Bountiful Border from Stampin' Up - You've been framed!

Did you see this card I made yesterday with the stencil style stamp set Bountiful Border? It's my new favourite set from the latest Stampin' Up annual catalogue and I'm using some different images from it today! Come and see:

I adore these beautiful flowers and thought I'd give them a modern twist with a doodled frame. The Project Life journalling pens are perfect for this.

Here's a different version and of course with a random frame like this one you don't need to worry about a steady hand! Which is your favourite?

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
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Bountiful Border Photopolymer Stamp Set £15.00	Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.00	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00
Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Project Life Journaling Pens £4.50

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

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

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

Life has gone all hectic again so I won't stay and chat, but don't forget to drop by tomorrow for the official Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team blog hop when the whole team will be rocking the fab new Sprinkles of Life stamp set! See you then,

New Stampin' Up products! A sneak peek from the upcoming annual catalogue!

Today I'm teasing you with a snippet of a gorgeous new designer paper, called Bohemian, that will be available on 2nd June when the new Stampin' Up annual catalogue 2015-16 is launched! Come and see:

I'm always on the look out for dynamic papers! Often you only need a pinch of them to make an impact on your cards. This particular design has a trendy woven-look chevron in the most gorgeous colours and I simply cut a bit of it out with my sharp paper snips. Straight lines = easy peasy cutting!

I was obviously having a snippety moment as I cut out part of my favourite sentiment from Butterfly Basics too - again surprisingly easy as it's a nice open font. (TIP: If you like this style but don't fancy the snipping, you'll get a similar look with the Hello You thinlits dies on page 30-31 of the Stampin' Up spring/summer catalogue.) I stamped the sentiment again and used the Decorative Label punch to cut out the 'happy' tab, added a sprinkling of (bargain!) sequins layered with gems and the card was done!

GO SHOPPING FOR STAMPIN' UP GOODIES NOW!
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Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp Set £21.95

2013-2015 In Color Sequin Assortment £4.50 now only £2.25!

Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments £4.50

Decorative Label Punch £15.50

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

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

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

My youngest son, the pup and I were having a group hug yesterday evening. "Look at her whiskers!" said my son lovingly. "And she has them above her eyes." He paused. "Do all animals have those? Wait - do rabbits?!" Always a joy to be with my son!

See you tomorrow when I'll be playing tag!

Bloom with Hope and a touch of gold

As well as yesterday's sneak peek of Stampin' Up's upcoming new in colours, there's been a garden of stamping on my blog this week as I've set out to inspire you with the retiring hostess stamp set Bloom with Hope. There have been country flowers, dramatic flowers and now something a little more sophisticated... come and see:

To make this card I started by sponging Melon Mambo and Marina Mist inks across a panel, then stamped over it with a poppy image from Bloom with Hope.

The centres of the flowers were given definition with a black marker and then I dotted them with a 2 way glue pen and heat embossed them with Gold embossing powder.

I know I keep saying this, but I LOVE the birthday sentiment from Butterfly Basics - that is such a current font and it's so elegant!

• You can earn Bloom with Hope for free when you place an order of £150 or more. The order placed can be a single order or a group order so it's well worth stocking up on basics and/or showing your catalogue to friends and family! 

Get this set while you still can as it will no longer be available after 2nd June!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
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Bloom With Hope Clear-Mount Stamp Set £15.00	Marina Mist Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp Set £21.95
2-Way Glue Pen £3.95	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder £3.95	Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker £2.95	Jet Black Stazon Ink Pad £5.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

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

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

Thanks for joining me today. I'll have lots of sneak peeks for you next week so don't miss those, but in the meantime, enjoy your weekend!

Crazy about... Crazy About You by Stampin' Up!

One thing I think really affects the result of a hand stamped card is the greeting. Fonts date - it's as simple as that! Today's card uses an tried and trusted technique but is kept fresh and modern with a greeting in an up-to-date font! Come and see:

In my usual topsy turvy way, I've used images from the fabulous new sentiment set called Crazy About You (the flower and leaves) but the ribbon-style greeting from the image-rich Butterfly Basics! These ribbon fonts are all the rage at the moment...

... but the clean, modern, upper case font of Crazy About You is SO versatile - perfect for male cards but fabulous for teaming with cursive fonts too! AND those flowers and leaves are gorgeous!

