A great big Less is More thank you!

Well this is rather a late entry from me as it's been quite a day here... (more about that at the end of the post.) I was so excited to see that the challenge at Less is More today is to make a card inspired by the blog's lovely header and also that Kim S, whose work I've admired for ages, is guesting! My card is dedicated to the brilliant Chrissie and Mandi, who work tirelessly to make this challenge such a fun and friendly one - thank you ladies! Come and see it:

I've always admired the LIM header with its flourishes, flowers and musical score and the colour scheme is beautifully understated too. I knew just which stamps I'd use to recreate the feel - out came my Music Notes wheel, my Apothecary Art set and my Sincere Salutations sentiment set! Here's a reminder of the header:

... and here's a close-up of the detail on the card:

First, I heat embossed the sentiment and cut it out with the Decorative Label punch, then mounted it onto Brushed Gold card stock and cut just outside the shape to create a mat. This was attached to a textured black card stock strip and decorated with punched gold flowers and rhinestones. Next, I wheeled the Music Notes across a Whisper White panel. The beautiful frondy flowers on one of the Apothecary Art stamps were added by colouring the rubber with a Basic Black marker and using a stamp-a-majig to position it where it was needed. Finally, the sentiment was added to the front of the white panel and it was attached to the card front.

Here's what you'll need to make this card:

Stamps: Apothecary Art, Music Notes wheel, Sincere Salutations

Ink: Basic Black

Card stock: Whisper White, Brushed Gold, Basic Black textured

Other: Decorative label punch, Itty Bitty punch set, Basic Rhinestones, versamark, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

Would you believe I was halfway through making today's card when my husband came in from a bike ride with my youngest son, blood everywhere, babbling about an accident. My lovely son was still smiling but minus half of his two front teeth, and two minutes later we were on our way to the emergency dentist and I was hearing all about the magnificent dive over the handlebars! He really was so brave while being patched up but unfortunately one of his teeth was shattered vertically and will need quite a bit of treatment. So it looks as if I'll be continuing to live at the dentist for the forseeable future - but with some excellent company this time!

Hope you're having a great weekend. I shall be back tomorrow with an exciting announcement, so do come back then!

Hugs,

Scrapbooking a golden wedding anniversary

I love scrapbooking and would love to do much more of it. The trouble is that it can be so absorbing that whole days go by in the making of a double page... so here's my solution: It's a rather beautiful 6" x 6" ring binder album! It contains ten page protectors and, because it's a ring binder, I won't feel I have to make double page spreads which is what takes me so long.

I had to prove to myself how quick a 6" x 6" page actually would be so I made this one:

Our wonderful weekend helping my husbands parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary was fresh in my mind, so I put together a page on that. I made the title on the computer and wrote my journaling before printing out onto Very Vanilla card stock and adding the photos.

Mindful of the 'golden' theme, I made this brushed gold card stock banner with my Petite Pennants punch and decorated it with piercing. Addicted To Stamps, a fabulous new challenge site, has a monthly scrapbook challenge as well as weekly card making challenges, and they want to see pages with banners this month, so I shall link up this page.

The little tab was made by printing onto More Mustard card stock and cutting out with my decorative label punch.

I stamped a leaf from my Bright Blossoms set three times and set a pretty flower on top to make this embellishment. The flower is my favourite from the Itty Bitty punch pack and I've cut it out of brushed gold card stock and decorated it with a rhinestone.

Here's what you'll need to make this page:

Stamps: Bright Blossoms

Ink: More Mustard

Card stock: Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Brushed Gold

Other: Decorative label, Petite Penant and Itty Bitty punches, Basic Rhinestones, paper piercer, Stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

It has been a frantically busy week here with so many extra activities that I don't know whether I'm coming or going! We've had parties and fashion shows, sports activities and music performances, there have been nail biting tennis fixtures not to mention football matches... but I think one of my highlights has to be a lovely moment at breakfast that saw me and the children playing grape football with finger people. Now that's my idea of sport!

