Mail-friendly Monday - using Just Believe

Good Morning! It's Mail-friendly Monday and I have another card designed to pop in the post with a standard letter postage stamp - no need to weigh these cards or check how thick they are.

I'm showing you a one layer card today made with the gorgeous Just Believe stamp set. Some stamp images are striking enough to stand alone with little or no embellishment, and this image is one of them!

I absolutely love this image and find that it looks quite different  depending on the colours you use. Today I'm using a colour scheme that I find myself using again and again - Old Olive, Daffodil Delight and Night of Navy.

The clear mount version of Just Believe is just £25.95! You could buy it with a Daffodil Delight and an Old Olive marker £2.95 each, a Night of Navy ink pad £4.95 and a Stamp-a-majig £10.95 (which comes to £47.75) and choose a free sale-a-bration stamp set! Click here to see all four sale-a-bration sets and to find out more.

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut a 9cm x 18cm piece of Whisper White card stock. Score and cut in half to make a 9cm square card blank.
• Use markers directly on the rubber to colour the stamp, huff on it to remoisten the ink and stamp on the left of the card. Colour the stamp again and stamp only the top of it next to the first image.
• Stamp the sentiment using a stamp-a-majig for accurate positioning.

Supplies
Stamps: Just Believe
Ink: Night of Navy
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Daffodil Delight and Old Olive markers

I made several of this card and gave them to the three lovely friends who had my children to stay this weekend while my husband and I galavanted off to London for a fiftieth birthday party. Thanks to them, off I went in killer heels and a posh frock, danced until dawn and generally behaved like a teenager... and hobbled home next day, a very bleary old lady! Early nights are looking a very attractive option for this week!

Hope you had a fabulous weekend. Do join me tomorrow when I'll have more projects to show you using Just Believe -  my latest obsession!
See you then,

Masculine birthday card using So Happy For You

Good morning! I hope you're sitting down because today I'm going to suggest you might like to cut some of your stamps up. Does that sound drastic? I promise it's not! Take a look at the star image from the Sale-a-bration set So Happy For You for example:

Can you see the trail it has attached to it? Well I thought that if the star and its trail were two separate stamps, it would be twice as useful! Did you see this star card I posted yesterday? Well it would have taken much longer if I'd had to colour in the star with a marker each time I wanted to ink it up. So I separated the star and its trail with my lovely Craft and Rubber scissors - these cut through the sticky rubber like a hot knife through butter! I stuck the star on the top of my wooden block, the trail on the bottom and the label on the side so now I can use them individually. This works with lots of other stamps too. Why not have a look through the catalogue and see how you can make the stamps work harder!

On today's card, I made a background pattern with the star's trail using all my favourite earthy colours.

I thought this leaf from the wonderful Autumn Splendor stamp set worked beautifully with the pattern. I ADORE this set and there was a time when I found it very difficult not to reach for it every day! Luckily Christmas happened and even I found it a bit tricky to use it for festive cards!

Don't you love the Pumpkin Pie button? I threaded it with a sliver of Early Espresso card stock and knotted it carefully. Now I want to make a card with loads of buttons on it! If you're wondering where the sentiment comes from, I created it out of two of the others from So Happy For You - which is one of the benefits of owning a stamp-a-majig. It costs £10.95 and I believe every stamping home should have one! Don't forget that until 28th February you get to choose one of the Sale-a-bration stamp sets free for each £45 you spend with me! Click here for more details and to see all the sets.

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut a 9cm square piece of Whisper White card stock. Stamp it all over with the star-trail stamp using five earthy colours of ink.
• Sponge the edges of the card stock heavily with Cajun Craze ink, then sponge the very edges with Always Artichoke.
• Fix a piece of wide grosgrain ribbon across the panel, securing one end round the back and snipping the other end decoratively.
• Stamp the leaf on Whisper White card stock using Always Artichoke ink. Colour it using Old Olive ink and an aqua painter and fix to the ribbon with dimensionals.
• Make the 'happy birthday' sentiment from 'so happy for you' and 'birthday wishes' using a stamp-a-majig. Cut out with sharp paper snips and attach to the ribbon with a thin strip of dimensional, allowing it to overlap the leaf.
• Cut a very thin strip of Early Espresso card stock and use to thread a button. Knot it carefully and attach to the panel with a glue dot or some Sticky Strip.
• Cut a 10.5cm x 21cm piece of Crumb Cake card stock. Score and fold in half to create a card base and sponge the edges with Whisper White craft ink. Attach the decorated panel to the card front.

