Christmas hearts for a Beautiful Season

Any minute now, I'm going to need to send out some Christmas cards! Well, okay, that might be a slight exaggeration but it's only 45 days until the 1st of December and people certainly like to display cards in December don't they?! I thought I'd better crack on with some so, inspired by the gorgeous Green, Brown, Cream and Gold colour scheme at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown, and the Heart theme at CASual Fridays, here's what I came up with:

I made a mask with one of my Labels framelits and sponged Summer Starfruit ink into it to create a golden glow. The pine needles from Watercolour Winter were stamped over the top and Early Espresso ink sponged round one side for a little definition before removing the mask.

The heart ornaments from Tiny Tags were stamped in versmark on Naturals Ivory then heat embossed in gold. I used the small heart punch when cutting them out - it's not an exact fit but it certainly helps! The card was finished with this lovely sentiment from Beautiful Season.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Watercolour Winter, Tiny Tags, Beautiful Season (sentiment)
Ink: Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green, Early Espresso
Card stock: Very Vanilla, scrap of Naturals Ivory
Other: Big Shot, Labels framelits, Sahara Sand marker, versamark, gold embossing powder, heat tool, 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.

I was listening to the great Pam Ayres on the radio yesterday and was delighted to hear some of her housework tips: Fed up with hoovering but like the warmth of carpet? Pam recommends installing hard flooring and sticking bits of carpet to your slippers instead! Cleaning your windows is a mistake she says - dirty windows stop people from looking in and seeing the mess! I may not have taken all her advice but my housework was done in record time!

I'll have a designer paper idea for you tomorrow - hope to see you then!

Summer Silhouettes for someone special

There are some exciting events going on at CASual Fridays where I understand they're launching a sister challenge, but this week's challenge is to make a card to celebrate the special women in our lives. My thoughts immediately went to someone very special indeed - my daughter. She is a lovely, caring, thoughtful young woman who never blindly follows the crowd; I have the utmost respect for her and I feel very privileged to know her. Here's the little note card I've made for her:

Did I tell you she's extremely bright and very beautiful too?!  She doesn't like fussy cards, so this is essentially a one layer card with a popped-up flower centre and some rhinestones to embellish. I used my new Summer Silhouettes stamp set - perfect for feminine cards all the year round!

The sentiment was made with a combination of sentiment stamps using a stamp-a-majig for position. One of stamps was a Christmas sentiment - I like to think that a festive set is not just for Christmas! The sentiment is given prominence with a couple of scored lines.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Beautiful Season, Petite Pairs
Ink: Certainly Celery, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Basic Rhinestones, Simply Scored, paper snips, 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.

One of the things I love most about my daughter is her sense of humour. She often takes me by surprise with unexpected behaviour too - for example once, when receiving a gift, she abandoned the conventional hug and thank you in favour of waving her arm behind her. "Look, Mummy," she said, twinkling at me. "My tail is wagging!"

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow when I'll have a very fast card to show you. See you then,

Knitted French Foliage

Can someone please tell me where autumn went? I was just waiting for the leaves to turn and winter snuck in! Well I'm not going under without a fight so I've made this one-layer card in an effort to bring autumn back into our lives:

One of the things I love about getting new stamps is the pleasure in combining them with old favourites. Here I've used the new Nicely Knit wheel from the autumn/winter catalogue to ink in a cosy background for my favourite French Foliage leaf set - it reminds me of a chilly autumn walk with scarf and gloves, kicking up the leaves with your boots!

I used one of the new in-colours, Summer Starfruit, for my knitted background. Doesn't it go well with the jewel colours of the leaves?! The sentiment is from Thank You Kindly which will retire at the end of the month.

The leaves were embossed before I wheeled in the background and I sponged ink over it to add definition, fading it out as I moved across the card.