And before I go, thank you to everyone who left a message on yesterday's post. As I sniffed my way through them I had to have another hunt for the tissues! Have a wonderful weekend won't you and I'll see very soon.

Hugs,

Three minute Button Buddies

If you have children of school age you'll know how manic it gets in the summer term with schools making the most of the 'good weather' (holds her sides laughing) for all their trips, sports days, fund raisers, community events and fairs. I don't know whether I'm coming or going this week but I managed to rustle up a couple of quick cards using Button Buddies. Come and see:

This one was inspired by Make My Monday where they're looking for cards in the summery colours of strawberries and cream  and also Addicted to Stamps where there's a fun bingo challenge this week (I've chosen Red, Free, Buttons)!

I stamped cherries on my main panel then added these die cut buttons over the top, using the embossed side of one and the debossed side of the other. It took no time at all as I keep die-cut buttons in loads of colours all ready made in a little jar!

Textured card stock makes adding detail a doddle when you're in a hurry and I love the contrast it makes with the smooth Very Vanilla card stock. People often worry that they won't be able to stamp on the textured card stock but it takes ink beautifully. This simple sentiment from Thank You Kindly is a real favourite of mine!

The CASual Fridays challenge this week is to use pink and since the little piggy in the Button Buddies set was trying to catch my eye, I thought I'd give him the same treatment.

He really is a cutie with his little button schnozzle!

Here's what you'll need to make today's cards:

Stamps: Button Buddies, Thank You Kindly

Ink: Basic Grey, Lucky Limeade (cherries), Pretty In Pink (pig)

Card stock (cherries): Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade textured

Card stock (pig): Very Vanilla, Pretty In Pink smooth and textured

Other: Sweet Buttons embosslits die, Basic Grey marker, stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

If you were with me yesterday, you'll know it was my daughter's prom party last night and I just have to share a photo or two with you. She'd asked me to do her hair and make up and my goodness what a pleasure it was!

She giggled the whole way through the process (and let me tell you that applying mascara to someone in gales of laughter is not easy!) Isn't she just gorgeous?! And here she is in all her finery...

... acting the goat for the camera! Needless to say I was straight off to Mumland and hunting about for the tissues!

I'll be back tomorrow with something I haven't done for a long time - a scrapbook page! Hope to see you then,

Crafting with glitter

I hate to say it, but I'm posting a festive card today...! I know, I know, but since I made this card for a challenge it seems I'm not the only one that likes to get things done in advance! At the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown the challenge is to use glitter and here's what I came up with:

I stamped a piece of Not Quite Navy card stock with glittery snowflakes and punched out squares of it to give this 'night sky through a window' effect. If you use Heat and Stick powder before glittering, the glitter won't rub off your project which is perfect for when it's the focal point of the card.

I added a bit of detail to the card: a piece of white bakers twine wound round the card a few times and finished with a bow, and some gems to add even more sparkle!

I've been scrapbooking this weekend and I liked the idea of giving this card a computer-generated scrapbook style sentiment. The card is about the feeling you get when it's coming up to Christmas and you look out of the window at night and it's begun to snow - I don't care how old I get, it just seems magical to me!

I WAS going to enter this card into Sandra's Rudolph Day challenge too but it's not eligible as she's set a challenge with a twist this month! Do pop over and see.

Here's what you'll need to make today's card:

Stamps: Serene Snowflakes

Ink: None! Not like me at all!

Card stock: Whisper White, Not Quite Navy

Other: Versamark, Heat and Stick powder, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, heat tool, Basic Rhinestones, white bakers twine, large and small square punches

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

Glitter is fabulous for giving your cards a bit of sparkle but there's plenty of glitz and glamour going on in our house without it at the moment. It's my lovely daughter's prom party tonight and she's been pampering and primping and oh my goodness she looks so beautiful! She's wearing an elegant, ankle length, bronze silk dress with these gorgeous jewelled sandals. Aren't they amazing?!

It's Three Minute Thursday tomorrow and it's just as well because with all the excitement I've got nothing done at all! I've got an idea though so do come back and have a look (and there might even be pictures of my prom queen!)

Hugs,