Supplies

Stamps: So Happy For You (FREE sale-a-bration set), Autumn Splendor

Ink: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White craft ink

Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Other: 5/8" Early Espresso grosgrain ribbon, Pumpkin Pie button

I hope you've enjoyed my male-friendly moment today and I hope you'll come and join me for a mail-friendly moment on Monday!

Have a fabulous weekend, 

Three Minute Thursday - using So Happy For You

Good morning! Welcome to Three Minute Thursday, the home of snappy cards! Now, picture this scenario: It's valentine's day and a gorgeous guy you know in the office has dropped a card on your desk swearing undying love! You didn't have an inkling - but now you come to think of it he's your dream come true! You have nothing to give him to show him his feelings are reciprocated... What do you do?!!!

Alright, alright, you old cynics - I know this could never happen! But just in case it ever did, here's a valentine you can whip up in seconds with a couple of ink pads and some post-it notes:

I got terribly excited when I was making this card because I suddenly remembered the sentiment from Vintage Vogue...

...How perfect is that for valentine's day!

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut an A5 piece of Very Vanilla card stock. Score and fold it in half to make a card base.
• Take four post-it notes and use them to mask off a square or rectangle.
• Using the heart image and Cherry Cobbler ink, stamp a design within the masked off area. Stamp the heart several times before re-inking as this will create a variety of tones.
• Use a sponge dauber and Pink Pirouette ink to add definition to the edges before peeling the post-it notes away.
• Add a sentiment, using a stamp-a-majig to make sure it's straight.

Supplies
Stamps: So Happy For You (FREE Sale-a-bration set, click here for details), Vintage Vogue
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Pink Pirouette
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Post-it notes (from stationer)

I thought you might be interested to see another card I made using this technique.

This one uses the star from So Happy For You, which I've separated from its trail to make it even more versatile. Night of Navy and Bashful Blue are the ink colours.

And the sentiment for this one came from the Afterthoughts hostess set (remember, you can't buy these sets, but you can get them free when you host a stamping party - click here for details.)

The inspiration for these cards came from my Emma Bridgewater mug, so you see it pays to just stop and have a cup of coffee when you're wondering what to do next! Perhaps I should start getting inspiration from large boxes of chocolate...

Thank you so much for spending time with me today. Tomorrow I'll be talking about dividing your stamps to make them work harder.
Hope to see you then!

Good luck cards - using So Happy For You

At some stage or another, somebody we care about will put themselves up for a challenge - from exams and driving tests, to marathons and mountain climbs for charity. A good luck card is a lovely way of showing your support.

This week I'm showing you cards made with the So Happy For You stamp set, one of four fabulous sets that you get free when you place a £45 order (click here for details). This is the set:

And here's the good luck card I made with it:

The little clover stamp is perfect for this repeat image background and can also be cut out to make accents as I did here.

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut an 11.5cm x 7.5cm piece of Whisper White card stock. 
• Stamp clovers all over it in three different green inks, starting with the palest.
• Stick Early Espresso wide grosgrain ribbon to the clover panel with Snail adhesive, wrapping the ends behind the card stock for a neat finish. 
• Cut an oval from Garden Green card stock using the large oval punch, and stick it onto the clover panel, slightly overlapping the Early Espresso ribbon. 
• Wrap Pumpkin Pie narrow grosgrain ribbon round the clover panel, taking it over the middle of the green oval. Use Snail adhesive to stick it down.
• Stamp the sentiment onto Whisper White card stock and cut out with the medium oval punch. Sponge the edges with a touch of Certainly Celery ink. Stick to the Garden Green oval, over the top of the Pumpkin Pie ribbon, using dimensionals.
• Stamp a clover in each shade of green onto Whisper White card stock and cut them out with sharp paper snips. Fix these around the sentiment with dimensionals. TIP: I snip off edge pieces from a packet of dimensionals and use them to stick small items.
• Mount the clover panel onto a piece of Garden Green card stock, then onto a piece of Certainly Celery card stock. Finally mount this onto an A5 Crumb Cake card base.

