friday! I'm off to stock up on her favourite foods and air her bed - see you tomorrow!

Hardwood hearts with a Stampin' Up Blendabilities technique

Valentine cards don't have to be all pink and fluffy. Today's card features hearts, flowers and gems but not in an obvious way! Come and see:

A Basic Grey panel forms a nice, neutral backdrop. I rounded the corners and trimmed out a strip to house the greeting - an appropriate 'I heart you' from Stampin' Up's And Many More stamp set. The hearts were made by stamping a piece of Crumb Cake card stock with the Hardwood background stamp and cutting them out with Hearts framelits.

I sponged the smaller one with Burnt Brown Sugar ink but the larger one was stamped with leaves and flowers from Stampin' Up's new wedding set Your Perfect Day. I stamped them in Whisper White Craft ink then coloured over them with Blendabilities markers. LOVE this technique!

A sprinkling of gems and the card was done - and not a frill in sight!


I was inspired to make this card when I saw the challenge at Fusion. I used both the photo and the sketch.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE MY CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop! 
CHOOSE A FREE SALE-A-BRATION ITEM WITH EVERY £45 YOU SPEND!

Hardwood Clear-Mount Stamp Set £12.95

Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad £6.95

Wild Wasabi Assortment Stampin' Blendabilities Markers £10.95

Pink Pirouette Assortment Stampin' Blendabilities Markers £10.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

I'm loving watching my youngest son bonding with the puppy. Yesterday evening, he was sitting on the floor fondling Eva's ears while she rested her head in his lap. "I prefer your ears to Tuppence's Eva," he was saying to her, then caught my eye and chuckled. "I suppose that's a bit like saying I prefer your ears to Daddy's!" he said.

Have a lovely weekend won't you and I'll be back on Monday with more crafting fun!

Hey Valentine, it's a male birthday! - Stampin' Up Artisan blog hop

Hello and welcome to another Thursday hop round the world to see what the Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team has been up to!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VALENTINE?
Are you getting excited about Valentine's Day yet? Of course you are! A day dedicated to letting your loved ones know how much you care is the best idea ever! There are some gorgeous new Valentine stamp sets in the new Stampin' Up spring/summer catalogue - including Hey Valentine, which is perfect for children's birthday cards too. Come and see:

I got my blendabilities markers out for these cards - and if you haven't yet discovered the therapeutic effect of colouring with these, you are seriously missing out! You can even earn packs of these as a free item with Sale-a-bration, just by spending £45!

Mr Fox is doing a great job of wishing someone a happy first birthday! I coloured him with Stampin' Write markers before stamping so that I could omit the hearts from the number one. TIP: Stampin' Write markers are water-based, so it's fine to use them on your stamps, but don't try it with the alcohol-based blendabilities markers because they'll dry too quickly to stamp and will just stain the rubber. Once I'd stamped the image, I coloured it with blendabilities to create beautifully blended shadows, then added pattern to the number with Stampin' Write markers over the top - see how the markers work wonderfully together!

There's something a little fishy going on with my next card...! (*slaps thighs and wipes eyes* Dear me, the old ones are the best aren't they?! ) The heart has mysteriously disappeared and a birthday present has turned up in its place! I covered the heart with a tiny gift snipped out of card stock (TIP: A square punch is best for this job!) The gift was coloured with Stampin' Write markers and given a 'ribbon' with a few strands of the two tone trim - SO pleased this carried over into the new catalogue!

Any aspiring pirate would be delighted with a birthday card made with this swashbuckling buccaneer! Ooh arr me hearties, extra rations of grog on the poop deck! I snipped his treasure chest away and gave him a present to hand over to the birthday boy instead (but WILL he hand it over?!!!) The greeting I used for all three cards is from the brilliant sentiment set Hey You - LOVE this set!

I had great fun making this trio of cards and I hope you like them too. You'll find plenty more bright ideas on the Artisan blog hop so click the button below to whizz over to Allison Okamitsu and check out her latest offering!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE MY CARDS NOW!
(Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!) 

Hey, Valentine Clear Stamp Set £15.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Coastal Cabana Assortment £10.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Pumpkin Pie Assortment £10.95
Brights Stampin' Write Markers £23.95	Hey You Wood-Mount Stamp Set £12.95	Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock £6.25

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

We always have great fun celebrating birthdays in our family. Now that everyone is older, we tend to come together for a special meal and maybe a games evening, but when they were little I'd organise fun parties for them.

This photo is of me preparing a jungle party for my youngest son's 4th birthday We got hold of some netting from somewhere and filled it with balloons before attaching the netting to the ceiling. To make vines, I cut streamers from crepe paper and threaded them through the netting, adding paper flowers and leaves. There were pop up tents, toy jungle animals, animal-themed music and games, all of which were a big hit. At the end of the party, we let the netting down and encouraged the children to let off steam with the balloons before delivering them back to their parents to calm down...!

See you tomorrow,

Moon Lake by Stampin' Up - a male birthday card.

Did you see this tropical card I posted yesterday using Moon Lake from the Stampin' Up spring/summer catalogue? Today I've inked up the same set for a very different look - come and see:

I used sponging and watercolour techniques again but these greens and blues and all that white space give the scene a calmer feel don't they?

In this close up you can see that I added a sort of splatter effect. To get this, I loaded my aquapainter with Hello Honey ink and ran my fingernail across it so that it sprayed across the panel. TIP: You can get a similar effect in a much less scary way with the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set!

This could be a very conservative card but I put a little pep in its step with this ticker tape-style greeting made by heat embossing a sentiment from Amazing Birthday.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!

Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

Don't forget you'll get a free Sale-a-bration item for every £45 you spend

Moon Lake Wood Stamp Set £23.95	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Pear Pizzaz Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Aqua Painters £12.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

While I was making today's card I got quite carried away dreaming of rowing gently across a tranquil lake. The reality would of course be very different. There'd be mud everywhere, oars falling in the water, puppies barking madly and I'd probably have crashed into the river bank! Perhaps I'd better stick to stamping!

Are you ready for another Artisan Design Team blog hop? Me too - see you here tomorrow!