My Christmas house mini album

I am so excited about showing you today's project - another of my little house albums. It has been a real labour of love preparing these little houses and today I have my Christmas version to show you:

It's full of little details - from the wreath on the door, to the glittery, snowy roof!

When you unfasten the bow, the house opens out into an album...

...with room for your festive photos.

The roof comes off and turns into a card, so this little album is perfect for sending to someone special at Christmas.

In fact the whole thing folds flat and fits neatly in a standard C5 envelope all ready to post. Can you imagine how delighted your friends and relatives would be to receive one of these lovingly made house albums at Christmas? I should think it would take pride of place in their festive displays!

I am in the middle of producing a step-by-step tutorial for these little albums. It contains full instructions, with clear full-colour photographs, along with hints and tips for decorating them. It will be available for purchase at £2.50 and should be ready by the end of next week - look out for it then!

Now I can't finish the week without adding just one more entry into Chrissie and Mandi's Less is More challenge since they're aiming for 1000 entries this week.

I have loved using the Baby Blossoms set and will be sad to see it retire at the end of this month - that's just one week away!  It's the perfect set for stamping shabby chic florals - as I've done on this little set of retro note cards.

The 'ribbon' is a strip of card stock and I've topped it with the gorgeous polka dot label from Four Frames which is easy to punch out with the Decorative Label punch. The 'for you' sentiment is from the retiring sentiment set Occasional Greetings.

Supplies needed for this card:
Stamps: Baby Blossoms, Four Frames, Occasional Greetings
Ink: Rose Red, Pear Pizzazz, Pretty In Pink, Baja Breeze, Always Artichoke
Card stock: Whisper White, Rose Red
Other: Decorative Label punch, Stamp-a-majig
You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. Click here to view the Last Chance List - full of stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% off! These items are available only while stocks last - and some have sold out already!

What a long post today! If you're still with me thank you so much for your company. I won't witter on any more - except to wish you a very happy weekend.

See you very soon,

Mini scrapbook album - a little house!

Earlier this week I showed you a sneaky peek of a project I'm very excited about. It was made as a gift for someone very special - some of you may know Sarah from her blog Sarah's Little Snippets. She is the most talented crafter and also, I'm proud to say, my lovely cousin! This was the present I took along when I visited her this summer:

It's a mini scrapbook album, cunningly disguised as a house! You take off the roof which doubles as a greetings card, undo the ribbon and open the house out to view the photos inside. As a demonstrator, I have access to all sorts of templates like this fabulous house shaped one - just another brilliant reason to join Stampin' Up! (If you've been wondering whether to join, do feel free to give me a call - I can give you all the info as well as honest answers to your questions, so that you can decide whether it's right for you in your own time.) But I digress! Come and have a closer look at the little house:

Here's the front door, decorated with a tiny little rustic wreath and the prettiest pearl door handle! The album is fastened with my favourite seam binding which makes bows that drape perfectly. You can just see half of it in this photo - it's clearer in the one above.

There are flowering plants climbing the walls of the house and a garden full of flowers and shrubs stamped with the floral branch from Hopeful Thoughts, Pocket Silhouettes, Baby Blossoms and a single flower from the Afterthoughts hostess set.

Have you seen the roof tiles?  I got VERY excited by these! The roof is made using the Square Lattice embossing folder (which is fast becoming indispensable to me!) and the scallop border punch.

Now, I'm not going to show you the inside of the album because it's filled with personal photos of Sarah's gorgeous family. But the good news is that I didn't stop there but went on to make other little houses. There's one in particular that I think you'll love, so I shall show you that one next week - with some exciting news too... Watch this space!

So, we've arrived at the end of the children's first full week back at school with only one missed homework, one forgotten coat and one frantic phone call about a new art book! Not too bad! Everyone seems pretty happy, although my daughter did remark in a voice dripping with sarcasm "He's not exactly the light-hearted type" about one of her new teachers!

Thank you so much for dropping in to see me today. I hope you have a fantastic weekend wherever you are and I'll look forward to see you very soon.

Hugs,

You can buy Stampin' Up supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. Click here to view the Last Chance List - full of stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% off! These items are selling out fast so if there's anything you want, do let me know as soon as possible!

Things are starting to go...

First of all today I really want to alert you to the fact that things are already starting to sell out on the Last Chance List. If there's something you'd love on that list, do contact me quickly as I'd hate for you to be disappointed.