Supplies
Stamps: So Happy For You (Free set with Sale-a-bration)
Ink: Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Garden Green
Other: 1/4" grosgrain ribbon in Pumpkin Pie, 5/8" grosgrain ribbon in Early Espresso, large and medium oval punches

I love the 'good luck' sentiment that comes with this set. It's quite effective as the focus of a card too, as on this one:

It was easy to line the words up with my stamp-a-majig and I added some layered scallops made with the scallop border punch. The colours here are Old Olive, Not Quite Navy and Daffodil Delight.

These cards could be accompanied by a little good luck charm. When I was at school, I remember lucky gonks were all the rage - remember these? (No? Well it was sometime in the middle ages after all!)

Thanks for popping in today -  I really do appreciate your visits and comments. It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow and I'll be here with the quickest card ever! Hope you can join me,

Birthday card - using So Happy For You

Regular readers of my blog will know that I'm usually a clean and simple girl but there's more than a hint of the boudoir in today's post!

You probably know that as part of the Sale-a-bration promotion, you can choose one of four exclusive stamp sets free each time you place an order of £45 or more. Well, one of the free sets is this sentiment set:

Not terribly feminine, you may be thinking! But look:

I set myself the challenge of using just the stamps from the sentiment set to create something pretty and girlie. And it was great fun!

The main panel has been sponged to make a quick background, then I stamped a riot of flowers over it, using the tiny flower stamp, on stems made from the trail of the butterfly. Some of the flowers were 'stamped off ' which gives a lovely range of tones. I dotted the insides of the paler flowers with the fine end of a marker and decorated the darker ones with lovely sparkly rhinestones.

An extravagant satin bow adds to the feminine feel as does the lacy border, cut with the scallop trim border punch.

I layered more details with a little piercing, faux stitching, distressing and tone-on-tone stamping.

That gorgeous little butterfly makes the perfect finishing touch - although, looking at it now, I wish I'd moved him a tad to the right.

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut an 8cm x 6.5cm piece of Very Vanilla card stock. Lightly sponge the top half with Marina Mist ink and the bottom half with Old Olive ink to create a simple background.
• Use the trail of the butterfly stamp to stamp stems on the bottom of the card stock in Old Olive ink.
• Use Rich Razzleberry ink to stamp flowers. Stamp two or three flowers at a time before re-inking the stamp (this technique is called Stamping Off) to create a range of tones. Colour the centre of the paler flowers with the thin end of a Not Quite Navy marker and decorate the darker ones with self-adhesive rhinestones.
• Stamp the sentiment and the butterfly using a stamp-a-majig for accuracy.
• Mount the panel onto an 8.5cm x 7cm piece of Rich Razzleberry card stock.
• Cut a 10.5cm x 8.5cm piece of Pink Pirouette card stock and curve the corners with a corner rounder. Stamp flowers over the bottom half of it using Pink Pirouette ink, which gives a tone-on-tone effect. Use the template from the mat pack to pierce holes round the edge and join the holes with the thin end of a Pink Pirouette marker to create faux stitching. Distress the edges of the card stock and sponge with Pink Pirouette ink.
• Tie a piece of Old Olive satin ribbon round the Pink Pirouette card stock and finish with a big bow. Attach the flower panel on top using dimensionals.
• Cut an A5 piece of Very Vanilla card stock. Score and fold in half to make a card base. 
• Cut an A5 x 5cm strip of Very Vanilla card stock and decorate the long edges with the scallop trim border punch. Use the template from the mat pack to pierce holes along the insides of the border. Glue the strip to the card front and attach the focal panel on top of it.

Supplies
Stamps: So Happy For You (FREE sale-a-bration set)
Ink: Marina Mist, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette, Rich Razzleberry
Other: Basic Rhinestones, scallop trim border punch, Old Olive satin ribbon, Not Quite Navy marker, corner rounder

If you would like to order any of the supplies to re-create this card, or have any questions, please click here to email me, or give me a ring on 01280 820593. I'm happy to help!

All this feminine frivolity has made me feel a bit wistful. I often think it must have been wonderful to wear those pretty, lacy Edwardian frocks... but then my practical side takes over and I wonder how on earth they got their hems clean! A bustle would play havoc with your tumble drier too so, all things considered, I think I'll stick to my jeans!

