Forest Friends birthdays

It's the school holidays here and I like to start work early so that I have some time with my family. It's very peaceful first thing - my husband doesn't come down until about eight o'clock and the two older children don't surface until later. But my youngest son is an early riser (and also a sociable personality!) so we sometimes craft together until the hustle and bustle of the day begins.

Do you remember the adventurous Mr Rabbit, who found himself adrift on the high seas? (He's on this card on the left.) Well, you'll be glad to know, he was rescued by friendly fish and found himself a new home in the Warbling Woods. Here he is on his way to a birthday party!

The card came together very quickly. I wheeled Funky Forest across a Whisper White card base, then adhered Patterns DSP in Old Olive below it. The Right on Track 'fence' was wheeled across that and across a cut-out Mr Rabbit (oops! he's the wrong colour!) and then he was attached to the matching part of the fence so it looks as if he's behind it. Some balloons coloured in with a blender pen, a sponged sky, some cut-out Trendy Trees for the woods, a sentiment - and voila! It was done!

I can't resist showing you the card my son made this morning. His Mr Rabbit IS the right colour and look - he's having another adventure! My clever boy - he did everything himself apart from the matting. Just look at that professional sponging!

Crafting is a lovely activity that all ages can enjoy together. And if you do it with someone under ten you might get a story thrown in for free!
Have a good day.

Another card using Birthday Best

In my quest to illustrate what very different cards you can make with a stamp set, I've used the Birthday Best set again and today I'm having a girlie paper moment!

But before I show you my card there's just time for this:

I'm holding an

Open House Day

Friday, 26th March

9am - 8pm

There'll be displays and samples to give you inspiration,

a make-and-take, a prize draw,
a sneak peek at April's new mini-catalogue and refreshments.

It's all free - so why not come along if you're in the Buckingham area?
(Just email me for directions.)

Have a coffee and cake, have a chat, have fun - I'd love to see you!

In the meantime come and see my girlie card.

I stamped the cake image onto designer paper and cut them out discarding the candle on the top. The cherries are from Tart and Tangy, cut out and popped up on dimensionals. Do you like my faux stitching? It's made by piercing two rows of holes and joining them up with the fine nib of a Ruby Red marker - so easy!  (The piercing tool is an absolute bargain at £2.95!)

Supplies (Stampin' Up unless otherwise specified):
Stamps: Birthday Best, Tart and Tangy, Happy Moments
Ink: Ruby Red
Card stock: Whisper White, Real Red
Other: Designer paper Petals and Paisleys (retired), Red gingham ribbon, Ruby Red stampin write, scallop punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, word window punch and cropadile (to make tag), scallop border punch, piercing tool

All these cakes are making me feel peckish.
I'm off to rifle through the kitchen cupboards...
Happy Wednesday!

FTL82 challenge with Birthday Best

Oh dear - late again! I've struggled to make it for the Clean and Simple FTL sketch challenge this week but I'm so happy to be here at last! Here is this week's sketch and here is my version:

I have combined the challenge with the one I set myself yesterday - that is to show you how versatile the stamp set Birthday Best can be. Have a look at yesterday's card here on the left...

...and now look at today's card above. It's hard to imagine these images are part of the same set! The balloons have a children's 50s retro feel whereas the flowers are much more grown-up and feminine.

I love Pretty in Pink with Always Artichoke and do you like the flower stems? They're just thin strips of Certainly Celery card stock. The dimensionals that are popping the flower heads up are also holding the stems in place. The flower heads were made by colouring only the flower head on the stamp with markers, stamping the image and then colouring the petals with my New Best Friend the blender pen. I was inspired by the taffeta ribbon which is darker on its edges - the taffeta ribbon is probably my favourite ribbon (although the striped grosgrain is gorgeous too and I adore the gingham ribbon...)

Supplies on the flower card (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stamps: Birthday Best (flowers), Happy Moments (sentiment)
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Old Olive
Card stock: Whisper White, Certainly Celery
Other: Le Jardin designer paper (retired), Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon, Cameo Coral stampin write, blender pen

The sun has been out in Buckingham today and, for the first time this year (roll of drums please...), I went outside without my gloves on without feeling cold!!! YAY!!!
I enjoy reading the blogs of crafters all over the world and it seems that everyone has been waiting for the spring to arrive. I just want to say - there's hope ladies!
See you soon

Birthday Best party favours and thank you cards

I could have used the stamp set One of a Kind for my son's birthday because he very definitely is! He adores school and I like to ask how his day was just for the pleasure of hearing him say: "It was BRILLIANT! We did maths!" And I remember getting some very strange looks when calling him in for his tea once; I said: "You'd better come in straight away young man or you'll get no cabbage for your tea!" and he scuttled in at once, not wanting to risk missing out on that treat.

On his birthday this year he got to go to school and he asked to have a few friends home for tea. Not a party at all but we thought we'd give them some tiny party favours anyway.

Here's a close-up of the labels.

I rustled up some thank you cards along the same lines.

I coloured the balloons using ink pads and my blender pen. I don't know if I've told you how much I absolutely ADORE my jumbo wheel (okay, I may have mentioned it in passing...) well my blender pens are up there with the jumbo wheel. I am not the world's greatest colourer but I am loving the effects I get using the blender pen. In fact, I may as well come clean: I didn't colour the balloons at all - my blender pen did it all!

Supplies (all Stampin' Up unless specified)
Stamps: Birthday Best (balloons), Trendy Trees (sentiment)
Ink: Summer Sun, Brilliant Blue, Real Red
Cardstock: Whisper White
Other: 1 3/4" circle punch, corner rounder, designer paper (retired), cellophane bags

I love how Stampin' Up stamp sets are so versatile. This gorgeous little set Birthday Best can be used for all sorts of occasions and I shall be showing some more projects made with it this week.
Until then - thank YOU so much for coming.