Of course, it's not only products on the Last Chance List that are retiring: items in the mini catalogue are only available until the end of this month (although a select few may carry over to the new Idea Book and Catalogue) so do have another look and make sure you don't miss out on your favourites.  One of my own favourite sets from the mini is Baby Blossoms - a gorgeous 2-step stamping set. I love stamping retro-style, shabby-chic florals with it - like this:

The roses in this set look wonderful stamped in pink or red but I thought I'd branch out today and go for glorious orange blooms. And I rather like the look! What do you think?

The polka dot label is gorgeous and coordinates perfectly with the large oval punch - so you could punch the centre out to make a frame if you wanted to. Alternatively the sentiments from Sincere Salutations, like this one, fit beautifully within the oval.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Baby Blossoms, Sincere Salutations

Ink: Tangerine Tango, Cajun Craze, Pacific Point, Pear Pizzazz, Wild Wasabi

Card stock: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi

Other: Markers, stamp-a-majig, paper snips

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. 

While we're talking about Baby Blossoms, here's a very quick tag I made using a scrap of folded Whisper White card stock. It was stamped with a spray of flowers and leaves then punched with the 1/8" hand held punch (retiring, £6.75) and threaded with gold elastic cord (also retiring and available in silver as well, £3.95). The beautiful 'for you' is from a very useful sentiment set called Occasional Greetings (also retiring) which, at 40% off, is an absolute bargain at £18.57!

Click here to view the Last Chance List - full of stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% off, available only while stocks last.

Today is the last day of the school holidays and I feel a little sad that tomorrow all my children will be up early looking somehow strange with their holiday tans in their new, smart uniforms. The house will be quiet, doors won't be left open, I won't be hugged just as I'm about to stamp a tricky bit...

But I expect I'll get loads done and they'll come back buzzing from school, so I'm sure I'll have cheered up by tomorrow!
Hope to see you then,

A recycled garden.

Today I'd like to show you a card that was rescued from the bin! No! Please don't go! It's not too bad I promise! Look:

This was supposed to be a one-layer card I was making for a challenge but unfortunately I placed the mask on the card base wonkily and the card looked as if it had been made under the influence of strong spirits! But I loved the mask, which I made by folding a piece of scrap paper into four, cutting with the decorative label punch and then opening it out. And the sponged garden was rather pretty. I thought it was a shame to waste it.

I love making one-layer cards but there's no denying that they don't always go according to plan! The good news though is that when they don't, you just turn them into layered cards! Cutting the sponged image out straight and mounting it onto Basic Grey card stock was easy and I even found one of my vellum butterflies in my snippets box which made itself quite at home on the card!

All it needed now was a sentiment to match the butterfly (two sentiments, two markers and a stamp-a-majig took care of that!) and mounting on a Whisper White card base. And I actually prefer the final card to the one I'd had in my head first time around! I hope this post has encouraged you not only to try one-layer cards but also to use the ones that don't work out!

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Baby Blossoms, All a Flutter, Just Believe and Thank You Kindly (sentiment)

Ink: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Pacific Point, Soft Suede, stazon black

Card stock: Whisper White, Naturals Ivory, Basic Grey, Vellum

Other: Decorative label punch, markers, stamp-a-majig

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593 and I'll be happy to help.

If you've paid me a visit this week and left a comment or maybe emailed me a message, thank you - I love reading your comments! My posts this week were scheduled as I've been on holiday, but I shall be back this weekend and will be looking forward to catching up with you as soon as possible. Have a wonderful weekend!

Thank you with red, white and blue flowers

I know it's usually a three minute card on my blog on Thursdays, but during the month of August I shall just be posting when I can. Three Minute Thursday will be back in September though. Now, I've not missed a single Less is More challenge since it started and even though I'm supposed to be dealing with the holiday laundry and the ironing mountain is threatening to engulf us, I can't let it go...

The challenge this week is to make a card using the colours of your country's flag. Well, the red white and blue of the British flag was calling to me so I've snuck in a quick one! Come and see:

The idea was to mount a red floral panel onto the tone-on-tone Patterns designer paper in Pacific Blue, then have that on a white card base. I used the fabulous 2 step stamping set Greenhouse Garden for the flowers and got quite carried away!

Aren't the flowers gorgeous? These 2 step sets have solid images and line images to go with them which you stamp over the top using a stamp-a-majig. I usually stamp the line image in a darker shade of the solid colour and it really gives them a 3D feel. The background is sponged in and I added blue leaves - a little crazy I know, but fabric designers do this all the time!

I always like to show you the sentiment but this one turned out rather dark and I have a lowering suspicion that I didn't clean the stamp properly when I last used it... naughty Vicky!