Thank you for looking today.
See you tomorrow for a little bit of luck!

Mail-friendly Monday - using Sweet Summer again

Good morning! Welcome to Mail-friendly Monday where you'll find cards that pop in the post with a standard postage stamp. The most important thing to remember about these cards is that anything knobbly (brads, adhesive gems, ribbon in knots and bows etc) will tip it over into the next postage bracket. But that doesn't mean it has to be plain and unembellished!

Today I want to show you a birthday card I made using the Sweet Summer Sale-a-bration stamp set.  This is a set of nine incredible stamps which costs... NOTHING!!! Click here to find out how to get your hands on these gorgeous sets!

Are you wondering what designer paper I've used here? It's not a DP of course, it's just Certainly Celery card stock that's been stamped all over with the mop-head flower stamp from Sweet Summer, using Old Olive ink. I added flower centres with the fine end of a Not Quite Navy marker, which might seem like a very time-consuming and mad thing to do but which actually turned out to be pretty quick. Sometimes I think of things and just can't rest until I know what it looks like!

These unusual flower heads fascinate me! I made stalks for them with my sewing machine, threaded up with an Always Artichoke-coloured cotton. Sewing is a great way of adding non-bulky detail to your cards.

The sentiment is from another free Sale-a-bration set called So Happy For You. You get ten stamps in the set, five of which are really useful sentiment stamps - and we all need more of those! I love the little butterfly too, lovely for adding a bit of extra detail. I shall be taking a look at how to get the most out of this set this week, so look out for that.

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut a piece of Certainly Celery card stock 8cm x 12.75cm and curve the top, left-hand corner with a corner rounder.
• Stamp the mophead flower image repeatedly over the card stock using Old Olive ink. Add centres to the flowers with the fine end of a Not Quite Navy marker. 
• Sponge the edges of the card stock using Old Olive ink and a sponge dauber.
• Stamp the sentiment in Rose Red ink, using a stamp-a-majig for accuracy.
• Sew three stalks using a sewing machine threaded with green cotton. Pull the ends of the cotton through to the back of the card stock and secure with double sided tape.
• Stamp the butterfly above the sentiment and over the top of the sewn stalks.
• Stamp the other flower head three times using Old Olive ink on Very Vanilla card stock. Colour the petals with a Rose Red marker and the seeds and base of the flower head with an Always Artichoke marker. Cut the flowers heads out with sharp paper snips and attach to the tops of the stalks with dimensionals.
• Mount the panel onto a piece of Rose Red card stock cut to 8.5cm x 13.25cm and with the corner rounded.
• Attach this to the front of a Very Vanilla A5 card base.

Supplies
Stamps: Sweet Summer, So Happy For You (FREE Sale-a-bration sets)
Ink: Old Olive £4.95
Card stock: Very Vanilla (A4 pack £7.50), Certainly Celery, Rose Red (A4 Subtles £6.25)
Other: Regals markers £23.95, Corner rounder £6.25

All these supplies come to a total of £48.90 which means that you get to choose your free stamp set! It's easy to order from me - just click here to email me, or phone me on 01280 820593. I pride myself on my customer service and am always happy to help.

I hope you all had a great weekend. I've had a wonderful (and rare!) restful weekend with my family, with plenty of fun and crafting and even time to curl up with a book! Lovely!
See you tomorrow for something gorgeous and feminine,

Valentine/anniversary card using Sweetheart

Oh my goodness - the sun is out! I've come out of hibernation, cheered up no end, put a skirt on and filled my cards with colour! Here's a lively valentine for you:

Of course, with a change of sentiment, it could be a birthday card, anniversary card, congratulations card... I think you get the message on that! I've used the scallop border punch to decorate the edges of the card stock and I love the way they look layered up.

The bird is from the Sweetheart stamp set - isn't he a little cutie? He's holding a little flower cut out of one of the Play Date designer papers. I am SUCH a fan of these papers!

The banner is made with hearts cut out of coloured card stock using the small heart punch. I added a touch of white gel pen to make them look delicious! By the way, the little punch costs only £4.95 and you can make these banners with it, not to mention flowers, confetti, four-leaf clovers etc... if you don't own this, you're probably wondering why on earth not!

