Mail-friendly Monday - using Sweet Summer

Hello! Welcome to Mail-friendly Monday, my brand new series showcasing cards that pop straight in the post with a standard postage stamp. Of course, it's lovely to make cards full of dimension and embellishments, but I hope to show you that a flatter card doesn't have to be boring!

I have to tell you that I have fallen in love again... No! Mrs Clooney can relax! This time it's my aqua painter! Whenever I've needed to colour an image I've tended to reach for my blender pens, but the aqua painter is quicker and you don't need to be as accurate - all excellent news for me! Come and see what I've done with it:

I've taken the mop-head flower image from the gorgeous Sale-a-bration set Sweet Summer and used one of my favourite colour combinations - Rich Razzleberry, Night of Navy and Elegant Eggplant - to create this design. (By the way if you're also a fan of these colours together, check out page 59 of the Idea Book and Catalogue for more inspiration.)

Have you seen the sentiment? This is one of the sentiments from one of last year's Sale-a-bration sets and I've used it again and again over the year - that's a very hard-working freebie! Sale-a-bration is a great time to build up your stamp collection as you get a gorgeous new set absolutely free with each £45 you spend! There are other ways to earn free sets too - click here for more information.

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut a piece of Whisper White card stock 7.5cm square.
• Stamp a design with the mop-head flower image from Sweet Summer using Rich Razzleberry, Night of Navy and Elegant Eggplant inks. Fill in the gaps between the flowers with the leaf stamp from the set.
• Using your aqua painter, pick up ink from the very edges of the ink pads to colour the flowers. Use a paler wash to colour in between the petals. Colour the leaves, making some dark and some pale, then colour in the gaps between leaves and flowers with a paler wash. Leave to dry.
• When dry, colour the centres of the flowers with the thin end of an Elegant Eggplant marker.
• Use a stamp-a-majig to stamp a sentiment.
• Mount the floral panel onto a 8cm square piece of Rich Razzleberry card stock.
• Mount this onto a 9cm square Night of Navy card base. 

Supplies
Stamps: Sweet Summer (free Sale-a-bration set), sentiment from retired Sale-a-bration set
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Night of Navy and Elegant Eggplant, Garden Green
Card stock: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Night of Navy
Other: Elegant Eggplant marker

We have been partying away this weekend and have had a lovely time with our friends. But now, I feel, it's time to stop eating rich food and start spring cleaning! Hope you've all had lovely new year celebrations and that 2011 is good to you.

Thank you for joining me for Mail-friendly Monday today. I'll be back tomorrow with more inspiration for using your Sale-a-bration sets. As always, I am here to help or give advice with orders - just click here to email me, or phone me on 01280 820593.