Bright birthday with Bright Blossoms by Stampin' Up

Have you checked the Stampin' Up retirement lists yet? Loads of items are retiring to make way for new items in the new catalogue and there are some real bargains up for grabs! Are any of your favourites on the lists?

One of the sets on the Retiring Stamps list is Bright Blossoms. I find this set handy for a whole range of cards, from summer invitations to Christmas cards! (See more of my Bright Blossoms ideas here.) Today it features on a bright, happy birthday card - come and see:

I've been cutting up some card stock to use to make my own Project Life cards (see this post for why!) and of course they come in very handy as card toppers too! This one's 4" x 3" with rounded corners and I love the way it contrasts against the Wild Wasabi card base.

I used a stamp-a-majig to position my flowers and leaves and drew in a stem with a marker. The flowers are grounded with the wonderful Gingham Garden washi tape (also retiring and a bargain at  just £3.15 for three coordinating reels!) I embellished the flowers with candy dots and added a banner-style sentiment from Stampin' Up's Itty Bitty Banners stamp set.

The inspiration for this card came from the layout at Retro Sketches and the colour palette at CAS Colours and Sketches:

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Bright Blossoms (retiring) wood or cling, Itty Bitty Banners wood or cling

Ink: Tempting turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi

Card stock: Wild Wasabi, Whisper White

Other: Markers, Bitty Banners framelits, Big Shot, Gingham Garden washi tape (retiring), Brights candy dots, stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order any time, day or night,

but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

Talking of bright, I thought you might like to see a book that my husband recently found in a second hand book shop and brought home for my youngest son to read.

As well as such essential skills as polyphany and wireless telegraphy, the 'bright boy' is expected to excel at all forms  of sports and the book recommends building up the muscles for this...

... although I can't help thinking that the local farmers would take a dim view of their methods! There's also a section on 'mumming'. Isn't that my department?!

See you tomorrow,

One layer Christmas card - and some winners!

I have an exciting announcement to make today so scroll right down to the end of the post for that. Meanwhile, I have a card to show you - probably my favourite Christmas card I've designed this year in fact! Come and see:

I love this flowing sentiment from Delightful Dozen. I stamped it in Early Espresso ink onto Stampin' Up's ready-made note cards - these are the perfect weight for one layer cards, are made of beautifully smooth, quality card stock and come with their own envelopes to make life even easier!

Here's a close up of the stamping and you can see that I made my spray of foliage fit the shape of the sentiment. The stamps were chosen from three different stamp sets because it's always fun to put different stamps together and you always come up with something unique - why  not try it?!

I'm going to link this card up with Make My Monday where the theme is a Clean and Simple Christmas card; and 52 {Christmas} card throwdown where we're picking a previous challenge (I've chosen the July colour palette of dark red, dark brown, dark green and ivory.)

Here's what you'll need to make this project

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Joyful Christmas, Bright Blossoms, Delightful Dozen (sentiment)

Ink: Gumball Green, Early Espresso plus markers

Card stock: Notecards and envelopes

Other: Stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,

but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

Can you hear a drum roll?! Yes, it's time to make that exciting announcement...

My Christmas prize draw winners

As a special thank you to my customers, I laid on a special prize draw at the end of last month and everyone who placed an order with me between 25th November - 15th December was automatically entered.

I have used a Random Selector to choose the winners and they are:

Ann Rosie from Fife wins 1st prize, a cling mount Gorgeous Grunge stamp set

Stephanie Brown from County Down wins 2nd Prize, a cling mount Oh Goodie stamp set

Irene Dunn from Tyne & Wear wins 3rd prize, a Tag-a-Bag accessories set

Congratulations ladies, I'm delighted for you all! Your prizes will soon be winging their way to you through the post.

I've been out Christmas shopping with each of my children and have found that some have been more prepared than others... Yesterday evening was the turn of my youngest son and suffice it to say that eventually I found a bench in the shopping centre, sat down with him and said we weren't moving from it until he'd thought of a great gift for each of the people he was getting presents for! It all happened quite quickly after that!

I'll be back tomorrow with more of my Christmas makes. Hope to see you then.

Hugs,

Merry and Bright Blossoms

I've been mulling over the Metallic Element plus One Other Colour challenge over at Less is More this week and finally hit on an idea using the berries from Stampin' Up's Bright Blossoms set. Come and have a look:

Gold is my metallic of choice at the moment and I love the way it looks with the gorgeous Gumball Green. The berry image is quite small but you can repeat stamp it to make a larger-looking image - here I surrounded the sentiment on my tag with versamarked berries and heat embossed them with gold embossing powder.

Your eyes aren't deceiving you - these are Stampin' Up sequins! They're not available to buy yet but coming soon I promise! The gold twisted cord is what the sequins come threaded on - isn't it gorgeous?!