The ends of the banner are decorated with the gorgeous taffeta ribbon in Marina Mist. I love this style of ribbon, firstly because the weave of the ribbon means that the edges are slightly darker than the middle which is very pretty; and secondly, because it's very pliable, which means you can make effortless bows that aren't too bulky.

If you were to order some of these items, just look what you'd get for your money:

Scallop border punch £14.25

Small heart punch £4.95

9.1 metres taffeta ribbon £6.25

A4 pack of assorted subtles card stock £6.25

A4 pack of assorted brights card stock £6.25

Pack of Play Date designer papers £8.75

All this comes to just £46.70 AND... you get to choose one of the free Sale-a-bration stamp sets as well! Click here to see the free sets and for more details, and click here to email me your order.

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut a piece of Bashful Blue card stock 13.5cm x 6.5cm and scallop one of the long sides. Sponge the edges of the card stock with Marina Mist ink.
• Using a plate as a template, draw a curved line onto the card stock with the thick end of a Marina Mist marker to represent string.
• Use a 1/8" circle punch to make a hole at each end of the line, about half a centimetre in from the edges of the card stock. Thread a piece of taffeta ribbon through each hole and tie into a pretty bow. Trim the ends of the ribbon.
• Stamp a sentiment, using a stamp-a-majig for accurate placement. (I embellished my sentiment with a tiny heart cut from the smallest flower on the Boho Blossoms punch.)
• Cut some heart shapes out of bright card stock using the small heart punch. Attach to the 'string' with dimensionals and add 'shine' with a white gel pen.
• Now cut a piece of Melon Mambo and a piece of Daffodil Delight card stock 13.4cm x 2.5cm. Scallop one of the long sides on each of these. Also cut a piece of designer paper 13.4cm x 3.5cm. All of these pieces need to be layered onto a 14cm x 9cm rectangle of Old Olive card stock finishing with the main image. Fix in place with glue.
• Stamp the bird from Sweetheart using Daffodil Delight ink and add an eye with the Marina Mist marker. Cut the bird out and stand him on the banner using a dimensional. Cut a flower out of the designer paper for the bird to hold. Attach this with a touch of glue, allowing one of the leaves to overlap his beak.

Supplies

Stamps: Sweetheart, Basic Phrases and Hello You (sentiment)

Ink: Marina Mist, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight

Card stock: Marina Mist, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight

Other: Scallop border, small heart, 1/8" circle punches, Play Date designer paper, Marina Mist taffeta ribbon, Marina Mist marker, white gel pen

It might not quite be flip-flops weather, but I've taken a few tottering steps out into the garden and there are exciting little shoots coming up everywhere! AND it wasn't quite pitch black when I got up this morning. Looks as if there's hope... but I won't put my hot water bottle away just yet!

Do come back and join me for Mail-friendly Monday if you're interested in flat, easy-to-post cards with a bit of pizzaz! I must just add that when I mentioned this to my teenage daughter, she said: "You may not get any interest in that."

"Why not?" I asked, rather nettled.

"Well, they might have all renounced men!" she said.

There was a bewildered silence for a few moments and then I said: "Its MAIL-friendly Monday you loon, not MALE-friendly Monday!"

So anyway, do join me for Mail-friendly Monday and feel free to bring a male!

Have a lovely weekend!

Three Minute Thursday - using Sweetheart

Good morning! Welcome to Three Minute Thursday - the place to come for speedy but (I hope!) interesting cards. Since time is ticking on towards valentines day, I thought we'd better crack on with some hearty cards! How about this romantic little number:

The designer papers come from the Play Date range and if you were only going to invest in one pack of papers this season, I'd recommend this one because there are so many different types of design in it. You could cover almost every occasion with these papers.

This could have been a rather fussy design, but the monochromatic colour scheme calms it down. (It was quite hard to get a realistic photo of this - in reality, the stamped heart is quite defined but in the photo it seems to blend into the background.)