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Greenhouse Garden, Baby Blossoms, Sincere Salutations

Ink: Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Patterns designer paper (brights), markers, stamp-a-majig

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

It was so quiet in our house yesterday. I think the family were suffering from car-lag! Or perhaps they just needed a little time alone after being together for a week - there's nowhere to be alone in a caravan. Which reminds me of the ad for the film Alien all that time ago: 'In space no-one can hear you scream'. Well, in a caravan everyone can!

Thank you for dropping in today. I'm really hoping to be able to catch up with you soon!

Hugs,

Clean and simple cards for a baby boy

I've had some exciting news! My cousin and his wife are now the proud parents of a gorgeous baby boy! And what a cutie! I'm not able to be on cuddling duty at the moment as they live in Scotland, but I'm sure I'll get a turn when we have our family get-together in the summer! While I'm waiting I thought I'd get straight onto designing a card to welcome the new arrival.

It is so much fun making baby cards! I've come up with three monochome designs - yes I am a true LiMette and the Less is More challenge is never far from my mind! The first card might not have enough white space for their royal LiMnesses...

...or for me now I come to think of it! But I like the stamped gingham mounted onto the embossed card base, which reminds me of one of those lovely soft baby blankets.

The gingham is easy to make with the Solid Stripes background stamp and a stamp-a-majig. I used Bashful Blue and Marina Mist markers on alternate stripes, then turned it round and stamped it again. The embossing folder is exclusive to Stampin' Up and is called Square Lattice.

The next card is my favourite of the batch. I love the dotty label from Baby Blossoms - and how cute is that little babygrow from the hostess set A Slice of Life?! I coloured it with markers and popped it up on the label using dimensionals. The sentiment is from Afterthoughts, another hostess set. Don't forget these sets are free with a £150 order and you get other freebies too! It's certainly worth clubbing together with friends or joining my Stampers 6 club.

The sentiment is a retired sale-a-bration stamp which curves neatly into the frame, and the card base has been half-embossed with the Polka Dots embossing folder.

The Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon grounds the label nicely and ties in with the colour of the sentiment and the accents on the babygrow.

For my final design I masked off a strip and sponged it with bashful Blue ink then stamped it with tiny Marina Mist stars - I used the smallest star from Seeing Stars. I wanted it to look sewn to the card stock so I stamped it with the zigzag stitch stamp I made from the In Stitches wheel (see how I did it here.)

The card topper is made with the giraffe from Fox and Friends. I've drawn a welcoming smile on his little face and given him a dark eye with markers and, because the birth of a baby is quite an occasion, I've given him a posh scarf to wear made from a scrap of Baja Breeze seam binding!

Now, I would normally give details on how to make my cards but I'm aware that you've all got lives to get on with and there are only so many hours in the day! But if you'd like more details, I'm always happy to help and of course I can supply you with everything you need to make the cards. Just send me an email or give me a ring on 01280 820593.

When I was making these cards, my thoughts turned to my own lovely babies. They are quite considerably bigger than they used to be but they're not above giving me a hug sometimes and are very good company indeed!

Thanks for dropping in on my baby card-fest today - I very much appreciate your visits and comments. Yesterday I was overwhelmed by all the birthday wishes you sent me - thank you so much my lovely blogging pals! Tomorrow I'll be back here with Three Minute Thursday, my weekly series of speedy card ideas, and you are more than welcome to join me!

Royal congratulations with Baby Blossoms

Today is the day that William and Kate tie the knot. Apparently 6,000 street parties have been planned around Britain and people in households everywhere will drop everything to have a look at Kate's dress! We'll be joining friends for a barbecue later (so fingers crossed for good weather) but first I'd like to post my own tribute to the royal couple:

Red, white and blue clusters of flowers on kraft card stock gives a whole different look to the Baby Blossoms stamp set and is suitably patriotic! While I was at it, I thought I'd make a thank you card in a similar style to give to our friends who are organising the barbecue.

Yesterday I was obsessed with making different vases of flowers with the Ornament punch - highly addictive I can assure you! - but discovering different looks with this gorgeous stamp set has taken over. I love the way you can build up the clusters of flowers in different ways and different colours, so look out for more Baby Blossoms projects coming soon!