When thinking about this card, I was inspired by CASual Fridays, where Fall Fun is the theme this week, One Layer Wednesday, where Heather wants to see a little sponging on our one-layer cards and Less is More, where we're combining three previous challenges. I chose week 41 One layer leaves, week 15 Embossing and week 28 Use ink. I'm wondering if Chrissie and Mandi will give me brownie points for keeping the card one layer but deep down I know I'm more likely to get a clip round the ear for being a smarty pants!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: French Foliage, Nicely Knit wheel, Thank You Kindly (retiring)
Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke, Summer Starfruit, Soft Suede
Card stock: Very Vanilla
Other: Versamark, clear embossing powder, heat tool, 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. 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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount.  

Right, time to go to the supermarket so that I can be ready for the return of the Ravening Hordes... brolly at the ready and... quick march!

See you tomorrow for more stamping fun,

Perfectly Preserved goes vintage

I was so pleased that my son's 'happy first day at school card' was picked as a favourite at CASual Fridays last week! This week's challenge is to use embossing and since Perfectly Preserved is my new go-to set, I reached for that. Come and see what I made:

The Perfectly Preserved set comes with flowers and gorgeous, stylised fruit to put in the jar but I've been thinking of all the other things you can put in it... hearts, leaves, stars, snowflakes, sweets etc So how about pens!  These are cut from one of the papers in the Attic Boutique range, sadly now retired, and I used another of the papers for the backdrop. I ran it through the Big Shot with the stripes embossing folder and gave it a sponge-over with Early Espresso ink.

The jar was stamped on acetate using white Stazon before cutting out (there are framelits to make this job easy!) and I cut a slot in the top of the jar with a craft knife to slide the pens into. The jar is attached to the card with glue dots cunningly concealed under the pens and the sentiment strip!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Thank You Kindly (retiring)
Ink: Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red, Summer Starfruit, Stazon white
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Other: Acetate, Early Espresso marker, Stripes embossing folder, Big Shot, Attic Boutique designer paper (retired), 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. 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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount. 

I've just been talking to my eldest son about his English class. He'd been given An Inspector Calls and The Crucible to read over the holidays and it turns out that he'll be studying An Inspector Calls. He told me he was glad as he'd found The Crucible 'weird'. "I expect it made you think though," I suggested. He looked at me as if I'd run mad. "No!" he said indignantly. This the boy who once memorably said to me: "You're only saying that to make me think - but I'm not stupid!" And of course he's not. I expect he's just conserving energy.

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow and I've got a fast card using the new In-Colours to show you. Hope to see you then,

Happy first day of school

It's Three Minute Thursday here today and I'm cheating a bit... the card I've made did take a little bit longer than that, but not much! I've been keen to join in with the fun over at CASology for ages but since I've had to schedule posts way in advance for the holidays it's not been possible until now. The challenge this week is Family which coincides nicely with my youngest son starting 'big school', and since Back to School is the challenge over at CASual Fridays my card fits in well there too! Come and see it:

I love backgrounds like this note-book style paper from the retiring Just Add Cake range. To make this card, I simply cut a square of it, sponged the edges, added the sentiment and decorated with cut-out pencils. (You may think fussy cutting would take a lot of time but there are no fiddly bits on these pencils so they're really quick to do.)

The sentiment is made up from a variety of words in the For My family set, using my stamp-a-majig to line them up. I added a doodled little heart just to let my son know that I love him to bits (as if he didn't already know!)

These pencils are pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen! They're from the From Your Teacher set (which you'll find on the retirement list along with the designer paper) and I've stamped them in three of the latest in-colours - I just can't get enough of these!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: From Your Teacher (retiring), For My Family
Ink: Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse (new - and available now!)
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Real Red marker, stamp-a-majig, paper snips

I'd be delighted to order any of these 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. Click here to view my regularly updated lists of retiring stamps and accessories, some at up to 40% discount.

My son is a tiny bit apprehensive about starting senior school but that's only to be expected - I know he'll be fine and will probably enjoy it enormously. I was slightly concerned about whether he was ready for it when I saw this dodgy-looking shopping list which I asked him to jot down for me as I had my hands full at the time.

You may notice that his spelling of muesli is a bit suspect and that he is keen on Marmite, but wait - what's that item below the Marmite? It took me a moment to realise it's cayenne pepper - isn't that cute?! It reminds me of when my older son was asked to list food for a picnic at primary school and wrote down 'canon bear'. When asked what this was, he fixed his teacher with his huge blue eyes and told her firmly that it was a cheese. It turned out to be Camembert!