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut a piece of Whisper White card stock 9cm x 18cm. Score and fold in half to create a card base.
• Cut an 8cm square piece of heart designer paper and attach it to the card front.
• Use a stamp-a-majig to stamp the heart outline using Cherry Cobbler ink.
• Cut a heart out of the tiny polka dot paper using the large heart punch. Stamp a flourish onto it and fix it inside the stamped heart with dimensionals.
• Stamp the word 'love' onto Riding Hood Red card stock using Whisper White craft ink and cut out. TIP: I used the Jewellery Tag punch and trimmed the edge to make a nice neat rectangle. 
• Attach the Love tag to the heart with a piece of dimensional.

Supplies
Stamps: Sweetheart, Baroque Motifs, Tiny Tags
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White craft ink
Card stock: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red
Other: Play Date designer paper, large heart punch

The main components of this card are the large heart punch £15.50, the Sweetheart stamp set £22.95 and the Play Date designer paper £8.75 - which, totted up, comes to £47.20. And, with the Sale-a-bration promotion, your money will stretch even further as you get to choose one of the four exclusive Sale-a-bration stamps absolutely free! To find out more, click here for details; and to order click here to email me.

I hope this card has got you in the mood for romance because love will definitely be in the air over the coming weeks! But don't worry if you don't make valentines cards - you can always adapt the cards for other occasions - and I'll be showing you examples.

See you tomorrow with more of my paper moments!

Birthday card - using Just Believe

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you'll know how I like to design and make speedy little cards but sometimes, when I have the time, it is nice to spend just little bit longer. I made today's card for a lady with a special birthday.

This stamp set is, in my opinion, the best stamp set in the current catalogue! It's seems quite pricey at £32.95 but the set contains nine fabulous stamps which work out at £3.66 each, so it's actually a complete bargain!

What do you think of this colour scheme - Always Artichoke, Marina Mist and Concord Crush? Yum! I stamped the large plant directly onto the designer paper, which gives a softer look than stamping onto card stock, and then cut the smaller flowers out and layered them over the top. And yes, it WAS fiddly to cut out those flowers but didn't they teach you at school that just because something is hard doesn't mean you shouldn't do it?!!

How to make this card:

(I made it to fit a 14.5cm square envelope)

• Cut an 8.5cm x 9cm piece of the Patterns designer paper in Marina Mist. Scallop the 9cm length with the scallop trim border punch so that you end up with an 8.5cm square.
• Colour the large plant image with markers and stamp directly onto the DP.
• Mount the DP onto a 9cm square of Always Artichoke card stock and decorate with Concord Crush ribbon tied into a flat knot.
• Colour the small flowers image with markers and stamp onto a scrap of Whisper White. Cut this out with sharp paper snips and layer over the other stamped image.
• Stamp the sentiment and cut out with the word window punch.
• Decorate with an self-adhesive pearl.
• Cut a 13cm x 26cm piece of Whisper White card stock. Score and fold in half to make a card base. Attach the focal panel to the card front. 

Supplies

Stamps: Just Believe, Happy Moments (retired Sale-a-bration 2010 set)

Ink: Always Artichoke

Card stock: Whisper White, Always Artichoke

Other: Patterns designer paper stack in Subtles, Poly-stitched ribbon in Concord Crush, scallop trim border, word window punch, Basic pearls, markers

The sentiment I used in this card was in one of last year's free Sale-a-bration sets and has been SO useful.  A girl can never have too many sentiment stamps (not to mention diamonds, shoes, chocolates etc)! This year, there's another Sale-a-bration sentiment stamp set as well as three other gorgeous sets. Click here to see them and find out how you can get hold of them FREE! If you love the Just Believe set, why not order it from me today? You could buy the unmounted set (£25.95) with the border trim punch (£14.25) and a packet of self adhesive pearls (£4.50), which will come to £44.70, and you'd be able to add one of the free sets to your shopping bag! I am always happy to help with your orders - just click here to email me.  

Can you believe that it's Thursday tomorrow?! I can't imagine how that happened so quickly but I do hope you'll join me for Three Minute Thursday when I'll be showcasing a speedy valentine.

Until then, happy crafting!

Stampin' Up gift set for £50

Recently, my lovely friend asked me to devise a gift set for her mum who was just starting out with stamping. I was given a budget of around £50. I set myself the task of making sure that the items I chose would be really versatile. I wanted my friend's mum to be able to make cards for lots of different occasions and all sorts of people of different ages and genders.

