Bordering on Romance meets The Open Sea

I had a parcel of new goodies delivered yesterday and one of the things inside was a tin of Subtles watercolour crayons. I can't believe I've been using Stampin' Up products for nearly five years and I've only just discovered these! I used them to make a card for two challenges - CASual Fridays, which is looking for cards using text, and Make My Monday, where the challenge is to use purple, green and orange. Come and see:

I love making scored frames at the moment: I work out the size I want, mark it on the back of my card stock and then just score it on my Simply Scored (in fact, for this card, I just put the stamp on the card stock and marked the corners with a pencil!) I stamped this gorgeous text stamp from the Open Sea in versamark and clear embossed it before masking the edges with post it notes and stamping the flowers. Then came the colouring:

I enjoy colouring as long as it's quick and easy and these crayons certainly fit the bill! They come in  the four colour families and are creamy and blendable as well as water soluble - here I coloured the large flowers and leaves with them and blended with an aquapainter, then added shading with markers and blended again. The embossed text resisted the colour and shows through - I will never tire of this effect!

I'm hoping to be test-driving my crayons quite a lot over the next week or so and will let you know how I get on!

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

Stamps: Bordering on Romance, The Open Sea

Ink: Peach Parfait, Basic Grey

Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla

Other: Markers, Subtles water colour crayons, versamark, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Simply Scored, 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. Your free brad and ribbon set will be added automatically to any order of £45 or more.

Life really is hectic here at the moment so I really apologise if you're waiting for a comment from me. Yesterday I had another trip to the dentist and my daughter asked if I could drop her at a friend's house on the way. As usual I thought of a hundred and one things that needed doing on the way out. "No rush!" she said as I hurried out to the car where she was waiting patiently. "I hadn't realised you needed to read War and Peace before we went!"

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow and I'll be using this month's free brad and ribbon set - it's gorgeous! Hope to see you then.

Hugs,

Bordering on Romance with butterfly

There are some gorgeous colours going on at the ColourQ site this week as usual and I've been hoping to get the time to make a card with them. Those dots in the inspiration photo fascinated me (scroll down to see it) and I thought I could use the flower border in my Bordering on Romance stamp set to recreate the feel of them. Come and see:

I stamped the flower border three times and coloured in the petals with markers to make the background. For the butterfly, I layered die cuts together and tied them together with bakers twine. Once I'd made the butterfly I was able to work out the position of the sentiment and stamp it using my stamp-a-majig for position.

Here's a close up of that dimensional butterfly on the floral background. The panel was attached to an Island Indigo card base which has a Whisper White panel inside for writing in and it lies flat for posting so it's practical too!

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

Stamps: Bordering on Romance, Elegant Thank You

Ink: Island Indigo, Real Red

Card stock: Whisper White, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade

Other: Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, Big Shot, Lucky Limeade bakers twine, Patterns designer paper, 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.

I've spent the week catching up on everything after my giddy time away and was able to spend some time crafting at the end of the week. My desk is in the living room which means that I have to keep it very tidy but also means that I get to chat to everyone as they come in and out which I love. Yesterday my oldest son had some of his gang round - the loveliest boys! I asked one rosy-cheeked blond boy whether he had a cat of his own as he was petting Tuppence. He shook his head. "Perhaps you're more of a dog family?" I suggested. "No," he said. "We're more of a fish family actually!"

Have a lovely weekend!

Bordering on Romance - edgily

The edgelits in the summer mini catalogue are perfect for adding a special feel to a card! They come in a pack of two and this card was made using the scalloped die:

I used the coordinating embossing folder first and then simply lined up the die to cut a small amount off the front of the card base. Here's how it looks when it's standing up:

I added a panel stamped with a pretty sprig from Bordering on Romance. It's coloured with in-colour markers and matted onto Pool Party card stock, and finished with a piece of bakers twine tied into a pretty bow.

And just in case you were curious to see how well that edglit die cuts... it's gives a great finish!

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

Stamps: Bordering on Romance, Just Believe

Ink: Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Pool Party

Other: Markers, Adorning Accents Edglits dies, Adorning Accents embossing folders, Big Shot, Calypso Coral bakers twine, 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.

Are you up to seeing more photos of my weekend away? The little town of Chepstow wasn't far from where we stayed and I fell in love with it. There was live music going on when we arrived and the sun was shining, so the boys sat outside a café and enjoyed the atmosphere while my daughter and I browsed some of the lovely little shops in the town. There's lots of history:

This is a replica of the huge wooden sign that used to hang here at No 5 Mary Street in Victorian times. It used to be a grocery then. On the high street, there are plaques on the pavement outside the shops with a list of all the businesses that have traded there - like this one at No 2 Beaufort Square:

We were charmed by some of the jubilee window displays. I loved the crown and the book on the chair in this little antique shop, just as if her majesty had got up to nip to the loo:

If you ever find yourself in Chepstow, I would highly recommend the Lime Tree for the very best in informal dining. We all agreed that the food was excellent, the service brilliant and the cosy atmosphere very inviting.

Hello? You haven't gone to sleep have you? Oh dear, I think it's time for me to shuffle off...!

I'll be back with a quick card for Three Minute Thursday tomorrow. Hope to see you then.

Two occasions, same colours

I was intrigued by the colour challenge at the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown this week so I thought I'd have a go at a Christmas card (in May! I know!) I set myself a further challenge by making a non-festive card with the colours too! Come and have a look:

The Christmas card uses this lovely skater image from Winters Post. I stamped it in Basic Grey on watercolour paper and coloured it with markers and an aqua painter. The card is mounted onto a square of card stock that has had Wisteria Wonder bakers twine wound round and round it and tied into a bow decorated with a Perfect Plum brad.

For the thank you card I used the sketch at Clean and Simple Stamping. I started by masking off the middle section with post it notes and sponging a border with Wisteria Wonder ink.

The central strip is made with Concord Crush card stock attached to a Concord Crush circle. these are topped with a white card stock sentiment strip with a ribbon tail end punched into it with a square punch. The circle is decorated with a watercoloured flower spray from Bordering on Romance.

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

CHRISTMAS CARD

Stamps: Winter Post, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Markers

Card stock: Whisper White, Naturals Ivory, watercolour paper

Other: Perfect Plum brad, Wisteria Wonder bakers twine, white gel pen, stamp-a-majig, 

THANK YOU CARD

Stamps: Bordering on Romance, Thank You Kindly

Ink: Basic Grey, Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz

Card stock: Whisper White, Concord Crush

Other: Markers, paper snips, square punch, 1 3/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, 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.

My daughter might be deep into her exams but she's not too busy to organise an outfit for her prom party! She has The Dress, a beautiful bronze silk that looks beautiful with her colouring, and found a waterfall style necklace to wear with it. I found her fiddling with her necklace the other day. She looked up as I came in. "Look Mummy," she said. "I can play Jingle Bells on my necklace!" Hmmm. I'm sure that'll be in great demand as a bit of light entertainment at the prom!

Thank you for visiting me today. I shall be back tomorrow with a  quick design for Three Minute Thursday so do pop back if you have a minute!