• To make the double time stamped card, cut a panel smaller than your card front and use a low tack adhesive like Snail to attach it temporarily. Stamp your design over the panel and the card front - it will be a bit blurry round the edges but don't worry about that! Cut a mat 1cm larger heightwise and widthwise than the panel. Remove the panel, mount it on the mat, then mount that onto the card front so that it conceals the blurry edges of the stamped design. That's it!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
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Crazy About You Photopolymer Stamp Set £22.95	Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp Set £21.95	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Wild Wasabi A4 Card Stock £6.25	Gold Sequin Trim £4.50

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

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

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

So, the UK bank holiday has drawn to a close with only one day a wash-out - and even that day had a window of sunshine. We've enjoyed plenty of walks with the golden doglet including one brilliant one dreamed up by my youngest son who suggested we put our wellies on and take her for a walk in a stream. She loved it! Edited to add: And I can also tell you that it's great exercise for humans - boy, can I feel it in my thighs today!

See you tomorrow,

Buy retiring Stampin' Up products at up to 50% discount!

Today is such an exciting day for Stampin' Up fans! Why? Because it's the day the company publishes its retiring list for 2015!

Lots of stamp sets and accessories in the Stampin' Up annual catalogue and spring/summer catalogue will not be available to buy after 2nd June. It's these that will appear on the retiring list and you'll find some of them at bargain prices of up to 50% discount too! Items on the list are only available while stocks last - and they do sell out pretty quickly, so don't miss out!

Just one more thing: Stampin' Up's digital suite is sadly being discontinued but that does mean some digi bargains, with everything at 30% off!

I'll stop waffling now because I know you just want to see the lists!

Stampin' Up products, retiring 2015

Stampin' Up digital (MDS), retiring 2015

The current hostess sets will also be retiring of course and today's card features a real favourite of mine called I Like You. Come and see:

This stamp set is a dream to colour in and works brilliantly as the focal point of a project (as in this gift set, or this card and treat box, or this canvas bag) but today, I've used the set to create a background, stamping it in Marina Mist ink and colouring it with a Soft Sky marker.

The beautiful branch from Indescribable Gift makes a wonderful contrast. I watercoloured it with Hello Honey and Strawberry Slush inks before cutting it out with my sharp paper snips.

• The exclusive hostess sets are designed to reward customers who place an order of £150 or more. Any time this happens, you'll earn 'credits' which can be 'spent' on these specially-priced hostess sets or anything else you fancy from any current catalogue. The best news is that the order can be your own or a group order, so it's well worth showing a catalogue to your friends and family.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!

Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

Indescribable Gift Wood Stamp Set £18.95	Marina Mist Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	I Like You Wood-Mount Stamp Set £13.00	Subtles Stampin' Write Markers £23.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

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

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

I really do have the loveliest children in the universe! I was feeling sad at the weekend and look what my youngest son made me to cheer me up.

Bless his cotton socklets! Nothing bad could possibly happen, he told me, when there are truffles!

See you tomorrow,

One layer speckled Summer Silhouettes

What a pleasure it is to get stamping again after a busy few weeks and, to celebrate all the gorgeous sunshine we've been having, I stamped a little garden! Come and see:

This is a one layer card but there's plenty of interest going on! The card base is one of Stampin' Up's ready-cut note cards, which are a good heavy weight and come with envelopes. I stamped the front several times with one of the splatter images from the indispensable Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and embossed with gold embossing powder.

As well as providing some lovely texture the fab gold speckles resisted the ink I used to stamp my leaves and flowers. The stamps are from Summer Silhouettes, one of my favourite stamp sets ever which, you may be interested to know, is on special offer at the moment - but hurry, because the offer ends tonight!

• Click here to see all this week's Weekly Deals - there's a bumper crop of gorgeous goodies at amazing prices!

I finished the card with a scored frame for more texture and the beautiful Happy Birthday greeting from Butterfly Basics. I LOVE this gorgeous sentiment and am currently using it for all my birthday cards!

A great big thank you to the lovely ladies at Less is More for inspiring me to get stamping today with their One Layer Splatters challenge :)

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
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Summer Silhouettes Wood Stamp Set £21.95 now only £16.46	Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Pistachio Pudding Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Simply Scored £25.95	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder £3.95	Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes £5.50

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

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

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

We spent the Easter weekend together as a family and had a wonderful time! I made a buffet style lunch this year and included a basketful of hard boiled eggs decorated with funny faces.

Naturally my daughter couldn't resist copying the expression on her egg!

Our annual treasure hunt went really well with the favourite clue being 'A silly clue' (which led to a window sill!) There was a new twist this year with some of the clues being Puppy Cards; this meant that the person who found the card had to ask Eva to Sit and Stay while they hid a treat and then asked her to Find It!

She loved being involved in the hunt and became very excited when we all cried "It's a Puppy Card!"

Afterwards, when the children found their chocolate eggs, she was given a frozen carrot and retired to the garden to toss it about!

I hope you all had a happy Easter. Do come and join me again tomorrow when I'll be having a baby moment!