I gave this project a lot of thought and eventually came up with this set:

I made the box base out of two 12" x 12" sheets of Crumb Cake card stock and the lid from two 12" x 12" sheets of the gorgeous, textured card stock in Old Olive. The box was topped with a piece of Very Vanilla card stock, stamped with the Medallion background stamp using Old Olive ink. I matted it onto Early Espresso card stock before attaching it to the lid of the box.

The gorgeous wide, striped grosgrain ribbon is just the right scale for a large box like this and can also be used to embellish cards when the gift has been opened. I made a gift tag by stamping the medallion twice and cutting out the centres with a 1 3/4" and a 1" punch, then layering them with dimensionals. A large adhesive rhinestone adds a touch of sparkle and the tag is tied to the ribbon using silver elastic cord.

Inside this box is:

1 Pack of assorted card stock - I suggested brights because it contains Old Olive, the essential green! 

1 Pack of Whisper White card stock, the perfect basic.

Trendy Trees stamp set - because it comes with two sentiments and is good for males, females and children and can cover all seasons and all occasions.

All a Flutter stamp - covers male and female cards and many occasions.

Early Espresso ink pad - for the trunks of the trees and for stamping the butterfly ready for colouring.

Old Olive ink pad - for the tree tops, and because it's the world's best colour ever! (I'm quite a fan of Old Olive - can you tell?!)

Two markers, in Marina Mist and Pretty in Pink, for colouring images, colouring stamps to get multi-coloured images and for picking out bits of sentiments and other stamps.

Don't you just want to dive in and start crafting?!!

The items in this set came to a total of £50.45 and do you know what is amazing? If you ordered them during the Sale-a-bration promotion, you would get an extra stamp set FREE! Now, that is extraordinary value! Click here for all the details. If you'd like to make an order, simply send me an email or phone me on 01280 820593.

It's been so dark and gloomy in Buckingham this past few days that I really feel like hibernating! Still, it makes us appreciate the spring when it finally arrives.

Thank you for spending your time with me today. I'll be back tomorrow with a birthday card using the magnificent Just Believe set. Do pop in and see!

Mail-Friendly Monday - using Lovely as a Tree

Good morning! Welcome to Mail-friendly Monday - the series I've set up to give you an easy reference for easy-to-post cards.

I want to show you a sympathy card today. At some stage, we all need cards to express our support to those that are grieving and my feeling about this is that the card shouldn't take over. This is definitely an occasion when clean and simple comes into its own.

I think a simple sponged background with the striking trees from Lovely as a Tree strikes the right note. To prevent the card from looking too stark I added a double row of pierced holes using the template from my Mat Pack.

When you hold the card up to the light it creates this interesting effect.

How to make this card:

(I made it to fit an 11cm square envelope.)

• Cut a 10.5cm square of Whisper White card stock. Score and fold it in half to make a card base.
• Stamp the trees onto the card front using Early Espresso ink.
• Stamp the same image on a piece of scrap paper or a post-it note and cut it in half along the horizon to make a ground and a sky mask. Hold the ground mask in place and roughly sponge the sky using Marina Mist ink. Then hold the sky mask in place while you sponge the ground using Soft Suede ink, and add dabs of Old Olive ink to add interest. Sponge round the edges of the sky using Not Quite Navy to give the light-on-the-horizon effect.
• Stamp a sentiment in Always Artichoke ink using a stamp-a-majig for accurate placement.
• Add a double row of piercing using the Mat Pack template.

Supplies

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Hopeful Thoughts (sentiment)

Ink: Marina Mist, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Soft Suede, Not Quite Navy

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Always Artichoke marker

If you don't already own Lovely as a Tree, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It was one of the first sets I bought back in 2008 and I've used it again and again for many different occasions and all throughout the year (click on Lovely as a Tree in the index on the sidebar of my blog to see some of the cards I've made with it). It costs £25.95 for a set of six and you'll certainly get your money's worth! Do send me an email if you'd like to make an order - and remember, with orders of £45 you get one of the exclusive Sale-a-bration stamp sets FREE! There are four stunning sets to choose from - click here for details.

I had a lovely day yesterday with some of my crafting friends and we made a gorgeous project (which I didn't finish though because I was talking too much! I'll show you when I've finished!)

I hope you all had good weekends too.

See you tomorrow for more paper fun!