Here's what you'll need to make this project

Stamps: Bright Blossoms, Delightful Dozen

Ink: Early Espresso

Card stock: Gumball Green, Very Vanilla for insert

Other: Versamark, gold embossing powder, heat tool, gold sequins and cord (coming soon!), envelope board for rounding corners, stamp-a-majig

You can order from my online shop any time, day or night,

but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

We finally got our tree decorated! My husband has been away this weekend but got straight onto it when he returned. "Any instructions for sawing the bottom off the Christmas tree?" he asked. "Yes," I replied. "Don't take any height off it and if it won't fit into the stand, take some off the trunk vertically." He stared at me blankly. "Shall I draw it for you?" I suggested. "No it's fine," he said. "I think I understand. Alarm bells started ringing in my head. "You THINK you understand?" I said and then, half joking: "Please ask questions now won't you - I'd much rather answer questions now than shout at you for getting it wrong!" He side-eyed me as he walked past with the saw. " Is this what you say at the hairdresser?" he said.

See you tomorrow,

Happy Day in three minutes!

There are some great sentiments in the new Stampin' Up catalogue, but my favourite has to be the one I've used today. It's the big 'smile' from Happy Day which seems to have exactly the same effect as a real smile! Come and see:

I used my new Gingham wheel to start this design. It was inked up with Pool Party ink and rolled in the centre of the panel, and the sentiment was stamped over the top in luscious Bermuda Bay ink. I underlined it with a narrow strip of washi tape (TIP: If you want your washi to be narrower, lay a piece onto a scrap of card stock and cut it with scissors or a trimmer before peeling off and re-sticking onto your project.)

It was time to embellish! I added stamped leaves from Bright Blossoms, one of the gorgeous little dahlia embellishments, a punched heart to dot the 'i' and some extra floral washi accents - all designed to put the focus on that show-stopper of a sentiment!

And talking of gorgeous sentiments, if you've had your eye on Sassy Salutations, Petite Pairs or Sweet Essentials, now could well be the time to order them...

Sassy Salutations now £16.95 cling mount/£20.95 wood mount
Petite Pairs now £20.95 cling mount/£25.95 wood mount
Sweet Essentials now £13.95 cling mount/£17.95 wood mount

And why not order some gorgeous new stash from the new catalogue at the same time?!

Here's what you'll need to make today's card
Stamps: Happy Day, Gingham wheel
Ink: Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Garden Green
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla, scrap of Strawberry Slush
Other: Gingham Garden washi tape, dahlia, Owl punch, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.

Have you been watching the tennis at Wimbledon? I haven't had time to see much at all over the last week but I did manage to catch a bit of the drama yesterday when Andy Murray had a bit of a tough match against Fernando Verdasco. Who needs to run around a tennis court when you can get an excellent cardio workout on your own sofa?!

I'll be back tomorrow to show off some more of my new stash! Hope to see you then,

Three Minute Bright Blossoms

When I saw the gorgeous colour palette and inspiration photo at the ColourQ this week, an idea immediately hopped into my head - and it was going to be quick too, just right for my Three Minute Thursday spot!  Here's my card...

... and here's the inspiration:

Can you see how the inserts of coloured glass, the shape of the pendant, and even the wire wrapped around it all influenced my design?

This is a 3"/7.5cm square notecard, perfect for slipping in with flowers or a home-baked gift! It was very quick and easy: I punched an oval out of Whisper White card stock and inked my Bright Blossoms set up with markers before stamping; added the lovely curvy sentiment from Itty Bitty Banners and sponged around the edge of the oval (with what I thought was my Marina Mist sponge dauber but it looks more like my Island Indigo one in this photo - oops!)

Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Bright Blossoms, Itty Bitty Banners
Ink: Midnight Muse, Marina Mist, + Pretty in Pink, Wisteria Wonder and Marina Mist markers
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Big Shot, Bitty Banners framelits, extra large oval punch
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• Get more for your money - place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

What a beautiful day it was in Buckingham yesterday! I do feel for my poor daughter who is deep into her AS level exams and unable to make the most of the sunshine. While we were discussing exams yesterday, my youngest son told me that when he was at primary school, he had a question in a maths test that read: Make two statements about this octagon. My son told me that it didn't occur to him to talk about how many sides it had or its line of symmetry; instead he wrote: It's a very interesting shape. This made me cry with laughter - I love hearing his memories about primary school! (Now there's another idea for the This and That journal...)

See you tomorrow for more crafting fun,

Bright Blossoms beadiness

Well, those ladies at Less is More certainly know how to set a challenge! Use Beads they say this week, and that's all very well if you have beads but what do you do if you haven't? Make some of course! Come and have a look:

It might be snowing out there but I've had quite enough of winter and there's a definite suspicion of spring or even summer going on in this card! I've used a favourite colour combination and some sweet stylised blooms from Stampin' Up's Bright Blossoms stamp set along with a little scoring with my Borders plate.