Here's how to make the 'thanks' card:

• Cut a 9cm x 18cm piece of Crumb Cake card stock. Score and fold in half to make a card base.
• Cut another piece of Crumb Cake card stock 7.5cm square. Stamp this with a floral design that covers two thirds of the square on the diagonal: I started by stamping the spray of small flowers in Whisper White ink, then adding Real Red large roses. Next I stamped the small roses in Pacific Point and leaves in Old Olive. Finally I cleaned the small rose image and filled in the gaps with it, using Real Red that I'd stamped off.
• Use a stamp-a-majig to position a sentiment, using Basic Black ink.
• Sponge the edges of the floral panel and the edges of the card front with Whisper White craft ink.
• Attach the floral panel to the card front with dimensionals.

Supplies

Stamps: Baby Blossoms, So Happy For You (retired SAB set)

Ink: Basic Black, Real Red, Pacific Point, Whisper White craft ink

Card stock: Crumb Cake

Yesterday, my youngest son had a 'street party' at school and one of the activities was Dressing for a Wedding. He was chosen to be the groom and his friends dressed him up in a jacket with medals and a crown. "I looked pretty good actually," he told me later. "In fact, when I get married, I might wear that!" It certainly beats the time he came back from playgroup and told me that he planned to get married in a fireman's helmet and a pair of underpants!

I'll be back for Masculine Monday and would love you to join me. Meanwhile, enjoy your weekend!

St Lukes Charity Card Challenge - with Baby Blossoms

One of the things I love about the crafting community is our willingness to share and to help one another. The other day I came across a new challenge site with a difference: The St Lukes Charity Cards Challenge is set monthly and crafters are invited to submit cards online and then physically send them in using the Freepost address provided. The cards are sold to raise money for the St Lukes Hospice in Sheffield which offers care and support for the terminally ill and their families. This is such a worthwhile project - I do hope you'll join in.

This month the challenge is to 'say it with flowers' - and what better flowers to say it with than Baby Blossoms! This is a stamp set that has just been released in the new mini catalogue - and I am head over heels in love with it! Here's my entry:

Unashamedly feminine! It's easy to stamp all sorts of floral designs with this set and it's got a lovely vintage feel that reminds me of beautiful chintz fabrics. I've used the Top Note die as a background and I love the curvaceousness of it! 

If you love ribbons and bows you must try the new seam binding! It's soft and silky and drapes so beautifully that I can't stop creating bows on everything with it! It comes in Rose Red (which I used here), Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake and Pear Pizzazz. Yum!

And look! This is the polka dot frame from Four Frames - my favourite of the four in the set! It is the perfect way to add a sentiment to your cards and other projects and the best thing is it has a coordinating punch so you don't even need to get your scissors out!

Here's how I made this card:

• Cut a 7.5cm x 7cm piece of Whisper White card stock. Stamp a random floral design on it using the Baby Blossoms stamp set and Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze, Pretty In Pink and Rose Red inks. Sponge the edges of the card stock with Pretty In Pink ink.
• Cut an 8.5cm x 7.25cm piece of Certainly Celery card stock. Decorate one of the short sides with the scallop trim border punch. Glue the floral panel onto this.
• Use the Top Note die in your Big Shot to cut out a Pretty In Pink panel. Trim the point from one of the short sides with paper snips - this will enable ribbon to fit snugly round the shape. Now, using a craft knife, make a slit 2cm in from the point on the other short side. Thread Rose Red seam binding through this.
• Glue the floral panel onto the Top Note, making sure the slit you made in the Top Note is hidden by it.  Tie the ribbon around it and finish with a pretty bow. 
• Cut an A4 piece of Whisper White card stock in half vertically. Score and fold in half to make a card base. Glue the Top Note to the card front.
• Stamp a polka dot frame in Rose Red ink on a scrap of Whisper White card stock. Add a sentiment using a stamp-a-majig for position. Now cut the frame out with the decorative label punch.
• Attach the sentiment to the card front using four dimensionals.

Supplies

Stamps: Baby Blossoms, Four Frames, Occasional Greetings (sentiment)

Ink: Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze, Pretty In Pink, Rose Red, Always Artichoke

Card stock: Whisper White, Pretty In Pink, Certainly Celery

Other: Top Note die, Rose Red seam binding, decorative label punch, scallop trim border punch

Making this card made me think of long summer days, sitting on a lawn in wicker chairs, leaning back into vintage chintz cushions, sipping tea from antique bone china cups... It's wishful thinking of course, firstly because our own lawn is the size of a pocket handkerchief and we certainly don't own any bone china, and secondly because the winter seems to have set back in here! A girl can dream can't she?!!  

Hope the sun is shining on you today, wherever you are! I'll be back tomorrow with Three Minute Thursday - hope to see you then!