See you tomorrow when I'll be reporting more about the Watercolour Wonder crayons!

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,

Three minute Button Buddies

If you have children of school age you'll know how manic it gets in the summer term with schools making the most of the 'good weather' (holds her sides laughing) for all their trips, sports days, fund raisers, community events and fairs. I don't know whether I'm coming or going this week but I managed to rustle up a couple of quick cards using Button Buddies. Come and see:

This one was inspired by Make My Monday where they're looking for cards in the summery colours of strawberries and cream  and also Addicted to Stamps where there's a fun bingo challenge this week (I've chosen Red, Free, Buttons)!

I stamped cherries on my main panel then added these die cut buttons over the top, using the embossed side of one and the debossed side of the other. It took no time at all as I keep die-cut buttons in loads of colours all ready made in a little jar!

Textured card stock makes adding detail a doddle when you're in a hurry and I love the contrast it makes with the smooth Very Vanilla card stock. People often worry that they won't be able to stamp on the textured card stock but it takes ink beautifully. This simple sentiment from Thank You Kindly is a real favourite of mine!

The CASual Fridays challenge this week is to use pink and since the little piggy in the Button Buddies set was trying to catch my eye, I thought I'd give him the same treatment.

He really is a cutie with his little button schnozzle!

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

Stamps: Button Buddies, Thank You Kindly

Ink: Basic Grey, Lucky Limeade (cherries), Pretty In Pink (pig)

Card stock (cherries): Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade textured

Card stock (pig): Very Vanilla, Pretty In Pink smooth and textured

Other: Sweet Buttons embosslits die, Basic Grey marker, 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.

If you were with me yesterday, you'll know it was my daughter's prom party last night and I just have to share a photo or two with you. She'd asked me to do her hair and make up and my goodness what a pleasure it was!

She giggled the whole way through the process (and let me tell you that applying mascara to someone in gales of laughter is not easy!) Isn't she just gorgeous?! And here she is in all her finery...

... acting the goat for the camera! Needless to say I was straight off to Mumland and hunting about for the tissues!

I'll be back tomorrow with something I haven't done for a long time - a scrapbook page! Hope to see you then,

Curly Cute with a lily-style punched flower

I have been thinking for ages about the challenge over at CASual Fridays, which is to make a card using vellum and/or acetate, and I've finally come up with something that uses both! Come and have a look:

Sometimes it seems that the more I think about it, the simpler the card turns out! This is a white card base with a glossy card stock panel on the front. The glossy panel has been sponged with a little Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery ink and this gorgeous sentiment from Curly Cute stamped over the top with black Stazon ink. I made a little flower and leaf cluster to embellish it:

To make the leaves I scored a line down a piece of vellum, positioned my Blossom Petals builder punch over the line and punched out two of the smallest leaves. I coloured the back of these with a Certainly Celery marker and then wiped them with a soft cloth. The lily-style flower was made by layering flowers punched from card stock, inked vellum and acetate using the Boho Blossoms punch. I snipped between the petals with sharp paper snips, fastened them together using a tiny green-gemmed brad and raised the petals up a little with my fingers.

The card turned out to be pretty shiny (as you can see from the horrible photo above!) so I'll also link it up to the Less is More challenge where Mandi and Chrissie are looking for Something Shiny. I've astonished myself by loving this week's challenge and it'll be my third entry this week so I do apologise if anyone's fed up with coming here!

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

Stamps: Curly Cute

Ink: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, black Stazon

Card stock: Whisper White, Glossy White

Other: Markers, Blossom Petals builder and Boho Blossoms punches, Circle Ice brads, paper snips, 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 mentioned the other day that football fever has hit our house as the European Cup continues. While watching England play Ukraine yesterday someone asked why the ref had his microphone taped to his cheek. "High winds?" suggested my youngest son. Watching the football is quite new to him and it's lovely to hear his unique take on things!

It's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow and this week I've been playing with brads. Do pop back and have a look if you have a minute.

Hugs,