I grounded my flowers with a strip of dotty designer paper and centred them with hand-made beads. It's easy to make beads by rolling the wide end of triangles of designer paper round your paper piercing tool, adding glue to the rest and rolling them up fully. (TIP: these can be made more robust by coating them in Crystal Effects and they're easily threadable.) The card was finished with a sentiment in Sahara Sand and an embossed butterfly.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Bright Blossoms, Just Believe (for the sentiment)
Ink: Lucky Limeade, Raspberry Ripple, Sahara Sand
Card stock: Whisper White, Pool Party
Other: Simply Scored, Borders score plate, Sunshine and Sprinkles designer paper, Pool Party bakers twine, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, stamp-a-majig
I'D BE DELIGHTED TO ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT 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 been having a massive clear out of my wardrobe today. There's a charity shop pile, an 'oh my goodness it's a rag' pile, a pile which needs mending/altering and a pile which is no good for now but which might come in useful later. I ended up with a very small pile of clothes that fit and look vaguely reasonable which I put back into my suddenly very spacious wardrobe! There you are - it can snow all it likes but I'm having a clear out so it must be spring!

I'll be back on Monday. Hope to see you then,

NEWS - and Three Minute Bright Blossoms

BIG NEWS TODAY!!! Get a fabulous FREE FESTIVE PAPER PIERCING PACK when you buy the ornament Keepsakes stamp set and Candlelight designer paper pack (offer available in November only) and, as if that's not enough, you can also get a FREE COLLECTION OF INK PADS with a qualifying order. You'll find all the details when you click here.

Now, if I can just calm down for a minute (!) it's Three Minute Thursday here on my blog, so I have a quick card to show you using Bright Blossoms:

I love how bold and bright these sprigs look when they're coloured as berry branches. This card definitely relies on the stamp-a-majig for quick, accurate placement of images - I have one pretty much attached to me at all times! TIP: I stick a punched label in the middle of my imaging sheet to make it easier to see as I used to lose it all the time!

Sometimes you need a clean and simple sentiment and the For My Family stamp set contains several (happy birthday, merry Christmas and congratulations) as well as every member of the family for personalising your cards. I like the way this one goes nicely with the bold image.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Bright Blossoms, For My Family
Ink: Basic Grey
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Gumball Green and Real Red markers, stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK, France, Deutschland, Nederland or Osterreich. 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 +44 (0) 1280 820593.

The sprigs in today's card remind me of a gorgeous stencil-style Laura Ashley wallpaper in the room my husband and I used to share when we visited his parents. My in laws had a big ginger cat called Jeeves at that time and I remember once, when I was heavily pregnant with my daughter, Jeeves came and sat on my bump and went off to sleep! I found it very comforting.

See you tomorrow for more crafting fun (and the odd story!)
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,

Greenhouse Garden gift presentation

I have been meaning to  join in with Crafty Cardmakers for ages and now seems like a great moment... the challenge there this week is to make anything except a card and I've just made a box for my niece's birthday! I bought her a pretty little polka dot top with a peter pan collar (which I couldn't photograph to save my life!) and here's how I presented it:

I made a box using my Simply Scored using Daffodil Delight for the base and this beautiful tone-on-tone designer paper from the Beyond the Garden range for the lid. I added a matted panel to the lid to give it a bit of strength. Do you want to know my secret for making effortless boxes with my Simply Scored? When using the imperial board, you need to start with a piece of card stock any size for your base and a piece of card stock or designer paper for your lid that is cut 1/16" larger both widthwise and lengthwise. (For example a box base 3" x 4" will need a lid cut 3 1/16" x 4 1/16"). Score both the box base and the lid the same measurement in from the edge all the way round and assemble. The lid will magically fit like a glove every time!

The papers are double sided and this is the other side of the lid. I lined the base with orange tissue paper to pick out the background of the design and folded it over the blouse.

This pretty flower from Greenhouse Garden was stamped onto Whisper White card stock and cut out, then turned into a sticker using a corner of a Multipurpose Adhesive sheet. I've used it to seal the tissue paper closed. This was the moment I was going to show you the top but the photo I took made it look like something from the rag box so I won't! I will show you the tag though:

It's one of the tags from the Two Tags Bigz die which I scored several times before stamping with flowers from Greenhouse Garden and a leaf from my new Bright Blossoms set and decorating with a flower-shaped button. The gift was finished by tying the box up with double ribbon. I always think a box makes a gift so much fun to open!

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

Stamps: Greenhouse Garden, Bright Blossoms

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Daffodil Delight, Certainly Celery

Card stock: Daffodil Delight, Whisper White

Other: Beyond the Garden designer paper, Simply Scored, More Mustard grosgrain ribbon, Certainly Celery 1/8" taffeta ribbon, multipurpose adhesive sheets, orange tissue paper from stash

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you (except the tissue paper) 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 youngest son has just put my white cushions on the floor - it has been raining all day and people have been traipsing in with wet shoes so I am justifiably miffed. "Please pick those cushions up off the floor!" I said sharply. "Sorry!" he said huffily. "I'm only learning how to do the splits!" What a bad mother I am, quashing his creativity! How on earth is he going to be able to run away and join the circus if I don't let him practise the splits on my white cushions? I have a washing machine don't I?!

Do join me again tomorrow when I'll be here with something dotty!

Hugs,